Michigan--History
Local histories
Memoirs
Oral histories (document genre)
Grand Rapids (Mich.)
Personal narratives
Heritage Hill (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Grand Valley State University
Women
Elizabeth Welter Wilson was born in Grand Rapids on April 4, 1921. Miss Wilson attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. She was acquainted with well-known stage personalities, among them Helen Hayes and Shirley Booth. Miss Wilson co-starred on the TV series.
Wilson, Elizabeth
Grand Rapids oral history collection (RHC-23)
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives
In Copyright
Donald Denison was born in Grand Rapids, graduated from the University of Michigan ca. 1913, and served in WWI. His father was a judge who was appointed by President Taft in 1911 to the U.S. District Court of Appeals. Mr. Denison's father resigned as a judge in 1931 to enter private practice with the firm of Newton Baker, President Wilson's Secretary of War. Mr. Denison sold bonds through National City and his own company. He died August 21, 1983.
Denison, Donald
Charles Kindel was born in Colorado in 1899. His father was in the furniture business. He married Katrina C. van Asmus in 1924 and eventually took her place as trustee of the Starr Commonwealth. He was President Ford's boy scout leader in the 1920s.
Kindel, Charles MacLear
Katrina Cup van Asmus was born in 1904. She married Charles Kindel in 1924. She was heavily involved with the local and national Humane Society and was instrumental in forming the Michigan Federation of Humane Societies. Mrs. Kindel managed construction of the WPA project to build an animal pound on Grandville Avenue in the early 1930s. She served as a trustee and vice president of the Starr Commonwealth, a nationally-known training school and home for disadvantaged boys near Albion, MI. Mrs. Kindel collected rare books and had a large collection of Lincolnia. She died in 1987.
Kindel, Katrina
Dorothy Woodruff was born in Auburn, New York on January 13, 1887. She graduated from Smith College in 1909. In 1916 she and fellow Smith alumna Rosamund Underwood traveled to Colorado to teach at the Elkhead School. She married in 1917, and came to Grand Rapids in 1918. In 1936 she became the Executive Secretary of the American Red Cross in Grand Rapids and she served the Red Cross in Washington, D.C. during WWII. The Hillmans had two daughters, Caroline and Hermione, and two sons, Serrell and Douglas. Dorothy died on May 13, 1979.
Hillman, Dorothy
George Cass Shelby was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on December 5, 1878.
Shelby, George
John Widdicombe was born in Grand Rapids. His great-grandfather came to New York from England, before moving to Grand Rapids. Mr. Widdicombe's grandfather Alfred H. Sherwood started the Grand Rapids Panel Company, invented embalming fluid, and had a cottage in Macatawa Park rumored to have been designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Mr. Widdicombe's father was a lumberman in the north. Mr. Widdicombe attended the University of Virginia. He then moved to New York where he taught at the Grace Church Choir School.
Widdicombe, John
Mary Baloyan's parents came from Armenia in 1897. She was the first Armenian girl born October 13, 1899 in Grand Rapids. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1922. She later was a teacher at Ottawa Hills High School, JRCC, and in Zeeland for about forty-three years total. She was involved with the Urban League, Community Concerts Organization, and Baxter Community Center. She was Vice-President of the Civic Theatre, and established music scholarships to the Interlochen Arts Academy. Mary Baloyan died on January 21, 1984.
Baloyan, Mary
Claire Vesey was born in 1880 in Memphis, Tennessee. She married Stuart Knappen in 1916. Stuart was part of a law firm in Grand Rapids and president of the Michigan Bar Association. Mrs. Knappen was a member of the Flower Garden Club and was on the Butterworth Hospital Women's Board. She died in 1982.
Knappen, Claire
Nellie Calder was born in Chicago on August 12, 1893. She married Earle Clements in 1914. She organized the Junior League with Josephine Bender and was at one time the president of the Women's City Club. Mrs. Clements traveled to Europe with the Women's City Club. She also worked with maternity cases at Butterworth Hospital.
Clements, Nellie
Estelle Wolf was born July 21, 1886. Miss Wolf spent two years at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. She was one of the founders of the Mary Free Bed Guild in Grand Rapids. She taught school and photography in New York, and was active in politics in a Democratic club in New York during the Roosevelt era. She was a volunteer for the Friends of Central Park in New York, and worked for the WPA in Detroit. Miss Wolf died September 1, 1988.
Wolf, Estelle
Herbert Hefferan was born on January 16, 1875 in Grand Rapids. He knew Grandpa Stekete and the Herpolsheimers. He worked at Smith & Sanford. He traveled to California and had experiences involving Pancho Villa and John Dillinger's gang. He died in 1972.
Hefferan, Herbert
Mr. Travis was born on February 5, 1891. His father owned an antique and furniture store on Canal Street (now Monroe). Mr. Travis went to Central High School, but did not attend college. He was later a purchasing agent for Applegate Furniture Company. Mr. Travis died on November 22, 1977.
Travis, C.C.
David Hunting was born in 1892. He was a lieutenant during WWI. He married Mary Ives in 1925. Mr. Hunting worked in the office furniture manufacturing business and was founder of the Dyer-Ives Foundation (now Steelcase). He died on April 19, 1992.
Hunting, David
Doris Robinson was born in 1893 in Grand Rapids, where she lived her whole life. Her father was a dentist. She once saw Theodore Roosevelt at the Ladies' Literary Club when she was fourteen years old.
Robinson, Doris
Evangeline Maurits was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Maurits, Evangeline
Emma Howe Foote was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on February 3, 1885, the daughter of Elijah Hedding Foote and Frances Amelia Howe. She lived at the corner of Lyon and College, and attended Junior College. Emma was married to Clarence S. Dexter, prominent Grand Rapids furniture manufacturer and financier in Grand Rapids on January 16, 1908. She was the president of Art Gallery on Fulton (Old Pike's home) and a regent of the Michigan Daughters of the American Revolution. She died January 5, 1983 in Grand Rapids and was interred at Graceland Mausoleum.
Dexter, Emma Foote
Lucille Hopson was born May 25, 1894 in Grand Rapids. She was a graduate of Vassar College. Mrs. Russell died on October 20, 1973. Francis Russell was born June 21, 1892. Mr. Russell's grandfather was C.C. Comstock, founder of Grand Rapids in 1853. C.C. Comstock was associated with the Grand Rapids Chair Company. The Russell's owned the Comstock Dairy Farm, which supplied milk to 150 customers until the city took it over. The family gave Riverside Park to Grand Rapids. He died on August 1, 1984.
Russell, Francis
Russell, Lucille
Ruth Grinnell was born in Grand Rapids in 1890. She graduated from Vassar College. In 1921, she married Dr. John Hodgen. She was the Secretary-Treasurer of Grinnell-Row Company for 62 years. She was involved with St. Cecilia's, the Ladies Literary Club, and the Woman's University Club. She died on March 2, 1978.
Hodgen, Ruth
Evelyn Leonard was born in Grand Rapids in 1883 and grew up on Prospect Street. Evelyn (Eileen) was the daughter of the inventor of the refrigerator, Frank E. Leonard. Leonard was a Vassar graduate and married Noyes L. Avery in 1907. She was president of both the Women's City Club and Women's University Club in Grand Rapids. Mrs. Avery died on August 4, 1972.
Avery, Evelyn
John W. (Jack) Blodgett was born on May 24, 1901 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In addition to continuing the lumbering business of his father, he was a banker. John married Minnie Cumnock in 1895. Apart from the Blodgett Memorial Hospital in East Grand Rapids, they helped found the Clinic for Infant Feeding, the Association for the Blind, the Grand Rapids Child Guidance Clinic, and the D. A Blodgett Home for Children. Blodgett died on October 27, 1987.
Blodgett, John W.
Robert Davis worked as an engineer for Westinghouse and was a professor of engineering. Mr. Davis had degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Michigan. He was active in the public schools and was a local historian. He died December 21, 1979.
Davis, Robert
C. Bennett Ainsworth was born in Grand Rapids on December 3, 1890. He graduated from Central High School in 1910, and attended the University of Michigan. He was the owner of Bennett Fuel Co. He died October 7, 1974.
Ainsworth, C. Bennett