Those Who Came Before

Throughout the time we've been planning for and working toward the renovation of the farm house, and a future farm on the property, we've wondered about those who came before us.

We knew it was originally a Garthe Homestead, and we're eager to talk more to our friend Chris Garthe about his family. Chris works at the Leelanau Conservation District.

We are fortunate to have two family members who are archivists. Our sister in law, Kim Purdy, is an architectural historian and did the original research on the construction method which pointed us toward the "plank house" terminology. Ben's third cousin, Allison Marion, also a Leelanau County resident, dug into the local history and found a lot of great information on the Garthes and the origins of this house. Ben and I were just thrilled to death when she sent these photos of the house at its finest! The photos weren't dated, but we're guessing they are from the early 1900s. The best information we've found so far tells us the house was built in 1883.

Now we're just sad that barn is gone!

These images came from the blog "Valentinos Mountain." There, the author shares, in Norwegian (thank goodness for Google translate!), a detailed account of the Garthes' story: 

What happened with Garthe family

Isaac worked both in the forest and farm servant of Edmund Taylor, and he bought 55 acres of land in 1873. He bought several times, and had finally 147 acres (600 goals).
He put up good buildings large and had a nice livestock. Besides, he had great and good potato crops for sale. He started the "creamery" (which made dairy butter), and he sold farm machinery.
Isaac married in September 1872 to Synnøve Øien (Minor Øien in Øksendal). She came in April of the same year. They had 9 children: Gertrude / Randi / Carl / Stanley / Shristine / John / Carl / Arndt / Anna / Laura - three died young.
The family lived in a log cabin before the big house was built.

Dordi Glærum Skuggevik | (Norway) 

Here's the view of the driveway, and those beautiful Maple trees today...

Each day that we spend working on the house and around the property, we discover a bit more about the past. How the land was used, how the house was built. As we put the pieces together, I'll share more here. And, we'll do our best to learn from those who came before us.