Born on Padgett farm July 29, 1905
Married July 2, 1925 to Charles Robert Barnsdale.
Charles was the husband of Stanleys oldest sister, Bernice. He worked for the
Edison Company as a appliance repairman all his life. An appliance repairman
had the job of going around to any home in his area of assignment to fix the
homeowners stove, refigerator, or any major appliance. All small appliances
like toasters had to be taken into the Edison office and there they would fix
them. This was an advantage of living in an area served by the Detroit Edison
Company. They fixed all electrical appliances, supplied new electric cords,
light bulbs, fuses etc. anything to do with electricity they would take care
of, charging the customer only for parts, no service or labor charge. Uncle
Charlie also was the first person I knew to have a Studibaker car. He was paid
a mileage allowance by Detroit Edison, and with the Studibaker he got over 30
miles to the gallon, and with gas 18 to 25 cents a gallon he was able to buy a
new car every 2 years, of course he probaly put 50,000 miles a year on a car
so in those days at 100,000 a car would be worn out. Especially considering
that a great deal of his driving would be on country gravel roads.Died in the Alpena Nursing Home.
Born on the Smith farm, on September 19, 1908. Baptised in the Congregational
Church in Chelsea.
!Ref: SS# 374-26-9566 S.S. Admin. Death Master File
!He is buried in St. Andrews CemetaryKenneth was married to two women: 1st Irene Dawn Bennett they had several
children, Marjorie, Ken (my closest cousin on the Proctor side), Don and
Jayne. In later years he became a womanizer (as did Ken Jr.) and sub-
quently Irene divoriced him. He straightened out somewhat and several years
later married Ina Harrer, who was a widowed lady. She was very nice and
got him in line, they were married 6-26-1965.
Irene was always a very nice aunt, and I always enjoyed going up to their
place. Their children, Kenney and Marjorie were very close in age to me, (Ken
Jr. was born in March 1933 also.) They lived on a farm and had a large wild
highbush blueberry swamp on it. We went up there every year when the
blueberries were ripe and picked a lot of them. We also went up at least once a
year to go rabbit hunting as there were a lot of them in the swamp and adjacent
wooded areas.
Irene divorced Kenneth Proctor on the 18 of May 1964 after a long
period of martial problems.
Irene became very interested in genealogy and helped me some.
Born on the Smith farm on March 25, 1910.
Florence married William Knight Stark on 1-1-1931 in Salem, MI. She
and Aunt Irene were the only ones interested in genology and helped me a great
deal in getting Proctor, Place and Carpenter family information.Florence sent me a great deal of information in March of 1994, and in that
informtion she wrote just a page of some insight into her childhood, this is a
verbatum entry: "Yes John, our Dad worked nights at the shipyards in
Wyandotte. (this is in reference to The History of Farms Lived On, contained in
the notes to Harvey Proctor, cir: 1917/18) When Bernice was in the 8th
grade she only went to school in the afternoons, she had to work at home in
the morning as her mother (Pearl Place) was P.J. (and didn't do much). Bernice
started high school in Trenton, but only went a few weeks as she couldn't keep
her work up, she had to get up early and help Stanley milk cows, both in the
morning and in the afternoon. (Bernice would have been 14/15 then and in
high school, never the less it is indicitive of the life of the Proctor
children that for the most part they did the farm work while their father,
Harvey worked off the farm to earn cash for expenses.) Stan had a milk route,
(this is consistant with the Memories written by Stanley Proctor, that in the
17s and 18s he had a home delivery milk route using milk produced on their
farm. The problem is that in 1916 the family moved into a house while Harvey
peddled Watkins products, then in 1917 he quit that, they moved into tents near
Flat Rock, and then to a house in town in the fall of 1917, and then moved to
the Knight farm in 1919, near Trenton, this could be the time they had the home
delivery route. This all fits, except that Harvey got Stanley, then 14 years
old, a job at the Detroit Ship Yard, as during the First World War they made
liberty ships there and would probaly hire any one no matter how young as long
as he would work. Stan could make more money there than any other way.
In Stanleys Memories he also tells of a paper route he had in Trenton, which was
quite large, and required him to get up very early in the morning, before
school. I don't know how they had time to do all these things!. They moved from
the Knight farm in 1921 to the VanSickle farm in Salem, and had no milk route
there) he delivered house to house. The bottling machine and bottles had to be
washed every milking. Bernice helped do all this. (I must wonder in her
references to Bernice helping, Bernice would have been 12 or 13 years old then
and Florence would have been 7 or 8 years old, who helped who?) Ken and I had
to do chores, (this now has to be later than 1917 -18, perhaps now on the Van-
Sickle farm, Florence would have been 10 to 12 years old by then) and it was
very hard work. I remember one time when I was sick, Ken (Kenneth Proctor
and I had to throw down the silage for the cows. (again Florence is doing
the work, Ken was 14 or 15 by then, Stanley would have been 17 or 18 years
old) Ken had to throw down the silage all by him self. It was during the
winter and the silage had frozed all around the sides of the silo, so Ken just
dug into the middle, taking all the easy digging. When I got back to doing
chores and went up into the silo I saw what he had done, and as a result
started to do the job right, digging the frozen silage out from around the
walls. I told him I would tell Stan what he had done, but he threatened me
with his pitch fork and said he would kill me if I told. Stan kept asking why
all the silage was frozen, but I couldn't say a thing as Ken was there, and I
was too frightened to tell on him. During this time we also had to take care
of the horses. That consisted of throwing down the hay and cleaning out the
stalls and putting in fresh straw bedding. I was afraid of them so Ken cleaned
out the stalls, but I had to carry out all the manure and bring in the straw.I had to carry in all the wood, (she now goes to ? (date)) many of the chunks
were very heavy, and Dad (Harvey) said the Ken was too weak to carry them in,
so I had to do it. (Keep in mind that Florence was 3 years younger that Ken)
Ken was strong enough, he was just plain lazy! I could go on and on!Later when Stanley was picking apples, (this would have been from 1921 to
1925 when they were on the VanSikle farm, and is consistant with the Memories
written by Stanley Proctor) he made enough money so he bought what was called a
CA Top for the car. (At that time the family had a large Studebaker
touring car, had to be large for the then 13 member family, which was an open
car with no top as it was second hand and the top was gone.) He did this so we
would have a warmer car to ride in during the comming winter. (Stanley would
have been 18 or 19 at this time) (This may not be totally correct as Harvey was
still taking all of Stanleys money he received from any work off the farm,
probaly Harvey bought the car top, saying it was from Stanley and his work.)That fall Dad would come to shcool to get all of us kids to go home right away
so we could get in more work before dark. I helped set up corn, Ken wouldn't
do it right, so he had another job. Ken would just laugh at me for working so
hard. He just wouldn't do things right if he did'nt want to do the job, and
then Dad would let him do something else, and get out of doing that job. I was
just plain stupid as I did what was asked of me. But I am glad I did, as I can
live with myself. Yes John, we all worked mighty hard, that was why I never
wanted to marry a farmer. Why we even had to run home from shcool at lunch time
when we lived on West Road, (this would have been in 1919/1920, when Florence
was 9 or 10) hurry up and eat lunch and then go and pick pickles untill the
bell was ready to ring and then run back to school. (This is related as a long
term chore, the fall pickle/cukeumber harvest was quite short, and I can guess
that it only happened a few times, perhaps just before an expected frost or
perhaps a buyer had to have a load of them in the afternoon. If they had good
pickles/cukumbers after a frost the price would have gone
up dramaticly on the market.) During this time I remember a family came from
Detroit to buy some pickles, the lady said "and to think they are all hand
picked", we all got a big kick out of that. (Have times changed so much, how in
the world did the lady think the pickles got picked, apparently she had no
knowledge of how food commodities were harvested, back in 1921, same as now
in 1994, city people have no concept of how commidity food crops get to the
supermarket, they just get there and agriculture has no relationship to the
food supply at the market.!)When I was six (we now go back to 1916/17/18) and we lived in Trenton, Bernice
would hang clothes on the line, and I had to hand her the pins. This was done
during our lunch period. When the bell would ring we would run like everything
so we wouldn't be late. One day a 'senior' knocked me down and I was out for a
long time. Bernice stayed with me till I came to. (this ended her reminiscing)It is interesting that in this reminiscing by Aunt Florence she shows some of
the bitterness and conflict that may have been in the family. In all but a very
little bit of Stanleys Memories, he does not have any evidence of bitterness,
and no demonstration of conflict at all, in any family happinings. This is
actually amazing due to the fact that Stanley stayed home and gave much
of his time and outside earned money to his dad untill he was 26 years
old. It wasn't untill 1929 that Stanley left home and went to MI
Agriculture College, this at the urging of and for the new school teacher in
Salem, Lucille Latson, with whom he had fallen in love with and subquently
married.Additional memories by Florence: "I remember staying with Ida and Henry
Gillow, I would string beads so Ida could put them on fancy
dresses she made for wealthy women. She was a dress maker in Detroit. Mother,
Bernice and Lester stayed with them when Dad was in Harper Hospital in 1918,
(reference Harvey Proctor - notes) so mother could take the street car to
the hospital. The rest of us (except Stan as he was working in the Yandotte
ship yard) stayed with Uncle Sam. He did gardening and we had to help hoe and
weed" This had to be in 1917/18, during the first World War, refer to notes
for Harvey Proctor.Additional information from Aunt Florence: TAKING CARE OF AUNT FILLISY
Charlie & Ida (Proctor) Hough picked me up on
September 23, 1929. I had been in ann Arbor caring for a fimily since May 23,
but left to take care of Aunt Fillisy. (Florence would have been 19 years old
at this time) Aunt Fillisy was a diabetic and needed full time nursing, her
previous nurse had left and Florence was asked to fill in. In early December
of 1929 she decided to take the family to CA after Christmas for a
vacation, of course I was to go along. There where three cars that drove, Aunt
Fillisy, Elsie (Cross) who was Charles Proctors wife) and little
Charles, along with Ernestine Hough took the train. I rode all the way with
Charles. The McGeachy family (Samuel and
Gertrude Proctor McGeachy came in Aunt Fillisys car. Then Steats ?
drove his ford, he took a lady with her two children out to her sisters. We
had a wonderfull trip. I think it was the 10th of January when we arrived in
Los Angles, we had left Dearborn on Dec. 29th 1929. Aunt Fillisy had rented 2
houses across from each other on MI Ave in L.A. She, Steets, Ernestine
and I lived in one, the McGeachy family in the other. Charley and
Elsie along with little Charles (MRIN 126), lived in a small house a block
south of us. Later Charlie and Ida Hough came out by train they stayed a few
blocks away. I had the whole gang every thrusday night for dinner, we sure had
a wonderful winter. We arrived home May 1st, 1930. Steets along with Bill
Twark (who Ernie later married) drove back, so did Charlie, Elsie and little
charles. Aunt Fillisy and Ernie took the train, Charles and Ida only stayed 6
weeks. I came home with the McGeachy family in Aunt Fillisy Buick. We were
crowded, but we made it OK. We visited the Grand Canyon on our way back."
William worked in the post office untill 1941, as soon as the US went to war in
WW II he got a job as a farm manager on a farm near Ypsilanti MI, it was only a
part time manager job, and he kept his job in the post office. It did, however,
enable him to keep out of the army. This was a common thing to do if one was
able to find work on a farm and thereby obtain deferrment from the military
draft. (During the second world war when mandiatory military draft was in
effect farm workers and many factory workers were exhempt from being drafted due
to the war departments finding that certian jobs were critical for the war
effort.Obituary on file
Erwin was Mables husband and my uncle, they lived just west of Dexter on a
farm, they had 9 childrin, Betty Jane was the closest cousin I had in age, she
was born 2-10-1933. Erwin was a poor farmer, but he managed, or was a
maintainence man for a small church camp near Dexter. It had a small lake on it
that had no axcess except the camp. He would let Stanley, my dad, in to fish
would go over there now and then. It was supposed to be a great bass lake and I
guess dad did catch some good ones there.He died of a heart attack, but may have had cancer, no one really knew?
AS RELATED TO ME BY Florence Pearl Proctor March 30th, 1994
"Sally, as we called her, was a little doll, I had her for a couple of weeks
shortly before she died, her sister,Betty Jane, had Scarlet Fever and Mable
didn't want to have Sally exposed. (Sally was taken over to Harvey and Pearls by
Mable but they didn't want to or couldn't take care of her so they brought her
over to our place for me to take care of.) She was cutting teeth then,
although she was 22 months old, she couldn't walk yet. He little fat legs just
wouldn't hold her up. Mable called Mom and Dad to bring her home, as the
Scarlet Fever wouldn't infect her now. So they came down and got her, as they
didn't want Mable to
know that she wasn't with them. Sally cought a cold after returning home, and
by the time they got around to taking her to the doctor he said it had
turned into pneumonia, and she was critically ill. Mable had a nurse come in
and help as Francies was only 2 months old, Betty was 3 years old and
Mabel had her hands full. They were living with Erwins folks on the farm.
Sally went into convulsions in the wee hours of the morning, on March 30th,
1936. Erwin took the nurse and Sally to Saint Joseph Hospital in Ann Arbor.
Mabel called Mother and Dad to come over, which they did. Mother stayed with
the children, Dad took Mabel to the hospital, they met Erwin and the nurse at
the elevator, Sally was gone. The doctor said the pneumonia was too far
advanced and they couldn't save her. An autopsy showed she had a large tumor
that had filled one lung completely, and two-thirds of the other lung, most
likely cancer. Mabel will not admit it to this day, she is still convienced
that Sally died of the pneumonia." (One would now wonder if tobacco smoke
could have caused this problem, as Erwin was a chain smoker all his life?)
Milan was the second husband of Mable, married in 1972, they had no children.
REF: SS# 375-01-1039 S.S. Admin. Death Master File
This family line submitted by John E. Proctor (brn 1933) of Stillwell KS 4/96
Born August 1, 1922 on the George VanSickle farm on six mile road, one mile
east of Salem, Mi.Aunt Emma married George Charles (Chuck) Dinius on Nov. 28, 1942. He always
worked at Tecumseh Products, the small motor mfg. Emma was Stanley Proctors
youngest sister, she was born after he left home, and did not have much in
common with her or the Dinius family, as they were of course much younger
than Stanley and Lucille. I can remember her as a teen-ager when we went to
visit Harvey and Pearl (my grandfather and grandmother), however we knew little
of their family. They had four children and I did't ever know any of
them very well. Aunt Emma displayed the American Indian blood in her features,
from,her grt,grt grd-mother, Grandma Proctors, side. Emmas mother, Pearl Place
was the daughter of Edwin Ona Place. He was the son of
Lionel Lavington Place and Eunice Josephine Long. Eunice
was a full blooded indian from CT No one ever talked about it but Aunt
Emma really looked like an Indian. Very large framed, very heavy, jet black
coarse hair, and very heavy eyebrows. (this heavy eyebrow trait was common
in many of the Proctors, including John, Stanleys son) One of her daughters
looked exactly the same as she did. She had high bood pressure all her life,
but never drank any alochol to my knowledge. She died of cancer in the
stomach in 1989 after several bouts with it and several operations, all the
time very over weight.This family line submitted by John E. Proctor (brn 1933) of Stillwell KS 4/96
"Chuck" worked for the Tecumseh Motor Product Co. all his life. He lived on a
farm and worked that also. As a family Stanley never visited them, keep in
mind that Emma Proctor was born in 1922, which is 19 years after Stanley was
born, she really wasn't a sister to him in the sense of a family.This family line submitted by John E. Proctor (brn 1933) of Stillwell KS 4/96
Glenn was one year older that Stanley Proctor, the relationship is
thru the Place side of the family. Addie Place, married Joseph
Matevia. Addie was Stanleys mothers, Pearl Place sister, the
daughter of Edwin Ona Place, there for Glenn and Stanley were cousins.
As would be expected they visited back and forth quite often, 3 or 4 times per
year according to Stanley.Glenn got a job as a Detroit Policeman, he did well, (according to writings
from Staley Proctor), He bought a home in Detroit and lived by himself.
(According to Stanley he had plenty of girl friends living with him at various
times) In about 1928 he got a woman to keep house for him full time. The
woman had a doughter, about 18 years of age. She was sleeping with Glenn.
Glenn also had an additional girl friend he was sleeping with, she was the
daughter of a police Captan. In 1932 or 33 he married the daughter of the
police captan. " Aunt Florie and Uncle George with with us to Detroit for the
wedding. Glenn and his new wife went on a week trip some where. When they
came home the mother and daughter had him arristed. The mother claimed that
her daughter was Glenns common law wife. They went to court, and the woman got
his house in settlement of the dissagreement. He was fired from the Detroit
Police Department, and never was able to get another job. The girl he married,
Virginia, soon left him due to non support. We never saw Glenn again! I don't
know what he did or where he lived." When Nancy Proctor Simpson and her
husband Dick Simpson first moved to Rockford MI, Nancy todl Stanley the a
Glenn Matevia was living east of Rockford in an old garage or some type of
outbuilding on a farm with an old woman. Stanley didn't go to find out if it
was the same Glenn Matevia he had known.