A history of Pickford Area Pioneer Families Daniel Morrison

HANCOCK

John Hancock's mother was married three times. Her maiden name was Maitland, and she died. Her second marriage was to John Wonnacott and they had two Children, Richard and Susan. Tragedy again struck when John Wonnacott was killed in a lumbering accident. She then married John Hancock and three children were born to this union: Lizzie (Mrs. Cook), Agnes (Mrs. Johnson), and John. John Hancock, Sr., his wife, and their son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Cook, came to this area shortly after their son, John and his wife, Ellen had settled here. They stayed only about a year and then returned to Canada.

When John was old enough, he joined the Canadian Volunteers and spent some time in this army unit at Niagara Falls, Ontario. (His daughter, Mrs. Gertrude Bumstead, has a picture of him in his uniform.) After leaving the army, he turned to farming and married Ellen Rye, oldest daughter of Richard Rye. Their farm was near Clinton in Goderich Township, Ontario. They had four children at that time: Fred, born Oct. 6, 1878; James, born Sept. 30, 1879; and twins, Mary Agens and Sarah Ellen born Feb. 5, 1881. Sarah Ellen died when three weeks old.

In 1881 when Mary was a baby, they came to Pickford by boat from Goderich to Sault Ste. Marie, spending the winter of 1881-1882 with Ellen's father, Richard Rye, on what is now the Vern Rye farm. They returned to Clinton in the spring of 1882 to take off the crop from their farm. A son, Ennis, was born August 26, 1882, and six weeks later, after selling their farm, they set out once again by boat from Goderich to Sault Ste. Marie. They had a team of horses and two cows and among the other possessions they brought were seventeen barrels of apples to be sold and distributed to the people of Pickford. They lived for a while on what is known as the Oak Roe farm, one and three-quarters miles west of Pickford, now owned by John Rye. On September 14, 1884, Martha was born. Ellen's father, Richard Rye, wished to homestead some property at Rockview, and being unable to live on the land himself, asked John and Ellen to live there. The exact location of this property was the Senior Charles Bumstead's farm, one mile west of Rockview and running one-half mile along Rockview Road, in the second section, on a 160 acre farm on the south side of the road. Arthur was born there September 9, 1886. Meanwhile, John had been looking for his own land and had bought the 80 acres, one mile west of Pickford from the Detroit, Mackinac, and Marquette Railroad Company Land. The land was cleared and a home built. Gertrude was born on October 31, 1888; Wilford on January 9, 1893; and Elliott on July 5, 1897.

In the summer of 1904, the framing for a new barn was taking place. More land had to be cleared and in preparing for a grubbing bee the following day, much cooking and baking was being done. Martha, now Mrs. Bert Hughes, had come from DeTour with her baby, Minerva. In the middle of the night, James was awakened by the crackling of fire. He roused the family and everyone escaped, but with nothing but their night clothing. The home was burned to the ground. Friends and relatives helped build a new house and the new barn was raised.

John worked in lumber camps and also in Sault Ste. Marie, helping with a team of horses to build the Power Canal, walking home and back to work again on weekends. He also had threshing machines and threshed for many throughout the area. The first threshing machines were run by horsepower. He owned the first threshing machine with a straw blower in Pickford. One incident that happened while on the way to thresh for Hugh Leach was at the bridge that crossed the Munuscong River. They were just about across when the bridge caved in, just as the front wheels were on the land. The machine stood straight up and down. He also had the first farm-side grain chopper in Pickford and it is still at the barn.

John and Ellen were both active members of the Presbyterian Church. He served as elder for many years. Ellen, though small of stature, was great of heart and was always available when trouble or illness came to her neighbors.

Their son, FRED, married Edith Roberts. They had 13 children, 10 girls and 3 boys.

JAMES married Erma Atkinson and they had 8 children, 4 boys and 4 girls.

MARY married George Hamilton and had two sons.

ENNIS married Ethel Corbin. They had 6 children, 5 boys and 1 girl. They moved to Canada, living in Toronto for a while, and then settled in Belleville, Ontario.

MARTHA married Albert Hughes. They had 11 children, 10 girls and 1 boy.

ARTHUR as a young man went to Engadine and married Alice Bailey. They had 3 children, 2 boys and 1 girl.

GERTRUDE married Albert Bumstead. They had 5 children, 4 girls and 1 boy.

WILFORD married Mary Stewart and they had 4 children, 3 girls and 1 boy. Mary died in 1961 and later Wilford married Mary's widowed sister, Janet Stewart Steele.

ELLIOTT married Mabel Leib, who had one daughter, Dorothy (Mrs. Ivan Bawks.)

James' wife, Erma, lives on their farm, two miles west of Pickford and one-half mile north, with her son, Herbert.

MARTHA lives in Pickford with her daughter, Cora Mae Hughes.

GERTRUDE lives in Sault Ste. Marie with her daughter, Flossie Hamilton.

WILFORD lives in Sault Ste. Marie. JANET died on Jan. 30, 1969.

ELLlOTT and Mabel live on the old home farm west of Pickford. Elliott has been Supervisor of Pickford Township for 36 years, retiring in the fall of 1972. John Hancock died in 1925 at the age of 72 and Ellen died in 1938 at the age of 83. They have approximately 275 descendants.

HANNA

The first permanent settler in Stalwart was Mr. Richard Hanna. Two other men had filed claims prior to that but had not stayed. Mr. Hanna claimed his homestead in 1878 and moved his wife and three sons, John, William, and Wesley, and three daughters, Mary Anne, Margaret, and Elizabeth, to the site of the homestead in May. Mr. Hanna had previously constructed a crude log shanty there. Two years after they had moved, the youngest and last child was born, Alex.

As Mr. Hanna got some land cleared and necessary improvements made, he built another larger and more comfortable log house that still stands on the old homestead. All necessary household items and food items and mail were carried through the woods by blazed trail from Prentiss Bay, where it came by boat.

When Alex Hanna was still quite young, Mrs. Hanna's brother came to the home for a visit and brought with him the dread Black Smallpox. Every member of the family was stricken and Mrs. Hanna and the oldest son died, as well as the carrier, Sandy Montgomery. The disease was so highly contagious and deadly that nobody came or left the place, thus necessitating their burial on the homestead. The platt was later set aside and is still on record in the Chippewa County Courthouse.

The struggle for a mere existence in a new settlement was exacting and hard work. Mistakes were costly and everyone was on the alert at all times, because medical help, etc., was almost impossible to obtain on short notice. Thus, the early pioneers were constantly alert. Only the absolute necessities were carried in. Sugar was an unheard-of luxury. Maple trees were tapped in large quantity in the spring and the sap boiled down into sugar for the family's use for the next year. Still in use on the old homestead are two old iron sugar kettles brought from Canada, More and more settlers moved in and eventually a sort of town council was formed. Mr. Hanna was put in one of their magistrates. Trials were held for petty crimes in the community.

The last two members of the family are now gone. Mrs. Elizabeth Sims, who was well up in her 80's, died in 1962. MISS MARGARET HANNA was born Nov, 25, 1865, and died Jan. 15, 1964. She was 98 when she died.

Melvin Hanna, ALEXANDER HANNA's son, still lives on the original homestead. He married Doris Rosing and they have four children. Carl married Barbara Thompson and they have four children. Carl married Barbara Thompson and they have one son, Brian*, and live in Pickford. Noel is a Captain in the Air Force, stationed in North Carolina, where he flies the C-130 Hercules. Dianne married Kenneth Schmitigal. Shannon lives in Sault Ste. Marie.

Kermit Hanna married Mildred Leach and they have two children. David married Andrea Greggs and lives in Sault Ste. Marie. Gloria is Mrs. James Clegg and lives in Pickford.



UPDATE 8/7/99: Submitted by Shannon Dennis [e-mail]

Melvin Hanna died in 1995 (Doris, his wife, in 1990) Dianne (Hanna) Schmitigal and her husband are both retired and living in Goetzville. They have two sons: Jeffrey-married with one son, living in Hartland, Michigan; and Philip--married with two daughters, living on the Hanna homestead in Stalwart. Noel Hanna is father to three sons-he is retired from the US Air Force and Michigan Air National Guard where he was a pilot--flying the famous A-10 Warthog. He resides in Battle Creek. His three grown sons are Michael, Christopher, and Andrew. Shannon is living in Galesburg, Michigan. She has two daughters-Jennifer living in Grand Rapids, and Allison, a student at Eastern Michigan University.