Official publication of the Ypsilanti Historical Society, featuring articles and reminiscences of the people and places in the Ypsilanti area SUMMER 2016 In This Issue... A History of the A History of the Cleary Family in Ypsilanti ........................................1 CLEARY FAMILY Patrick Roger Cleary II The Surprise Treasure Box ..............10 in Ypsilanti By Jan Anshuetz Joe Butcko ......................................14 BY PATRICK ROGER CLEARY II By Bill Nickels World War II: An Interview with Virginia Davis-Brown .....................18 By Eric Setzer The Butcher Boy of Ypsilanti .........23 By Kelley Beatie Meredith Bixby – An Entrepreneurial Puppeteer ......24 By Bill Nickels Famous Ypsilanti Sports Figures ....26 By Robert Anschuetz Society Briefs From the President’s Desk ................2 Society Board Members ..................2 Museum Board Report .....................7 The original Cleary College building in 1893. This picture was taken in circa 1905. psilanti welcomed a new era on or 7 years after he was born. The dates Membership Application ...............22 October 8, 1883 when an ambi- and causes of their deaths were never GLEANINGS Sponsors ....................33 tious and talented twenty-five revealed to our family. His older siblings Y Advertising Application .................35 year old Irish immigrant opened a school of penmanship in Ypsilanti and created an institution that continues to thrive today, 133 years later. Our story begins in 1858 in the town of YpsilantiHISTORICAL SOCIETY Borrisokane, Tipperary County, Ireland. A fifth child was born to Roday and Ju- lia Cleary who they named Patrick Rog- er. Patrick’s parents were poor. Roday The Ypsilanti Historical Museum is a museum was a stockman on a large farm owned of local history which is presented as an 1860 by the Marquise Tuthill, an Englishman. home. The Museum and Fletcher-White Archives are organized and operated by the Ypsilanti Julia worked in the farmhouse and they Historical Society. We are all volunteers and our lived in a two-room thatch roofed cot- The two-room thatch roofed cottage where Patrick membership is open to everyone, including non- Roger Cleary ‘s parents lived in Ireland in 1858 when city residents. tage on the farm property. Patrick Roger was born. The picture was taken in 1938, 39 years after Patrick Roger left Ireland for the Patrick’s father and mother died about 6 United States. www.ypsilantihistoricalsociety.org From the PRESIDENT’S DESK BY ALVIN E. RUDISILL Ypsilanti HISTORICAL SOCIETY ur Spring Membership Meeting was a great success with Lisa Walters presenting a program on “Route 66.” Lisa had many slides and covered many of the historical places and events on the Route 66 highway sys- Board of Trustees: O tem. Thank you Lisa. We received many comments about the great program you Maria Davis, Virginia Davis-Brown, presented. Betsy Gross, Pattie Harrington, Gerald Jennings, Val Kabat, During the Spring Membership Meeting, held on Sunday – May 15, we presented Jackson Livisay, Karen Nickels, John Pappas, Alvin Rudisill, three “Gerald Jennings Service Awards.” Recipients were Bob Southgate, Nancy Robert Southgate, Nancy Wheeler Wheeler and Marcia McCrary. These three individuals have contributed signif- icant amounts of their time and effort to the development and expansion of Museum Advisory Board: services provided by the Ypsilanti Historical Society and it was our pleasure to Virginia Davis-Brown, Kathleen Campbell, Jackson Livisay, recognize these contributions. Louise Nagle, Fofie Pappas, Also, during the Spring Membership Robert Southgate, John Stewart Nancy Wheeler, Daneen Zureich Meeting, we dedicated the “George Ridenour Research Room” in honor Archives Advisory Board: of George Ridenour. George passed Kim Clarke, Maria Davis, Val Kabat, away on December 11, 2015, after Gerry Pety-ex officio, Hank Prebys, Jane Schmiedeke, Lisa Walters, suffering a heart attack. The YHS Bette Warren Board of Trustees voted to name a room in the Archives in his honor in Endowment Fund Advisory Board: recognition of all his contributions Nat Edmunds, Lynda Hummel, to the organization and operation of Mike Kabat, Paul Kuwik, Don Loppnow, Michael Newbury, the YHS Archives. The dedication Karen Nickels, Melanie Parker, included placing a certificate on the Steve Pierce, Alvin Rudisill door describing all of George’s con- tributions as well as a name plate • inscribed the “George Ridenour Ypsilanti Historical Society Research Room.” 220 North Huron Street On July 18, 2016 Charles Kettles Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197 will be presented with the “Med- Museum: 734.482.4990 al of Honor” in a ceremony in the Archives: 734.217.8236 Charles Kettles will receive the Medal of Honor in White House in Washington, D.C. www.ypsilantihistoricalsociety.org a White House ceremony on July 18, 2016. I have been invited to attend the • ceremony representing the Ypsilanti Historical Society. Charles is extremely deserving of this award and we owe a debt of GLEANINGS Staff thanks to Debbie Dingle for all of her efforts in getting the award approved by the Defense Department, Congress and the President. Co-Editors ............................... Al Rudisill Betsy Gross If you are not on our email listserv please call the Museum at 734-482-4990 and Assistant Editors .....................Peg Porter Fofie Pappas have your name added. We are using the listserv only for program notifications Design & Layout .........Pattie Harrington and your email address will not be shared with others. Also, please check the Advertising Director .........Michael Gute Event Schedule on our website for upcoming special programs and displays. Finance Director ................Karen Nickels Distribution .......................Michael Gute If you have suggestions for articles or if you have questions, contact Al Rudisill at 734.476.6658 or [email protected]. Ypsilanti GLEANINGS is published 4 times a year by the Ypsilanti Historical Society, 220 N. Huron Street, Ypsilanti, 220 North Huron Street | Ypsilanti, MI 48197 MI 48197 MUSEUM ARCHIVES 734 482-4990 734 217-8236 [email protected] [email protected] 2 Ypsilanti GLEANINGS • SUMMER 2016 • www.ypsilantihistoricalsociety.org A History of the Cleary Family in Ypsilanti continued from page 1 had migrated to the United States ear- tion to include lier and had settled in various places English, mathe- in Michigan. After their parents died, matics and civ- the Tuthills took in Patrick and his ics; afford the younger sister Annie. Since the Tut- student a social hills were English, the children were environment. able to continue their education in the Early on he had English School that was not open to discovered that Irish children at that time. Patrick Roger Cleary at he had a won- age 25. In 1869, when Patrick was eleven, derful talent in their older siblings sent for him and not only penmanship but also in draw- his sister Annie. They brought them ing. Possessed of an entrepreneurial to the United States where they settled spirit and equipped with this talent, in Hubbardston, Michigan. Hubbard- he saw that he could make a living ston, a hamlet of less than 400 people by teaching penmanship. Returning today, is located in Ionia County not to Hubbardston in 1880, he began far from Lansing. teaching classes in this valuable skill in many towns in southern Michi- Patrick was an astute and industrious gan. Towns such as Ovid, Albion, St young man. He continued his school- Johns and Fowlerville saw advertising ing until he was fourteen and then bills and notices in newspapers citing went to work in a shingle mill for two classes in penmanship to be given by years. He saved the money he earned P.R. Cleary. His efforts proved lucra- while working and later returned tive and he enjoyed teaching. to school where he completed high school in two years at age nineteen. By 1883 he had decided that Ypsilan- Patrick Roger preferred being called ti was where he would start a school P.R. or P. Roger rather than his given of penmanship. Ypsilanti at that time name due to the anti-Irish sentiment was a bustling and prosperous city of the times. with 15 factories manufacturing a vari- ety of products and enjoying a cultural After graduating from the Sheridan environment with an opera house and school, he entered the Northern Indi- a conservatory of music. ana Normal College (now Valparaiso, University) where he studied for a He opened his school in the second year before enrolling in the Spence- story of the Warden block on the rian Institute in Cleveland where he corner of Huron and Congress (soon received his diploma in penmanship. to become Michigan Avenue) Street. Although the first typewriters came on His first students were the three Bab- the market in 1874, Spencerian script bitt sisters, daughters of Judge and remained the stan- Mrs. Babbitt. The dard in business October 13, 1883 well into the new edition of the Ypsi- century. lanti Commercial observed, “such a From his atten- school was much dance at these needed.” institutions he formed his basic He was precise and principles of ed- demanding of his ucation; learn in students. But as he the same environ- continued to adver- ment where the tise his enrollment individual will be increased quick- working; provide Patrick Roger Cleary started teaching penmanship ly and he moved a rounded educa- in many towns in southern Michigan in 1880. his classes to the 3 www.ypsilantihistoricalsociety.org • SUMMER 2016 • Ypsilanti GLEANINGS A History of the Cleary Family in Ypsilanti continued from page 3 Union Block on the north delivering courses in penman- side of Michigan Avenue ship in Toledo, OH. He found between Washington and that the man he had hired to Adams Streets. He com- deliver these courses was dis- menced holding both day honest and had taken money and evening classes as well from him. Thus, he was con- as acquiring a position as cerned that a lawsuit would professor of penmanship at impact his family and the way the Normal College at a sal- to protect them was to incor- ary of $50.00 per month.