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Category Archives: people

Chief Noonday

Posted on April 22, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery, people .

In a rural area between Plainwell and Battle Creek is the grave site for Chief Noonday. Marked by a simple wooden sign a a stone marker next to a farm field the great Indian Chief Noahquageshik ( known as Chief Noonday by europeans ) is laid to rest.

During the War of 1812, Noahquageshik was allied with the Shawnee chief and warrior Tecumseh during the Battle of the Thames. Tecumseh was killed in this battle, and Noahquageshik inherited his tomahawk and hat.

In 1836, after an especially harsh winter and a year-long outbreak of smallpox, Cheif Noonday signed the treaty, in which the Ottawa agreed to sell the Grand River lands to the United States in exchange for five-year reservations in west and northwest Michigan.

Noahquageshik died in 1855, and he was laid to rest in this spot in southwestern Michigan.

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The Cross on the Hill

Posted on April 15, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in people .

Across from the Rock for Fort St Joseph is a stone cross that stand up on a hill that overlooks the river. At the bottom of the cross is carved the word Allouez.

The stone cross marks the location where Father Jean Claude Allouez is buried after his death in 1689. Born in France in 1622, Father Allouez was ordained in 1655, and then sailed to Quebec. He travelled the area by land and canoe and established several missions in the western Great Lakes region. He was fluent in Native American languages and after the death of Father Jacques Marquette he was assigned to continue Fr. Marquette’s work.

Allouez came to Fort St. Joseph where he died. His final resting place was marked with a simple wooden cross. In 1918, the Women’s Progressive League marked the site with a stone cross bearing his name.

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Parady Park

Posted on December 2, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Parks, people .

Parady Park sits in downtown Nashville Michigan located somewhat between Lansing and Kalamazoo. The park is named in honor of Emory Parady. He was born in New York in 1844 and was one of twenty-seven men from the 16th New York Cavalry Regiment who rode with the two detectives tracking John Wilkes Booth after the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. On April 26, the patrol found Booth hiding at a Virginia farm. Two days later a fire was started to force Booth from the barn. Dring the fire one of the men had shot Booth in the neck. He was pulled from the barn and died a few hours later.  In 1866, Parady received a $1,365.84 reward for his role in Booth’s capture. In 1880 Emory Parady and his family moved to Nashville. He eventually moved to Oregon where he died in 1924

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A Campsite with a Grave

Posted on October 1, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery, people .

Michigan has thousands of campsites all across the state for people to enjoy the great outdoors. Campsite number 4 at the Ossineke State Forest Campground, south of Alpena, is unique. It is a beautiful campsite overlooking Lake Huron. Next to it is a stone marker for the gravesite of A.J. Michalowski.  A sign next to it reads:

Born 3-16-1839 Died 11-6-1865

Buried here in 1865, where his body washed ashore, he worked at the old Oliver sawmill. He lived in Ossineke. Drowned while attempting a trip to Alpena across thunder bay in a small sailing craft. 

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The Mansfield Mine Memorial

Posted on August 28, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in people, upper peninsula .

A few miles northeast of the Upper Peninsula town of Crystal Falls is a stone memorial. It is a memorial to the 27 men that died when the Mansfield Mine collapsed and the water from the Michigamme River flooded the shaft. All the men working in the mine on September 28, 1893, drowned. It is a tragedy that these men who were just trying to provide for their families died. This stone memorial in the Upper Peninsula is a reminder of the lives lost and the sacrifices made by earlier Yoopers.

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Philip Parmelee, Michigan’s Skyman

Posted on April 13, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in people .

In the center of the Lower Peninsula near the Maple River is the East Plains Cemetery. Next to a headstone is a small historical marker for “Skyman” Philip Parmalee. He was born in 1887 not far from the cemetery near the small town of Hubbardston. He worked at a machine shop in St. Johns and was skilled at building small engines. He moved to Flint and became and fell in love with racing cars while working for Buick.

In 1910, he submitted an application and was chosen to join the Wright Flying School run by Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright. After training, he joined the Wright Exhibition Team. With his blond hair, dashing good looks, and fearless flying abilities, he was given the nickname “Skyman”.  He was credited with the first commercial flight of an airplane, establishing a world cross-country speed record, holding the world flying endurance record, piloting the first aircraft to drop a bomb, conducting the first military reconnaissance flight, and piloting the first aircraft involved in the world’s first parachute jump.

Tragically his life was cut short in 1912 when his airplane flipped over in turbulence and crashed during an exhibition flight in Yakima Washington. His body was sent back to Michigan and he was laid to rest near the town where he was born. Few people know his name or his story but he was an early pioneer in the history of flight and his contributions should not be forgotten.

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Marquette’s Cross

Posted on April 4, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in people .

This cross stands on a hill south of Ludington near the mouth of the Pere Marquette River. It marks the death of Father Jacques Marquette. The exact location of his death is unknown but the site of the cross corresponds with early French accounts and maps. Marquette died in 1675 while returning to his mission in St. Ignace.  His body was buried near the shore of Lake Michigan. Marquette’s remains were reburied at St. Ignace in 1677. The cross was erected in 1937 at a park in the approximate location of the historic priest’s death.

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The Michigan Relics Hoax

Posted on February 24, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in people .

In 1890, James O. Scotford, a sign painter living in the central Michigan town of Edmore, claimed to have found a strange clay cup and carved tablets in the ground near his home. As he found more ancient artifacts he started drawing the attention of investors who purchased the strange objects with intention of making a profit off of displaying them to the public. By 1907 he partnered with Daniel E. Soper former Michigan Secretary of State who resigned after being accused of embezzlement.

Scotford would find the artifacts and Soper would sell them. They found thousands of ancient relics in 17 counties around Michigan. It was said that Scotford would take investors out and dig around looking for relics. when he found one he would let his investors or landowners remove them from the soil. Know one know for sure but it is believed he used sleight of hand tricks to partially bury the artifacts.

As scholars and experts began looking at them they seemed fake with multiple languages on the same artifact and details that were missing that should not have been. The number of relics found was also suspect. Scotford and Soper never admitted to faking any of the artifacts and maintained they were authentic to the day they died.

Because of their religious theme, many of the relics were purchased by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early 1900s. As time went on many experts proved that the artifacts were fakes. By 1960 technology could prove the copper used was manufactured using modern 20th-century technics and was not thousands of years old.

The church gave most of the relics to the Michigan History Museum where they were put on display in 2003. Since then they have been picked up and put into storage like the ark in Raiders of the Lost Ark. There is way more to the story than what I have written here, but I wanted to keep it a short read for my daily post.  It has been said to be one of the largest hoaxes in the archeological world and has brought into question, what artifacts found in Michigan are legitimate and what is fake.  I am surprised the story has not been made into a movie yet.

 

P.S. If you can find it, the documentary Hoax or History: The Michigan Relics is fascinating. I watched it several years ago on PBS. It shows up on Amazon Prime HERE but it is not available for viewing.

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Captain Walker’s Branded Hand

Posted on February 6, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery, people .

Near the entrance to Muskegon’s historic Evergreen Cemetery is a monument with the words Captain Walker’s Branded Hand carved into it. It also has a hand with the letters SS carved on it. It is a rather curious stone obelisk and begs the question, Why was his hand branded and what does the SS mean?

In 1799 Jonathan Walker was born in Harwich, Massachusetts where he learned to sail fishing vessels. By the 1830s he moved to Florida and sailed ships as a railroad contractor. Disgusted with slavery in the south he aided several slaves in escaping by sailing them to the British West Indies where slavery had been abolished. On his voyage, Captain Walker became gravely ill. His crew not as adapted to sailing allowed the ship to be captured where Captain walker was taken to prison and chained to the floor in a small dark room for months. After his conviction, he was sentenced to be publicly branded and thrown in prison.  Captain Walker had the letters SS branded into his right hand which indicated he was a slave stealer.

After five years in prison, he was released when northern abolitionists paid for his freedom. After his release he toured the northern states giving lectures on the evils of slavery and proudly showed people his branded hand. Eventually, he moved to the Muskegon area where he died in 1878. He was laid to rest in Evergreen Cemetery and a monument was erected in his memory still stands in the entrance proudly showing visitors Captain Walker’s branded hand.

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Sky Pilot of the Great Lakes

Posted on July 25, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in people .

A few miles north of the Upper Peninsula town of Hessel is the Rockview Cemetery. Reverend William Hainstock Law is laid to rest in the small township graveyard. In 1852 Law was born in Canada and in his late 20s he traveled to the Upper Peninsula to minister to the Lumberjacks. He settled in the town of Hessel and sailed to the many islands in the Les Cheneaux Islands. During a storm, he was rescued by the U.S. Lifesaving Service and stayed with them for a few days until the storm subsided. He got to know the men and the families living there and vowed he would support them through ministry. He collected books for the keepers along with toys and crafts for their children. Many were isolated from civilization and had little contact with the outside world. The reverend brought much joy and comfort to many keepers and their families. He also worked tirelessly to help pass legislation giving the men pensions after their retirement.

“Sky Pilot” is slang that sailors used for a chaplain. He continued his dedication to the families of the Life Saving Service until his death in 1928.  His great-grandson, John Kotzian, wrote a book about Rev. Law titled Sky Pilot of the Great Lakes. It is a well-writen book about both Rev. Law and the hardships early keepers and life saving stations had on the Great Lakes. I think it is out of print but you may still find copies of it at your local book store, library, or used copies on Amazon HERE

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