Bill Bennett has been in touch. Back when this blog began he sent some reminiscences about his Bennett and Dawson ancestors that inspired the “Ourstory” page. Now he has sent some photos, and I thought you’d like to see them.
Wiltse barn-raising, 1910
Wiltse barn-raising on Bennett Hill Road, Antrim County Michigan, 1910. Man 8th from the left (just left of the arrow) is Wil Bennett. Man 10th from the left, in the center of the photo with his hands in the pockets of his overalls, is Stewart Bennett, Wil’s younger brother.
In 1910 the neighbors gathered to raise a barn at the Wiltse farm. Bill identified his grandfather Wil and his great-uncle Stewart, but he doesn’t know who the other men are. He wrote: The Wiltse farm is located at the northeast corner of Bennett Hill Road and Mitchell Road.I don’t think the barn is standing anymore as it burned some years ago. . . . My dad had told me that Wil, my grandfather, was a very strong man and they had contests of strength at these barn raisings, he was highly recognized for his feats of strength,and, dad said he had very large hands. . . . Wil Bennett only lived three more years after this was taken and died at fifty years of age.
Bill and I hope that some readers might be able to put names to some of the other faces. (If you click on the photo you will get a larger version.) Personally, I want to know more about the fellow on the far left with the pipe and the smile. And that rascal in the center with his arms folded and his longjohns sticking out of his sleeves–the one who looks a little like Paul Newman–I want to know more about him, too. And the one second from the right, hands behind his back, legs spread in a seaman’s stance–who is he? Doesn’t he look familiar? Oh, I want to know all about all of them! Honestly, every single one reminds me of someone who comes into the market.
Barn-raisings are an iconic part of our history, and the spirit lingers on. The whole community raised the funds for the first fire engine, the first firehouse, the first ambulance. Community volunteers staffed those services, too. More recently neighbors flocked to Mark White’s farm to help deal with the Great Barn-Falling of 2008. I love these stories.
Bennett Hill Farm, 1911
Of the next photos Bill wrote: These were taken in 1911 at the Bennett Hill farm on Bennett Hill Road Also known as Town line Road. The one of the Horse and buggy has my aunt Rachel in front of my grandmother Lizzie Dawson Bennett and my grandfather Wil Bennett standing to the left. The boy holding the horse is uncle Arthur Bennett and other boy is unknown. (I used my rudimentary photo-editing software to crop and brighten the photo for the closeups.)
Wil Bennett, daughter Rachel Bennett, wife Lizzie Dawson Bennett, son Arthur Bennett and unknown boy
Wil Bennett, daughter Rachel Bennett, and wife Lizzie Dawson Bennett
Wil Bennett’s son Arthur Bennett and another boy
The other picture, Bill says, . . . is of the Bennett homestead with the barn in the distance, also taken in 1911. It was noted on the back of this old post card that it was ten acres of wheat and 43 bushels per acre yield. (This one I cropped quite a bit in an effort to show you the house clearly.)
The Bennett house with the barn in the distance
Bill’s grandmother, Lizzie Dawson Bennett, was a niece of George Dawson, who built the Yellow Brick House we were all admiring earlier this month. Now, don’t you feel like you know everybody a whole lot better? Welcome to small town life.
Torch Lake Views 
Anna Surface
February 25, 2010
What wonderful historical photos these are! I love these kind of old photos showing a life we can’t even imagine and the stories that go with them. I really like the barn raising photo. I hope you get some replies/answers.
Gerry
February 25, 2010
Thanks, Anna – I hope so, too! I’m going to hang a copy of the picture at the Eastport Post Office, too. (Um, not by the Wanted posters but over on the community bulletin board where the Wilkinson Homestead Historical Society items are posted!) You just never can tell.
Bill Bennett
February 25, 2010
Gerry, As usual, you have done a nice piece of work posting these priceless old photos with captions.These truely are that threads that bind our history together, and, you have weaved them well. Thanks so much!
Gerry
February 26, 2010
Thank you, Bill, and thank you for sending the photos.
Cindy Lou
February 26, 2010
I, too, love the old photos and stories…and you tell them so well, Gerry! Their faces and places hold tales that would keep me entralled even if I don’t know them. Thanx, Bill!
I’m an Air Force brat so moved every 3 years ago and married a local, Yooper-to-the-bone guy who’s never lived out of a 10 mile radius. One of my favorite things is to drive around and hear stories of ‘back in the day.’
Gerry
February 26, 2010
Cindy Lou, thank you! I hope you’re saving up all the great UP stories. I have some, too, about the lumbering camps of the ‘teens and ‘twenties. One of my Eastport neighbors remembers living there as a child.
(I understand being an Air Force brat–the moving around part anyway. I was an IBM brat. When you get the Yooper to take a vacation in Torch Lake Township we will have interesting discussions about these matters.)
Scott Thomas Photography
February 26, 2010
I know you want to know more about the people in the photos, what I would like to know is who took them? Cameras were not common place back in the early 1900’s. Expensive, heavy and cumbersome to use.
Thank you for showing these. Gerry, don’t every fret about learning about the past. It tells us how far we’ve come and teaches us how we go here.
Gerry
February 26, 2010
You make a good point, Scott. You’re right that cameras weren’t commonplace, but this little area had a surprising number of photographers, some of them itinerant, others residents in the region. I don’t know who took this particular photo, but I’m going to go email Bill Bennett right away to ask him if there’s a photographer’s mark. What a good idea!
The publication of local histories is something of a cottage industry in northern Michigan, and all of them contain a wealth of photos. Over in Mancelona there is a cache of glass plates made by Emil Johnson, who took his photos all around the region. The plates were headed for the dump until Betty Beeby learned about them and arranged for their safekeeping. Once I get over my obsession with the Civil War vets I might develop an obsession for telling the story of Emil Johnson.
kanniduba
March 3, 2010
I am so enthralled with these photos.
Sometimes I wish I could journey back to this time period, when family and community was the backbone…I believe our individualistic social mindset is a very sad state indeed. I feel very fortunate to live in a neighborhood of people who flock to each other’s aid whenever the need arises, but that community mindset does not extend beyond our two block radius.
I often think about my own home, which was built in 1898, and wonder at the hands that lovingly built it. Each nail, each board, each latch was touched by a master craftsman, and I so wish I could sit down and share a pot of coffee with that crew and hear their stories of this house raising.
I was fortunate enough to meet the woman who had the stewardship of our property for over 65 years…Gladys grew up in this house, and then raised her family here, leaving only after the passing of her husband. She was able to tour the house and tell us where missing walls and French doors once were, where the old woodstove used to stand, and the pride her father took in having the “first second toilet in town.” She told us how pleased he would be to see his good oak floors uncarpeted once again. (“He was spittin’ mad at me when I carpeted over his oak floors, but I was sick of washing them.”) We also had the pleasure of meeting her son, who enthralled us with his stories of naughtiness with the neighbor boys and games of “Cowboys and Indians” in the now non-existent woods beyond the backyard. “The neighbor lady was none too pleased to find out that we left her son, who was playing the Indian, tied to a tree in the woods for the afternoon!”
My family and our neighbors make new memories in this home, but I am always mindful of the history and love that is in the very walls themselves. I’ve started jotting these old stories down so I don’t forget them, and plan to add ours collected in a binder which will stay tucked away somewhere in the house to be found by future stewards.
(Lordy, I’m long winded today! Sorry! You just got me thinking of another time so I’m waxing nostalgic.) 🙂
Gerry
March 3, 2010
I enjoyed reading your love letter to your house and neighborhood! I lived in a community like that, too, when Rob the Firefighter was growing up, and it was wonderful. Our special treasure was the local hardware store. Ray Monnier was more or less retired–his son and grandson ran the place–but he was often there, and could look at a mysterious whatsis that had fallen out of some ancient fixture, identify it, and rummage around in the inventory to find the replacement. I think my house would have fallen down without Grandmont Hardware!
I’m glad you liked the barn-raising. One of my goals for the week, in between the day job and the other day job, is to drive up the hill on Mitchell Road, introduce myself to the generation of Wiltses who live there now, and find out who’s in that picture!