This family line submitted by John E. Proctor (brn 1933) of Stillwell KS 4/96
Stanley Proctor was born on the Pommischackle farm on Warren road,
Plymouth, Mi. He was Married June 28th, 1929 to Lucille Latson.He has written a long and detailed history of his life, as far back as he
can remember, starting in 1908, with details of many events up into the 1960s.He told me that once his father, Harvey, took him to a spot on the Rouge
River in Dearborn, owned at that time by Henry Ford and the site now of the
Rouge river park way, and there were the remains of a log cabin. Harvey
told Stanley that the remains were the home of his fathers first cabin when
he came here from England. This is not accurate, as we know that Harveys
father did not come from England, but his fathers father did. No doubt it
was the cabin of the first Samuel Proctor we have, who did arrive in the 1840s?
from England. The Plat map we have from 1850? does show land owned by Samuel
Proctor at this location.In addition to the Memories written by Stanley, the information below provides
a time line for some gaps in that history.
Oct 1925 Meets Lucile Latson, who is teaching at country school
Nov. 1926 Tries Short Course at MAC to see if he can do it
March 1927 Returns to work on farm with his father
Nov. 1927 Starts the Short Course at MAC
April 1928 Works at Grahm Paige automobile factory
June 1928 Lucille Graduates from MSC (name had been changed in 1928)
Nov. 1928 Starts second term of Short Courses at MSC
March 1929 Graduates in Dairy Production & General Farming from MSC
April 1929 Starts working 50/50 share on Latson farm
June 1929 Stanley and Lucille married
March 1931 Left Latson farm, moved to Salem, MI
May 1931 Starts working for road contractor, US 23, Whitmore Lk to Brighton
Sept. 1931 Finished cement work, started final grading and burning brush
Nov 1931 Road job finished
Nov. Helped Fred Foreman finish up apples, and load storage, a few days.
Nov. Worked on MI Ave.,US 12, west of Ypsilanti, dynamiting culverts and
Dec. then keeping fires going all night when they are poured with cement.
Jan. 1932 Began work on J.W. Wilford farm
--------FULL DOCUMENTATION IN STANLEYS MEMORIES BOOK FROM HERE ON--------
Birth certificate recorded in county of Washtenaw, Ann Arbor MI, Book
V, page 650 on Sep 22, 1905Lucile graduated from Ann Arbor High School in the class of 1923. She
enrolled at MI Agriculture College in the fall of 1923, majoring in Home
Economics with a teaching degree. At the conclusion of her sophmore year in
1925 she took a 3 week summer course at MI Normal College in Ypsilanti to
qualify for teaching in country schools. This was done to enable
would be teachers, going to college, an opprotunity to teach in a country
school where teachers were needed, and to enable county school boards to have
someone fill in if they couldn't get a teacher. Lucile stayed out of school
that year, 1925/26 and taught in the Superior-Town Line school on the
Superior-Townline Road in the Ann Arbor School District.Early in the fall her attention was directed to several students named Proctor
who were not comming to school. Upon checking she found out that their
father, Harvey Proctor, was not allowing his older children to
come to school. She sent word to him that he should come to school and
visit with her in an attempt to get the children into school. He did
that and tried to convience her that the harvesting of potatoes & cucumbers
were more important than school in the fall. She didn't agree and
subquently reported the absence of these children to the Ann Arbor
School Board. They summoned Harvey to meet with them and submit his
reasons for not having the children in school. He did so and they let
him keep the children out but he had to promise that he wouldn't plant
the crops needing fall harvesting in the future. (This was OK with
Harvey as he moved the family regulary and wasn't in the Ann Arbor
School district the next year.) Once the children did start school they loved
the new teacher, one of the Proctor children, Mabel Proctor, came home raving
about her and finally convienced her brother Stanley to call on her. He did so
and asked her to attend a Sunday School Picnic. She accepted and the
courtship started and in June of 1929 they were married.Lucile went back to MI Agriculture College in the fall of 1926 to
complete her courses in Home Economics. Apparently the romance between
Lucile and Stanley was serious enough that she told him that she wouldn't
conseder marrying any one who didn't have a college education. Stanley had
not completed the 8th grade at that point, however he had worked on the farm
all his life, was very intellegent and had a lot of common sense. He was
informed that the MI Agricultural College had a Short Course for farm
boys that didn't have the time to go to the regular College. He went there in
the late fall of 1926, the terms were started November 1st, and ended april 1st
so that the boys could get back onto the farm. He did very well and he
therefor applied and was accepted in Nov of 1927 for the 2 year Short Course in
Agricultural Crop and Dairy production . Of course Lucile was there and they
continued going together. While they were at MAC the name was changed to
MI State College, the students were instrumental in building the student
union and the football stadium was built.Lucile graduated in the spring of 1928. She accepted a teaching job in
Bloomingdale MI, on the west side of the state, west of Kalamazoo about
25 miles. She taught there for one year and then was married to Stanley
Proctor on June 28th 1929. They moved back to the Latson farm where Stanley
was farming on shares with Henry, Luciles brother. This arrangment didn't
work out and they soon left, moving to Salem MI, where Stanley got a job on the
new cement road going from Ann Arbor to Brightion MI, US 23. Within 2
years Stanley got a job managing the J.W. Wilford Farm near Stockbridge MI,
putting to use his college training, and Lucile quit teaching to have a
family. John was born in March of 1933.Luciles second teaching job began in 1940. Teachers
were in short supply then and the opportunity presented it's self. She was
living near Rochester MI then, on the Henry Gallager farm which Stanley
was managing.
John Proctor was in the 2d grade and Nancy was at home yet. She made a deal
with the school that if Nancy could go to Kindergarden all day she would teach
High School Home Economics. This worked out and her teaching career started.
She latter taught in Northville, South Lyon and then retired from teaching, due
to heart problems, from the Livonia School System in 1969.Following her retirment she and Stanley traveley extensively. They purchased
An Avion travel trailer, going to Florida in the winter, and to many Avion
Travel Club trips during the summer. The were living in South Lyon MI by
this time. Her last trip was the Avion summer rendezvous in Canada. They
joined the trip north of Souix Saint Marie Ontario Canada and went with them
towards the findal rendezvous in Vancouver B.C. They stopped in many
interesting places, made the Calegory Stampede and then on to Vancouver. When
arriving in Vancouver one of the major attractions were the flower gardens on
Vancouver Island. On August 1st, 1967 they took the ferry boat to the Island,
Dad related that they were on one side of the boat, and apparently something or
some special view was apparent on the other side of the boat, so she ran to
the other side of the boat so she wouldn't miss it, that was too much for
her heart, and it failed, she had a severe stroke. The ship hurried to the
pier, there were medical people waiting but it was too late, she was alive
when she left the ship, but they couldn't save her in the hospital. She was
gone, and Stanley was left alone. It took him some time to have the body
shipped back, but he was luckey and had some good people to help him and
finally the body came back. It was however shipped into Windsor Ont, CA, and
the funeral director from South Lyon had to go there to get it.Her first grandchild was born on Feb 28 1959, Tobin Proctor and she
was the proudest grandmother anyone had ever seen. On his first Christmas in
1959 the presents overflowed the room. She had a second grandchild, Reid
Simpson, born in 1960, a third, Cindy Simpson born in 1962
and a fourth Bradley Proctor born in 1964. She was in the hospital
when Bradley was born, the result of her first heart attack and it was decided
to not tell her he was very ill at birth, she wasn't told about
his near death until much later. Her 5th grandchild, Sally Simpson was born in
1967, and Lucile went up to see her the week before they left on what was to be
her last trip.Lucile passed away due to a stroke on August 1, 1967. She was stricken
while on the ferry boat crossing the channel from Vancouver British Columbia to
Victoria on Vancouver Island. They had planned on an outing with the travel
club to visit the famous gardens on the island. Stanley had some trouble
shipping the body back from Canada, it took 10 days, but due to some very
helpfull people in Vancouver it was all accomplished with not too much trouble.
She was buried in the family plot in Washtenaog Cemetery on Whitmore Lake
Road, the cemetary her father had worked in for many years, the land which her
grandfather had purchased many years previously.
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.
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