Ahead of Their Time

Businesses were difficult to start and maintain in nineteenth century Michigan, especially if you were black. No matter the barriers, Willaim and Wallace Goodridge thrived under the pressure and created the state’s first minority owned photography business.

Their journey began in 1847 in York, PA. The oldest of the Goodridge brothers, Glenalvin, became the first in the family to start in the fledgling trade. Photography as a commercial industry was nascent to say the least. The first wide-spread photographic process, the daguerreotype, had only been perfected by Louis Daguerre in Paris that same decade. Glenalvin soon developed a reputation for prizewinning ambrotypes. Unfortunately, an extortion scheme left him falsely accused of a crime. Glenalvin died during his unjust prison sentence.

Sanctuary in Saginaw

The two younger brothers, Wallace and William, re-established the studio in Saginaw, MI in 1863. They made a wonderful team. Wallace specialized in studio portraiture and William took the trade into the woods. Under contract to area railways, William photographed lumber camps on stereographic cards. William’s work reached critical acclaim when in 1890 (the year of his death), the Dept. of Agriculture sent his lumber views to be displayed as an American representative at the Centennial Exhibition in Paris.

Wallace continued the studio business in Saginaw until his death in 1922. It remains as an example of one of the most important minority-owned establishments in early photographic history.

For further reading: Jezierski, John Vincent. Enterprising Images: The Goodridge Brothers, African-American Photographers 1847-1922.

Hank Ballard, 1959 (Permission to reproduce photographs from TWIST by Ron Mann, Courtesy of Sphinx Productions (c) 1991. All rights reserved)

Perhaps you’ve never heard of Detroit’s Hank Ballard, but you’ve almost certainly heard of his dance. Ballard wrote and recorded “The Twist” in 1958. Two years later, Chubby Checker had a hit with his cover of the song. Checker’s version remains the most famous. Nonetheless, it is Hank Ballard who is the real Father of the Twist!

A Royal and a Midnighter

Hank Ballard began life as John Henry Kendricks. He was born in Detroit on November 18, 1927 (Some sources give a birth year of 1936. The 1927 date would seem to be correct, though, as it appears on Ballard’s grave stone).

Ballard’s parents died when he was seven, and he was sent to Bessemer, Alabama to live with relatives. At the age of fifteen, he ran away and returned to Detroit. Ultimately, he found a job at a Ford Motor Company plant. He recalled singing to the rhythm of the assembly line. One of his co-workers was Sonny Woods, a bass player for a band called the Royals. Ballard soon began singing for the group.

The Royals were under a recording contract with King/Federal Records. Famed band leader/talent scout Johnny Otis signed the group after hearing them at a Detroit amateur talent contest. Ballard later described the Royals as “traditional rhythm and blues types.” He recalled convincing them to try “a modern, urban sound.” Toward that end, he wrote a tune called “Get It,” and the Royals recorded it in 1953. It ultimately reached number six on the national R&B charts.

Ballard then wrote “Work With Me Annie,” described by author David A. Carson as a song with “a driving beat and raw, suggestive lyrics” (See Page 8 of Carson’s book Grit, Noise and Revolution: The Birth of Detroit Rock ‘n’ Roll.). It reached number one on the R&B charts. At about this time, the group changed its name to the Midnighters (There was another group called “the 5 Royales,” and Ballard and his band mates didn’t want to be confused with them.).

The Midnighters followed “Work With Me Annie” with “Sexy Ways” and then with two “sequels” to “Work With Me Annie.” “Work With Me Annie,” “Annie Had a Baby” and “Annie’s Aunt Fanny” formed a sort of trilogy. The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll (Third Edition) notes that each “Annie” song “sold a million copies internationally despite being banned from the airwaves” (The lyrics were considered risqué.).

In the early 1960s, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters charted hits with “Finger Poppin’ Time” and “Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go.” At some point thereafter, Ballard began a solo career. He performed in clubs into the 1990s, sometimes touring with James Brown. He passed away on March 2, 2003 and is buried in Atlanta, Georgia.

…and then, there’s “The Twist”…

Twist Lesson (Permission to reproduce photographs from TWIST by Ron Mann, Courtesy of Sphinx Productions (c) 1991. All rights reserved.)

Why wasn’t “The Twist” a hit for Hank Ballard and the Midnighters?”

The song originally appeared as the B side of “Teardrops on My Letter.” “Teardrops” was a hit for the Midnighters, but “The Twist,” as a B side, naturally attracted much less attention.

Gerald Early, in his book One Nation Under a Groove: Motown and American Culture, also suggests that Chubby Checker possessed strengths as a hitmaker that Ballard did not. Early notes that “Checker’s youth and manner, and his lack of reputation as an aggressively sexual R & B artist, put the song over for white mainstream audiences, including adults.”

Regardless, there would have been no “Twist” without Ballard, and Ballard unquestionably left his mark on rock and roll. This impact was recognized in 1990, when Ballard was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Hank Ballard Sings “The Twist

The video below is a link from the YouTube site. To visit the YouTube page, click Hank Ballard’s “The Twist” on YouTube.

Adam Crosswhite

Fugitive slaves Adam and Sarah Crosswhite seemed to have found sanctuary in Marshall, Michigan. The town, located on the famed underground railroad, was known for anti-slavery sentiment. When the Crosswhites arrived there in 1843, they soon established residency and sent their children to the local school (Marshall’s school was racially integrated at that time.). Everything seemed to be going well for them. Then, in January 1847, four slave catchers arrived from Kentucky.

The Crosswhite Affair

Legally, the Crosswhites were property of a Kentuckian named Francis Giltner. Adam and Sarah fled Kentucky with their four children, because Giltner planned to break up their family. Giltner hired his nephew, a man named Francis Troutman, to track them down. In December 1846, Troutman found them in Marshall. After verifying their identities (He allegedly hired a local deputy sheriff to visit them posing as a census enumerator.), he decided to make a move.

In late January, 1847, Troutman arrived at the Crosswhites’ house. With him were David Giltner (son of Francis Giltner) and two other Kentuckians. The men tried to arrest the Crosswhites. Somehow, neighbors were alerted, although accounts vary as to how (According to one witness, Adam Crosswhite had fired a warning shot.). In any case, a crowd of about two to three hundred Marshall citizens congregated at the Crosswhite house. Both blacks and whites were represented in the assemblage. Most of the people were simply curiosity seekers, but some outwardly jeered and/or threatened the slave catchers.

After awhile, banker Charles T. Gorham arrived with other prominent Marshall citizens. A sort of “town meeting” then commenced. Gorham introduced a resolution stating that the Crosswhites would not be taken. The townspeople agreed. Troutman and his party were then arrested for assault, battery and housebreaking. Over the next two days, the men stood trial as the Crosswhites left for Canada.

Aftermath

U.S. Senator Zachariah Chandler (Photo by Matthew Brady)

Francis Giltner later sued Charles Gorham and some other Marshall citizens for the value of his slaves. He won the case, and Gorham (ultimately becoming the sole defendant) was ordered to pay Giltner $4,800. Zachariah Chandler, a Detroit businessmen and anti-slavery sympathizer, paid Gorman’s fine. Chandler was later elected to the United States Senate, where he gained a reputation as a staunch, pro-Northern “radical Republican.”

Meanwhile, the Crosswhites resided in Canada for several years. Then – for reasons lost to history – the family returned to Marshall.

Adam Crosswhite, who died in 1878, is buried in Marshall, Michigan. To view his grave at findagrave.com, click here; Adam Crosswhite’s Grave

Read More About It

The following sources were consulted for this article:

“A Beacon of Liberty on the Great Lakes: Race, Slavery and the Law in Antebellum Michigan.” By Ray E. Finkenbine. In The History of Michigan Law (Paul Finkelman and Martin J. Hershock, editors), pp. 83-107.

”One Flame in the Inferno” by John C. Sherwood. Michigan History March/April 1989, pp. 40-47.

“The Crosswhite Case” by John H. Yzenbaard. Michigan History, Summer 1969, pp. 131-143.

See also:

Adam Crosswhite Lesson Plan (Michigan Historical Center). http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-54463_18670_44390-160755–,00.html

The first, most noticeable feature, is the new image viewer. When you view an image or a document, you can now pan the image, just as you would pan the map on Google Maps by clicking on and dragging the image around. Zooming is also much faster since the entire page won’t have to be reloaded each time a zoom button is clicked. Zooming can also be performed by a “slider bar” so that you can immediately jump to the appropriate zoom level. Once you are zoomed in, the overview pane in the top left corner of the image allows you to quickly pan by dragging the red box, which represents the current viewing area. Thanks to UNLV’s dmMonocle plugin for this feature.

Screenshot of the new image viewer

A second new feature, which is less apparent, is the ability to enter quoted phrases into your search to limit your search by specific phrases. The digital content system we use was built with a certain way of searching in mind — that search terms are entered into separate text boxes depending on whether you want to search for an exact phrase or a set of keywords. A different convention is common on the web in which any exact phrases are surrounded in quotes and any unquoted words are flexible keywords. Just this week, we have added the ability to search our digital archives much the same way you search Google. For instance, if I want to search for the Olds mansion in Lansing, I would enter Lansing “Olds mansion” into the Seek search box. This will pull up all records that contain “Lansing” or the phrase “Olds mansion”. Try it out!

Dog Sled Race in Ishpeming, Michigan, 1906

The above photo was snapped one frosty Thursday morning in Ishpeming, a town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The date is February 22, 1906. The large crowd is watching a dog sled race through Ishpeming’s streets. Although the race is well attended, it’s not the week’s main attraction.

A National Event

That main attraction was the National Ski Association’s annual National Championship Tournament. Officially, this 1906 contest was the Association’s “second annual” tournament, as the organization’s final by-laws were approved just before the tournament of the previous year. A tournament WAS held in February 1904, however, so, technically, the 1906 “second annual tournament” was really the third annual tournament.

A ski tournament in Ishpeming, circa 1904-1915

Regardless, this 1906 ski jump competition was held at Jackson Hill, located in the Ishpeming area. In their book A History of the Ishpeming Ski Club, Burt Boyum and Jamie LaFreniere note that Ole Fiering of Duluth, Minnesota won the tournament. They also note that this “broke a local chain of victories” as Ishpeming residents Conrad Thompson and Ole Westgaard had won the tournaments in 1904 and 1905, respectively.

Ishpeming’s newspaper, the Iron Ore, reported (in its February 24, 1906 issue) that the tournament was a success. “Great crowds poured into the city from all sides,” it declared, “and the attendance far surpassed that of any similar occasion in America.” (The Iron Ore might have been a somewhat biased source. Its publisher, George A. Newett, was President of the Ishpeming Ski Club during that year.)

Today, Ishpeming is home to the U.S. National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame and Museum. To visit the Web site, click here: U.S. National Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame and Museum.

…but about those “dog derbies”…

Ispheming’s annual dog sled races apparently predate the National Ski Association Tournaments. Boyum and LaFreniere note that these races were “first used to entertain children” but had “grown in scope and attracted huge crowds.” In the earliest races, contestants were all young males. Presumably, this was still true in 1906, as the February 24, 1906 Iron Ore report describes the sled drivers as “young.” The same report stated that “a large crowd” witnessed the race, in which fifty sled drivers competed. The route apparently ran along Main Street, “from the top of the hill to the finish between Cleveland Avenue and Pearl Streets.”

Polar Ice Cap Golf Tournament, 1977

Michiganians find inventive ways to enjoy winter. This photo provides an example. It was taken at Spring Lake (near Grand Haven, Michigan) on February 12, 1977. The occasion: the seventh annual Polar Ice Cap Golf Tournament!

A “War Against Winter”

“Winter Wages War in [Ottawa] County!” proclaimed the Grand Haven Tribune on January 27, 1977.

This must have seemed true to Ottawa County residents. The winter of 1976-1977 was especially harsh. “Experts foresee this winter as perhaps the worst of the century,” the Tribune reported in that aforementioned January 27th issue. It also noted that the claim was arguable. Nonetheless, four days later, the Grand Haven Tribune ran the headline “Michigan Needs Second Christmas.” This referenced a longing for warmer temperatures, rather than holiday cheer. According to the accompanying article, December 25, 1976 was the last day that temperatures had risen above freezing! In January and February 1977, the Grand Haven Tribune published a number of stories on severe winter storms and bitter cold.

Tee Time!

One would imagine that many Ottawa County, Michigan residents had “cabin fever” by mid-February 1977. A “golf game on ice” might thus appeal as a sort of defiant gesture toward Mother Nature. On February 8, 1977, the Grand Haven Tribune quoted the Chamber of Commerce as stating that “interest and response” in the annual Polar Ice Cap Golf Tournament was “tremendous.”

Tee-off time was 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 12. The tournament included men’s and women’s nine hole events and a “Frostbite 18.” The Tribune – reporting on the tournament in its February 14 issue – noted that 135 people participated, with the Frostbite 18 having the largest number of contestants (Unfortunately, the contestants in the photo above have not been identified.). Barry Fidelman (“owner of Fildelman’s Bar in South Haven”) took first place in the Frostbite 18. Fidelman scored a 57, which the Tribune called “a record-breaking score for the history of the tournament.” While Fidelman broke a record, another contestant set one. The Tribune noted that Philip Bareham, a sixteen-year-old resident of Spring Lake, Michigan shot “the only hole-in-one in the history of the Frostbite 18!”

Winterfest!

In December 2009, this author contacted Kevin Galbavi of Winterfest, Inc. Galbavi stated that the Polar Ice Cap Golf Tournament had been one of several winter events in the Grand Haven area. He explained that the various events were “pulled together” in 1978 (the year after the photo above was taken) to form a festival. According to Galbavi, Winterfest, Inc. formed the following year, and the Polar Ice Cap Golf Tournament became an annual Winterfest event.

Galbavi noted that the golf tournament is no longer held. He explained that frequent cancellations (due to thin ice) prompted the decision to end the annual event, and thus, the final Polar Ice Cap Golf Tournament was played in 2007. Winterfest itself has continued, however. “It’s bigger and better than it’s ever been!” Galbavi exclaimed.

This year’s Winterfest will be held January 28-31, 2010. For more information, click Winterfest Web site.

A 20th Century Lumber Camp; Delta County, Michigan

Did you ever wonder about life in an old-time lumber camp? The image above provides a peak into that venue. Handwriting on the photo’s reverse side identifies the location as “Delta County, Upper Peninsula.” No date is provided. Note, however, that the men have a phonograph for playing vinyl records. This suggests an early twentieth century time frame.

Michigan’s Lumber Boom

In the 1840s, Eastern states were beginning to exhaust their timber resources, and information about Michigan pine began to spread. Lumbermen began flocking to the Great Lakes State. According to George S. May’s revised edition of Willis Dunbar’s Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State, Michigan’s lumber boom peaked around 1880. Dunbar and May also note that lower peninsula forests were “virtually all cutover” by 1900 and that Upper Peninsula lumber production began to decline a few years after that. Conservation techniques and selective cutting increased productivity later in the twentieth century. By then, however, the “hey day” of the lumber industry was unquestionably over.

The Nature of a Logging Camp

For much of its history, logging was a winter activity. In winter, logs could be easily transported to river banks via bob sleds (or, in later years, by railroad.). In spring, when the ice melted, logs were floated down the river to saw mills. Log marks (the logging equivalent of “cattle brands”) determined ownership. Due to the seasonal nature of the business, logging camps tended to be temporary (Note that the men in the photo above are wearing winter clothing.).

In “Michigan’s White Pine Era, 1840-1900” (Michigan History vol. 43, December 1959), Rolland H. Maybee describes a typical Michigan lumber camp, circa 1875-1900. Many camps of this era accommodated sixty to one hundred men. Typically, there would be five or six main buildings, all made of logs. A bunkhouse, a cookshanty, a barn, a blacksmith shop, and a camp office and store would be among the buildings. The camp office and store typically included living quarters for the foreman and log scaler.

A Man Sounding the Dinner Bell at the L.B. Curtis Lumber Camp; Midland County, Michigan (Photo not dated)

The Lumberjack’s Life

William and Edith Overlease interviewed Michigan lumberjack Ralph Hooker a few months before his death in 1965. Hooker was seventy-nine years old at the time. An excerpt of the interview appears in the May/June 1994 issue of Michigan History magazine. Hooker recalled working sixty hours each week, with Sunday being the sole day of rest. From Monday through Saturday, he noted, the men were awoken at 5:00 a.m. and went to bed at 9:00 every night. Hooker mentioned large breakfasts, consisting of buckwheat pancakes, fresh meat, fresh meat grease, sauces, cookies and hash. “Hash was legal tender in them days,” he said, adding that, “After the second helping of hash, I could cut logs ‘till noon.” Hooker described long days of hard work, and evenings filled with storytelling and card games. “I stayed out of poker games,” he said, “But I’d swap lies with any of them.” On the work as the whole, he said, “I worked like the dickens, but I didn’t think anything of it.”

Timber Harvest

Timber Harvest from Seeking Michigan on Vimeo.

The video above depicts activities at a 1950s lumber camp. The original movie – filmed by the Michigan Department of Conservation – is stored within the Archives of Michigan collections. For more Archives of Michigan videos, visit the Seeking Michigan Vimeo site.