Dad related a story told to him by Herschel about a family ring that belonged to Keziah. The ring had been passed down to James W and his wife. The ring should have then passed to Fernando and Addie, but some how ended up in the possession of one Harold Prince. The story that Herschel told Dad was that Stanley Sr. went to confront Harold about it, taking Herschel along. Herschel remembered Stanley getting very angry, the angriest that Herschel had ever seen him. This was also one of Herschel's earliest memories, he being only 4 or 5.
So who is Harold Prince and how did he come to possess the ring?
He was born on 14 Sept. 1877 in Detroit, the first Detroit census he appears in is 1900. He is single and his occupation is listed as "farmer". He married Caro Dell Springer in 1908, his occupation listed as "Telephone B(unreadable)". By 1920 he and his wife had 2 children, Mabel and Anita. His WWI Draft Registration card (1917) lists his occupation as "Electrician" and his employer as "F.R. Blake". The 1920 Census has them living in the village on the River Road with his wife, two kids and his brother Herbert. His occupation in 1920 was listed as "Electrician" and his employer is listed as "Light and Power Co". In the 1930 census his occupation is listed as "Sales Man" and his industry is "Electrical".
The 1930 Census has him married to Pearle P. with his two daughters, afore mentioned, and a son, Elbert M. who was 8 at the time of the census taking. I found a marriage record that has a Pearl Basford marrying a Harold Prince in 1928, both from Detroit. The 1930 census also states she was born in 1885. I then found a marriage record from 1924 where Lamont Basford married a Pearle Porter who was born in 1885. Lamont died in 1927. I think that Pearle married Lamont and when he passed away, married Harold Prince. Since this is the only apparent connection, I think that Pearle had the ring and that's how Harold came to possess it. Lamont's brother Willie who was running the farm, died sometime between 1920 and 1930. His wife Maggie is listed as a widow in 1930. However I can't find any record of his death, so the timing is unknown. If he died before Lamont, then Lamont and Pearle would have lived in the farm. At this point Pearle could have taken possession of the ring, with Maggie forced to move.
In 1910 Willie was living with James W (his father) on the farm in Detroit. Willie is listed as single, he gets married in 1915 to Maggie M. Fulton and has two daughters, Flora and Vera. So in 1910 Willie is helping his father on the farm, but Lamont isn't in the area, at least according to the census reports. I've looked at the Detroit, Pittsfield, Burnham, Troy and Plymouth reports with no luck.
In 1920 Willie and Mag M. are listed as living on Basford Road and owning a farm. I assume this is the family farm. Lamont is listed as living at the farm as well and is divorced. Willie is listed as head of house and thus still controlling the farm. Lamont's occupation is listed as carpenter.
The 1930 Census has Maggie M. Basford widowed, but living in the village on the River Road. It's at this point where we lose who has control of the farm. All of James W. Basford's kids are deceased except Livilla Amy Basford. She is listed as living in the village on Main Street. So she isn't living at the farm. Furthermore on the 1920 census there is a Basford Road entry, but in 1930 no such road is listed. We know that in the early 1930's Stanley Gerry, my Great Grandfather (Geneva's Father) tried to buy the farm because it was being foreclosed on. That was when Stanley James Basford Sr. returned home from Massachusetts and bought the farm out of foreclosure. We know that the Gerry's lived at the farm, but they rented. It's unclear at this point who officially owned the farm. The real curiosity here is that Maggie didn't appear to inherit the farm, it would have been her right by law. Unless as stated above Willie died before Lamont and left the farm to Lamont in order to keep it in the Basford family. If that is the case then Pearle would have inherited the farm when Lamont passed, and thus Harold Prince would have influence over the property when he married Pearle in 1928. Neither he nor Pearle were farmers so they would have had to rent it out.
In answer to Zeb’s query about memories of the flat, my first memory would be of haying the fields. Will do a whole piece on haying and other work that we did on the farm another time. When the fields were no longer hayed, the blueberries came in. I know the younger kids remember picking them. This lasted for a few years until the brush and trees came in. We picked strawberries there some and also in the “Five Acre Piece”, which is now Wayne’s field. Of course we did a lot of walking in the woods and especially liked the pines on the knoll on the north side of the road.
I remember GrammieBasford having chickens in the field where my house is now during the summers. Before I can remember there were beans planted, the dry bean type. Later this field and a portion of the woods was pasture. I frequently come across remnants of the barbed wire fences. There were a number of hen houses next to the farm house, three I think. The building right next to the house was used to store grain and feeders, etc. for the chickens. As you may know, the largest hen house was once the school house for South Detroit and was moved around the corner from Rt. 220.
Picture taken in the early 1920s
The farm house, of course, looks pretty much as the old one did from the outside. Some of you remember the pantry, which had a spring or a well under it. Mom did have the refrigerator in it but otherwise was used more to store tools, etc than as a pantry. There was a small shed next to the kitchen with a set of stairs leading to the open chamber over the kitchen. Firewood was brought in through the shed and the woodbox set right next to the door. There was also an open shed next to the house where Dad would put sawdust for the cows and shavings for the chickens. Then there was kind of an open shed with the ‘lovely’ outhouse at the end. There had been a pig pen next to that but we didn’t have pigs in my memory. More details about the original farm house later.
One of the differences in the restored barn is the loss of the silo. As you went in through the front door, there were grain bins on the right and then kind of a walkway leading to the silo that was on the north side of the barn. We kept corn silage in that. Not sure when it fell over but think it was during a hurricane in the 1950’s. The left section of the barn was the tie-up where the cows were kept. The cows were tied up to the right as you entered that section. There were doors with hinges on them in front of the cows and hay would be put through to feed them. The small building to the left of the barn was the milk house. For some reason we usually referred to it as the milk room but it was always a separate building that held the milk cooler. The milk cooler was a tank filled with cold water to cool down the milk, which was dumped in milk cans after milking.
I am eating my lunch of Beef Barley soup and it triggered a big smile on my face about Grampy. I remember working in the woods with him and getting treated to contents of his soup thermos. It was almost always Campbell's Beef or Vegetable Beef soup.
It was nearly sunset, so the lighting was difficult. Anyone who saw this rainbow last evening can attest it was pretty brilliant. Unfortunately what doesn't show in this picture is a much-fainter second rainbow to the left of this one.
If you click on the photo, it is a little brighter and larger. What can also be seen in this photo is my next putter project -- cutting down the tree in the foreground that's blocking the view of the barn as well as that big mass of sumac that you see to the left of the barn.
Traipsing through the woods again today, followed up with a conversation with my mother has me thinking about what the farm and land were like back during the time that Stanley Sr and Hannah lived here. Mom's told me some about which fields and pastures were used for which purposes, and that Stanley Sr is the one who started the apple orchard; but I was hoping someone could help fill in a lot more detail and add their individual memories of "Great Grampy and Great Grammy Basford." Obviously the generation older than I would have more memories of them to share.
I have more memories of Hannah (pink peppermints, for example) since she was around longer into my lifetime than Great Grampy, though I certainly do have memories of him (the garden, for example) but I didn't really know either of them. So I at least would love to hear some personal stories about them that would help the rest of us know them better.
What did he do doing WWI? What kinds of things did she like to do before arthritis made those things impossible? Where did they live in New York and what did they do there, same thing regarding Springfield, MA?
(Note: If there are those of you who would love to share some stories or memories but aren't interested in writing, I can be had for the price of a couple of cold beers. I'm sure I'm not the only one willing to ghost write. Speaking of beer, I remember Great Grampy was a fan of beer)
The fields behind Mom's are full of rivers today, as it's so warm you could be out with a t-shirt, and the snow is melting rapidly. The high point near where we used to play baseball in the field (to the left of the tree island) is bare and dry. (Just a week ago I was able to walk the snowmobile trail back from Rick Pease's) Ever since I was a boy one of my favorite things about early spring was watching all these little rivers flow above and beneath the snow, eventually coming together into a big river heading down the west field.
I had set out with Todd going around the east of the tree island looking for places dry enough that I could walk back to the woods road. I finally made it back near where the road goes into the woods, but then the rock wall, which has always been fascinating to me, drew me in. So we ended up walking the perimeter of the field to the west, me investigating areas of the rock wall and occasionally picking up limbs, Todd investigating who-knows-what. Dogs love spring, everything smells like shit to sniff.
I find these rock walls to be beautiful works of art and awesome feats of engineering. Look at how well they're put together, like a mason building a stone chimney; and conversely look at how long the walls are around the property and imagine how many rocks and the physical effort it took to build them.
Sorry I don't have a camera but I'm sure your imagination is better than any picture I could take. But if anyone has one they'd like to share, just let me know in the comments. Also, if anyone has any information on who, how and when the walls were built or any story related to them, it would be great to see someone post a story.
Since I've been at Mom's, I've been taking Todd for walks out back on the snowmobile trail and often when I come back, Mom and I end up having a discussion about things related to the land and the farm. From those conversations I've learned a fair bit and been reminded of much more, but more than anything those conversations and walks in the woods foster more questions than answers. I figure I'm not the only one.
In one of these conversations with Mom she mentioned the fact that there was a spring well in the floor of the pantry of the old farmhouse. I know I'm infamous for having a worthless memory but I swear that's something I never knew. So I would love to know more about that and ideally would love to see a picture, though I'm sure that's asking too much.
I have decided that if I'm still here through the spring thaw, I'm going to try to determine, if possible, where the oft-mentioned cemetery was out back and maybe whether there was a home there as well. So any information that anyone has in that regard (I will talk to my luddite uncle) would be very much appreciated.
Stepping into frozen water yesterday in the "pond" out back reminds me that I took my kids skating out there when they were little, and my siblings and I used to skate back there. Are we the only ones who found that or other places to skate? On one of our walks, Todd and I followed the snowmobile trail until it came out "in the field" on the "flat." Well, it's no longer a field, having completely grown up. Does anyone have a story related to something they did there when it was still a field?
Once again, I would just love to get the ball rolling using this as a way to share the family folklore so we don't lose it. I would think the younger generations would have many questions, which would also spark information that us older folks forgot or didn't know. So if you have any questions at all, just put them here in the comments. If you need any help using this, send me an email. Even better yet, if you have a story to tell (it doesn't have to be long or witty or well written) or any information that you'd like to share, I encourage you to do that. One idea that's pretty simple is to title something "Things I remember" and then just list those things in bullet form, though I suspect you'll find yourself telling a story about those things before you're done.
