It would appear that S. W. Northrop was pretty much of a failure.
He was unsuccessful as a farmer, unsuccessful as a father, and
unsuccessful as a husband. Shortly after the end of the Civil War,
he was attempting to eke out a living on a small farm in upper New
York State with his wife Charlotte and their two children. Soon
after their young daughter Emma died, perhaps of illness, the cause
is unrecorded, he became aware that many of his neighbors were
taking advantage of cheap land "Out West" in Michigan. In the early
1880’s lumber companies were advertising that they were selling
excellent farm land in northern Michigan at extremely favorable
prices. SW decided that to attempt a fresh start in a new
environment was just what he and his family needed.
His wife Charlotte however would have none of it. It is likely
that she could foresee what her life would be like in "the
wilderness" and wanted to stay in "civilized" New York near her own
parents. He apparently believed that if all the rest of her little
family was in Michigan, she would have no alternative but to
follow. He therefor took the unusual step of digging up his
daughter's coffin, loading it in a wagon with the rest of his
possessions and accompanied by his teen age son, came to establish
a farm in Section 19 of Union township. One can imagine what her
reaction must have been when he did that. Not surprisingly, despite
the fact that he sent numerous letters back to Charlotte entreating
her to come west to live with him, his pleas were futile. We have
not discovered what became of Charlotte but apparently she never
received a divorce.
He and his son cleared the land of the pine stumps and brush and
with the help of neighbors built a cabin and barn. The absence of
large old pine stumps in this area show that these were once fields
and pastures but the absence of existing farms show that the soil
is poor. Much of this area would provide a crop or two after the
pines were removed but then the nutrients were gone. It has taken
over 100 years for the forest to recover to the state you see it
today.
One winter, while working for a lumbering company to earn cash
to help pay the bills, his son plunged through the ice of one of
the lakes north of here and his body was never found. S. W.
Northrop had lost his wife, lost his children and was saddled with
a farm which could not provide him with a living. Faced with life
alone in this area, SW left. It is reported that he went back to
New York, perhaps to attempt a reconciliation with Charlotte, but
our research has not proven that he did and if he did, just exactly
where he went. His farm however was abandoned and became overgrown.
The buildings deteriorated, gradually collapsing. A short stroll to
the north will take you to some rocky rubble, all that remains of
the farm buildings. Emma’s grave became overgrown and was
forgotten.
In the 1920’s, a hunter from the area stumbled across it and,
along with some neighboring farmers, began to care for it. When the
Depression struck and most of the land in the area reverted to the
State for non payment of taxes, the grave site became part of the
state forest and is listed as a historical feature in forest
inventory.
When the stone was vandalized a few years ago and was removed by
the area forester in charge for repair, it was replaced with the
current monument by some anonymous locals. The site is mowed at
least twice through the summer and as the trinkets deteriorate they
are removed. Today it is visited mostly by trail riders in the
summer and snowmobiles in the winter. It is not clear when the
practice of leaving trinkets at the site began but as you can see,
today it looks like an open air geocache.
