Living

Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Living

Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Living married BEVERLY LOU PENNELL [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Herman was described as a small man, with a high pitched laugh similar to that of his son Clarence, and with a bow legged gait. He was a well known practical joker, but was otherwise unassuming. Herman lived with his father at 503 Warner in
1910, while working as a machinist. His marriage certificate, June 20, 1916, lists him as an Iron Worker, residing in Monitor Township, Bay County. By 1920, he and his own family lived at 711 N. Dewitt, Bay City. This house was small, with no
indoor toilet, and heat was provided by a stove in the living room that sometimes got so hot that it glowed red. After his daughter, Priscilla, was born, he bought the empty lot on the northwest corner of Clara and Dewitt streets. A house
belonging to the Sims family, on Wenona near Clara was split into 3 parts, one of which was bought by Herman and moved onto his lot. He dug the basement under the house using a horse and a scoop. The house had a bathroom built into the
upstairs which contained only a toilet and sink. Bathing was done in a small galvininized tin tub in the kitchen. The address of the home is 107 E. Clara, and is across the street from 600 N. Dewitt. 600 N. Dewitt was originally the
Stark/Telfer residence, but became a center of the Doan family for many years thereafter. Herman and his family were members of The Christian Assembly church where his father, Charles, was the minister of the gospel. Herman loved his Campbell's
Pork & Beans, and his cigar. On Sunday afternoon, he would walk to the store on N. Henry St. and N. Union St. with one or more of the children and buy a cigar and a can of pork & beans for dinner. He thought it cute to blow the cigar smoke in
the faces of the children. Life was difficult for the family. Margaret Grace died. The home was sometimes heated with wood that he and his son, Nathan, would go and cut. They had to walk out to the farm of Charles W. Doan to get the horse and
wagon, go cut the wood, take it to the house, then take the horse and wagon back out to State Park Dr. and walk home. Coal was sometimes too expensive for the family. Herman also planted potatoes on the fertile hillsides of the waste area of
the sugar plant out on Euclid St. He worked there as a day laborer when he could. It is said that he often had sores from the irritating properties of the lime soil there. He fed the family and made extra money with the potatoes. After Grace
died, Herman started going to the beer gartens often. He would take young Carl with him, because many of the men there thought he was cute and would buy drinks for Herman. Herman got a job at the Defoe Ship Yards as a laborer. He scratched
his hand or lower arm which became infected. Untreated, the infection spread throughout his body. His arm was amputated at the elbow in an attempt to stop the infection's spread. He died a painful death in the hospital. He left behind 5
orphaned children, the oldest just 17 years old.

HERMAN married MARGARET GRACE STARK on 20 Jun 1916 in Bay City, Michigan. MARGARET (daughter of THOMAS C. STARK and MARGARET JANE TELFER) was born on 7 Dec 1888 in Lake Otsego, Otsego Co., Michigan; died on 4 Jul 1931 in Bay City, Michigan; was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Bay City, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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).

HAM married CLARA RYBACK. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Charles owned a farm in Arenac Co. on Delano Rd, approximately 1/2 mile from Whitman Rd. Approximately 1907, he moved his family from Arenac Co. to 503 Warner Ave., Bay City where in 1910 the city Directory lists Charles W. Doane (farmer),
Arthur A. Doane (farmer), Herman L. Doane (machinist), Edna Doane (student), Ellen Doane (milliner), Howard C. Doane (laborer), Martha V. Doane (dressmaker, boards at same address). At sometime, Charles moved his home to #70 on N. Henry St.
(State Park Dr.). The farm house still stands. He sold 5 acres of the farm to the Fox family, who again divided that acreage with the Hale family. Charles is remembered as a tall, thin man who worked hard. He claimed he ate so much, that it
made him poor just to carry it around. His farm was 20 acres, had small crops, lots of chickens, 2 horses (1 died), and a large barn. After the one horse died, he and the farmer next door combined each of their horses when either man found it
necessary to use a team for plowing, etc. It ran from N. Henry (State Park Dr.) all the way throught to State St., the next street over. He had grape vines on the farm which are said to have produced the best grapes around. He farmed in Bay
Co. a total of 28 years. He had a remedy which was frequently requested by neighbors who had a sick horse. It seemed to work wonderfully. It was not used on humans. Charles was a lay minister of the Gospel at the Christian Assmbly, and was
active there for many years. He owned a square grand piano which cost him $5 which Olive used to play. Charles was the first of the Bay City Doan's to own a car. The last work he performed before he died was to trim back his favorite grape
vines. The farm sold for $5500 after his death. The 1911 Bay City City Directory spelled the last name of he, his family members, and his siblings as Doane.

CHARLES married MARY DIDAMIA STOUTENBURGH on 3 Jul 1877 in Lexington, Michigan. MARY (daughter of HIRAM STOUTENBURGH and MERCY SMITH) was born on 2 Nov 1857 in Sanilac Co. Michigan; died on 14 Jan 1935 in Bay City, Michigan; was buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Bay City, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Mary was a very dignified and handsome woman in her photos. She is fondly remembered for her excellent cooking.

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.