Dearborn Memorial Day Parade 2013

The Sunset Rock at Snow Elementary School in Dearborn

Sunset Rock sits in the front of the Edward Sparrow Snow Elementary School in Dearborn Michigan.  There is no marker and perhaps no student inside the school today knows why it's there.

 

The rock was formed in northeastern Ohio.  Eventually, the land around it was farmed. Sparrow and Clara Snow had emigrated west from Massachusetts with their three oldest children in a covered wagon.  The oldest son, Sam, remembers driving the ox team, sometimes across the ice on Lake Erie. The rock was part of a wild landscape.  The Snow Family, mother, father, and nine children, all worked very hard to make a living from the farm.

Little Eddie Snow, like other farm boys, attended the district school but spent most of his time helping his family.  But he dreamed of being educated beyond the local school.  The government was eager to settle the lands "out West in Missouri and beyond."  They were hiring surveyors and he wanted to become one and go West.  

So when his work for the day was done, Ed Snow watched the sunset from this large rock, which he called "Sunset Rock."  And he dreamed of being educated and of traveling beyond Ohio.

Now let's skip all the years and all the hard work that led Ed and his wife, Lizzie, to Dearborn, Michigan, where he practiced medicine (his Medical Degree was from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio), managed a farm and raised two sons. They had built their dream house near the corner of Monroe Street and Beech.  

He loved his new house which his wife named "Temple Villa," and when his parents' farm was changing hands, he arranged to move Sunset Rock to his home in Dearborn.  Here his children and grandchildren played on it, and watched the sunset from it.  The rock was part of the family and well-loved.  Ed Snow died in his house in 1892.

His son Bert's three children grew up in this house, and when they married and moved to a circle of new homes they had built in 1915-1917 (at the west end of Morley Avenue), they arranged to move Sunset Rock to the common green space they shared.

And there, Ed Snow's great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren played on it and watched the sunset from it, and knew its history. As I write this, all seven of the great-great grandchildren are still alive, and I'm one of them.

When the last of the three houses on Morley Circle was being sold outside the family, Katherine Moore Cushman, who spent the first 6 months of her life with her parents, aunt Clara Snow and grandmother in Temple Villa before moving to the Circle, arranged with the Dearborn Public Schools to move Sunset Rock to the school named for her great-grandfather, Dr. Snow.

And there Dr. Snow's beloved Sunset Rock rests today.

Written on October 19, 2013 by Betsy Cushman

Dearborn in the 1920's and 30's

Ottie Remembers Growing Up in Dearborn

            Reading other's Dearborn memories reminded me of my first times when we moved to Detroit in the early 1920's, maybe 1924.  I don’t recall.  My Father was a Chef and worked at the DAC in Detroit.  In 1926 he and Mr. Lemon helped open the Dearborn Country Club.  He roomed in a white house across from the Country Club.  We lived in a rooming house on Peterboro.  I recall going to the Detroit Library with my Mother.  

            Mother and I took the street car or interurban to visit week-ends.  We finally moved to Gregory to a 4 family flat.  I went to Southwestern grade school.  My Mother decided to open a store on Monroe Blvd. and S. Military called the CozyCream Corner.  Military did not go through at that time.  I think it went to Nowlin.

            My Father stopped being a Chef.  He started to work as a night watchman at the Ford buildings on Oakwood & the twin ponds.  He didn’t do that too long as Mr. Ford would not allow him to have a second job as it was the Depression.

            We had quite a number of important or impressive people come to our store for candy, cigarettes, the soda fountain, groceries & the delicatessen.  My Mother used to make German potato salad to sell.  We also sold steak and other fresh meat.

            I remember Edsel Ford bought cigarettes.  Mr. Ford would not have approved.  Mr. Burns, Ford’s chauffeur would stop with Henry and Benson.  They would have a milk shake or soda.  Mr. & Mrs. Lemon would come.  Mr. & Mrs. Lovett also and some of the higher ups at Ford Motor.

            I wanted to go to the Ford Old-Fashioned Dancing School.  I was sort of on the wrong side of the track, but I did get to go.  Mr. Ford was there one time and I walked with him and naively asked if he knew my Father.  Of course he didn’t.  Mr. Ford fixed up homes on Edison and that area for people working at Ford Motor, as I recall.  

           I went up to the new Dearborn High School in the seventh (7th) grade so they would have enough students to open the new High School.  The basketball and football students seemed like giants.

            I worked in my parents store over the years.  We never had  a phone other than the phone booth in our store.  My Father finally had a car around 1930.  He made deliveries to the Bryants on your side of town.

            I had a great time in H.S. and had many friends on both sides of the tracks.  We knew friends in classes before 1935 and after.  It’s been nice thinking back. 

                                                            Ottie

Henry A. Haigh 3 - 1871 - Death of a Brother; Year-long MSU Expenses

June 2              A Public Entertainment was given by the Freshman Class.

June 18            Entry Concerning Dr. Thomas Haigh

                        My brother Thomas Haigh, whose death occurred on the above date in New York City, was a much beloved member of our family.  The event greatly affected all of us.  He was much older than I, but he was very lovable. A fine, dashing, good-looking fellow, over six feet tall, whose brilliant career, while it lasted, greatly appealed to my youthful fancy.  His untimely death in his thirty-first year was the cause of the first gloom of family sadness that came into my life.

June 21            On June 20 I left the College for home to remain two weeks.

June 21            Funeral of Thomas Haigh at Dearborn, at the Old Family Homestead. My Uncle Henry’s family from Detroit and many friends living in or near Dearborn were present.

Thomas Haigh

Note.               The following account, written in the hand of my brother George W. Haigh, probably in 1871, I found in an old box of papers at Dearborn.  I copy it here for preservation.

                        “Thomas Haigh, born at Waterloo, New York, on March 14, 1840.

                        His father is now a farmer of Dearborn, Michigan.  His mother was Betsey Williams Haigh, long since dead.  Her father was Thos Williams who came to New York from Yorkshire, England, in 1824 or thereabouts.  Richard Haigh, the father of Thomas Haigh, came to New York from Yorkshire, England about 1826.  He was born at Wakefield May 4, 1811.  His father was John Haigh and his grand father was also John Haigh all of Wakefield.

                        Thomas Williams the maternal grandfather of Thomas Haigh was a successful Woolen Manufacturer at Poughkeepsie, New York, previous to the Commercial Crisis of 1837 at which time he failed in business and never recovered.

                        Thomas Haigh was greatly influenced by the example of his Uncle John L. Haigh, a prominent citizen of Selby, Yorkshire, England, and also a successful Solicitor there, a leader in local affairs and in Church and Sunday school work.

                        Thomas Haigh’s early education was in Seneca Falls, New York, where he attended the Seneca Falls Academy under Dr. Johnson D. Avery and Mr. L.C. Beach.

                        In 1853 his father moved with his family to Michigan and bought the farm known as the Joshua Howard place in Dearborn.

                        Here Thomas Haigh worked faithfully on the farm until 1859 when he went to the State Agricultural College at Lansing where his old brother George had preceded him in 1857 the year the College opened.

                        Thomas remained two years at the College 1859 and 1860.  S.R. Fisk was then President and until Williams became President Dr. George Thurber was a member of the Faculty, also Professor T.C. Abbot who later became President.

                        The Civil (War) was coming on.  Thomas and his brother George enlisted in the Engineering Corps of the United States Army and served for a time in Missouri.  In 1862, the Engineering Company in which he was serving having been disbanded, he went with Dr. George Thurber and on his urgent advice to New York City to begin the Study of Medicine.  He entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University.  His medical education was aided by the friendship of Dr. George Thurber and Dr. John C. Dalton of Columbia College where he graduated, and afterwards became an instructor.  He commenced the practice of medicine in May 1866.

                        While at Columbia College he spent his vacations as an acting assistant Surgeon in the Army, being assisted in securing such service by Dr. J.C. Dalton whose brother was Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac.  In this service he had charge of Wards in the 9^th Army Corps Hospitals at Fredericksburg and Whitehorse, Va., and after the Battle of the Wilderness he was for a time in charge of the Fifth Army Corps Hospital at City Pointe.

                        In the winter of 1868 & 9 a number of Physicians in upper New York met Dr. (at) Haigh House in

79^th Street

and organized the Upper New York Medical Society, which has since exercised good influence in Upper New York Medical Circles.

                        Dr. Haigh met with marked success in his location in

79^th Street

.

                        But his health began to fail and he was persuaded to remove to Passaie, New Jersey which he did, Dr. Thurber moving there with him. But he never fully regained his health.

                        When a boy of 17 at Dearborn he suffered a severe attack of inflammation of the bowels from which he suffered at times and probably never entirely recovered.”

                        (The following seemed to be in Emma’s hand.)

                        “On the 18^th of Nov. 1870, by advice of friends, he went to Florida with his wife, thinking that a change to a warm climate might be beneficial to his health.  He was still ambitious and hopeful and felt very earnestly that there was much for him to do and that he simply must not give up now. And he seemed to improve during the first few months that he was there.  At times he seemed to feel that he might get well entirely.  His greatest trouble in all his illness was that he had struggled so hard and had accomplished so little.  He knew that he had it in him to arrive at a point where he could exert good influence and be of useful service, and he saw that there was so much that should be done.

                        But in the last of the month of May following he began to fail rapidly and he realized too well that he must give up all his hopes and aspirations.  It was thought doubtful if he would live through the voyage home.  He was very low and meek but was perfectly conscious of his state.  He lived for a few days after we arrived in New York.  We knew that some of his family and his loved ones would be there.”

                        (The following was in Bessie’s hand writing.)

                        “In character Tommy was from a boy always very upright and fearless.  For associates he chose those who were older and more improving.  Early in life, at 17, he united with the Episcopal Church; and all through his life, in his interesting letters home and in other ways he showed a deep tone of piety and noble thought.”

                        His remains are buried in Northview Cemetery at Dearborn.

                        Later Note.  In 1899 (July2nd) George, Richard, and Henry removed Tommy’s remains from Oak Grove Cemetery, the old Sloss Burying Ground in Dearborn to Northview Cemetery. The following is the entry in my Diary of that date:

                        We opened Tommy’s grave and took out all that was left of his remains, a few pieces of the coffin and the bones. The coffin plate was in almost perfect condition, bearing the inscription:

                        “Thomas Haigh M. D.  Died June 18, 1871.  In the thirty-first year of his age.”

                        We put all into an old chest, put the plate on the chest, fastened down the lid and brought it home.

                        Tomorrow Father & George will bury the remains in the Haigh lot in Northview Cemetery.

                        I feared this task might be unpleasant or gruesome, but it was not so. All the flesh was gone from the bones, but the hair and beard remained, and was in perfect shape as Tommy wore them. We almost thought that we could have recognized him from these alone.

                        The handles from the coffin we put in the chest.

                        Still later Note:  In 1905 after Father’s death, I had a family monument erected in Northview Cemetery on a new lot on the West hill.

                        We had Tommy’s remains again transferred to this new lot and their resting place properly marked by a suitable headstone.

Henry A. Haigh

Aug. 28           My sister Bessie and brother Thomas’ widow Emma came to the College for short visit.

Sept. 11           Many students are leaving the College.

Sept. 18           Commenced the Study of Surveying.

Sept. 30           Michael McFadden old resident of Dearborn died there today.

Oct. 8              Great Fire in the woods around the College. Students all out fighting it. Some in No. 12. Also Great Fire reported raging in Chicago.

Nov. 15           Commencement Exercises of the College took place. Success of the Class of 1871 proclaimed.  Pres. James B. Angel of the University delivered the Address and it was fine.

Nov. 27           Mark Twain lectured in Lansing on “Roughing It.”  Though a little disappointed, I was glad indeed to hear him.

Dec. 16            A further reference to Mark Twain occurs as follows:

                        Mark Twain’s lecture at Lansing on “Roughing It” was a description of Western life, the Silver Mines of Nevada and elsewhere, Utah, etc.  He said it was taken in part from his recent book bearing the same title.  I have read this book some. It is different but not as good, nor fine, nor funny, as his great “Innocents Abroad.”

                        The following were my studies at the College in 1871.

                                                Bookkeeping

                                                Algebra

                                                Geometry

                                                Geology

                                                History

                                                Practical Agriculture

                                                Surveying

                        The standing was kept by numbers.  10 was the highest. To pass the final examination 7 was required.  My standing was low, around 8 on the average. I failed to pass once.  That was in horticulture under Dr. Beal.  I made it up later.

                        Frank Gulley always stood perfect, or nearly so.

Dec. 18            Went home by way of the Detroit Lansing and Lake Michigan Railroad.  It was cold and snowy at the time.

Dec. 20            Went to Detroit and got me an overcoat for $22.00.  While there I called on Robbie Wainwright.

Expense Account for 1871.  The best part of the Diary for 1871 was the Expense Account.  It was fairly well kept and showed persistence and care.  It was entitled “

Expenses Dr.

and Cr. 1871.”

The following are the items:

Feb. 20            My fare to Lansing                             3.70

Feb. 22            College Fees                                      30.00

Feb. 23            Room furniture %                               1.70

Feb. 23            Oil can                                                   .20

Feb. 25            Chair                                                   2.00

Feb. 25            Bookkeeping                                       1.50

Feb. 28            Algebra                                               1.75

Feb. 28            Missionary                                             .33

Feb. 28            Lamp Chimney                                     .15

Feb. 28            Room key                                            1.00

Mar. 1              Share of table                                      1.13

Mar. 10            Postage stamps                                      .25

Mar. 10            History                                                2.10

                                                                                  45.83

April 1             Amount brought over                       45.83    

April 5             Note Book                                            .70

April 7             Lyceum Fee                                          .15

April 8             Pair of Slippers                                    2.25

April 8             Soap & sundries                                    .60

April 8             Hair cut                                                 .25

April 8             Corn popper                                          .25

May 1              College Cap                                        3.00

May 1              Repair Watch                                      2.50

May 15            Board – over Cr. For work               11.07

May 15            Straw Hat                                              .25

May 15            Envelopes                                              .15

May 29            Ticket to theatre                                    .75

May 29            Present for Mother                                .50

May 30            Collars                                                   .25

May 30            Paper & Envelopes                                .45

May 30            Soda drinks                                           .15

May 30            Papers                                                    .15

June 24            Pants 2.64 Gloves 1.25 Hat 1.00        4.89

June 24            Fare Dearborn to Det. & Return           .70

June 24            Haircut .25, Sundries .25                      .50

June 24            Fare to Lansing to Dearborn               3.65

                             Am’t forwarded                         $78.99

June                 Amt brought over                             78.99

June                 Collars, cuffs, re(?)                             1.50

June                 Soap & sundries                                    .70

July                  Church Contribution                             .15

July                  Misc. Expense in Detroit                    2.65

July                  By fare to Lansing                              3.15

July                  Dinner .50, Check (lost) .50                1.00

July                  Mending pants                                       .25

July                  Dentist                                                 1.50

July                  Picture                                                   .20

July                  Card board & ?                                     .50

July                  Dentist office                                      4.00

July                  Dentist office                                      2.00

Aug.                Present for Prof. Cook                          .59

Aug.                College Fees (Settled for by               0.00

                             Richard?)

Aug.                Pencil & Stamps                                    .15

Aug.                Share of Expense & Lecture               1.14

Aug.                Pair boots 7.00 lamp c.15                    7.15

Aug.                Expense to Grand Ledge                      .80

Sept.                Miscellaneous Expense                         .85

Sept.                Pd College on %                               10.00

Sept.                Dentist – filling                                     .75

Sept.                Set drafting instruments                     3.00

                        Amt. carried over                            121.02

                        Am’t forwarded                              121.02

Oct. 1              Paper & Envelopes                              3.25

Nov.                Photographs                                        2.50

                        Hair cut                                                 .25

                        Postage Stamps                                     .25

                        College Bill                                       12.00

                        Drawers 1.25 Gloves .75                    2.00

                        Vest 3.75 Pd  Mrs. Rockwell 1.00      4.75

                        Pants 9.00 Gloves 1.00                     10.00

                        Rubbers 1.50 Twine .50                      2.00

Dec.                 Fare to Dearborn                                 2.60

                        Harpers .10  ?  .10                                 .20

                        Hair cut  .25 & .25                                .50

                        Overcoat                                           20.00

                        Watch Repair                                      2.50

                        Coat & pants & Vest                        25.00

                        Fare Det & Ret.                                    .70

                        Overalls & Jacket                                3.00

                        Hat 3.  Shirt 1.                                     4.00

                        Bottle of Cologne                                 .50

                        Hair Oil .25  By fare .70                       .95

                        Shirt .75  Underwear 1.25                  2.00

                        Total Expense 1871                        219.97

Received in 1871.

Feb. 20            Cash from father                                 50.00

Mar. 18            same                                                      5.00

May 15            Cash from father                                 15.00

May15             Cash      R.                                            7.00

June 24            Order                                                     3.89

June 24            Order                                                     3.65

June 24            Order                                                     1.70

June 24            ticket                                                       .65

July 9               Cash – F.                                             10.00

July 9               Cash – M                                               6.00

Aug. 10           Cash – M                                               5.00

Sept.                Cash – F                                              20.00

Oct.                 Cash –F                                                 2.00

Nov.                Cash – F                                              22.00

Nov.                Cash  Wager                                        25.00

Dec.                 Cash – F                                                5.00

Dec.                 Cash –F                                               20.35

                                                                                  202.24  

The suit bo’t on Dec. was, I think, paid for by father 25.00

Expenses for 1871 were                                            227.24

                                                                                  219.97

                                                                        $            7.27