A history of Pickford Area Pioneer Families Daniel Morrison

MILLER

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Miller came to this area October 9, 1884. Mr. Miller came in 1880 to build a house and stable for the stock. They came from Bayfield to the Soo, then to Jolly's Landing in Stirlingville on a boat called The Southern Bell. In the family was W. G. Miller, Annie Miller (Mis. William Maltas), and Mae Miller (Mrs.J. N. Latham) now of Vancouver, Washington.

W. G. MILLER was 14 years old when he came from Canada with his family. He went to wotk in lumber camps for Mr.John Beach at Cedarville and took lumber off the Pollard farm. He worked in various camps between DeTour and St. Ignace. He also worked for Mr. Hessel for whom the village of Hessel was named. At that time neither Cedarville nor Hessel had a name. When they landed at Stirlingville they had their household goods, five cows, seven sheep, and a team of horses. Mr. Miller always remembered that when they went past the Bob Beacom farm, little Hetb watched them as far as he could see, as strangers were scarce.

As time passed, William grew into manhood and went to the Soo and married his sister's girl friend, Mary Ester. To them were born five children which included Earl, Margaret, Beatrice, and Grace. Mrs. Miller was a very busy woman taking care of the children and making butter. She had a large number of butter customers in the Soo as well as the store.

As time marched on, sorrow came to the William Miller family. Death claimed little Grace, age 5, and later Mrs. Miller in 1916. Mr. Miller sold his farm to Millard Wise and he moved to town with his mother and father. The girls went to Stalwart and lived with Mrs. Maltas and Earl stayed with his father at the Henry Millers in Pickford. As time went on, Mr. Miller bought the Nate Tripp farm one-half mile north of Pickford and that is where Earl lives today. WILLIAM MlLLER was born September 5, 1870, and died at the age of 92 in April, 1963. Earl sold the farm in 1972 and moved to Cedarville.

Earl married Beulah Wilson and they had six children: James, Royce (deceased), Linda (Mrs.Lawlor), Willard, Ronald, Margaret (Mrs. Clark), and Robert.

MOORE

William and Mary Moore were born in Ireland and moved to Canada. William (their son) and Mary were born in Canada and William (their grandson) and Kassie were born in Canada also.

William Moore came to the Stalwart area when he was 33. He got a homestead, went back to Canada and married Kassie, and then returned to Stalwart. They raised a family of four: Joseph, William, Mary, and Sarah.

JOSEPH MOORE married Edna Waybrant and they had 12 children. WILLIAM MOORE married Adaline Waybrant and they had 5 children. MARY MOORE married Edward Hank and they had 5 children. SARAH MOORE married Forrest McCord and they had 4 children.

Darlene mcCord (Mrs. Horseman) has four children. Par (mrs. Ashby) has three children. Harold married Mable beckman and their children are Ronald, James, Kelvin, and Donna. Milton married Janet Fills and their five children are Mike, Michelle, Christopher, Clayton, and Amy.

MORRISON

Thomas Morrison came to Pickford in 1882 from Brantford, Ontario. on December 19, 1855, and was a second cousin of Andrew Carnegie. He was born in Scotland Mr. Morrison built and operated the flour mill in the area and was Marquette Township Supervisor from 1887 to 1933. In his later years he was Justice of the Peace.

In 1889 he married Martha Rye, daughter of Richard Rye. They had nine sons and daughters: Margaret, John, Ruth, Grace, Agnes, Sadie, Beatrice, Clayton T., and David.

MARGARET (Mrs. H. M. Hamilton, deceased) had three children. Leita married Floyd Clegg and has three daughters. Maxwell is Superintendent of Schools in Freemont, Michigan. John is Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Kalamazoo. Maxwell has four children and John has two.

JOHN and DAVID are deceased. GRACE and AGNES are retired teachers and live in Pickford.

RUTH married George Wilson (deceased) and had four children. Robert married Carolyn Cres. Their five children are David, Debbie (Mrs. Dan Strange), John, Marilyn, Donald and Kerri. Robert lives on the Morrison farm one mile south of Pickford. reginald married Arla jean rutledge and they live one mile south and one-half mile west, of town. Their children are Marsha (Mrs. Milton Sutton), joAnn, Tommy, Jummy, and Martin. Freida (Mrs. Otto Storey), a nurse, lives three miles east of town and has five children: Janus, Kathryn, Robert, Fran, and Steven. Paul is at home. Later Ruth married Charles White (deceased).

SADIE (Mrs. Percy Wallis) lives near Rudyard. She has three children: Delmis (Mrs. Moldenhauer), Helen (Mrs. Kersage), and Donald, Preicipal at Kincheloe School.

BEATRICE (Mrs. Dale Lampkin) has two sons, Keith and Burton.

CLAYTON T. married Jennie Taylor. He is the only son who lived in Pickford all his life. He graduated with the first class from Pickford High School in 1922. He lived on the home farm for a few years. He served on the Pickford School Board for many years, four of them as president. He wes a member of the Michigan House of Representatives for fourteen years. He has served as a county commissioner from this district. He and his wife have three daughters. Audrey married James Norton and they have lived in Japan for 14 years as missionaries. Their children are James, Kathleen, Tom, Bryce, and Joseph. Dorothea and her husband (Regan Calloway), are teaching in California. Their children are Kevin, Rayna, and Karen. June married Ernest Peffers and lives one and one-quarter miles north of Picford. Their children are Steve, Marcia, Neal, and Joel. Steve is a student at L.S.S.C.

Mr. Morrison was a farmer until 1926 and served as secretary of the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company for 40 years. He also served as a local preacher for the Methodist Church for over 54 years. He died on December 22, 1940.

MURPHY

James and William Murphy came to this country from Canada and settled in the Stirlingville area.

James settled on what is known as the Clarence Hill farm. He married Fannie Adams. They had seven children, Raymond, William, Edith, Steve, Leo, Annie and Etta. Later they moved to California.

A school was built on the southwestern corner. To the north of the school was the Presbyterian Church built in 1888. Across the road to the west from the school was the Sterlingville Store was named after Wm. Stirling.

James Hill had a store in Stirlingville in 1901 or 1902. Later Herb Lee operated it, then Mr. Rothwell opetated it until a smaller store was built to west on south side of the road next to the Methodist Church which was built about 1890. Joe Palmatier operated the last store in Stirlingville.

William Murphy married Mary Lynch and settled one-half mile east of James on what was later known as the Dave Hill, Sr. farm. William was the farmer's friend being called on day or night to doctor a sick animal.

The William Murphy's had three daughters and two sons. They were, Nellie (Mrs. Charles Bennett), Agnes (Mrs. Matthews), Rose (Mrs. Alex Goodson), William and James.

The family moved to Rudyard then to Sault Ste. Marie. James still lives in the Sault.