MARGARET GRACE STARK

Notes:

Margaret Grace was a short, heavy woman. She loved to sing and could play the piano slightly, as long as the tune was on the black keyes. She likely finished only the 8th grade. There was a fire at her school, during which she fell and was
trampled on the stairs. She lived only because someone pulled her up and got her down the stairs. She worked for the Carrington family on S. Union St. This family was a wealthy lumber family. They made her use the name Margaret because of a
conflict within that household. She worked there until, at age 28, she married Herman. Her marriage certificate lists her birth place as Lake Otsego, Michigan. Walter Sims presided at the ceremony with Ross Doan and Estella Stark as
witnesses. She and Herman started life with very little. The Carrington's gave her a Tiffany lamp, an old threadbare rug, and an old, broken leather couch. Someone else gave them 2 rocking chairs and a table. That was the extent of what they
owned. She would bake cakes and other goodies on Saturday, which she sold up and down the street on Sunday, for extra money. She was a skilled seamstress. The Sim's family, then of Chicago, would send boxes of clothes for the children.
Margaret would rip the clothes apart, turn the cloth around, and remake the clothes to fit her family. She first became ill around 1928. By the time she was 40 years old, she was unable to walk. Then she had one last child, Carl. She was
unable to care for him very well by herself. Complications of tubercular meningitis was the cause of her death. Her death, a gruesome, painful ending, was witnessed by her family from the doorway of her bedroom. Margaret's funeral was held in
the family home at 107 E. Clara (across the street from 600 N. Dewitt).

MARGARET married HERMAN LESLIE DOAN on 20 Jun 1916 in Bay City, Michigan. HERMAN (son of CHARLES WESLEY DOAN and MARY DIDAMIA STOUTENBURGH) was born on 20 Sep 1889 in Bay County, Michigan; died on 28 Nov 1934 in Bay City, Michigan; was buried on 1 Dec 1934 in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Bay City, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Living
2. THOMAS NATHAN DOAN was born on 17 Mar 1919 in Bay City, Michigan; died on 19 May 1997 in Bay County, Michigan; was buried on 22 May 1997 in Sunset Valley Crematory, Bay Co., Mich..
3. Living
4. Living
5. Living

Notes:

"Pa Stark" was well versed in Scottish tunes and could sing them in Gaelic. When Thomas actually moved to Michigan is unclear, but he was in Lake Otsego, Michigan in 1888 when his daughter, Margaret, was born there. His naturalization papers,
The Certificate of Citizenship, October 30, 1896, places him in Bay City at about the time he and His father-in-law, Andrew Telfer, started building the house at 600 N. Dewitt St. in Bay City. This house was occupied by the Telfer family
upstairs, and the Stark family downstairs. The property had a barn which housed 2 or 3 cows which provided milk, chickens, which provided meat and eggs, and occasionally a pig. There were also some fruit trees, of which a plum and pear tree
each still remain. The Bay City Directory lists Thomas as a Sawyer in 1910, residing at 600 N. Dewitt. In 1915, he is listed as a carpenter, and in 1920, his employment was as a custodian at the Wenona School, where he remained for many years.
Thomas died in his home after a lingering illness. His funeral was held at 600 N. Dewitt, one of many in that home from 1922 to 1938.

THOMAS married MARGARET JANE TELFER on 14 Apr 1886. MARGARET was born on 25 Feb 1863 in Bristol, Pontiac Co., Quebec, Canada; died on 23 Nov 1935 in Bay City, Michigan; was buried on 26 Nov 1935 in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Bay City, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Margaret had been a resident of Bay City for 50 years at the time of her death. She died at her home, 600 N. Dewitt St., Bay City, after a lingering illness. The funeral was held there also.