LOG MARKS Sanford Historical Society Facebook: Sanford Centennial Museum Sanford Historical Society Board

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1 LOG MARKS Sanford Historical Society Facebook: Sanford Centennial Museum Sanford Historical Society Board Officers President: Mary Herkner Vice President: Jan Biggs Secretary: Linda Fisher/Sue Muto Treasurer: Kendra Melchi Trustees Ruth Ann Nagle Jeff Bowen Karen Ketover VOLUME 34, ISSUE 1 APRIL, 2017 Sanford Centennial Museum resides at 2222 Smith Street in Sanford. Mailing address: Sanford Historical Society, P.O. Box 243 Sanford, MI logmarks@tds.net Phone: Letter from the President Santa Express was held in December with a record turnout of people. This event was covered in the December e-newsletter. If you have not yet signed up for the e-newsletter now would be a good time to do so. After a long winter, spring is on the way. Volunteers continued to work during the colder months. In the main museum the Doctor/Dentist/ Cobbler/Barbershop area was remodeled by the Sites committee and the Library/Museum committee is in the process of re-arranging this area. Be sure and check this out when the Museum opens in May. The Sites committee also removed many of the overgrown bushes and trees in front of the main museum. As part of the remodeling in the Doctor/Dentist/ Cobbler/Barbershop area the very large and heavy bathtub was moved outside. This was done during the prep work for Founder s Day by the Meridian football teams as they had the muscle to move the Save These Dates Opening Day Veterans Tribute Log Cabin Day Train Day Founder s Day Santa Express May am - 5 pm May 27 1 pm June 25 1 pm - 4 pm Aug am - 4 pm Sept. 9 & 10 Early to 6 pm Dec. 12, 13 & 14 3:30 pm - 7:30 pm tub. Now that spring is here we are looking for a new location for the bathtub as it really does not fit in where it is currently located. Work has also been done on the archival documents (i.e. paper stuff) and volunteers have been busy organizing and filing this information. In the future some of this will be posted on the Sanford Museum Website. The Website has been re-designed by Ron Hughes and contains more pictures and information. In the future months, you will see more information on the site. An example would be the SHS membership meeting notes. The upcoming months include cleaning the buildings and grounds; if you would like to help out, contact any board member. The Log Cabin Day Art Contest will take place in May. The Museum opens up for the 2017 season on May 27, 2017 at 10:00 am and the Veterans Tribute takes place on the same day at 1:00 pm. Mary 2017 Membership and Board Meeting Dates Membership Meetings April 19th 11th May 17th 9th June 21st 13th July 19th 11th August 16th 1st September 20th 5th October 18th 10th November 15th 8th December na 5th Board Meetings

2 LOG MARKS April, 2017 Page 2 Thornton Maple Syrup By Rick E. Goodwin March 20, 2017 Hiram David (Dave) Thornton was a lifelong Jerome Township resident, as was his father before him, Charles Thornton. Dave s Grandfather, Hiram Goodsell Thornton, settled in Jerome Township in the 1870 s. Dave served as the Sanford Historical Society President in 1993, 1994 and again in One of the rituals of spring time in Jerome Township for the Thornton family through the years has been the gathering of maple sap, boiling the sap and making delicious maple syrup. What follows, in Dave s own words, is how the Thornton family made all that happen. Dave wrote these words for the Society Log Marks newsletter in May of 2002 (the pictures have been added for this current story). The sign over the door at Dave Thornton s Sugar Bush Author s photo. MAKING MAPLE SYRUP By Dave Thornton The age old art of making maple syrup started out with the Thornton family early on. My father, Charles Thornton, told me how my Grandfather and Grandmother did it when they first settled here after he was mustered out of the Army in 1865 after the Civil War. His explanation was detailed and precise. I still use it today. Some of the maple trees they tapped which are 140 to 150 years old are still being tapped for maple sap this year. I have been doing this every year since I got home from World War II in 1946 until the present date, As my father explained it, you start out with an Elderberry bush which was cut and dried over the winter. Elderberry wood that was ¾ in diameter, dried and firm, was cut into 6 lengths. Then one end was whittled to a taper so, when it was put in to a ½ wide and 1 deep hole in the tree, could be pushed in to make a tight seal. Elderberry branches are soft and pulpy inside a natural tube. The Indians also used an Elderberry spout to get maple sap. It is time to tap the trees when temperatures during the day get to 40 degrees but it is still below freezing at night. This happens at different times in different years. This year I began tapping on March 12 th and continued until about April 12 th. I tap about 25 trees. It doesn t hurt the tree to tap it. The sap you take is really extra and if not used by the buds spills out and is wasted but you must be careful to drill the holes up or down from the holes from previous years so you don t girdle the tree. And when you are finished, plug the hole with a green maple sapling from which the bark has been removed. Drive it into the hole and cut it off. This keeps insects from getting into the tree and destroying it. Use mature trees at least one foot through. A container holding two to five gallons is attached to the tree. The sweet sap juice is gathered once a day and put into a bulk container until about 100 to 150 gallons which makes 10 to 12 quarts of finished syrup. The buckets are heavy. I remember my father tapped the big maple trees up on Francis Shores before there were any buildings there. They lined the road to Wright s bridge just like the ones still along West River Road. He used a poke, a carved wooden piece which fitted over his shoulders. It helped distribute and balance the weight. When I ve gathered all the sap, I evaporate this down in a pan 7 foot long, 24 wide and 5 deep and cook it over a wood fire. It takes 24 to 26 hours to finish evaporation for this amount. At this point, I move it from the evaporation pan to two canning cookers and take it to a gas fired range where I can control the heat. I continue to cook until the syrup

3 LOG MARKS April, 2017 Page 3 is further reduced so that all the sap juice fits into one cooker. who did it for a project. The tradition will continue. We are thankful for this story and the tradition it describes. I once heard it said, In the end all that is left are the memories. What wonderful memories produced by a few maple trees along West River Road. Thanks, Dave. April Membership Meeting Dave Thornton s Sugar Bush Photo credit: Rick E. Goodwin. You have to watch very closely as the juice becomes thicker. When the syrup strings (one drop of syrup strings into another), it is ready to be purified. I watch it with my eyes very carefully to judge when it is ready. Use one cup of milk mixed with an egg. Bring to a rapid boil and stir until it is all through the syrup in the cooker which is now about three quarters full of syrup. After boiling for 10 or 15 minutes, all of the milk and egg mixture has worked its way thoroughly through the syrup and gathered all the impurities. It forms a floating froth which can be skimmed off. It doesn t matter how much you screen the sap. It still has impurities and you still have to do this if you want clear syrup. After purifying, it is filtered one last time and transferred to another cooker. Now you boil again. Use a small dipper or large tablespoon until you see it cornflaking. This is when the last bit of syrup coming off the utensil being used sticks together and forms a flake. I use my eyedrometer for this, the same as my mother used to do. When it cornflakes, it is finished and ready to can off. This tradition was passed on to me from my grandparents. I taught my daughters and my son, then my grandsons and granddaughters. I have four very good neighbors I ve taught to do this and who were a big help to me this year when I had a sore arm. In 1962 I taught a group of Explorer Scouts Sanford Village Offices 106 Lincoln Street. This year s first membership meeting of the Sanford Historical Society will be held at 7 pm on Wednesday, April 19 th, 2017 at the Sanford Village Offices located at 106 Lincoln Street. The Society has been working on many projects over the winter months and this meeting promises to be most informative. You don t have to be a member to attend everyone is welcome! Addresses Wanted Once again in 2017 the SHS will be publishing electronic issues of the Log Marks newsletters to supplement the four printed issues (April, June, August, and November). These extra issues will not be mailed out due to printing and postage costs. The Society encourages you to switch to delivery of your newsletter as it helps to reduce expenses, and you can share these full-color newsletters with friends and family members. Please send an to logmarks@tds.net with the subject Member and we ll add you to our growing list!

4 LOG MARKS April, 2017 Page 4 Artifact Corner By Mary Hughes The confusion continues with why the town was named North Bradley and not just Bradley. One source says because it s north of Midland while another says it s because there is a post office in a town named Bradley in the southern part of the state. It appears that Buttonville had one postmaster, William (Billie) Babcock, before the town was changed to North Bradley. After William s passing, his brother Leslie F. (Let) Babcock became postmaster of the North Bradley Post Office. The others who served as Postmaster for North Bradley include: Alice Babcock; Frank Allswede, who went on to act as Sanford Postmaster for 35 years; Ellen Morrison; Joseph Morrison; Edith M. Beamish; Joseph Janicki; Elmer Utter, who ran a hardware store from ; Ruth Mae Van Bergen; and Elsie Waite. This month s Artifact Corner focuses on the Buttonville/North Bradley post office boxes. If you ve been to the museum over the past 20 years or more, and gone in the main building, you couldn t have missed them. It s a beautiful piece of furniture sitting across from a sorting desk, also from the North Bradley Post Office, as you go into the Main Street Room. The town of North Bradley started out as Buttonville not long after William R. Button arrived in the area. There is some question as to the decade when he arrived. Some say 1849 while other sources put his arrival at It doesn t seem Buttonville stayed Buttonville for very long though. The residents changed the name to North Bradley early on because they didn t like the name Buttonville. Even the new name of North Bradley has a hazy past. Who is it named after? According to the book Salt of the Earth, it s one of three possible candidates; Benjamin F. Bradley who was Midland City s Postmaster , Egbert Bradley who owned a sizable farm near Midland City and was County Highway Commissioner during the period, or possibly it was Hiram Bradley who was the only Bradley living in the vicinity and who cleaned up the local bars winning the gratitude of the community. Ruth Mae Van Bergen and Elsie Waite Many city dwellers enjoyed free home delivery beginning in 1863, but rural citizens had to pick up their mail at the Post Office. It wasn t until

5 LOG MARKS April, 2017 Page that Congress allocated money to test the idea of delivering mail to homes in small communities, and at that time nearly 41 million people, 65 percent of the American population, lived in rural areas. The experiment included rural communities with a population range of 300 to The experiment would last six years. By 1901 home delivery was expanding and the postal service put out requirements for mail boxes to replace the crates, cigar boxes, and pails people put out for the mail delivery man. was closely associated with its development. The Rand McNally Atlas shows that North Bradley had a population of 175 people in 1895 with a post office and railroad service. Gaunt Shier, Raymond Griswold, Perry Steel, Let Babcock, Orin Johnson in front of the North Bradley Post Office, July The post office in North Bradley in later years was in the local hardware store, probably Elmer Utter s store, until 1970 when it was moved to a house on Frank Street owned by the family of Mrs. Barbara Todd, daughter of the postmaster Ruth Mae Van Bergen. The family built a room onto their house and rented it to the post office for about $45.00 a month. It housed 90 post office boxes, with only about 15 in use by A 1977 issue of The Saginaw News reported that Ruth Mae Van Bergen served as Postmaster for 14 years, retiring in 1975 leaving the postmaster position unfilled for two years as the fate of the North Bradley Post Office was being decided. On further research a report shows the post office remained opened until Wikipedia: A post office operated from November 5, 1873, until April 27, The settlement was also called Buttonville or Button, for William R. Button, who North Bradley Post Office from The Saginaw News, July 23, After the North Bradley Post Office was closed the post office boxes were eventually donated to the Sanford Centennial Museum by Helen Beamish in memory of Elmer Utter. This winter the beautiful post office box piece was moved to the Olson Store on the museum grounds, along with the North Bradley Post Office Sign, and Frank Allswede s big safe, used in the Sanford Post Office when he was Postmaster. Visit us this season and see their new home!

6 Sanford Historical Society P.O. Box 243 Sanford, MI The Sanford Historical Society meets on the third Wednesday of the month from April through November at 7:00 PM at the Sanford Village Hall, 106 Lincoln Street or in the Historic Depot on the grounds of the Museum. Members and visitors are always welcome. Annual membership dues are $10 for an individual and $15 for a family. Dues may be paid on our web site, by mail, or in person at the museum during the season, at any meeting, or at Founder s Day. MEMBERSHIP DONATION VOLUNTEER Please review your mailing label on this newsletter. The number in the corner represents the last year that you paid dues. If you owe dues, please clip this coupon, fill it out, and mail in your membership dues so you may continue to maintain your membership. addresses are greatly appreciated, it helps to keep costs down and we only use s for newsletters and special announcements. Name: Street Address: City/State/Zip: / / Phone: Address: Check Box or Boxes: $10/year Individual $15/year Family $ Donation Founder s Day Sponsorship I would like to volunteer Enclosed $: Please mail new or renewal memberships to: Sanford Historical Society, P.O. Box 243, Sanford, MI 48657