Saturday August 18, 2012

Happy Birthday Grandmother Hughes. Today would have been Grandmother Hughes 144th birthday. Margaret McTavish was born in Alpena, Mi on August 18, 1868 the daughter of Dr James and Eliza McTavish. Eliza Little was born in 1842 on Walpole Island, Ont. She was the first white child born on the Island now an Indian Reservation. Her family came from Edinburgh, Scotland. Great grandmother McTavish died in December 1933. She married Dr McTavish about 1865. Dr McTavish was born in Campbeltown, Scotland and attended medical school at the Cincinnati Eclectic Medical Institute graduating in 1866. In July Dr and Eliza moved to Alpena. The Alpena Fire Dept was organized in 1871 and Dr McTavish was the first chief. Grandmother Hughes lived with us at 123 First Avenue. In fact it was her home. Grandmother was a great storyteller. She attended the Alpena Public Schools. Around 1893 she got a job teaching in a one room school in the tiny sawmill town of Bell, Mi. To get to Bell, Grandmother took a lumber ship out of Alpena. Bell was about 11 miles north of Alpena. The community of Bell did not last long. As soon as all the white pine were cut the town died. In December 1895 Margaret McTavish married Roland Hughes. At the time Roland Hughes was part-owner of the Island Mill in Alpena. Roland Hughes was born in Papineauville, Quebec in September 1853. The story goes that Grandmother did not want to be an old maid so she actively pursued Roland who was 15 years older. Grandfather Hughes died in February 1933. His father was from Wexford, Ireland. Grandmother passed away in 1963 at age 95. Several years ago I reported on Grandmothers 1927 trip to Europe. She was a fine lady. Ms P and I went out at 0600 this morning. The alarm went off at 0630 and Nancy got up and headed to her body pump class at the MAC. I dilly dallied until I left for Bill's at 0800. I had Bill's Saturday Breakfast special. After breakfast I came home and loaded the kayak on the C2. I headed to Lake Macatawa. I spent two hours on the lake and paddled a little over 5 miles. The warm summer has created an algae layer over the lake surface. It is not good for swimming. Tonight Nancy and I are going to Russ' for dinner. We were the youngest folks at Russ'. I had a club sandwich and Nancy had a bowl of soup. We got home at 1840 and I sat in the recliner to watch the news and immediately fell asleep. I slept until 1954. We will watch some TV before retiring.