Sebewa Recollector
Items of Genealogical Interest
Volume 15 Number 1
Transcribed by LaVonne I. Bennett


     LaVonne has received permission from Grayden Slowins to edit and submit Sebewa Recollector items of genealogical interest, from the beginning year of 1965 through current editions.

THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Bulletin of The Sebewa Center Association;
Volume 15, August 1979, Number 1. Submitted with permission of current editor Grayden D. Slowins.


WEST SEBEWA INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS:

Although the West Sebewa Odd Fellows had an organization prior to 1910 it was on February 15, 1910 that a charter of incorporation was issued for the West Sebewa I. O. O. F. Stock was issued and a program was started to build a hall, the same building that is the Patterson store building of 1979.

Here follows a list of the subscribers to the capital stock of the West Sebewa IOOF: S. A. Haight, J. M. Rounds, Frank L. Kauffman, Buel Austin, S. L. Kauffman, Oliver Prosser, Barney Oatley, Edwin Leak, G. E. Waring, Ezra Oatley, C. F. Harper, J. W. Evans, W. L. Munson, W. S. Hunt, C. I. Goodwin, Howard Williams, Charles Boynton, Harry Millstead, Fred Andrews, T. H. Reed, Henry Pierce, R. W. Goodemoot, James L. Lalonge, John Seybold, W. P. Fender, John Millstead, William Rubedew, George W. Greenman, B. Brand, Ernest York, Sidney Chapin, Dell B. Sherman, Charles Hough, John Williams, Leon D. Williamson, D. A. Creighten, B. N. Schneider, Geo. H. Ritenburgh, Geo. M. Hazzard, Francis L. King, Clarence Bessey, Fred Edinger, C. R. Waring, Sam Leak, Lewis Staples, Benjamin Lowe, Edward Demaray, J. A. Schetler, A. M. Baird.

NAMES LATER ADDED BY TRANSFER OF STOCK:

Frank Bippley, H. M. Brownfield, Seymour Gates, Jno. S. Hunt, Melvin Ingall, John Leak, Joseph Ralston, Byron Snyder, Benj. Brand, Henry Darnell, Adam Fender, Guy Harwood, George Gunn, F. M. Kenyon, Geo. Liverton.


Surname SHOWERMAN: 100 YEARS AGO a report given by Lucius Showerman showed that Sebewa Township had 9,282 acres cultivated; 3,424 acres in wheat that averaged a yield of 28 ¾ bushels per acre (1878); 1,068 acres of corn with average yield of 35 ½ bushels; and 100 acres of potatoes with an average yield of 89 bushels per acre.  319 acres were in orchard.  2,337 sheep were sheared.  579 horses were owned.  There were 585 cows and 826 head of cattle and 1, 082 hogs.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DEPOT by Samuel Kauffman

 (This is a composition by Sam Kauffman written for credit in a class at Lake Odessa High School in 1894.  Obviously his subject was the Lake Odessa Depot even though he identifies it only as “the depot”.  Same later taught school and was active in local politics.  The Kauffman family came to West Sebewa between 1880 and 1890.  Sam lived until the mid 1950’s.)“The depot belongs to the Detroit Grand Rapids and Western Railway and is situated between Fourth and Fifth Avenues.For my point of view I selected a position about ten rods southwest of the building.  It faces the railroad and consequently does not stand directly east-west but the east end is turned to the south and is approached from town by a sidewalk, which extends entirely around the building.

 It is about twenty-five feet wide by forty feet long and about ten feet high and has a veranda extending around it, which projects about eight feet from the building.

 The roof is what may be called a gabled hip, as it has a projection to the east and one to the west, but has a small gable at each end also.  The two main sides come to a point, forming a straight ridge of about thirty feet, which is covered by an excellent trimming.

 There is a small closet-like projection from the middle of the building about ten by six feet that seemingly projects through the south roof and forms a half cupola, which faces the south and the small gable, which contains a window in the form of a half-circle with the circular part going upwards and is composed of small colored panes.

 There are three doors to the south, two leading from the main room and one from the baggage room.  There is one window from the main building and two from the small projections.

 The tower, which is directly above the telegraph office and projects above the top of the roof about ten feet, is covered with iron roofing and tapers to a point and has a ball on the top, which is about one foot in diameter.  It is more the shape of a bell instead of a cone.

 Two chimneys project from the roof.  The one on the east side is about three feet east of the gable and is two feet higher than the point of the main roof.  The other chimney comes out of the point of the roof about four feet directly above the partition between the baggage room and main room.  They are made of red brick.

 The building is painted green and the doors are black.  The building is sided with lap siding and covered with common shingles.                           End

 

 

Last update October 20, 2021