Born in October of 1881, in Michigan, Frank Bezenah was raised in Turner, Arenac County. By about 1910 he had traveled to Dunklin County, Missouri, where he was working as an automobile salesman.

Julia Ann Stoner was born in July, 1875, the daughter of Isaac and Rachel Stoner. By 1900 she had moved from her home state of Tennessee to Missouri. She had married Henry Temple, who died in 1902. Julia then married Buck Terry, who died before 1910.

Frank lived in a boarding house, where Julia Stoner was employed. Married twice before with 4 young children, Julia married Frank between 1910-1914.

They had two daughters, Martha and Lucille. By 1930, the couple had moved to Julia Street, Genesee Twp., where Frank found work in an automobile factory. He also operated a gas station on Saginaw Street with his brother, Joe.

Their daughter, Lucille, married Frederick A. Stadler.

Phillip Bezenah was born in the state of New York in October, 1857. In 1877, he married Martha Jane Mosher, the daughter of Josiah and Nancy Mosher. She had been born in Pelham, Ontario, on July 12, 1863. Her family had moved to Michigan in 1867.

Phillip worked as a janitor, moving down south before 1920. Martha remained in Michigan, raising her children in Arenac County, then moving to Flint with her son. She remained there until her death in 1937.

Phillip and Martha had 13 children; sadly, only 6 remained living by 1900. Their son, Frank, married Julia Stoner.

The son of a physician in Rouen, France, Jacques Bourdon was born on June 5, 1645. By the mid 1660’s he had journeyed to Montreal, where he held the positions of Royal Notary and Sergeant of Bailiwick.

Recorded as being one of the early inhabitants of Longueuil, Quebec, Jacques married Marie Menard on February 8, 1672. The couple settled in Boucherville, where they built a house of stone.

Of their fourteen children, Cesar Bourdon was the ancestor of the Bordeau family in Standish and the Bourdow family in Saginaw.

Gilbert Bordeau was born January 7, 1892, the son of Alfred and Adeline Bourdeau. His father and his uncle, Lyziam Bordeau had come to Michigan from Chateaugay, Quebec, in the late 1860s. Gilbert’s father settled in the Zilwaukee area, while Lyziam moved to Standish Township and settled there.

By January 21, 1900, Gilbert had married Josephine Gibson, born September 2, 1872, in Auburn, Bay County. At that time he was working as a sailor on the Great Lakes, and the young couple lived with Gilbert’s parents.

Within a few years, he began farming. Gilbert and Josephine had six children. Their son, John, married Louise Gilbaga.

As with the Rageot and LaClair names, the Bourdeau name began to change: first to Bordeau, then Bourdow with various family lines.

A woodsman, rancher and farmer by trade, Hartley Fitzgerald is a bit of a mystery to his descendants. Born February 2, 1853 in Michigan or Maine, little is known about his early years. Hartley was a run-away and followed the logging camps north through Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The harvest fields of North Dakota lured him to work, and it was there he met and married Maggie Rintoul in 1897.

Maggie, of Scottish descent, was born August 26, 1867 in Huron County, Ontario. In about 1880 the Rintoul family had moved from Canada to the Galesburg, North Dakota area.

By 1900, Hartley and Maggie had moved to the area north of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where they purchased a ranch. Catering mainly to the logging trade, although anyone who stopped by would be taken in, they could feed and house up to 100 men. Maggie and her daughters did the cooking.

Known for its hospitality, the Fitzgerald Ranch was generally the first stopping place out of Grand Rapids on the Bigfork Trail. Noted visitors include Teddy Roosevelt who gave their son, Tom, a ride on his horse.

Of the Fitzgerald’s 9 children, their son Patrick married Mary Goodell. They are the ancestors of our Fitzgerald line.

Joel Goodell was born in Cerro Gordo, Iowa on October 24, 1867. Phoebe Class was born on August 3, 1872 in McHenry County, Illinois. They married about 1895 in Cerro Gordo, Iowa.

By about 1903, the family had decided to move northeast. Joel and Phoebe made the trip to the area around Cohasset in Itasca County, Minnesota. At that time they had Iva, Vineta, Leota, and Philmon, all under 7 years of age.

Settling and building a farm in what was still Unorganized Territory, they had the remainder of their 9 children, Nancy, Mary, John, Naomi, and Alden.

In their later years, their son Alden stayed home to take care of them. When Joel and Phoebe passed on, Alden inherited the farm. It was still a working farm on into the 1990s.

Born in Chateaugay in upper New York State in September, 1860, Nelson LaClair was a farmer and fisherman by trade. On September 6, 1886, he married Josephine Trombley in Quebec at St. Antoine Abbe. Within a year the young couple had made the journey to Michigan. They raised their family at the farm on LaClair Road in Standish Township.

Born in Budapest, Hungary, Alexander Nagy immigrated to the United States at about 10 years of age. He was born on February 28, 1888. Settling in Fraser Township, Alexander was working as a laborer in a sugar beet company by 1930.

Mary Rosa was born December 18, 1898, also in Budapest Hungary. In 1902, her family immigrated to the United States. The Rosa family struggled through difficult times when Rosa’s father deserted them, leaving them to fend for themselves when he returned to Hungary and a girlfriend there. The family moved several times in those early years.

While it is unknown what happened to Mr. Rosa, the family he left behind moved on without him.

His daughter, Mary, married Alex Nagy about 1914. Together they raised their 10 children in Fraser Twp, Bay County. Their daughter, Mary, later married Jack Perrou.

Aaron Parmeter was born in New York State August 31, 1828. Married with three children, he was a widower by December of 1863.

Also from New York State was his second wife, Sarah Emeline Baker, born July 19, 1837. Married on November 16, 1864, the couple moved to Michigan, where they established a farm in Mt. Morris Township. They had 7 children together. Their youngest, Grace, would later marry Henry Stadler.

John Perrou was born in Switzerland in July of 1863. At the age of 20, in 1883, he immigrated to the United States, where he settled in Fraser Township, Bay County.

Barbe Heritier, born in 1872, also came from Switzerland. She and her family left their homeland from the port of Havre on the ship Labrador. They arrived in the United States on December 28, 1882, with a final destination of Michigan. The family settled in Fraser Township.

John and Barbe married June 16, 1892, at St. Mary’s in Bay City. John was a farmer and a businessman, selling coal to area residents. The couple had 9 children. John died tragically in an automobile accident when his car tipped over in a drainage ditch, and he drowned October 15, 1926.

Born in 1815, Pierre Rajotte grew up in Sorel, Quebec. Basilice Cournoyer, born August 5, 1816, was also from that area. After they were married on November 6, 1838, Pierre and Basilice lived on the I'lle de Grace in the parish of St. Anne de Sorel, Quebec, Canada, where they operated a farm. However, in the spring of 1854, Piere and Basilice's farm was destroyed when the Saint Lawrence River flooded. Pierre travelled with two of his brothers, and four Cournoyer brothers, to Tweed, Ontario, where Pierre staked out a 100-acre parcel of land to the north of Tweed, in what is known as the "French Settlement." About a year later, after Pierre and his brothers had built a log cabin, cleared the land, and planted the first crops, Basilice and her children arrived in Tweed.

According to his descendants, in the dusk of the evening when Basilice first arrived at the log cabin with her children, she thought she saw a flock of sheep resting in the grazing patch adjoining the log house. However, the next morning, Basilice was shocked to find that what she had seen was not a flock of sheep, but actually a number of large boulders lying half buried in the ground. Basilice, once accustomed to the rich farmland of I'lle de Grace, and now facing the unexpected, was so upset that she cried for two days. Despite this incident, Pierre and Basilice lived out their lives in Tweed, and Basilice continued to live in Tweed even after Pierre passed away.

The log house owned by Pierre and Basilice was later modernized with the addition of vertical clap boards to cover the hand cut log, and some additions were built in later years. The homestead was passed on to one of Pierre's sons, Michel, who cared for Pierre and Basilice in their old age. In turn, the homestead was passed on to one of Michel's sons, Benjamin, who eventually sold the farm after he stopped farming in the 1930's. Around 1970, the original log house was dismantled and moved to Actinolite, Ontario, where it was reassembled in its original condition and used as an art school. (This story was told to me by my grandfather, who I believe quite possibly received the information as it was shared with him by Jack Rajotte)

The surname 'Rashotte' began to be used by Pierre's children after the English-speaking school teacher in Tweed, Ontario, taught Pierre's children to spell their surname as Rashotte. Because the teacher found it difficult to pronounce the name Rajotte, she taught the children the English phonetic spelling of the name. This school teacher, Marie Gaboury, later married one of Pierre and Basilice's sons, Michel Rashotte. (This story was told to me by my grandfather, who I believe quite possibly received the information as it was shared with him by Jack Rajotte)

William Rossen was born in Poland with the given name of Wasil Rodzuny on December 15, 1893. Immigrating to America by 1914, he eventually settled in Lincoln Township, Arenac County, where he established a farm.

By 1921 he had met and married Louise Warsalek. The couple had six children: Albert, Olga, Helen, Angeline, William and Frank.

William and Louise’s son, William, is the ancestor of the Rossen line here.

Henry Stadler was born in Mt. Morris Twp. on February 7, 1874. When he married Grace Parmeter on February 24, 1904, the couple settled on Coldwater near Clio Road.

Grace, born January 20, 1879, set about the business of raising their 9 surviving children and making a home. Henry worked the farm and remained active in his community. At different times he served as township treasurer and director of Gustin School.

The 7th of the 12 children born to Henry and Grace, their son Frederick A. married Lucille Bezenah.

Victoria Rosa had been born in Hungary in 1880. She had married a man there, Mr. Rosa, and in 1902 the couple made the journey to America. They eventually made their way to Michigan, settling in the Detroit area.

They had children to look after, when Mr. Rosa decided to return to Hungary and a girlfriend he’d left behind. Leaving Victoria and the children to fend for themselves, he abandoned them.

Victoria met Anthony Zambo shortly afterwards, and the couple fell in love. They married and had at least three more children together.

Victoria ’s daughter, Mary Rosa, later married Alexander Nagy.