A history of Pickford Area Pioneer Families Daniel Morrison

HILL

In the early 1850's David Hill married Helen Watt in Ontario, Canada and to them were born ten children. The oldest was Margaret, then George, Thomas, Alexander, John, Henry, James and William (twins), David and Thomas. In the late 1870's Margaret and Alexander came to Pickford and settled in the Stirlingville area. A short time later the mother and father followed with the rest of the family. At this time there was no road from the Soo and the journey took two days. Alexander carried a stove on his back the entire distance.

MARGARET married George Raynard in 1881 and had four children: David, Fannie (Mrs. Walter Fletcher), George, and Ellen (Mrs. Cecil Cottle).

GEORGE married Mary Eveleigh and had two children, Nellie (Mrs. Roy Smith) and Clarence. Thomas died in Canada.

ALEXANDER married Elizabeth Grey in 1882 and later Minnie Barton. They had two children: Margaret (Mrs. Judson Daley) lives in the Soo. After Mr. Daley's death she married James Murphy. Rolland (deceased), Agnes (Mrs. Alfred Lordson), Ellen (Mrs. Alex Stevenson), and Florence (Mrs. Nelson Cottle).

JOHN, the next son, died in Canada. HENRY married Jemima Watson and they had five children: Margaret (Mrs. Judson Daley, now deceased), Rolland (deceased), Agnes (Mrs. Alfred Lordson), Ellen (Mrs. Alex Stevenson), and Florence (Mrs. Nelson Cottle).

DAVID married Maria Pringle. They had no children. THOMAS married Amanda Gustafson and they were also childless.

WILLIAM married Frances Beamish. To them were born five children: Pearl (Mrs. Newton Clegg), Myrtle (Mrs. Millard Wise, deceased), Austin and William who are deceased, and David who married Jean Sims.

JAMES HILL married Mary Watson and they had seven children: Joseph, William, Jessie (Mrs. Alvin McKenzie), Thomas, Grace (Mrs. Harvey Campbell), George (deceased), and Fannie (Mrs. Lloyd Rye). Joseph married Veva Warren and they have three children. Warren married Elizabeth Harrison and they have one daughter, Carolyn*. Carolyn* married John Witbrodt and they have one daughter, Kerri Lynn**. James E. married Barbara Nicholas from England and they have four children. Linda* is married to John Merrill and teaching school in Augusta, Maine. James* graduated from Michigan State University in 1972. Nicholas* and Mary-Jo* are students at Michigan State. Maxine married Calvin Wonnacott and has two daughters, Pamela and Lisa*. Grace died February 1973.

William J. Hill married Edith Campbell and they have one daughter, Mary Jean. She married Glenn Towsend and they have five sons. He later married Ruth Fountain and has four children: Jacqueline Rose who married Lewis Roberts and has six children (Ginny Lee, Lewis James, Gary Stephen, Peggy, Wendy Sue, and Todd*); Beverly, who married Jacob de Blecourt and has four sons (Donnie Jay, Jimmy, Bill, and Ricky*); William James, Jr., who married Effie Treezenberg and has five children (Mary Beth, Pattie Lee, Jeannie, Brenda, and one son*), and Robert Charles, who married Donna Lane and has two children, Laurie Lee and Brian Allen*. All the William Hill family live in Kalamazoo.

Jessie married Alvin McKenzie and they have seven children. Leta married Kinnee Ames and has three children: Fred*, married to Charlene Nayback, with two children; Joyce*, married to Joe Hexey, with two children; and Shelley* at home. Alvina married Frank Zwolinski and has two children, Wayne and Karen*. Verna married John Zwolinski and has five children. Johnette* married Wayne Shoberg and has four children: Russell, Tom, John, and Frances Ruth** Barbara* is not married and lives at home. Bonnie* is married to Randy Harrison and lives in Pickford. Marian* (Mrs. Norman Avery) lives in Portage, Indiana. Alan* is working in Gary, Indiana. Jean (Mrs. Wallace Beacom) lives in Pickford and has six children. Duncan (Keith Wayne) lives in Sonora, California. Darlene is deceased. Nadine (Mrs. PoIlard) lives in Lansing, Illinois.

Thomas married Thyra Winberg and they have five children: Edward, Herman, Ronald, Gerald, and Sylvia. Edward lives in Midland and has five children. Herman married Verna Leach and they have five children. Ronald married Mary Lindberg and they have three children. Sylvia is a student at Michigan State University.

Grace married Harvey Campbell and had three sons. James Herman married Euline Stirling and they have four children: Judith, Janet, James, and Jerry*. John married Marje Hawks and has four children. They live in Lansing. Richard married Elsie Wetherly and lives in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Grace died February 1973.

HILLOCK

HUDSON

Jennie Isabella Shera was born August 12, 1856, in Longford, Ireland, where she left April 16, 1881, and came to New York. There she married Robert Benjamin Talbot July 16, 1883. They had two sons, William Robert Benjamin and Joseph Andrews George (he became a minister). Her husband died July 1886, and is buried in Bethel Cemetery.

They came to Pickford and lived on a farm at Rockview on the east side of the Meridian (five miles south of town). Miss Frances Talbot, a sister of Robert, made her home with them. Years later she moved into an apartment over the first Pickford Grocery.

Jennie's second marriage was to Samuel Hudson of Cedarville, April 28, 1897. They had one daughter, FLORENCE ELLEN. Her father died when she was a year old. They remained on the farm for a number of years, then purchased a home on the west side of the Meridian at the south edge of town.

Jennie died January 10, 1943. FLORENCE lives in the Sault.

HUYCK

The first person by the name of Huyck to move to the Pickford area was Mr. James Hamilton Huyck. He was the second son of Caleb and Emmaline (Demille) Huyck of Trenton, Ontario. James was born there on Dec. 27, 1868. He had three brothers and three sisters.

James left his home in Trenton, Ontario, at the age of 13 to work in the lumber camps. He was noted for his ability on the river drives and worked on the Niagara and Spanish Rivers in Canada. He came to the United States at about the age of 17, walking from the village of Sault Ste. Marie to the lumber camps in Cedarville. His brother, Manley, joined him here later and stayed for several years, but returned to Ontario.

Little Jimmie Huycke, as he was known in all the lumber camps (he was 5 ft. 6 in. tall and weighed about 124 pounds), worked as a lumberjack, rising at 3 a.m. to be in the woods before daylight and many times fighting back a pack of wolves with picks and axes or by rattling chains on the logging sleighs. He told of one time when he and his partner were alone on the log road and were surrounded by a pack of wolves. They climbed up on a huge rock and beat the shovels they were carrying against the rock until daylight, when more men came upon the scene and the wolves then slunk away. From a lumberjack he became a sawyer and worked in the mill for more than seven years for Hayes Lumber Company in Cedarville.

James and Lillian Delia Freeman were married July 4, l893, when he was 24 and she was 18. Lillian was the daughter of Daniel and Ellen (Bergey) Freeman. She was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, where her parents were among the first settlers. She was also a granddaughter of Charles Bergey, one of the few prisoners that came out of Andersonville Prison Camp in Sumter County, Georgia, during the Civil War. The Huycks lived in Cedarville until late 1895 and early 1896, when he bought 80 acres of woodland from Dave Foster about one and three-fourths miles southwest of Pickford. He cleared enough land to build a four-room house which was replaced by a ten-room brick house in 1925. The Vern Leaches now live in this house.

During the summer months, Jimmie cleared land and during the winter he worked in the lumber camps. They bought their first horse, an old crippled fellow, from Mr. Miller, Earl Miller's grandfather, with the promise to pay for it when he went to work the following winter. With a horse they were able to cultivate a few acres for garden and grow feed for a cow. While he worked in the camps during the winter, his wife cared for the children and the few head of livestock, which grew in number each year as did the acreage of their farm.

As children, James Huyck's descendants heard many stories of the hardships of those first 4 years: of the many crop failures for the lack of proper drainage and of how they waded in water to cut their grain and put it on fence posts to dry in order to have feed for the winter. With 16 to 18 hours of hard manual labor daily, they were able to purchase 80 more acres of land from Mrs. Foster, Mr. Foster having died leaving his widow and two small sons who were unable to operate the farm. Later they purchased 160 acres of woodland which he and his sons cleared. This is now owned by Denzille Huyck and Robert Wislon.

James and Lillian Huycke had 12 children: Alonzo and Floyd born in Cedarville; Delbert, Oliver, Charles, George, Olive, Grace, Ford, Lester, Denzille, and Orville born in the little four-room house and in the above order. Twin boys were born prematurely between Delbert and Oliver. Somewhere during this time they had dropped the "E" and now spell their name "Huyck", but the relatives in Canada still spell it with an "E". 8 of these children are still living.

ALONZO died when 7 months old.

FLOYD married Hattie O'Brien and they had ten children, six of whom are still living. Hattie died in April, 1961. FLOYD later married Marie Meilke and lives in Florida and Pickford.

DELBERT was married to Mary Hoath and they had eight children, five of whom are still living. He died in August, 1964.

OLIVER was married to Annie Hewer. They lived in the Sault and had three children; two are still living.

CHARLES married Beatrice Hewer and they had four children who are all living. Charles passed away in 1957.

GEORGE married Evelyn Allen and they had one son. Their home is in St. Ignace. Evelyn died in December, 1967. George married Margaret Gough in 1969.

OLIVE died at the age of 13 years with appendicitis.

GRACE married Harvey Fountain and they had four children, one dying as an infant. Harvey died in 1972, but Grace and her daughter still live at their home in Pickford.

FORD married Hannah Greenless and they have three children, all living. Their home is in St. Ignace.

LESTER married Matilda Raynard and they have two girls, Lester and Tillie live in Pickford.

DENZILLE married Josephine Menere and they had five children, three of whom are living, Ronald, Bonita and Shirley. Josephine died in June, 1967. Their home is in Pickford.

ORVILLE married Margaret Wilcox and they have one adopted son. They live in Melvindale, Michigan.

James Huyck suffered a stroke in 1934. His wife passed away the same year. He continued to live in the old home until 1942, and then, being unable to operate the farm, sold it to Vern Leach.

James Huyck passed away on May 24, 1944, at the age of 75, of a heart condition. He was living with his daughter and son-in-law, the Harvey Fountains. At the time of his death, he had 32 living grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. 21 of these grandchildren are married and live in the Eastern Upper Peninsula. The grandchildren are involved in many professions including: insurance, banking, preaching, farming, bookkeeping, sailing, telephone, U. S. Postal, garage, merchant, lumbering, road contractors, poultry, typists, clerks, teaching, homemaking, and carpentry. The children and grandchildren are justly proud of their heritage.