I have many pictures in my collection of people that are not identified. This one is interesting because of the clothes. If I had to guess it is from my maternal grandmother's side of the Mast family. She came from Mennonite and Church of the Brethren ancestry. Any thoughts?
Journey to the Past
A family history blog covering the surnames of Glover, Fredrick, Watt, Graf and more. Take a genealogy journey with me.
21 September 2022
19 September 2022
The Oregon Death of Jean Watt Kellen
Researching one's family can bring excitement
when you find what you are looking for, but it can bring sadness when the
record shows unexpected details. Previously, I wrote about Baby Kellan, the son or
daughter of Arthur Kellan and Jean Ethel Watt Kellan.
While researching my paternal great-aunt, Jean Ethel Watt Kellan, her death certificate1 of 4 January 1914, was one day after Baby Kellan's birth. I had such a feeling of sadness knowing that Baby Kellan would grow up without his mother.
Jean Ethel Watt was the daughter of David Watt and Katherine McGee Watt. She was born 4 March 18862, in Marquette, Marquette, Michigan. She married Arthur Kellan 12 October 19103, in Marquette, Marquette, Michigan. Sometime after October of 1910, Arthur and Jean found themselves in Portland, Multnomah, Oregon.
Jean died at Rose City Sanatorium in Portland, Oregon at the age of twenty-seven. Are you wondering what happened to Baby Kellan and his father? Check back for that story.
1Archives, "Oregon, U.S.,
State Deaths, 1864-1968," database, Ancestry.com, entry for Jean
Ethel Kellan; death certificate number 19, 1914.
2 "Michigan Marriages
1868-1925," volume 3, page 23, record number 312.
3 Ibid.
16 September 2022
What Happened to Baby Kellan?
Note to readers: Please do not download or share this picture, for your own copy, seek permission from https://vintageportland.wordpress.com/tag/rose-city-sanitarium/
My recent research has taken me to the family of Arthur Kellan and Jean Ethel Watt. Jean is my paternal great aunt. She died at the age of twenty-seven. My dad never knew her, but he had fond memories of his Uncle Art. Art was the person who took my dad to his first Detroit Tigers game.
Arthur Kellan and Jean Watt Kellan had a son, born on 3 January 1914 at Rose City Sanitarium, Portland, Oregon. In all my research I never came across the fact that they had a child until I found Baby Kellan's birth information in the state of Oregon.
14 September 2022
12 September 2022
The Marriage of Samuel D. Breed and Orpha A. Fenn in 1841
One hundred eighty-one years ago today, Orpha Ann Fenn, the daughter of Daniel Fenn and Huldah Rowley Fenn, married Samuel Dwight Breed on 12 September 1841 in Grass Lake, Michigan. Michigan marriages were not recorded at this early date and I needed to look for other records to confirm this date. One such secondary source record was on page 16 of The 1900 Congregational Yearbook. In addition to marriage information a biography of Samuel Dwight Breed was provided. The transcription is
BREED, SAMUEL DWIGHT, son of Reuben and Martha (Everett) Breed, was born in Volney, N. Y., 1820, Nov. 3. Grass Lake, Mich.
Academy. Chicago Seminary, 1859.
Ordained, Augusta,now Whittaker, Mich., 1862, Feb. 19; acting pastor there, 1862-7 ; Grand Blanc, 1867-9; New Haven and Chesterfield, 1869-70; Napoleon, 1870-2; Rochester, 1872-5; without charge, Ypsilanti, 1875-85; Ann Arbor, after.
Married, 1841. Sept. 12, Orpha Ann, daughter of Daniel and Huldah (Rowley) Fenn, of Shoreham, Vt. She died, 1846, Feb. 12. One son died in the civil war.
Married, 1848, Sept. 14, Amelia Eliza, daughter of Amos and Laura (Mills) Bosworth, of Sandisfleld, Mass., who died, 1893, Sept. 28. Two daughters and two sons, the latter being Revs. Dwight P. and Merle A. Breed.
Died of arterial sclerosis, 1899, Aug. 16, aged 78 years, 9 months, and 13 days. '
My next step in my research would be to look for Grass Lake church records. I know in 1836 there were three churches in Grass Lake, Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian, which the later became a Congregational Church. Currently, it is the Federated Church of Grass Lake.
'States, General Council of the Congregational and Christian Churches of the United. The Congregation Yearbook: 1900. Boston: Congregational Publishing Society,. Digital images. Google Books. https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=9BRKAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PP1 : 2015.
08 September 2022
The Birth Anniversary of Estella Fenn Shaw 175 Years Ago
07 September 2022
Can You Identify These Pictures at the Fort Custer Library?
Some of my readers know that I volunteer at the Fort Custer Historical Society library. It isn't open to the public because my helper, Jan, and I are still in the process of inventorying things.
Our latest project is working on the thousands of photographs in the library. We grouped them by war or subject. If a photo didn't have any identifying information, we scanned it using Google Lens. The photographs below are the ones needing identification.
This is where I need your help. If you can identify anyone, anyplace, or anything about the photograph, please leave a comment below or email me at brae957@gmail.com. If you know which war it was, which arm of service it was, or even the smallest hint, I would be grateful. Thanks for your help. I will update the photographs as I get more information.
The numbers are under the pictures.
Tritten Store in Brethren, Michigan
An undated photograph of Brethren, Michigan.
I never visited my aunt and uncle, Kate and Carl Tritten, when they had the store on N. Coates Hwy, in Brethren, Michigan. My stories come from my mother, Audrey, who went to live with her sister, Kate, at the age of nine.
She tells stories of having to clean and polish the wood floors of the store, pumping gas, babysitting Kate and Carl's children, Katherine Marie and John, stocking shelves, and waiting on people. I don't have a picture of the inside of the store, but I have a few that were taken outside of the store.