Putting a Face to an Eloise Pauper

Do you ever come across an antique photo and instinctively know that you must have it? The two main photos shown here of the John and Mary Wolfram family were just that and those of the children were a necessity because of the former.

It turns out that the master of the household, John Wolfram, died at Eloise of alcoholic dementia on August 8, 1918. I was stunned when I found his death certificate and the corresponding details on the Eloise Find-A-Grave listing as I only intended to go to the estate sale at 6832 Burr Street in Taylor to buy a pitchfork, which wasn't there (and now that I re-look at the listing it wasn't even at that sale. I apparently went to the wrong one!). But in the back of my head I was thinking: ephemera.

Luckily, somebody bought the frames that were attached but were thoughtless enough to leave behind these beautiful portraits and now we have the Wolfram family, Eloise alumni pauper John and some salvaged history.

While I haven't been able to find out anything about Mary Wolfram, who apparently later became Mary Wolfram Zahiri presumably after John's death, there are a few curious notes about her on the obverse of the photo.

Which clearly shows 454 Clinton Street, presumably Detroit since it's stamped on the front of the photo, and some indecipherable writing which seems to say that a, and I paraphrase, "hair-like sample was taken whereby she shut her mouth" which is dated July 25, 1908 and underneath that "WANTED" and dated two days later. Which opens up endless possibilities of criminal activities to God knows what. I've found nothing in newspaper or Find-A-Grave searches. Onward to census records I suppose.

As for the children, of which there seemingly were more born after John's death, they all seemingly lived normal and full lives, dying in the expectant range of mortality rates per age and sex. More on that later.

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A Dudley Randall Poem in Milestone 2

I bought this Milestone 2 poetry Magazine at a Livonia estate sale this week. Milestone was the literary publication of Wayne (State) University and this second issue dates to 1949. While I don't recognize most of the names, Dudley Randall was both a nationally known poet and the librarian for the Wayne County General Hospital at Eloise via the Wayne County Library System. The poem featured is The Southern Road which was a revised version of the completed poem from 1948 that h as a handful or two of word differences between the two. I don't know if Randall edited the poem for later collected works editions or earlier but this link features it in its likely final form in 2009. Neither version particularly enchants me but the block print in the magazine is an added bonus.

A Cabinet Card of a Dead Man Lying in Repose From Wayne Photographer Susan Doolittle

The City of Wayne, Michigan was not a large village at the turn of the 20th century so it stands to reason that there wasn't a glut of photographers practicing their trade there. As such, the 3 cabinet cards and carte de visites that I own represents roughly a quarter of the early ones. Considering that the wives of Frank Hickok and William Corlett, first Village President of Wayne, took over after Frank's death in 1892 the list grows smaller beyond those two families. Had I snagged the Doolittle dead man cabinet card I'd be even that much more Wayne-rich in photographs. Speaking of Susan Doolittle, of whom I have learned very little about, it is interesting to note that Wayne had three women photographers in an era oft dominated by men in that very field. This photograph of a corpse is a startling example of her work.

Frederick Soop: Not An Equal Opportunity Restraunteer

Detroit Free Press , March 28, 1890 If you don't want to hear a racist tale of a suburban namesake then close your eyes now. As early as 1876 Frederick Soop had left his Belleville farm once again, having done a stint at the Hawkins House in Ypsilanti during the Civil War and the City Hotel in Detroit thereafter, and ventured off to Chatham, Ontario to run the Rutley Hotel , which was conducted as a Temperance House. Detroit Free Press , August 17, 1879 In 1879 he was searching for a good restaurant or small hotel to operate. Eventually he ended up on Washington Avenue near State Street running a dining hall which he ran until around 1890. Detroit Free Press , April 16, 1890 It was in 1888 when the aforementioned racial incident occurred at his dining establishment. It was then that William H. Haynes, a black doctor, sat down with his former classmate S. W. Barkwell for dinner. The men ordered but when the food was served none was placed before Mr. Haynes who, ironically, ha...

The Nankin Township Historical Society

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