The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1921-06-30
Former Yaleites Already
Arriving For Home Coming
FROM OLD-TIMERS
Yale, June 81, 1921


who might be considered a pio-
neer of st. Clair county.
My. father, Peter Schram, and
my mother, Catherine Flake
Schram, came to Michigan from
Niagara Falls. Canada, in 1850.
| was then one year old. We
crossed the st. Clair river to
Port Huron in row boat. Our
first home was at Petit's mill,
one mile down the river from
what is now Port Huron. There
were many saw mills in and
about the village. A great many
men were employed in the mills
and in the woods. My father
worked much of the time in A. &
II. Fish's saw mill on the old
plank road between Old Brock
way and Port Huron.
Telling those giant pines was
done very thOughtlessly then.
What a vast fortune they would
be to us today. | have seen
Black river filled. as if bridged
for many miles with those giants
of the forest which it took many
generations of time to perfect.
well remember seeing men dig
ging stumps out of the streets in
Port Huron. Some of the fami-
liar family names l can recall
were Sanborn, Hicklan, Ward,
Mulford, Dove, Donaldson, Nc
Kay and Munroe. Stores were
few and small. Hicklan & Ward
kept grocery and groggery.
There were also two general
stores, one kept by Mr. Sanborn
and the other by Mr.. Fish. What
little burg Port Huron was
then. We were not sporting
around in automobiles. We had
no railroad, no telephone, and if
my memory serves me right there
was no telegraph at Port Huron.
The first pineapple to be brought
to Fish's mill was a great cur
iosity. 1t was brought in by
Mr.. Kendrick. We all pronounc-
ed it fine.
Our first school in that Sec
tion was conducted in a private
house by Miss Susan Milford.
She was a very nice lady. 1t was
there / spent my first school days.
| well remember when the
cemetery was moved from below
the village to site north on
Black river.
DR.. Stockwell, DR.. Fraun and
General NOrthrup were familiar
men in our community.
The Indians with their moe
casins and blankets were as
much in evidence as the white
people.
About 1856 the Schram family
arrived in Yale. The place was
not yet christened. Two houses
had been built and saw mill
was being erected. 1t was run
by Uncle" Dan McMartin, Then
the hardships of pioneer life be-
gan. The Schram farm, to be,
was located in Greenwood town.
ship. The morning we started for
the farm we left Yale at sunrise.
1t took us until sunset to make
that journey of four miles, which
today would take 20 minutes. We
were worn and weary, and the
wolves howled a welcome to us.
Father warned us children that
when we heard that noise we
must hurry to the house. We had
no school, no church, and no
neighbors, nothing to be seen but
giant trees and now and then
| passing Indian.
1t was nearly three years be-
fore any other settlers came to
live near us. One day in the fall
of 1857 father was hunting his
cows. He happened to meet two
Canadians in the woods. They
were John Kearn and Henry How
ey, who had known my father in
Canada. There was great re-
| joicing in the Schram home when
we learned of their coming. The
two families came in the next
spring. About that time Mr..
Westover came to live in the
neighborhood. There were chill
dren in all those families. so
plans for school were begun.
The first school meeting ever
held in Schram district, Green
wood township, was held in my
fathers house about 1859. But
where would they find teacher ?
The Steadman family arrived
just in the nick of time, and Miss
Eliza Steadman was invited to
take that exalted position at a
salary of one dollar per week.
School was opened in an old
vacant log house with one window
and one door in it. (What would
teacher of today answer to
such an offer y Lawyer Jami-
son in Old Brockway issued Miss
Steadman teachers permit
Later Miss Steadman became
Il n