"Michigan Memories"

Michigan Memories

Edited with an introduction by Alexis A. Praus and Ruth Howard

In the summer of 1949 the Kalamazoo Public Museum was the recipient of a large, old-fashioned trunk shipped from California. It was packed to capacity with all manner of things interesting to museum personnel. Included were coins, stamps, clothing, lace, posters, a paisley shawl, pictures, jewelry, and a hand-wrought sickle--to mention only a few of the many things it contained. All were sent as a gift from Mrs. Edith Granger Hawkes, daughter of the late Mrs. Mattie Munsell Granger. Explicit instructions were received to dispose of the items as considered best by museum standards and needs.

Exploration of the trunk was full of surprises and valuable additions to the museum's collections. Perhaps the most desirable of all the contents was a manuscript found at the very bottom bearing the title, "Memories: Grave and Gay, by Mattie Munsell Granger.”

Upon examination it was found to consist of 194 typewritten pages containing those remembrances of Mrs. Granger that she considered of interest to her family.

Mrs. Granger was born in Kalamazoo on March 1, 1846 (my research shows that she was born March 11, 1846). She passed away in California in January, 1938. Her ninety-two years (she died at 91) of active life encompassed great changes in the social and economic structure of our country. Her parents were of New England origin and became an integral part of the westward movement into the Michigan Territory during the early nineteenth century. Her father, Austin Crane Munsell, was born in East Windsor, Connecticut, July 3, 1805. Susy (should be Lucy) Bugbee, her mother, was born in Burke, Vermont, February 25, 1810. She states that her parents were married on October 25, 1827, at Butler, Wayne County, New York.

In what may be considered an introduction to her manuscript Mrs. Granger wrote: "A few years ago, when recounting some incidents to my daughter, she said I ought to write things down. So, since then I have done so, on loose papers, as I thought of them." She goes on to say that she arranged her notes, after they were all written, in chronological order. Mrs. Granger corrected, deleted, rewrote and added comments to the original manuscript sometime during or after the production of her "Memories." The reminiscences include all that she remembered that her mother told her of their family's history, her own childhood recollections, and those events she participated in which she thought would be of interest to her descendants.

This published portion of her manuscript includes only her own experiences and observation in Michigan, with one exception. It has been arbitrarily brought to a close at the time she married and moved to Illinois shortly after the Civil War. Though she visited Michigan on several occasions, she never again became a resident. Unfortunately, because of the need of limiting Mrs. Granger's memories to Michigan, it was necessary to omit her description of the Chicago Fire of 1871; her record of remarks made to her by Mrs. Lincoln's nurse about President Abraham Lincoln and his wife; her reaction to the San Francisco earthquake of 1906; her work in collecting California pioneer data at an advanced age; her efforts to establish a museum at Santa Rosa, California; as well as many other readable anecdotes and happenings.

In 1906 Mrs. Granger and her daughter moved to California, thus completing her family’s part in the great American movement from one shore of the continent to the other.

Care has been taken to edit and present Mrs. Granger's stored memories to the best advantage of herself and the reader. The original manuscript is a rough draft that was not prepared for publication. Her work has been edited with no changes in text or meaning other than to arrange events which were obviously out of sequence; to rearrange words in a sentence for better structure; and to make all spelling and punctuation conform to standard usage. Matter within brackets is the editors'. Wherever meanings seemed unclear or ambiguous, they were left to remain as in the original.

It is called to the readers' attention that Mrs. Granger wrote from memory many years after most of the events had transpired. It is to be expected that there may be some errors in early dates, places, names, poetry quoted, and the like. The editors are cognizant of the fact that they themselves may have erred even though striving to avoid doing so.

All in all, there is sure to be something of interest to everyone reading Mrs. Granger's recorded remembrances of her life in early Michigan.