Interview with Edith Danhof (born 1888) and Alice Danhof...
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Interview with Edith Danhof (born 1888) and Alice Danhof Storr (born 1897) Taped May 14 th , 1974 E: This house is over 100 years old. K: I thought so. E: And I…I…and mother and dad moved here when I was about two years old, I guess…2 ½…now let me see, about 2 ½ years old. I am 85 and I’ll have another birthday in September. But mother and dad moved here, I guess, when I was about six or seven years old and we lived here ever since. And when they came here, why…we was eating crackers when you came, you’ll have to excuse us (laughs)…a cracked language… K: That’s alright. E: But anyway, when they moved here, people all told dad that he was crazy. A: Why? E: Because he had bought something that was nothing but all sand. It was all sand around this house and this street here was up a hill. A: Oh. E: It was up a hill. And we had a big wooden fence back of this house and very often in the morning, we would go back to the fence to see if there were any little signs of any little eggs along…hanging up, you know, the butterflies and so…and it was real interesting. And then we’d look under a wooden sidewalk that didn’t have any sand underneath it, but that’s where tramps used to sleep. A: O-o-oh. K: Hmm. E: Really…really, it was interesting. And then, of course, mother and dad didn’t own just this. They owned 132 feet square, but after the death of dad and mother, why I thought it was a good idea…another sister had passed on…and I was very sick at the time and I thought it was a good idea if we could sell this north 60 feet here, see. And that’s what we did. But it used to be just like a regular little farm around here. We had all kinds of lovely trees, elegant pear trees, winter and summer, and grape vines and plum trees. It was really very interesting. Of course, when we sold the north 60 feet, then it was quite different. K: So this house was built on that property. E: Oh, yes. This house has been built…oh; I would say maybe about…I can’t tell you…oh, probably about 10 years ago, something like that. And really it’s a…it really is a…uh…uh…a very good investment on the part of the lady who bought it. She is single and had always worked in a factory and she’s a good…she’s
Transcript of Interview with Edith Danhof (born 1888) and Alice Danhof...
Interview with Edith Danhof (born 1888) and Alice Danhof Storr (born 1897)
Taped May 14th, 1974
E: This house is over 100 years old.
K: I thought so.
E: And I…I…and mother and dad moved here when I was about two years old, I guess…2 ½…now let me
see, about 2 ½ years old. I am 85 and I’ll have another birthday in September. But mother and dad
moved here, I guess, when I was about six or seven years old and we lived here ever since. And when
they came here, why…we was eating crackers when you came, you’ll have to excuse us (laughs)…a
cracked language…
K: That’s alright.
E: But anyway, when they moved here, people all told dad that he was crazy.
A: Why?
E: Because he had bought something that was nothing but all sand. It was all sand around this house
and this street here was up a hill.
A: Oh.
E: It was up a hill. And we had a big wooden fence back of this house and very often in the morning, we
would go back to the fence to see if there were any little signs of any little eggs along…hanging up, you
know, the butterflies and so…and it was real interesting. And then we’d look under a wooden sidewalk
that didn’t have any sand underneath it, but that’s where tramps used to sleep.
A: O-o-oh.
K: Hmm.
E: Really…really, it was interesting. And then, of course, mother and dad didn’t own just this. They
owned 132 feet square, but after the death of dad and mother, why I thought it was a good
idea…another sister had passed on…and I was very sick at the time and I thought it was a good idea if we
could sell this north 60 feet here, see. And that’s what we did. But it used to be just like a regular little
farm around here. We had all kinds of lovely trees, elegant pear trees, winter and summer, and grape
vines and plum trees. It was really very interesting. Of course, when we sold the north 60 feet, then it
was quite different.
K: So this house was built on that property.
E: Oh, yes. This house has been built…oh; I would say maybe about…I can’t tell you…oh, probably about
10 years ago, something like that. And really it’s a…it really is a…uh…uh…a very good investment on the
part of the lady who bought it. She is single and had always worked in a factory and she’s a good…she’s
a real money gatherer. Now she has her home; it’s very lovely inside. In fact, she and her niece are
traveling for four weeks to see more of the country and she has downstairs on the first floor, she has a
very lovely living room, a very small little kitchen. But she has a room which she uses-it’s furnished very
beautifully-and she entertains her guests there on the first floor. And then she also has a bedroom
downstairs and she rents that and she has a tenant upstairs, so she has three people to whom she rents,
see. So that’s really quite, quite…and it is a nice home, of course. I imagine if we talked very much to
her, she probably might even be willing to buy this property here, but we’re not selling it yet. We
probably will sometime if we’re not physically able to get around.
K: So when you…the earliest that you can remember as a little girl, this house was one of the few
houses around here then.
E: Oh, yes.
K: Were there any houses on Lafayette Street?
E: Oh, there weren’t any houses at all on Lafayette Street. But the first house that was built up the
street, I think, was, as far as I can remember, was the one that was built by…oh, a house that was built
by Uncle James Danhof, who was a lawyer, Judge of Probate for many years…
K: Oh, yes. We’ve been reading about him.
E: Have you? Yes. Well, you see, there were three Danhof boys, Peter, James and John.
K: (laughing) Peter, James and John.
E: Peter, James and John. And there was a story that was told about them-and it went through many of
the…uh…uh…magazines-about the three Danhof boys. A school teacher…or a Sunday School teacher
told the little boys that couldn’t remember the names of the apostles that they were just to think of the
three Danhof boys, Peter, James and John…all but little Hank-there were four of us-and I’m named after
Hank. (All laugh) But in reality, I said, now, I said, sometimes there is a little bit of law that we would like
to learn about. And I said, “Well, we can’t go to the Danhofs-either Uncle Henry who was not satisfied
until he was a lawyer, Uncle Peter was a lawyer, Uncle James was a lawyer and my brother, John
Danhof, who passed on in July was President of the Detroit College of Law and also, for many years, was
counsel for the New York Central Railroad. So I said that there was four generations, but I said, “Now,
I’m going to have to learn a little bit about law.”
A: (laughs) Oh.
E: So that was quite interesting. But as time went on, Uncle James’ house was built and Uncle Peter,
who was a lawyer, lived in the next house and next was owned by Duryae. This was, really, one of the
nicest streets in the city.
K: It still is.
E: Until just recently.
A: This one?
E: Yes, Lafayette Street.
K: It still is, I think.
E: Yes, it was one of the nicest streets. And next to Judge…next to…next to ___ Duryae, Judge Soule.
And his sons became lawyers. And next was a Mr. Justema who had a very fine shoe store. And next, I
think, was the Vanden Bosch brothers who ran a very nice clothing store on Third Street. All very nice-a
nice class of people to be perfectly frank, see. And then the Vanden Bosches also lived in the corner
house; they were relatives. But across the street, if you want to cross, was the Trail house. That was…
K: Wasn’t that here when you moved in? That was here, wasn’t it? Wasn’t that built when you moved
in? Trail house.
E: Oh, Trail house. The Trail house must have been here, I think, when I was born, but I don’t know. But
I used to play up there in the Trail house.
A: Which one was that?
K: The big house with the huge, high windows.
E: Yes. And, in fact, they said they would like to have us come through it and I said we would really love
to see it because it has been done over; very lovely inside, I guess.
K: Ya, they have restored it all, I guess.
E: That’s right. But that was really the house that has been talked about. They had just a little fire there
at one time and people said they wished it had burned down. And I said, “What” I said, “that house? A
nice house like that?” I says, “That’s too bad to have those thoughts.” But coming up this way, were the
Harbecks, who were very fine people. They had a factory that was known as the Challenge Refrigerator.
My dad used to carry that line of insurance. My dad had the oldest insurance agency in the State of
Michigan-45 years when he died very suddenly. And I had the pleasure of working for him nearly 23
years. And I gave up marriage and I went on to be with dad, and after Dad passed on, I went around for
one year-not in an automobile but by wearing out my shoe leather-collecting bills, because dad used to
trust his people. And I collected $3,800.
A: Really?
E: Oh, yes. So I know what it is to walk. And so after that I started to get out but then we had this sister
who became very ill and she was an invalid for years, but she was three years at the nursing home and
then she died. Now this sister had lost her husband who was an investor at the Junior College in Grand
Rapids, Mr. Merle Storr, and she has come here to live and brought much of her furniture which you see
here-it’s a little congested but we still like it. So then, further up, coming up, the Harbecks had the three
lovely homes along the street here. And there was a Mr. McPhee and he was very well known. Of
course, the Harbecks were money people. And coming this way, Mrs. Hatton who bought the house that
was…I guess that was not built by Mrs. Hatton; it was built by Mr. Van I. Witt who had a drug store here.
K: Isn’t the McPhee house the yellow brick house where Jack Clapp lives now?
E: Yes, that’s the one. Uh-huh. That’s it. That was McPhee’s. They were a very lovely family and then a
Mr. Andrews lived in the house next door this way. I can’t tell you all the people who lived there. And
also a Mr….uh…oh…I can’t think of his name now, who had the store that’s now the Steketee’s. And that
building was owned by my Uncle James Danhof, the judge. The Steketee building. And my dad and this
Uncle James had their offices there and Dr. Herbert Cummings had one of the…well, he was a very fine
dentist. Sorry to say, but he drank and he’d be away from his office for probably a week or so and then
he’d come back and he’d go into our office and say, “Well, I’m never going to do it again.” But he just
had a desire for drink, see. It was a regular disease with him. But otherwise this way, where the
Jacobsons are now, that home was very lovely always. Of course, it’s been changed now but it was
owned by a Mr. Peter Claver who was quite well known because of his…I think…uh…what did he do, was
he a paper hanger? I can’t think now what he was, but anyway that was the house. And then this one
this way was the home…well, that’s not too old.
K: No, that’s newer…
E: That’s not one…one of the older homes of the city, see. But it is occupied and owned by one of the
school teachers in Grand Haven, Mr. Baker, who teaches geometry, I believe, in high school. He has a
nice wife and little child. So this always was really a…(Mrs. Storr speaks but because of noise on the
tape, she cannot be understood)
E: Oh. Well, when we were little girls, I used to go down there with a milk pail and we used to get his
very, very rich milk that they had and Mr. Boyden, I think he had some sort of business here along the
waterfront-
K: A shingle mill.
E: A shingle mill. And that’s a beautiful…that was a beautiful home. And this sister who died…uh…her
picture is up here on the mantle, I guess, over here-Rose…was invited by Mr. And Mrs. Boyden’s son to
come into the home because he had a very beautiful piano and he used to play for Rose because, of
course, from the time she was a little bit of a girl, she was interested in the piano, and she became a
piano instructor. But that is a lovely home and somebody said that they wished that they would tear
down that beautiful Boyden home and build sort of…something like a…what shall I say…a condominium
or whatever you call it, along there. I says, “What?” I said, “That pretty home?” (J enters)…Why yes,
come in and listen to the errors I’m making and damage…But anyway, uh, that Boyden house is very
lovely, and Glenn DeWitt is now the owner. And I said, “I was so happy because when you go by there, it
doesn’t look shoddy at all like it used to. The curtains look nice in the windows and I think he has a
pretty good class of people.”
K: But it’s all apartments there.
E: Yes. All apartments.
K: But it’s not the way the Trail house is, that’s still a one-family house, isn’t it?
E: Yes. You see, the Trail house…my, that was three stories, and we used to go up on the third story and
play with dolls up there. We were that kind of youngsters. That’s a long time ago. But somebody said
that they wished that if they had a little fire, they wished it had burned down. And I said that my, that
was a sad, hard remark to make.
K: Ya. I think so, too. That’s one of the most distinctive houses in Grand Haven.
E: Oh, yes.
K: Along with the Vander Veen house over on Washington over here.
E: Yes, and I guess it was quite awhile ago that there was some gentleman who was quite interested in
trying to buy the Vander Veen home, but I’m wondering whether or not it will be kept by the relatives,
or if there are any survivors, hardly.
K: Well, there’s the son of Mrs. Dubee who lives in Spring Lake.
E: Ya, uh-huh.
K: He’s quite old, too. What’s his name now…I don’t remember.
E: It starts with “S” I think. Ya.
K: Ya, uh.
E: I don’t know. I can’t think.
K: His name was Dubee, wasn’t it?
E: No…uh…no, his first name was-his second name was Dubee. His mother…his mother was the
daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Vander Veen and she just passed on a short time ago.
K: Last summer, yes.
E: I think it was. Yes. And she was so deaf…
K: Yes.
E: And yet I used to talk with her and I never had any trouble. Perhaps it was the way I formed my lips
when I was talking to her, you know. I don’t know, but I didn’t have any trouble. But she was…up until
just a few years before she passed on…she was always in Florida for the winter. And she lived there all
alone, and Jean, you remember Jim Kelly…
J: Mm-hmm.
E: Well, Jim went there and when he went in, of course, he was deaf himself, but he went into her living
room and she was sitting by the fireside, I think, paring potatoes and he went up and I said, “My, wasn’t
she frightened when you talked to her?” And he said, “No.” And I said, “Ooh, that’s kind of spooky living
in a house like that and having somebody walk right in.” But I guess probably she had no fear.
K: Do you remember Dr. Vander Veen?
E: Oh, yes. I used to take…I used to go to Dr. Vander Veen’s office, which was located on Second Street,
a certain afternoon every week. I was quite a little youngster, too, and I used to have these headaches.
But I would go there and I would take embroidery lessons from his wife, and after I got through with my
embroidery lesson and my embroidery centerpiece, I think it was two or three shades of green and it
was a very, very beautiful centerpiece. I was so proud of it. And I sold it-I raffled it. And I think that was
the one I gave $5.00 of it to the church and the other $5.00 I kept myself. (laughter) And they used to
bring me home in their horse and carriage. And, oh, lots of times I had those terrible sick headaches, but
I loved to do embroidery work-solid embroidery. So that was another interesting home. There aren’t too
many homes that are like that in Grand Haven.
J: The Hatton house.
E: Oh, yes. Bonnie…uh…Jean, will you tell the story of the Hatton house?
J: Before the Hattons, who lived in it?
E: Who lived in it? This Dr. Cummings. Dr. Cummings, and Dr. Cummings was one of the sons that used
to drink so, but he used to take care of our teeth and he was, oh, he was a lovely chap. But it seems as
though that when they were little youngsters that…I don’t know, maybe I…that’s being…if that’s going
over the air or something, I don’t like to say it…
K: No, it’s not going to be on the radio. No.
E: Well, I was going to say…but somebody said that the father, I believe, liked to make wine and that the
son probably cultivated a habit of drinking wine, see. And he was, my he was the nicest fellow.
J: Tell what happened to him.
E: Hmm?
J: Tell what happened to him.
E: Tell what happened to him?
J: Mm-hmm.
E: To Herbert Cummings?
J: Mm-hmm.
E: I don’t know, really, what happened to him only that when he passed on, hew as in…was it that hew
as in jail then? He must have done something to his wrist or something, I guess, when he was in the cell
and he died.
J: Didn’t he have a brother, too?
E: And he had a brother who was a former Superintendent of Schools and they both died in the same
day.
J: Really? Hmm.
E: That’s what I understand.
K: Do you remember Nelson R. Howlett? A banker, lumberman.
E: Sure. Well, I don’t remember how he looked but they used to come here…that is, Mrs. Howlett, his
wife, used to come here in her carriage with her coachman…I think she used to have a little dog always
on her lap…
K: Yes. She had a dog.
E: And they used to drive up to this beautiful Howlett home and we used to…the youngsters around
here used to go into their orchard, but before we did it, we’d go to the door because Mrs. Howlett had a
brother, John Howlett, who was a bachelor, and his brother was Mrs. Loutit who had the lovely brick
home on the corner where there is now this oil station-on Fourth and Washington Street.
K: Mm-hmm.
E: And it was real interesting because she would come here and then they would call for Mrs. Loutit,
see, as I remember. That was quite something to see her driving up, you know, because she was a very
stout woman, but to see her in that carriage…And she had this brother, John Loutit…uh…John Howlett,
and he used to come to this house everyday and at night when It was not quite dark, he would go back
but he never would walk on the sidewalk if there was anybody on the sidewalk. He would walk in the
street. And as I remember, in the winter he would wear a hat, a summer hat, but in the summer he
would wear a heavy hat. (K laughs) But he didn’t like to carry on a conversation.
K: That was Mrs. Howlett’s brother?
E: Mrs. Howlett’s brother, as I remember it.
K: Wasn’t his name Baker then? She was a Baker.
E: Well, she married a Mr. Howlett. Wait a minute, now wait a minute. No, this was…this was Mrs.
Howlett. But there was a Mrs. Loutit who was a brother of this Mr. John Howlett, and this Mrs. Loutit
was the one who lived on the corner of Fourth and Washington and this John Howlett, her brother,
would always go there and sleep at night, but in the daytime, he was always up here at this home. But
now Mrs. Baker…right, there is a name Baker in there.
K: Ya. That was Nelson R. Howlett’s second wife.
E: Well, that’s it. That’s it.
K: He was first married to a woman…to a Monroe.
E: Oh, you have all this…
K: That was his first wife.
O: Sara Monroe, her name was.
E: Oh, yes.
O: They were divorced.
E: Oh, were they? Well, now, see I don’t remember that.
O: That was in something like…
K: 1876 or 7.
E: Where did you get this, if I may ask?
K: We got that from a descendent of that marriage.
E: Oh, really.
K: We met some lady in Kalamazoo who…I don’t know if this is her great grandmother, or something
like that…Nelson R. Howlett…
O: I think it’s her great-grandmother.
E: Uh-huh.
K: And…here I have another picture of her. Here’s Nelson R. Howlett when he was younger.
E: Oh, yes.
K: When you knew him.
E: Oh, yes. I’ll tell you a cute story about this…uh…about the brother-in-law to Mr. Loutit. Mr. Loutit’s
first wife died and he remarried but he had built a little house that was just…just this way from Dr….oh,
what’s his name…Dr….Jean, the doctor that you go to, what’s his name?
J: De Vries.
E: Dr. DeVries, ya. Where Dr. DeVries is now and owns that building. But this Mr. Loutit had this lovely
brick home on the corner of Fourth and Washington but he…they did have a lovely brick home that was
so…well, very, very attractive…but then next to it, he decided to build a little Scotch…let’s see, what did
he call it…his little Scotch ship. And he remarried a lady and he knew dad so well and he said to dad, he
said, “Oh, you know John,” he said, “She hugs me so tight that my ribs fairly creak.”
O: That was cute. (All laugh)
E: I thought that was so cute. And he used to come up here and after he and his wife decided to live
over on Washington and Fourth, then he used to come up here and he used to have little black licorice
things that looked like little watermelon seeds, and then he’d come on this side of the street…we’d be
sitting out there on the steps, and Mr. Loutit would give us those little tiny black things that were little
candies, of course. We were always looking for those little things when he would pass by. But those are
all interesting times. Of course, that was many years ago.
K: The lady who loaned us these pictures…uh…wants to know very badly what happened to that
marriage.
E: What marriage?
K: That would be Nelson R. Howlett’s marriage to this lady. Sara Monroe.
E: I see. Oh, I see.
K: She knows that there was some kind of a scandal about it, but…Do you have any memories of that?
E: Well…that’s…when…I never heard anything of any scandals about that.
O: That was years before you were born.
K: Oh, yes.
E: Yes, because after all, I’m not a hundred yet.
K: Okay.
O: We can’t find a record of it anywhere, a record of the divorce even in any of the courts around here.
E: You mean you can’t find any?
O: In Grand Rapids or Muskegon or…
K: Here’s another member of her family and I’ll bet you have seen him before. His name is Steve
Monroe.
E: Oh, Steve Monroe, why…this is Mr. Monroe! Oh, my goodness sakes. We knew Mr. Monroe but we
knew him when he was quite along in years and he was the one who had all those concessions along the
beach.
K: Yes.
O: Right. He started the Street Railway Company and dummy line.
E: Oh, yes. Oh, sure. My mother and dad…oh, we used to go on a picnic and mother and dad would go
and we were always afraid that when it was time for mother to go on that street car, she might not
make it, you know, because she was a little short lady and quite stout. But it was quite exciting. Oh, yes,
we used to see them coming when they’d have those picnics and men would be coming from a…they
had a little…a little…a sort of a little woods out at the lake and you’d see the men coming with empty
beer things, you know, with all the empty beer bottles in it, and going down the steps and trying to get
on the street car. Oh…(all laughs) Oh, that was a long time ago. Ya, we used to go down to the beach
and we wouldn’t take the street car both ways but we would walk out-Rose and another girl and myself-
and, of course, we liked to dance and we’d take our lunch and in the evening then we were ready so
when they came, we could dance. And they used to have grand marches out there for us. We use
to…that’s a long, long time ago. Now what is this? (looking at pictures)
K: Well, that was one of the cars for the dummy ride. You see, he ran the dummy line, too.
E: Oh. Of course, I know he did. Sure. But did he run that?
K: He ran it until 1905.
E: Oh, I didn’t know that.
K: And then the interurban bought it out. And you mentioned that you liked to dance. Do you
remember that band? May I turn a light on for you here?
E: Yes, right…just…right…no, in the other room, Mr….what was his name?
O: Kuiper.
E: Professor Kuiper and you’re a professor, too? Both professors? Ya, that’s right.
K: People…all of these came from that lady in Kalamazoo who was related to the Monroe-Howlett
family.
E: Oh. Really.
K: And that’s…they think that’s the band that played…
E: No. No, this band never played out there. I don’t think that this band ever played out there. Maybe
they did though. I don’t know…what would this look like? I can’t tell you. This looks like…almost in a…
K: Well, I wouldn’t expect you to remember. Here…here’s the…is that the dance floor?
E: Well, I don’t…this; this doesn’t look at all familiar to me.
K: The band or the dance floor?
E: Neither one. No, uh-uh. Now this here…this is part of the pavilion out there.
K: That is one of Steve Monroe’s concessions, isn’t it?
E: Oh…yes, I guess so. That’s about the way it looked. And he had little animals…what did he have? Did
he have pigeons out there? My that’s a long time ago.
J: Live animals?
E: Huh?
J: Live animals?
E: Sure, sure.
J: Well, what was he doing with those things? Did he want to sell them?
E: Well, those were all things for amusement, see? You’d go out and feed them…what do you call
it…probably peanuts, or something like that to the animals in the cages.
K: Now before…before the interurban bought the dummy line and made in electric, it was steam
operated. Do you have any memories of that? We haven’t found anybody who remembers that.
E: Steam?
K: Ya, that was the steam engine.
E: No, no.
K: You remember it only as electric?
E: Yes, that’s all. Well, this, you say…this, this thing here? Now where did this run-not out to the lake,
this didn’t. No, it ran along the Grand Trunk tracks, I think, just coming around the hotel.
K: Do you remember that?
E: Well, I imagine that this is where it would be. Otherwise it run along this track here. This is sort of
a…sort of a…uh…engine like that. My, but that is old fashioned isn’t it?
K: See, we have…we have the documents that talk about the purchase of the steam engine.
O: Oh, ya, that’s right.
K: We do.
E: I wonder if Mr….did you talk to Mr. George Swart?
K: Yes.
E: Did he see this?
K: No. We didn’t have that picture when we talked to him.
O: Well, we better talk to him again.
K: We’ll have to go and talk to him again.
E: Well, in fact, I thought well what am I going to talk to these men about. So I talked to Mr. Swart and I
said, “Would you mind visiting these two men who would like to talk about Grand Haven?” “Yes,” he
said, “I rode around last fall with those boys, my brother and I.” The brother died, of course.
K: Yes. Yes.
E: But, you know, I…I, really, I can’t say that I recall this. No, I don’t think so. No. Maybe…he’s a little
older than I am. He’s about the same age as my brother. Now this is my sister, Mrs. Storr.
K: Hi. Glad to meet you.
E: She’s the baby.
A: Thank you.
K: I’m Ron Kuiper.
O: Glad to meet you. I’m Bill Oldenburg.
A: Well, it’s very nice to meet you.
E: Well, this is something…this is way beyond…before your age.
A: Complimentary. All we have to do is look at you. (All laugh)
E: It’s older than that.
A: Why, it is not. I remember that when I was a tiny youngster. Didn’t that go past grandma’s house?
E: Well, yes, but we’re talking about out to the lake.
A: Oh. Well, no, I don’t remember that, uh-uh.
E: …As this…as this going past our grandmother’s house…
A: This I remember. That’s one of the street cars, isn’t it, that went out to the lake? Sure.
K: You see, as we understand it, Stephen L….Steve Monroe, that guy whose picture you saw, started
that dummy line. It ran from the armory to Washington, Water Street and then to Highland Park. And
that’s all at first. That was supposedly pulled by a steam engine. But in 1905 the interurban came from
Grand Rapids, etc.
E: In what year?
K: 1905. And they electrified it, we think. But maybe we’re wrong.
E: Well, I…I…I imagine that’s true. My, of all the rides that we had on that street car. Oh.
(End of side one, tape one)
A: But not very often, on a special day like the Fourth of July.
E: But now wait until summer because we’re going to have…we’re going to have a nice little, nice little
wagon. Oh, I bet that people are just going to love to get onto it, even older people.
K: Oh, the horse and wagon.
E: Oh, sure. That…that…
K: That will be nice.
E: Yes, because that is something that is going to attract…Oh yes. Oh, boy, how…
A: Oh, well. That’s where we used to have our picnics. Yup. And that’s where one of the girls in my
crowd…that was a Sprick of a Spring…anyhow, Mildred somebody…and she was running on those
benches, you know, and as she did and got to the end of it, she was going to jump and she hit her head
right up here on top, and oh, how that bled. It sort of spoiled the fun for all of us. I’ll never forget that.
K: You said that…
E: Somebody used to have these lovely horses and carriages that they rent out and dad used to rent
one on Sunday and take us to some relatives right near Muskegon and one Sunday when we were
coming home, oh, what did we meet…one of those, what did you call it…some kind of a machine that
the farmers use…it was on the road and the horses became frightened at that and dad had to get out
and hold the horses until it passed by. Remember that? My, that’s a long time ago.
A: Oh, I remember…the only thing I remember was that there wasn’t enough room in the rig. I don’t
know if that was true for you, but we went to Spring Lake and dad had rented, or whatever you call
it…hired this horse…
E: But that was…
A: No, he was going to Spring Lake.
E: Oh.
A: And this horse was real frisky and dad got out and he was kind of afraid, of course, that we wouldn’t
get there safely. That was another time. You weren’t with us that time. That was just mom and dad, and
I sat on a little kindergarten chair-I was real small-and I sat in front of my mother, see, because there
was just a single seat. But, oh, I remember those horses and dad got frightened himself. But we landed
there safely. But I don’t remember as much as you do.
K: Those are good stories and we like to hear them.
E: That kind? (Both Edith and Alice laugh)
K: Oh, yes.
O: Sure.
E: Sure, that’s what I say. These pictures are interesting though. We don’t have anything like that.
K: You were talking about the church. Is that the Presbyterian Church that you go to?
E: No, Second Reformed.
K: Oh, Second Reformed.
E: Uh-huh. Yes, yes.
K: You were also talking about those dances down at the pavilion. Didn’t some people in the church
frown at your going to those dances in those days?
E: No, I don’t think so.
A: Well, I can tell you what happened at the church when I was 12 years old. I loved to dance, always
did. In fact, my uncle, at one of the weddings of one of the aunts or uncles, I don’t know who it
was…Aunt Gertie and Uncle James, or somebody…and after the wedding or after the service, my Uncle
Walter, who was a wonderful dancer, took me around and taught me to dance. And I don’t think I
was…I may have been a little bit over three years old…but I know I had so much dancing that I never
slept all night. So that was when I was younger. But when I was 12, I wanted to join church. We had
Christian Endeavor, of course, and that was every Sunday afternoon. We went to that and then church
afterward. But when I went to join the church, I told Reverend John Vander Mulen that I liked to dance. I
said, “Now, I don’t know if I can join church.” He said, “That’s alright. When you are doing it in a good,
happy way, that’s alright.” So I joined church.
K: Hmm.
E: And now they are having…are giving…are having these little dancing parties and teaching people to
dance, I guess, at the Presbyterian Church. And they say that the walls are all decorated, I guess…I don’t
know what kind of pictures and so, but I guess it is real interesting. It’s nice for people…I believe in
dancing, too, but we always used to enjoy it. My, you have real valuable pictures here, haven’t you?
O: Oh, yes.
K: Do you remember a man named Pussyfoot Johnson?
E: Look at…Is that Uncle Walter’s picture? Or Uncle Peter’s? It looks just like Uncle Peter.
O: No, that’s Nelson Howlett.
K: That’s Nelson Howlett.
E: Is that Mr. Howlett? Oh, for goodness sakes.
A: He does look a little bit like…
K: Uh…there was a man during prohibition, he was a prohibitionist. He was a reformed drunkard and his
name was Pussyfoot Johnson.
E: Not here in Grand Haven…
K: He came to the Presbyterian Church in 1923.
E: In 1923? Oh, great Caesar! I graduated from high school in 1908 and…
A: 1923? I would remember that, too, but I don’t remember him, although I wasn’t in Grand Haven at
the time, but I was old enough to remember. Oh, I remember that store down there. We used to go in
and get ice cream cones-great big ones for a nickel, too.
E: This doesn’t look familiar to me at all, this one.
K: Okay. Well, I think this is one of the early ones. This is one of the ones that was pulled by the steam
engine. Look, here’s the beach in 1908. Highland Park, and the tracks before the road came in.
A: Oh, oh. You’ll have to show ___________. She’s one of the owners of these cottages that went in the
water.
E: Well, it didn’t yet. It’s not the one that went in but it looks as though it’s going in now. All the
furnishings have been taken out, practically. They’re here at our house. In fact, there are some who
think that theirs might be the next one to go in.
A: That’s what they tell us. I don’t even want to think about it.
E: That’s a lovely, lovely location.
J: I wonder if they can’t have it moved.
A: Hmm? You can’t because we had a man give us an estimate on it and he said, “I don’t know as I can
get all of my equipment in here to move it.” He said, “I’ll have to cut the whole cottage off the
foundation.” And they just had a new foundation. He said, “I’d have to cut it all off,” he says, “but I
doubt if I can get my equipment in.” And my other family-I mean my son…and his wife is the one who
said, “Well, I don’t care to sit way in the back here and look over everybody’s cottages, the back of their
cottages, instead of looking at the lake.” So, of course, they’ll be getting the cottage someday anyhow,
so if that’s the way they feel, there’s no use of even attempting it.
E: But some of their nice furniture has been brought in. Alice was out there last week and they had
been staying in it. It’s all upstairs and it isn’t cluttered up there, but I said, “If the cottage did go in the
water, right away there would be somebody who would hop on if they possibly could, take some of that
furniture out of that cottage.” It’s too bad that’s the way they tell us. Look at here. Now what would this
be back in here? Do you know? Is that horizon, just the sky, or what? It looks as though…almost like
telephone poles and things?
K: Ya. I’m not sure. I’m really not sure except that this is probably the interurban after it’s out in the
country a little ways.
E: My, look at here how different…now there isn’t anything left hardly out there.
A: Well, it’s just the shoreline. Look at that. I wonder where this was taken. Resort beach and harbor,
1908.
E: 1908. I remember that-we used to walk out there…always on the pier, you know. It was so lovely to
walk along the pier on Sunday afternoon and…
A: Now this would almost look where the line of the track would be in that that would be the store
down in there. And then the walk out in the lake. And then here, this must be further up on the hill and
this must be a road here that goes into town.
E: That is, if we got…
O: __________ they’re going to try to fix that up.
E: Well, I was just wondering…really, we haven’t talked about that for a long time, but I was just
wondering.
K: I’m sure you don’t remember him. He was an uncle of Steve Monroe and his name was Dr. Stephen
Monroe. He was a physician here in the 1860’s and 1870’s.
E: Hmm. He’s nice looking. Very nice looking.
K: We have some letters that he wrote…
E: Oh, have you?
K: …to her.
O: Sara Monroe.
K: Yes, that was Sara Monroe. That was Nelson Howlett’s first wife, the one he divorced, or who
divorced him.
E: O-o-o-oh. That was Howlett’s first wife. We only knew the big, stout lady who had a little dog on her
lap.
O: Baker. She was a Baker.
E: Well, she looks kinda like a determined person. (All laugh)
A: Oh, she does.
E: She looks as though she is very determined. She might be a little hard to live with.
O: Maybe that’s what was the problem.
A: I don’t know but…
E: Pardon me. See that mirror up there? That was a mirror that was in our Grandfather Danhof’s shop
on Washington Street where the Maytag is now, and he was a tailor. He was one of the first tailors in
Grand Haven and he taught many of the men around here. He was probably one of the first tailors, and
he had…he had a fire. And, of course, had had a fire and we had the uncles that were all going to
college, Hope College, and grandfather tried so hard to have them remain there but he had a fire, and
he wasn’t able to pay his insurance premium and so that was the end of it. And so he moved and had a
little shop over on Seventh and Washington, but this here…we think it’s so wonderful because of the
fact that it’s so terribly old and grandfather really taught so many, many men here in Grand Haven, and
they talk about it now about Mr. Danhof…going to him for their tailoring work. And it is valuable to us…I
don’t know, we have so many things and a lot of people would like to buy that, too, but that has
memories, too, of grandfather.
K: Sure.
E: He really was a…it was too bad, he always did that kind of work and he didn’t know what it was to do
any lifting, see. But we had this Uncle Peter Danhof and he had…well, he lived up here, as we were
saying…and they had a very heavy bedroom set that they wanted moved downstairs, so my
uncle…uh…uh…Grandfather Danhof was asked by Uncle Peter if he would help him…Uncle
Peter…grandfather, with the lifting and he did. And he lifted this furniture and the next day he had a
stroke. He was always used to sitting on the tailoring bench, see. And after that, he never regained his
right memory and he always used to walk on the street just like a little child. He died when he was 65
years old. But a lot…a great many remember Mr. Danhof as one of the first tailors here in Grand Haven.
And they often used to talk about the first people who used to be around here; I guess it was quite
interesting.
K: You were 10 or 11 years old in 1900-the year 1900.
E: Ya, I…well, yes, I…No. I graduated from high school in 1908. I was born in 1888.
K: So you were then 12 years old in 1900.
E: I was born in 1888.
K: And you were living here then, because you said you came here when you were six or seven years
old?
E: I came here…I was born up on Lake Avenue, up the hill, the top of the hill, up on Second Street.
K: Oh, really.
E: Yes. And in the old Christmas house, and that’s a very interesting place, too.
K: Is that house still here?
E: Oh, yes.
K: That’s the big old house that…
A: It’s on the corner, isn’t it?
E: It’s…you know that…let me see, wait a minute…
K: Is it across from the…from the second Hatton house?
E: No, no. No, it’s farther north than that. It would be right on the corner of…of…of Lake Avenue and…I
say Lake Avenue but you might as well say Second Street, that’s better to say Second Street. And that is
just…you know where they have that new apartment building on the top of the hill there?
K: Yes.
E: Well, it would be just one block further south on this side of the street-it’s across the street.
K: This side.
E: Uh-huh, a little white house.
K: Near Catherine Cavanaugh’s house?
E: Yes. Yes. Uh-huh.
A: Only on the left-hand side.
E: Yes, our home was there, uh-huh.
J: That little tiny one, right on the corner there?
E: Yes, uh-huh. Ya, right.
K: And you were born in that house?
E: Yes, I was. And it was funny…when mother and dad were married, they lived…let me see…they lived
in that house and then they moved over onto…onto…oh, let me see, what street would that be…
A: Columbus.
E: Columbus, that’s right. It would be Columbus. And that is where you were born.
A: No, I was born in this house.
E: Wait a minute. Now wait a minute. John was born in the house…yes, that’s right. John was born up
there and then mom and dad moved down to Columbus Street, and Rose was born there. And then they
moved back there to the same house-that was called the Christmas house-and I was born there. And
then when I was 2 ½ years old, I think, then they moved into this house. And this…
K: Why was it called the Christmas house?
E: Well, just because their name was Christmas.
K: Really?
E: Uh-huh.
K: The people who built the house?
E: Well, I don’t know if they built it. We don’t know that…
K: But they were the people who lived there before.
E: Uh-huh. And George…his name…his son’s name was George Christmas. I can’t think of what his wife’s
name was. But anyway, I had the pleasure of going up to that house when I was going with Jim Kelly and
I went in there and I was surprised. I started to look around and I said, “I wonder just where I was born.
Where the bedroom is that I was born in.” But when I was young, of course, then dad bought this house.
And everybody just really ridiculed dad because he would buy this because it was just all sand, you
know. It’s so interesting. It was more than interesting around here, I’ll tell you.
K: How old were you in 1900?
O: Twelve.
K: You were twelve.
E: Ya.
K: Now, could you describe for us how, say, you spent a Sunday when you were twelve years old in this
house? What time did you get up in the morning?
E: (Miss Danhof and Mrs. Storr both laugh) What time did we get up? Well, I think, we probably got up
around 8 o’clock. Wouldn’t you say?
J: You had to go to school.
E: But on a Sunday.
K: Ya, on a Sunday.
E: On Sunday morning.
A: We would get up in time so that we all went to church.
K: You got up around eight. And what kind of a breakfast would people eat around 1900? I doubt that
you ate ham and eggs in those days.
E: Oh, some people did.
A: Some people did, but we didn’t…
E: No, we had cereal and toast, uh-huh. We didn’t have…we never had…I don’t remember…
A: I don’t remember if dad…No, we never had a heavy breakfast.
E: But, but our dinner on Sunday was always, as a rule, was chicken. And then mother made pie and we
had dumplings and (speaks in Dutch) if you know what that is.
O: Ya, I know…
E: Ya, well that’s something ___________ and then you have syrup on it. But then I’ll tell you what we
did Mr….uh…Mr….what was your name?
K: Ron Kuiper.
E: We would go to church, and our service started, I think, at 9:30. Yes, and then mother, she didn’t
always go to church in the morning because she had a big meal to prepare for us, so there were three
children, see, before Alice came-that would be four. But anyhow, now at that time, anyway, there
weren’t so many.
A: Well, if you were only five years old, I wasn’t here yet.
E: Ya, she wasn’t here yet. Anyway, mother always, as a rule, we would have a chicken dinner and, of
course, meat and potatoes, and mother always made her own bread and rolls and everything like that.
She really…she wasn’t a society woman. Her home was the place where we had lovely, nice, good food
and we, of course, always used to bring youngsters home and they would stay for supper and we all
enjoyed it. But then in the afternoon, as a rule-sometimes I guess we would see different little girls and
go out for a walk. But at night we went to church again, and that was our Sunday.
A: Christian Endeavor.
E: And Christian Endeavor. And so…and as we got older…when I got to be quite older, I used to go to
prayer service. I always, as a rule, went alone. Rose didn’t, but I went many nights when it was so icy, I
didn’t know if I was going to make that hill on Franklin Street or not. But I enjoyed it. So now, as a result
of going to all of those meetings, I guess, and I also…mother didn’t always go, but I went to a lady’s
Missionary Society and, of course, of late years I gave that up. But not too long ago, I received a letter
and it was from the Women’s Guild from our church and they said that they had made me an honorable
member because of the fact that I had formerly attended these missionary meetings…missionary
societies…and I used to help serve, you know, and I said, “Well, that was sort of nice.” Well, to tell you
the truth, I haven’t been feeling too good. I have become a diabetic and I don’t eat things that a lot of
people would eat, to gain my strength and so, but I don’t want to take a lot of medicine and so I haven’t
been going to a lot of things. But it was interesting, so I acknowledged the fact that they had made me
an honorary member.
K: Mm-hmm. That’s nice. Well…
O: Where was the Second Reformed Church in 1900?
E: At the same place it is now. Yes. It burned and it was rebuilt. I think it…I think it must have been
when I was a little, tiny girl that it was rebuilt. I think there’s a…a big slab of some kind there in front.
K: Near the First Christian Reformed…
O: Oh, oh, oh, oh.
E: No, this is the Second Reformed-it’s on the corner of Sixth and Washington.
K: How…how…how long…what time did the morning service start?
E: 9:30, I think.
K: And it lasted until about…
E: 10:30.
K: 10:30. And then there was a Sunday School afterwards.
E: Sunday School afterwards.
K: And then you came home and ate from, say, 12:00 to 1:00?
E: Yes, that’s right, uh-huh.
K: And then in the afternoon, you…
E: Oh, yes, we went out for a walk and we’d see some of our friends and when it was time to go to
church, why we all went to church at night unless somebody was sick. And as we got older, we used
to…we used to take a walk downtown and back, you know…
K: On Sunday afternoon.
E: Ya. But in the afternoon, we’d walk out on the pier, which you can’t very well do now, not like we
used to. It was real interesting.
K: And then you…uh…you had a lunch before going to church in the evening.
E: A supper. Sure, a supper.
K: A supper.
E: Sure, we didn’t have just a lunch. We had a supper.
K: And that was a substantial meal?
E: Oh, well, yes. Bread and butter, and I don’t know if we had ________ at night or not, but we used to
have cold meat sometimes…
K: You’re talking about Sunday…
E: Oh, we had chicken, so we’d have some of that chicken on Sunday night…
O: You had chicken for dinner, so that would be cold chicken.
E: That’s right.
O: You had left-over chicken for supper.
E: That was a big event, sure. And mother…mother…well, what should I say…she had quite a sad life
because of the fact that her mother died when she was only a year and a half, I think it was. And she
lived with one grandmother and then with another grandmother. And when she came to this country, I
think she was nine-seven or nine years old-and the grandmother who had been so lovely to her and her
brother, became ill. And she…I don’t know what happened, but she passed on and her body was buried
at sea. So she came to this country and lived with relatives. And then her brother and she sort of
separated because she went to live in the home of a very lovely doctor and his wife, and they treated
her just like their own child from the time that she…
A: And they wanted to adopt her.
E: And they wanted to adopt her. And her brother had some sort of a hard life. In fact, mother had
French blood in her and our uncle looks like a typical Frenchman.
A: Well, half…her father was French.
E: Yes. I said half-and partly. And…uh…but mother always loved to cook, but she was taught by…when
she was with this doctor’s family, to be very proper about the foods that she cooked and
everything…and foods for sick people. And, in fact, she used to make this very wonderful beef tea which
I gave to…which I made for this girl who was so awfully sick. Was that…
A: No. Kelley.
E: Was that Kelley? Uh-huh. Kelley. I taught how to make a beef tea…
A: Out of a pound of plain round steak.
E: And I worked on it and I think I had about 120 tablespoons of rich beef juice that I took to little Kelley
when she was so sick and couldn’t eat anything else. She loved it so. But mother learned to make so
many lovely things. And as she got older, she was very much interested in cooking but she was never
able to do her own work as she would like to. She always had to have a hired girl.
K: Would you excuse me a minute to go out to my car? I left some tapes in there and I’m just about out
of tape here.
E: You’re not going to put us on more tapes are you?
K: Yes. Would you excuse me a minute to get them?
A: Edith, these are pictures in this box here. I don’t know if they are interested in them or not. They can
look at them.
E: What…what pictures are they?
A: These are way, way back. I don’t…here’s one of dad fishing in the boat. Now where was that?
E: On the river, on the river.
O: It looks like it…the river over there, ya.
E: That’s right…on the river.
A: And Spring Lake where we used to have our car tracks there, you know, and there was a house there.
It isn’t there anymore because that’s all business, isn’t it?
E: Mm-hmm. Yes.
A: And this is another one. If they would like these, would you let them have them?
E: Oh, yes, but maybe they don’t care about them.
A: This is the lighthouse, of course.
E: What is that now?
A: Up in that store.
K: Oh, yes. We have a picture of that, too, I think.
A: You do? You perhaps wouldn’t be interested in it.
K: That white house up on the hill, with the steps.
A: This is a darker one.
K: Oh, ya.
E: With a suit on?
K: Look at him…with a suit on in the boat.
J: And with a hat on.
A: This one is very faded out. Jean, do you want to keep those separate because there’s no use of them
taking them if they don’t want them.
O: Is that a...
A: Some of these are very faded. My brother took these.
K: It looks like a schooner or something there with a couple of tugs alongside it. That’s when the
lighthouse was on the hill. They didn’t have a light out on the end of the pier, they had a lighthouse up
on the hill.
A: This is out on the lake. You hold all those, will you Jean?
J: Is that by the…
K: That’s wintertime. That’s ice, huh? No. That lighthouse was up on top of the hill, to the right. Up on
the hill, up from where the Bil-Mar is now.
E: It still is there and it’s occupied.
O: About where the Bil-Mar is, on the east side of the road where the Bil-Mar is, up there.
E: What street is that? Do you know? Here in Grand Haven.
A: Is that on the way to the lake-to the beach?
E: I don’t know.
O: A little north of that, I think, where the cottages are and apartments.
E: Are you interested in Spring Lake? This is sailboats out there.
K: Oh, my goodness.
E: Ya, there’s two there. See this-what is…oh, the courthouse. Ya. Oh, that’s a good one of the
courthouse. Maybe they’d like it. Have you a picture of the old courthouse?
K: The old courthouse. I remember it. I remember when it was still there, but…
E: This is a real old one.
K: Looks like a real old one, doesn’t it?
A: Oh, yes. Look at there. Well, it was when my brother was in high school and when he passed away
last summer, he was 89.
E: Have you that picture?
K: I…I just got some new ones here and it may be in here. I’ll show them to you in a moment. But wasn’t
this the one they tore down not too many years ago?
A: Oh, oh…
E: Yes. Well, I don’t know if it was…
A: That was many, many years ago.
E: That’s not the first courthouse because…
A: No, I don’t think so.
E: …Because the first courthouse was a little, tiny…
A: I think that was before that.
K: Oh.
E: That was a little tiny building.
A: My brother has been away from Grand Haven for so long and that courthouse was…well, it isn’t any
more than 10 years ago that it was torn down, is it?
E: I don’t think so. But the original courthouse was just a little tiny building, I think.
A: This is looking down onto the buildings at the lake.
K: Oh, yes. At Highland Park, or closer to the pier?
A: Well, that would be at Highland Park where we had our eating tables and things like that. That’s
where…looking down in here. And the pavilion.
K: Yes. (Speaking to O) Did you see these?
O: No.
A: Now I don’t know what these other ones are and I don’t know if you would be interested in them.
There’s nothing much…This is Fruitport where we used to have our picnics.
E: Our Sunday School picnics were always held at Fruitport.
K: At the Pomona…
E: Yes. And we used to go on a scow. Oh, and was I afraid! Oh, I was afraid.
K: This is Fruitport?
A: Uh-huh. I think it is. And now this one, I don’t know what that is. This is land.
E: And they used to have home-made ice cream…
A: If these are of interest to you, you may keep them; if not, pass them back.
E: And we had to cross the street to a little store…and…
A: That’s very old.
K: Twenty years ago when I was…
A: Oh, that’s older than that.
K: Ya, I know, but it was still 20 years ago.
E: What is that?
O: That courthouse.
K: Well, I think that’s the one I got drafted into the army in.
O: Probably.
A: That was in 19--…when did I work for Uncle James, in 1917 or 15? And that was old then.
E: Well, I graduated in 1908. Was that 1915 then when you must have worked there?
K: Was this taken from Five Mile Hill? That’s Mulligan’s Hollow down there and…
E: Maybe. I really don’t know much about Mulligan’s Hollow.
O: It sure looks like it.
A: Now this is the life saving station…
K: Where you can drive up there and have…
A: You have one of that, too?
J: Oh, sure. Ya, ya.
K: That’s a nice one though.
A: Well, if you’d like it, you may have it.
E: Is that where Mulligan’s Hollow is?
O: There’s a softball field down there now.
K: Oh, yes. We’re going to soon have equipment, or we hope soon to have equipment to take pictures
of pictures.
A: I don’t know what that is.
K: I think this is one of ours. Ya, this came from here, didn’t it?
A: Oh, that’s right. You better take these so I don’t get them mixed up. And this, too.
O: Ya, that’s it alright. There are a couple of things I’d like to ask you about the year 1900. See if you
remember some things from that year, because we’d like to start our book, when we start writing the
book, with the year 1900 and write a whole chapter maybe about what was going on here in the year
1900. That’s the turn of the century and that’s the year that Leo Lillie stopped writing when he wrote his
history.
E: Oh. Oh, yes. You know somebody tried to buy a book of the…uh…uh…the book that Leo Lillie wrote,
you know, that historical book…
O: Ya.
E: …And somebody, I think, looked…they watched and watched to see if they could get one, and they
were lucky to get one. They paid $12.00 for it but they have the book, the history. Leo Lillie. I won’t
forget Leo Lillie. (laughs) Oh, he sat back of me when I was a senior in high school. And I dated him one
night and I had…our brother was at the University of Michigan and my brother had given me, oh, the
prettiest gold “M”-Michigan, you know-I was so proud of that…and Leo Lillie had that pin and he was
going to give it back to me. But after he had it, he never would give it back to me. He was a thief.
O: (laughs) He kept it.
E: Yes. Yes, he kept it. But he went to Michigan afterwards; he didn’t have to buy one. (laughter)
O: I see. He was a clever fellow then.
A: That’s the kind of a lawyer he was.
O: Well, the two things I wanted to…one thing was in the spring of that year, there was a big treasure
hunt at the top of Five Mile Hill. I wonder if you remember that.
E: Well, no.
O: They dug a shaft down…Well, you might have heard about it.
E: No. (End of Tape One)
O: At the top of Five Mile Hill. And people believed that and some miners from Colorado came here to
Grand Haven and they sunk a mine shaft at the top of Five Mile Hill down 100 feet through that sand
and they boarded it all up with timber so that it wouldn’t cave in on them. And they had metal finding
equipment and everything, and they were looking for this treasure. And the newspaper-I read all the
newspapers this summer from the year 1900, for the whole year, the Grand Haven Tribune-and they
kept recording this day by day…
E: I see.
O: …What was happening there. You don’t remember that?
E: That’s true. I never heard this story.
J: They never found anything?
O: They never found anything. It’s still there if you want to go digging.
A: We’ll try it-when we get younger.
O: Uh…
A: What were you going to say?
K: The other story was…it had to do with plans to build a Negro college here in Grand Haven.
E: Oh, I never knew that either, did we Alice?
K: And it was right on this street, toward…between where the Trail house is and the end of the street.
There was vacant space there then in 1900. There was a vacant lot-it was called the Furlong estate.
Uh…the…the…Esther Dean Nyland…we talked to Esther Dean Nyland about this and she recognized that
name because of the thing that she published in the paper last summer, you remember, about Mother’s
Book…
E: Uh-huh.
K: Some people named Furlong owned that property and there were about three articles in the Tribune
about this college that they were going to build there. And some people from Chicago were looking at
the land and they were going to build a college that would eventually have 600 Negro students in it.
E: Well, for goodness sake.
K: But it never came to pass. There never was any school built there. You never heard anything about
that? I thought that since you lived right here on the corner that…
E: No. I never heard that.
K: …That there may have been some talk in the neighborhood here about that.
E: No, no. No, but you see it was such a long time before there were any houses up on this street, you
see, when we lived here. Such a long…oh, a long, long time. And that’s why…no, I never heard. But I was
on the air…that is, my voice was on the air when Esther Dean Nyland went down this whole street, you
know, telling all about the different houses.
A: She wanted her to be on the air but…
E: What?
A: …But she said, “Oh, I never could do that.” So she gave all the information to Esther Dean.
E: Well, later she wanted to know if I wouldn’t come up and interview but I said, “No, I didn’t want to
do it.” There was one…there was one thing that I did say on the air that I was a little bit sorry about, but
anyway it was about this Mr. Howlett who was Mrs. Loutit’s brother, you see, and it was so funny that
he would wear a hat in the summer, in winter, and then a cap and I said that I probably should never
have said it about that fellow because he was a bachelor and he was just lonely but I said that I thought
it was kind of mean to air it on the radio besides. But it was on.
K: You mean John Howlett.
E: John Howlett, yes.
K: Was he a brother of Nelson?
E: Nelson…no, John Howlett was Mrs. Loutit’s brother. And she had been a Howlett, see. That’s it.
K: Somebody else told us about him, too. I think maybe that old…
E: And he was so nice, you know. And we-a bunch of us, the neighbors-we would go over during the day
and we’d go to the door and rap on the door, and he’d say, “Yaaaa…” And we’d say, “Mr. John, may we
have some apples today?” “Yaaaa…” And so one thing we did-it wasn’t very nice though-so we’d get the
apples and we’d see those nice little watermelons, you know, and sometimes we’d kick our feet, you
know, and see if they were ripe or not. (All laugh)
A: Well, but tell them about the hats. Edith, tell them about the hats.
E: I did. I said that. He’d pass here, you know, and in the winter it was a summer cap; and in the
summer, it was a winter one. He was odd but he’d always go to that lovely home where there is now an
oil station. That’s where that lovely Loutit house was.
A: Here’s Kitty Ball with her father.
J: I want to see that one.
A: This is our porch here before dad had it made as it is now. That was taken in 1897.
K: Oh, my goodness.
A: Here’s a Ladies Aid Society-no it isn’t either. These people are friends of my mother but they were
mostly all from the Second Reformed Church.
E: All Second Reformed Church people.
A: Baby picture-all the babies are on with us that were about six, seven months old.
K: Where is Kitty Ball here?
A: That one’s Kitty Ball, with her father.
E: Pardon me. Are you the one that’s an instructor at…
K: Grand Valley? He is.
O: I am, yes.
K: Bill is.
E: Do you know if there is still a Mr. Foote who is an instructor there?
O: Yes, he’s in my department.
E: He was our neighbor. He was our neighbor.
K: In tonight’s Tribune in the 50 Years Ago section, it said something about the Ku Klux Klan was having
its big gathering in Central Park. Do you remember anything…
E: No.
K: …About the Ku Klux Klan in Grand Haven?
E: No. I heard about the Ku Klux Klan but I don’t know very much about it. Probably spooky stuff when
we would hear it, but I don’t know very much about that.
K: Well, they used to burn crosses…burn crosses on Dewey Hill. Did you hear anything about that?
E: No, I don’t think so.
A: We never inquired very much about it, did we?
E: I think that was when we were quite small, and you especially would be.
K: In 1923 or 24.
E: Well, that wasn’t too long ago…that wasn’t too bad.
A: Well, don’t you know that somebody that we heard was…well, it was a very peculiar death of this
young man. Remember?
E: Uh-uh.
A: And…uh…and his wife came to visit her parents in Grand Rapids. He was a Grand Haven boy. I don’t
want to mention any name because it was a very mysterious thing. And while she was visiting her
parents in Grand Rapids, he was, as I said, from Grand Haven. We knew him very well. And she got word
that Walter had passed on. And they found half of his body-his head-in the furnace. And they said it was
the Ku Klux Klan. Now he was not a member of any Ku Klux Klan, but evidently it was done that way.
Don’t you remember?
E: Ya. It was our sister’s brother-in-law. He was a wonderful chap. Oh, he was a fine…and he married a
very lovely Grand Rapids girl. Very lovely. She never got over the death of him because she never
remarried. And she was very attractive, very brilliant.
K: In other words, he was murdered and some people thought that it had something to do with the
Klan, that the Klan was after him?
A: Oh yes, that’s right.
O: Where was he murdered?
E: In Detroit.
O: Detroit.
E: Yes. Uh-huh. Ya.
O: What kind of business was he in, do you know? Was he…
A: No. I don’t know anything about…
E: Well, wasn’t Walter…wasn’t he traveling…didn’t he travel?
A: I don’t know. I have no idea.
E: He was a very nice chap, and he married into a very nice family.
A: But he would never be anyone who would be a member of the Klan, I know that. It was a very
mysterious death.
K: Did you ever…did you have any ideas about what the Klan was after? Were they after Negroes-there
weren’t many in Grand Haven then. Or Jews, or Catholics? Or what was the purpose for being?
A: I don’t know. I really don’t know.
E: No. I t had always sounded…
A: I don’t think the people in Grand Haven ever thought much about it because I don’t think anyone
here knew anything about it. And there weren’t many here.
E: We had quite a few pictures but we have given a lot of them away, too. And we had little tintypes
too.
A: These are the tintypes. This is my mother.
E: I have to show…I have to show them my brother’s pictures. He passed on, but he also was an
instructor there before he became president.
K: And his first name was…
E: John…John James Danhof. Uh-huh.
K: Mm-hmm.
A: That is…that was taken…
E: I think they have seen it.
A: Dad was born here and…
E: Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
K: How about this? How do you think you probably spent, say the Fourth of July in 1900? I know you
can’t recall details and that, but how did you spend a holiday? What did you do?
E: Oh, in 1900. Well, we were just waiting for those firecrackers.
A: Ya. We used to get firecrackers in a package. Well, there were powerful candles and there were little
ones. Well, dad and mother would never let us have the powerful ones and I remember we could never-
at least I couldn’t, and I don’t think you could. I remember we had a rocker, a little rocker that mother
always kept. Our dining room was a kitchen and pantry…the partition was brought this way to make it a
dining room in later years, but at that time, mother’s rocking chair that she always used to dress…or
have us sit in and dress me, would be outside and dad would sit in that rocking chair and when it got
time that I could…and I don’t know about you but I remember this about myself-I was born in
1897…that I remember that he’d sit out there and he’d light those candles, or those firecrackers, and all
I could do was watch him. He didn’t want me to get near them. Oh, he was so fussy. But he always did
all the lighting of the crackers, and we never had real powerful ones. But in the evening, there would be
Roman candles and all fireworks along the lake…
E: Oh, yes. Oh, yes, I should say so. You could hear them all around. But the families were close then.
A: We used to have_______. Those we could throw on the walk and they would go bang.
K: Where did you go? Did you go to the pavilion then, or did you gather for family picnics?
E: Sure, we’d go Fourth of July. But my, you could hardly get on that dummy-we’d call it a dummy, see.
K: Mm-hmm.
E: And we went…we could ride as far as where the Steketee store is. That was…that…that was a starter.
My sister Rose and I, toward the last, we would stay until about the last dummy came into town because
we liked to dance, too, you see. And…but we never thought of being afraid coming up Washington
Street, there wasn’t nothing…we weren’t afraid at all. Now, I wouldn’t dare to go out alone, especially
up this street here, it is so terrible. It is so dreadfully dark.
A: Tramps used to sleep under our porch.
E: Oh, yes.
J: They used to work on the…
E: My dad used to say they come to see what the equipment was.
K: Uh…
A: Edith knows more about…What did he keep in those long, narrow drawers there?
E: Where?
A: Right there.
K: Those drawers.
O: That’s a formidable looking man.
K: Yes.
E: Oh, yes. What did he keep in these drawers…here? Why, those were different types…different books,
insurance books. And his great big safe that…oh, it was so heavy…ahhh…and oh, he used to kick his knee
against it when he would open it you know, and after he died so suddenly, you see, why I had worked
for him for 23 years. And I just didn’t know what to do because…I thought, “Oh, what will I do?” And dad
trusted so many of his people, you see. He’d pay the premium and…
A: This is a picture of ____________ and I’m sitting on it.
K: I see. Where’s the house at?
A: The house is this way. And the chicken coop was…
K: You never saw the Vander Veen house with that down there. What is that?
A: This picture was of an old school, a long time ago.
K: Oh. The old Central School, uh-huh.
(There are two separate conversations going on at this point and it is difficult to understand either one.
Miss Danhof continues to talk about her father and his business at the same time Mrs. Storr is showing
pictures and discussing them.)
E: And dad never had any of the new, late furniture(?) or anything like that, and he just kept what he
had and it was just ____ and a little stove, and my Uncle James Danhof owned the building but it wasn’t
satisfactory and it was installed by some people from Grand Rapids and so we had to go back to the
stove. But every morning there was a couple who had the…you see there were offices upstairs there-a
dentist office, a lawyer and the lawyer vacated, but a couple moved into it. Every morning toward the
last, this gentleman come into our office and when dad would get down to the office ahead of me, there
was always a fire for him. And I was so happy. Well, then, the very last day-the very last time that dad
was in the office was on a Saturday afternoon. Alice and her hubby had been here because there was
going to be a dancing party and they wanted to attend it. And when dad came home, why he became ill-
along about half past eleven, I think it was. He was very, very ill and he had this stroke. I think he only
lived about 30 minutes or so and he was gone. Well, I had to face with my brother…I had to face thirteen
state agents the next Monday, see, because that work had to go on…the insurance, se…and I’m telling
you, did I have something to do for one year! I walked around trying to collect. The office, as I say, was
very, very plain-there was nothing to it, but it was just plain and that the way dad wanted it. He didn’t
care anything about the new…
A: New fang dangled things…
E: Huh?
A: The new fang dangled things.
E: The new fang dangled things. No, that wasn’t…
A: I remember his chair was just a straight back, wasn’t it?
E: Yes, why sure.
A: And he’d just tip back and pivot around a little.
E: Yes. Sure. Well, I had one of them, too, for my typewriter. But I was so happy to think that I could
have done that for dad because I said that if, if we had put it in the hands of a collector, our estate
wouldn’t have had anything. There’d be nothing because it all would have been paid out to the person
who did it. So I was always happy about that.
O: Did your family have any relatives in Muskegon that you know of?
E: In Muskegon? Yes.
A: There was Uncle John.
E: My mother’s brother. John Nedema. He’s a typical Dutchman.
O: Well, I have an uncle there named Danhof. Well, this is no lawyer. His name is…
E: Robert. Robert Danhof. We used to get telephone calls.
O: Oh, ya. This guy’s name was Gerald Danhof.
A: He called up and he told my sister that she was relation to him. Well, we’ve never met.
E: Uh-huh. Well, I don’t doubt that they were related.
O: And then…then there was another Danhof family that was distant relation to my uncle.
E: Is that so?
O: A young fellow that I knew…oh, 20 years ago…and he went to the Naval Academy.
E: Oh, yes. Did they spell it D-A-N-H-O-F?
O: Yes, the same-Danhof.
E: Well, you see, there were four generations of John Danhofs. And there was a Dick Danhof…
A: Dick Danhof. Well, there was a Dick Danhof. You said Dick Danhof now, didn’t you?
O: Ya, he was the fellow that went to the Naval Academy. He graduated from the…Dick, his name was.
E: I suppose they’re all relation.
O: But I can sure see the resemblance from that old picture of the Judge there.
E: Uncle John Danhof…Uncle John Nedema was a typical Frenchman. Oh, he just…
K: This must be the car that you remember there.
E: Yes, oh sure. This is it.
K: See, that’s electric, too.
E: Ya, oh my! And you know they’d have to hang on, you know, because there was so many people. And
I was always afraid that somebody was going to be hurt, you know, before they got on. These pictures
are real.
A: See, that was our yard.
K: Yes, that’s Washington Street, isn’t it?
E: Yes, this is Washington. Sure.
K: Unpaved…with the dummy.
K: I wish, I wish we had a…so you’d see how Washington Street looked. They had a procession of
Grandfather Danhof’s funeral going down Washington Street. I don’t know where that picture is. It is
kind of gruesome to look at, but they did that in olden times when they used to take pictures. What
would this be? Oh, this arch here, yes.
K: I just got those. I don’t know them all myself.
E: Well, oh. Here.
A: This is Rose.
E: This is the old court house. I don’t mean that-the old, the old post office.
K: I got these from John Van Schelven.
E: We have a picture…What? Oh, I thought she was talking to me. We have a picture of a banquet that
was held in the old Cutler House. And I…uh huh…I don’t know who has that now. Alice. That picture that
was taken with dad when all the Grand Haven men-Dr. Mieras and dad and all those men-
A: We can’t tell whose on it. Do you want it?
E: Huh? No.
K: We’d love to see it.
O: Ya, in the old Cutler House.
E: The old Cutler House.
K: The one before the fire.
E: Yes. Well, that would be it. Sure. Sure, uh-huh.
K: Oh, I’d like to see that.
E: Of course, you don’t see the Cutler House outside but you see…
A: If you’d like it, you’re very welcome to it because we don’t know what to do with it…
K: Oh, we’d love it.
E: Yes. Oh, this looks interesting.
A: …We can’t destroy it. I mean, we feel that we just don’t want to.
K: Ya, I…
E: Oh, isn’t this pretty?
K: We…Are you looking at those, too?
O: No.
K: She said that we could have some of those. Or, at least borrow some.
A: This is a nice picture.
E: Now wait a minute. Oh, this is the Presbyterian Church.
K: Yes, mm-hmm.
E: The Presbyterian Church. That’s the way that looks. And here, Bonnie, this is the way…this is the
way…this is the street car but not…this was different when we rode on it because this is all open.
K: Some of them were open.
E: Oh, yes. And they used to have a big canvas, you know, when it rained. And this is the armory. That
really looked pretty then. Don’t you think Grand Haven is a nice city though? The way it is growing, and
so?
A: What’s this…senior…something about…
E: Now this is out at the beach.
A: November, 1972. I don’t know why we kept that.
E: Sure. Look at all the place where you sit down here.
A: Oh, that winter scene. Are those your pictures?
E: Oh, Fruitport. That’s where this sister used to go and dance.
K: Is that…is that…is that Fruitport? Oh, yes, that’s the Pomona.
E: That’s right. Oh, that was a very famous place. We used to go there and have our picnics, you see.
And that’s where the boats would land, down here. And then we used to go on those old scows, as they
called it, and I was always afraid I might be drowned.
K: What did you do on the scow? Was there a lot of singing, etc.?
E: Well, I don’t know as there was singing. But they had all these ________ chairs that we would sit on.
It really, it was something the way we used to travel. Oh, and this is the…what is it called, the something
Rose…Fanny M. Rose, I think this was. This is the…this is the boat that would take you out, you know, all
along the beach. And this was quite something.
K: That’s the Fanny M. Rose?
E: That’s the Fanny M. Rose, I’m sure. I may be mistaken, but I’m quite sure.
K: Why, my…Sure it is! It says that on it.
E: It does? Well, then that’s it. Now this, this doesn’t look familiar to me at all. What would this be?
K: Well, that’s the lighthouse now. You see…
E: Oh, oh. I see.
K: You see, somebody must have taken that part off and put this there instead.
E: Oh, I see. I see. Now you see, I never tried to get up there. I don’t know who it was…Jean, weren’t
you up there at the top of this place here?
J: No. No, I don’t think so.
E: Oh, here.
K: This is the Highland Park Hotel.
E: The Highland Park Hotel. Oh, yes. That’s where we used to have our alumni banquets.
O: You don’t know where that picture is of the Cutler House?
E: Our graduation, you know. And one night I went with Alice and I sat at a table with Alice and Merle
and someone was indignant because I wasn’t supposed to be at that table, you know. However, I was. It
was very lovely, and it was quite an event. I was…we were always very proud to go and, of course, we
had to have our new gowns and so forth and so on.
K: Did you ever go for a ride on the Fanny M. Rose?
E: Oh, yes. Fanny M. Rose? Why, of course. I went many times.
K: What…what kind…Why was it fun?
E: Well, because…
A: Oh, it was fun going up. It had an engine in it, of course, and it made a noise. And it was all open, and
the seats were around on the sides like that, weren’t they, right up tight to the boat itself?
E: Sure.
A: And, oh, you generally could have lunches on there if you wanted to. But when you think of it, it
wasn’t a large boat at all. I don’t remember how many it accommodated. Families used to go on it but it
was never a very big boat. But it was beautiful. Edith, what was the name of the boat we would always
go to Fruitport on and have our Sunday School picnics?
E: Fanny M. Rose.
A: Fanny M. Rose? Oh. And that was such a nice trip, but I can so well remember that we worried so
about my mother because she was so short and it was so hard to step when you got into the boat. You
would step on the seat, then you would have to step down on the floor. And, of course, it was difficult
for her because her legs wouldn’t take care of such a high step. But that was a lot of fun when we had
our Sunday School picnics at Fruitport. But that Fanny M. Rose would take us.
E: That doesn’t look familiar.
K: Doesn’t Harry Lock have the captain’s bell of the Fanny M. Rose?
O: I think he does have a bell.
E: Who is that?
K: Harry Lock. He’s my neighbor.
E: Harry Lock. Yes, Harry Lock.
A: He’s what?
K: My neighbor.
E: Is he the Harry Lock…Oh, he’s a nice fellow. Very nice. But he’s not very well, is he?
K: No.
E: Isn’t it hard for him to walk?
K: Yes.
E: I thought so. The last time I saw him, we were in the doctor’s office and he didn’t seem very well
then.
A: Here’s one of the Cutler House.
K: Ohhhhh, marvelous! Marvelous.
O: What’s that?
K: This is the inside of the Cutler House.
A: He may have that, mayn’t he?
E: Sure. Sure, we haven’t given it away, and we’d like to have somebody have it.
O: Oh! That’s the old Cutler House, too.
E: That’s the old one.
K: That’s the one that burned in 1889. Right?
E: That was the day…You’re asking…uh…uh…you’re…1888, I was born.
K: George Swart remembers that fire.
E: Oh, yes. He’s a very fine man.
A: We know some of those people but we don’t know everybody there.
K: Well, maybe you can…If it’s 1905, then it’s not the first Cutler House.
O: Not the new Cutler House then…
E: The new one?
K: 1905, that’s the present building. But still, that’s beautiful.
E: Ya, but that Cutler…
A: I can tell you some of those people but I don’t know that the names would mean much. There’s a Dr.
Walkley. This is my dad and my Uncle James. Now I have to get that closer…
K: The Dr. Walkley, he’s the man-I’m going to describe him here-he’s the man who is two people away
from the post in the middle.
A: Uh-huh.
K: Two people to the left of it.
A: Uh-huh. And this one is Dr. Hofma.
K: Next to the post? Dr. Hofma.
O: Oh, after whom Hofma Park is named. He’s the one who went on these excursions to the North Pole.
E: That’s right.
A: And now this is a Mr. Verhoeks. And I can’t…What did Mr. Verhoeks do, Edith?
E: Mr. Verhoeks had a grocery store.
A: Oh, did he?
K: Okay, he’s the third from the left of the pole.
E: (In a separate conversation with O) Did Hofma own all that land out there? Dr. Hofma?
O: Well, I don’t know if he owned it or not.
K: (Looking at pictures with A) …turned around with the mustache. I’m identifying…
A: This is Ed Avery. He had a jewelry store here where the jewelry store now is turned into that pants
shop.
K: Ed. Avery. He’s the man with the crooked bow tie.
A: Right, right. And let’s see here. This is my dad and my Uncle James is here…they’re so faint and it’s
hard to see. He was right close though…I have to get my little magnifying glass.
O: (Looking at pictures with E) Is that this house?
E: Yes, we had that beautiful chandelier and, oh, dad and mama gave that away. Oh, it was so pretty
with all those beautiful colored…
A: Is my magnifying glass over there?
O: That’s those two windows right there?
E: Yes. That’s right. That’s the way it was.
O: And that’s the same picture right there.
E: Yes, that’s true.
O: That is.
E: That’s the same picture here, but I’m so afraid that…
K: (Speaking to A after she returns) Uncle James is right…
A: Uncle James Danhof. He was Judge of Probate.
K: He’s right…
A: There. Can you see him?
K: Yes, I can. He’s the man…he’s balding and he has the mustache and he…
A: He was blonde, too, and then my Uncle…
K: He’s in front of the man standing up back there.
A: And then my dad is right there.
E: (In her conversation with O) …And then, he said, “If I had that, I would take it out.” But…
K: Your dad is that one, or that one?
A: No. Now wait, I’ve got a long nail and I can show you-right there.
K: Oh, I see.
A: And this is Baldy VanTol.
K: Baldy VanTol and…
A: And Mr. Pfaff was here, too.
K: Mr. Pfaff is on the right hand…
O: (Speaking to E) Is your mother there or is that…which?
E: (Unable to understand her because K is also speaking.)
K: Front row, to the right…
A: Mmm. My sister knows more of these than I do. I’m not sure. She’d have to verify it, but I think that’s
Dr. Walkley.
K: Now what was the occasion of this?
A: Oh, gee…
K: Do you know?
A: No, I don’t.
K: What…
A: I think it was businessmen and professional men, you know. Just that. They’re all businessmen here
and doctors.
K: Mm-hmm.
A: That’s a Mr. Verhoeks. I don’t know his other name. That’s Dr. Hofma.
K: The man…Mr. Verhoeks is the man next to the post looking off to the right.
A: Uh-huh.
E: (Still talking to O) This lady, this lady here is the mother of Rose’s husband who was…
O: Was he a Fisher?
E: His name was Bob Fisher.
A: (To K) Oh, I think that’s a Mr. Glerum. He was a businessman, too.
K: Mr. Glerum.
A: Right here.
K: In the dark suit.
A: Mm-hmm.
K: I keep saying with the mustache but they all have mustaches, don’t they?
A: They do, ya. Who was it…somebody said that I was in the group that served that night.
K: Can you tell me what that is?
E: This is something that we we’re going to take to a man over in the other part of town who I think
possibly knows it. In fact, he lives…some man lives across the street from Zimmonick, your mother’s
friend. And I think…don’t you think this looks as though that this here might be the starting probably of
a pier this way?
O: Well, that’s a mill of some kind.
K: That looks like a shingle mill or a lumber mill.
E: Well, that’s it.
K: Could that be the Borden-Akeley Shingle Mill?
E: Well, I just wonder. And I was going to take it to a Mr. Welch is his name and…
K: Well, there was one right down on the river here…
E: I took this to George Swart and he couldn’t tell me.
K: I see.
E: But I don’t know this Mr. Welch, maybe he would. Mother said that she would take me over there
someday and we could ask what this is. It’s something…
A: Look at here how this all is through here.
E: Huh?
K: Well, I’d like to identify that and get a copy of that because I’m sure that’s one…Well,
that’s…that’s…that’s…
E: It’s one of the very oldest ones and it doesn’t…some of these things haven’t been written on the
back, see. Not that…
K: Grandmother-Ed Kinkema’s grandmother.
E: Yes, that’s right.
O: That’s Ed.
K: Let’s identify that on the tape. She’s the second…third person from the right, huh?
E: Right here.
O: Edith can identify all these people. They’re all prominent wives of merchants at the time.
K: They have to be written down.
O: Ya, I know.
K: We should write those down on a piece of paper and…
E: Let me write…I’ll write them down and give them to you.
K: We’d like that.
O: Ya, that would be really nice. Also…
E: What…then what is that?
K: Also she tells us that you know a lot of people that…well, you can’t write those down, I don’t
know…I’ve identified some of those already.
A: No. Can you see them well enough?
E: Well…uh…no, I looked at the back. I see that back. I know who this is. This is Dr. John Mieras, the
dentist.
A: Oh, well, and this is Mr. Pfaff.
K: He’s the first one from the left.
A: And there…and Uncle James…there’s Uncle James and dad is over here. I can see that. And here is
Baldy VanTol. And this is Avery-you just said that now didn’t you?
E: Who?
A: Avery, the jewelry store man.
E: No. No, I don’t remember that.
A: Well, that’s Avery.
K: I showed him a picture of Akeley College-another that I copied out of the newspaper.
A: Mm-hmm.
K: And he showed me the window that he used to sneak his girlfriend out of.
A: Oh. (laughs) Well, my sister-you haven’t seen her…
O: Oh, yes. Yes, I know. (O and E are again carrying on a conversation at the same time K and A are
talking to each other and only parts of the conversation can be understood)
E: And we were going to…
A: (Continuing her conversation with K) …And she must have been 45 or something like that, but this is
when she was first married.
K: This was before she was married, this picture?
A: No. After. And this one…this picture was taken when she was around 25 or so.
K: I see.
A: And she married the brother of Walter Fisher whose head was stuck in the furnace.
K: I see.
A: But they never found out anything about it.
E: (To O) He was married to a girl whose income was $105…
A: And then this was a picture that was taken after she was married sometime in front of our cottage,
but the water…the lake…has come right up to here.
K: Do you have any idea about what year it was?
A: Uh-huh. It was taken in…let’s see…we built our cottage in 18…in 1953. I would think that would be
around 1953, 55.
K: I see.
(End of side 1, Tape 2)
A: This is the porch which meant it had a rounding porch all around. This was our sidewalk, all wood. It
went around to the side, all around to the side porch. This was our wooden fence all around the house.
K: Mm-hmm. The kind you aren’t allowed to have anymore.
A: That’s right. But, of course, the ones now are good looking. But this was the Ladies Aid Society
mostly. They were all babies my age, and I was seven months, and mother had it taken. This was my
Uncle Peter’s wife. She didn’t have a baby but this is her daughter here. And this was my sister Rose.
This is this sister here with a hat on, sitting on her tricycle, and the boy across the street, a neighbor that
liked Edith-he always wanted to be with her. The rest of these…this was mother here. And…
K: I see. And the Braak girl.
A: Ya, right there, with the dark waist and…
K: And a baby in…holding a baby.
A: I’m the baby.
K: And you’re the baby.
A: And this lady was Mrs. DeCubber. And then there was a lady up in here who didn’t have a baby so
she took a doll that my mother gave her of Edith’s. And it was very strange…I visited my brother and his
wife in Detroit when I was in high school and I was…I think I was 17 then…and I went with a boyfriend
that this sister, who at that time lived in Muskegon when she was married, had introduced me to his
mother and so I was invited there for New Year’s. When I got there, Walt, this boyfriend, said, “Alice, I
want you to meet my Grandfather Gauntlass’s housekeeper, Mrs. Wyatt.” And she said to me, “You
know,” she said, “I went to your sister’s birthday party and I didn’t have a baby so I was given a doll.” I
said, “That was my birthday party.” And here I was seven months and never met her until I was about 1
years old, and my mother wondered what became of her.
K: (laughs) And this…is this the sidewalk under which the tramps used to sleep?
A: No. Over here, where you were coming in…
K: Yes…
A: …That’s where they always made their way to our house. And there was a marking there…we were
told by somebody who knew the marks of tramps, and signals, that the house was good to go in and get
a bite to eat, you see. The people gave them the food. They don’t always…we never…dad said, “Don’t
ever let them come in.” They always sat on the steps. Just once dad asked them if they’d like to come in-
this one tramp, and he did. But he said that he would never do it again. He says to mother, “I don’t want
you to ever let them in.” But they were never, never turned away. And if we were eating our dinner,
they got what we got. If mother was through with her dishes and things, she would fix them a big quart
bowl of coffee and give them sandwiches, and they would always sit on the porch. But it was under the
walk that went all around-it was an all-wooden walk and it was high because this was more…well, there
were hills but then it was low down below the sidewalk, and they would sleep under there. And Edith
tells of the time…of course, there was 23 months difference between this sister and the other and there
was 23 months difference between my brother and that sister…and she tells of the time that this sister
and she were going out for the evening for a walk downtown and here were the legs of the tramp
showing from under that walk. And they came in faster than they went out. (laughs) And that was true.
But they used to sleep under there during the night. And you see, the car tracks are right down here and
they’d get off here and then they’d get on again when the train would go.
K: And that walk was about where the sidewalk is now?
A: All around. It was all wooden walk, no cement, and it went way around here to the front and the
woods this way.
K: And the walk where they slept was where the sidewalk is now, right over there.
A: It was a high walk which they could get under and sleep. And so…and then we had a porch climber
one night. There was a railing, you see, from here right up to the top. And I slept downstairs because I
was younger. In fact, I’m about 10 years younger. And I slept down in a little bed right here with my
mother and dad. And at night, this sister called out and said, “Dad, dad.” Real loud. She said, “Hurry
up.” Of course, by that time, I guess he heard and so he left. But the next morning there were great big
pegs…they used to have porch climbing shoes and they had big pegs in the railings…in the railing that
went down, and he didn’t get in. Dad had his desk up at the top there…right by the first window…and
that’s why…that’s where he was trying…he was rattling that window. He didn’t get in, but the following
week he broke into a place on Clinton Street-a Mr. Baker-and he did get in there. Then he was arrested,
and he was found. He was a man from Grand Rapids and of a prominent family.
K: Hmm.
O: (O and E have been talking to each other at the same time the above conversation was recorded,
however, their discussion is intelligible until now.) …Well, we’d like to have copies of them.
E: Would you?
O: We’d like to get some good copies made.
E: Well, then how can you do that?
O: Well, we’re going to get equipment, we hope, through the Loutit Foundation.
A: What are you going to do, write a book? Edith, where is the one of Grandfather Danhof’s funeral
procession?
E: Well, that I don’t know, Alice, unless it’s over here.
A: Oh, that’s interesting, too.
E: I was looking for it here.
K: This sand hill was…?
A: Well, Mr. Swart’s, starting from there…and right on our way over to Robbins Road.
K: Oh, is that right? All a big sand hill.
O: There was nothing through there either, was there?
A: No, that wasn’t there.
O: There’s no Pennoyer here. This is…
K: You can see along here where Pennoyer is going to be.
E: That was all wonderful. We would slide way down there. Oh, my, we had a good time.
A: Want to put this in here?
E: No. But this is…this is what is called the Prismatic of Detroit.
K: I see.
E: And it’s…it…it’s quite interesting. And it gives the names, and it tells about all the different men who
belong to it. And this is our brother. Hold it so you can see them. There’s quite a few people…
K: Sure.
E: And there it tells about each one. There’s a copy of this in the library.
K: Oh.
A: Did you see that?
J: She had blonde hair, didn’t she?
A: Lots of it. She was blonde, and then it turned very dark.
E: My brother used to say to me, he says, “Young lady,” he says, “You know when you’re sleeping at
night,” he says, “I’m studying.” He was a wonderful student. He worked awfully hard in Ann Arbor. Uh-
huh. Ya. And he was ________ of his class and then mama and dad and Alice and my sister Rose all went
to Michigan. I didn’t go; I was taking my exams at high school.
A: Shall I say what I am going to? You know…People with beards, we just…you can’t tell, because…
K: (laughs)
E: We thought one of your admirers would be Miss Kitty Ball but we understood she was a little afraid
of you because she didn’t like those beards.
K: Yes.
E: That’s true.
J: Oh…
A: Even, you know, when I saw…when Steve waves to me (that’s her brother) when he waves to me if
he’s at the oil station, which has happened, getting gas, and I’m waiting or having gas…or…put in my
tired or something…he went this way (motioning) to me and I stuck my nose up and I said, “I don’t know
who that is.” (All laugh) Oh, and he gave that big smile of his. That was the natural thing that gave him
away.
E: …It proved that he was a brother of the Mulder boys who…yes, and his name…and he isn’t a
rowdy…he’s a college man, he wants to go back to college, and he said, “Would you,” he says, “I wonder
whether or not you would be interested…if we could paint your house?” And he says, “So and so doesn’t
have any work now,” he says, “We haven’t any more houses to paint.” I said, “What is your name?” And
he said, “My name is Gregg Mulder.” Was it Gregg?
A: Not Gregg.
K: There’s a clothing store there.
A: I think this is about when Grandfather Danhof died.
K: Then that would be about 1908?
A: I don’t know. I never knew my grandfather. I wasn’t born yet. She knows.
E: Well, you see, I was five years old when Grandfather Danhof died. I remember.
K: Oh, that’s earlier than 1908.
E: I came home and I ran…
A: Oh, it’s very old.
E: …Across our dining room floor-I can see it now-and I got onto an armchair and I don’t know why…we
had a little…a little…uh…shelf there, and what I wanted to do up on that shelf, I don’t know, but I had
just come home and mama was down at grandma’s and the barber who lived next door held a mirror up
to Grandfather Danhof’s face…up to his mouth…that was to see if he stopped breathing, I think. Well,
now I was only a little girl, I was only about five or six years old.
K: And you had never seen that.
E: Oh, yes.
K: That was 1895 so you were seven years old.
E: And I was born, you see, in 1888.
K: Mm-hmm. You were seven years old then.
E: So that was a long time ago.
K: What was Grandfather Danhof’s first name?
E: John. There was John John, Henry John, Peter John, James John and our brother’s name is John
James. And he keeps the Danhof name. He and I are the only two Danhof’s now because everybody has
changed their name, but I never changed my name. I’m still a Danhof, Edith Danhof, see, and John, my
nephew.
K: Here’s two questions we would like to ask both of you…and we asked about everybody we
interviewed. One is…Well, the two questions are what do you like about Grand Haven? And the second
is if there is anything you dislike, what is that? What about the first one? What would say you most like
about Grand Haven? Why do you like Grand Haven so much?
E: Why do I like Grand Haven? Well, because I’ve always lived here. I’ve never moved. I’ve learned to
appreciate people as I went along in years; and I had so much business contact with my dad, working for
him 23 years, and then keeping on trying to get money and going around from door to door, not doing
_______ but that was about it. And I think it is an attractive city and it’s growing so fast. There’s a nice
clientele of people, and it’s up to date in every way. What is there that we do not have at the present
time? It’s coming up, and all these different societies, different social doings, things for new people
coming in. Why do they all come in from the big cities? Even those who retired. That’s the way I feel.
There is just something about it. I can’t tell you. There’s warmth here. Like somebody came into our
house the other day…now you’ll laugh at this. He came to appraise our house because of the fact that
our brother died. He had to know about this property, and he came in and he says, he says, “Your
house,” he says, “has charm.” Well, now that’s t he way I feel about Grand Haven. There’s something
about it here. We’ve got a lot of furniture that belongs to her, it’s a little congested. This was supposed
to be her cottage but we had this sister, Rose-I don’t know if Alice showed you her picture-and he wrote
on the back of a post card…of a picture of it…the number of rooms, everything in detail that he gave to
his insurance company, see, about that…
K: Highland Park? Or Spring Lake? Which one, Highland Park or Spring Lake?
E: Oh, no, no, no. Spring Lake. People used to come because of that water they had, that drinking
water.
K: Yes.
E: They came here for their health. Well, that’s the one. And Sunday noons when dad felt he could
afford it, to show that he appreciated their business, he says, “That’s part of my bread and butter.” He
would take us all over to the hotel and have a dinner and then we would sit around and wander around
the rooms and visit with everybody on Sunday afternoon. Then, dad didn’t have a car at that time, so
we…
A: We’d take the interurban.
E: …We’d cross the railroad track and get back onto the main street here so we could catch the
interurban back to Grand Haven. That’s how all that is on. And you know we wanted to keep that…
A: You mean the hotel.
E: Oh, yes, that hotel.
A: I know I haven’t thrown it away. I stick it away so good that I can’t remember where it is. There are
so many little things like that that you just hurriedly put it away. I’m under the impression that I have it
in that…
A: That pipe used to get pretty strong. He’d smoke a cigar but he felt they were too expensive so he’d
just smoke them maybe once or twice a week. But this big gardenier, just like you put plants in, you
know, the great big, round, china one, he’d have his tobacco, his package of tobacco in it and then he’d
dump just enough in it to fill his pipe. He kept it on the lower shelf of our gas range in there. But once in
awhile, it would get pretty strong for my mother, and yet he didn’t think it was strong. So when it got
too strong, why she would empty it out, you see. And when he’d come home and want to know what
happened to it, “Well,” she said, “I just happened to spill it over.” So that’s the way he had to get a fresh
start.
K: I’d like to ask you the question I asked her too. You left Grand Haven in 1917 and came back many,
many years later.
A: I was married in ’17 and hubby was in France two years, and then I left Grand Haven in 1919.
K: Okay. And then you…now what do you like about Grand Haven? What do you particularly like about
Grand Haven, would you say?
A: I can’t really tell you. It’s just that I don’t think I ever would have come back if my hubby had lived. He
taught a year at the University of North Dakota and they wanted him to come back there very badly
because they gave him a wonderful raise in salary which was most unusual. But his home was in Olivet.
He graduated from Olivet College and his home was in Olivet, and mine was in Grand Haven. I was real
young when I got married, and being the baby of the family, I used to get homesick terribly. Even going
to visit. In fact, I went to Zeeland and I got so homesick one night-that was when I was still in school,
grade school or high school, I don’t know-I called 12 o’clock at night. Mr. Van Loo had to take me over to
the long distance telephone office to talk to my mother and dad. And the next day I came back on the
train all alone and the other two girls stayed. Well, that’s the kind I was. So I did get lonesome in Olivet
but nevertheless hubby said when they offered him this wonderful raise, he said, “No,” he said, “I’m not
accepting it.” And they said, “Why?” And he said, “Well, I’ll tell you. My people are in Michigan and
Olivet and my wife’s people are in Michigan in Grand Haven and we want to be near them.” So that’s
why he didn’t stay on. And then he taught three years in Olivet College, but at that time, Olivet had been
closed during the war and they were just opening up and the salaries that they were offering were very
minimum. But we lived with his people in their home for two or three years. Well, then Junior College in
Grand Rapids was offering a very good salary at the time for teachers so we moved to Grand Rapids
because we were close to each one. And I think I would have stayed in Grand Rapids because after all,
we had lived there. And we had our cottage here and we spent our summers here. We built the cottage
in ’53 and we liked it very much because we could come weekends. The lake is lovely and we liked that
very much and our cottage was right on it. I like Grand Haven but to tell the truth, I do very little now
because I don’t have time for much and I’m not as young as I used to be. And when you keep up a home
like this, you can’t do much beside.
K: No.
A: And Edith isn’t able to do it.
K: The other end of the question: Is there anything you dislike about Grand Haven?
A: Oh, no. Oh, no. Our burials are here, too. Oh, he taught here two years before he went…
K: In public schools?
A: Ya, up here. He was just a professor at JC. He had one more year to go to get his PhD. He taught
science but he said, “I’m not interested.” He said, “These PhD’s are so narrow minded,” he says,
“sometimes they have one sock of one color and one of another.” “And,” he says, “I’m just not…”
K: How is your last name spelled?
A: S-T-O-R-R. Storr.
E: And we used to do it last summer before this brother died. We went out to the cottage.
(End of Interview)
