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. I t-- In

 
 

 

 

 

 

THE PRESCOTT COMMUNITY

. .BT'
1“ t ‘7- ‘.\ .

CL ElyCampbell

A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty
in Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department of Sociology

 

 

"33am of Graduate Schol

Euchigan State College
1934

THESIS

 

ACKNOWLEDGEIEHT

The suggestions, corrections and
criticisms of the instructors in the
Department of Sociology, Hichigan State

ollege as well as the interest and co-

V

0

operation of the people of Prescott are

gratefully acknowledged.

C 0 Mo Cwflpbell o

R 1“

h J
”V‘s
'4’}:
‘1-
Z K

V

CFAPT "TR

I

II

III

IV

VI

VII

'1‘ A31. "7 G F (1013 'f'JNT t3

IITEEIODUCTICI?

purpose

location
Population
Prescott Village
Surface and Soib
Climate
Transportation
fiethod

HISTORICAL EACRGfiCRED
T . . .
+nd1an Tradition
Organization of Townships

Early Settlers

BUSINVofi HHTEJPKISV”

L

Lumbering

iercrar*ile Establishments
Banks

Garages

Profes:ional Services'
Elevators

Farming

Enterprises Which Pave Failed

HOW? LIFE AND RflCREATION
ITousinpg Conditions

Theifluuly
Home Entertainment and Recreation

POLITICAL AND CIVIC CONDITIOKS
Political Isolation
'QWUCATIOK

School Orranization and Curriculum
Extra Curricular Activities
Teachers

Informal Education of Youth
Education Among Adults

VIII

IX

HAP I

LAP II

5—4

LAP III

LAP IV

LEAP V

II

III

IV

VI

VII
VIII

VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATIONS
Fra te1nal Or3 eznizations
Tome .cono mic Extension Group
The Red Cross
Con3enial Groups
Cornmuni 1ty Sentiment
LEADERSHI P

FOImal Leadership
Informal leadership

CONCLUSIONS

XAPS
82:0".IIIG LCCA ICN OF PRESCOTT COi':I...U1§I'_L‘Y

SIIO IIIG ALICAS SILVA BY VAEIO‘JIj AG -‘lllCI “
OF PRESS 'L'T

G30G”fl fiLY OF PRESCOTT COfiQUHITY
CIIURCI‘I‘Z‘S A131) CIUERCEE I'IBLBE'SHIP

DIST‘l‘ICT BOULDAJ’I uIli' RELATION TO PP‘ESCOTT

TABLES
POPULATION OF CCMIUHITY BY TOWKSVIPS
AVII‘RA 131‘} OF SALES FIGUIUJS FCR OGEllAV-I CO. 19 29

CU”KHV“ILJCCS OF MUEIPHODUCTS

J3

mowers sweeten l, 3'7 - 19 29

amt-f mac RT-JC‘SI‘RT 1922
MINI someone 0? CLASSES 103:2-33
CREDITS Aircrew '1‘0‘.’.‘AT-iD GRADUATION

DISTRIBUWIOE OF MARKS 1531-32

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Purpose.

During the past one thousand years, and more especially
the last one hundred, mankind has made enormous strides in
most of the elements of material civilization. The sciences
of chemistry, physics and biology and their applications
have changed entirely the possibilities for raising the stan-
dard of living. There need be no more fear, for the present
at least, that there will be insufficient food, clothing and
shelter so far as the means of production are concerned.

It has been estimated that man's efficiency in the man-
ufacture of electric light bulbs has increased nine thousand
times since 1914. In the steel industry, the increase in
man's efficiency has been estimated at six hundred fifty times.
It has been estimated that the human labor needed for the
production of one bushel of wheat a hundred years ago was
about four days and this has now been reduced to about four
minutes. These estimates may not be exact but, it cannot be
questioned that the increase in efficiency has been enormous.
Therefore, if people suffer for want of food, the trouble must
be in our social or political organizations and not in the
economic production of goods.

In statehood, judicial procedure and social customs we
have moved very slowly. It is believed by some people that,

in judicial procedure, we are not far beyond the

Justinian Code : in our laws of inheritance me have
changed little from our feudal ancestors : we still
recognize property rights above human rights. we
consider labor as a comodity to be bought and sold
rather than a co-operative arrangement for more ef-
icient production.

iristian philosophy of the

kl

The adoptinn of the C
brotherhood of man has been a valuable change yet, in
some ways, our system of charity seems less wise than
that of some earlier civilizations among whom there
were smaller per centages of physical and mental sub-
normality and more equitable distribution of goods.

If, by applying the same principles to social
affairs as we have applied to material afiairs, we
could make the sane progress as has been made in ec-
cnomic afzairs, our difficulties migit vanish. But,
if social and political conditions are to improve,the
stimuli for human behavior must be changed. For
social ronditions and social progress are determined
by the interactions between man and his social and
physical environments. The individual consists of a
physical mechanism capable of reacting to certain kinds
of stimuli; a more or less perfect nervous system;
certain hormones and enzymes which interact with the
nervous system and 71"rich regulate the metabdlic pro-

cesses thereby influencing the vitality and emotions.

All of these are, no doubt, influenced by heredity but
they are also influenced by food, temperature and, in
fact, all physical and social conditions. Each contact
between individuals and their surroundings leaves an
imprint in the form of habit or ideal. Te may only
hope to improve our social conditions by adjusting these
social contacts and physical conditions.

The community appears to be the primary and basic
unit of social organization and of economic production
and distribution. Communities are the units which supply
the stimuli for individual effort and fulfill the immed-
iate wants of the individual. It is chiefly the community
which is responsible for the perpetuation of habits,customs
and traditions. From the time the infant takes its first
.breath until the aged forever drop the working tools of
life, the neighborhood and community as well as the physical
surroundings; the hills and valleys, the woods and plains,
buildings and streets, direct his thinking and acting or,
in other words, shape his life. And each word and act of
his influences the surroundings.

The comnmnity sets the standard for home life; it de-
termines the amount and quality of school training; it de-
termines the social set-up which regulates the social con-

duct and kinds of recreation. The social traditions together

with the location and natural resources determine the

\

vocations and all of these have a direct bearing on the
development of personalities. It is the community to
a great extent, which decided the relative amount of joy
and sorrow, of pleasure and pain of its members.

If proper habits could be developed in the young;
if the pressure for food, shelter, clothing and the
other human desires could be equalized with the amount
of effort exerted; if the amount of sub-normality could
be decreased rather than increased; if a larger per centage
could be employed in production and a uniformly larger
portion of time saved for self improvement and, if all could
learn to enjoy a reasonable amount of luxuries and con-
veniences of life, crime and poverty should nearly or
quite disappear and a uniformly high standard of life
be enjoyed. It is these problems which lend so much in-
terest and importance to a study of the growth, nature,
organization and the causes of the evils, mal-adjustments
and decay of communities.

The area selected for this study is one in which
many of the pioneer settlers are still active and
where the transition from a lumbering to a farm-village
type of community is still taking place. It, therefore
illustrates many of the processes which older communities

do not. It is much more nearly isolated from outside

influences than the average community or has been until
the very recent introduction of radios and common use of
automobiles; however, many horse drawn vehicles are still
seen on the streets. In recent years the younger gener-
ation have tended to emigrate from the community until
the depression came which has caused some to return from
the cities.

Sanderson has defined a rural community as :" A rural
community consists of the social interactions of the people
and their institutions in a local area on which they live
in dispersed farmsteads and in a hamlet or village which
forms the center of their activities." This is the sense
in which the term "community" has been and will continue

to be used in this thesis. (1)

(l) Sanderson, Dwight "The Rural Community" 1932
page 481

I SIEO'.‘JIIJG LC CATION (3F

ON YONAGO N

 

BARAGA

IRON

 

 

 

PRESCOTT CCI’I‘ UNITY.

 

ALGER

SCFmLCRAFT

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DICKINSON MACKINAC
Nouns:
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Y
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g was stJoscPH snA'N‘CI-I HILLSDALE LENAWJ; MONR0€
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MAP 11

SHOWING ARTCAS SEIVEd BY VARIOUS AGENCIES OF PRESCOTT.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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\ 9

Location

Prescott Community is located in the northeastern
part of hichigan, about fifty miles north from Bay City
and twenty miles inland from Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron
as shown on MAP I of Lichigan. The boundary of the ser-
vice area of Prescott village is shown on HAP III. The
high school, banking and sale of produce areas agree very
closely and were, theref re used to form a composite
which is the one shown on the map. The widest divergence
in the three areas was found in the northern part of the
community as that part sends very few pupils to any high
school. In attempting to use the sale of merchandise as
a criterion for determining boundary there seemed to be
some confusion. The lists of regular customers were se-
[cured from the merchants and it looked as though they
had been a little over zealous in claiming customers.
Then, too, the Weinberg Company has stores in both Pres-
cott and West Branch and it was difficult to distinguish
the customers of each. The churches seemed to be neigh-
borhood centers rather than community centers. 80, for
these reasons, neither merchandizing nor churches were
used in determining the community boundary.

The community as described includes the territory
within a radius of five to twelve miles from the village
of Prescott which is the community center. It is bounded

on the west by the Rifle River which separates it from

West Branch Community. On the south it is separated
from Standish Community by a deep ravine which is bor-
dered by some wild, hilly land. On the east and north
there are no geographic barriers but the areas are di-
vided between Prescott and Whittenore Communities.

It is a farm-village community with Prescott Village
as the service center. Three miles to the south of
Prescott Village and within the community lies the ham-
let of Haple Ridge with a general store, a garage, three

‘

churches and a primary school with one teacher. Tne
nearest village outside the community is Thittemore
which lies a little north of east and is nine miles dis-
tant. At one time it would have been considered as part
of Prescott Community. The development of gypsum in-
dustries near there has caused it to become incorporated
and to establish an accredited school so that it is now
about the size of Prescott. West Branch, the county
seat of Ogemaw County, liés twenty five miles to the
northwest of Prescott. Tawas and East Tawas are north
east on Lake Huron and about thirty miles away. Sixteen

1

miles south of Prescott is Sterling and five miles south

4--

eas. of there is Standish, the county seat of Arenac.
Both of the last two mentioned town are on the trunk

line pavement which extends from West Branch to Bay City.

-11..

This comnunity would be considered within the sub-
metropolitan area of Bay City since its merchants are
supplied with goods chiefly from wholesalers there, its
bank is closely associated with the Bay City banks and
the Bay City daily newspaper is read in a large proportion
of the homes of the community. A few of the citizens of the
community transact business in Detroit. This is especially
true of the shippers of live stock and other fzrn products.
Quite a large amount of such produce is trucked to Detroit.
The Detroit daily newspapers rank next in importance in the
community to those from Bay City. Until the closing of the
Detroit Banks, the Prescott banks carried credits there.
From these facts it would be inferred that Detroit forms

the metropolitan center for the community of Prescott.

(‘0

Population

The follo‘frirz tahle shows the population of the torn-

ships uholly r partly within t”e com unity as dravn on Kap
II, to ether with th fractional parts lying within the

com unit'. Tfe fractions used in determining the population
of t”e community are the same as the territorial fractions
except in ”ills township where most of the peonle live in

the eastern part around the lakes and in Yason tovnship “heie

tee population is more dense in the northwestern part.

TABLE I

POPULATICN or TIE COHLUIITY BY HOVNsHIPs.

Tou.shin flame Population Fractional Part Population
Census 1930 Inc1uded Vith'n Cone”
o . /A ,’
Rlcnland 070 All U9”

0\

mason 5? 3/4 497

Clayton 02» 1/2 312
31113 145 4/5 100
Reno 333 1/9 41
Burlcigh "33 1/4 133
Iogan 291 3/3 194

Churchill 453 1/9 57

Fill 414 1/8 r2
Total for Comnunity 2,07%

As noted elsewhere, the southeastern portion of Cgemau
county posses tie richest soil found anywhere in the County.
In spite of this fact, the open country showed a st afiy de-

cline in population from 1910 to 1930. But this vas also true

- 13 -

of all tounships in the county, the loss reaching as high as
84 per cent in Foster Tovnship in the northwest part of the
county. The loss in Hichland Township was 23.6 percent or
slightly over 200 people. It is difficult to say just to
what extent these losses have been made up since 1930 by
people returning from the cities. A few new tones have been
built; several of the resort cottages near the lakes Lave
been used as permanent dwellings and afew abandoned buildings
have been fitted up for dwellings.

Host of the pioneer residents of Prescott Comnunity came
from the southern part of Yichigan and from New York State.
They are mostly of Scotch, English and German extraction and
occupy the more fertile farms in the southeastern portion of
the community. The later imiigrants are Italian, Polish and
Yungarian and occupy the poorer land in the western portion
of the comnunity, especially that part in Sills Township.
lost of the people of the village are the pioneers or their
sons and daughters. Short biographies of some of them: are
given under the topics of "Early Settlers" and "Leads ship".
All in the village are native Americans. The 1930 Census of
the United States shows 33.9 per cent of the families of
Ogemaw County to have foreign born parents and Prescott Coxnnndy
probably averages about the same in tkat respect as the county.

The people are, as a rule, peaceable, contented and
happy in their homes and community. fiven the south European
immigrants, including some with criminal records, all appear
to be cheerful, friendly neighbors and loyal to the United

/
/

States thou~n they still harbor resentment aid vindictiveness
toward the governments of their native countries. It would
seem that release from arbitrary coersion by organized society
and the ability to enjoy home life and the frmits of their
labor have tended to destroy at least soze of the anti-social

sentiment

Prescott Tillage

E st of the bvsiness section of Prescott Village is
located around the corners of an east and west street and
and one leading northward from tEMt-one. These two streets
are paved through the business section but the side streets
are either gravel or dirt. The streets are electric lighted
by incandescent bulbs suspended over the street corners. The
village is partly provided with concrete side talks though
some of trem are in a bad state of repair.

The business portion consists mainly of two departnent
stores. one grocery, wo barber shoes, a pool room, a shoe
store and a small wood bank building all located on the
north and south street. TLe three garages, drug store,bank
and post office are located along the east and west street.
The depot is a square two storied wood building, standing a
little to the west of main street and north of the business
district. The upper story of the depot contains living rooms
and is occupied as a dwelling. Trere is also an abandoned
lod:e hall standing on main street which is used by both
school and community basket ball teams for practice and
exhibition games.

If you were to visit the village on a s mmer after

')

noon you would find the streets deserted. The business
men would be resting in the shade of the buildings or

standing in groups of two or three visiting. After supoer,

however, the village takes on a different appearence.
Especially on Saturday evenings the streets are filled
with shoppers, stopping here an there to greet and to
visit with their neighbors. Automobiles line the streets
on both sides from shortly before sun dovn until about
midnight. There are automobiles of nearly all makes and
ages. Scattered among them are a few korse drawn vehicles,
varying in style from the Irish model of tvo vbeeled cart
to lumber vagon. On pleasant days in the winter, many
farmers spend the afternoon in the village but, as soon
as spring u rk begins, nearly all the stepping is done
evenings.

While Prescott supplies the com unity with most of
its needs, a few of the people journey to Bay City to
secure things a little Lore fashionable or for supplies
not kept in Prescott stores. A few go there for professional
se vices and a few 50 for entertainnent.

Since the village is unincorporated, the government of

J

Ricnland Township takes the place of a cicy or village
government. The tovnsLip pays for the street lights of the
village. The streets and side val~s Evve been paved by th‘
township. And the Consumer‘s Power Company sell electricity
under a franchise nranted by the township.

1

Of the 690 people in Richland Township as given by fne

(I’

1970 Census of the Tnitcd d-ates, about 200 live 1"itlfiil’l

nkat might be considered tle village limits. The as es e3
valuation of tLe township, incluéin
127 farms of tle township, is 9 £20 756.“? and its bonded

indebtefiness is 3 1

KA)

,buo.oo . $.5,occ.ao of the incebt-
eoness was recently incurred to replace some of the tov

ship‘s money which was lost in the bar? failure.

 

LIA?" '

III

GEOGRAPHY OF PRESCOYY COUTUNIYY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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- 1n _

Surface and Soil

The surface of this section is covered entirely
with glacial drift material. The relief is seme-
what Veried but there are no great elevations, most
of the surface being between 750 and lLSO feet above
sea level and frru 350 t“ 700 feet above the surface
of Lake Huron. The northwestern portion of Ogemaw
county is more dry and sandy vhile the southwestern
part contains considerable swanpy and mucky land.
A strig extending from the northeastern portion of
the county through the central and south central
parts is more varied or spotted and the southeas—
tern psrt of the county is mostly a loam with a

)\

clay sub-soil end is, therefore, the most suittble
portion for farming. The rest Cf the com unity
extending into Iosco and Arenac counties corres-

ponds very closely to the southeastern portion of

Ogemaw. (1)

(l) J. O. Veatch, et. al. Soil Survey of Ogemaw
County Of Michigan (1928) Page 903.

The Rifle River crosses Ogemaw County from north to
south, a little west of the center while the AuGres
drains the eastern portion of the county. The Pres-
cott Comnunity is well supplied with lakes the larg-
est of which is Sage Lake. The lakes are fairly well
stocked with fish and are used quite extensively as
summer resorts. host of the region was once covered
with dense forests of hard maple and beech or with
mixtures including white pine, hemlock and some Nor-
way pine.
The swamps which occupy nearly twenty per cent

of the area, were filled with spruce, balsam, fir
and tamarack. But, in about 1872, lumbering began and
now what is not cleared for cultivation, is covered
with burned over slashings, small growth Jack pine,
low blue berries, sweet fern, bracken, scrub oak,
poplar and beach. It is estimated by the Department
of Agriculture Soil Survey (1) that only twelve to
fourteen per cent of this cut-over land of Ogemaw
County has been cleared of second growth brush and
stumps for farming purposes.

Lumbering has entirely ended and only agriculture
and the occupations closely associated with it are
practiced in the comwunity though gypsum.products are

produced ten or twelve miles to the east.

(1) J. 0. Veatch, et. al. Soil Survey of Ogemaw County,
Michigan 1928.

Nearly enclosing tee comlunitv on the north and west is

u
a government owned forest which is continually being improved
by settings of trees, extensions of fire lines and improve-
ment of roads. This gives employment to several people in
Prescott Comrwnity. Luch of t”e employment in tenporary and
uncertain but a few find steady enployment. These forests also
furnish refuge for game.

The follo"tng cuotation from a government report shows

the location, size and condition of the forest.

"Ogemaw Forest, situated in Cgemaw, Roscommon
Gladwin and Arenac counties, contains within
its boundaries 25C,34O acres of which 135,193
acres or 4) fl is held by the state. The plan-
tations which have been set thus far total
10,101 acres. Firelines to the number of 140
miles have been built. The head quarters is
four and one half miles north of West Branch
on the Lackinaw division of the hichigan Central
which bisects the forest. This unit is served
by trunkline highways h-77, H-gfi, 3-30 and M-éé."(l)

(l) hichigan Department of Conservation, Fifth Biennial
Report 1920-30.

I.

Climate

The nearest weather observatory is located at West
Branch vhere the average annual temperature is A3 degrees
Fahrenheit and tTe mean annual precipitation is 29.59 inches.
The winters are long and cold but the summer seasons of
116 days between frosts,on the average, seem sufficient to
mature the crops. The precipitation is quite evenly distri-
buted throughout the year though there is slightly more
during the spring and summer than for the rest of the year.
The average snow fall at West Branch is given as 51 inches
but at Prescott there has been very little for the past two
years. Old residents claim that there seems to be a strip
of territory extending nearly nortleast and southwest, in-
cluding Prescott Comumnity, in which the sn w fall is less

than in the territory farther from the lake.

Transportation and Communication

The older settlers told of a time when they followed
the Indian trails from the older settlements in what is
now Arenac County to Johnson Lake on fishing trips. These
seem to have been about the only routes of travel until
about 1870 when logging roads began to be built.

The first railroad was built by a hr. hale but, upon
his financial failure, the road was taken over by C. H.

Prescott and Company with C. H. Prescott as manager. This

company also failed and the property was taken over by Mr.
Prescott late in the seventies. In 1981 the first passengers
were carried over this road as far as Camp Six which was
located where Prescott Village now stands. The road was
soon sold to Governor Alger who widened it to standard gage
and, in 1888, extended it to Alger Village vhere it met the
hichigan Central Railroad. The bridge where the railroad
crossed the hifle River was seventy feet above the bed of
the river and, therefore, difficult to maintain. So for
this and, no doubt, other reasons, the road between Alger
and Prescott was abandoned, leaving Prescott at the end

of the road. How the nain line of the Detroit and hackinaw
Qailroad runs from Bay City to Alpena and the road to
Prescott remains as a spur from Hational City. The road
sends in one train per day and one agent tends the station
at Whittemore and also the one at Prescott. he lives at
Whittemore where he spends the afternoons and spends the
forenoons at Prescott.

The first telephone line to be built into the community
was constructed from Turner to Prescott by Hr. Joseph Cluly
in 1900. The first telephone pole set in the village still
ornaments Main street though the line vas sold to the Bell
Telephone Company and later abandoned. A short time after
the first line came here, a local line was built by about
thirty subscribers wh sold out there interests to Hr. Simon

Champaigne in 1915. The number of patrons remained between

Px

thirty and thirty five r“wring the twelve years of Mr. Cham-
paigne‘s ownership. This line is still in operation under
the ownership and management of Lrs. Thompson and with very
little change.

In 1910 another farmer‘s line was organized which now
has about one hundred fifty subscribers and maintains a cen-
tral in the parsonage of the County Line Church about three
miles from Prescott Village.

The Finger Line which was started in 1915, extends west-
ward from the village accommodating forty families. The LOgan
Line extends northward from the village into Logan Township
and serves thirty five families. All of these lines are co-
ordinated through the Prescott Central and are there connected
with the Bell System through Tawas.

The rates on these lines are one dollar per month and
a toll charge of five cents for three minute calls by anyone
not a member of a subscriber family. The Prescott Central
receives two dollars per phone per year Irom each of the sub-
sidiary companies for the services rendered. Asurvey report
by Hichigan State College. Department of Sociology, shows that
the per centage of farm homes of Ogemaw County having telephones

is 42.5 .

hethod

This study is primarily of the case stury type by a'
resident observer, the author having resided in the community
for three years. There is, however, some historical and —
sone statistical material used. host of/the information has
been obtained from conversations with old pioneers and other
residents, from diaries, public records and other data con-'
tributed by residents of the community.

The suTject matter and manner of arrangement follow
somewhat those of some of the similar surveys made in Eew
York State. more of the historical back ground has been
given as it is believed that present conditions can only
be understood in the light of such history. There is no a
attempt in the present thesis to make a comparison of village
and farm pOpulation as has been done in several of the other
surveys. It is hoped that some light may be shed on existing
conditions and that some problems may be shown, together
with their causes. While some remedies may be suggested, it
is not hoped to furnish remedies for all of their social,
political and economic puzzles.

In addition to the above named sources the following
questionaire was given to one hundred fifteen pupils of
high school and grammar grades. The answers were collected
and checked. In several cases answers were given by two or

more pupils from the same home. These were compared and.

Pk)
2‘31

in each case, the one which seemed the most complete and
definite was retained and the others were discarded. In
such cases the different reports from the same family com-
pared favorably in most instances though some estimates di-
ffered as in the number of days spent in hunting and fishing
or the number of social functions attended during the year.
Seventy nine lists of answers were retained and used in the
thests.

Since the questionaire reached only 79 families and
only those represented in school, it is probable that Ithe
data may not be entirely typical for all purposes yet, as
to land ownership, size ofi farms, kinds and amount of re-
creation and, in fact, for most phases of the community it
seems fairly adequate. The size of families may be some-
:hat larger when compared to those of the whole community
as those with no children or with only very young children
were not represented. There is, also, a possibility that
the standard of living would range a little high as very
few pupils come from the northern part of the comnmnity
where it might be expected that there would not be as many

home conveniences.
Questionaire

'l. flame.

2. Number in family.

12.

l3.
14.

15.
16.

17.

18.

190

20.

21.

22.

Education of father.

Education of mother.

Occupation of father.

Political offices held by father during year.

Size of farm owned.

Owner, renter or laborer on farm.

Number of rooms in home.

Do you have electricity in the home ?

Do you have a bath room ?

Do you have a radio ?

What musical instruments do you have in the home ?
Do you have an automobile?

Do any of the family belong to a church ?

How many church meetings vere attended.by one or
more members of the family during the year ?

To how many fraternal societies do one or more
meMbers of the family belong ?

How many fraternal meetings were attended by one
or more members of the family during the year ?
How many co-operative meetings were attended by
oneor more members of the family during the year ?
How many social functions were attended by one or
more members of the family during the year ?

How many picture shows were attended during theyear?
How many days were spent by one or more members

of the family in hunting, fishing or camping ?

23. How many magazines are read in the home ?
24. How many daily papers are read in the home ?
25. How many books are read by the family during

the year ?

Ix)

HAPTER II
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE COMMUNITY

Indian Tradition

The name of the Saginaw valley was derived from an
Indian word, 0-Sauk-e-non, meaning the land of the Sauks.
Tradition has it that. originally. the northeastern part
of Michigan was inhabited'by a warlike tribe of Indians
known by that name, who were much at war with the Chip-
pewas on the North, the Pottawatomies on the South,
and with other nations of Canada. Finally a council
was held on Mackinaw Island consisting of Chippewas,
Pottawatomies. Menomenes. Cttawas and the six tribes of
Iroquois. They proceeded from there to the land of the
Sauks, attacked them in their villages and massacred
all of them that could be found. They. then agreed to
use the territory as acommon hunting ground. .80 many
who came to this place to hunt never returned that the
Indians came to believe that the grounds were haunted
by the spirits of the dead Sauks. It is probable that
the few Sauks who survived the massacre and their des-
cendents were responsible for these disapoearences.

There is an Indian legend which appears to have ori-
ginated from the fact that in 1842 a white owl was shot

in a lone tree a short distance north west of Bay City.

The Indians believed that the owl was a Spirit bird.
They said that an old chief, Sauk-e-non, had sent the
bird to watch over the people. But, after the bird had
been killed, the white people drove the Indians from
their hunting ground.

After white people began to migrate here from De-
_troit and New York, several treaties were entered into
with the Indiansthrough which they were gradually dis-
possedSed of their hunting grounds. The first of these
treaties was obtained by William Hull, the territorial
governor, in 1807. In 1819,0eneral Cass negotiated an-
other treaty with the Indians by which they ceeded to
the United States all of the Saginaw rerion except forty
thousand acres which was reserved to them as a hunting
ground. And, in 1837, the date of Iichigan‘s admission
to the union, this last tract of land was ceeded to the

United States after which the Indians rapidly disappeared.

Organization of Townships

All of that territory surrounding Saginaw Bay and
including the valleys of lower Saginaw, Kawkawlin, Pin-
conning, Pine, Rifle, AuGres and Quanicassee rivers was

or anized into Bay County by act of the legislature 1857.
(l R. H. Page, History of Bay County 1883.

Their first election was held in June of that year and the
following officers were elected : William Simon, sheriff ;
Elijah Catlin, clerk ; James Watson, treasurer ; Thomas Bleigh
register of deeds ; S. S. Campbell,-judge of probate ; C. H.
Freeman, prosecuting attorney ; Stephen Wright, circourt court
commissioner ; Benjamin Partridge, surveyor and William Spicer,
coroner; all of whom were duly installed. Saginaw, however,
protested as Saginaw and hidland Counties had been exercising
judicial power over the whole region and their representatives
had only consented to the legislative enactment after it had
been so amended as to nullify the bill acording to their
opinion. The collection of taxes by the officers of the

newly created county offered an opportunity to test the legal-
ity of its organization before the courts. In 1858, the de-
cision was handed down by the State Supreme Court that Bay
County had been duly and legally organized.‘

The surveying of this part of the state was started in
1840and, in 1875, Iosco and Ogemaw Counties were set off.
Ogemaw was, evidently, taken from the name of the Indian
chiel Ogemaw-gegoto, who did most of the talking for the
Indians in the negotiations with General Cass when the treaty
of 1919 was signed.

In 1874, Koffit and Jason townshipsin Arenac County
were organized and many of the early settlers of Richland

township first settled in the Arenac townships but soon

moved on farther north in search of better Opportunities.
Maple Ridge was about the first settlement in any of these
townships. The village was given its name by William Smith
who started it. ur. Smith's brother who came a little later
still resides a little way north of maple Ridge corners.

As previously mentioned, the soil in the southeastern part
of the county is more fertile than the rest which fact, no

duubt, accounts for the name of the township of Richland.

Early Settlers

White traders visited the region as early as 1792.
The first one is said to have been a hr. Trombley, a gold
smith, who made trinkets for and traded with the Indians.
Cassette Tromhley was, for some time, employed by the gov-
ernment to teach the Indians the art of agriculture. His
own statements on the subject indicate that he made very
little progress. Jacob Graverot, another of the early traders
is creditedby acme reports, with the honor of being the
first settler in this part of hichig' . By others, Leon
Trombley, who settled in Lower Saginaw (now Pay City) in
1831, is credited with that honor. he vas soon followed by
others and the speculations during Jacksons administration

did much to stimulate this immigration.

LU

fx.)

The first settler of what is now Richland Township
appears to have been hr. Henry Craner who home steaded
one hundred sixty acres in the township in 1866. In 1870
1r. Pitt Blackman came to Ogemaw County and purchased
forty acres from Hr. Craner but in 18'8 he again sold it
to 1r. Franklin Pierce and moved onto a homestead at the
present site of Prescott. In 1879, hr. Pierce succeeded
in having hichland set off from Alabaster Township to
which it had been attached. He became the first treasurer
of the tovnship with Kapoleon Scott as supervisor, Eugene
Wilcox as clerk, Tilliamifloore as hichway commissioner,
and hortimer Noble as justice of the peace. The township
then included what is now Hills as well as the present
tOWnship of Richland. Hills was set off as a separate
township about twenty five years ago, then reunited for
a short time and is now a separate township once more.

Among the others who hepped to make the early
history of the comdunity was Abram Scott who settled
on a farm in Richland in 1870. In 1890, Tr. Scott
erected the first store building in haple Ridge. His
widow is still quite hale and resides with her daughter

in Prescott. hrs Scott still recalls the recalls the time

- 33 -

when her husband walked and blazed the trail through
the wilderness from his home in Richland to the vil-
lage of Alabaster, a distance of between twenty and
thirty miles, to secure the organization of district
number one of Richland. Later hrs. Scott taught in
the school though she was not the first teacher. The
first school building and the one in which Mrs. Scott
taught is still standing but was moved a little way
west of its original site to make room for a larger
and better structure. The building was unoccupied for
many years but, in 1933, it was repaired and used dur-

ing the year for a residence.

110m: OF ABIW: SCOTT. BUILT 1111878.

 

George Eymer was born in Wisconsin in 1862 but,
while still young, was taken by his parents to New
York State where he attended a rural school winters
and worked on a farm summers. In l”74, he and an-
other young man of his own age, named Perry, landed
in Bay County with a gun and three dollars in money
each. George Eymer located at Maple Ridge where he
started teaching school but soon purchased the For-
est House Botel in Sterling. A little later, he and
a Mr. Hanlin started another hotel at Camp Six which
was afterward called Prescott. In 1878 he bought a
small sawmill which he Operated for two years, then
he sold this and erected a larger mill with a circle
saw. In 1883, he moved his mill to Prescott and, the
same year, was elected supervisor of Richland Town-
ship. He started a general store in 1890 and some-
what later added a hardware stock. He was married
to Miss Bell Mhnroe on July the fourth 1879 to which
union two children were born, Grace and Harry. Mrs.
Eymer died on January seventh 1888 and in July 1889
Hr. Eymer married Katy Franks who left one daughter,
Mrs. Blanche Eymer Coffey, now residing at Long
Beach California. After the death of his second wife,
which occurred on July twenty third 1908, Mr. Eymer
was married for the third time in 1909, this time to

Mrs. Carry Weeks of West Branch. Mr. Eymer passed a-

way October twenty sixth 1926. His widow has since
married and maintains a home in Prescott.

Mr. Robert Cliff came to Ogemaw county with his
father in 1879 and to Prescott Community in 1880. He
erected a shingle mill at Johnson Lake which he later
moved to Prescott Village and, in 1894, he added a
sawmill. Mr. Cliff relates that at the age of twelve
to fourteen years he learned to be a shingle sawyer,
working in his father‘s mill along with the men. He
states that in the operation of his own mill there was
a considerable length of time that they used very lit-
tle money, most of the business transactions being car-
ried out by barter. Mr. Cliff has been a member of the
township board or of the school board much of the time
since moving here and still holds the position of secre-
tary of the Board of Education of the Prescott Schools.

Still another early pioneer who is still in active
business is Mr. Henry Zeran. Kr. Zeran was first ap-
pointed postmaster of the Prescott office by President
Harrison. In 1896, he suffered a severe financial loss
in the destruction by fire of both stores which he had
established. The next year he rebuilt and was again
appointed postmaster by President McKinley which posi-
tion he held until the change in party control at the

election of President Wilson. In 1897, he started the

business which he continues to operate. From 1913
to 1918, he was also proprietor of a hotel known as
Rice and Zeran. From 1884 until the time of the e-
rection of the present school building, Mr. Zeran
was treasurer of the school board.

The neighborhoods included within the community
have largely resulted from these early settlements.
As mentioned above, Maple Ridge seems to have been
settled first and to have taken the lead for a time.
The County Line Keighborhood near the corner of Oge-
maw, Iosco and Arenac was established soon after flaple
Ridge. The early settlers of County Line soon estab-
lished a church and organized the first school dist-
riot in Richland Township. This neighborhood still
shows a great deal of solidarity and is quite thorough-
ly segregated from surrounding neighborhoods. In add-
ition to the church and school, they have a neighborhood
telephone line and central. The Johnson Lake neighbor-
hood started around a sawmill. The neighborhood still
maintains an identity though about the only uniting in—
fluence is now the primary school district. The Bush
Lake neighborhood is probably abo t the least united

of att. In fact, it may be questioned as to whether it

should be called a neighborhood. It is located in Hills
township and contains peonle of several nationalities and
religions. The primary school is about the only unifying
factor. Host of Logan township except the northwestern
part may be considered as a neighborhood, since it con-
tains a country store, primary schools and a telephone
line. The southwestern portion of Burleigh Township con-
tains a neighborhood around a primary school. The settle-
ment around Sage and Stylus Lake form still another neigh-

borhood.

CHAPTER III

BUSINESS ENTERPRISES

Lumbering

While some of the early settlers of Prescott
Community came with the idea of homesteading land
and carving out farm homes, most of them were at-
tracted by the valuable forests of virgin timber
as was true in nearly all of northern Jichigan.
Some of the companies who helped lumber this ter-
ritory were: The Keystone Company, C. E. Eddy,
Murphy and Dorr, lioffit, Pitts and Orange, Hale
and Prescott, M. and B. Mills. Sage and :cGraw,
and Johnson and Wilder. most of these companies
floated the logs down the streams to Saginaw or
Bay City where the mills were located and com-
bined the sawing with the salt industry. The
cut of lumber for one mill per year reached
twenty eight to thirty bullion feet. On Nov-
ember ninth 1867, Sage and McGraw made a test
run for twelve hours and in that time their mill
cut 370,797 feet of lumber. Moore Smith and Com-

pany are said to have been the first to float logs

down the Rifle River. Their mill had been built in
1854 and was bought by them in 1858.

Most of those who did homestead or buy farms,
worked in the lumberwoods during the winters and,
after the logs had been driven down the rivers to the
mills in the spring, they spent the summers clear-
ing land afldcaring for crops. While the men and ol-
der boys were in the lumber camps, the responsibili-
ty of doing chores, getting up vood and caring for

the home, rested on the wives and younger children.

Merchantile Establishments

One of the first businesses to locate in the
community was a hotel and saloon. Peter Hanlin was
part owner and was the manager. The hotel was located
at the present site of the thay home in Prescott.
This one was started in 1883 and soon others came un-
til there were three located here. many stories are
told of the brawls in which men's noses were rubbed
with lighted cigars, heads singed with lighted candles,
windows and furniture smashed and men battered up in

general. The saloons are gone but the wisdom of the

village is now passed around the card-tables of the village
pool room which has taken the place of the saloons as the
"Poor man's Club".

The store built by Hr. Scott in Xaple Ridge is still
in operation and carries on a general merchantile business.
There seems to be some confusion as to when and by whom the
first store in Prescott was started. By some of the residents
it is claims that the first store was started by William
moors at the site of the present Stoner building. The business
was soon sold to Ir. Weinberg and still later a store and
salonn was operated at that place. It was known as the Worm
Hole because of the numerous small additions which had been
added on irregularly. By other residents it is claimed that
the first store was opened in a tent located where the fiallory
and Common Store now stands. hr. Weinberg had come to the
location as a house to house salesman but { after buying the
floors Store, he prospered and expanded the business until
he had established a chain of stores. Five of them are still
in operation under the management of his son Sam. Besides
the one at Prescott there are four in near by villages.

The drug store which Hr. Zeran started in 1897 and
wh'ch he still continues to manage, was a direct follow up
of his general store started earlier. In addition to the
drug business, he operates a hotel business, accomiodating

transcients to both rooms and table board.

The Eymer Department Store which was started
by ir. George Eymer is now under the ownership and
management of his son, Harry Eymer.. He carries stocks
of fresh meats, groceries and hardware.

The hallory and Common Company first built and
operated a hotel in Prescott in 1915 but, the next
year, they sold to Mr. Richard Weishuhn and, in 1,20,
they bought the store of Mr. Corey Stoughtonberg
which they have continued to operate to the present
except for one year which they Spent in Caro. Their
store was first located in the Stoner Building from
whence it was moved to its present location.

About the year 1900, hr. Simon Champaigne pur-
chased a: hearse and undertaking equipment and opened
a mortuary at Prescott. Hr. Champaigno operated the
business for twelve years when he sold to Mr. Jud.
Little who added a stock of furniture and still con-
tinues the business. Mr. Champaigne operated the 10-
cal telephone exchange for a time but is now retired
from active business though he still holds the posi-
tions of deputy sheriff and member of the Board of
.Education.

Blacksmithing was caliumortant business

from the lumbering days until the common use of the

automobile. There is still a blacksmith shop in the
village but, because of the scarcity of that kind of
work, the blacksmith is employed in the shop only
part time.

There was a harness and shoe repair shop started
about 1900 at the present site of the Brescott Eleva-
tor by Mr. Claude Marsaw and Er. Jack Frost. As the
automobile industry increased the harness business
decreased and a stock of shoes was substituted for the
harnesses. Then the partnership was dissolved, the
management passed to hr. Marsaw and the business was
moved to its present site. About 1926, Hr. Harsaw
died leaving the business to his widow and children

tho continue its operation.

Banks

The first bank was established by James McKay in
1908 and still enjoys a wide patr nage. About four
years after the first bank was established, a second
one 'as organized by Mr. Weinberg and placed under the
management of his son Jacob. The bank was known as
the Farmer's and Merchant's Exchange Bank but closed
its doors in harch 1931 and the First National Bank

of Bay City was appointed as receiver. The latter

banks also became insolvent but has been reorganized. As
has been true in nearly all such cases, the faliure has

had a bad effect on the finances of the whole comlunity as
well as producing much bitterness of.feeling. Iany had
all their savings in the closed banks and, with the decline,
in the price of their products, were unable to pay taxes or
purchase the necessities of life. The township of Richland
lost twelve thousand dollars in the bank failure and was
obliged to bond for five thousand dollars to pay the school
districts for their share of the tax money which was in-
cluded in the loss and which was still i: the name of the
township treasurer.

During the existence of the two banks, they served as
nuclei around which were grouped two business factions .
The two banks sponsored rivals for meubers of the board of
education and other political positions which might add
prestige to the respective banks or offer economic advan-
tage. This had a strong disintegrating influence on the
community. hiile the two factions still exist,itis to be
hoped that the fact that one bank has been eliminated may
help to heal over the division in the community when the

harm done by the bank failure has been forgotten.

Garages

The first person to engage in the garage busi-
ness in Prescott was Mr. Orville leslie who recalls
the time when he measured out 328 with a quart mea-
sure. He first Opened business in an old building
then standing on main street. Bron there he moved
into an old blackenith shop and, in 1917, built the
front part of 118 present building, finishing it in
1922.

The next to enter the garage business was Hr.
Laurel Law who occupied the vacated blacksuith shop
before hr. Leslie secured it. Kr. Law erected a new
building when he discovered that the shop had been
sold to hr. Leslie. Hr. Law spent SOme time as he-
chanic in a garage in Detroit during which time the
local garage was run by hr. Bisbing but, in 1532, hr.
Law returned and the two controlled the business as
partners for about a year when Mr. Law again left
the garage under the management of Mr. Bisbing. A
third garage was built in 1930 by h . J ames thay.
This is now the Chevrolet agency and is operated by
an employed manager.

The first dance hall was built in 1893 by hr.
William Henry who had come to Richland Township in

1890 to work in the lumber woods. Mr. Henry later

established a barbershop which he onerated for several years.
At present Kr. Henry is janitor of the village school. There
are now two barber shops in the village.

Sales figures were not available for the various merchan-
tile establishments of Prescott but the averages for Ogemaw
County for the year 1929, as taken from the United States Cen-
sus report, in the various enterprises "ere as follows;

_ TABLE II
Grocery Stores twithout meats) ... ................$ 26.300

Grocery Stores (with meats)......................... 14,000
General Stores .................................... 43,500
Iotor Sales ........................................ 90,220
Filling Stations .................................. 11,800
Garages .......................................... 9,000
Furniture ......................................... 13,000
Shoes ............................................ 9,600
Lumber and Building Haterial ...................... 55,500
hardware .......................................... 17,600

Drugs 0.00.000.00.000...O.....QOOOIOOOOOOOOOOOCOOO. 16,200

Professional Services

Doctor Wakeman came to the village in 1938 but remained
only two or three years. He was succeeded by Dr. Trash

and he by Dr. Vorhecs who came in 1895 and remained

A C
- IrU -

until his death in 1930. Dr. Beebe came in 1531

but remained only a year before removing to West Branch.
The village is now without medical service neared than
Whittemore which is nine miles in one direction and
West Branch which is twentyfive miles in the opposite
direction. The charges made by these doctors are six
and ten dollars respectively per call. For many of the
people these charges are almost prohibitive and, so far,
there have been few calls but there have been no serious
contagions and not much illness since the doctor left.
There has never been a dentist at Prescott but there is one
at Taple Ridge who does some work. This lack of the
presence of doctors and nurses illustrates one of the
evils of our present system of employing doctors only
when we are seriously 111. If the people are relatively
well the doctors starve out and, if the doctors thrive,
it is the patients who starve. In Saskatchwan, Canada,
where doctors are publicly employed and paid out of tax
money, the cost is reported to be about 3 7.50 per family
per year for looking after their health. In the United
States where voluntary groups have tried similar plans,
the cost has been about S 20.00 per family per year for
like service. In contrast to this, the plan of employing
a physician only when a person is ill, averages 5 60.00

per family per year in the United States.

'PR‘ESCOTT GRAIN CO. tUlEVA'l‘OR

 

so So P ERAT I VE EIE‘JATO R

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elevators

Two grain elevators are in operation in the Village
<>f Prescott. One was built by the Saginaw Milling Company
amid was then sold to the Prescott Grain Company. It is
otnerated by a local manager and does quite an extensive
IMisiness in beans. The other is a co-operatively owned
iconcern which has been carrying on business for over thir-
teen years (19330. It is owned by one hundred fortyfour
farmers with total assets at the end of the fiscal year
1931 of $ 25,306.00 and of liabilities amounting to
s 6,910.83 . During thatyear, the s 56,097.40 worth of
business done showed a profit of $ ,925.65 or 9.7 per

cent on the amount of business transacted.

Farming

Fifty nine per cent of the families of the com unity
own farms as indicated by the questionaiee but only 56
per cent live on farms, including 9 oer cent renters and
4 per cent who are hired laborers on farms. The average
size of the farms is 497 acres but this is hardly a fair
index since there are two very large farms owned by absen-
tee land lords; one of 17,000 acres and one of 1,800 acres.
The modal farm is one of 90 acres as there are 19 of that
size out of the 79 reporting. The smallest one included
was one of six acres which, perhaps, might not be called
a farm in this region. hany of the farms are, however, quite
lar:e because of the low cost of land and because there is
no intensive farming. fiuch of the land is used for pastur-
int. The low cost of land may be responsible for the low
per cent of tenancy which is 14.5 for the county as a whole
and 10.2 for the state of lichigan.

Some of the effects of the low prices of produce have
been mentioned. The com unity has produced a plentiful
supply of food ; meats, butter, eggs, beans, cereals,
potatoes and vegetables and there is plenty of wood for
fuel, obtainable by labor but people have been unable to
secure enough money from their produce with which to buy
the needed clothing, farm machinery and to pay taxes.

Some farmers have two or three years crops stored,

yet people in the cities are suffering for want of these

foods and are unable to manufacture the clothing and machinery
to exchange for the food because of lack of capital with
which to carry out the enterprises.

It is noticible that when marbles start in the spring
each boy brings a dozen or two of marbles and all play. With
in a few days one or two boys have the whole pile and all
quit playing. The same thing seems to be true with dollars.
But here the comnunity is helpless. Coinage and circulation
of money, regulation of banks, laws of inheritance, blue sky
laws and all others effecting property rights are questions

for larger social and political units.

TABL? III

Current prices for farm products at the local elevators

for December 1932 were as follows :

Wheat oer bu. ............................ 40 ¢
Oats per bu. ............................ 16 ¢
Corn per bu. ............................. 28 ¢
Barley per bu. ........................... :0 ¢
Beans per bu. ........................... 90 z
Pork per cwt. .......................... $3.45

Beef per cwt. .......................... 3.2?

Butter fat per lb. ...................... 21 g

,
I

$.‘Iilkp81‘CV't. 0.00.00.00.000000000000000 90

Since a majority of the people oun farms, the relatively
high cost of farm machinery an the high taxes as conpared to
prices on farm produce has caused a great deal of financial
ewbarassment. One farmer just hauled his bean crop to market
to raise a little money with which to stay off the mortgage
forclosure on his farm for he had paid no interest or taxes
in two years. After the deductions for picking, they brought
him eighty cents per hundred pounds.

The kinds and amount of produce exported from the communiuv
is indicated by the shipments given in table IV. To these
amounts should be added the amounts hauled by three men who
are engaged in trucking and the amounts which are hauled by
the producers themselves directly to the larger markets. These
figures are difficult to secure as no definite records of them
are kept. A conSiderable quantity of produce is loaded on
trucks and started for Detroit in the evening so as to be

placed on the market the next morning. These amounts have

increased from year to year during the past few years.
TABLE IV

As nearly as could be computed from the local railroad
reports, the amounts and kinds of freight shipoed out from
Prescott for the years named were as follows :

1928 1929
L.C.L. hdse. 80,000 lbs. L.C.L. Hdse. 90,000 lbs.
Live Stock 1,651,000 lbs. Live Stock 1,282,000 lbs.

Grain 250,000 lbs. Grain 493,000 lbs.

Beets 100,000 lbs. Pickles 128,000 lbs.
Wool 40,000 lbs. Beans 201,000 lbs.
Beans 90.000 lbs.
Potatoes 30,000 lbs.

Enterprises Which have Failed

Several enterprises have been started which have been
of short duration. A small establishment which did custom
work in carding and spinning of wool was operated for three
or four years by Theodore Reed. A grist mill was started by
C. H. Prescott in 1992. Another mill was started a short time
later by fills and Common but both have disappeared. Two
creameries have been started at different times, but these too
have gone. There are still quite large quantities of milk
and cream produced in the community but they are purchased
by two cream stations and shipped to other localities. It
is difficult to learn just to what extent lack of co-operation
and of local support were responsible for these failures.

The business men seem to be unable to carry on concerted
action for any continued length of time. The most successful
attempt of the kind has been the free motion pictures which
were sponsored by th m for a tiLfi but broke up in 1932 and
has been replaced by a "Talkie" oocrated by a pr0prietor from
Bay City. The business men seen more 3nterested in "cutting
corners" than in comqunity development -nd expansion but,

perhaps, the depression has made this policy more necessary

during the past two or three years. The farmer's Co-operative
Society has hehped to bring the farmers together but has done
little toward bringing villagers and farmers together.

On being invited to a business men's meeting to hear an
speaker from out of town on the subject of "Community Interest"
one of the older business men asked, "What do I get out of it?"
Yet one of the younger business men replied to the same invita-
+ion, "I think it is a fine thing. If the business men will
only co-operate in such efforts they will not have to complain
that all the good thinfis go to West Branch and Prescott gets
nothing. ”he men of West Branch are organized." hay we repeat

hat the Co-operative elevatoyr seems to indicate that the
farmers here have learned to work together better than the
business men of the village.

The fact that many of these village residents have
passed through Phe hardships of frontier life and fougit
most of the r battles alone accounts for much of the sen-
timent which prevails. The principles of Laissez Faire and
of Caveat Emptor formerly were their rules of business and
they have not learned that, in modern business, competition

is, to some extent, the death of business.

-53..

ChAPTfiR IV

0”?) LI F3 Al?) H’ECR‘CATICN

Housing Conditions

Tach house in Prescott Community represents a family,
and all families live in some type of dwelling house except
six families who are housed in the rear of, orin the second
story over some of the business places in the village of
Prescott. Iearly allof the buildings are of wood, many having
been built during the lumbering days. Only two of the dwell-
ings have well kept lawns; few of the buildings are painted
and a few are covered on the outside with tar paper. During
the summers, flowers are grown by many of the residents.-
Perhaps the frontier life has acustoned tlen to modest sur-
roundings. The isolation, too, has tended to prevent ostent-
a tion and promote contentnent. But contentment does not
stimulate pride and ambition to improve.

According to the results of the questionaire described
under ”ethod, the housing seems fairly good so far as the
amount of room is concerned. There is an average of 1.14
rooms per person but the h uses, as a rule, are not supplied
with modern conveniences nor do they tend toward beauty in
aonearence, hough 37 per cent of the hohes reporting are
supplied with electricity as compared with 4.6 per cent of
the homes of Ogemaw County and 20.” per cent of the homes in

“iichigan. (1) There is an abundance of water DO"'€I‘ Within

{1) Fifteentr Census of the United States 1930.

l

\\ J1
4:.
l

twenty to :hirty miles of Prescott and there is no reason

why all could not be supplied with light and power so far

as availability of power is concerned. ten per cent of the
1

fadilies in the community renorting have bath roems while

the avverage for the county is 3.6 per cent and, for the

I".'\

state, 3.3 per cent. (1) So it is evident that the 57 fam-
ilies do not rank so poorly when compared with the r st of
the county or state in the proportion of homes enjoying these
conveniences. Yet, the average wealth, as indicated by the
land holdings, would indicate that it is not poverty which
prevents a much larger number from enjoying the same conven-

iences.
The Family

dany of the courtships begin at school and, occasionally
a pupil leaves school before conpleting the course in order
to mary and establish a home. Other opportunities for young
people to meet tIose of the opposite sex are furnished by
house parties, dances and picture shows.

Vome making is about the only vocation open to WOJCD in
the community. A few girls attend the county normal and teach
school a year or two before mar ying. A few married woaen as
well as single ones are employed in the beanery for a part of
the year; Sonetines girls find exployuent at h useworh in the
homes of nei;hbors. But for a large per centage, the only alt—

ernatives are to marry and became a home naker or leave the

C Ofn’LMI’Ii t3}, 0

u

\n

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I

There are no pre- {indergartens or hinder artens to devel
sociabili y among the children in their early years. In
most 0? the homes the children number more than one so they
learn to divide their possessions and learn responsibility
for each others care. 30st of these early years are, how-
ever, soent pretty much with the parents, the brothers and
sisters and possibly one or two near neikhbors.

The median size of family in Prescott Comzunity, accord-
infi to the questionaire, is larger t an tint repor ed for tie
county or state by the 1:30 census of the United States. “he
median family numbers six, as compared to a median of 36? for
Cretan County and 3.66 for Vichigan. Iynd found an average of
5.4 oerwyyis oer femdlgrzzunn; the "crfljxn; class in -dxbflletonn
in 1924. (l) The largest of the 7; fazilies repOitin 5 was 15,
the s allest reported nunbered 2 a mother and dau5hter. as
exalained, the median given for the comiunity may be alittle
high but tlere can be little doubt that the fanilies in the
Co munity re l;r. er than th average for the state.

Cf these amilies, 55 per cent are supaorted on faTiS,
the heads of two of the faiilies are conservatiwn officers,
tvo are day laborers, tiree nerchants, two preachers, one
traveling salesman, three are retired, one is an engineer,
two are mechanics, two stock buyers, one blacksmith, one mail

'I

carrier, three truck drivers, one teacher, one veterinarian,

one postmaster, two elevator managers and seven "here the hears

of the families were dead or occupations unknown.

‘1) Lynd, H. S.and helen in "hiddletown" page "4.

I

There are very few broken homes due to divorce, but more
on account vf death of husband or wife. In all of these cases
the families are being kept together by the surviving parent.

There are nany instances where parents afe being cared for by
the c ildren. These conditions indicate a great deal of family
unity. Per haps these strong hone ties with the fact that few
boys and girls play on the streets but have home chores to do,
may account for the low rate of serious crimes in the condunitm
There are a few oetty offenses sacn as boys swiping candy or

gasoline but there have been no arrests of local residents for

serious offenses during the past two years.
Tome Entertainment and Recreation

There is much more home recreation in Drescott Conxunity
than in urban com unities there there is more con ercialized re:
recreation. hone recreation, for the nost part, consists of
games, music, listening to the radio or phonograph and read-
ing.

Sixty seven per cent of the homes studied have radios
and f4 per cent have phonographs. Twenty seven per cent of
the homes studied have no musical instruments such as liano,

ast one instru-

(D

violin or mouth organ; 39 per cent have at l

pdr cent have tkree

\(3

ment; 21 per cent have two instruments;
each ; Two families have four instruments each and one home

resorted five instruments requiring skill to operate.

A larre proportion of those having no musical instruments

are the same ones who reported no radios or phonograohs.
Twenty three fanilies reported no daily newspaper in

the homes ; 47 take one daily paper each ;tro families

take three dailies each and one family takes five different

‘A
.

daily news papers. Seven a ilies take one hagazine each;
four take two magazines each ; sixteen take shree each ;

nine take four each; seven take five each;six take six Ma:-
azines each ;two take seven each ;four take ei ht each; one
takes nine; thre receive ten each and one family receives
twelve magazines according to the reports. But kind of mag-
azine may be more sign‘fi cant titan the number s pupils were
asked to report the nanes of magazines read in the tones.

Out of 260 magazines reported, 160 or 61 per cent tere those
dealing with sone phase of farming or fare life in the home
or field. There were five literary Digests and several scat-
tering names of literary and news type magazines; only six
True tory; eight Good Stories; and two Detective Story fiag-
azines. This list compares very favorably tith the list
found by the author in a sub-urban community in l;£;. On

the nets stand in that com.unity there were 105 different
magazines kept for sale. In that list tlere was not a

single literary Digest or other magazine of that type, al-

though the clerk reported the sale of one and some weeks two

./\

’- .. a ., , -
Colliers. The leader was True story tit; 50 sales per we‘l

and The Argosy and Western Lomance V'th forty sales each per

{'15

Fifteen families reported no attendence at social gatherings
during the year and the 64 who did averaged 54.6 meetings
per year at which one or more of the members of the family
were present. A large portion of these were house parties,
card clubs and dances. Fifteen families attended no picture
shows during the year, but the other 64 averaged 29 shows
per year. Picture shows are given in Prescott only on
Saturday evenings, but many attend movies at West Branch ,
Standish and even Tawas and Bay City.

Sixteen families do no hunting, fishing or camping
and each of the families who do average 3?.2 days per year
for one or more of its members. Two of the estimates seemed
exceedingly large (2f0 and 300) but the average is, probably
not far from correct as both fishing and hunting are good
and are enjoyed by many of the residents. .If these outdoor
sports could be enjoyed by all in a more nearly equal ratio
it might contribute greatly to the health and happiness of
all.

The fact that very little charity is required by the
native residents but that nearly all of the aged and infirm
are cared for in the homes of their children and relatives
indicates greater congeniality and solidarity in home life
than is the case in urban con unities. The cheap and
bountiful supply of food may, however, help to influence

these conditicns.

   
   
   

”Q53 C17]
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The accompanying Tap IV shows the location of the

it;

even c1‘wurc1esvithin tle conwunity boundary and two which

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are near the boundary. In Prescot.
finiscopal , one Baptist and one Latter Day Saint.
Laple Ridge Hamlet contains three, one Free Lethodist, one
Kethodist Episcopal and one Congregation list church. The
locations of the residences of the communicants of theseveral
clurches are also shown on the map, toge Mt er with the partic-
ular churches to which tFey belong. In addition to those

:otn on the nap there are several catholics, some lutheran,
spiritualists and other denominations vLo attend church out-
side the com.unity if at all since tley lave no particular
place of "orship for their respective creeds in the com unity.
The first c1 urch in the cozmqunity and $118 mother of
several of the othe“s vas started in ”aple Ridge in 1984 as

a ”ethodist Tpiscooal Chu ch vith tvelve charter he bers.

Rev. Gabriel ESanderson vas the first pastor and ”r. Thomas

Greg: was the first superinten ent. Some of thee vho star ;ed

vith the Let;odists vere really of the Presbyterrian faith so

in 13.316, -'~1».3nt1;ey felt their numbers sufficiently sti “gen

they vi t1"; drew and lorned a new or;",ani“u,1on of their ovm with

J

fifteen charter nenbers. The fiethodists seem to have co-
ooerated vith then in securing a new building for their new

organization

At Present t1e etlodist Weisconul Clur h of Tenle Hi” e

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f‘ifte n 1-1czwbezs. Rev. Item -1113' of ”1.1111an 18 tr-Glr
r‘ 4 \ W > ' 5...‘ ..c“ .r ya h. " (\ 'fi (- ‘ . 3 I N M

UQSUOI ’i'xsal TS. C . J. - “.11 , ‘,'..'..O Z".;_;'.CJ LBJ-Tn (Aux dC.tlve ali'._,‘...be.L (11‘

Lost .m’rorq the stert,is nrzras1dent of the e."‘ies Aid. 7“"e Pres-
by’eriun Church now clsivs a m3nberscin cf thirty-four but
there are not trst ‘1ny active. Tfieir resident pastor at
present is Rev. “r. flavne.

”Le 7csleyen .ethodist SLurcL at Countv Line is anotker
off shoot of the 1.3. Church at gnnle iidhe. It res organized

in 1:57 at tle 1131.10.

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f Mr. fiavid u. bcctt by tne ncv. “1. Don s
...“ .... in ' . , . .. n 1- 1 M‘, .. ..'-'
.50 145 t.e pioneer DaitOl oi ine cnurcn. . ere acre .1ve

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charten members. -ne services vere 1eld in .re Stone sc7001

hOuse i.e. Uistrict nunfler on of fiichlsnd, tntil 1323. At

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that tine a ckurch edifice vas built on .Le rerm of G¢or e

ores and has since been kncrn as tre "County line Church".
The CT‘urCTrt 3916 may "revivals" an {grew until other (ienon—
inatiore came into the vicinity and began prosyliting its
ticmbers since vricr time its as bersfiio he decres.ed.

Still another oft—soringcf tbis parent c urch ves the

rec fetLoiist orvsnivotion of tle same olsce. In 157?
Rev. S. S. Cranicll cage to visit his brother at (sole Ridge
and vss invited to oreach in the little 1:; sc?o:l house.
This s cm: to rave been t‘e first uork of the free Jet odist
...;e state. He I.)-L5.&(_'e of

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eu t. tle solo 1 house jrso north of

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In. eavendeat 1.011.... “In o-O l..13-...'..9 '..-..:..'.J lb 1.0- LOSE Mitt. III

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(: '_‘ I‘ ‘ V ‘ ‘ . - 1‘ N - + r In . . . y . ‘ Y . ~ I + a a
lryl, a c-uren eo flee kab ever e3 in .nole Lid e bhw pioaress

.. . ,. .‘ ~ . 4. ' ., i- 4" ' . .' a: .,.
\aus slow an” ii,x; 8 node ;1 iiiu3.ore tie ouilwuifij‘2's 00m-

1 T ‘ J ‘1 1 ‘. 1 r c ‘ I" ‘~ 4' " 1 a .
:1ete.. in l ,3, a SL039 L'li'ln’ as nurcnasei L; one o blnfl
r‘. " fl - .: ox . "L r5 ~ ~ .- (-1 ’n. .- -1 - I“ . .— T? .0 4“ . ~ .--~ . H. IL'
and Iwnxi- led ir.o c.1warsonu5e. Ante- aole “16L¢3.'re: EQJJNMLSL

~ ~-. 1. ... ‘ r.~-\ ' n ,1 ‘ c _~‘ ' ‘ - - . _ j." ' 1_r‘ . ‘ ’_
Camel: has or athlnf-Z‘w. Lit--. tr elve cert r ; ~were and “as ‘rmn-n

to twenty-one. Rev. Fr. Davis is now serving as flair resident

“he ?ree ethouist nesfior from Vaole Tinje Jeld religious

V' Y. \ r‘“ “ .‘L ' .‘x I 4' ‘.~ ‘~‘ " " ' 1"
{GTTICGS e- eii.a, a V1 lot ncoui f1 e nilvs test of .inle

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I. o "‘1" w M v': ‘v N . . . ‘ ‘ \1“ I ~ ‘ 1‘ “ - . C . ‘
’idze. ine SB-V$C€£ mere eld 1n tne sgL03l house .niil 1 9

wien the Rev. W'lliam Bennie otcrted fine erection of a e urcw.

J

The building nus conoletcd and dedicated the next year. Tne

.enbership atQkfljfim.is now six.

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“rom tine to tine, itinerant Free JetLodist pastors L

V

.1ee“infis ifléi seLool house irlihhwxrd township 2am}, in 1W_;,
Douglas Fa vey of 1089 City organized a CFuror there vith
ei ht cla“ er we bers.

In 18'

,2, Rev. D. C. 1 bury preached the first Free
Letlodist se mon in lognn Township and goon after tnat the
Sace Lake CTurch was organized with nine clarter members. In
1909, tie sekool Touse was nurchased by th crurch society
and has since teen used for religious vorship. “h, nexberekip

is given as seventeen at the Dr'svnt tiye, ifie Dylwits at

f;-

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Gare Take and dwards as vell as ”elita are filled by the
master fron‘”aole Ridge.

TFe 1«‘ree ‘ethodists lave never effectei a oernanent
anisation at Prescott but, from time to .iie, the pastors

\

from ”aple nidge Dave meld services here. Spiritualists

’\

occasionally hold meetings in tne toxnsrip nall. The few
catholic families who reside in the community, belong or
attend worship at other places, chiefly Vest Branch and
Vhittenore.

1

In 1890, tle Rev. fr. Grandell of 9apie fiidge he an

Lolding neeiings in the school house at Prescott. The next
year‘s ciurch mas organized and, soon after, a building vas
erected by the ficthodist Episcopal Denomination in tr
villafe. At the present and for slay timfl past they have
Fad no resident caster, though ttey still have fifteen
members rnd hold Punoay school with an anorexinete attend-
ance of fifty.

fine sane veek that Tr. Crandell started Fis meetings,
tre Rev. Yr. Waterbury, a presbyterian, st rted meetings in
Prescott. Ir. C. H. Prescott fave nuch aid and encourage-
ment in forcing a church organisation and in providing a

n1 1

building. ine church tas christened tle"Judson Bap ist Church"

v 1

‘ V‘ II. ' . wr ' Q ~ w i. F" ‘H \ VV c- -‘~ «-
and tatted Vlih sinteen memos s. -r. JOsepn Thorns L;O ‘as

the first deacon and a c artez'nw beig is still an active

nénber and has been mace a life deacon of the church.

I
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At present Rev. 7r. Tarvey is the residen pastor and claims
a meubership of forty-two but only about thirty-dive are still
resident and active nenbers.

About the year 1900 tLe Latter Day Saints established a
church one and one half miles southwest of'Prescott. The
church grew quite rapidly for a time until 1?23 when they
numbered forty five. About tLat time tie building was moved
into tne village. Since then tLe uenb rcnip has declined and
now numbers about fif een. Rev. Ar. Sonerville, tne pastor,
still resides at Prescott butchurch services are only Teld
intermittently.

In l§OS, a colony belonxing to the German Paptist Breth-
ern Denomination established t emselves in Iogan Township.
They built a cLurch in 1315 and, for some time, possessed a
large and loyal congregation, consisting of one hundred men-
bcrs. But, according to the report of a young lady sember,
"Lany of tie younger generation have left the com unity and
others have rebelled against tie strict rules of the church
and the plain uniform which marked then off from other young
people and have, therefore, left the church." At orescnt there
are fifty seabers and their pastor is Rev. Jarvey Good.

Some of tie church leaders in the com unity were asked
why they did not unite with other units and thus economize

and,at the same ‘ime,produce stronger organizations. The

/
- 0‘1» -

reoly ‘as, invariably, "We nouli rot obiect t3 havin:

join us only we would not rent tlen to teach a certain portion
of tlreir doctrine in our c‘v'lnrc'n." liot any of tl‘em suggested
Taving their own church.jcin another.

Traditional church fiogma and sectsrianism are not the
only causes of smallness and nultiplicity of congregations.
Desire for personal recognition as ;iano player or Sun‘ay
sc ool superintendent or pastor cause some to leave one or-
gjganization 'nd go to another or start a new one. Others leave
because of nieline ior the nastor or soxeone else in the church
tfiwose associatixni is not unjcgwni. Coupe itirnlzaxmnj pastors
and church officials to increase the nvmber of church units or
to do ‘nissionrry york" is still anotler cause.

tn I w

The most active groups witnin tve c urches are the

T

.aflies
Aid Societies. In Prescott both let'cdists and Baotists nos ea;
suck orranis ticns and a fondly share of the clurch funds are
raised through oublic dinners servefi by these groups. But,
even vitk *‘is lelp, tle churches are not entirely self sun-
norting. fire letfiodists are unable to agintain a pastor
and it is resorted txat the Baptist Church receives aid from
a missionary fund.

The survey by means of the questionai re indi carted is;
6t per cent of the 76 families ans‘ering :Le question Lave
one or more c arch 1m.be:s among their number. The 03

fanilies ho resorted attendence at religious fatherin s,

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averaxxrlii.yoralenwstnnfyearrttendedkw one orrmne
_ -. _ .0 '7.. ~ ° mi. ‘ _: i. v- w r ,‘u t, ., , 2 - n. ,
LU bess C; :e iamlly. rue ll,.es. nrmoer resorted ty any
, I
.- ‘ .' , 2,. .1. J b. . v 4 .
one .alily was -nat of a ea: or ‘10 -eporrcé {O FGbanS

attended by one or More Le be"s of tne fagily during the
y e rpr .

There is very little co-oneration among tre c arches.
As tre nastors supply several clurches, they do, scnetiaes,
arrenre CVurcn services so ttey rill not conflic

.,. .J. ° ‘,. ' ., 4.1..- ‘I. - 1 .. ,. ' 4. . "
nee.1n:s told in o,rer courcl s of tee sale locality. so

1,. J ' , ‘,. , H .v, A. ,1 "p 4.x, ,. , ' '
tar as t_ an ;or as 19¢_Len, tooul ”ne only union serVices

7“

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annual baccelrauxaite services Told nor tye so ool.

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The ten or ti-el're churches xvii cl"; serve the comm-nity car;-
not contribute urch toward comnunity sentinent and solidarity
undeI‘flaase condiiixnis. The cmnasolifatimnitif some on. inese univs
n nld apoear to be a much more econoziczl plan and tie Churches
could tlen be more effective for Food. It could tfien contrionte
to the unity and solidarity or 7&0 com.nnity. Tut c urch creed,

‘

cog.e.aanl selfisflnuese keep Line; aoart.

CHAPTER VI

POLITICAL AND CIVIC COKDITIOES

Political Isolation

The community is not affected to any great ex-
tent, by either state or county exceot fer taxes which
go out to these units anfl the amounts which come back
to the schools, to highway construction and improve-
ment and in oensions from the National Government.
State oolice are called in once or twice a year and
the county sheriff a little oftener. For the most
part, the tovnship government and local deouties
look after local affairs.

There are three state conservation officers liv-
ing in the communi7y: One of which cares for a fire
tower and the other two are engaged mainly in the con-
servation of game. There are a few arrests for vio-
lation of game laws but many are warned and occasion-
ally there is a fine paid.

Crime does-not seem to be a serious problem in
the community. There have been a few cases of petty
larceny and one instance where some young school boys
broke into the pool room at night and stole a few

cigarettes anfl some candy. There has been one case of

suicide due to lack of home felicity. Occasionally
-some of the young people get out and celebrate for
want of more vholesome recreation and some are some-
times guilty of carelessness. But, for the most
part, habits of industry, economic return for labor
and the stabilizing influence of home ownership have
made Prescott about as free from crime as any Ameri-
can community. And, it is possible that social adjustment
might be more effective against the irregularities men-
tioned than criminal procedure.

Possibly a "supervisor of morals" to look after
the habits formed in youth as was the custom in Athens,
might be more effective than the police department, play-
ing hide and seek with those who have become antisocial.

The denuty sheriff was asked in regard to the en-
forcement of the cigarette laws, prohibition laws, and
laws prohibiting school children from entering gaming
houses. His reply was: "It is impossible to go be-
yond what public sentiment will support.” A mother
asked him to keep her young son from entering the pool
room but he felt that parents shauld have enough in-
fluence over their sons to keep them away.

The county highway department maintains a garage,
trucks, road scrapers and other equipment in the village

of Prescott for keeping the highways in repair. Many

of the highways have been turned over to the county
so that the tcvnship has Such less of that kind of
"prk to do.

A doctor, dentist, welfare worker and three nur-
ses are employed for the counties of Arenac, Iosco,
and Ogemaw Counties and are paid for out of the Cousin's
Fund. Thfix‘ vork does not extend much beyond the schools
and their connection with the schools is described un-
der that tooic.

As shown in the sample tax receipt, the school tax
and the township tax including bond payment and interest
are newrly equaL t.ne school tax amounting to 6 mills
on the dollar and the townshiw tax 7.6 mills on the dol-
lar. The county tax, however, amounts to 11.4 mills over
and above the special drain assessments. In contrast to
these the state tax amounts to only 3.2 mills and yet the
school and state taxes are the ones most commonly criti-
cized. If the county tax could be reduced to that :br
the tovnship exclusive of bonds, the rate would nearly
come within the fifteen will limit provided in the con-
stitutional amendment recently adopted by referendum
vote.

There has been a great deal of criticism as to the
amount of taxes and it is probable that they are far from

being distributed according to ability to pay. Yet,

t: {I E. ’ 1‘ " “ ‘ J " ' \ a" j -' J' 'L rx 1 '- _. . . . 3 I' >
, to ,v oer CVMb of the real PSUabe t res *ere ,aid in .;e

4

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period l.i;

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'3' I ‘ "V " - r -- r I h J' r.’ 'L I “ P~
«o l,-~ as a “18:9 4/ per cent and

4". "\ (- p~_ a 1‘ .‘ Q ’~ . " ,NQ. r3. ‘ X]
1.52 and 1:33 respectively, trough icy were reuloed in t;

latte" period.

‘1 ‘ a; I _P_\ 7' I‘ r 7‘ "‘. ' fi ' _’ “ A A, A
alligaulo... O- 1-9L.’i (.Lli‘ Leillclll‘5.00.00.00.00ooo é,” 3,101.00”

State tax ........................... ‘ 9.92
0011:1151}. tLL:{ V 00000000000000.0000...ooooo _053
School tax ............................ al.67
‘C'tl‘ect llits 11:14 [fave i‘ highway . o . o o o . o o o o 0 131.1"
Boncs an" Interest ............................ 11.33
County and Covert road ........................ 15.0?

?r / fr:

Dr8.inl0.l 3:390. oo‘oooooococo-cocooooooocnooo 00:...

Prescott, Cle?‘.nou.t .8qu. oooooooooooooooooooooooo 40“}

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frotzil tog: ' lit.,?m

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lgfli. William Score acted as etairnan, Dark 9. Chapell as

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there regre severing re_is,x
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r‘ - a ‘ .' ‘ L " ‘f n. r 1‘: 'v J' ‘4
meard ozoceecec to count the ballots aha deClwrCh t_e r salt

4.

of the election to be :

George gyuer Supervisor

_' 'i :_:1"L:,:.6~7 ]. 17.0 e C 1 C :3}?

Jam. s G ref 7‘ resisujuf- r
Villial Donljhwy School Inspector

William Cliff Tigh“ay Condissioner

'fl“ ‘ (\ V r‘ '0'“- T ‘L‘ I a 4'-

igOme grew” UUSulCQ c: t-e Peace

A ' .1. i ,..-- .. ' -. ‘ -Ll .-, ...»- t.‘ » . ,4.‘ =.»~ a.

an lhbGlCnLlnfi ltcd in ,ie .aiucws of re ASHLIL: held

1 Or " Iv "\ 0-. I U . . A
so next year s CVS 2e appioor ation or

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dolla e lo} t.e estl 11m- en; or a ,Ouhc-10 library, shaming
43- -. c. n v . J- .. ‘ ' - . ‘- . -. no I . '\ a, ’ v [a . - ---
.ne rutlg lJloC est :1: reamixh . at Envesent can} ~or smiue tine

,. _ . ., r .. ‘1.,' ‘ I. ., . , . . -‘r , 1.
act tle e as » eh LC to"nehip lior fy LOtt 3L9 school

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;.:e adojuixn: o; VC.mU15fdllJ:&VU no 11;, douoleczv..e Nance-‘

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.r.‘ .... .4 ..L J ., -5“ ' ....1.-‘. ,. 4. ,.' . 4. .f. -' .
oi ingiscerCu voters or the toxneaip but, since that tine, tte

‘ ‘N ' ‘ t - ‘fi ‘ " r I . 1 x " u' ‘ V V 1" r" “J ' "' ~ ': ' . '3‘ -:-‘ w 4' —- \
DUmLef -as ho: varzien ermUlE. in 1,5“ tn~ list Or voters

t fiat the depression has .riven

SOL-1'? of the 11110::DlOyed of the .glthE-é cash Jeri: \zxcrr-e ...‘ood is

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plent°ifil.au1 rent lover.

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HQ" u‘F ',- g . ._ ‘ i, Q . wv-. - l... g- g
_to TODqulC«hS 3801 .0 have ;ao ever;t.1ng thei-

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”av from the be lnmlNQ. Che electioi shoved tire oehocratic
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votes end the wrinary election held Septezher l}, lT32 show-

ive sender is voting on the no ination for c nfiressxzn

.." ' 1‘ , a ' , . . ~ ' , i J- .u‘ , ,, -' .
-1le e reouciicahe pollen .la vctes lCT tne sane office.

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.an more densely oooulao c hlSullCJE. lt lS tine .:af the e
, A ° -' ,- ' ., .. .. . 4,2,4. ..g.— ‘u --.. ° -' ..

are l cal polltl.l:h; and that (,ee‘ha. .313 politICal

nfluence than otlers, yet there seels to be gore independ-

‘ " J' I . 1‘ . "pr. . ‘5 “ I‘ "‘ -‘ ~ r~ V"
e11; axgtiozi, 1r1 locuil 1;.1a1 s at. itnsai.

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during J-e year 1935, a peti

('- ‘xc‘ '; ‘ ‘i' 'IV 4‘ - - -~ I“ ”f "‘ A “
ar e nearer 0L voters ior the purpose of C-wu .hg the

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office of n1_huey com issioner to an ule tiv posi ion by

popular vote in ple . er} of coin; an 'ointc’1 -f ‘re cmmty boars

may,

of supervisors. he chanjc ins not yet been wade but it shove
the sentient for gtore do: cretic control]. of public office.
In a rural echo 1 dis rict w ere tfe tax rate vas nearly two
and one Ialf per cent on the assessed valuation tkey were
offer d an opportunitr to transport pupils to Lhe village

at a sev ng of, uporoxiaatcly on flird of t sir total school
exoenc ditu re b t lel Lsed to send the c ild en so ar iroa home.
Such facts show clearly tle individualistic shentiment unich
hinders cons-slide. -on on the delegaiion of authority. Tyey
have been none rchs of their own little realms for so long
they are loathe io nuke any move “tich looks to tlei 11K“ a
release or delegation of“ authority. The late Dr. Jordan

estimated “Lat half a dillion persons have been responsible

for all the world's progress, 1) so perhaps, the natural

(1) The late Tlr. “avid Starr Tordan of Iella vd Ttanfcrd
niversity in cis lecture ".he Wicked Talf ”illion .

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natural inertia of the average individual is also res-
ponsible for the resistance to change.

Twenty one freshmen in high school interviewed a
total of 98 persons to determine the amount of inter-
est in politics. It was found that 77 of the 98 had
voted. Of the twenty one who had not voted three
were aliens, four thought it useless or were care-
less, one husband would not permit his wife to
vote, three did not have time, one felt unquali-
fied, and two lacked conveyances to the polling places.
Two forgot to register, one was ill, and one had not
gained residence.

It is probable that this comiaratively high per~
centage is due to the depression andis, therefore,
higher than the average, but it is also probable
that the average is higher than in urban communities
or for the state as a whole.

The tiwnship does not maintain any means of fire
protection. This, of course, makes the insurance rates
very high. One owner tells me that he pays $25.00 per
year for $1,200.00 coverage on his home. Eires are
not so very frequent although two homes burned in the
community during the year 1932.

Rose City and West Branch, the t“o other politi-

cal as well as social and economic units in the county

1 _L "

1°ave verY'litfilraiiu common ri‘lt “rescot .ciL war socially

~ m-

or econovical“y except in tié payment of county tax. ize

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county so 001 commissions" Eas not visited ”resectt sclools

I ‘ _ NV! ”19 h'l‘ 1"- ~~‘, ~v I. ‘.. x“ . "_ -.x ' o _ _' o -.< '
1X1 two 3Nma 8. one (ziant37,n1 ,n;ay cue a 7,u3Lt .xtlhlcfllhs (i
local lifihway supervisor and fire sherriff visits occas'o ally
esoec1ally before election. he awhrard as t'is political

J-

situation seegs to be,the t:wns;ip unit does UOb seen to
fit tLe situation ouch better. Tic.land Township perforas
for ”he cox; sanity all fine ..'-.*-_;viicipal functions 'r'li ch are
per ormed an“ yet includes a very s4 ll portion of the area
of the comuunity. Iucn 0; he taxable verlth lies in 0 her
counties and many of the people who she ld be among the
social and political leaders of the com unity live in other
political divisions. This breaking up of the com unity into

.1.

' H ' .— 1 4. r .-.:4. pp. .. '
sev ral pol tical units one parts or three Jae a s.rong dis-

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TwsP. Boundaries

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‘0 . -‘ l ’ ..~- ‘1 p- - ‘- ( u“ a v . . ~ . . '7' ‘4
-rimary scloois xere SbiitEd veiy early in ezoh 01 tne
' an.“ -..‘.- t 4- :. . J. .L ‘ . . .. - r '
n~1anooinoods 89utleweLLS Cu secondezv edncntion nes mede

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slower p oggres: . gooens ‘Le 1r1xe V fiCLOOlS vese started in

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tnis Pay there Jae been no considega ion given to tie size,
s-eve, convenience, econozy or efficiency in laying them out.
Thein assessefi valuations and tax rates vary greatl". 'ao V

scovs treir boundaries to De very irreg:lar not“ is to size

and sFeoe. In many inlimnces ouoils are ne esrefi to so col: in

(‘i‘

djoining dis riots t*sn to the so ools in their ovn districts.

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‘nrollments are very low in n.n1. of tFe sc‘ools, esoecially
in tEe nort h and west oortions of‘tre corumnity.vlere popu-
lation is snsrse.

The Prescott School or Wistrict number four of iclland
is large but it too is very ir egmlar wnd tie so'o*l is far
from the center. It extends fron the northeastern corner of

the township to the outh vm ste n yet there is a schohl of

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.zron.t}ue villzuje. fit) the

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ei 33t grades less than wo miles

vest t ere is a school tmree miles away. There is a total
of five primary sciools vithin five miles'of tne villa e. The
total attendence of four of these sclools is only fiftyfour

and t1eir tax r1tes vary from six to over twenty two dollars

per thouse.d dollars val ation.

-75-

nne of tie districts in Logan Tornskip ras no record of
having sent any pupils to high scfo l for a period of seven-
teen years and very few pupils have been sent to high sorool
from any of tie districts in tle northern part of the com un-
ity; Cfi1ere are several reasons for the sgall number being sent
from these one room schools. Boys and girls have been needed
at home to help in clearing up the farus and caring for the
crops, roads have been poor and, farmers have felt unable to
meet the expense of better clothes, transportation, books and
other expense incident to Ligh soIOol attendence. It is prob-
able, too, that family tradition bas had a strong influence in
keeping dovn the highschool att ndence. Parents and grand
parents went through the third or fourth grade so, to trem,
an eighth grade education apoears to be all that is required

for tke children.
Prescott Schools

Though no records of board meetings held prior to l€fl§

were found, there a.pears to have been a sc-ool held for

P

some time before that. It is reported to have been deld first
at tne home of fir. Blackman by a teacher naned Killian Smith
and with an enrollment of three pupils but the school was soon
moved into the town hall. The second teacher exployed was
Johnny Franks.

At the annual school meeting held September 7, l?8§, gr.

7*

Franklin Pierce vas elected director; :enry Zeran, asses

(D
O
*‘S

and Alex Iaclean, clerk. It voted to have a three months a"mnq~

“ A]
(3‘\
I

term and a four months winter term; to raise T 270.00 for
teacher‘s salary ; d 75.00 to pay outstanding debts; $2“0.00

as a building fund and 3 20.00 for fuel. A motion was ofiered

to raise A 100.00 to establish a scloOl library but the motion

On November 20 of the same year, a Special meeting vas
held to establish a echo 1 site and to borrow further funds.
At that _eeting a portion of the present cite was selected.

It was also voted to borrow 3 300.00 vhich was to be repaid

in thyee equal annual installments. Alex LacLean, Williwn
Zoore and Peter hanlin were elected as a building com ittee.
The harmony of these neetings from tle fact that, though there
vere only twelve votes cast at each meeting, half of them vere
challenged and marked at each ballot.

In 1890, the school was found to be too stall so the
building was enlarged and another teacher enga ed which, it
was believed, would be enough for all time. But, in 1912,
the third teacher was added. In 1914, the sciool building
had acain become too small to accom1ddate the number of
pupils. This time the old wood building was moved from its
site and an entirely new building erected which "as occupied
the following year. It is a two story, brick building with
full base ant and located on the old site to w ic? #as added
enough land to make a little more than two acr s for a school

play ground and play area.

The basement includes one large room vhich is used rt
times for handicraft, luncheons and for play room. One of
tre rooms vas re;odeled in 1932 for a co;;bination laboratory
for physics, chemistLy and biology..There are, also, furnace
and engine rooms and a large Space for fuel stores e.

The first floor is occupied by t? e fir t eig ht grades.

The kindergarten, first and second grades vith a total en-
rollment of 2T'occupy'one rp’mn 'flua third fou th and fifth
with an enrollnent of thirty four occupy anotoer room and
the sixth, seventh and ei“1»tth with an enrollment of 42 OCcupy
the third room. The secoxd floor contains a superintendent's
office, two recitation rocms and a general thdy hall vith
a seating capacity of 87 pupils. The study hall is ecuipped
with a stage and is about the only place in t.c e village in
which theatrical productions and other community Lathern
c an be held. This gives a total enrollment, for the grades
below high school, of 101 pupils. The hifih scnool has en-
rolled a total of 89 this year (1933-4). Of the grade pupils,
there are two from outside the district and fifty of the
high sc*ool pupils pay tuition.

In 1017 it was Wade a tuition s hool vith ten grades,
and, in 1921, the last two grades were added, making it a

first twelfth grade consisted of two

(1)

full high school. Th

pupils “ho gradua ed in 1922.

There had been some agitation for having the school
placed on thé accredited list of schools of the University

1‘

ol Hichigan. An inspection had been made by the State Dc-
partuent of Public Instruction vith a View toward such acc-
redition but little h'd been accomplished as the menbers of
the Board were divided on the subject. Some of them thought
that the com unity vas doing all it could afford in the
way of offering educational advantages and feared the accre-
diting would involve expenditures beyond th ir ability to
nay. In the soring of 1231, one of the business men moved
away with the declaration that he "wished to give his child-
ren better educational advantages." Soon a petition was
circulated and signed by a lar e number of tax payers of the
district, asking the Board to tale steps tovard the accre-
diting oilixne school. Eotdfijugxlore vas done. hoveveiy tuiiil
the annual school meeting in July,133l when a motion “as
made, supported and carried that the district leet the re-
quirements for accrediting.

Up to the middle of August no move had been made to
carry out the motion Jade at the annual meeting and yet two
teachers had been hired for the high school neither of whom
had the training required by the University. At that tine a
committee of the Board, the janitor and two teachers made
a call at the State Wanartment. They were informed that

one more teacher would be required to meet the imdediate

demands. The additional teacher vas secured and the school

was dulr accredited. As the thirty or forty additional tuitions
received as a result of the accrediting cover the added expense,
those who had objected, seemed satisfied.

The Whittemore school had been accredit d a little earlier
and had been drawing tuition pupils from Prescott area so that,
if Prescott Schools had not progressed, it is doubtfupp if
Prescott Village could lave survived as a community center.
But, as a result of the accrediting, Prescott crew about thirty
extra uition p oils the first year.

The Prescott School District has an assessed valuation of
S 341,525.00 which is comparatively low for the naintainence
of a high school, but the tuition brings in nearly 9 3,000.00

and the primary fund has amo nted to about S 1,750.00 more,
so that it has besn necessary to levy a tax of only five to
ten dollars per thousand dollars valuation. By operating the
school conservatively, this amount would have been sufficient
but for the fact that only thirty five per cent of the tax
has been collected for the past year. This has made it im-
possible to purchase all the equipment needed for efficient

uprk.

School Organization and Curriculum

The school is organized on the eight four plan. The

aiztendence ranges fron 75 per cent to 8 per cent of the

enrollment pith a general average of 91 per cent. About
ten per cent of those who enter high school in the fall,
ouit before school closes in the spring. In most cases ,
the dropping out of school is caused by discouragement over
low marks and failures and lack of interest in the courses
offered. The number of teachers and the facilities are
too limited to offer such beyond the subjects required for
college entrance. The sentiment of parents, too, helps
pupils to become discouraged and disinterested. One boy who
dropped from the tenth grade said that ye intende? to be-
come a farmer anyway and did not need the scLool training.
His grand father said that he had sent his {the grandfather's)
daughters to high school and they had all married as soon as
through thus " wasting all the money he had spent on them."
While the schOol has been unable to offer substantial
courses in manual training and household arts, it has done
considerable club work. In 1924, handicraft and sewing clubs
were organized and, since that time, the sclool has won sev-
eral awards for its exhibits. The walls of the school are
decora ed by several photosraphs of and ribbons won by such
exhibits. In 1927, the school drew three first prises, two
seconds, one fourth and one fifth prize . Again in 1930, an
exhibit was sent to the state fair and the school brought
back two first prizes, one fourth, and one fifth. Besides
these, the school has won several prizes at smaller exhibits
and three scholarships at Xichigan State College have been

awarded to pupils of the school.

The school offers the ordinary courses in hyxiene but
does not have a regularly organized course in physical ed-
ucation. The Children's Fund of Xichigan provides a dentist,
doctor and nurse who spend one day each year in the school

xamining pupils. At le st that has been true for the past
two years. As the dentist and doctor have two other counties
to look after, it is probable that they are unable to devote
more time to this school. One pupil who received a ticket
from the dentist last year, notifying the parent of the
need of immediate care of the ckild‘s teeth, this year re-
ceived a pin for having perfect teeth, though no dentist had
been visited in the mean time. Another received a ticket
notifying the parent to have a certain tooth filled but,
when taken to another dentist, the parent was told that the
milk tooth in question should not be filled as it would be
shed il a very short time. The two children "ho were selected
for having the most perfect teeth have never used a tooth
brush in their lives. Some missunderstandings are bound to
happen but such stories circulated, cause loss of faith in
dental skill.

During the winter of 1932-3, an obgective test was given
to a class of twenty-two pupils. It was first given in a rme
which was somewhat cr07ded and, therefore, comdunication with-
out detection was very easy. Three days later, the same test
vas given on nimeographed sheets, in a larg room “Tere comm-

unication was extremely difficult. The results of the two tests

were compared answer for answer in the case of each pupil.
If questions vere correctly uns~ey'ed on the s cond test
thich were dissed on the first, it vas supposed that the
pupil had looked up and learned the-correct answer between
examinations. But, if two or iore vere correctly answered
on the first trial and hissed on the second, it pas judged
that the pupil had received help. Four of the twenty-two
showed quite unmistakably that they had received help ,nd
the four without exception were the weaker pupils of the
class.

hodern Educational theory argues that the accumulation
of factual knowledge is much less important than the for-
mation of proper habits and ideals but much of the latter
type of training must be given in the ordinary routine and
along with the subject matter of the academic and vocational
subjects. The mastery of facts and skills cannot be entirely
ignored. Pacts cannot all be obtained the instant needed
and they are necessary to clear and accurate thinking and
the formation of new concepts. If the sc“ools could function
perrectly and if it were not for the almost uncontrollable
influences of the hone and street, a large part of our social
ills could be prevented. But teachers souetimes lack de-

finite obeectives, skills and facilities, and their efforts

are often nefia'ed by the influences outside of school.

-223-

The course of study is indicated by Tablrc VI, VII
and TIE; Because the school has been so recently accre-
dited, very few pupils have been recomnended to college.
One or two have been recom ended to state teacher‘s colleges
and a few others have attended county teacher training

classes.

sepmasmao HH gmaaees cone op manm

H easeq manm op omnm

hmoaowm mgcmawomw .ccH onum op m¢ua
monar weH>Heo< mend 0p ooua
assesses .H smaamsm moa>ao oonma op manaa
HH eupmma< .pmam eases mauafi 0p omuoa
HH magma moasao .eoo omuoa op mafia

H aapsmaa >H sHHH .mcm mesa op oonm

mmma-mmma
mom

mwmmdfic he HADCmmcn wHHdfl

H> EAm<e

‘.~ ”..., ,7 ,w -, A, -- M. *r
LniJDI‘S ALLCWJD TUHAMD uhanAlICu

English 3 or 4
Latin 2
Tistory 2
Comm.Civics 1
Civics %
Economics %
Algebra 1 or 1%

Geometry 1 or 1%

TABLE VIII

Chemistry 1

Physi cs

1

Agriculturel

Biology

1

Geography 1

Handicraft 1

Sewing

thic

Showing the per cent distribution of marks

1

1

for the first

semester of the year 1931-2 by each of the three high school

teachers and also the averages for all three.

Teacher I

5

20

id (3 tfi b

Ed
0\

Teacher II

12.7

25.4

Teacher Ill

9
17
36

24

.13_
99

Average
8.9

20.8
33.6
27.6

8.8

99-7

 

 

FIRST SCHOOL HOUSE IN RI CPIAND

 

 

 

(30
O \

Txtra Curricular Activities

The school has participated in basketball and baseball
for several years, but never has made any exceptional records.
The basketball teams are handicapped by the inconvenience
and quality of the hall used for practice and school closes
too early in the spring to carry outta schedule of baseball
games. Iany of the boys and girls live so far from the hall
that it is difficult for them to attend practice.

The school has put on theatrical productions «ach year
since the stage was built. In 1932, two plays were given,
one by juniors and one by seniors. In 1933-34 the classes
carried out the same program. At each one of these performan-
ces the room was well filled. In the fall of 1933, a comm-
unity meeting with a speaker supplied by the state department
of education, was sponsored by the school. A fair with fruit
and vegetable exhibit and comnunity supper was also given.
Later in the year, a musical was put on by_the school. All
of these have been very well attended though the musical
drew a “somewhat smaller crowd than the others.

In 1933-34 the school organized a band with string
ensemble and a glee club of thirty voices. All members of
the band started the year with no experience or training
but made rapid progress and gave several public concerts
during the year. Each organization practiced once a week

during the activity period.

Teachers

During the past ten years, there have been twenty one
different teachers employed in the Prescott Schools with an
average tenure of 2.38 years each. .Five of them have been
men and sixteen women. Three have been married wonen. Thir-
teen have been residents of the community and the rest have
been secured from a distance.

The high school is now taught by three teachers includ-
ing the superintendent. All of them hold Bachelor of Arts
degrc es and one has a Easter of Arts degree. They have all
majored or minored in the respective subjects taught by each
and two of them have had previous experience in teaching.
One of the grade teachers has a life certificate while the
other two each holds a limited certificate but all of them

have had previous teaching experience.

Informal Education of the Youth

It can hardly be doubted that home influences which
begin at birth, together with the influences of the street,
playground and other groups, far out weigh if they do not
actually destroy some of the effects of schoal training.

It may be possible, however, to accomplish considerable
through the substitution of different forms of recreation,
entertainment and social organization.

In many ways, informal education in Prescott is more
wholesome though less broadening than in urban communities.
As pointed out elsewhere, home life is more congenial and
family ties are stronger where families are widely separated
as they are here. Children from their earliest years have
some responsibilities. A few may be overworked but that is
the exception if it exists at all. They are, as a rule,
quite well provided with food, clothing and, in prosperous
tines, with spending money. The mothers are in the homes,
too, and not so many boys and girls are on the streets
except on Saturday evenings when the whole family goes to
town. When not in school, the boys and girls work with
their parents. After finishing the chores in the evening,
the younger children ga her are nd the stove and non corn,
listen to the radio or play games. But, in many instances,
the older children drive the family car to dances, house

parties or to picture shows.

Home discipline has relaxed waterially; though, perhaps
not so much as in less isolated regions. One parent when
spoken to in regard to his son's conduct, replied, "I do not
wish to cross the boy too much because it might make him
irritable." He had not distinguished between directing and
nagging.

The following dialogue was carried on in a home and
illustrates some of the difficulties of home training. The
dialogue as given is substantially correct although some of
the strongest adjectives have been omitted.

When dad came home from his work at 6:30 P.M. the coal
schuttle was empty. Dad to his ten year old son,"It seems
to me that you should know by this time that it is your job
to get the coal in before dark.“

Son, "But I hant had time."
Dad,"Not time ? School lets out at four o'clock don't it ?"
hother,"Yes but he just got home. He never came near the
house after school : he just goes over to that old basketball
hall every chance he gets, and I've told him he should stay
away from there. He hasn‘t any business there with that cold
he has. he'll get an arm broken some day and then there'll
be a doctor bill to pay." To the son,"The next time that I
catch you over to that hall I'LL give you a whipping that is

one." Sonny then denies being at the hall.

Lather contradicts vehemently and adds, " Its every night th
sane thing. He never stays at home. He's always all over tfe
streets. Saturday I never saw a thing of him after I sent him
out of the house at 9 o‘clock, until 2 P.L. He don't even know
when its tine to eat." Dad quietly says,"Well, be quiet now,
ma, you've tried to bring 'em up and can't make 'en mind; now
I'm :oin: to take things in hand. I do not blame 'em for not
minding you. All you do is yell at them and they know that will
be the end of it. How boys, hereafter, I want you at home as
soon as school lets out. I want that coal pail full every nigh;
before dark and, to-norrow night, you pick up all the tin cans
in the back yard. And, from now on,I don‘t want either of you
boys to leave this yard unless you cone to where I work and
ask me if you can. You have a big yard to play in and you stay
there and keep away from the basketball hall."

Jut father‘s rules and threats had little more effect
han hother's, for the boys remembered them for only part of

the afternoon. Is it any wonder that children grow up with

c!-

he id,a that rules and laws are made for the nurpose of
being violated?

Boys of tender years are taken into the poolroom where
the atmosphere is thick with tobacco smoke and profanity
which would not appear to be conducive to the forgation of
ideal habits. Boys and girls learn to drive an automobile at

quite an early age .nd a;e able to get fan enoxgh from home

so that parents do not ”now where they are or what they are

doing. It was suggested toa young man twenty years of a.

L)

e
that,"The moral conditi one among boys and {girls in a rural
com.unity like this, must be much better than in larger
comdunities." His reply was,"You don‘t know because you donTt
see what is going on. It‘s pretty bad." One parent learned
that his daughter of eighteen had refused to smoke a cigarette
while all the rest of her comp nions had indulged. So, as a
reward, the daughter was given a new dress. But, for all this,
petty thievery and more serious crimes are not comhon PNd
the feneral standa ds of honesty and morality are probably
as high here as elsewhere.

The young people here are less inclined to form clicks
2nd gangs than in ;ost :onaunities, this is especially
true among school puoils. “calth and occupation of parents
do not segregate them into groups. The pupils are, as a
rule, sociable through there are a few cases of isolltion.
One such case is illustrated by a young lady whose mother
wishes her to taxe a part socially and make pro ress educa-
tionally nhich the girl is unable to do. as a result” the
young lady is directefi by her mother in all her QCtIJLS
and has no chance to gale any choices for he self or to

settle any of her difficulties. If the joung lady feels sligh-

ted (which often haooens) the mother "hauls out."
the children whom she believes to be resoonsible
for the slight.

many of the oldest traditions, no matter how
unreas nable, are instilled into children's min s free
the earliest childhood. Fourteen lists of sunersEitions
were handed in by high school puoils. These lists
included one hundreT twenty two seplrate suoerstitions;
others not listed as sewer te ones, differed in some
particulars though some imes slight. For example,
one might say that a cat crossing the path foretells
bad luck and another would say a "black" cat. Hany
of the traditions dealt With numbers as three, seven,
and thirteen, others dealt with birds, cats, and tie
moon. When asked if ihey believed in these omens, three
of the puoils declurei that they _ltuys thwutht of them
but did not really believe in thei. One "believes, but
doesn't let it ‘orry her.". One "believes in then." Five
"know some of them are true because they have proved
them." Hinds filled with such superstitions, traditions
and prejudices are hardly open for the acceptance of
truths from new observations.

The effect of these home teachings is shown in th
case of the son of a pastor in a religious denominaiion

‘where ' r the theory of evolution is taboo. ”he son,

t".
/'

ajunior in h'gh shoal, was asked to prepare a paper on
"Geographic Influences in History". In his preparatory
reading, he started "Nature and Tan in America",by Shaler.
”e read for some time without recosnizing any of the words
connected vith the proscribed theory and commented on the
evident truth and general apolication of the statements made
in the text. As soon, however, as words were recognized,
identifying the statements with the hated doctrine, the
attitude was completely reversed. hot only the traditions
of the ages are passed down to the children out, also, the
sentiments, ideals and prejudices formed by the parents
through their life struggles. These struggles ~if pioneer
life have tended to make them more or less greedy for ima-
ediate personal gain, the accumulation of property and a
lack of social co-operation. On one occasion, the board of
education was asked for the use of the school building for
an extension course to be given to about twenty five teachers
from the rural schools of the surrounding area. The teachers
were asked five dollars oer evening rental which they re-
fused to pay. Some time after this, it Was suggested that
one additional tuition nupit would have said the rental and,
besides tris, it would have done mugh to secure the good
will of the rural districts fro» which the teachers cane.

The Board .eumers replied that they had not thought of that.

FM
- /, r u

A class of puoils “as asked what could be done
to make Prescott more prosperous und a oetter place
in which to ljnn3.jfearly everyone cxoressed the
need for a big factor‘ or other large economic instit—

ion. mhey wanted a Santa Claus to presen

rt

Prescott vith
something which would give it prominence as though "bigness"
alone were the thing to he desired. It had not occurred

to them that the resources already here and the socicl and
and conditions could he developed by the people who are

‘

here an2 thus lake life richer and happier.
Education Anong Adults

among the older generation, education, especi-lly
college work, was considered a preparLCion to earn a
living, whicu 1'10} account for the results “‘ich the
questionaire showed. Seven per cent of the men had some
college training while only one per cent of the vomen
received such advantage. When it came to high school and
eighth grade graduates, the figures show that the boys
stayed at home and worked on the fares while the girls

went to school, for 15 per cent of the women had fin-

.Jo

shed high school and 51 per cent had finished the eighth

grade while the corresponding figures for the men were 10

per cent and 43 per cent resoectively. Twenty per cent of

I)

the men had les

V

, than an eighth grade education and 2.5 per
cent had none while 15 per cent of the mothers had less than
an eighth grade education and l per cent had none. For six-
teen per cent of the fathers and 17 per cent of the mothers

no report was given to this question in the questionaire.

CHAPTWR VIII

VCIUNT -KRY 011G ‘KIII Z/WI (“II-‘3

Vraternal Organizations

T”e macabees seem to have been the first frater-
nal order to start in this loonlity. They organized
in 1*g0 and erected the suilding which is now being
used Ly th high school basketball games. It is also
used by the independent teams, but is getting into a
somewhat dilapidated condition as no one takes any
interest in kecoing it in repair. The lodge still
has a few medbers here and the ch rter is retained,
but the dues are now paid at ”est Branch.

3

The Masonic Order has never established an or-
ganization in the community though it contains sev-
eral mefibers. There seems to be so ethirg of a
mutual understanding between tle villages of Pres-
cott and ”hittemore by which the Odffellows of
both places continue to attend 70.5e at Prescott
while the Lasons of b th places attend at Whitte-

more. This arrangement may have a slightly detri-

mental effect in Lithdraving interest from the

community, yet it tends toward econony, makes for stronger
organizations and has a solidifying influence on the soma-
unities.

The Oddfellows had forged a lodge at Laple Ridge in
1891 and, in 1909, twenty seven of then withdrew and be-
came charter neibers of a new lodge at Prescott. mhe lodge
has grown and prospered until they now enroll one hundred
fifty members and own a goodsized brick venier building.
The building houses a lodge hall and billiard and card rooms
on the second floor and kitchen and dance hall below.

According to the questionaire 47 per cent of the families
are unafiliated with any fraternal organizations. Fifteen of
the 79 reporting have at least one member belonging to
only one fraternal society; fourteen families are represented
in two organizations; seven a e represented in three; seven
in four; one in five; two in six;and one family is represented
in eight organizations by one or more members. Forty-four
Forty-four of the 79 fanilies do not attend fraternal
gatherings and the 35 who do average 22.2 meetinxs per
year at which one or more of the respective faiilies are

present.

‘1
I“
-

Home Economics Extension iroups

The Extension hepartment of Zone ECONOMICS of
Michigan 3t to Jollege was instrumental in organiz-
ing a society known as the Prescott Hutririon Club. \\R
It was started in 1929 with sixteen members and
continued until 1931 then they reorganized with twel-
ve tembers and the club was rechristened the Pres-
cott sewing club. The club together with sinilar
clubs in other con unities send deligates to central
places vhere they receive instructions from an exten-
sion Worker 1nd then return to their home units to
pass alon: the information so received. The local
unit nests once in two weeks. hack sprinfi a county achieve-

men day is held at Which all the units meet 'nd exhi it

'1 . ‘ - ,. , .
tne work done during the vear.
., W _ ,
The med Cross

at the entrqnce of the United states into the
World War in 131?, Prescott was anOH: the “irst to
respond to the call of the fled Cross. At the first
roll call eighty-nine responded and the community
has maintained a chapter ever since, thougd the mem-
bership ha declined until there are only twenty meg-
'bers left. This unit was the first in the county to
do sewin: for t'e soldiers, and is now sewing for the

needy.

Congenial Groups

There is very little class distinction in Prescott
Conrmnity, at 1e st very little based on wealth, though
the people are more or less divided into congenial groups.
P rhaps this division is more pronounced because of the
lack of unifying influences including the vhole community
or, it may be the cause. The churches appear to help
in producing these divisions, as well as the differences
in cultural tastes. The pGOple are co dial and friendly
but not too intimate with strangers. Their groups are
more or less closed to new comers and one gains admission
only by raining intimacy with one or more members of the
group.

“uring the winter, dances are held almost weekly
on Saturday evening at a privately owned dance hall and
occasionally at the Odfello s Fall. The public dances
are conducted for profit and no one is excluded, while
the fraternal dancing pa ties are more selective and
generally attende‘ by older persons. There are reports
of considerable drinking in the co -unity which 13 se-
vcrly criticised by the more sober minded. But, when the
Congress and state legislatures are more inte ested in
the retu:n of beer than of business, can the younger gen-
eration be blamed ? Again, if the stories 'old by the
older people of booze parties and saloon brasls are true,

conditions have not so greatly degenerated.

Sleiehing parties and socials which formed such a
large part c? the social life in pioneer days and formed
a strong influence in solidifying and socializing the
people, seem to be things of the past and joy riding with

two or, at most four or five, have taken their places.
Community Sentiment

The community does not support a newspaper and hence
tee oomxunity s ntiment is formulated and passed around
at the pool room, at social gatherings, on the streets
and in the stores and other places of business. The tel-
ephone, too,hehps greatly in the disseminati n of news.
Iuch of the news is scattered by neighborly calls and
garden fense conversati ns. A boarder had a dispute with
the landlady and left. Within an hour the information
had been carried across the village by these means. Announ-
cements are made through the school and so reach nearly
every home the same day. So, perhaps, these agencies are
nearly as efTicient as a daily newspaper so far as local
news is concemuyh Of) course,‘mmeveoklies ofChfirewxend
adjoining counties Carry columns of Prescott news. Items
of extra sensational importance are reported to the larger
dailies of the state, and nearly every one takes the Bay
City Times Thourh a few prefer the Detroit papers. As in

nearly all snall comnunities and, perhaps in laiger ones,

- 101 -

there is more or less gossip. The shall coteries this-
per to eachother the lates” bit of sensational news and
many suffer social stigma and snubs because of it. Those
who pass these stories are not always careful to verify
their truth, and, consequently, many of the social pun-
ishments are unjust. While each bit of gossip is seized
with as much avidity as ever, it is doubtfull if social
penalties are as severe as they used to be. There is more
tendency to condone the violatitns of the accepted moral
and ethical codes. Tue belief that man is a free moral
agent, born with a knowledge of good and evil, is uncon-
sciously weakening. People are more and were saying that
such acts are due to home training or lack of it, to
associations or other conditions. Yet there are many

who are accused, tries, convicted and punished tithout
ever being "confr onted by the accuser or being informed
of the accusations." Nor is the evidence scrutenized,

weiqhed or verified.

CHAPTER IX
Leamensnip
Bormal Leadership

The term formal leadership is here used to apply to
the persons ~ho are elected to public office. As the
village of Prescott is unincorporated, the only officers
in the connunity are those elected by the township and
by the school district. To these, perhaps, should be added
the pastor s of the churches and the public school teachers.
Such persons prove by their election that they are recog-
nized as leaders. hany of the leaders in the community
are either the pioneers or children of such pioneers who
owe their prestige to long residence in the community.
There are few new comers in the com unity who have been
elected to public office.

The members of the Boar. of Education, though com-
posed of older men, have accomplished a great deal for
the com unity. They have succeeded in keeping the school
district solvent and still gradually improving the con-
dition of the school. As at present constituted, the
Board of Education consists of one French Canadian by
birth, eighty years of age, who completed about the fourth
gr de in the Toronto scho ls, came to Prescott in l?83,
has engagen in various enterprises and is at present deputy
sheriff and health officer. Another member is sixtyeight
years of age, went to work in his father's shingle mill

at the age of twelve, came to Ogemaw County in 1&79 and

- 133 -

is at present retired. he is the father of seven c ildren
all of whom are married except two. A third is fifty years
of age, born and reared at Prescott, educated in the
elementary school and is at present proprietor of a gen-
eral store. A fourth member is forty five years of age, the
son of one of the early pioneers, has been employed at
various ccupations in the state and is at present oper-
ator of a farm. His school attendence covered the eight
elementary grades. The fifth medber if forty years of
age, the son of a preacher. he, also, had an elementary
education, was employed in a bank for some time, held the
position of township clerk for a time and is now engaged
in farming.

Of the township officers, the supervisors are by far
the most important for they, not only represent the town-
ships at the meetings of the county board in legislative
matters for the county, but trey .lso act as the chief
executives of the townships in which they are elected. In
Richland Township the position is of especial importance
since it is c iefly through the interest and co-operation
of the supervisor with the people of the village that the
village streets are paved and lighted.

The three characteristics which seem to be most ess-
ential to success among township officers are : long re-
sidence,for the candidate or his parents, a pleasing per-

sonality, and wider experience through travel or having

.. 104 ..

lived in other comgunities for a time. School training
and wealth seen to have little weight in bringing poli-
tical access.

Following are brief characterizations of the super
visors of Richland and the other townships, portions of
which lie in the connunity.

One was born in the southern part of the state, came
to Prescott with his parents,finish d the local elementary
school,married and went west for a few years, returned
and is at p esent operating a portion of his father's farm.
He is now forty-six years of age. he has a pleasing per-
sonality and considerable ability.

A second is thirty eiiht years of age, the son of a
pioneer doctor and was born and reared at Taple Ridge.

He attended school at Eaple Ridge and entered hith school
but dropped on? in the tenth grade. He operated a store
there for some time then moved to Tamas but has lived on
a farm a maple Ridje for the past eight years. he has two
daughters now attending high school.

A third supervisor ho, at a very early age, came
with his parents from New Yor State, has engaged in farm-
ing at which he is quit? skillful and his farn shows him
to be carefull, thorough and systematic. he has the re-

putation of being "level headed". He served as township

treasurer for four years and has been supervisor for
four years. At oresent he is chairman of the county board
of sunervisors.

A fourth is sixty years of age, came to the community
with his parents and received an elementary education.
w"or a little over thirty-five years he has owned and
ooerated a one hundred twenty acre farm and has sold in-
surance as a side line. T’e served as justice of the peace
for several years, as treasurer for a tern or two, and
has now servei as supervisor for two years.

A fifth is fifty years of age, a native of the community,
having spent all of his life in his present locality and
been engaged in farming. he has only an elenentary education
but is said to be a good "mixer" and a genial fellow. He
held the ofFice of justice of the peace for a short time
and was then elected supervisor. A

A sixth is fifty five years of age, a native of the

community and operates a farm of one hundred sixty acres.

’3

He is said to have held some township office -ver since
he was a young man, which seems to he an exception for
this community. Renorts indicate that his prestige rests
on confidence in his ability which, no doubt, has been
sainei by his experience and the confidence established

by his long tenure.

-106-

Data were not secured for the rest of the township
officers for each of the townships included or partly
included in the community. So far as known, they are
somewhat younger than the supervisors. Otherwise, the
same Characteristics seem to be required for tneir success
as for supervisors.

10st of the pastors and teachers do exercise consid-
erable leadership, especially in the orianization of
social and recreational groups of young people. Their
influence is greatly hindered by their short tenures of
office. The pastors serve sevesal churches, too, so that
their interests and efforts are scattered. As an illustra-
tion : the Baptist pastor who resides at Prescott, serves
a church at hale, one at Twining and two rural churches
about equally distant. In return, the hethodist pulpit
at Prescott is supplied with a pastor from Hale. The H.E.
methodist church at maple Ridge is under the charge of

the pastor from Twining.
Informal Leadership

Several persons were asked for lists of community
leaders. The first, a middle aged business man, said
that he knew of only one. The one named was another

business man about sixty-five years of age who moved

- 107 —

into the community in 1912. The reporter said that he
frequently goes to this leader for advice and knows of
many others who do, because the advice received is al-
ways carefully thought out and is consequently sound.

A young day laborer twenty-five years of age, was
asked for a list of leaders. he first asked if the list
should include those who thought themselves leaders or
those whom he thought rere leaders. After being assured

that his ooinion what was desired, he named eleven per-

sons of when six were women and five were men. The wom-
en ranged in age from forty to seventy, the average being
48 and 1/3 years. Their leadership was exerted through
social clubs and churches. Of the men, one is fifty, a
business man an eighth grade education and his leadership
was accounted for because of his henpfullness. The second
is a man of sixty, a successful farmer who has been succ
essful in promoting farm projects.

The banker, a man of fifty-five, was named as a lead-
er because of his "political skrewdness". Another business
man of forty-eight was named as a leader because of his
" experience and knowledge of farm problems". and the last
one named was a oastor who holds a doctor of divinity
degree. he is a fl'n sixty-five years of age and has lived
in the comnunity for twenty years. he appears to have a
wide acquaintance and is held in respect because of his

training.

An ex-postmaster was asked for a list of community
leaders, but hesitated for 50me time, declaring it to be
a difficult task. At last he contributed a list which
contained numbers two and four of the preceeding list in
addition to six farmers who ranged in ages from sixty to
eighty and who owe their recognition as leaders to pio-
neering efforts. This reporter stated that ”number two
had been the first in the community to introduce certified
seed oats, hardy alfalfa and registered cattle. number
four started an elevator with ninety share holders at
ten dollars each and, in about fifteen years, built the
business up to a plant of sixteen thousand dollars valu-
ation". Then from these two lists only two business men
were named, and only one who had more than a high school
education.

A middle aged farmer who has been fairly successful,
an ex-bank cashier, two merchants and two elderly retired
gentlemen each was asked for a list of comnuiity leaders.
Each expressed the difficulty of preparing such a list
but they said they would try. to lists have been contrib-
uted by them. It is peasible that, in soxe of these cases
the individuals were unable to solve the dilema of either
showing eiotism by adiing their own names or by anparently
admitting their own lack of influence by its omission.
Some may have been nerel‘ negligent but the whole situation
seems to indicate a lack of clearly recognized com unity

leadership.

The comwunity is only about fifty years old and it

fl

is difficult to say what another fifty year: will bring.
The telephone,the radio and the automobile are breaking
down the isolation which has existed for the past gener-
ations.The younger generation Ls enjoying greater edu-
cational opportunities, both formal and informal.
The depression is driving into the community new citizens.
Present enterprises may be extended and new ones started.
If the great lakes to ocean waterway becomes a reality,
ocean vessels ma‘ dock within thirty miles of the village
of prescot .

The central location of the conwunity and distance
fron other con!unity centers point to permanence and
stability. fhe fertility of the soil, nearneos to for-

ests and abundance of wild game and fish furnish econom-

,4
()

bases which should hrlp to make such permanence secure.
This village is passing through the same stages of
evolution as other similar comsunities; first lumbering,
then farming and, if location and other factors are suit-
able, they pass on into industrial centers. It is doubt-
ful if the Comnunity of Prescott becomes industrial soon
althounh there is ample water power not far to the north,

gypsum to the east and coal deposits not far south.

Oil well 3 are being su k n various places in the county
of Ogemaw. The area is well suited to stock raising and
much of the land is suited to crop raising. These need
further developing but, at present, prices are too low

to warrant this proceedure. With modern means of product-
ion it is possible for all to have modern conveniences

in the home and on the farn if the peoole can learn to
enjoy higher standards.

The influence of pioneer life are still very strong
in the community. Zany of the early settlers who faced
the privations and strungles incident to pioneer life
and still "ctive and influential. Host of the pioneer
enterprises are still under.the control of their original
promoters or their sons. ”or this reason Laissez T“airs
and Caveat Emptor are the general principles of business.

most of the home life is happy and contented and
family ties are stronger than in urban coqnunities. But
community isolation is breakinj {own so that the younger
generation is more and more seekin: recreation, not only
outside the home, but outside the community as well.

Vet huntinq, fishing and camping still furnishes a large
amount of recreation for the community.

The people attend church more tha; those inlocal-
ities where motion nictures and other forms of commer-
cial recreation are more thoroughly organized and
patronized, but sectarianisn is strong. If the religi-

ous demolinativns could be organized into fewer and,

- lll -

therefore, larger groups it would contribute materially
to the solidarity of the comqunity where now it consti-—
tutes a disorganizing factor. Their zeal could then be
directed toward better standards of living rather than
strugrles over prosyliting eachothers members.

Interest in politics is fairly strong. The voters
are fairly sturdy, indenendent,and as free from the dom-
ination of "ward healers" and political bosses as any.

Of course, there are local leaders who exercise influence
but they are less secure in their leadership if people
becone suspicious. Their local affairs appear to be quite
well cared for although they are not agressive and the
county appears to consume an undue proportion of the
local tax. The fact that county and township lines dis-
sect the comlunity Without regand to geographic or social
boundaries constitutes one of the disorganizing factors.

The school has been one of the strongest unifying
influences of the com unity. All are willing to patron-
i.e and support the sch cl. Kearly every program, social
or otherwise, sponsored by the school, is well attended.
At the annual meeting, however,each shirks the responsi-
bility and wishes someone else to act and the attendences
there are small. In this connection, social and economic

leaders are greatly needed.

Yet, in spite of all ‘his, the schools have made
quite steady progress. The school districts have been
laid out Without any consideration of economy, efficiency,
or convenience. [any of the schools in the community have
too few pupils to maintain an efficient school. Tany
pupils are near; to schools in other districts than to
the SChO‘l in their own districts. Tax rates differ gfeatly
in the different districts. The high school might serve
better as acemnunity center if it were controlled and
paid forby the community rather than by a district. Its
curriculum as well as its extra curricular activities
could then be extended and its staff could be enlarged.

Informal education of the younger_meflbers of the
community is more wholesome but less broadening thanin
more densely populated communities. Home training is
relaxing in discipline though it is probably more severe
here than in industrial comdunities.

Perhaps some of the social needs are even greater

3

than the economic ones. The depression Has effected the

u

community badly but no worse than othe rcommunities, and
this would not prevent greater sociability and co-opera-
tion and a breaking away from individualism.

Fraternal societies and other social groups furnish
scne entertainment and help in socializing but there are
no com unity v'ide agencies and no com unity wide religious

novements.

Leader hip is fairly capable but inclines toward

1..

conservatism and lacks the wider vision WLiCh more school

training and rider contacts right have given. There is,
too, a lack of clearly recounized leadership.

If the school or Farmer's co-operative association
could extend its influences so as to bring farners and
villagers together or, if a citizen's club could be or-
ganized to accomplish this result, it would help mater-
ially. A more extensive program of recreation--one which
would include both old and young-~would help a great deal
in socializing the residents. A series of inter group games
or community gatherings might offer values of this kind.

If social evencies like the churches and telephone
companies could be united into community wide organizations
in place of small, competing unprofitable factions, it
would contribute to the solidarity of the comuunity.

Some means of caring for the health of the people of
the community is greatly needed. Though it has been esti-
mated that 10,000 people are neded to support a hospital
economically yet, it would seem, that some scheme might be
devised by which small communities of this kind might profit
from the available scientific knowledge for mahtaininq and
restoring health.

more trunkline roads leading into the community and

- 114 -

roads leading to the hkes and hunting grounds need inprove-
ment. tore attention might be given, abo, to the beauty and
attractiveness of the community. These improvements would
brine more revenue from hunters, fishermen and oatmers. It
is true that some progress is being made in improving the con-
ditions of the highways but it requires unified effort to
secure good roads.

It is quite safe to predict that the community, because
of its location and sound econouic base will continue to
function and will gradually overcome its handicaps. As the

highways improve it becomes more closely linked with its sub-

A.

MD.
I

metropolitan and metropolitan centers. -he only real rinl

it can have is Thittemore which is located on a stronger trunk-
line road and possesses the gypsum industries. Rut fertile
soil and were central location would seem to outweigh the more
tra sient conditions of manufacture and good roads if the
people of Prescott Conmmnity will pull together to make use

us . an. .10 1 n ...
of .he advent fles m lCfl they possess.

106

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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190?).

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Haciver, R. A.--Community--A Sociological Stud‘--Kac illan
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Page, R. H.--History of Bay County lhh3. Out of print.

Pettit, Walter H.--Case Studies in Community Organization

Sanderson, Dwight-~Rural Community-~Ginn fl:Co.--Boston, N.Y.
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Sims, Resell Leroy--The Rural Conmunity--Char1es Scribner's
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Soule, Frederick Judson--An American Village Community
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107

Steiner, Jesse F.--The Community in Action-~H. Holt & Co.
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Steiner, Jesse P.--Connmnity Organization-~Century Co.
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108

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T)

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