Monday, November 23, 1936

A HOUSE IN BOWNE CENTER

---

Cold wind from N.E.

Didn't wash had the

whole house to straighten

up after the party last

night.

Mr. + Mrs. Will Blough of Freeport

here to have Morse fix their radio.

Morse took kids to G.R. for

music lessons.

Sold to V.L. Watts 2 10/12 doz eggs

Rec'd for last week's eggs

2 4/12 doz. @35¢ - 82¢

Also rec'd statement of the

reactor hens 126# — $15.67

Deducting for testing 4.14

Check $11.53

---

In 1915, Henry and Edna built a new home on the Johnson family farm. Before then, the farm had a smaller house in which Henry grew up and where he and Edna resided when they were first married in 1902.

The image below shows the farm as it looked when Henry was a child. It also gives you a sense of what Bowne Center looked like in 1936. Much of Bowne Center is the same today.

The Methodist church on the corner is the church Henry and Edna attended and it is the church in which my husband and I were married.

The cemetery is larger now. It is where Edna and Henry and all of their children (except Morse), and many of their friends and relatives are buried.

My father and his father and his grandfather (Henry) all attended the one room school across from the church. Today, the school is a museum. Both of my parents (ages 81 and 90) are members of the Bowne Center Historical Society which oversees the care of the museum.

And this is what feels like a punch in the stomach...most of the members of the historical society are aging like my parents. Who will care for the history of Bowne Center when they are gone?

The home that Henry and Edna built in 1915 is not a typical farmhouse for rural Michigan but it is reflective of homes being built at that time. It has an Arts & Crafts feel on the exterior. The interior had Arts & Crafts elements as well. According to my father, the wood for the home came from trees on the farm.

This is the house that Edna was cleaning in Bowne Center the day after a party occurred celebrating the marriage of her youngest daughter Helen. This is the home that Edna and Henry built. This is the home that Hank (Henry and Edna's son) and his wife Maxine maintained until just a few years ago. This is a home that still stands in Bowne Center today.

And, this is where today's post might end except for the fact that after chatting back and forth with my mom and dad this evening (trying to get some facts straight) they sent me a picture of Henry and Edna that made my heart sing.

No home is complete without the people who occupy it. I love getting to know my great grandmother and her family from her journal but this picture tells a story, too.

This is Henry. This is Edna. Aren't they lovely?