Scope and ContentIn December of 1875, my father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Stephen D. Variell, accompanied by my father's brother, Daniel Variell and wife, my mother's sister, moved from near Mason in Ingham county to a farm on the Hooter road, later known as the Dan Kitchen place. They encountered all of the hardships and joys of the early settlers in clearing off a farm of virgin forest and trying to wrest a living from the land. After four or five years of rather doubtful success they decided to dissolve partnership and my uncle and aunt purchased a farm in Bravo township in what was then known as the Bowles district where they lived until my uncle's death. My aunt later married Elihu Eaton and has made her home in Douglas for twenty years or more. My father took his share of the money from the sale of the farm and purchased the schooner Ida, which he rebuilt into a rather large tug carrying one mast. I think it was the spring of 1 880 that we purchased the house and lot on Lake street that is now owned by Henry Perkins; later father sold it to my grandmother, Mrs. Polly Rutty, who lived there until her death. We then moved onto North Main Street in what was later known as the Doud place. At that time there were only two general stores, the A. B. Taylor and the Barber stores. Mrs. Nies owned the hardware, the Walz Bros. the meat market, a man by the name of Wormsnest was the baker; he later petitioned the legislature and had his name changed to Baker. C.E. Bird was the druggist, I believe he is the only one of the old merchants left. The Saugatuck House was the only hotel; Mr. Morrison owned and operated the tannery; there was a cooper shop and a planing mill near the north end of the bridge to Douglas; the sawmill just west of the schoolhouse on the river bank gave employment to a large number of men. I'll never forget how there was always a large boomful of logs back of our place on Lake street that extended from the sawmill to the south end of the first bridge. I had been warned not to venture out onto the logs, but one day I decided that my duck must have a swim; so tucking her under my arm, I started out across the logs for clear water. I hadn't gone far before I stepped down onto a butt of a log that had been sawed off and was only about a foot thick and was floating flat side up; as it tipped up I screamed and went under. My Uncle Earl Rutty and my brother, Charlie, were playing on the logs, they caught a glimpse of me as I went down and came to my rescue; when they got me out I was unconscious, but I still had my duck clutched under my arm. That was one stunt I never tried again. I think it was the 27th day of November, 1881, that the cooper hired my father to go to Holland for a load of barrel staves. It was a bad day with a hard wind blowing. He made Holland, loaded up and started back for Saugatuck around six o'clock; by the time he had reached the mouth of the river (the old harbor) the wind was blowing so hard that he decided not to try to get inside, on account of a shifting sand bar, but to head out into the lake and try and ride the storm out. By this time it was pitch dark, the lookout discovered signals of distress near the shore. It was the barge Mudge loaded with brick and carrying a crew of two men. The Ida threw them a line and after a hard fought battle with the elements both boats succeeded in reaching the dock at Saugatuck. During the storm the passenger boat Alpena foundered and every soul was lost. About noon the next day several bodies and the piano were washed ashore near Pier Cove. This storm held the record for the greatest loss of lives and boats on lake Michigan until a year ago. In March of 188 my father traded the Ida far a farm in the Ben Try school district, but he sailed that summer as first mate on the passenger boat the Severens, but the days and nights of exposure while sailing had taken a toll of his strength and he died in 1887. After my father's death I lived with my grandmother and attended school the year of 1887 and 1888 in the old school building which was new then. Professor Trowbridge was the principal, Maria Newnham taught the grammar room, Hattie Spencer the intermediate and I can't remember who taught the primary department. The only change in the school staff the next year was that Rena Ames took the place of Hattie Spencer who left to teach in Douglas. There are many other things that I would like to write about, especially the Choats fire, but I feel this letter is getting too long... Loa Variell Randolph Rives Jct., Jackson Co., Michigan