1908 July – Margaret McMillan – Str. Tashmoo
POST MARK: SOMBRA PM JUL 08 ONT (illegible)
FROM:
Margaret
TO:
Miss L. McMillan
368 Woodward Ave.
Detroit, MI
WRITTEN CONTENT:
Dear Lizzie,
Arrivet in Sombra Nobody to meet me yet and now it is after four Kate not at home was at Fred Mullens waiting now at Smiths hope somebody will soon come
Margaret
Margaret McMillan (1860-1936?) – Author
Margaret is born in 1860 to John (1825–1911) and Mary (1835-1923) (nee Stanley) McMillan. She is their oldest daughter and one of nine children: three boys and six girls. She never marries and remains with her parents until their passing in 1911 and 1923, respectively.
After traveling to Detroit to visit her younger sister Lizzie, Margaret McMillan purchases a ticket on the sidewheeler steamboat Tashmoo to take her back to her home in Ontario. Tashmoo has a scheduled route between Detroit and Port Huron, which is located at the north end of the St. Clair River near the mouth of Lake Huron. Margaret does not plan on traveling this far, she will disembark about halfway to Port Huron at the small river town of Sombra, Ontario on the Canadian side of the river. It is a short trip, taking approximately three hours. Upon arriving, to her surprise, there is no one there to greet her and return her to her father’s farm located a couple miles outside of town in Sombra Township.
Margaret then decides to visit her younger sister Kate who happens to be living there in Sombra. Unfortunately, as it turns out, she is not home. Having missed Kate, Margaret checks-in with an old family friend Edward “Fred” Mullins. From there, she travels to Smiths, a local hotel owned and operated by James Smith arriving there after 4 P.M. Margaret takes a moment to write a quick note to her sister, Lizzie, updating her on the recent travel travails.
Fortunately for Margaret, instead of encountering the typical hot and humid July weather, this day has been unseasonably cool and clear with temperatures only reaching the mid-70s. With a cool breeze coming off the river, she was comfortable even in the long sleeve blouse, full-length skirt and high leather boots that was the fashion of the day. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the remaining trip home. Although the Ford Model T, the first automobile affordable to the masses, was introduced in 1908, significant production and lower prices were not be available until 1913. More than likely, her ride home would have been by horse and wagon down long and dusty country roads. It would probably take longer to get from Sombra to her home then her trip up the St. Clair River from Detroit.
Elizabeth “Lizzie” McMillan (1876 – ~1922)
Lizzie is the third youngest child in the McMillan family and twelve years younger than Margaret. The farm life in Ontario is not in Lizzie’s near-term plans. Therefore, in 1896, at the age of 20, Lizzie decides to leave Sombra (pop. 250) and move to the bustling city of Detroit (pop. 150,000). There she finds employment as a “domestic” for Dr. Flintermann and his family at 368 Woodward Ave. This is where, in 1908, Margaret comes to visit her younger sister and where she sends the postcard describing the adventures encountered on her trip home. Lizzie remains with the Flintermann’s for fourteen years until they move out of the Woodward Ave. house in 1910.
After leaving the Flintermanns, Lizzie continues to work in the Detroit area holding down various jobs as a “domestic” and cook until one day, she meets an old neighbor and family friend from Sombra, William Albert Staples.
Growing up, their family farms were located near each other. William, like Lizzie, decides to move to Detroit hoping to find better opportunities than those afforded him back home. He works several years as a clerk at the Edison Illuminating Co., now ConEd, which Thomas Edison established in 1880 for the purpose of constructing electrical generating stations for various large U.S. cities. A relationship develops and on 15 Jun 1914, William and Lizzie marry in Detroit. Justice Fred E. DeGaw performs the ceremony and John Vallat and Edgar J. Heusir stand in as witnesses. Records show that William is 40 and Lizzy 38.
Once married, William and Lizzie decide to return to their hometown of Sombra, ON. Here, William decides to return to farming, the occupation of his father and the one on which he was raised. Unfortunately, the marriage is short-lived. During the 1920s, Lizzie passes away at approximately 50 years of age. William goes onto live another twenty years before passing away in 1948 at the age of 76.
SS Tashmoo
Tashmoo was a sidewheeler steamboat on Lake St. Clair and Lake Huron. It was famous for being one of the fastest ships, at the time, on the Great Lakes. It was built by the Detroit Shipbuilding Company in Wyandotte, MI for Detroit’s White Star Steamship Company. Tashmoo was nicknamed the “White Flyer” and, because of the number of windows on the ship, the “Glass Hack.”
CHARACTERISTICS:
Length: 320 ft
Beam: 70 ft
Height: 22.3 ft.
Installed Power: 2,500 hp triple expansion steam engine
Speed: > 20 knots (23 mph)
CHRONOLOGY:
1899 Dec 30 – Tashmoo is launched
1900 Jun 9 – Tashmoo makes her maiden voyage to her namesake Tashmoo Park
1900 Sep – After a race between the City of Chicago and the City of Milwaukee, a Chicago newspaper boasts that the winner (the City of Chicago) is the “fastest on the lakes”. A paper in Detroit subsequently lists nine vessels that can easily beat the City of Chicago. However, the list does not mention the Tashmoo. A. A. Parker, president of the White Star Line, offers $1,000 to any ship that can beat the Tashmoo in a race. J.W. Wescott, the president of the Cleveland Buffalo Transit Company, accepts the challenge on behalf of his ship, the City of Erie. The course is 82 nautical miles (152 km; 94 mi) long and goes from Cleveland, Ohio to Erie, Pennsylvania.
1901 Jun 4 – The race is set. The City of Erie takes an initial lead but is quickly overtaken by the faster Tashmoo. However, Tashmoo is forced to reduce speed because the wheelman is not comfortable steering by compass alone and is subsequently overtaken by the City of Erie . Further on, Tashmoo is again forced to slow due to an overheating condenser. At the end of the race, with Tashmoo quickly closing the gap, the City of Erie wins by a mere 45 seconds. J.W. Wescott of C&B refuses a request to rematch and finally concedes that Tashmoo is indeed the faster boat.
1927 Dec 8 – During an early winter gale, Tashmoo snaps her five 8” steel mooring cables and is sent drifting down the Detroit River. She first collides with the Detroit-Windsor ferry Promise which also breaks its mooring cables and in turn is driven against the Grand Funk railroad shipping dock. Tashmoo is found further upstream, stopped by the Douglas MacArthur Bridge to Belle Isle. Two tugboats pull Tashmoo away from bridge, but these cables break and she once again drifts towards the bridge. She is only 30 feet from the bridge when the tugboats are finally able to get the Tashmoo secured and returned to her mooring. After pounding against the concrete abutments of the bridge for several hours in 50-mile gale, Tashmoo is severely damaged with two large holes in her steel hull. With a value of $500,000 (2020 – $7.4M), the owners decide that she is to be repaired and returned to regular service.
1936 Jun 18 – While returning from a moonlight trip to Detroit River’s Sugar Island, as Tashmoo approaches the Livingstone Channel Light, she strikes a submerged object ripping a great, jagged hole in her keel on the starboard side. The engine room notifies Captain McAlpine that Tashmoo is taking on water. The power pumps are immediately started and the Captain points the boat to the Brunner-Mond Corp. dock in Amhertsburg, ON approximately one-half mile away. Tashmoo, at full speed, makes it there in less than five minutes. Once there and safely moored, Tashmoo settles 18 feet to the bottom of the Detroit River. None of the 1,419 passengers were injured, few even realized the boat was taking on water and some of the passengers did not even want to leave the boat. Captain McAlpine, who commanded the Tashmoo for eight years, was at a loss as to what she struck. He stated that he passed over the same spot en route to Sugar Island and speculated that a freighter’s wake may have lifted then dropped the Tashmoo onto a submerged rock. At a cost of $40,000 (2020 – $750K) to re-float Tashmoo and many more thousands of dollars to recondition her the owners decided that she is to be scrapped. So, after 36 years, Tashmoo’s reign as the greyhound of the Great Lakes excursion boats came to an end.
City of Milwaukee: 1881 Feb 11- Launched; Sold/renamed multiple times; 1917 – Sold to Crosby Transportation Co. and renamed the City of Muskegon; 1919 Oct 28 – Wrecked against the south pier in Muskegon. Went to pieces in the storm; 1920 – Removed and scrapped.
City of Chicago: 1890 Mar 19 – Launched; 1935 – Purchased for scrap by Woodmere Scrap Iron and Metal Co.; 1937 – Converted to a barge; 1942 Sep 22 – Sunk in storm under tow of tug John Roen with a cargo of pulpwood.
Rabbit Hole #1: The Flintermanns
Dr. Johann Flintermann, though of German parentage, is born in Amsterdam in 1840. His youth is spent in Germany where he attends the Gymnasium in Lingen and pursues medical studies at the University of Goettingen. Upon graduating in 1864, he goes onto pass the state examination at Hanover in 1865. In 1866, Johan completes his post graduate degree at the University of Berlin. In 1867, he marries Ms. Dorette Schaefer in Goettingen.
Shortly thereafter, Johan and Dorette decide to immigrate to Detroit in 1872. Here he takes an active interest in the medical activities of the city. Dr. Flintermann is an organizer and early member of the Board of Health, a president of the Detroit Medical and Library Association, a very active member and a vice-president of the Detroit Academy of Medicine and, at the time of his death, president of the Detroit Society of Neurology and Psychiatry.
The 1912 Annual Edition of The Journal of the Michigan State Medical Society stated the following:
“Dr. Flintermann was remarkable for the breadth of his information and culture, and his interests were not confined to the fields of medicine; for he was a constant reader of works of philosophy, and his general reading was unusual.
He was ever a foe to sham, a lover of the genuine and the true, and possessed an instinctive contempt for whatever masqueraded as knowledge but had no scientific backing. His manner was simple and unpretentious, and he was ever modest and unassuming. Conscientious, to a degree, he was a beautiful example of the highest type of the physician and the man of science.
His religious opinions were never crowded upon anyone, but he was an earnest Christian and a constant reader of the works of the best religious thinkers. This is but in accord with the broad culture which characterized the man.”
While living in Detroit, Johan and Dorette have five children: Elise M. (1868-1947); Rudolph Friedrich (1871-1934); Emilie A. (1872-1962); Carl Herman Louis (1876-1931) and Gerhard (1878-1963).
Elise and Emilie never marry and live their entire lives in the Detroit area before passing away at the ages of 79 and 90, respectively.
After attending public schools in Detroit, Rudolph Flintermann attends the University of Michigan, specializing in Chemistry. He first teaches at the North Dakota School of Mines and then heads the chemical research department at International Harvester Co. In 1907, Rudolph returns to the Detroit area and establishes the Michigan Steel Casting Company holding the position of President. On 9 Mar 1934, after suffering from Chronic Nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys) for nine months, Rudolph passes away at home with his wife, Augusta, by his side. He was 62 years old. In a tribute in the 1933/1934 edition of The Michigan Alumnus Vol. 40, his brother-in-law, Professor Edgar N. Durfee, describes Rudolph as: “Charming …radiated friendliness and good cheer …not effusive …earnest …whimsical …a good hater, and violently despised meanness and dishonesty and sham …loved good talk …a good listener…interest were so wide …young-old man …becoming lighter hearted in his later years.”
Carl Flintermann achieves even greater success rising to the level of President of the Wilcox-Rich Corporation, a leader in automotive and aircraft engine valve manufacturing and in 1930 merges with the Eaton Axle and Spring Co. He is also the Chairman of the pressed steel division of the World War Industry board. Tragically on Sunday, 18 Jan 1931, Carl Flintermann, at the age of 54, is found dead of an apparent suicide after hanging himself in his room at the Hotel Hayes in Jackson, MI. The next morning, his death makes the headlines of the Detroit Free Press. It reports that after arriving in Detroit from Chicago on Saturday, he calls his wife and then goes the Detroit Athletic Club. He is seen leaving there in the company of an unknown man. He arrives at the Hayes Hotel around 6 P.M., apparently alone, and requests a wake up call for 7 A.M. the next morning. That evening, he fails to attend a previously scheduled dinner engagement. When the front-desk is unable to reach Mr. Flintermann Sunday morning, a night clerk and porter break into the room to find him hanging from a steam pipe. He had stood on a chair, tied a new sash cord, which he had brought, around his neck and steam pipe and kicked the chair out from beneath. Towels had been stuffed around the door to deaden sounds and neither bed had been slept in. One can reasonably speculate that the suicide is possibly connected to the recent crash in the stock market that led to the Great Depression as well as the recent merger with Eaton.
Gerhard, the youngest brother, leaves the Detroit area and moves to Pennsylvania where he lives to be 84 years old and passes away on 19 Feb. 1963.
Rabbit Hole #2 Tashmoo Park
In 1897, the White Star Line fleet purchases 60-acres on Harsens Island and opens an amusement park they call Tashmoo Park. Harsens Island is located at the northern end of Lake St. Clair in the St. Clair Flats, the largest freshwater river delta in the world.
During the summers, Tashmoo Park offers visitors an escape from the oppressive summer heat and humidity of packed and sweltering Detroit. The park has picnic tables, a baseball diamond, swings and rides, as well as a casino, dancing pavilion and biergarten. Visitors can also swim in the nearby St. Clair River and purchase moccasins and beadworks from the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa people of the Walpole Island First Nation inhabiting nearby Walpole Island. Walpole Island is also the final resting place of the great Shawnee leader, Tecumseh.
Tashmoo Park is served by the multiple steamships that travels daily between Detroit and Port Huron, delivering both passengers and freight. This is during a time when automobiles are rare and roads few. The connecting waters of the Great Lakes make steamship travel almost like riding a bus. During the summers in the 1890s and early 20th century, Tashmoo Park entertains up to 250,000 visitors. The most famous steamer is Tashmoo, which stops twice daily during its scheduled trips between Detroit and Port Huron.
Unfortunately, with the increasing popularity of car trips to more distant vacation spots and the demise of the Tashmoo, travelers to Tashmoo Park dwindles. In 1951, after 54 years of offering Detroit’s population a respite from the summer heat, Tashmoo Park closes. Most of the park is demolished, though the dance pavilion remains today, used by a marina to store recreational boats over the winter.
