 |
|
Andrew Olson came from Yafle, Sweden with his parents, Olaf and Karin (Johnson) Olson around 1866 and settled somewhere in Louisiana. About a year later, Mrs. Olson died and shortly after that Mr. Olson became very ill. Unable to care for his two motherless children, he placed them in an orphanage. Unknown to Mr. Olson, his two sons were given out for adoption. When Andrew Olson, the father, recovered from his illness and went to reclaim his son, he found both were gone. It took many years of searching before he found them.
Andrew had been adopted by a family named James Mann and he was then known as Andrew Olson Mann. (It was understood that the Manns were parents of Mrs. Mary Jackson, a Grant resident for many years.) Andrew Olson Mann met Cynthia Jane Miller, daughter of Judson Miller of this area, and married her in 1887. To this union three sons were born: Walter who was born and died January 20, 1891; Percy, born July 8, 1895; and Terry, born February 15, 1903. The parents at this time lived in Evanston, Illinois.
The family then moved to Eugene, Oregon. In 1908 the Manns moved back to Grant where Andrew entered the hardware business as Freyer, Mann and Company. The company was doing a thriving business as the "Farmers Hardware" when Mr. Mann's life ended in November of 1909, leaving Freyer and Alger to handle the hardware and Mrs. Mann with two young sons to raise alone.
Both boys attended the Grant school with Percy being the first boy to graduate from the extended twelve-year curriculum in Grant High School, and the only graduate in the class of 1913. In a separate story, Percy related the history of the Grant schools and reported that the classes of 1911 and 1912 each had one graduate, both girls. His younger brother, Terry, graduated with the class of 1921.
During the years Percy earned a livelihood in Grant he utilized the office training learned at Ferris Institute in Big Rapids working for businesses in his home town. He also owned and operated the first bicycle shop in Grant operating in one of the small frame store buildings that had been occupied by the Jorgen-sen enterprises where the Grant Community Building now stands. Some of the younger boys in town remember having bought their first bikes from him. He later worked as bookkeeper in the Leon Heiss garage and auto livery, going to Muskegon after the death of his mother April 10, 1930. There he worked; at several occupations before going to Campbell, Wyant and Cannon Company where he remained for almost twenty- four years.
Submitted by Blanch
Return to Home Page
Return to Pioneers