SDHS Newsletter

Let the good times roll

at the

Mardi Gras Pre-Parade Party

Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at 5:30pm

Join hosts Arthur Ashley and Darin Reiling for an evening of food and fun to warm up before the Douglas Mardi Gras parade.

The menu, direct from New Orleans, will be prepared by Stacy Honson.
Don't miss Dick Bont's "world-famous" pralines.

Tickets $50 per person.
Only 30 tickets will be sold.

To reserve your place call 269-857-5751 or email info@sdhistoricalsociety.org

All proceeds from this Dine Around event benefit the SDHS.

Welcome from Jack Sheridan and Chris Yoder, leaders of the Society Family History Group.

Please visit us to see what we are all about and most importantly, share "lessons learned" about the many tools available for family history research.

Last week I read a very interesting article in the latest American Ancestors magazine which is a quarterly publication of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. The story was very interesting and well researched genealogically. It was about an attack on the little village of Lancaster, Massachusetts during King Philips War in 1676.

King Philip was an Indian Chieftain in Massachusetts. The war was a terrible thing and lasted for some two years - thousands of lives were lost. A number of the inhabitants of Lancaster were related to my ancestors, thereby to me and amazingly to a number of close friends of mine. So of course that made the story doubly interesting.

It reinforced my understanding of how the USA can be a very small place from a genealogical standpoint. Doing a little research, I lifted this bit from Wikipedia which summarizes and partially explains the "small world" phenomena:

"The New England States were initially colonized by about 30,000 settlers between 1620 and 1640, a period now referred to as "The Great Migration". There was little additional immigration until the Irish influx of the 1840s and '50s in the wake of the potato famine.

The regional economy grew rapidly in the 17th century, thanks to heavy immigration, high birth rates, low death rates, and an abundance of inexpensive farmland.[16] The population grew from 3000 in 1630 to 14,000 in 1640, 33,000 in 1660, 68,000 in 1680, and 91,000 in 1700. Between 1630 and 1643, about 20,000 Puritans arrived, settling mostly near Boston; after 1643 fewer than fifty immigrants a year arrived.

The average size of a completed family 1660-1700 was 7.1 children; the birth rate was 49 babies per year per 1000 people, and the death rate was about 22 deaths per year per thousand people. About 27 percent of the population comprised men between 16 and 60 years old.[17] The almost one million inhabitants in 1770, just before the Revolution were nearly all descended from the original settlers, whose 3 percent annual natural growth rate caused a doubling of population every 25 years. Their beliefs and ancestry were nearly all shared and made them into what was probably the largest more-or-less homogeneous group of settlers in America. Their high birth rate continued for at least a century more, making the descendants of these New Englanders well represented in nearly all states today."

So understand if you trace a branch[s] of your family tree back to early New England you may well be surprised to discover interesting folks and tales!

Got questions on how to get going? That is what we are for! Call or email us and remember, the SDHS family history group’s regular meeting schedule is the first and third Thursday of every month at the OSH.

Upcoming meetings are:

Thursday, December 18
Thursday, January 8
Thursday, January 22

Remember, your family history does not have to have any connection to the Saugatuck-Douglas area !!!

Still not sure how to get going? Let us provide a helpful jump start by recording what you know about your parents, grandparents, and great grandparents and send it along for a review by Chris Yoder or myself. The snail mail address is SDHS Family History Box 617 Douglas, Michigan 49406, or email a copy to either cyoder@tds.net or jack.sheridan@gmail.com.

We will soon be back to you with readily found data and with suggestions on the next steps to take. Further help is readily available from the Family History group. Again, the only requirement is membership in the SDHS.

Mayflower ancestor, Revolutionary War vet, great grandparents? Still wondering? Questions/ comments/advice/needs - contact jack.sheridan@gmail.com 269 857-7144 Chris Yoder cyoder@tds.net 269 857-4327.

This newsletter column is produced by Jack Sheridan

The Baldhead Panoramas – One by One - Year by Year

Three months ago I started a new HBC series of panoramic photographs taken from the top of Mt Baldhead. We are very fortunate to have photos from this great vantage point over a long time period. The Baldhead photos in the series span some fifty years, are accurately dated, and in most cases the photographer identified.

Other factors make them special. First, when the first photo was made in 1874 most of the trees in town had been logged off and there were few to block the view. Second, the photographers used quality cameras with large glass plate negatives that were capable of capturing details. Though most of the glass plates are lost, the prints made from them, faithfully contain the details. When scanned at high resolution, the images yield marvelous results.

So far, in order for you to see a historical progression, I have selected a partial view of the town in 1874 and contrasted that with a view of the same area in 1895.

This month we have the complete 1895 photo which is contrasted here with a complete 1906 photo. I do not know the photographer's identity. It probably was Miller Robinson but could have been an early Herman Simonson work. Next month we will zero in on partial area comparisons of these two panoramic views. Enjoy!

This newsletter column is written by Jack Sheridan.

Click on the picture for a higher resolution copy.
Be patient, it will take a while to download.

Antique Mall Booth News!

Our booth at the Saugatuck Antique Pavilion is filled with wonderful and unusual items ready for your Christmas Shopping! The booth carries all the books published by the Historical Society, as well as posters, postcards, maps, mugs and other society items. Great gifts for your Saugatuck friends! A big thank you goes to all those who recently donated their surplus items to fill our new larger space! Come check us out! We are dealer #233 in the green room. If anyone is interested in volunteering four hours for the cause please contact us at archives@sdhistoricalsociety.org
submitted by Mary Voss & Ken Kutzel

News from the Archives

Recent Additions to the Saugatuck Douglas Historical Society Collection

It's been a busy month at the archives! A number of very important items have been added to our collection.
• A scrap book of 8x10 photographs of people associated with the Douglas Community Hospital donated by Tara Durham
• A number of Saugatuck High School basketball and commencement programs; Saugatuck postcards; An entire set of "The Dope" a newsletter that was sent out to the boys from Douglas who were in the service during WWII 1942-1945, and other items donated by Howard Schultz
• An eight page brochure advertising the Saugatuck Music Festival 1961, promotional items from Douglas and a 1959 map of the Eastern United States listing hotels, including the Hotel Saugatuck (now Coral Gables.) Donated by Ken Kutzel.
• A promotional booklet, "Two Days," a fictitious account of an idyllic two day visit to Saugatuck. Published in 1901 by the Commercial Record. Donated by Barbara Paulger.
• Two Needle books given out as promotional items by the Big Pavilion and the Fruit Growers Bank 1920s. Donated by Ruth Brower.

An Interesting Development!
Late this fall we were contacted by a gentleman who had just purchased a home in Riverside, CA and was told that it had been designed by Carl Hoerman. He inquired if we had any information for him. After a brief search in our archives (our intern had worked on cataloging that project over the summer) we found the original blue prints and drawings of that house built in 1927.

In the following months he completely renovated the house back to the original as much as possible. Now he wants to add the studio addition which was included in an updated drawing in 1934 but never built.

We will be supplying him and his architect with copies of those drawings. He promises to tell us the complete story including before and after photographs for our newsletter. Was this the house that Carl Hoerman lived in himself? Stay tuned! submitted by Mary Voss