Michigan Meanderings
We had a three week visit to our home state of Michigan Fall 2022. We spent a week in Grand Rapids and two weeks in Metro Detroit (one week on the East Side and one on the West Side). Our visit was whirlwind, with opportunities to connect with friends and family, go to the Motown Museum, explore genealogy, and have a nostalgia tour. We're not sure when we'll return again, so we wanted to squeeze as much in as possible. Our visit culminated with the wedding of dear cousin Jim and his wonderful partner Billibob.
Michigan: The only state for which your body has a built-in map!
I was happy to be greeted at Detroit Metro Airport with a reproduction of my favorite painting from Detroit Institute of Arts! I don't know if this is a permanent exhibit, but it was quite lovely to see.
John's got Detroit in the palm of his hand.
We had some nice glimpses of Fall colors, which increased as our trip progressed.
Family and Friend Visits
John's Siblings and Their Families
John's brother Joe kindly offered to arrange and host a get-together of John's siblings and their families. This was a very nice event that allowed us to connect with many we haven't seen for years and to meet some of the grands we've never met before. Thanks to Joe and Pat for hosting this!
John's Siblings and Their Families. Although a large group, we were still missing 10 people (including our Emily)!
There was lots of good food and conversation. We even got cousin Nelly Ciacchella on video chat in Augusta (we may have woken her up, LOL) to meet her cousins.
Later in the week, Joe and Pat invited us to their place for dinner, and we had a chance to connect with 3 we missed at the big party. It was so wonderful to sped time with our nephew Mike and his two boys!
While at Joe's, we picked up a few more photos of John's mother Virginia as a little girl. So cute! We've added them to the shared Google album "Virg's Photo Bin." If you want access to that and don't have it, just drop us a message.
John's sister Chris and husband Terry on left, next to them, brother Joe and wife Pat, in the back, sister Bernadette and husband Dennis, and sister Marie and husband Bob in front.
We managed to wrangle everyone at the wedding - no easy task! - for group photos.
Motown Museum with Greg & Carol
Unbelievably, John and I had never been to the Motown Museum! That was a top priority on this trip (once I got past a panic when I was researching and saw it was closed for renovations, fortunately re-opened just before we visited). Another priority was seeing our friends Greg & Carol. When I suggested this as an option for our get-together, they were on board, as they had never been either!
We've known Carol and Greg many years, all the way back to when John started in the dental lab business in the mid-80s and John rented lab space from Greg.
Carol and Greg were in our wedding party.
Before we headed to the museum, we met up at Hudson Cafe downtown, per Greg and Carol's suggestion. This popular brunch spot is near the old Hudson's building, for the Detroiters. For the non-Detroiters, Hudson's was a popular department store (my first credit card) like Macy's. This area of downtown was almost unrecognizable since my days working at MichCon in the Guardian Building. I'm happy to report that the city is much more vibrant and dynamic.
Good food and good times, although I feel like that first photo I wasn't saying something nice, oops! Well, that's the benefit of old friends - you can joke and gossip and they know your sense of humor.
I had hoped to squeeze in a brief visit to the beautiful art deco Guardian Building (left with flag), but we just did not have enough time.
When you approach the Motown Museum on West Grand Boulevard, called Berry Gordy Jr. Boulevard in this section, you are greeted with fabulous Motown hits. The museum entry is timed and guided, so you have time to explore outside while waiting on your tour time. The "Empire on West Grand" consists of several buildings, purchased as the empire grew. There were buildings for artist development, finance, marketing, administration, recording, and Berry Gordy's family residence. The museum is housed in two of the buildings, one which served as the publishing company / public relations / shipping center, and the other the iconic Hitsville U.S.A. building, which housed the recording and engineering studios. History was made here!
We sure had a fun day!
Esther Gordy Edwards, Barry's sister, is sometimes called the Mother of Motown. She was the person who had the vision to establish the Motown Museum.
Map showing home towns of museum visitors.
The first building is chock full of interesting photos and memorabilia including, of course, many gold records. My only criticism of our visit is that with it being a guided, timed tour, there just isn't enough time to look at everything closely. Here were some of my favorite highlights from the collection...
We learned that The Supremes were originally called The Primettes. The Temptations also had a previous name, The Elgins. This was a fun poster promoting how to learn the "Temptation Walk"...
Gold singles of The Temptations and The Supremes
TAMLA was the original Motown label. Over time, the company added additional labels more specifically targeted toward different audiences. An example is Black Forum, which emphasizes spoken word. This label won its first Grammy for an album containing Dr. Martin Luther King's speech Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam.
As Motown grew, its music began to take on a more political message. One of the earliest examples is Edwin Starr's War.
Motown also expanded to work with British artists, the first of which was Kiki Dee. This display showed the development of an album cover and had excerpts from the photo shoot in metro Detroit.
Motown was also involved in the production of award-winning films. Both of these films are great.
This photo of the Gordy family grocery store was very interesting. Many famous Motown artists and their family members are pictured.
This hole in the ceiling, leading into the attic, served as an echo chamber for recording various sounds long before computers and synthesizers performed this function.
Motown musicians were all subject to artist development, taking lessons in etiquette, grooming, music theory, and choreography, among others. These photos show some of the coaching sessions. Emily says this is a similar approach with more contemporary 'boy bands.'
1962 Motown artists before embarking on a large tour. Do you recognize some of them?
I pretty much love all Motown music, but Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye are my two favorite Motown artists. I was interested to learn that they were the first artists to earn creative control over their music.
Stevie Wonder began recording for Motown at age 11. He grew up in these buildings. This photo shows him being congratulated on his high school graduation.
What's Going On? What a song and Album! And more than relevant still today. Since 2021 was the anniversary of this song and album, there were several artifacts on display, including a feature on how the album cover was chosen. The photographer followed Gaye as he went about activities in his Detroit neighborhood.
I couldn't resist getting myself a souvenir!
Carol and Greg insisted, rightly so, that we get a classic Motown t-shirt for Emily for the days she teaches Motown music in her History of American Popular Music courses.
The apartment
The dining room, doubling as the shipping and public relations departments.
The office. I love the design elements.
Cigarette machine and switchboard.
This was my favorite. The candy machine was especially popular with young Stevie Wonder. Barry Gordy made sure that the candy was always in the same order, so that Stevie could find his favorite. Other Motown artists and staff would sometimes leave coins on top of the machine for Stevie. I left a few coins to honor him.
Onward to the recording studio. Visiting here really brings on the chills. The instruments are original. The pictures on the wall show where various Motown artists stood and sat as they recorded the classics many of us know and love.
Look at the worn floors!
The museum has had many famous visitors. Paul McCartney was so moved by his visit, that he paid for the restoration of this piano.
Our tour ended with the fun opportunity to learn some choreography, including the Temptation Walk, in order to dance and sing along with My Girl. What a fantastic day!
Jim & Billibob and Tracy: The Paint Day
This started out to be a fun day. The newlyweds-to-be had a break in their schedule and were able to meet up with us for lunch. Later in the day, I had made plans to have dinner with my friend Tracy out in Clarkston (halfway between where she lives and where we were staying).
Our cousin lunch was really fun, and it was great to have the opportunity to catch up. We knew we wouldn't have this one-on-one time at the wedding. All was going smoothly until later in the day when we started driving up Woodward to Clarkston. A bucket of paint had just been tipped over onto the street, and we (like several cars in front of us) drove right through it. Oh, no, it's a rental! We pulled over immediately into a Ducati dealership, whose staff were kind enough to let us use a lot of their paper towels. We were trying to get off as much as possible. Next, we went to a car wash up the road. They were dumbfounded as to why so many people were coming through with paint all over their cars! That didn't help much, as their high power sprayer was not working. By now, we were already going to not make the dinner date time we established with Tracy, so I called and we agreed on a later time. We went to another car wash en route and were able to get some more of the paint off. We spent many hours over the next few days peeling and scraping, but I'm happy to report that we returned the car in good enough condition to not be charged. Phew!
We enjoyed a delicious Mediterranean lunch with Jim and Billibob. They had just returned from getting their marriage license, and all were excited about the upcoming festivities.
I needed a drink after the paint! I don't normally drink beer but this Raspberry Ale was pretty good.
Tracy and I have been friends since we were 12 years old. She was Maid of Honor and sang at our wedding. As one does with long-term friends, we picked up as if we had just seen each other yesterday.
Sandi
Like Tracy, I have known Sandi for many years, since junior high school. However (pre-Internet) we lost touch when we both moved. The Universe brought us back together again, though, when I attended a hypnosis training in New York in 2002. The woman who was my partner for an exercise was from the same town Sandi had moved to, and she knew Sandi's father! I was able to pass on contact information, and Sandi and I were reunited. We've had many great times together since then!
"It takes a long time to grow old friends." Sandi's backyard tiki bar, which she built herself.
Sandi's house was en route from Grand Rapids to Detroit, so we were able to stop for lunch and a leisurely afternoon hangout.
A delicious lunch with local vegetables and other treats, like Vernors. Sandi even sent us off to our next Airbnb with vegetables and other yummies.
As long as I've known her, Sandi has always been creative and artistic, especially with natural materials. Her home and yard reflect this, and I am always impressed by what she has created.
The many trees on Sandi's property each have unique faces and expressions.
Natural planters.
Sandi's home is heated by wood, and she has an impressive stockpile of wood at various stages. Did I mention she splits this wood herself?!
Sandi even has her own ax-throwing area. Can you see the bullseye? I thought this was cool, since I've heard that ax-throwing is the latest popular activity!
One of Sandi's projects at our visit was 'rescuing' monarch butterflies. Shortly after our visit, I received these images in WhatsApp. Beautiful!
Sandi's Monarch Release (about 1 minute)
Nostalgia
Lake Michigan
The day after arrival to Grand Rapids, we didn't have anything particular planned (we were pretty tired after a couple of stressful travel days), and it was a gorgeous day. We decided to head over to Grand Haven, a cute town on Lake Michigan. We went to the marina / riverfront park, the city beach, North Beach Park, and Ottawa Sands, enjoying as the tagline says Pure Michigan.
Grand Haven has a nice waterfront city park and marina, where the Grand River flows into Lake Michigan. It was nice to feel that soft, Michigan grass again.
This park had many sculptures. These are a few of my favorites.
To Save, located near the Coast Guard station, and dedicated to women and men of the Coast Guard and law enforcement. The accompanying poem is etched into the oars, so reading it encourages examining the sculpture from many vantage points. Very clever.
Next Up: A walk along Lake Michigan shoreline. Those who haven't had the pleasure of growing up near the Great Lakes often don't realize how large they are. It's like being at the ocean!
We popped over to North Beach Park to get an alternative view. This beach is a little more secluded. There were several people out flying kites.
Last stop was Ottawa Sands County Park, so peaceful. The weather seemed, from our memories, unseasonably warm. It was easy to forget it was Autumn.
Cider Mill and Apple Orchard
A couple of days later, the temperature dropped to perfect weather for a typical Michigan autumn activity: Visit the cider mill. There was a highly rated one in the vicinity of where we were headed for some ancestry exploration.
We walked the grounds, visited the press, and finished just as loaded school buses were arriving.
We got all of the typical treats. Yum.
Cute autumn decorations.
Wayne State / DIA
John and I are both proud Wayne State University graduates (for me, all 3 degrees), and we had not been back to campus in quite some time; we made sure to set aside time for this. The jewel Detroit Institute of the Arts is embedded in WSU's campus, so a visit there was also on the agenda.
Old Main (1896) is the quintessential WSU building. While I never had classes there, the basement was the location of my first teaching assistantship, where I served as a lab instructor for Psychology of Perception. It was very strange to go from being an undergraduate the first half of 1986 to being an instructor the second half of 1986!
Needless to say, I spent many hours, days, years in the Psychology Department Building. But where did it go?! Its former site is now a pretty green space.
Neither John nor I care for Wayne State's new logo. However, the mall was looking lovely, and there were several new (to us) attractive buildings.
Next up, the beautiful Detroit Institute of Arts.
And, there's my favorite: The actual painting! I had hoped to purchase some note cards at the gift shop, as I used my last one, but none were on offer.
Bonus! Two additional Bouguereaus on display. The Mischievous One and On the Shore (The Sisters). I don't remember seeing them at the DIA before.
Although we were just a bit early to catch the Van Gogh in America exhibit, we were able to view an exhibit about Van Gogh's artistic roots in the Hague School. This painting, Going to Pasture, is by one of Van Gogh's contemporaries, Anton Mauve. We liked it because it reminded us of Sicily.
This painting, called Still Life with Sunflower, is by another famous Dutch painter with roots in the Hague School. Can you guess who it is by? Hint: This work looks nothing like those he is famous for. I'll put the answer at the end of this post.
In the Garden, Mary Cassatt
On the Beach, Edouard Manet
Female Musicians, unknown artist.
Ganesha and Bodhisattva, unknown artists.
Sea of Buddha by Hiroshi Sugimoto
Belle Isle in Winter by Detroit artist Brian Day (more on Belle Isle below).
Since the holiday was approaching, we decided to check out the special community exhibit Ofrendas: Celebrating the Day of the Dead 2022. These are the ofrendas I found especially interesting; you can do an online walkthrough if you'd like to explore further. Above is an ofrenda dedicated to frontline workers who lost their lives during the pandemic.
This ofrenda is called Feminicide, the Gray Consequence of Being Born a Woman in Mexico. It honors women who have been murdered as a result of their gender, robbing them of all their colors, thus the monochromatic nature of the ofrenda.
This ofrenda, entitled I Talk to the Wind, is an artist's tribute to her own artist father.
A different sort of ofrenda in the photography gallery.
On the museum grounds, Young Woman and Her Suitors, a nice Alexander Calder piece.
Behind the museum, an historical Detroit building, The Scarab Club, an arts organization dedicated to the continual renewal of arts in the city of Detroit. The scarab symbol is in Pewabic tile, a Detroit arts tradition.
Redford House
This was our cute little house in Redford. Aw, it was sad to see the condition it was in. All of the beautiful flower beds were gone, and the productive compost / garden as well.
Before, 1994. We didn't even bother going to see our first house, in Detroit, as we had seen the sad shape it was in from a Google view. Too bad, it was a really lovely starter home.
Lakeshore Presbyterian
We were driving along Jefferson, and I realized - duh! - we've just passed by the church we were married in. That certainly qualifies for a nostalgia visit! We were lucky to find the church was open, and the nice lady who was working let us visit the sanctuary and took photos for us.
The church and our 'wedding photographer.' Let's recreate our wedding picture!
We were dressed a little nicer in 1987!
Our friends Helen and Paul, as well as John's niece Michelle and her husband Ben, were also married at Lakeshore Presbyterian. I wish I could remember the name of the woman who helped us. We had fun chatting with her, especially when we told her we were Michelle's aunt and uncle, as she knew their family well.
Belle Isle and Riverfront
Our transfer day from East side to West side had some spare hours, so we decided that was a perfect time to make our route go through the city. This allowed us to visit Belle Isle (it's been decades!) and to check out Detroit's 'new' (for us) riverfront area.
We had another sunny day, which made the drive down Jefferson Avenue extra nice.
Belle Isle is a park situated on an island in the Detroit River. It has magnificent views of Detroit (right) and Windsor (left). It has multiple picnic and fishing areas, as well as special features like an aquarium, a conservatory with beautiful gardens, and a famous fountain. Famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted provided the initial conceptual design, of which several elements were included. You may recognize Olmsted from his connection with the famous Central Park in New York City. He also has connections to both of our neighborhoods in Atlanta. I recently learned more about him as a person when I finally got around to reading Devil in the White City.
While enjoying the view of Canada across the river, this Ponant cruise ship passed by. We'd never heard of this line before, but then we saw another in the Panama Canal on a later trip. It's a French, luxury line, which explains why we did not know of it, LOL.
The aquarium building is gorgeous and has an interesting history and small connection to Italy. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to see the inside.
Conservatory, another historic building, and gardens.
This was another pretty viewing spot in the park. From the reservoir you can see downtown Detroit. Along the reservoir is an esplanade of cherry trees donated to the people of Detroit as a token of friendship and goodwill from the people of Toyota, Japan (sister city to Detroit). I bet that is gorgeous when the cherry trees are in bloom!
We made a special stop at the James Scott Memorial Fountain. Actually, visiting this was the primary reason we wanted to go to Belle Isle, because it has a special connection with John's Impellizzeri - Milano family, but more on that shortly. This fountain is often referred to as the jewel of Belle Isle. It is known for its many animal carvings, but also for a controversial history. Since we weren't visiting during Summer, the fountain was not running. I would have liked to have seen it in its fully glory!
John's Impellizzeri - Milano family was fond of marking special occasions with a photo in front of this fountain. Photo treasure!
Younger generation following the tradition: John's sister Chris with her son Kyle and husband Terry.
And now we have joined in!
Trying to show Michigan with my hand map: My Upper Peninsula is way off!
This was a nice map of the Great Lakes.
Next to the previous display, on the ground, a map of greater Detroit. We stood at all the cities we lived in during childhood. Looks like I moved around a tad more than John did. Hhmmm, wondering where the vagabonding impulse originates?
I loved the carousel. Dragonfly!
Detroit side and Windsor side. Can you spot the Canadian flag?
Favorite Foods
We took time to seek out some favorite foods we remembered. In addition to the piccies below, we had Sanders bumpy cake and Vernors (both as delicious as recalled), but I didn't get a photo. Some items were as good as remembered, while others were disappointing. Don't hate me if you disagree!
The potato place next door to the Psychology building was one of my favorite places for lunch during graduate school. Entirely remodeled, but still there .... unlike the psychology department building! It was as yummy as remembered.
I liked this wall display at The Potato Place.
Lemon ice from Bommarito's Bakery. It was tasty, but it did not rise to the level of granita al limone in Sicily.
We were really looking forward to having some Buddy's Pizza after so many years. Sadly, it - nor the salad - was as good as we remembered. And so expensive!
This was another item I was really looking forward to having that turned out to be disappointing. I don't know if something had changed about it, or if my spumoni standards are just higher now, LOL!
It's not a trip to Michigan without a visit to El Charro, and it did not disappoint. The shredded beef soft-shell, aka puffy, taco was delicious, as were the botanas. However, John says, and I agree, that I make a better plate of botanas at home. 😁 Click here if you want to read of our adventures learning about the history of the puffy taco on a visit to San Antonio.
Olga's Kitchen was another Detroit favorite, so we made sure to set aside time for a meal there. It was as good as remembered. John tried one of the newer items, a bolga, and I had my old-time favorite the 3-cheese Olga. When we told the waitress about our visit, she brought us some Olga Snackers. Yum!
Murphy's Diner is a neighborhood place on the West side that we'd often breakfast at with friends Paul and Andi, when we all lived in that area. I remembered especially the blueberry pancakes and the hashbrowns with onions. We had to really reserve carbs for this one - and it was worth it!
Sanders Hot Fudge. Obtaining this turned out to be a real task! The few stores that still have ice cream shops were far afield from our locations, so I decided to buy a jar to take home. Oh my goodness! I must have checked at six or seven different stores, finally finding a jar. When we were later at Emily's, enjoying hot fudge sundaes, I did some research and discovered the problem. Are Michigan friends still having difficulty finding it?
These weren't nostalgia foods, but rather my efforts to have some heritage foods while we were in western Michigan (it is the land of the Dutch, after all). At a popular local diner I tried a Saucijzenbroodje, aka a Dutch sausage roll. It was tasty, but I couldn't tell any difference between it and sausage rolls I've had in the UK. I wanted to bring a special treat to brunch with John's cousin (more on that below), so I searched for the best Dutch bakery in the area. Wowee, this coffee cake from Van's Pastry Shoppe was off the charts. Good thing I don't have easy access to that kind of treat!
Ancestry
For this visit, I had genealogy goals for both myself and John. For my line, I was on the hunt for ancestor graves in my mom Shirley's parents' lines. Below, circled in red, are ancestors for which I had some type of information about their burial.
Orlie Van Dosen, Shirley's father.
Ruth Longley, Shirley's mother.
Williams, Dunton, Bentley
Henry Williams and Melinda Dunton are my 3rd great-grandparents. Their families were part of the original settlers of an area of western Michigan that includes Antwerp Township, Mattawan, Paw Paw, and Almena in Van Buren County. The families were also found in Portage, Kalamazoo, and Texas Township in Kalamazoo County. (These great ancestral photos I have are the result of finding my cousin Gerlyn. The story of how we met during the pandemic and learned about our shared ancestors is here.)
In the chart above you can see that Henry Williams' mother, Polly, was a Van Antwerp. Her father, Harmon, chose the name of the township to honor their family's original roots in Antwerp, Belgium.
I discovered in my research that Harwick Cemetery in Mattawan was considered a Van Antwerp cemetery, and that many of my ancestors were buried there. Exciting! With the help of a friendly official in the county office, I was able to confirm notes from my research with their records. The hunt begins!
.jpg)
In didn't take long to find the shared headstone for Henry and Melinda Williams. It was in very good condition, and may have been a replacement.
Not too far away was Henry's father (4th great-grandparent) Phillip Williams. The first township meeting of Antwerp was held at his home, and he was elected as a Justice of the Peace. He also served as a postmaster. I think his significance in the history of the area is why he had a well-tended and probably newer headstone. I don't have a picture of him, but I do have a photo of his wife Polly Jane Van Antwerp.
Sadly, even though the office confirmed her burial in Harwick, I was unable to find Polly's burial site / headstone. Polly's parents Harmon and Rosina Rine should be buried here as well, but I wasn't able to find them. However, I did find some clues related to Rosina Rine, who is often listed as Cynthia Ryan ... there were several Ryan graves in this cemetery (along with bunches of Van Antwerps!), which suggests to me that her AKA is correct. I would like to learn more about her; she is a 'brick wall' in my tree.
Melinda Dunton's parents were Alfred Dunton and Polly Bentley, pictured above. (I find that handsome Alfred has a fairly good resemblance to the actor Bradley Cooper.) Alfred and Polly were both from Jamestown, Chautauqua, New York. I've never been able to determine why they ended up in western Michigan, but by the 1850 census, they are living in Antwerp. Alfred is listed in Methodist church records as a pastor in Michigan in 1851, so that may explain their relocation. Sadly, Alfred died young, sometime between the move and 1857, where his children appear in Alfred's father's will, and Polly is remarried, to Noel Waite.
Alfred's and Polly's graves were very near their daughter Melinda's. They are not in great condition, but they were clear enough to make out the writing.
The grave of Polly's second husband, Noel Waite, was just a few spaces over.
Over the past two years, I've worked on transcribing postcards that various people in this line wrote to each other. The postcards most often depicted scenes from the cities in which these families lived. While we were visiting this area, I remembered one particular card that showed the celery production common in this area.
Postcard from my 2nd great-grandmother to my 3rd great-grandmother.
When searching to find if the building in the postcard was still around, I learned that the area called the Celery Flats is now an historical area that is part of the Portage Creek Bicentennial Park. So, we popped over to check it out.
Starting in the 1860s, celery was an important crop for Portage, and the city became nationally-known for its celery production.
On the grounds was a well-preserved district one-room schoolhouse that functioned from the mid 1850s until 1947. I wondered if any of my ancestors or their friends attended school in this building?
Henry and Melinda Williams' daughter, Jessie Bell, married Henry Van Dosen, and that's where the Van Dosen line comes in for me. I had information on three people who I wanted to try and find in this group: Henry Van Dosen, his mother Emily Johnson, and his daughter-in-law Lula Hudson Van Dosen (great-grandmother).
From findagrave.com I had a lead that Emily Johnson and her son Henry were buried in Almena Cemetery in Paw Paw, Michigan. I felt more confident about Emily, as there was a photo of her headstone. For Henry, nothing.
Jessie Bell Williams and Henry Van Dosen, Emily Johnson Van Dosen
After some searching on the property to find a directory, we were able to locate Emily's grave. Unfortunately, a long search all around the location of her headstone did not yield anything for Henry. Perhaps his grave is unmarked?
I had previously seen a photo of Lula Hudson's headstone on findagrave.com, so it wasn't too hard to track her down in Grand Lawn Cemetery in Detroit. The headstone was somewhat overgrown, so John helped clear it up a little.
Lula's line is another 'brick wall' in my tree. Aside from her parents' names on her Michigan marriage record, I don't know anything about her. I don't have any clues as to where her husband Harry Van Dosen is buried, as I don't know his death date. The last record I have for him is the 1950 census. I also have a photo dated 1 July 1954, and another photo where he appears a bit older.
Harry Van Dosen. In the 1950 census, living with his 20 years younger partner!
My mom's mother Ruth died in 1997 after we moved to Georgia. While we returned to Michigan for the funeral, her church handled all the arrangements, and the service did not include going to the cemetery. At the time, I was a new mom and college professor, and focusing on ancestors and genealogy wasn't an interest or priority. However, it always bothered me that I didn't know where Ruth was buried. Over the past couple of years, I tried to research the location; I eventually obtained it when I ordered her Michigan death certificate (for some reason, this was not in my mom's papers). After a few attempts, I got someone from the cemetery to confirm her location in United Memorial Gardens
This cemetery was difficult to navigate, and after a long time searching, I was beginning to think that she would remain elusive, even after all of my efforts. I stopped to pause for a moment and ask Ruth to help us find her. And, bam, there was her section!
Ruth's grave was very overgrown. John worked hard on uncovering it for me and for Ruth (he was always her favorite). In fact, John was a real trooper and great help on the many hours we spent searching for my ancestors.
One final comment on Ruth. She told me that, in the photo above, she was inducted into the women's group of the Freemasons. I was always a bit skeptical until I began genealogy research and discovered her connection to the Sackett Family, through her paternal grandmother. This family has connections with the Revolutionary War and the establishment of the United States. It's not far-fetched to think there were freemasons among them!
Sackett and Wright
My 5th great-grandfather, John Sackett was a revolutionary war patriot and has a DAR chapter named after him, based in Redford, Michigan. His son, Ezekiel Sackett, fought in the War of 1812, and Ezekiel's son-in-law, Jonathan Wright, fought in the American Civil War. The Sacketts were early settlers and played a large role in the establishment of Redford Township, Michigan. Now, when we owned a home and lived in Redford Township, did I know this? NO! There's an entire cemetery (Redford / Bell Branch)! So we were off for another long explore and hunt.
We worked really hard on this grave hunt: Look at those burrs!
Larry Mitchell is a DNA match who I connected with early on in my genealogical efforts, and he was very helpful and kind. Our shared ancestors are our 3rd great-grandparents Mary Elizabeth Sackett and Jonathan Wright. Larry's visited Bell Branch cemetery many times, and we had made arrangements to visit there together and finally meet. Unfortunately, he had an emergency work meeting come up, so we weren't able to connect. However, he kindly sent me detailed instructions on how to find some of the people I was hunting for.
Fourth great-grandparents Ezekiel Sackett and Elizabeth Woodard. Their daughter Mary Elizabeth Sackett is also supposed to be buried here, but we were unable to find her grave. However, I do have a photo of her.
.jpg)
Mary Elizabeth Sackett Wright, center. Mary Jane Wright Longley, left, 2nd great-grandmother. Her sister, Sarah Ann Wright Booth Hodges, right. (More on those two ladies shortly.) Mary Elizabeth's husband Jonathan, previously mentioned, is buried in Lebanon, Kentucky in an unmarked grave. He was a POW in the Civil War and died in a Kentucky hospital of typhoid fever. I had good fortune in finding the graves of his parents, Edward Wright and Jane Wright.
My fourth great-grandparents. This one was a special find, because this couple is one of my demonstrated England connections. You can see from the headstone that Edward and Jane were from Fishlake, Yorkshire England. I hope to visit this village one day!
While we meandered around the cemetery, I took lots of photos of names of people I thought were in my tree (I didn't have access while we were there). Back at my computer, comparing dates and names, it was nice to be able to add some photos to their existing records.
David Sackett and Emiline Prindle. David is my 3rd great-granduncle, brother to Mary Elizabeth Sackett. Many of their children's graves are nearby and easy to spot.
Edward Wright and Catherine Postiff. Edward is the son of Jonathan Wright and Mary Elizabeth Sackett, my 2nd great-granduncle. This couple are Larry's direct ancestors, as well as those of cousins Shannon and Megyn.
Shannon is another DNA match who was kind and generous in helping me when I was first starting out. We were fortunate to meet them during the period we lived in California.
Martin Sackett and Susan Booth. Martin is my 1st cousin, 4x removed. He is the son of the brother of Mary Elizabeth Sackett Wright. This is an example of a case of how finding the graves helped me build my tree. Martin was in my tree, but none of his descendants, because I couldn't sort through which of the suggested hints were accurate. Knowing his wife's name and data helped me identify the correct clues, and now my tree is much richer!
From one person to an entire family! Aside from enhancing our tree, this information is potentially useful in identifying future DNA matches.
Frank Longley and Mary Jane Wright
This was a hunt I thought was going to be straightforward. I knew that my 2nd great-grandparents were buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Detroit. I also knew that they were buried in the Hodges family plot, and I had a map of this area of the cemetery. Mary Jane's sister (in photo above of 3 ladies), Sarah, was married to a Leonard Hodges, so this made sense. However, when we explored that area of the cemetery, I couldn't find anything. Maybe I didn't have the right spot? Frustrating!
Where is the Hodges plot with Frank and Mary Jane? It was a Sunday, so the office was closed. We had a few more days left in our trip. Would I have enough time to return and figure it out? To boost our spirits, we decided to pop over to the adjacent cemetery and see the grave of a famous Detroiter.
Paying our respects to the Queen of Soul. She was a little challenging to find, because we were looking for a more opulent display. Aretha's resting place is quite simple. We enjoyed watching the documentary Amazing Grace last year, but we've not yet had the chance to see the feature film Respect? Have any of our friends seen that?
This was very useful! There were Frank and Mary. As well, I got some bonus information. Their daughter Nellie was also buried here. Nellie was an unfortunate soul who spent most of her adult life in a mental hospital (as I had been able to determine from census records). In addition, Sarah Sackett and Leonard Hodges are buried in this plot. But who is Frank Booth? When I returned home to look at the tree, I was reminded that Sarah was previously married to William Booth, with whom she had a child Frank. Mystery solved!
The woman then provided me with the full map of the cemetery, of which I had only had a snippet.
As it turns out, we had been in the correct spot. It's just that the Hodges plot was unmarked. With the full map, I was able to ascertain the location of my ancestors' graves.
All in all, I was very satisfied with my grave hunt from this trip. I found 14 of 17 graves I was searching for, an 82% success rate, and I found other interesting information along the way!
John: Marie, Kelly, and Franco
Unlike my genealogy work being about ancestors, my goals for John's genealogy was about descendants, specifically in his Impellizzeri line. Over the past few years, I had identified some members of the Grand Rapids, Michigan branch of Impellizzeris. I've been chatting with them over email for some time. On this trip, we had plans to try and meet two of them: Marie Impellizzeri Woodrum and Kelly Conrad Emerick (Kelly's mother, Mary Impellizzeri Conrad, is Marie's cousin).
Marie is John's 4th cousin, 1 x removed, with shared ancestors Giovanni Salvatore Impellizzeri + Benedetta Terrana (John's 4th great-grandparents and Marie's 3rd). They are also related an additional way through John's maternal grandmother Maria Milano, but that is very distant and far back.
.jpg)
Cousins. We were all amazed at how much family resemblance there was between John and Marie's brother Vincent.
The whole gang. Since we were staying in Grand Rapids, where Marie lives, I reached out to see if she'd like to meet up in person. We had originally made plans to go out to dinner with Marie and her husband Keith. However, Marie had to have some surgery and was at home recovering. We didn't want to miss the rare opportunity to connect, so they invited us to have brunch at their house. Keith was a wonderful host while we chatted and looked at the nice collection of ancestor materials that Marie has. Not only were the materials interesting to look at, but they helped in developing our tree.
These are Marie's father's siblings (and her grandparents). Before speaking with Marie, I didn't have a photo of her aunt Rosalia or her uncle Andrea, but now I do!
Adding these lovely photos to the tree, I realized there were 3 siblings, including Rosalia and Andrea, that I didn't have birth records for, so I did a search. I wasn't able to find Rosalia or Vita, but I did find the Andrea's birth certificate. Win!
Rosalia and Vita must have been born after 1915, the last year for which I have digital access to civil records.
Marie also had her father's Italian passport, his U.S. citizenship document, and the ticket from his transatlantic sail to the U.S. Fortunate! These were so fun to look at.
Marie's collection also included photos of her aunt Vitina and Lilla, and their families, back in Alcamo. She also had their wedding invitations. All of these items helped me fill out Marie's part of the tree quite nicely. We really appreciate Marie sharing her collection with us!
Marie's cousin Kelly Conrad Emerick lives in Indiana, but we were still hopeful that we could meet up. We tried a couple of times, but fate conspired against us. However, we have had the opportunity to video chat with Kelly, and we hope to meet her some time in the future, sooner than later.
Kelly has the same shared ancestors with John, Giovanni Impellizzeri + Benedetta Terrana. However, she is one more generation removed than Marie, so she and John are 5th cousins. They are also very distant cousins via John's maternal grandmother.
In earlier discussions, Marie and Kelly had told me about a Franco Impellizzeri, originally from Alcamo, who owns a pizzeria in Portage.
Kelly and Marie weren't quite sure how he was related, so I added him to my list of Impellizzeris to resolve. Now that I've identified the 'patriarch' of the Alcamo Impellizzeris, I feel that any Alcamo Impellizzeris are related somehow. After some digging and tree expansion, I was able to place Franco in our tree. However, I did not have time to reach out and introduce ourselves before this Michigan trip. So, when we were in Portage and decided to pop into his restaurant unexpectedly, it was a bit of an ambush.
Fortunately, Franco was at the restaurant and was a great sport, being taken by surprise and all.
While the lunch rush was going on, John and I enjoyed some of Franco's delicious food. I had pasta and John had pizza. Both were very tasty! After the lunch rush finished up, Franco sat down and chatted with us a long time. Fortunately, I had my hand-written mega Alcamo Impellizzeri tree with me to help with our discussion. John's and Francesco's shared ancestors are Giovanni Impellizzeri (b. 1689) and Antonia Pipitone (John's 5th and Franco's 7th great-grandparents), making them 6th cousins, 2 x removed. And, like Kelly and Marie, they also share an even more distant cousin relationship through John's maternal grandmother.
When we told Franco about our visit to Alcamo earlier in the year, when we met the Impellizzeri cousins, Franco said, "Let's call them." Okay! Fortunately, cousin Brigida happened to be with her parents, so they were able to chat. My Italian is not advanced enough to be able to participate, but I gathered they were chatting about the people they knew in common. How fun!
The Wedding!
Aw, these guys, so happy for our cousins!
A special pillow. Jim and cousin Dawn were ring bearer and flower girl at cousin Bernadette's wedding, and the ring pillow was made by Bernadette's mom, aunt Theresa. For Jim's and Billibob's wedding, Dawn served as the ring bearer, and Bernadette, along with Jim's sister Nina, walked him down the aisle. This tribute, along with a table featuring all the loved ones no longer with us (unfortunately, my photo was blurry), served as a wonderful ofrenda!
Every aspect of this wedding was classy and fun, just like Jim and Billibob. Jim's and John's cousin Justina made those beautiful biscotti. And, I love those shoes!
John made it out to the dance floor once with his sister Chris, but otherwise spent time catching up with his Ciacchella cousins. We were so busy going around seeing people, that I really didn't get to make many cousin photos. So this old one will have to do...
Ciacchella cousins and partners, circa late 80s. Can you find me and John?
We did not get a chance to talk with Billibob, but I got this nice shot of him waving to us during the reception entrance. We had a brief moment to take a photo and get a hug from cousin Jim, as well as a quick photo blast at the table.
Congratulations again to this wonderful couple!
Painting answer: Piet Mondrian!
Comment left elsewhere. So sweet. "What a wonderful blog, a digital scrapbook. Thank you for the wonderful section on the Impellizzeri family connection. Hope we get to meet again and share stories. I really enjoyed our visit, God bless you both."
ReplyDelete