addiann - 2004-10-29 20:14:26
where is Scio relative to Ypsilanti? .... these are fascinating documents.* * * * * * * * * * * *
It's interesting to note that each man makes it very clear he will not pay for any expenses incurred by his estranged wife. This would never happen today. It would be assumed that if a wife strikes out, she'd be responsible for her own support. This comparison implies that in the 19th century, the husband was the controller of family finances and the wife had no such control, or independent income. That conjecture makes the apparently moneyless departure of these women seem all the more desperate. Makes one wonder. Google is silent when the 3 women's names are individually entered; they've indeed vanished, except in these old notices from their onetime husbands.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-29 20:16:30
Oops, sorry, Addiann, you beat me to the comments. Scio Township is just west of Ann Arbor and adjacent to it. I'm glad you find them fascinating...I sure do, too.* * * * * * * * * * * * addiann - 2004-10-29 20:27:30
That they have actually vanished because Google is silent is a startling conclusion (to this old person), but it is fun to conjour up stories about them. For instance, if they left in winter, (presumably they had been stiching some gold or some kind of currency into their hemlines for a spell) their destinations might well have been to the warmer climes? It certainly would be the case if I were to escape.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-29 20:30:41
No doubt their fates are mentioned in some old newspapers or archives somewhere...beyond the reach of Google. The mystery of it kind of haunts me.
Here's a map of the county showing Scio Twp. just west of AA:
* * * * * * * * * * * *
(spelling seems to be a continuing problem today...oh well)* * * * * * * * * * * * addiann - 2004-10-29 20:31:52
wow!....these are townships?* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-29 20:32:53
I too wish Diaryland had spellcheck; I have to resort to the dictionary kept next to my desk here all the time, even for such simple words as "knowledge" (I can never remember if that "d" belongs in there or not).* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura again - 2004-10-29 20:34:54
Yep, those are all townships...my boss, from the apparently township-free Maine, regards the Michigan system of townships within counties as a ridiculously baroque extra layer of government...it does indeed complicate things, as opposed to running everything on a county-wide level.* * * * * * * * * * * * addiann - 2004-10-29 20:35:19
so, did these townships serve as county seats might do now, issuing legal declarations and such? And I take it the third was from a more northerly township?* * * * * * * * * * * * addiann - 2004-10-29 20:39:23
we're thinking along the same lines but the medium's the problem! not the message.....I'm too lazy to dig out the dictionary, since I also have to dig out the on-switch to the lamp, but seeing those misspellings makes me crazy. Anyway....did you get these documents from Google?* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-29 20:41:12
To my (very limited) knowle[d]ge, AA was always the county seat, although it doesn't want to think of itself as such now--one gets the impression it would prefer to ignore the rest of the county, the Washtenaw courthouse downtown notwithstanding. As far as the townships issuing legal declarations, probably sometime blog commentator Larry Kestenbaum would know a whole lot more about that than I. I actually don't really know why the county was carved up into townships originally. It's a puzzling question, now that you mention it.
Yes, the third woman was from Whitmore Lake, which I believe is in Northfield Township.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-29 20:46:40
I didn't get the info from Google, but from the Genealogical Society of Washtenaw County's very interesting collection of old newspaper birth, death, marriage, and other notices collected online. There's a chronological menu at the top there; you can peruse by decade.* * * * * * * * * * * * addiann - 2004-10-29 20:51:15
that's also interesting news. I had no idea Ann Arbor was a county seat. Not that Michigan history, geography, or sports have hugely piqued my interest, I'm not a native, but I really do feel too ignorant about this state. Your maps, historical bits and pieces, and tales of roaming around are fun to read. * * * * * * * * * * * * addiann - 2004-10-29 20:51:52
cool* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-29 20:57:14
Thank you for your kind comment, Addiann. I'm entranced by old maps and spend a lot of time digging around online to find them and look at them. I've got some old maps framed and hung up here in my office, too, including a prized framed copy of the lovely 1825 Orange Risdon map, plus a 1902 Geological Survey map of Ypsi--they're fascinating.
I think people who love old maps love them for the maps' ability to make the viewer feel connected to the land in a modern-day era of evanescent connections, transcience, and impermanence.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura the bad speller - 2004-10-29 20:59:01
transience, sorry.* * * * * * * * * * * * addiann - 2004-10-29 20:59:32
did you notice the very next notice under BULChOLZ's notice about his wife?! * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-29 21:03:15
Oh my gosh! NO! But you did! Wow!
"NOTICE. BOARDING wanted for five persons in a genteel and respectable family in the Upper Town of Ann Arbor. My family is composed of myself, one daughter 17 years old, one do. 11, one boy 13 years of age, one do. 7. I would prefer a boarding place near some of the best schools. One large room and two bed rooms, or two rooms and one bed room, with or without furniture. Any letter sent to the subscriber on the subject, will be promptly tended to. L. R. BUCHOZ. Whitmore Lake, Northfield, Jan. 1, 1850."
good heavens, what happened?!* * * * * * * * * * * * addiann - 2004-10-29 21:05:45
it's wild isn't it! She walked,maybe burned down the house, leaving him with all those kids, .......... or, she threw him out, he stole the children.........or, he had her committed and had to sell the house because the institution was so expensive. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-29 21:06:34
Did the departure of his wife just crumble the whole household? Did he seek a new trade? I assume he was a farmer, given the agrarian times. Even with the 17- and 11-year old, who presumably could help with chores, did he find things undoable without his wife? Wow--what a provocative story! I never noticed that till you pointed it out--thank you, Addiann! Now I'm very curious.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-29 21:09:59
You suggest several intriguing possibilities...I'm dying to know. It was common for men to institutionalize their wives on vague complaints in that era, apparently. To give one anecdotal example, Cary Grant's father sent his mother to an insane asylum in England, apparently for no reason, while pursuing another woman...women were chattel in those days...Grant rescued his mom from it some 18 years later, I learned from NPR yesterday.* * * * * * * * * * * * addiann - 2004-10-29 21:15:29
wow. Well, ya know, it has been easy fodder for playwrights. And novelists. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-29 21:27:36
Apparently the [male] sending-off of women to asylums was seen as advanced, in that day:
[1875 speech [scroll 80% down page, to "The Common Law: Tradition & Stare Decisis. By Peter Landry"] by The Honourable Joseph Neilson, Chief Justice of the City Court of Brooklyn]: "It took a long time to learn that war was a foolish and cruel method of settling international differences as compared with arbitration; to learn that piracy was less profitable than a liberal commerce; that unpaid labor was not as good as well-requited toil; that a splenetic old woman, falling into trances and shrieking prophecies, was a fit subject for the asylum rather than to be burned as a witch."* * * * * * * * * * * *
addiann - 2004-10-29 21:32:25ohmygod!!! I'm sitting here shouting!* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-29 21:34:06
...as a splenetic 37-year-old woman who can be said to fall into trances and shriek on this tiny blog, I'm sure glad there isn't a 19th-century man around to ship me off to the onetime Washtenaw County Asylum at the present-day County Farm Park [shudders].* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-29 21:38:21
Ha!--again you beat me to the comments!--how funny! Hey--what's that on the TV news?: "Two vocal women miraculously escape commitment to local asylum. Film at 11."
(laughs).* * * * * * * * * * * * addiann - 2004-10-29 21:38:32
That's stunning. Not a prayer of a chance that a male would have ever been considered for an institution, much less a hanging, because of "shrieking", (she chuckled). That's an amazing piece of history. Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" took hanging - of women for being witches, and, too, for men who participated in witchy activities - for granted. That was mid-1600s I think. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-29 21:41:12
Yes, it's only in the 20th century, in this culture, anyways, that women emerged as individuals, not property. I'm so thankful I live in this era.* * * * * * * * * * * * addiann - 2004-10-29 21:49:46
by the way...did you notice the first sentence in the Justice's speech? Speaking of the 20th century...* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-29 21:56:04
He said, "At the sea shore you pick up a pebble, fashioned after a law of nature, in the exact form that best resists pressure, and worn as smooth as glass. It is so perfect that you take it as a keepsake. But could you know its history from the time when a rough fragment of rock fell from the overhanging cliff into the sea, to be taken possession of by the under currents, and dragged from one ocean to another, perhaps around the world, for a hundred years, until in reduced and perfect form it was cast upon the beach as you find it, you would have a fit illustration of what many principles, now in familiar use, have endured, thus tried, tortured and fashioned during the ages."
Please forgive my workweek-withered brain, Addiann; I am missing the point you seek to make; my sincere apologies for my stupidity.* * * * * * * * * * * * addiann - 2004-10-29 21:57:49
...the first sentence of the piece you put online here in the comments....beginning with "It took a long time to learn..."* * * * * * * * * * * * addiann - 2004-10-29 22:00:43
Not stupidity at all, of course. And I'd say the Chief Justice was a bit wordy in the opening sentence of his speech, if this business about the stone was that. A blue pencil was called for indeed.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-29 22:06:48
Yes, he is a bit windy. And as far as "It took a long time to learn that war was a foolish and cruel method of settling international differences as compared with arbitration," well, (sadly) we still haven't learned that, clearly.* * * * * * * * * * * * Larry Kestenbaum - 2004-10-30 00:55:44
Wow, a lot here to comment on. I guess I'll try to explain townships first.
Michigan townships derive directly from towns in New York and New England. Especially in New England, the town was the most important level of government, handling everything from roads to vital records. Counties in New England are somewhat sketchy by comparison, and indeed, Connecticut has completely abolished county government.
Generally, the further west you go in the U.S., the more important counties are, and the less important towns/townships are.
The Old Northwest (Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin) was divided up into six-mile-by-six-mile townships under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Most of those "survey townships" became governmental "civil townships", except in lightly populated areas like the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
The critical difference between New England towns and Michigan townships, though, is not governmental but psychological.
A New England town is a "place", in the Census Bureau sense. Every house in the town of Concord is considered to be in Concord, even if it is a rural area miles from "downtown" Concord.
For example, I have many thousands of politician birthplaces in my database, and very few of the New England locations are given as "near" anyplace, as in "born near Concord, Mass." In New England, you are either in Concord or you are not, and if you are not, you are in some other named town. School districts, telephone exchanges, post office addresses all follow town lines. It's very tidy.
By contrast, Michigan townships are not "places". Until recently, post office city names in Michigan were invariably of communities, like Whitmore Lake, rather than townships, like Northfield. And post office addresses, centering on some small urban settlement or other, serve territories which disregard township lines. School districts and telephone exchanges work the same way.
Pittsfield Township, just south of Ann Arbor, is a governmental unit, but different sections of the township have Ann Arbor, Saline, or Ypsilanti postal addresses; school district boundaries also split up the township.
In Michigan, villages, like Dexter, Manchester, or Barton Hills, are subsets of one or more townships. Until recently, Chelsea was also a villge, and its residents were also residents of either Sylvan or Lima townships. When Chelsea became a city, its territory was subtracted from the two townships, and Chelsea residents no longer vote in township elections.* * * * * * * * * * * * Andy - 2004-10-30 04:42:31
I am sooo voting for him! Thanks, Larry, I've been vaguely wondering about this stuff for quite some time. The best of luck on Tuesday.* * * * * * * * * * * * raymond - 2004-10-30 09:36:06
We put out a K. for clerk sign. Long live graveyards.
I've perused classified ads since I began to read. They are a kind of community pulse about employment, discards, deaths, and general culture.
Disclaimers by husbands regarding debts and obligations of wives used to be common, into the 1970s as I recall. I am always shocked to realize that women were permitted to vote only during the lifetime of my mother who still lives.
Ladies, burn your corsets. We males may catch up someday to societal evolution and burn our jockstraps. * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-30 09:37:43
That is very helpful, Larry, thank you for explaining what I knew really nothing about. I read your comments with great interest, and the one that especially caught my eye was when you mentioned the psychological role of townships. I'd never thought of that, but it rings true--there *is* a psychological role to townships, isn't there? But I can't really pin it down. I think it's more pronounced with the rural townships, especially those without a town such as Dexter to identify with (e.g., Freedom Township, which has no central town to my knowledge).
At any rate, the New England method of centering everything on towns seems a whole lot simpler and more efficient, government-wise. By comparison, our county's system of two dozen or so multiple pods of microscopic-level township/village/town government does indeed seem baroque and inefficient on a county-wide level.
It was fascinating to learn more about this all--thank you, Larry, for your helpful explanation.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-30 09:42:29
oops, Raymond, you beat me to the comments, sorry. Yes, my own mom was born just a few years after women got the vote in this country; it's quite recent as you note.
I read the classifieds in the Courier. I agree with your assessment of them as a sort of cultural meter. I learn about upcoming land developments from the legals, and there are lots of tragic stories about foreclosures and auctions of lots of personal property in self-storage units and what have you. A lot of grim stories passing under the radar.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-30 09:45:43
On rereading with sleep-foggy brain, I note that Raymond says that such "I discharge all debts" ads were common till...the 1970s? (blinks) The 1970s? My lifetime? Phew. Of course, the late 60s-70s is when the women's movement really got underway. It's remarkable what you take for granted when you didn't see it develop.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-30 10:17:27
...and Larry, when you say "a lot here to comment on," I think it's safe to say that everyone, myself included, would be interested to hear your thoughts on any other of the topics that surfaced in this thread and the many interesting points and observations Addiann made, should you have the time (that townships explanation was very interesting, and appreciated).* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2004-10-30 10:30:02
Funny, I had never been able to articulate why I didn't "get" Michigan, although a resident for ten years, and why I thought Michigan towns were sort of weird. Being from New England, I think Larry hit on it -- I don't really get being "near" a town -- you're either in it or not, and the whole township thing was always entirely a mystery to me. Furthermore, the grid that you can actually see -- no organic boundaries because of the landscape, tradition, history, the way cowpaths and native american trails formed -- always seemed felt disconcerting to me. I think that the difference in the psychology of towns and townships, old, organic versus a more orderly and planned survey system probably have a lot to do with it.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-30 10:42:32
Yes, it is very artificial to slash up land into townships instead of more organic or traditional boundaries, as you say, Anna. It reminds me that most of the major roadways of AA were originally Native American trails as most readers doubtless know.
"And Washtenong, whose vallies broad,
A golden harvest yields;
The home where once the red man trod,
Lord of those fertile fields."* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura again - 2004-10-30 11:01:49
(just an aside):
"More recently, the Huron River watershed was of prime importance to the Potawatomi people. By travelling the mainstem up from Lake Erie to a tributary that became known as Portage Creek, it was possible for large canoes to reach within 64 chains (0.8 mi) of a tributary of the Grand River, now called Portage River, that flows into Lake Michigan. Therefore it was possible to cross the southern portion of what is now Michigan with only one land portage of less than one mile. The different tribes of the Potawatomi lived in what is now southern Michigan and were able to travel by this route (Tanner 1986).
"The French explorer Rene-Robert Caveier Sieur de La Salle and his party are generally credited as the first Europeans to come into the area in 1680. The Ouendat (Wyandot) Indians, who lived in the lower portion of the river basin called the river "Cos-scut-e-nong sebee", or Burnt District river, meaning the plains or oak openings, lands, or country. However, the French explorers indirectly renamed the river. When they saw the members of this tribe with their 'bristly' hair, it reminded the 17 explorers of the stiff hairs along the spine of the wild boar or hure in French (Anon 1881).
"From this developed the name Riviere aux Hurons, which is present on maps drawn in 1749 (Jessup 1993). The translation to English followed when most of the settlers spoke that language." Link.* * * * * * * * * * * *
Anna - 2004-10-30 20:51:57I guess "having left my bed and board" was a common turn of phrase in those days.
I found this link: http://www.legendinc.com/Pages/MarbleheadNet/MM/Headers/Headers6.html
When her husband, John Prior hired a town crier to say, "I, John Pryor of Marblehead do forbid all persons to harbor or trust my wife Sarah Pryor, she having left my bed and board!," Sarah Prior shot back by hiring her own crier to say, "I, Sarah Pryor, do hereby declare that I have not left John Pryor's bed and board, because he never owned a bed and because I, Sarah Pryor, am the person who always furnished him his board."
I wonder if the story is true....* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2004-10-30 20:58:15
I'm obsessed with this now. Here's a good one:
October 30, 1796
This day I do acknowledge that I was wrong and am now sorry that I put my wife MARYANN in the public papers, by taking the advice of other people; and I do acknowledge to give her free privilege, as is due to a wife from this date forward. Given under my hand the day and year written above. EDMUND CHANEY His X mark.�
Witness: Andrew Duntin� �
������������ John Lochridge�
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 19
November 1796 � * * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2004-10-30 21:00:27
They just keep getting curiouser and curiouser...
Whereas my wife CATHARINE WELLS has made an elopement from my bed and board without any reasonable cause, and has also got into her possession a bond of performance from John Cockey Owens, for one hundred and sixty acres of land�which bond with other effects she means to put to some use not to my advantage�these are therefore to warn and forbid any person or persons from trading, dealing or in any wise bargaining with the said Catharine, or in any wise crediting her for any sum or sums of money or property, as I am determined not to pay or fulfil any of her contracts whatsoever. JAMES WELLS. September 17, 1796 N.B. She likewise took three of my children with her, which I forbid any person or persons from entertaining, harboring or concealing at their peril, as I shall prosecute such, as the law in that case provides and directs.�
Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 01 October 1796 � Whereas my husband, JAMES WELLS, has tho�t proper to advertise me for an elopement, which I never made�I think myself under the necessity of giving the public a true statement of the matter, which I am able to prove to their satisfaction. It is well known, that my elopement was by his own consent and free will, and the cries of three small children, for something to eat, which I could not bear to hear. He has not provided victuals nor cloathing for his family this five years past; and had it not been for my near connexions, we might have starved.�At the time he advertised me, I went, by his consent, to my sister�s and took my children with me, purely to supply the present need and stop the cry for bread, and returned home again before I knew anything of the matter. So much out of character has his conduct been, that its beneath any of the human species but those of his own character. He says that I have a bond for 160 acres of land; all the lands, and negroes and property, that he has was mine, part of which he has sold, and spent the money to no advantage to himself or family. CATHARINE WELLS. October 13, 1796.� Source: The Kentucky Gazette, 29 October 1796.� * * * * * * * * * * * * Murph - 2004-10-30 21:42:42
Laura (et al), you should try Andro Linklater's book Measuring America. It's wonderfully nerdy, and talks all about the township structure of Michigan, among other things.* * * * * * * * * * * * addiann - 2004-10-30 22:54:53
I just realized that their use of the term "advertise" for these kinds of notices is the same term for the same kind of divorce intent notice used in Leningrad in the mid-50s. I'm working on David Hare's "The Bay at Nice", (set in 1956) and one of the lines refers directly to placing this kind of ad in the Leningrad newspaper. And...one of the problems is that the wife, who wants the divorce, must get permission from the husband, who won't give her the go-ahead for submission of the ad. Hare's research for the play is excellent, so I would bet that this advertisement business is accurate for the period. So much for Communist equality - an issue also discussed in the dialog.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-31 08:59:24
My goodness, I turn my back for five minutes to cook a pot roast and everyone chimes in with a million interesting comments!
Anna: those ads are fascinating, especially the ones in which the wife shoots back. May I ask, how on earth did you find those?
Murph, thank you for what sounds like a very interesting book. That's just the sort of thing I enjoy reading. I'll look for it. Thanks.
Addiann, that is a very interesting observation as usual. I hate to think of the women thus trapped in bad marriages.* * * * * * * * * * * * Anna - 2004-11-01 08:58:27
Laura, Thanks -- I'm glad you enjoyed them. I just googled for phrases like, "bed and board without any reasonable cause" and a few variants that I found in the references that popped up. It seems this practice went on for a hundred years. It's almost like cancelling a credit card -- this person was authorized to use my Discover Card and is no longer allowed. It appears to me to be legal boilerplate -- something a lawyer would tell you is the first thing you have to do when you have a pending divorce.
* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-11-01 09:02:56
(laughs at Discover Card comparison)--that's funny. I'll have to try what you did--Google for those repeating phrases; good idea. Yes, they do seem to have a boilerplate quality, which also suggests that such rejections were to some degree common--common enough to have a formulaic newspaper notice to address it.* * * * * * * * * * * * Larry Kestenbaum - 2004-11-01 09:18:45
A few more points:
In the 19th century, it was typical and expected that the divorcing husband would keep the house and kids.
Another 19th century phenomenon: a state would build an insane asylum, and right away, there was a great movement to put all the local weirdos there. Not necessarily out of any malice, but from a tidy sense of "now that there's a place for him, he should go there."
It was thought of as very humane and scientific, but mental institutions in that era were unbelievably brutal.
Whitmore Lake is on the border between Northfield Township (in Washtenaw County) and Green Oak Township (in Livingston County). The lake itself is pretty much centered on the border, but the majority of the urban settlement is on the Washtenaw side.
The old reference to "Whitmore Lake, Northfield" is more specific than usual. Certainly nowadays most people would just say they live at/in "Whitmore Lake, MI" and let you guess at which township or county they're in.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-11-01 09:22:25
Oh, it's like Milan, which is also split between counties.
The asylum information is unsettling to think about, especially the use of the word "brutal." One wonders what went on in Ann Arbor's old asylum/poor house at County Farm Park (just the fact that it was not only an asylum but also a poor house is in line with your observation that the local asylum served as the local dustbin in general for anyone who didn't "fit in.")* * * * * * * * * * * * flower - 2005-10-12 03:15:14