Don Grinnell in France 1918

 Donald Ivan Grinnell served in the United States Army in France during the First World War.  He spent Christmas overseas, but returned to his home in Bellevue, Michigan the following January.  Don was assigned to the 56th Engineers of the American Expeditionary Forces, he was 23 years old and had rarely been away from the comfort of his parents home, just south of Bellevue.  His older brother Harry was also stationed in France, serving in a hospital facility caring for the wounded.

This letter is especially revealing.  In it he tells of the close calls and details of his deployment  that a son would only share with his father or a brother.  I doubt very much that he would have wanted his mother to know such details.

Almost 100 years ago this season, Don was spending his holiday's away from his family surrounded by perhaps a strange and unfamiliar landscape.  So, with the coming of Christmas Day, I hope we remember all those who, past and present, sacrifice so much for us all.

Envelope states: Dad's X-Mas Letter

To Mr. James T. Grinnell

      Bellevue,

            Mich

                   USA

++++ Text of Letter ++++

   Langres, France

Nov[ember] 24, 1918

Dear Father,

           Well as this is Fathers day I will write you a letter and as the sensorship is raised maby [maybe] I can say a little more than usual.  I am well as usual and hope this finds you folks better than the last I heard from you.  I was very sorry to hear of the sickness in Amos's family and have worried about them and mother ever since and am anxiously waiting for a letter to arrive.  Well I will try and tell you some of my experiences.  I left Washington  July 8 for New York.  There were three companies of us each 250 men.  We arrived at New York Wednesday morning the ninth and imediatly went aboard but the boat did not leave the docks until noon Thursday then we sailed out past the statue of Liberty and anchored in the harbor until just before dark when we pulled anchor and put to sea and by dark, land was out of sight.  After we were at sea a day or two we begin  to pick up other transpoorts and finaly a battleship and one destroyer joined us making in all fourteen boats in the convoy.  Ours was about the smallest boat and had only about 11 or 12 hundred men aboard.  On the eighteenth there were about ten submarine chasers joined us and escorted us to the port.  In all we were eleven days on the way, we had a level sea all the way but some of us were sick and dident care what happened although we did not sight a sub, we kept a watch all the way and had boat drill every day.  On Sunday  July 21 we anchored in the harbor at Brest France and were ferried ashore.  We marched through Brest and about three miles into the country where we pitched our little tents in the mud and stayed for three days, then one morning at two oclock we marched back to Brest got on a train of little French horsecars and after a three day and three nights ride we landed at eleven oclock at night in Langres where we were hauled in trucks to a little town of Longeau.  We stayed at this place about a week then marched back through  Langres about seven miles to my present camp at Champigny about a mile from Langres.  After nearly a week here we marched to the train at 5 o'clock one morning and left for the British Front, we had a ride of about three days and passed through Troys, Parris, Raven, and landed at Amien in the Northern part of France on August 10th.  At that time the front lines were just outside of Amiens which was then under shell fire.  The night we passed through Paris there was an air raid and we could hear the allarms and see the city as it was put in darkness.  When we arrived at the front our company was divided up among the five British Armies our platoon was divided among the 4th Army and sent out about five men to a search light section and that was our first experience of the war.  The section which I was with had about fiften men one searchlight and two motor trucks.  The big advance began on August 8 and we followed it until October 22.  We would have to move nearly every day.  When we moved we would pack our light and all equipment on the trucks and move about three miles or sometimes as far as ten miles, pick out or location, dig an implacement for our light, set up our tents and be ready for action by dark.  We stood guard all night long, each man doing about two hours and when the guard heard an plain [airplane] aproaching, which he could distinguish by the sound of its motor, he would call out the other men and when the plain was near enough which is anywhere up to five or six miles we would turn the light on and search the heavens for him.  It is very hard to find a plane with a search light as one has nothing but the sound to direct the light, but when a hostile plane appears on the seen the whole heavens seem to be split by searchlight beams because there are so many lights looking for him.  When once found all the lights within range are turned upon him and he can be seen very planely.  Then the antiaircraft guns begin to fire and the air is full of shell bursts.  Usually the enemy is so stunned or scared that he drops all of his bombs and imeadiatly begins to retreat unless he has an extra strong nerve or is hit by the shell fire.  Sometimes an enemy intent upon gaining his object or at least doing some damage will continue on after being spoted by a light and will drop his bombs at a searchlight and machine gun them but he usualy does little damage to them for they are safely dug in the ground again sometimes he will drop his bombs among some troops, hhorses, on an amunition dump or an air droom in that case great damage is done.  I have had them drop bombs all around our light but never hurt any of us also I have had them fire on us with their machine guns and if he was within range we did the same thing but usualy they fly too high for a machine gun.  The best method of bringing them down seems for one of our scout planes to attack them when the light shows them up.  Nearly  always the enemy is set a fire and falls in flames when this method is used.  I have seen as many as four planes brought down in one evening like this.  Our lights were nearly always under shell fire from the enemys heavy guns and sometimes we had pretty warm times when one hears one of these heavy shells come screaming towards him it dosent take him long to git [get] close to the ground.  About the closest I ever came to being hit  by one of these was when I was sitting by the campfire after dinner one day.  A big shell struck about one hundred yards from me and a piece of shrapnel about the size of an hens egg went into the dirt bank so close to me that I could have caught it in my hands and another which was much larger passed so close over head that I could see it.  Some of the bombs used held a ton of explosive and I have seen them blow holes six feet deep and thirty feet in diamiter so you can imagine what damage one would do when it hit its target.

 

              One morning just at dawn we had eight enemy come over at one time and were also being shelled by the heavy artilery but there were no antiaircraft guns close by so they all got away safely.  Were all taken off the English lights on October 21 and bidding our tommy friends good by boarded a train at Perone which was then some thirty miles behind the lines, and left for Langres.  Some of the most hardly contested towns have hardley a brick left standing and some of the battlefields are just one continual shell hole after another.  I passed through the famous Von Hindenburg line which is a master piece of machinery with miles and miles of barbed wire entanglements and concrete dug outs which go to eighty or ninty feet deep.  Also I passed over the famous DeNord Canal.  When the Germans asked one of our boys how they got the tanks across it he told him we had tanks that walked on water now.  Sometimes we were so close to the lines that we could see the infantry when they went over the top.  Well we arrived here on Oct[ober] 25 and expected to get our own lights and be sent up to the American sector but before they arrived the Armistice was signed so we did not go and now we will have to pack our outfits and ship them home again.  We are all prepared to leave now just waiting the orders to go which wont be many days.  Some think we will be in the states in 15 days but I think new year or Christmas is nearer to the day we will probably leave from either Brest or Le Harve.  Well I expect this letter wont reach you much before your birthday so will wish you many happy returns of the day although I hope to be with you on that day.  Good By.

Your Loving Son.

Donald I. Grinnell

Co F 23 Platoon 56 Engrs.

Amer. Ex. F.  A. P. O. 731A

           P.S.  Have mother write the Quarter Master General at Washington D. C.  And tell him about my allotment and all of the sircomstances [circumstance].  The Lieutenaut said to have you do this.  He has already writ[t]en him.

Nina Johnson Benn: A Rural Life

Nina Johnson with her sons Bob, Dave and George at Christmas

There are very few people alive today that knew my great-grandmother, Nina Mae (Hagaman) Johnson Benn. Earlier today I sat down to do some family history research only to discover that fifty-four years ago today Nina died at the age of 83 years in Jackson, Michigan.  So, I thought I should take the opportunity to write something about the life of this women who worked hard in the rural area of Leoni and Grass Lake townships.  Nina was a daughter, a wife, mother and grandmother to many.  So lets explore her life together.

Nina Hagaman was born on 18 December 1878 in Somerset Center, Hillsdale Co. Michigan to George and Ida (Galusha) Hagaman.  The Hagaman's lived on a farm a little north west of the small village of Somerset Center, where Nina's grandfather Jacob Hagaman owned and operated what was probably a general store. Not far from this store sat a small white framed church that would be a important center for the Hagaman families spiritual and social life.  Here, at the Somerset Center Methodist Episcopal Church Nina's mother played the piano for Sunday services and probably a number of other actives, such as recitals and plays, which were common in rural 19th century communities.  The Hagaman's resided with Nina's paternal grandmother, Elizabeth.  It is clear that following Elizabeth's death in 1890, fortunes must have changed for Nina's parents.  The farm was sold and the family would move to the Grass Lake area, first living on a small farm in southern Waterloo Township and then later on property that they probably rented.

Following the move to Grass Lake, Nina met a young farmer named David Rattler Johnson of Leoni.  They were married on 20th of January 1897 by Rev. John F. Orwick, the Chaplain for the State Prison of Southern Michigan, located in downtown Jackson.  The witnesses listed in the marriage records are Charles and Carrie Johnson, the brother and sister-in-law of the groom.  I suspect the Rev. Orwick was affiliated with the Trinity Lutheran Church in Jackson, where Carrie Fisher Johnson's family had been members.

It would be only a few short years and David and Nina would become parents to a large group of children, they were: 1) John (1898-1970), 2) David (1900-1967), 3) George (1904-1957), 4) Ida (1908-1977), 5) Alfred (1911-1966), and 6) Robert (1915-1980).

The Johnson's would live on rented farms throughout Leoni Township for many years, never owning their own place, as far as I'm able to determine. Using the 1910 and 1920 Federal Censuses I have pin pointed their residence in the area just east of the Michigan Center Mill Pond/Center Lake, probably along Napoleon, Lee, and Noon Roads.  By the 1930 and 1940 Federal Censuses the Johnson's were living in the northern sections of Leoni Township, on farms that my mother always referred to as the Whipple Farm.

In the late 30s David would become ill with Tuberculosis and was hospitalized periodically, finally succumbing to the often fatal illness on 8 October 1940 after a four month stay at the Jackson County Tuberculosis Sanitarium.

As a 62 year old widow,  Nina would now be on her own.  She rented various apartments around Leoni and Grass Lake until she married a widower Mr. Stewart Benn in 1942.  Before  her second marriage, its not clear what her source of income was, but I would guess that like so many women at the time she would have done domestic work for large families in the community, helping with the cooking, cleaning and the washing of cloths was a very common activity for older women that could be turned into a way of support. Also, at this time Social Security was a new benefit and perhaps she was eligible to receive a monthly check based on her first husbands previous work.

It is unclear to most of her descendants how long she shared a domestic situation with Mr. Benn.  Concluding from stories we have heard, it appears that domestic life as a married couple with Nina and Stewart was tense and uncomfortable.  Eventually Nina left her second husband, but they never divorced.  It was about this time that my sister remembers Grandma Nina.  At the time she was living in an apartment in Grass Lake....it was in what is today the home of the Grass Lake Historical Society, the Coe House Museum.  How long Nina lived at the corner of East Michigan Avenue and Wolf Lake Road is not certain.  Eventually Nina would no longer be able to live on her own and she took up residence with her daughter, Mrs. Ida Johnson Meyer at 1900 Wolf Lake Road.

Nina Johnson Benn died of a heart attack on 3 December 1962 at the W. A. Foote Memorial Hospital in Jackson.  Her funeral service was held at the Stormont Funeral Home in Grass Lake with the Rev. Archie H. Donigan of the Grass Lake Methodist Church officiating.  She was to be buried next to her first husband, David at the Leoni Cemetery on South Portage Road, just south of the village of Leoni.  However, when the sexton began to open the gravesite an existing interment was discovered.  This necessitated finding another final resting place for Nina.  It is said that she was interred "nearby".  But the gravesite was never marked and attempts to locate it have proven difficult. Last year, I contacted the Leoni Township Clerks Office thinking they would have a record where Nina's final resting place is located (The township is now the owner and operator of the cemetery).  Unfortunately, they can find no record of where she was buried.  While we are certain that she is buried at the Leoni Cemetery because "Burial Permits" were issued, it has become one of my goals to locate her grave and make sure that it is marked for future generations of her descendants.

While Nina has not been memorialized with a marker signifying the location of her mortal remains, on this day I hope she knows that she is Remembered!

UPDATE!
Received a letter from the Burden's Funeral Home yesterday.  Burden's is the successor to the Stormont Funeral Home, which is the company that managed Nina's final services.  Unfortunately, Burden's has no knowledge of the whereabouts of records for the former Stormont Funeral Home. Sad news....I was hopeful that they would be another source of information on Nina's final resting place. 

Little Compton, Rhode Island....Cradle of Grinnell's

Little Compton is a picturesque town located on the east side of the Sakonnet River and overlooking Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island.  The main "village" consists of the Commons, which is a beautiful triangular shaped lot filled by the United Congregational Church and the burial ground.  Around the roads that border the Commons are a mixture of historic Colonial and 18th century buildings.  The main "highway" is a road running north and south (from Fall River, MA to Little Compton) called "West Main" that is dotted with many historic homes of colonial era families that settled the area when it was still part of "Plymouth Colony."  Little Compton was the home to many of my Grinnell ancestors from the mid-1600's through the American Revolution and I have visited it a number of times and with each visit feel a spiritual connection to this land that my early American ancestors walked, lived, worked, worshiped, and were laid to rest.
    Last summer, when I last visited, I purchased Janet Lisle's First Light Sakonnet: The History of Little Compton, published in 2010 by the Little Compton Historical Society.  The time frame Lisle used for this volume is 1660-1820, pretty much the exact time that my ancestors called this place home.   I found this publication very worthwhile reading.  Although it is not a lengthy book, Lisle paints a lively picture of life in the community.  The book is filled with colorful reproductions of artworks depicting the town, which bring so much energy and imagination to her text.  Lisle utilized many primary sources to compose the narrative of life in Little Compton.  She used  pages of town records, diaries, and court records to uncover personal narratives of the inhabitants of this small town that were faced by trails and tragedies as the town transformed from a distant outpost to a thriving colonial settlement faced by political realities of the day.  The town struggled between the rule of Puritan dominated Massachusetts and separated itself from the confines of their laws to the more accepting (or perhaps libertarian) Rhode Island Colony.  During the War of Independence, Little Compton farmers found themselves arming themselves and creating organized militias to help defend themselves from British invasion, but also to keep a look out on the British who had occupied Newport and Aquidneck Island.
   There are many mentions of the Grinnell surname in the pages of First Light, perhaps none more heroic to me than the list of Patriots from the town who served in the Revolution bearing the name.  Overall, the book is an excellent short read (only 158 pages of text) for anyone wishing to understand the early life of a small and often isolated New England village.  My first read on this years summer vacation.

Remembering on Memorial Day 2016

(Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/05/a-memorial-day-look-at-afghanistan-may-2011/100076/ )

Remembering my ancestor who served:

Served in the Union Forces during the American Civil War:

Alfred Fuller Aldrich—Michigan Engineers and Mechanics
Abel Aldrich--9th Michigan Infantry

Phylander S. Aldrich—Michigan Engineers and Mechanics

Robert G. Burling—42^nd Illinois & 19^th Michigan Infantries

Edward Carley—9^th Michigan Infantry (James Island C. W. Battlefield, SC)

Oren A. Carley—8^th Michigan Infantry
John C. Crofoot--13th Michigan Infantry
Vinson Detterich--2nd Missouri Cavalry

Giles Galusha—4^th Michigan Infantry (Stones River Nat. Cemetery)

Henry H. Hoyt—122^nd New York Infantry

Lawrence Hobart McCreery—Michigan Engineers and Mechanics

James Nelson McCreery—12^th Michigan Infantry

George Wightman McCreery—6th Michigan Infantry
James Z. Murray--1st Michigan Infantry
Nicholas Neiderlander--98th New York Infantry

Uriah Reams—12^th and 19^th Michigan Infantries

Oscar Reams—U. S. Engineers (Alexandria Nat. Cemetery)

Erastus E. Reams—19^th Michigan Infantry

Samuel Colyar Reams—13^th Michigan Infantry

Zephaniah Reams—11^th Michigan Infantry (Nashville Nat. Cemetery

Jonathan Reams—177^th Ohio Infantry (Arlington Nat. Cemetery)

Josiah A. Risdon—1^st California Cavalry

William Henry Skelcher—8^th Michigan Infantry

Isaac S. Young—2^nd Michigan Infantry

Served during Peace Time:

Ross R. Reams—U. S. Army (c1904-1910)

Served during World War I

Donald Ivan Grinnell—56^th U. S. Engineers

Harry Duane Grinnell—U. S. Army Medical Corps

David B. Johnson—U. S. Navy & U. S. Army (1917-1925)

John V. Johnson—U. S. Army

Served during World War II

Howard J. Berry

Jack D. Crabtree

Harley R. Grinnell

Darrell R. Grinnell

John J. Marsden                                

Robert R. Wetzel

Red Cross activities in Munith during World War I

I recently ran across this column entitled "Red Cross News and Notes" in the Jackson Citizen Patriot on May 8, 1918.  It includes a short report on the activities of the Munith Branch, which states that Annie Carley's three daughter had pieced together three quilts for the Red Cross.  While the article don't get their names correct--Ida Pearl (should be Ila Pearl), and Eva May (should be Iva May), and Clara Bell...it helps me confirm some of the stories my grandmother shared concerning community involvement during the war effort.  Sometime about 1992, I interviewed grandma about this subject and she told of how the women and girls would collect rags, clean them, and bring them to the Munith church where they would cut them into strips for bandages.  What she didn't tell me was about the quilts that she and her sisters made!  Can you image a 11, 10, and 9 year old sewing something for wounded military personnel today?  Not sure I can.

Two things this brings to the mind--How even a small community like Munith was empowered to contribute to national wartime efforts and secondly, the great traditions of Munith women coming together to make at difference in the world, whether it was their activities in the Red Cross, the 4-H, the Henrietta Helping Hands or the Waterloo Needlework Club...well done!

Lillian Reams Smith and the Greenwood Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church

In the last few years, I've developed a desire to collect vintage postcards related to the communities where my ancestors and extended family took up residence.  Searching Ebay is always a lot of fun during my hunting for postcards and once in while I find a gem...particularly if its an image that I had

Greenwood Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, c1910

always hoped to find, but had little hope that one existed.  Last week was one of those great moments when I made a rare discovery....a real photograph postcard of the Greenwood Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church.  This congregation was the home church for Lillian (Reams) Secord Smith, the oldest sister of my grandmother Mabel Reams Grinnell.  Aunt "Sis", as she was called by my dad, appears to have moved to Jackson about 1916 from Decatur.  In Decatur, she had been married to a widower, Mr. Royal A. Secord, who was a carriage painter and wall paper hanger.  While living in Decatur, Lillian worked as a milliner and in the 1910 Census it is recorded that she owned her own shop.  Sounds pretty remarkable for a married women...you rarely hear about married women owning their own business.  Leads me to think the Mr. Secord must have been at least somewhat supportive of his wife's entrepreneurial endeavors. Mr. Secord died in 1915 which must have been a financial blow to Aunt "Sis".  Just a few months over a year following Secord's death, we discover that Aunt "Sis" has married again, to Mr. Rufus Carlton Smith, a traveling salesmen residing in Jackson.  The marriage is recorded in the records of the Greenwood Avenue Church on May 15, 1916 and indicates that there was a 20 year difference in their ages.  Mr. Smith, like Mr. Secord, was a widower so It appears that Aunt "Sis" must have been fulfilling a role as a mother and housekeeper in the family.  While in Jackson, it is clear that Aunt "Sis" ran their home as a boarding house, but its not clear if she maintained her career as a milliner.  Soon, her mother, Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Burling Reams would come to live with her and Mr. Smith at their 1019 Griswold Avenue home.  It is here where Mrs. Reams would spend her remaining years and where she eventually passed away on November 24, 1918.

Lillian S. (Reams) Secord Smith

Aunt Sis would once again finder herself a widow in only a few short years, for Mr. Smith passed away in 1921, only 5 years following their marriage.

I believe that Aunt Sis was the person who laid the groundwork for my grandparents, Amos and Mabel Grinnell, to relocate to Jackson.  Jackson was a booming town and there were many opportunities for work.  Amos had previously worked at Kellogg's and Post's in Battle Creek and then found himself as a farm hand in Assyria.  Upon moving to Jackson about 1925, we find Amos as a truck driver.  Eventually, Amos and Mabel would be living in their own home on Levan Street in 1929, but we know that they arrived in Jackson several years earlier and Aunt Sis would have had the space to provide the Grinnell's a temporary home.

During her life spent in Jackson, Aunt Sis became an active member of the Greenwood Avenue Church, which was located only a few blocks from her home.  Dad remarked that as young adults the family would attend church with Aunt Sis....even though the only thing that really interested him and his brother Merle were the girls who attended. 

Membership at the church had a lasting impact on Aunt Sis, for when she became too old to live on her own, she moved to the Methodist retirement home in Grand Rapids.  The M. J. Clark Memorial Home on Sherman Avenue in Grand Rapids became her residence by between 1938-1940.  She passed away on December 10, 1954 at the Clark home, just 5 days shy of her 86th birthday.  She was laid to rest next to her first husband, Mr. Secord at the Lakeside Cemetery in Decatur, Michigan.

Aunt Sis was held in very high regard by her numerous nieces and nephews.  Although she had no children of her own, she had a very special place in the hearts of her extended family.  Today, the Greenwood Avenue church is known as Trinity United Methodist Church and it remains an active congregation.  The Clark Home also remains in Grand Rapids and provides many services to meet the needs of the elderly.

Henrietta Helping Hand--Munith, Michigan

It was 1910 and a group of twenty-nine women met at the home of Augusta Pixley near Munith, Michigan to discuss what they could do to help people in need.  This was the beginnings of the Henrietta Helping Hand, a women's organization that was active in the Munith area for more than 70 years.  The group met monthly in the homes of one of its members and they would knit socks, make quilts, pack boxes of holiday baked goods, pretty much anything that was needed.  During World War I they would gather rags that could be cut into bandages for the American Red Cross but generally most of their charitable work was for community members in Henrietta Township, Jackson County.  When ever there was a family left homeless following a fire or other disaster, the ladies of the Helping Hand were ready to help supply the family with needed quilts and other household items.

Shown here are members wrapping boxes of homemade baked good for distribution to shut-ins in the late 1970s.

Four generation of my mothers family were part of the Helping Hand.  Through those years, my grandmother saved so many mementos about the organization.  I'm lucky to have the several anniversary program booklets (25th, 50th, 65th), newspaper clippings, and photographs that document the work of these busy women who always had time to do a bit extra for those that needed "a helping hand" in their community.

As a young boy, I remember attending some of the meetings with my mom and grandma.  They always began their time together with singing "The More we get together...the happier we'll be." They would then work on their projects together and would end their time with a light luncheon.

Its hard to know how many people these women provided service to over the years. The Henrietta Helping Hand was still functioning in 1980, but I'm sure that it didn't last much longer.  During their 70th Anniversary, all the press coverage of their celebration showed a very elderly group, which by that time also included a few of the guys.

Here is a list of the names of members that I have been able to determine from the various anniversary programs.  When I review this list, I can only identify my Aunt Esther Marsden as the lone survivor of the group.

Abbie Clark

Ada Harkness

Addie Garfield

Agnes Hoover

Agnes Moeckel*

Agnes Randolph

Alice Morehouse

Alice Woodworth

Alta Moeckel*

Alta Smith*

Alta Stowe

Angie Leece

Anna Bartig

Anna Carley*

Anna Shuart

Annie Smith

Augusta Pixley

Belle Pixley

Beryle Collins

Bessie Adams

Bessie Barton

Betsey Morehouse*

Betty Grinnell*

Byrle Collins

Carrie Hoffman

Charlotte Carley*

Clara Ackerson

Clara Hanchon*

Cora Pollock

Dariel Harris

Dell Smith*

Della Suylandt

Doris Grow

Doris Roderick

Dorothy Dwyer*

Eda Carley*

Elizabeth (Harr) Walz

Ella Coin

Ella Dixon

Ella Spears

Elsie Drew

Emma Carley*

Emma Jane Adams

Emma Southwell

Esther Marsden*

Ethel Call

Etta Crane

Etta Sackett

Eunice Wetherbee

Eva Blakeman

Eva Clark

Evelyn Lantis

Evelyn Robertson

Fannie Leece

Flora Reeves

Flora Stanfield

Flora Walker

Florence Frinkle

Francis Peek

Geneva Hoffman*

Genie Pickett

Gertrude Freymuth

Hazel Katz

Helen Cook

Ida Adams

Ida Gibbons

Ila Hartley*

Ilene Crabtree*

Imogene Cavender

Inez Sweet

Ione Musbach

Irene Wetherbee

Iva Johnson*

Iva Musback

Jennie Ford*

Jennie Pickett

Jennie Porath

Jennie Sackett

Jessie Poxson

Josie Randolph

Joyce Wetzel*

Kate Bartig

Kate Dixon

Kathleen Abbey

Lena Hoyt*

Leo Baxter

Lizzie Mount

Lorraine Ewing

Louine Miller

Louise Hayford

Louise Rappeleye

Lucille Knott*

Lucille Winters

Lulu Smith*

Lydia Leece

Lydia Stanfield

Mabel Honerkamp

Mable Libey

Mae Cook

Margaret Hoffman

Margaret Reid

Marian Meyers

Mary Densmore

Mary Dorer

Mary Ewing

Mary Jane McIntee

Mary Kinch

Mary Lee

Mary Merklinger

Mattie Killam

Mayme Mayer

Mazella Armstron

Mildred Mayer

Minnie Adams

Minnie Van Horn

Miranda Southwell

Myrtle Spry*

Nellie Sackett

Nellie Walz*

Nettie Clark

Nettie Hoy

Notta Leece

Ora Kitley

Orpha Disler

Phoebe Fink

Phoebe Hayes

Phyllis Allshire

Phyllis Wetzel

Rena Pixley

Reta Davis

Rita Broesamle

Rita Davis

Ruth Call

Ruth Carley*

Tina Carley*

Ulah Libey

Vina Moeckel

Vine Gibbons

Winona Pickett

(*) indicates a family member of mine

Many hands that made so much difference in the lives of their community.....lets never forget the work these folks did as good neighbors in Munith.

It would be great to know if anyone in the Munith area might have the record books of this organization.  I would be delighted to know.....