2023.10.427

Dr. Frederick Steele Hartmann was born in Chicago on 8 Jun1862 and died on 17 Mar1933. He married Maggie Lovina (nee Baker) in Bellevue, OH on 21 Nov1888. Dr. Hartmann earned his medical degree at Rush Medical School and was an associate of world renowned surgeon, Dr. J. B. Murphy, who invented the "Murphy Button", a device used for intestinal suturing. A memorial stands today at Wabash and Erie Streets in recognition of Dr. Murphy. Dr Hartmann is mentioned in the book, J.B. Murphy, by Dr. Loyal Davis (1938) who was an associate of Drs. Murphy and Hartmann and later chairman of the department of surgery at Northwestern University from 1932 to 1963 (and step-father of First Lady Nancy Reagan). Upon his passing Dr. Davis was waked in the J.B. Murphy auditorium. In his book, Dr. Davis made reference to rumors of the day, that while called the Murphy Button, "Hartmann did all of his work" (p. 163). We don't know the first time the family came to Saugatuck, but we do know that in August 1901 the family was staying at the Riverside Hotel (the old Shriver Hotel at Ox-Bow Lagoon) and had been to the lake to bathe when a tragedy struck. They walked along the pier. Herbert, age 6, strayed from the care of his nurse, and was missing from the group when it arrived at the hotel. His body was pulled from the water some days later, and returned to Chicago for burial. This tragedy did not end the family attraction for Saugatuck, and in 1915 they were to buy a farm here. Based on the 1915 tax records, Aaron Sheridan was able to identify the property as being the plot of land just north of the washout on Lakeshore Road now referred to as the "Tranquility Plot", extending on either side of "Tranquil Road". The original farmhouse seems to still be standing. "In April Fred purchased a fruit farm across the lake in Michigan. The family went there for the first time during the spring vacation the later part of April, and some of us were there until nearly the middle of November. I spent about six months there at the farm, in four installments. That the life agreed with my health was proved by a gain of sixteen pounds of flesh. "Our farm consists of twenty acres of land. We have about 550 feet of lake frontage and a half mile stretch to the rear end of the place. We have about eighteen hundred fruit trees - apples, peaches, pears, cherries, plums and quinces, beside small fruit and a garden. The peach predominates - we packed 1,500 bushels of peaches for the market in one-fifth bushel baskets. "Our livestock consists of two horses, a cow, pig, chickens, two hives of bees and a dog, not to mention two canaries. We have a small house of seven rooms and a fair sizes screen porch. It is built on a slight elevation, the lawn sloping down to the edge of the bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. "Fred turned the management of the place over to the children. Bertha being the general manager: they to pay all expenses but insurance, taxes and house furnishings, out of the proceeds and to pocket the balance. Said balance was not very heavy this year, on account of there being a super-abundance of fruit throughout the country and partly due, probably, to our inexperience in handling the situation. "-- There are ten big maple trees around the house, five in a row to the west and five more to the south. -- -A public driveway runs between our lawn and the bluff. "The heavy work of the farm was done by a man whom we engaged by the year; the remaining part was done by the family. We have become expert in packing all kinds of fruit, pruning berry bushes and transplanting and weeding strawberries. "Fred spent a month or less at the farm - the time being spread over week ends and occasionally and extra day or two. As a monument of his part of the summer's work there, is a natural stairs down the bluff to the beach, (bluff about 75 ft. high), and many ornamental shade trees and shrubs planted. "We love the farm and its surroundings, the lovely view of the lake and the gorgeous sunsets over it, the fine air and the free untrammeled life- - Maggie" The 1917 Christmas letter tells of some disillusionment with agricultural life: "We regret that some of the rest of you may not have visited us at the farm for we may not spend another season there, as we have put it on the market for sale, and have a prospective buyer in sight. The country around Saugatuck surpasses any other part of Michigan in its beauty. Cooper selected this portion of the West as a setting for his interesting, and what was still in our youth, a most popular novel-- The Pathfinder. The disadvantages of the farm seem to overbalance the advantages, much as we enjoy the beautiful location, the lake and attractive people. It is, however, too inaccessible for week end trips. The difficulty in securing help, the high cost of feed, and all the farm equipment. Have made fruit growing and expensive proposition. For example: To pay $100 for a horse one year, and to be offered $200 for him the next, and then the third year he would not bring $50 because of the scarcity of feed, [hay at $22 a ton], is only one of the ups and downs of farming during these war times. We had a beautiful Guernsey cow, kept her over winter, and had her espouse prohibition, and go drier than the State of Michigan in which she lived. Had to swap her for a scrawny, hump-backed Myrtle, a producer of an inferior grade of lacteal fluid, and we finally had to dispose of her for $40, half of what she cost in the Spring. I think, however, that our experience on the farm has been of benefit to us; it certainly has been an education in more ways than one--Lovingly your sister Maggie" Scott writes that the family owned the farm until 1920, when it was finally sold. -contributed by Chris Yoder

Family History1870 Fruit growing, farming, agriculture

Winthers, Sally

05/26/2026

05/27/2026