Julie's Genealogy & More

 North

 

[Ash Tree] [Ash Photos] [Ash Family Album] [Howell] [North] [Snow] [Crazy Quilt]

My great-great-great grandmother Martha Elizabeth NORTH was born August 13, 1829 in Thomaston, Maine.

1895 map of Knox County, Maine

Martha  married John ASH (1829-1902) of Boston Massachusetts and the two moved to Michigan between 1859-1870.

Martha's parents were Joseph NORTH & Rebecca J. Snow NORTH.

Snow surname page

Mayflower connection

Other Colonial Surnames:

Pillsbury, Manbeck, Minckler, Beuls, Wilder

Our Family Crazy Quilt

Chellis surname page

If you see ANY connection with these folks, please contact me!

North Research Notes

Thomaston, Maine Historical Society

Maps of Oceana, Newaygo & Muskegon Counties in Michigan

Early Days of Newaygo County, Michigan

Family legend has it that Martha's father Joseph North was a lumberman who worked in a lumber camp in Michigan.  The following sheds some light on the lumber industry in Michigan in the mid-late 1800's.

JANUARY 28, 1877. Winfield Scott Gerrish opens the 7.1-mile-long Lake George and Muskegon River Railroad in Clare County. Following a warm winter that seriously hampered logging activities, Gerrish moves 20 million board feet of logs to the Muskegon River. The next year he increases his output six-fold. Though Gerrish is not the first to build a Michigan logging railroad, his operation is well-publicized and successful. It revolutionizes lumbering in Michigan. By 1882, thirty-two narrow-gauge logging railroads will operate in the state. The railroads permit new areas to be logged, all sizes of trees to be cut and, most importantly, allow year-round transportation of logs to the sawmills. Commercial logging in Michigan has flourished since the Civil War, drawing immigrants from around the world--especially Scandinavians, Germans, Irish and Canadians. Michigan
will retain its national leadership in lumber production until 1900. By the end of the lumbering era, Michigan loggers will have cut 161 billion board feet of pine logs and 50 billion board feet of hardwoods. That is equivalent to a half-mile wide,
one-inch plank road from New York to San Francisco. In dollar value, Michigan lumber will out value all the gold extracted from California by a billion dollars. It will also create a furniture industry centered in Grand Rapids that flourishes well into the twentieth century. However, wasteful logging practices will leave enormous cutover acres that are periodically ravaged by fire. In 1881—in one of Michigan's worst natural disasters—fires in the Thumb will leave 300 people dead. This fire also will be the first disaster relief project for the American Red Cross.

Hartwick Pines Logging Museum

Lumbering in Michigan

Lumbering in the Fremont Area

The following shows the first four generations of our North ancestors.  There are several additional generations which are not posted here out of respect for the living.  If you see any connection, please contact me.

 

Descendants of Joseph North

1 Joseph North 1804 - 1900 (photo above)

. +Rebecca J. Snow 1803 - 1893

. 2 Martha Elizabeth North 1829 - 1914

.... +John Ash 1829 - 1902

..... 3 Cora Adelie Ash 1852 - 1854

..... 3 Ruth Lena Ash 1854 - 1891

..... 3 Adelie Imogene Ash 1854 -

........ +Unk Chellis

........ 4 Lura Chellis

........... +Charles Campbell

........ 4 Alta Chellis

........... +Judd Abbott

........ 4 Mildred Chellis

........... +Unk Wenk

........ 4 Harry Chellis

........ 4 Bill Chellis

..... 3 William James Ash 1859 - 1916

........ +Effie B. Linda Seymour 1863 - 1950

........ 4 Lacey Lloyd Ash 1889 - 1950

........... +Vera Johnson 1891 - 1954

........ 4 John Warren Ash 1891 - 1989

........... +Mable Anna Howell 1894 - 1953

........ 4 Charles Carroll Ash 1896 - 1979

........... +Pansy Beatrice Mason 1894 - 1979

..... 3 Mattie Josephine Ash 1866 - 1866

..... 3 Hattie Ash 1868 - 1869

. 2 Elisha Snow North 1832 -

.... +Susan Drake

..... 3 Martha Frances North 1869 - 1956

........ +Charles Adora Hewitt 1866 - 1944

........ 4 James W. Hewitt 1891 - 1997

........ 4 Harry Vernon Hewitt 1892 -

........ 4 Elisha Snow Marshall Hewitt 1894 -

........ 4 John Juell Hewitt 1897 -

........ 4 Infant Hewitt 1902 - 1902

........ 4 Frank Rufus Hewitt 1905 -

........... +Iva Geraldine Maynard

........ 4 Lauretta Lola Hewitt 1907 - 1941

........ 4 Winnifred Lela Hewitt 1907 - 1911

........ 4 Alice H. Hewitt 1910 - 1910

..... 3 Hattie M. North 1871 - 1937

..... 3 Henry S. North 1873 - 1873

..... 3 William D. North 1874 - 1874

..... 3 Ella M. North 1875 - 1903

..... 3 Leula North 1876 - Unknown

..... 3 Elisher Earl North 1885 - 1889

. 2 James North 1839 -

. 2 Hannah Frances North Unknown - Deceased