Medina and Vicinity Photos

 

"Strobeck House" SE corner of Bothwell and Eagle St.,

now demolished after a fire.

Old Charles Stone house on Medina Rd. at Tiffin Mills (Pegtown).  In the late 20th century this was the farm home of the large Graves family.

Joyce and I always called this "Sutton House," as one of the Suttons from south of the village moved into town and lived here once; but it was also the home to many others through the years.  Perhaps the longest residents were the family of Elisha Coats, pioneer whose business was tailoring for the community; he and his wife appear to also have boarded Oak Grove Academy students (for example see 1870 census).  Directly to the west of this house was Ernie Palmer's blacksmith shop (operated by the Rice family in earlier years).

The old Oak Grove Academy building, later Medina Grange Hall, and now a residence--built in 1853.  If there are any original trees still here, then they are now around 167 years old.

"Strobeck House" again.

To the west of the Church where several houses used to stand.  The earliest house probably built by Ebenezer Daniels of the famous Allen Daniels mercantile, in around 1840.  It was a carpenter gothic style, probably with ornate trim that did not survive into the 1960's when it was demolished.  There is a photo of it at the top of  Page 2 of Joyce's large "Foldable Map" scan, shown under the page/tab "MAPS"  Joyce's grandmother McVay used to live there, and earlier a Robinson family, so that she called it Robinson-McVay House.

Cropped scan of the rare post card photo of the Medina Village mills.  Joyce considered this her luckiest find on Ebay, not something she ever expected to see.  I handled it once and the back was printed with the name of the photographer, Perley Lord.  The young Mr. Lord was of the family from south Dover Twp., working at photography in Hudson in the early 1900's.  The image was sepia toned and fading fast.  After Joyce's death I was unable to locate the rare postcard, so we are lucky to have this scan she gave me.  If you look at the 1893 Lenawee Atlas you can see the service road to the left; if you look at the 1864 map you will see the Grist, Saw and Carding mills in a row south of the main four on Mill St.

According to Imogene Bennett, all three mills were still going strong in the 1880's.

Charles, Nellie and one of their children on the drive behind their barn, probably 1880's.  Joyce traveled to Bay City to meet descendants of the Colvin family to obtain scans of these great photos.

Charles Brown house, later home of his step-son Ed Farnsworth.  At an earlier time this was the home of Alexander Blake, often listed as "furnace man" on the tax rolls.  Mr. Blake has a memorial stone in the cemetery and may have built the house.  His business place was an earlier, smaller building at the Red Brick Store site.

This house was built by George Washington Moore's son, George, for his wife Effie Lawrence and their family.  It sits across the road from where he grew up on Medina Rd. near Tiffin Mills.

This house is located behind the Red Brick Store lot, and was home to the Gambell family; and at an earlier time (and perhaps built by) Clark Harrington, Sr., husband of Samantha and father of Eudora Harrington McLouth and Almond Harrington, and perhaps a Martha at a very early date; there were probably other children of this family. This is a very old home still in use and in very good condition.

This looks to be a very old house in excellent condition and it's located on Main St. in Canandaigua.  I am sorry that I have not studied the village in as much detail as Medina, but it looks to be a similar layout to the Harrington House shown directly above.

This is a clipping from a scrapbook at Lenawee Historical Society Museum in Adrian.  The article said this is the Tew family in their new automobile and they were photographed sitting in front of the Colvin place where they came to show the car to Mr. Isaac Colvin.  In the background is the large horse barn along Eagle St., at that time belonging to the Fikes.  It was located at the junction of Finch St.

Strobeck House yet again--I always felt this house was doomed and sadly I was right.  I guess that's why I liked to take pictures of it so much.

This house still exists and now appears inhabited; it is on Lawrence Rd. near Haley, and during my childhood was the home of Lawrence Lamb.  I was shocked to learn that Mr. Lamb was actually a son of Sylvetus Lamb, son of original pioneer of Rollin named Roswell Lamb.  Sylvetus was the youngest son of Roswell, being born to the second and younger wife; likewise, Lawrence was the absolute youngest child of Sylvetus, possibly 20 years younger than his oldest sibling.  It just seemed incredible to me that a grandson of an original pioneer would be alive in my lifetime, but it is true!  At an early time (see the 1857 map under the MAPS tab/page that shows the outline of a larger house) this place was owned and possibly built by Medina village miller Lawrence McCarty.  Mr. McCarty also owned a place in the village on the 1857 map, showing his name on the original Dr. Hamilton house that was moved from Canandaigua--oldest house in the village.  I believe Mr. McCarty passed away in 1861, and of course I wonder if it wasn't a work-related accident.  HIs parents are also buried in Medina cemetery and lived to the north in the Hughes/Tomer vicinity.  According to the 1857 village map, Lawrence McCarty was not just a miller, but an owner of the Medina Village Grist Mill, along with an Allen, probably Ebenezer.  This country house was built in the Italianate style that was popular from the 1840's on past the Civil War era.  

This is the Darr family who lived on the "Old Town Road," W 1/2 of SW Qtr. of Sec. 36, Hudson Twp.  Samuel Burnett and wife had one child, daughter Sarah (1855-1929), who married Nelson Darr.  The Burnett's owned a fancier house (I forgot to scan that photo yet) on their farm, and apparently built this simpler place (or perhaps this was their first residence, is more likely) on the same farm where Sarah and Nelson Darr and family lived.  Their children are in the photo along with a daughter who married into the Moyer family.  The ages of the small children and the style of this photo enabled us to date this photo at 1898.  We believe this photo was taken the same day as the school children's group photo and the old city father's photo, along with the photo of Grandpa Brazee working his saw horse in his yard--that was Oct. 20, 1898.  It would be really great if any other photos taken that day would surface!