I have a souvenir from Hope School, Fractional District Number 7, Brush Ridge, Michigan May 27, 1904 The front has a picture, and I am assuming that it is the teacher, Dor Meade School Officers Danil Hull Director Will Anders Moderator Alcutt Bugbee Treasurer Pupils (age) Cressey Hull Ray Hull Fay Hull Martha Hull Edith Pranshka May Hart (15) Jay Hart (15) Rankin Hart (16) Ira Hart ( 8) Llewellyn Stamm Mary Stamm Hart Stamm Clara Stamm Sherman Harrison Glen Harrison Harold Bugbee Fred Bugbee Aldo Worm Willie Worm George Chase Lulu Chase Alice Pierce Barton Bailey Frankie Karns

Is there someone or somewhere that I could post a photo of my Asa Gates in Barry County in front of his store? The store was a farm implement store of some sort, I only have one photo, but I thought someone might recognize it. Thanks, Natalie _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx

The records are on microfilm in the probate court building across from the old court house. The clerks are nice, but they're also very busy trying to do their jobs and take care of current matters. They charge $1 per sheet to make photocopies, and they may not have the time to make the photocopies while you wait. After my experience last summer, I would rent the LDS films, instead. The Register of Deeds, on the other hand, was not as busy an office when I was there. They also charge $1 per page. --Lynn Kenney

Barry County Clerk 220 West State Street Hastings, MI 49058 Phone: 616-945-1285 http://www.sos.state.mi.us/history/archive/county/barry.html [email protected] wrote:The records are on microfilm in the probate court building across from the old court house. The clerks are nice, but they're also very busy trying to do their jobs and take care of current matters. They charge $1 per sheet to make photocopies, and they may not have the time to make the photocopies while you wait. After my experience last summer, I would rent the LDS films, instead. The Register of Deeds, on the other hand, was not as busy an office when I was there. They also charge $1 per page. --Lynn Kenney ==== MIBARRY Mailing List ==== To unsubscribe send e-mail to [email protected] put UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo!

Can anyone tell me where to go to search for wills and probate records in Barry County?

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Scheib Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/QFB.2ACE/764 Message Board Post: I am looking for info on my grandfather and his family. They lived in Hastings Mi. My great grandparents names were Cyrus and Mary Jane Scheib. They had 7 kids, I know Oscar, my grandfather, Gail, Eva, David, Edward and Velma. Some of the Scheib's are buried in Hastings. Thanks for any info Maria

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/5519/QFB.2ACE/309.4 Message Board Post: My father is Vern wilson Goodenough and he lives in michigan and if you want to know more let me know and i'll tell you Sincerely Darlene.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Rowe Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/QFB.2ACE/45.1 Message Board Post: I am also researching the Rowe family. I do not have a Joseph in my line that I know of. But I do have a George and Adoline(Addie). George was a son of Ferdinand of Franklin co NY. George married my ggrandmother sometime between 1850-1860 in Kent co MI. Their daughter Addie was my grandmother, b. Solon Twp, Kent co. Could we be looking at the same family somehow?

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Bruce/VanDam/ Townsend/ Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/QFB.2ACE/763 Message Board Post: I am looking for info on the BRUCE family that is on the 1870 Federal Census. Are any kin of these people still around. My husband's g-grandfather was Nelson who is one of the children listed. Myrtle Bruce-my husband's grandmother died when he was too young to remember much about her family. I would appreciate any info about her or her parents and family. My E-Mail is [email protected]

I would like info on the BOWNE family in Barry Co MI some of the allied families that married into the BOWNE family OWEN/S DOUD/DOWD TAGGART JONES GARDNER KENFIELD SPRAGUE SWEETLAND PRIDE TYLER BUSH BACON WILLIAMS BLISS thanks for any info Aaudrey Bowne Seattle [email protected]

In January of this year my husband and I had the opportunity to talk with a 96 year old relative who had Barry County roots. We had planned an anniversary trip to Chicago and took an evening sidetrip to see Stewart Cain, a third cousin, twice removed. I had corresponded with Stewart's wife, Grace, for several years and finally decided if we were ever going to go see them, it had better be soon. We had a very nice visit, lasting much longer than expected. It was after midnight when we left. This week I received a letter from Grace, telling that Stewart passed away last month. I'd like to share some information about this interesting man and his memories. I think you will find it of interest, even if you are not connected to the Cain family. STEWART D. CAIN Stewart D. Cain, 96, a resident of Glen Ellyn since 1949, died Thursday, Aug. 15, 2002, at his home. He was born June 6, 1906, in Carlton Center, Mich. He attended school in Hastings, Mich., and received his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University. He did his graduate work at the Social Work School at the University of Chicago. He retired from the Skokie Valley United Way as executive director in 1972. He is survived by his wife, Grace (Watkins) Cain; a daughter, Marilyn Cain (husband Robert V.) Brown of Wheaton; a grandson, Michael Cain (wife Kimberly) Brown; and three great-grandchildren, Graham, Aaron and Jordan. Services and interment will be private. Memorials may be directed to First Christian Church, 312 Geneva Road, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137. Leonard Memorial Home in Glen Ellyn handled arrangements. ----------------------------------- "Sojourn in Carlton Center" by Stewart Cain in February 1986 "The Little Thornapple River slides under the road bridge in Carlton Center and snakes to the Thornapple which flows to the Grand which empties into Lake Michigan that laps the shore of Illinois a few miles from where this typewriter is clicking. "Some two hundred feet north of the bridge, on the river's east side I was born in a still-there small frame house on June 6 in 1906 (6-6-6), to Theron Allo Cain (1879-1972) and Mary Usborne Cain (1881-1948). Their first child, we moved to Hastings that fall, to a rented house at the north-east or entrance corner of the Barry County fair grounds, close to the Grand Rapids Bookcase Company factory where Dad was foreman of the finishing room. "Dad had come to Carlton Center in Michigan's Barry County in 1884 from the equally small village of Carlton in Upstate New York, close to Lake Ontario, with his parents, Lymon Dillazon Cain and Sarah Shorten Cain, to live in a typical two-story frame house west of the river. They had been attracted to the area by Washington "Wash" Cain, Lymon's brother, who had taken up a tract of land east of Carlton Center. Lymon, always known as "Dill", was a house painter all his active life. "Dad spent all his early life in Carlton Center, with his brothers Clarence and Dorr, and sisters Gazella and Stella. While he was still a small kid, a church was built close to their house. As the steeple was finished, a haul rope was tied to Dad nd he was pulled to the high-up cross, a thrill he never forgot. Once, as a small kid, he was in Hastings with his father and saw the foundation being installed for the Barry County courthouse, the stones being broken and shaped by man-powered sledge hammers. The Civil War monument, already installed nearby, was never fully paid for, the story went. "With oxen and horses for transportation, Carlton Center was in fact a commercial center, with education and religion added on. The general store came first. Owned-operated by Bill McCally, it sold a variety of goods and foods, and was an impromptu gathering spot, with a pot-bellied stove in cold months. Dad "grew up" there and told stories of the place. It was a blustery cold day. Mrs. Bagley, a stooped old woman came in, a burlap sack over her shoulder. She purchased a load of groceries and had them "put on my bill." When she left, trudging to her cottage through the snow, a man said to Bill McCally, "There goes your money. Why'd you do it?" Said McCally, "I wish I could depend as much on you. I'll get every cent." And the day a big man drove Dad, a kid, away from the heating stove. His dad, my grandfather Dill, yanked off his coat, ready to thrash the big guy who backed away to the front door. "School--A one-room, one teacher building across the road from the store, looking north down a dirt road into hardwood forest country; today Usborne Road. The school's "kids" were from six up into the twenties, attending only when farm work permitted, not in planting/harvest seasons. The teacher, always a robust male, taught the three Rs with determination and discipline - and a wide leather pants belt. Here Dad met Mother. "The best thing I ever did in my life, when I asked her if I could walk home with her," he related to me some fifty years later. That was about 1901; they married in 1904. "There were two Protestant churches. The nearest Catholic was in Hastings. One I have mentioned, where Dad was pulled to the cross. The second was across from the store, east. In fact, the road was a T at this point, not a I or a +. Today, the second church has been taken to Barry County's Charlton Park, an ever reminder of early days in now no-store, no-school Carlton Center. "Mother? She was born and raised in Michigan's town of Shelby, on her parents' fruit farm north of Grand Rapids. In 1895 her parents, John Usborne I and Emily Burden Usborne, purchased and moved to a farm about a mile north-west from Carlton Center Retired from the farm abot 1914, they lived in a house on the north side of Hastings (still there) where John died in 1919; Emily in 1920 at the home of her son William/Laura in Grand Rapids. They are buried in Hastings' Riverside Cemetery; on the same lot as Maty (1948) and Theron (1972), my mother and father. As indicated before, Dad and Mother met at the Carlton Center school. "Largely, Dad worked as a painter with his father, and as a day farm hand about the village. It was probably in the fall of 1900 or 1901 that things changed. Mother was Dad's girlfriend. He was calling on her at the farm home. He and her brother William were hand cutting corn in a field by the village, likely as dollar-a-day hands. As Dad related it to me, "We were fed up." They decided to quit. They did. William went to Grand Rapids, eventually to become a career United States Post Office employe to retirement, living with wife Laura Harrison Usborne at 848 Geneva Avenue; three children blessed their marriage. Dad went to Hastings and the Grand Rapids Bookcase Company, where he became finishing room foreman, quitting about 1908 to become a farmer, to retirement in Hastings in 1950; Mother had died in 1948. They had three children. "The Usborne farm was largely a happy farm. The Usbornes were quiet, friendly, warm, generous people. John and Emily farmed their acres and reaped their crops. Their children--Bertha, who died at birth in New York state; Theron, the next oldest, who married and remained in Shelby when they moved to Barry County; Alexander, Lafayette, William, Mercy and Mary, and John. "Life goes on. Years gave way to years. Came 1904. On October 5 there was a double wedding at the farm--Mary Usborne and Theron Cain; John Usborne and Elma Verdie Knowles. The Theron/Mary first home was the cottage beside the Little Thornapple River in Carlton Center, where I was born; John-Verdie's a farm a mile north of Carlton Center, where they lived their entire lives. "Lafayette "Lafee" Usborne married Achsa Eisenhood. In his youth, Lafe was known at home as "Deacon," for, like his dad, he had a warm, kind heart, but a seldom smiling face. When his parents left the farm, he and Achsa remained for the balance of their lives. The greatest tragedy of their lives was the death about 1917 of their son Tom, a fine young man and student at Hastings High School - poliomyelitis, "polio". I contracted the disease a year later, but largely recovered. "Today the John/Elma Verdie Usborne farm north of Carlton Center is occupied by their son John III and his wife Betty, and their son John IV, unmarried. Carlton Center is there, a square at Usborne and Carlton Center Roads on Michigan's Barry County maps. Gone are the Cains and Usbornes of the 1890s, gone with the westward breezes that brush the waters of the Little Thornapple River."

Here is the updates for September: SURNAME,NAME,S_SURNAME,SPOUSE,COUNTY,CTY,DATE,INFO,DOCUMENT,WEBSITE ================================================================== BITTERMAN_EL,ELZER J BITTERMAN,HEMGESBERT_MA,MARY - HEMGESBERG,BARRY,,08 AUG 1953,---,OAP 12 APR 1998 - OBIT,--- MCRAY_GE,GEORGE FERRIS MCRAY,CLARK_SA,SARAH ANN CLARK,BARRY,,06 OCT 1867,---,---,--- STAMPFLER_MA,MARGARET ANETTA STAMPFLER,STANTON_FR,FRANK EVERETT STANTON,BARRY,,27 SEP 1883,---,---,--- TROXEL_HE,HENRY - TROXEL,WATERS_NE,NELLIE - WATERS,BARRY,,00 XXX 1900,---,---,--- Please let us know if there is any family connection. Jack & Marianne Dibean - Lansing Michigan Marriage Index Links http://www.mifamilyhistory.org/dibeanindex/dibean_county.html ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/QFB.2ACE/762 Message Board Post: Searching for my cousin Prudence Thomas who was born about 1918 or any of her descendents. Prudence was the first child of my uncle, Aubrey Kilvert Thomas, (who was born in Neenah Wisconsin and was the son of Thomas Thomas and Elizabeth or Lizzie or Eleanor Kilvert) and his first wife Gladys. Aubrey grew up in Cheboygone, MI. I don't know Gladys' maiden name or where she grew up. Prudence had a brother about 7 years younger (name unknown). It's possible that family lived in Cloverdale, Michigan for a while when Prudence was young (c1926?) and then relocated to Canada, but then again, maybe not.....

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/QFB.2ACE/760.2.2 Message Board Post: I found this info on William P. Bristol fyi if you have not read it before now. William P. Bristol and Deborah Marshall The neighbors were not close enough for the chickens to scratch up each other's grain. It could have been considered a bad omen when William P. Bristol's covered wagon tipped over and dumped part of its load while fording Wabascon Creek near Battle Creek. William and his wife Deborah Marshall were undaunted, however ,although that region of the Michigan Territory in 1837 was far more remote and challenging than New York. They continued on to a sparsely settled part of Barry County. As one account described the area: "The neighbors were not close enough for the chickens to scratch up each other's grain so there were no neighborhood quarrels." Before moving permanently to the frontier, William had hired an uncle to build a house and clear a field for corn, but the uncle abandoned the task after his only plow was smashed - the nearest replacement being 26 miles away in Marshall - and after a brush fire destroyed a load of hay and the hay wagon, according to local history. The couple therefore arrived to find no home ready. With winter fast approaching, William "hastily cut the logs, went to the neighbors and got help". One of their lasting legacies is M-37, the main road linking Hastings with Battle Creek. William was influential in getting what was then called the Western Road built. The new road passed through Johnstown Township, which he helped organize, and, not surprisingly, ran right by his property. There he opened a tavern, first in a log house and then in a 2-1/2 story Greek revival-style building with curved rafters, a dining room, ladies' parlor and sleeping quarters. The Bristols' tavern and inn became a popular breakfast stop for the Good Intent Stagecoach Line, which traveled along the Western Road. He also maintained the local post office in his home to service nearby settlers, and opened a blacksmith shop that could be used by the stagecoach drivers. In 1862, high liquor taxes and competition from a newer neighboring tavern, the Robinson House, forced William out of the tavernkeeping business, but he became a successful farmer. For many years the former inn remained a landmark in the now-defunct community of Bristolville, 15 miles south of Hastings. William's brother Elias also settled in Michigan before statehood. Elias originally chose Lenawee County, where he ran a tavern and fished commercially before joining William in Johnstown Township. On the political front, William helped form the township government. The first municipal election was held in his house, where 12 of the 13 initial voters present were chosen for public office. Over the years he served as justice of the peace, supervisor and "path master", a job that involved staking out new roads. He also hosted the inaugural meeting of the local Grange. From "Pioneering Michigan" by Eric Freedman, ISBN 1878005-23-5, pages 252-6

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/QFB.2ACE/746.1 Message Board Post: Hi Jane, This is Harold West son of Ruth Hurless who was the daughter of Sadie & Oscar. I have those 2 obits., I am not sure about Harry. Have lots of pictures. Please contact me asap as we are moving 10/1/2002. [email protected] Harold West

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/QFB.2ACE/760.2.1 Message Board Post: Thanks for the reply. My Grandmother was Clarinda Bristol Merritt. I got a copy of her marriage application and on it she listed being born in Barry Co Michigan in 1889. Her Father was William P. Bristol, born in Barry Co, and her Mother was Addie L. Bristol, also born in Barry Co. Not having their birth dates, I assume they must have been born at least 18 years or more before 1889. I found on the 1870 Barry Co census Charles A., Elias, Hiram, and William P. I also found 30 Bristol's buried in one of the cemeteries in Barry Co. Have you seen this list? Do you have any understanding who my William P Bristol is? Is he a brother to your line? I am also wondering if Addie L Bristol was a cousin of his, as that was the name given on the application and it was supposed to be her maiden name. Do you have any understanding about all the Bristol's in Barry Co? I saw a lake there named Bristol Lake. Any information you can supply would be appreciated. I want to learn as much as I can too. Clare Merritt

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Bristol, Waldorf, Bauer, Fuller, Case, Gibbs, Babcock, Finley Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/QFB.2ACE/760.2 Message Board Post: I am a descendant of Elias Hicks Bristol of Barry County, Michigan. (Elias Hicks Bristol and Albertine Crandall) > (William Edgar Bristol and Harriette Adelba Bauer) > (Ruth Arletta Bristol and George Chester Fuller) > (Mildred Arletta Fuller and Keith William Rumsey) > Mark Allen Rumsey (me) William Penn (some people think Philander was his middle name) Bristol was Elias' older brother. They both had an older brother Arnold, and several sisters. They were all born in the Washington township area, in Dutchess County, New York. They had Quaker roots from their mother's side. (Elias Hicks was a prominent Quaker preacher in southern New England in the early 1800's.) Charles A. and Hiram were two of William P. Bristol's sons. I'd be interested in corresponding with people related to this Bristol line. Mark A. Rumsey [email protected] Albuquerque, NM

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: HOPKINS & BARTON Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/QFB.2ACE/761 Message Board Post: I am seeking descendants of a Hopkins family who settled ca 1845 in Barry County. In the 1930 obituary of (Adolphus) Delos Hopkins of North Michigan Ave, Hastings, he was the son of Massana & Julia Barton Hopkins. Delos was a Civil War veteran having enlisted at age 18 from Hastings in M Co., 11th Cav Regt. Delos was survived by wife Harriet (Nodine), sons: William Hopkins of Grand Rapids, David J Hopkins of Marcellus, Leon Hopkins of Lansing; daughter: Daisy M Manning of Battle Creek; brothers: James W Hopkins of Hastings, Elra M Hopkins of Battle Creek. Please contact: [email protected]

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/QFB.2ACE/760.1 Message Board Post: William Penn Bristol is my 3 x great grandfather. I have been working on this line for a while. How can I help you?

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/QFB.2ACE/760 Message Board Post: Does anyone have any information on the Bristol family of Barry County? In the 1870 Barry County census, it lists William P., Charles A., Elias, and Hiram. Any info is greatly appreciated. Thank you. Clare Merritt