A history of Pickford Area Pioneer Families Daniel Morrison

SANDERSON

Robert Sanderson, Sr., married Nancy Johnson and came from Thessalon, Ontario, in 1885. They settled 2 miles north and 3 miles west with their family of 9 children: Margaret, Robert, John, William, James, Edward, Thomas, Walter, and Lydia (who died at 19). Robert and his wife, Nancy are buried in Bethel Cemetery.

MARGARET married Joseph Thompson and had 7 children: Frank, Robert, Rose, Nancy and Anna (twins), Bella and Ida. Frank went back to Canada. Robert married Gertrude Harrison and has one daughter, Audrey. Audrey married Roland Hill, Jr., and has three children: Karen Sue, Rose and Nancy are deceased. Anna, Bella, and Ida live in St. Ignace in the Medical Care Unit.

ROBERT, JR., was born in Ashfield, Ontario, in 1855. He married Jemina Fisher in 1881 and came here in 1885 to settle in Strongville, about midway between Pickford and Rudyard. He was a Methodist local preacher on the Pickford Circuit. He died a young man and was butied from Bethel Church in the Bethel Cemetery. They had 7 children: Fisher Robert John, Amanda (Mts. Arthur Everett), Rose (Mrs. Chester Monck, deceased), Pearl, Leoline (Mrs. Hugh Kerr, deceased), Nina, and George Wellington.

JOHN and his wife, Maria, had 9 children: John, Jr., Herb, Jim, Agnes, Mable, George, Adaline, Edith, and Myrtle. One died young.

WILLIAM and his wife never had any children.

JAMES married Mary Kelly and had two boys and one girl: Maggie, Russell, and Westly.

EDWARD married Mrs. Nellie Kemp and never had children.

THOMAS married Emma Graham and had three boys and one girl: Merle, Omar, Creighton, and Bill. Merle married Harry Draper and their children are Maxine (Mrs. Ralph Lowe), Betty (Mrs. Barry Thompson), Rosemary (Mrs. Charles Lewis), and married Margaret Gladden and has two children, Terry and Pamela*. Later Merle married August Kiefer. Omar married Ruth Sentz and they have Karen (Mrs. Tom Moore), Peter and Michael. Creighton married Gayle Baker and they have three children: Randall, who married Beatrice Gough and they have five children. Loraine married Howard Pope and thye have four children: Howard, Jr., Stewart, Charlyn, and Steve. Lyndell Kangas had one daughter, JoAnn. She later married Arnold Braun. She died April 3, 1967. Norma married Mike Amarose and they have five children: Ann (Mrs. Schwiderson) who has two boys, Jim and Joel. Bill married Valarie Walker. Bill, Sr., died in September, 1972.

WALTER and his wife, Victoria Pettigrew, had three girls and one boy: Reta, Lydia, Harold and Mable, as well as two children who died young.

SHOBBROOK

William John Shobbrook came to the Pickford area from Goderich, Ontario, in 1882 and lived in the community of Stirlingville. Later they homesteaded the farm east of Pickford, owned later by John T. Shobbrook.

William John and his wife, Martha Reid Shobbrook, had six children: William, Mary, Aseneth, Minnie, Charles, and John.

JOHN T. SHOBBROOK married Eda Eveleigh and homesteaded the farm that his father homesteaded. They had four children: Cecil W., Clifford Reid (deceased 1909), Charles Russell. and William John.

Cecil married Jean Sims and they had two children, Joel and Janet. Joel married Sheila Sayers.

Charles Russell married Kathrun Smith nad they have two girls, Elaine and Carol.

William John married Ellen Wilson and had one daughter, Geraldine. Geraldine married David Hewer and they have two sons, Thomas and Joel*. He is a major in the army stationed in the South.

SIMS

The Sims family came to North America from Scotland and Wales - Andrew from Scotland and his wife, Mary, from Wales. Andrew was born in 1825 and died in 1896. Mary was born in 1826 and died in 1925 at the age of 99. She crossed the ocean when she was 6 years old and it took six weeks to make the voyage in a sailing vessel.

They came to Michigan from Waterloo County, Ontario, about 1878 and took up a homestead in Stalwart. They had 11 children who were all born in Canada. Three of the boys, Ceorge, Alex, and Robert and two girls, Lizzie and Mary, stayed in this vicinity. The rest settled in different parts of the country.

When they first came to Stalwart (which was known as the "Green Bush" at that time), they had to walk from the Soo. Robert was only 14 years old at the time, They homesteaded the farm now owned by George and Mary Sims. They built their house of logs taken from the timber on their homestead and used oxen to haul out the logs and to work the soil. There were no roads at that time and they had to pack everything on their backs. They walked to Prentiss Bay through the woods for provisions,

Andrew was a lay preacher and was known at that time as a circuit rider who went from place to place to preach.

GEORGE SIMS was born in 1847 and died in 1943 at the age of 96. He was the oldest one of the family. He married Mary Milne and they homesteaded first at Barbeau where they lived 11 years, then moved to Fairview where he spent the rest of his life. He had 6 children: Andrew, Annie, Mary, William, Bill, Alex, and Fairly. They all stayed in this area except Bill and Fairly.

Andrew was George's oldest son, born in 1871 and died in 1939. He took up carpenter work and built many homes around Pickford and vicinity. He married Elizabeth Clegg and had three children: Belle (Mrs. Bert Smith); Jean (Mrs. David Hill); and Wendell. Belle had a son, Harry, killed in WWII. Jean has two boys, Clayton and Roger. Wendell has a son, Andrew, and a daughter, Carole Cousins. He married Isabel Dunn and lives in Cedarville.

George's daughter, Annie, was born in 1880 and died in 1941. She married William Stevenson and they had a farm near Fairview. She had 9 children: William, Fred, Otto, Alex, Robert, Annie, Mary, Charlotte, and Susie. They all moved away except Fred, Otto, Annie, and Mary. Fred married Pearl McLeod and lives in DeTour, They had a family of four girls and one boy: Catherine (deceased), Freda O'Polka, Mary LaPoint, Irene LaLonde, and Billy Jack*. Otto married Violet Rye and they live on their farm south of Pickford. Their two sons are Lyle and Ted*. Mrs. William Cruickshank and their family are Ronald and Margaret (Mrs. Jeske)*. They live in Pickford .

William was born in 1888 and died in 1967. He married Ethel Skinner and had no family. They lived on their farm in Pleasant Park and he worked for the State Highway Department.

Alex was born in 1869 and died in 1927. He took over his father’s farm and married Elizabeth Hanna. They had eight children: Annie, Frank, Kate, Emily, Douglas, Jean, Mildred, and George. He was township road commissioner for a number of years and hired the farmers to haul gravel to build and repair the roads after a snow storm with the snow plow and roller, making the trip from Stalwart to Pickford. They would go to DeTour one day and back the next. It required four teams of horses, two teams on the snowplow and two on the roller. The weather was usually very cold and the men often had frostbite on hands, feet, and faces as they were out in the open with no protection.

Alex' son Frank (deceased), was married to Helen Crawford who now lives at Prentiss Bay. They had 7 children: Frances (deceased), Carole Hooper, Jim, Roger, Mable Soderlund, Cherri, and Frank*.

Kate is Mrs. Earl Duncan and lives in Cedarville.

Douglas is married to Leanna Forrest and lives in Kalamazoo. Their children are Duane, Ronald, and Joanne*.

George Sims is married to Mary Smith and lives on his grandfather's homestead. They have 7 children: Keith, Wade, Barry, Brenda (Rutledge), Gloria (Jeske), Georgia (Lamb, deceased September, 1972), and Timothy*.

The rest of Alex's family live in Lower Michigan, except Ethel Kinnee who lives in Iron Mountain.

MARY SIMS was born in 1858 and died in 1919. She married John Johnston who was one of the first settlers in Stalwart. After his death she married Edward Flood. Her three daughters were Mae Johnston, Maty and Robert Flood.

Mae was born in 1885 and married Lionel Warren. She was a schoolteacher. Her children are Ervadene and Johnston. Ervadene married Cecil Taylor and had four children and lives in Lower Michigan. Johnston married Mildred Crisp and has two daughters, Shelva and Brenda*. He lives in Stalwart.

Mary (Flood) Bosley was born in 1894 and was a schoolteacher. She married Harrison Bosley and had 5 children: Edward, Joyce, Quentin, Doris, and Bob. Edward married Margaret Fountain, has four daughters, and lives in the Soo. Joyce is Mrs. Roman Pattick and has seven children. Quentin married Delvina Crisp and has one son. Doris is Mrs. Crandell Wiertella and has two children. Robert married Theora Cruickshank and has five children and lives on his parents' homestead at Stalwart.

ROBERT SIMS was born in 1862 and died in 1916. He was Andrew's youngest son. He married Minnie Forgrave and they lived on the farm adjoining his father's homestead. They had two sons, Thomas and Russell, both of whom are deceased.

When Robert and Alex were young men, they carried the mail by horseback from Pickford to DeTour. The toad at that time went through Fairview from Pickford and then around by the Sand Ridge.

In making a living in those days, the men would farm in the summer and lumber in the wintertime, spending many winters in the lumber camps. The women and children would stay home and look after the livestock and keep the fires going.

In the spring the men would go on river drives. The pulpwood would be stored on the riverbanks and when the ice would leave the streams in the spring, they would float the pulpwood down the streams where they would be fastened together in a boom at the mouth of the river. This was dangerous work as sometimes the logs would pile up and someone would have to go out to break them loose. Often they would get a good wetting or maybe worse.

There was a lot of hay grown on the farms and it had to be hauled to the lumber camps ot to the railroad at Rudyard. In hauling it to Rudyard, it had to be done in the winter with teams and sleighs. They would leave home in the night, often at 20 below zero, and go far as Wallises before breakfast. They would feed the horses there, then go on to Rudyard by noon. They would have to walk most of the way to keep warm. They left early in the morning to avoid meeting other teams from Pickford returning home, as the roads were narrow and the snow on both sides was very deep and passing difficult.

One can still see the tall spruce tree on the Stalwart Fairgrounds. It was planted by Robert's wife, Minnie, when she was six years old.

ROBERT’s son, Thomas, was born in 1894 and died in 1930. He was with the Archangel Division in World War I. He married Jean Morrison and had six children.

Russell was born in 1898 and married Olive Crawford. They lived in Stalwart, but later moved to Cedarville. Elizabeth Pomarius is their daughter who has two sons and lived in Cedarville. Robert married Kitty Norlin and has one daughter and two sons. They live at Stalwart.