James Borski, a local historian and volunteer guide at the Menominee historical museum, told me this story on June 23, 2011
He once spoke with a woman in her nineties. As a sixteen-year-old girl she had been working as a maid. She heard a commotion outside the house where she was working. It was the sound of the mob hanging the McDonald boys outside by the railroad track. The girl was so scared she wanted to go home to Canada.
Borski also told me that the McDonald boys were originally buried in potters field at the old cemetery, which is where the middle school is located today. In 1882 the cemetery was removed to Riverside Cemetery where the McDonalds were once again interred in potters field. A sexton at the cemetery knew the location of the grave but died before he could tell Borski, so now the precise grave location is unknown.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
More on Andrea Stader's McDonald Boys song
I have been in contact with the folk singer Andrea Stader--- she's on Facebook--- the one who has a 'Ballad of the McDonald Boys' on her CD 'Lady of the Harbor'.
Andrea tells me that her song is an original composition of hers. One of her 4th grade students, Johnny Spies, brought the photo (of the lynching I presume) in to share with the class. She was interested so she looked up the account in the Spies Library in Menominee, Michigan.
You can buy the CD online at CD Baby. You can also listen to a short clip from the song. It seems to be a very high quality professional production and so would be well worth owning for anyone with an interest in Menominee local history or anyone who likes folk music.
TO AVOID CONFUSION: There is another song called Ballad of the McDonald Boys, also known as Song of the McDonald Boys--- which is the source of the name of this blog. It was a traditional song. The lyrics were published in the Journal of American Folklore in 1963. Author of the article recorded the song from the singing of John W. Green in 1956. The article is online at http://www.jstor.org/pss/537934 but they want $10 for it. I am going to the Anuta Research Center in Menominee this Wednesday and am going to ask if they have a copy of this article. I know they have a copy of the song lyrics, hand written. Will post a copy of the lyrics online. The song is very similar to one about the hanging of the assassin of Pres. Garfield, so I presume they both use the same tune.
Andrea Stader's Web Site
Lady of the Harbor CD at CD Baby
Lady of the Harbor CD at Amazon.com
Andrea tells me that her song is an original composition of hers. One of her 4th grade students, Johnny Spies, brought the photo (of the lynching I presume) in to share with the class. She was interested so she looked up the account in the Spies Library in Menominee, Michigan.
You can buy the CD online at CD Baby. You can also listen to a short clip from the song. It seems to be a very high quality professional production and so would be well worth owning for anyone with an interest in Menominee local history or anyone who likes folk music.
TO AVOID CONFUSION: There is another song called Ballad of the McDonald Boys, also known as Song of the McDonald Boys--- which is the source of the name of this blog. It was a traditional song. The lyrics were published in the Journal of American Folklore in 1963. Author of the article recorded the song from the singing of John W. Green in 1956. The article is online at http://www.jstor.org/pss/537934 but they want $10 for it. I am going to the Anuta Research Center in Menominee this Wednesday and am going to ask if they have a copy of this article. I know they have a copy of the song lyrics, hand written. Will post a copy of the lyrics online. The song is very similar to one about the hanging of the assassin of Pres. Garfield, so I presume they both use the same tune.
Andrea Stader's Web Site
Lady of the Harbor CD at CD Baby
Lady of the Harbor CD at Amazon.com
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Bloodstoppers and Bearwalkers by Richard M Dorson
There aren't many books which mention the story of the McDonald boys. Bloodstoppers and Bearwalkers by Richard M. Dorson, a book about the folklore of Michigan's upper peninsula, is one of the few. It is available from Amazon.com.
This book is an account of folklore in Michigan's upper peninsula. It was written in 1952 based on fieldwork by the author done in 1946.
My own copy of the book came from my late father who was a member of the Menominee County Historical Society. My interest in the book is in its account of the 1881 lynching of two Canadian born cousins known as the McDonald boys.
The author in his acknowledgments thanks a Charles Angoff for permission to reprint his 'The Lynching of the McDonald Boys' from the 'American Mercury'.
The story, which is in Chapter 8, is not a historical account but rather based on the oral tradition from the Menominee, Michigan area, and so some of the details are non-factual. In particular, the name of the priest who allegedly predicted that the lynch mob members would 'die with their boots on' was given as Father Menard, while my own research shows that Fr. Heliard would at the time have been the priest at the church in question, and writings by a local historian James Borski also give Fr. Heliard as the priest in question.
But as a study of local folklore the book serves its purpose, and is also a must-have for those researching the actual history of the McDonald boys lynching as it is one of the few books available that mention the event.
This book is an account of folklore in Michigan's upper peninsula. It was written in 1952 based on fieldwork by the author done in 1946.
My own copy of the book came from my late father who was a member of the Menominee County Historical Society. My interest in the book is in its account of the 1881 lynching of two Canadian born cousins known as the McDonald boys.
The author in his acknowledgments thanks a Charles Angoff for permission to reprint his 'The Lynching of the McDonald Boys' from the 'American Mercury'.
The story, which is in Chapter 8, is not a historical account but rather based on the oral tradition from the Menominee, Michigan area, and so some of the details are non-factual. In particular, the name of the priest who allegedly predicted that the lynch mob members would 'die with their boots on' was given as Father Menard, while my own research shows that Fr. Heliard would at the time have been the priest at the church in question, and writings by a local historian James Borski also give Fr. Heliard as the priest in question.
But as a study of local folklore the book serves its purpose, and is also a must-have for those researching the actual history of the McDonald boys lynching as it is one of the few books available that mention the event.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Kittson family graves and inscriptions
Got some geraniums on sale at Kmart to plant on the Kittson family graves. After planting I took fresh grave pictures and copied down the gave inscriptions carefully. The Kittson graves are in section G7 at Riverside cemetery. Take the road straight from cemetery entrance and turn right at the road between section G7 and section I. Kittson graves are a little ways in, on the right side, near the second of the trees right on the road edge.
Willie M. Kittson, died Sep. 27, 1881,
aged 22 years, 11 months, 21 days.
"Not lost, blest thought
But gone before
Where we shall meet
To part no more."
J. Sperachee
Marinette (faint inscription, may be another word, perhaps the headstone company?)
John G. Kittson
Apr. 18, 1872
Aged 60 years
Margaret Kittson
1831-1893
Mother
(This stone may have been purchased at the same time Norman's was, since they were the same style.)
Norman Kittson
1855-1925
aged 22 years, 11 months, 21 days.
"Not lost, blest thought
But gone before
Where we shall meet
To part no more."
J. Sperachee
Marinette (faint inscription, may be another word, perhaps the headstone company?)
John G. Kittson
Apr. 18, 1872
Aged 60 years
1831-1893
Mother
(This stone may have been purchased at the same time Norman's was, since they were the same style.)
1855-1925
Andrea Stader: Lady of the Harbor
The CD 'Lady of the Harbor' by Andrea Stader, a folksinger from Illinois, includes a track called 'Ballad of the McDonald Boys'. It is available at CD Baby for $13.
You can listen to a short clip of the song at the CD Baby page. From that little bit, I don't know that this is the same song as the traditional 'Ballad of the McDonald Boys' AKA 'Song of the McDonald Boys' which was based on the events in Menominee, Michigan in 1881. I didn't recognize the lyrics. It may be an original composition inspired by the ballad.
I attempted to email Andrea Stader at the address provided at her web site (http://www.andreastader.com/default.asp). But it didn't go through. Too bad, I would have liked to ask her some questions about the song.
I haven't yet been able to order the CD so I can't evaluate it, but it does sound like a good addition to anyone's McDonald Boys collection.
You can listen to a short clip of the song at the CD Baby page. From that little bit, I don't know that this is the same song as the traditional 'Ballad of the McDonald Boys' AKA 'Song of the McDonald Boys' which was based on the events in Menominee, Michigan in 1881. I didn't recognize the lyrics. It may be an original composition inspired by the ballad.
I attempted to email Andrea Stader at the address provided at her web site (http://www.andreastader.com/default.asp). But it didn't go through. Too bad, I would have liked to ask her some questions about the song.
I haven't yet been able to order the CD so I can't evaluate it, but it does sound like a good addition to anyone's McDonald Boys collection.
Friday, June 24, 2011
The Cemetery Walk, 2005
This is an entry from an old blog of mine, Wyrd Thoughts, from June 27, 2005
The Cemetery Walk at Riverside Cemetery in Menominee went really well. We had a lot of volunteers in historic costume playing the part of different prominent historic dead people.
I lucked out, I was assigned to Potter's Field. That's where the poor folk were buried including my great-grandfather. It's also the final resting place of the McDonald Boys, two Canadian lumberjacks who got in a fight at the local cathouse in 1881 and stabbed Willie Kittson, the half-indian son of a pioneering settler, to death.
Local folk felt the McDonald boys should pay with their lives, but Michigan had already abolished the death penalty some decades earlier. So the local crowd got likkered up in Forvilly's tavern and plotted a lynching. They broke the McDonald boys out of jail and strung them up. They were buried in Potter's Field, their grave marked only with a logger's chain. Then someone stole the chain.
The Cemetery walk was not actually supposed to be a walk, there was a horse drawn wagon to take tours around. But there was a big turnout and so crowds of people decided not to wait, but walked along the tour route. And so I had to give a presentation in the Potter's Field, even though the lady who organized the event said we wouldn't have to talk, but just wave to the crowds in the wagon.
Anyway, everybody really liked my presentation once I decided to tell the story of the McDonald Boys. Most of the people in town already know the story a little, it's local folklore. One fellow said the site of the lynching was in front of his house. (I was always told it was in front of my grandmother's house.)
The Cemetery Walk at Riverside Cemetery in Menominee went really well. We had a lot of volunteers in historic costume playing the part of different prominent historic dead people.
I lucked out, I was assigned to Potter's Field. That's where the poor folk were buried including my great-grandfather. It's also the final resting place of the McDonald Boys, two Canadian lumberjacks who got in a fight at the local cathouse in 1881 and stabbed Willie Kittson, the half-indian son of a pioneering settler, to death.
Local folk felt the McDonald boys should pay with their lives, but Michigan had already abolished the death penalty some decades earlier. So the local crowd got likkered up in Forvilly's tavern and plotted a lynching. They broke the McDonald boys out of jail and strung them up. They were buried in Potter's Field, their grave marked only with a logger's chain. Then someone stole the chain.
The Cemetery walk was not actually supposed to be a walk, there was a horse drawn wagon to take tours around. But there was a big turnout and so crowds of people decided not to wait, but walked along the tour route. And so I had to give a presentation in the Potter's Field, even though the lady who organized the event said we wouldn't have to talk, but just wave to the crowds in the wagon.
Anyway, everybody really liked my presentation once I decided to tell the story of the McDonald Boys. Most of the people in town already know the story a little, it's local folklore. One fellow said the site of the lynching was in front of his house. (I was always told it was in front of my grandmother's house.)
Letters for George: The McDonald Boys lynching, a gruesome Menominee story
Found a blog entry about the McDonald boys at Letters for George. Story includes a picture of the lynching photograph. A copy of the photograph is on display in the Menominee museum.
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