Part 2.1 The Ancestors of Henry Irvin DeGraw The First Three Generations
The
Ancestors of Henry Irvin DeGraw
The
First Three Generations
Part 2
"It was Not an Easy Life"
A Family Gathering of the DeGraw Family
This is a very old photo,
as Martha DeGraw died in 1913
Back row L to R
Martha (Scutt) DeGraw (1st. wife) Henry Ernest DeGraw (our
Grandpa) Emmerson, Archie, Belle & Elsie
I think Emmerson must be William Emmerson & Archie, must be George
Archie may be G'Pas brothers? and a lot of these men go by their middle
name.
Emmerson married to Belle Johnston and Archie married to Elsie Brown,
so.. Dad's sister Elsie, must have been named after this Aunt
Front row L-R
Frank Brown & Mrs. Brown (parents of Belle is what it says, but it
was added later & is wrong, I think they are Elsie's parents),
Sarah Derby Roper DeGraw and Emmett (must be George Emmett) DeGraw
(Henry Ernest's father- our G.Grandfather)
George Emmett must have been a son of the George that came from New York
according to Uncle Almon's letter.
Cheryl Lane April
2018
About the Previous Research
Part 2 of the Ancestors of Henry Irvin DeGraw, and has been compiled based on the memories of his brother Almon DeGraw and written in 1979.
Almon's memories are of his parents, grandparents and great grandparents, those he knew.
"They did have a very Hard Life".
The lives of the family in Part 6 of "The Ancestors of Henry Irvin DeGraw" are extremely diverse.
Possibly the most confronting is the way in which Philip Welsh arrived in America.
A story of power, greed and unbelievable treatment of young children.
It was though, what happened. Not one person can gloss over the fact that Early America was built on slaves. While some were, initially, house servants and farm workers sent from Ireland to West Indies to work on the Master's plantation or home. It developed much further than that.
Years ago we watched a delightful movie called "Belle". Her father was upper class in London, he had a family in England, and he also had a family in West Indies.
Belle was his daughter, a beautiful mulatto girl. Imagine the shock when she was introduced to the London society. Belle was exactly the same person that my 3rd step grandmother was. Mulatto, the offspring of a wealthy London businessman, and one of the Merchants of Galway, Blake.
Such a diverse family.
Introduction
Relating Family History is simply
a window into the past. We learn of the
immense struggles that our early ancestor faced, often when they chose to seek
a life away from their family and friends.
Pioneers is the best word to
describe them. Often they were also some
of the original settlers of an area.
America was not settled until around 1600. King James was on the throne in England, and
at the time America was a huge continent, and the English were still thinking
about the best way forward, in order for them to claim the lands, and not
France or Spain.
Wars were being fought with the
Spaniards, and the last thing King James wanted was for them to take possession
of the country.
After Sir Francis Drake
circumnavigated the world, it opened up huge new possibilities of trade.
The rest then is history. But the English were not the only ones with
an eye on this land, the Dutch were clever navigators, and they had opened
trade routes in the Dutch East Indies and the West Indies.
They also thought it would be
good to settle new lands. The ancestors
of Henry Irvin DeGraw come from both these backgrounds. All have a story to tell, sometimes finding
those stories is rather difficult, but all attempts have been made to share
their lives with their descendants.
There are some amazing ancestors. Ancestors who have contributed so much to the
beginning of a new life in a new country, for reasons they chose. For the English ancestors those reasons can
be attributed to one person.
Sir Oliver Cromwell had some very
radical views about religion and religious practices. He forbade the congregation from their usual
rituals, he demanded priests stop preaching sermons, he ruled with an iron
fist, and he caused widespread destruction on churches across England.
From then he caused the same
problems in Ireland. He ordered women
and children to be taken from their beds, and sent as slaves to West
Indies. He took lands from the Irish and
generally wreaked havoc.
It was to escape his ideas that
so many English families spent weeks onboard a cramped boat, in the hope of a
free life, in a new country.
But instead, they then faced
completely different sorts of challenges.
Indians, Warfare, Weather, and the requirement to work their lands,
before applying to become a freeman.
The European ancestors came from
different areas, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and once again they sought a
new life, in order to enjoy their religious freedom.
These same people, became
the founding families of New York and
many other Eastern States, were the DeGraw 7th great grandfathers. They created villages, and towns from the
earth.
They had an extremely hard life,
in all aspects.
While the story of Henry's war years confirms
that he was indeed a very modest man, so to were his ancestors, who all fought
a different sort of war.
They fought a war against oppression, and
freedom, and they, like every other country in the World, had to also work
with, and acknowledge the original land owners.
Whether we hold personal feelings and opinions about the cultural
aspects and the political aspects of the past, we cannot change one thing. We have to accept what happened, whether our
own family were involved or not.
The DeGraw family did not travel with LeFayette
from France, but that certainly did not stop them from being involved in so
many internal wars, the Civil War, the Revolution and others.
While the DeGraw ancestors
represent a small number, of all the families who settled, they are a diverse
group. From Germany, Belgium, France,
England and Scotland, their contribution to historical events over the past 500
years is something that ensures that their descendants would be very proud of
their achievements.
Many of these people are totally
unknown to their descendants. Hopefully
this research will bring them "alive" and you can get to know them.
This is Part 2 of the Ancestors of Henry Irvin
DeGraw, and has been compiled based on the memories of his brother Almon DeGraw
and written in 1979.
Almon's memories are of his parents,
grandparents and great grandparents, those he knew.
"They did have a very Hard Life".
The DeGraw Family
History 1979
Taken from the writings of Almon Derby DeGraw
20TH
NOVEMBER 1979
The original DeGraw came to America as a soldier with
Marquis Lafayette’s in the Revolution War.
They left France in 1777. DeGraw
was raised on a farm 90 acres called The Province of Grau. His family had to pay a state tax and church
tax. When they couldn’t meet their taxes, the catholic church would pay the
taxes by marking off a portion of their farm. They still worked that portion
but the crops were sold and the money given to the church.
When the entire farm was under the
supervision of the church, they even took two of the brothers and 1 sister
putting them into the church service. Since he was the only boy left, he ran
away and joined Lafayette.
He fought in the Winter Valley Forge was
where the American Continental Army made camp during the winter of
1777-1778. It was here that the American forces became a true fighting
unit. Valley Forge is often called the birthplace of the
American Army.
After the surrender of the British -This original DeGraw -
settled in the state of New York.
George Pierre was
born in New York State where his parents had a farm near Wallace in Steuben
County. He left his parents home with his wife Deborah Stowe and 3 children.
John, Evelyn, George Emett. They travelled with 2 oxen teams from New York
State to what is now Montcalm County Michigan.
He filed on a Homestead of 160 acres Northwest of
Greenville, Michigan about 4 miles.
George Pierre sold half his farm;
dividing the money between John, Evelyn and George Emett.
John took his share and went to Virginia
and was never heard from again.
Evelyn married a farmer named
Kennedy. was a interrelated family.
George Emett
was about 10 years old at that time. Georg Emett married and they had one girl,
Nettie but his wife died. The Civil war 1861 - was on and he tried to
to enlist but was too tall as they only used soldiers at the same height.
But after two years
they would take anyone. George Emett was 6ft 2” and weighed 220lbs when he was
18 years old. Later he had a cataract in one eye and could not enlist. George Emett married Sarah Derby Roper. Her first x.husband Roper took their two boys and went to California.
He left their daughter with Sarah. Each had a daughter by former marriages.
George Emett and his wife Sarah left the girls with his
Father George Pierre. Then they travelled by ox team from there Northwest to
Glen Arbor in Lelanau County. Had 2 pigs, It was in the fall of the year they
slept in a tent and had to keep a fire all night because of the timber
wolves. Took them 6 days, travelling
through rivers and woods, no road at that time and never saw another person.
One night the tent caught fire and they almost lost
everything. Once they got there they
built a log cabin at Glen Lake and walked 40 miles to Traverse City to get the
grist mill and carried a 100lb sack of flour
back home. In their time owned a Sawmill, Grist Mill, called Grawville.
Milled trees off their own homestead and made it into
lumber. Sarah and George Emett had 3 boys William Emersen, m:Belle
Johnston. George Archie m: Elsie
Brown, and Henry Earnest was born in A Frame house.
He weight 1 3/4lbs and they kept him in a shoe box padded with cotton batten
beside the oven as the snow was blowing in the cracks of the house. [see old photo]
Henry Earnest married Martha May Scutt,
had 4 children. Almon Derby, ( Zoa, Gerald, Milton.) 3 died.
In July 1915, Henry Ernest married
Wilhelmina Petrophka,
Elsie, Everett {Edd, Henry {Hank], Vera.
Henry Earnest sold out property on the Green Lake at
the Peninsula and moved about 4 miles
from Jennings. The Farm. Henry Earnest died in 1954.
Henry Irvin {Hank] born 25th April 1920. Jennings [d:1/3/2004.
Midland]
2nd marriage: Leta Bell French [div]
4 children
3rd marriage: Evalyn b12/5/1915 in Arcadia,
Wis.,
Children of Henry and Leta DeGraw
Cheryl, Randy Suzanne Rusty
There are some differences between Almon's
Family History, and the facts, but perhaps the thing that shocked Randy was
that their ancestor did not arrive with LaFayette.
Almon was unaware of his grandparent's names and he had some other
relationships a little mixed, but he also provided some clues as to who some
unknown people were.
Early life of Almon
DeGraw
Continuing with Almon DeGraw's
Memories.
"Evelyn DeGraw Kennedy was
my great grandmother. She was also my
father's aunt. When my dad stayed with
his grandparents near Greenville, he went to the same school as my mother did.
My mother Martha May Scutt was
born on Orange Street, Greenville. Her
mother Bertha Dorothy Kennedy and baby brother died with pneumonia when my
mother was five years old. Her
grandmother Evelyn Kennedy raised my mother.
My mother graduated from high school in Greenville. Her father 's name was Josephus Scutt, a
Scotsman. He was a barber by trade in
Greenville. I don't know my grandmother
Scutt name. All I know she was an opera
singer.
My grandfather Scutt's rich
sister Elizabeth, living in Bath in New York, wanted to raise my mother but he
didn't want her to.
My name is Almon Derby DeGraw,
born 26th January 1899, 4 miles south east of Traverse City in an unfinished
building. The roof and the floor were
unfinished. They had hung quilts and
blankets up to protect the bed. It
snowed 4 ft deep and it kept my dad busy taking care of me, and sweeping off
the bed. No one could get in to see us
for 3 days. I was the first born. My dad was 24 years old in July, before I arrived
and my mother was 21 years old 11th January, and I came 26th January. So you see it was a cold snowy day and night
when I first bawled my way into this world.
My mother passed away from a
goitre operation in July 1913. My dad
married Whilamena Potrafka in July 1915.
She was 20 years old. My dad was
40 and I was 16 years old. I left home
with a suitcase, a $5 bill, and a dog. I
walked 12 miles to Traverse City 22nd February 1916, caught a train to Belding,
Michigan. Finally got a job of a farm
for $20.00 a month and board. I met a
girl Goldie Emmaline Munro as I went to work at Gibson's Refrigerator Factory for
11c an hour 6 days a week or $6.60 a week.
I paid $3.00 a week for room board and washing. Goldie was staying with her step father's
mother and working in the kitchen of the
Winter Inn for $3.00 a week.
...having trouble with her sister
Fannie, 14 years old. So he wrote for
her to come home. So I went with her to Owasso.
I got a job at the sugar factory firing on a locomotive crane used in
unloading sugar beets. I was paid $2.25
for a 12 hour day with a 50c per day bonus, if I stayed the whole 120 day
campaign which I did. I got a $60 bonus
check just before Xmas. So I went to
Flint and eventually got a job breaking frozen ground for the Palace Theatre. I got $2.90 for 9 hours. We were married in the Baptist parsonage 18th
February 1917. I was 18 and she was 21
the past July. So if I wasn't old enough
she was.
My dad had sold out on the
Peninsula north of Traverse City and moved about 4 miles from Jennings on a
rented farm. So that fall we went up
there, and rented a house, and got a job in the lumber yard of Mitchell's
Sawmill. Dad boarded with us that winter
and Goldie Arbatus was born May 9, 1918 in Jennings Michigan. Jeanette was born June 2 1920. She would have been born on her sisters
birthday, but I got my right hand caught in a cable and almost lost it. She was having labor pains when the 2 men we
were boarding went home for dinner told her I had lost both hands. So the baby was put off until June 2, when she
was delivered by the doctor pulling on her head with instruments , which I think
is what causes a lot of her headaches.
Gerald was born in Flint but died at 3 months.
Milton Earl was born in Ashland,
Wise January 16, 1923. We had another
girl Dorothea who died at birth buried near Ashland. Gerald is buried near Baldwin Lake west of
Greenville, Michigan.
Some people say I was a bum, but
I never bummed a dime off anyone. A hobo
yes, or a vagabond. I would do any kind
of work to make a go of it. My children
would tell you I was always happy when I was broke. I never was down, and out. Some say I should write a book about my
experiences, but I don't think I could get it all in one book.
I'll bid you all good night and
please don't feel to badly about the old man that was the cause of it
all."
The DeGraws
Almon's
memories are rather sad, and reveal the struggles and hard life of his family.
The
death of so many mothers, at an early age, and the consequences on the
children.
However,
there are some differences with his information.
George Emmett DeGraw married
Sarah Burr Derby. The ancestral lineage of George and Sarah, is told in
following parts of the series.
George and Emmett were Henry
Irvin DeGraws' great grandparents.
George Emmett DeGraw m Sarah Burr
Derby
1.4
George is the Great Grandfather.
He was born 7th November 1841 in Michigan and died 30th May 1924. He married Sarah Burr Derby in 1862. Sarah appears to have married a man named
Cassell, as her marriage records indicate her name to be Sarah Cassell
Sarah was born 1842 and died in
1927
Their children
1.4.1 Minnie DeGraw 1861
1.4.1 Joseph DeGraw 1865
1.4.2 William Emmerson DeGraw 1865
- 1937
m in 1894 Althea Belle
Johnson 1865 - 1937 1.4.3 Henry DeGraw 1867
- 1931
1.4.4 Lewis DeGraw 1872
1.4.4 George Archie DeGraw 1871
- 1937 m
1894 Elsie Brown 1876
1.4.5 Henry Ernest DeGraw 1875 -1955 m Martha Schutt 1877 - 1913
m Wilhelmina Potrafka 1895
The Children of George
and Sarah DeGraw
1.4
.2 William Emmerson DeGraw and Althea Belle Johnson
- Children
1.4.2.1 Harold Loomis DeGraw 1896
- 1980 m
Edna Mary Truitt 1899 - 1974
1.4.2.2 Beatrice I DeGraw 1899 1983
in 1920 Franklyn Henry Jones 1896 - 1964
1.4.2.3 Fredrich E DeGraw 1901 1939
1.4.2.4 Aleatha DeGraw 1904 1905
1.4.2.5 Maurice Sheridan DeGraw 1907 1997 m
1937 Jarda Marjorie Whitman 1900 - 1994
Harold, according to his WW1
Draft records was Medium height, not bald, brown hair and blue eyes, and was
living at Saginaw.
1,4,4 George DeGraw and Elsie Brown children
1.4.4.1 George DeGraw
1896 m
m in 1919 Ila Lucile Shank 1902 - 1986
George according to his WW1 Draft
records was Medium build, short height with light brown hair and eyes. He registered in Toledo Ohio
1.4.4.1.1 Zora DeGraw 1898
- 1979 m in 1922 Stanley Herbert Rootes 1900 - 1975
1.4.4.1.1.1 Virginia Mariee
Rootes 1923 2007 m in 1944 William
Earl Churchill 1922 - 1993
1.4.4.1.1.2 June Elizabeth Rootes 1925 - 1995 m in 1945 Robert Edgar Johnston 1923 - 1995
1.4.4.1.1.3 Robert Stanley Rootes 1932
- 1976 m in 1951
Jacqueline Bunger
1.4.4.2 Vonnie DeGraw 1899
1.4.4.3 Lester DeGraw 1900
- m in Edna Eileen Chandler
1.4.4.3.1 Gerald Lester DeGraw 1936 2012
1.4.5
Henry Ernest DeGraw 1875 -
1955 m
in 1897 Martha M Scutt
The children of Henry DeGraw and
Martha Scutt
1.4.5.1 Alma DeGraw 1899
1.4.5.2Almon Derby DeGraw 1899 -1985 m 1917 Goldie
Emeline Munro 1895 - 1950
1.4.5.3 Zoa Zoa Lea DeGraw 1903 1926 m
Thomas Becker 1896 - 1942
1.4.5.4 Milton DeGraw 1907 m Clara
Almon's World War 1 Draft Card
was Medium build, medium height, dark hair and brown eyes, he registered at
Spink, and served in the Navy. He served
on the ship SS Hatfield
1.4.5.1 Almon
and Goldie DeGraw children
1.4.5.1.1 Goldie DeGraw 1918 -
2005 in 1936 m Rush Wesley Edmonds 1908 - 1978
in 1963 m Frederic Morse 1925 in 1973 m
Francis J Nanny Layman 1916 - 1919
1.4.5.1.2 Gerald DeGraw 1921
1922
1.4.5.1.3 Milton DeGraw 1923
1999 in 1953 m
Twylah D. Maston
1.4.5.1.4 Dorothea
They are buried at Forest Grove
Cemetery Tenio Washington
How sad, he didn't know the baby was dead when he called the doctor.
1.4.5.3 Zoa
Zoa Lea DeGraw and Thomas Becker
children
1.4.5.3.1 Frederick Ernest Becker 1920 - 2011
Frederick served in the US Navy Group
40 Flotilla 14
1.4.5.3.2 Thomas Palmer Becker 1922
1946 Thomas served in US Navy SS
St. Augustine
1.4.5.3.3 Hubert Becker 1925 2003 Hubert
served in the Army and Marines
Zoe died in 1927, leaving the
three young boys. They lived with their
father, Thomas and his mother and step father.
All 3 served in the Navy, in World War 2.
St. Augustine was assigned to the 1st Naval District and operated out of Boston as a patrol ship until 1942. She was transferred to the Eastern Sea Frontier where she escorted convoys between New York City and various Caribbean ports. On the night of 6 January 1944, while leading a convoy from New York to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, St. Augustine was accidentally rammed by merchant tanker Camas Meadows off the coast of Cape May, New Jersey. St. Augustine foundered within five minutes, and 115 of the 145 crewmembers on board were killed.
He then served on the:
On 14 November 1944, while acting as a picket for TF 38, she was attacked by four Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bombers. The ship is credited with shooting down two Betty bombers and dodging two torpedoes on this day.
In January the carriers she screened continued to launch air attacks on Taiwan, the China coast, and the Nansei Shoto, and on 16 and 17 February sailed daringly close to the Japanese coast to strike targets on Honshū before giving air cover to the invasion of Iwo Jima from 20 to 22 February.
Collett returned to Empire waters with the carrier task force to screen during air raids on Honshū 25 February 1945, joined in the bombardment of Okino Daito Shima 2 March, and returned to screening during the air strikes on Kyūshū and southern Honshū of 18 to 20 March. From 23 March to 24 April, the force concentrated its strikes on Okinawa, invaded on 1 April. On 18 April Collett joined with four other destroyers and carrier aircraft to sink Japanese submarine I-56 at 26°42′N 130°38′E.
After replenishing at Ulithi, Collett rejoined TF 58 11 May 1945 for its final month of air strikes supporting the Okinawa operation, and from 10 July to 15 August sailed with the carriers as they flew their final series of heavy air attacks on the Japanese home islands. With her squadron, she swept through the Sagami Nada on 22 and 23 July, aiding in the sinking of several Japanese merchantmen.
After patrol duty off Japan, and guarding the carriers as they flew air cover for the landing of occupation troops, Collett entered Tokyo Bay 14 September 1945, and 4 days later sailed for a west coast overhaul.
Remaining on active duty with the Pacific Fleet from World War II into 1960, Collett alternated local operations and cruises along the west coast with tours of duty in the Far East, the first of which came in 1946–1947. She was in the Far East upon the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, and after patrolling off Pusan from her base at Sasebo, and escorting cargo ships laden with military supplies to Korea, she sailed up the difficult channel to Inchon on 13 September to begin the pre-invasion bombardment.
She carried out her mission, although hit four times by counterfire which wounded five of her men, and on the 15th, returned with the invasion force, to whom she provided gunfire support once the landings had been made, as well as protective cover at sea. Her outstanding accomplishment in the invasion of Inchon was recognized with the awarding of the Navy Unit Commendation. After taking part in the Wonsan landings on 26 October, she returned to San Diego, California 18 November 1950.
He was later in the US Navy
Support living 429 Jackson Street Gary Indiana.
Milton enlisted in WW11 1942 - 1945 and again 1951 - 1962. His son
After the death of Martha, Henry m
Wilhelmina D Potrafka
1.4.5.5 Elsie Wilhelmina DeGraw 1917 - 2001 m Herman Henricks 1910 - 1986
1.4.5.5 Henry
DeGraw 1920 - 2004 Leta
Belle Franch 1925 - 2013
m
Evelyn M Rusch 1918 2013
1.4.5.6 Everett Dale DeGraw 1926 - 2000 m
Ellen Reed 1930 - 2003
1.4.5.7 Vera Irene DeGraw 1927 - 2012 m
Raymond Griswold 1925 - 1951 m Paul Haver Eubank 1927 - 2014
The
Children of Henry and Wilhelmina DeGraw
1.4.5.5 Elsie Wilhelmina DeGraw and Herman Hendricks
They had 3 children
"MCBAIN Elsie Wilhemina Hendricks of Merritt died Sunday, June 24, 2001 at Autumnwood of McBain. She was 83.
She was born July 31, 1917 in Missaukee County to Henry and Minnie (Petrofki) DeGraw. She married Herman Hendricks Sept. 8, 1936 in Missaukee County. He preceded her in death Oct. 9, 1986.
She was a homemaker and enjoyed sewing and doing craft work. Mrs. Hendricks was a member of the Britton Heights Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids. She moved back to the area in 1997.
Survivors include her daughter, Inez Millen of Merritt; sons, Gareth Hendricks of Grandville, and Phillip (Sheri) Hendricks of Grandville; 12 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; brother, Henry (Evelyn) DeGraw of Midland; sister, Vera Eubank of Lake City; in-laws, Ellen DeGraw of Lake City, Josephine (John) DeYoung of McBain, Jake (Katherine) Hendricks of Jenison, and Helen Vanderwal of McBain; and many other relatives.
She was preceded in death by her son-in-law, Rev. Darrel Millen; and brother, Everette DeGraw.
1.4.4.4.1 Henry Irvin DeGraw 1920
- 2004
He was crew on SS Axel
Johnson and sailed from Greenock in
Scotland in 1942.
He was in the Military enlisted
in 6 January 1942 and served until 21 August 1945. He married Leta French and Evaline Rusch
1.4.4.4.2 Everett Dale DeGraw 1926 - 2000 in 1948 m Ellen Elizabeth Reed 1930 - 2003
He
served in the Navy enlisted 28 October 1943 and served until 22 March 1946
He is buried in the Midlands Memorial
Cemetery
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