This information was OCR text scanned from SDHS newsletter supplements. A binder of original paper copies is catalog item 2023.50.01

Source: SDHS newsletter pg. 276-278 Visiting Grandma Ames and Aunt Rena [Barry Johnson, in researching his house, received a letter written some time ago by Mary (Byron) Genrits that refers to the Saugatuck house on the hill on Main Street when it was owned by the Ames family. Here are excerpts of local historical interest] Grandma and Grandpa Ames came from Ganges to Saugatuck. I believe they floated some of their furniture on the Kalamazoo river. There were a lot of stray Indians in the territory. Several tribes were mentioned by Mr. Sheridan who wrote Saugatuck Through the Years, 1830 to 1980. The Pottawattamies were mentioned and the Ottawas mostly, but there were a string of others I never hear of. Why am I talking about Indians? They sneak into my thoughts. When Grandma and Grandpa Ames and family moved into the house on the hill, I don't know if they rented it or how long they stayed, it was a one story house. The living room area or parlor as it was called, was a saloon for the Indians. I don't know how long they stayed there but they bought some farming property. A Mr. Comstock who came from the east bought property all around that area but finally settled down to be a gentleman farmer near the end of the 19th century and later sold the farm to the famous Belvedere farms (from Mr. Sheridan's book). The Comstock family was across from Grandpa's farm. Mother met Dad while he was working at the Comstock farm. Now we come to my grandmother Mary Ellen Davis Ames (Mrs. Richard Ames). Grandfather named me after her. When I was 16 we found out my father's mother's name was Mary Ellen. I always thought they were still on the farm when he died in 1910. I was a year old. I'm not sure as to the date they left the farm and bought back the Saugatuck house. I distinctly remember when I was quite small (4 or 5, 1912 or 1913) of standing on the east side of the house with a group of people. I stood close to Mother. There was Grandma, Aunt Rena and Mrs. Grenaugh (probably, Mrs. Greenhalgh) who lived on the east side of Grandma, next door. There was a lot of activity. They added on to the east side kitchen porch, put up a roof and added a window to the linen closet which they enlarged when attaching the wood shed. They added the coal and wood bins. There was a window on the west side of the shed (today we call it a utility room). That room was not finished on the inside, just the 2 x 4's and siding. There was a door at the back that led to the 2 holer at the foot of the stairs. They removed the privy from the garden end of the plot. I can see Aunt Rena now planting a rose bush trellis in back of the privy. They raised the roof on the main part of the house and put a stairway in a small room behind the parlor. We called it the library as there were several cabinets of books. At the bottom of the stair case was a large turkey red upholstered chair with carved ends on both arms. Delia got that chair and she told me that Stan had it now. I used to sit there and day dream when I was around 6 or 7 visiting Grandma. I really loved the old chair and I'd sit and read and day dream for hours. When I lived with Aunt Rena for 2 summers when I was 16 or 17 and worked at Parish's Drug Store, behind the soda fountain, I earned $15 a week. Same as my father made at the Interurban office. Aunt Rena saved my salary and gave it to father. It paid for my school books, etc. When I was 6 I stayed with Grandma for several days and on one of the evenings she took me to a church social banquet at the Butler Hotel. Mrs. Huff, the wife of the hardware store owner, and her daughter, my age, attended too. I wasn't feeling very well, coming down with a cold. Grandma bought me rock candy for the cold. Of course at the banquet I played with the Huff girl. It so happened that the cold was the forerunner of the measles and the Huff girl caught them from me. The outcome was Mrs. Huff was so angry she wouldn't speak to Grandmother from then on. Grandmother used to take me to visit her friends. Two of them were Mr. & Mrs. Aliber. He owned a grocery store on Main Street at the foot of the hill that Grandma lived on. They lived above the store. I remember they had so many pretty glass vases etc. Mrs. Aliber died. They had one son, a good looking boy. Aunt Rena was only home during spring break and summer vacation when schools were closed. She supported Grandma. She put a certain amount in the bank for Grandma to draw on. Grandma had a lady friend, Mrs. Kantner, who stayed with her one winter and I guess after Mrs. Aliber died they visited Mr. Aliber frequently taking him fresh baked cookies and bread. I guess one winter they baked up a storm, bringing baked goods to friends. They went through a lot of Grandma's account, which Aunt Rena stopped. Aunt Rena was afraid Grandma had designs on Mr. Aliber. If she did they came to naught. When Grandma started ailing, she came to Holland and stayed with us, where she died in 1918. I was 9 years old. Aunt Rena inherited Grandma's estate. She lived there every summer except when she took trips and went to summer school in Battle Creek. I remember we went to visit her there. During the holidays she came to stay with us. It was always exciting expecting her to arrive by train. Mother's and Aunt Rena's cousin, Clarence Davis from Ganges, came to see us every summer. He had an apple orchard in Ganges and in the winter he lived in Alabama where he had a pecan grove. When he came back to Ganges he always bought us a big bag of pecans. Boy, those were good. During the summer he brought us apples from the Ganges farm. I liked the white sweet ones we got during the summer. Mother had a friend, Delis Pride. In fact Mrs. Pride and her sister Mrs. Whipple were very good friends of the family, especially Mrs. Pride. We called her Aunt Dee. My sister Delis was named after her. They owned a summer hotel in Saugatuck. I remember one spring break when Aunt Rena came to Holland and took me to Saugatuck for a day to take the ferry across to Mt. Baldhead. We went flower picking all through the woods. May flowers, violets and trillium. When we came back we visited Aunt Dee and she gave me a cute little glass vase, no a basket. It broke on the journey to Florida. I was heartbroken because I always cherished that little glass basket. When Aunt Dee and Mrs. Whipple sold the hotel when they got older they moved to a house just off Main Street behind the gift shop. There was a little square there. They opened up a nursing home as there was no hospital in Saugatuck. The population was only around 500 people. I guess they started it on the advice and help of one of the doctors for his patients. I can't recall his name. [probably Dr. Walker] They ran the home until they died. Aunt Dee went first. Mrs. Whipple had a daughter Julia who was a friend of my sister Delis. They kept in touch with each other for years. In fact when I was retired and went to Saugatuck one weekend to look at houses I found no grocery in town so that was that, but I went to a little book and paper store that Julia and her husband ran. I inquired about her, but she was in a hospital in Douglas and since l had no transportation I didn't see her. When my sister Rena stayed in Saugatuck one winter she did a lot of sewing for Aunt Dee. Grandma's house had a parlor which was seldom used. Then there was the sitting, dining room. There was a mahogany drop leaf table that, when you used extra leaves, would seat 12 easily. It was oval shaped. The drop leaf table sat against a wall and had a runner, a long table scarf, of pieced velvet pieces. The seams were covered with bright silk floss embroidery work. The velvet was in dark color. There was a lamp and small knick-knacks on the table. Grandma had a cane rocking chair and there was another little rocker and a day bed. Sometimes they had the sewing machine in there and sometimes they had it in the kitchen. There was a small bedroom, just big enough for a bed. They had the Jenny Lind bed and a large chest with a large hanging cupboard for grandma's knick-knacks. There was no closet, only pegs on the wail for her clothes. I remember loving to explore the cupboard. There was a powder horn that one of the nephews used in the civil war. A hand made bag made of dark brown seeds and lots more that I cannot recall. The Jenny Lind bed was moved upstairs to the guest room. A 3l4 bed was bought so Grandma would have more room. The pantry was next to the bed room. The kitchen was a large cheerful room that was always used for the family dining room. There was a cherry drop leaf table that seated 4 or 6 in a pinch. I inherited both tables and when I moved to Florida I sent them to my daughter Alice in California. Grandma had a rocking chair in the kitchen too. There were 2 windows and 4 doors. Two went directly outside, east and west. There was a large wood burning stove and a sink with a pump. City water and sewer came later and the bathroom was installed. I'll just remember her comfortable porch swing. It was on her screened in front porch. My sister Rena and her husband Peter loved to sit out there on a summers evening when they came for a visit. The summers I lived there I'd occupy it in a horizontal position and listen to the summer sounds. The birds, the bees, the Katy Dids and the crickets and squirrels chattering. It was a place to day dream. I guess I've finally come to the end. I’ve certainly rambled on. Love to every one - Aunt Mary