James Milton House (1866-1951)

Jame Milton House
James Howse
Born:	29 Jul 1866 Omard, Michigan
Died:	3 Sep 1951 Petoskey, Michigan
Father:	Daniel Howse
Mother:	Catherine Snell
Siblings	Jacob House Marey Ellen House Adelbert House Ida May House Adelbert Jeremiah Howse James Milton House
Married:	29 Jul 1893 Vanderbilt, Michigan
Spouse:	Emaline Amanda Hunn
Children:	Raymond Leslie House James Milton House
Married:	4 Apr 1905, Michigan
Spouse:	Sarah Ellen Phillips
Children:	Annie Overholt Eisey May Howse Melvin Earl Howse Myrtle Sena House Charles Adelbert Howse Sylvia Pauline Howse Clifford Leroy Howse

James Milton House was the second husband of Sarah but her true love, so she said. They had several children together, lost their first daughter, Eisey, when she was 11. They also raised his son, by his first wife, Raymond. Sarah and Raymond were very close. James worked in the lumber camps in Pellston for several years where Sarah often worked as a cook. Their oldest children were born there. When Myrtle was ten years old, which would be in the year of 1914, her family moved to an old farm which stood at the top of the east hill in Harbor Springs, where the stadium parking lot once stood, followed by the city skating rink and currently is the site of the care facility, Bay Bluffs. Myrtle has told her family that she was glad to be back at the spot where she spent much of her childhood, before the end of her life. From this location, they moved to a 2 story frame house on Lake Road. Sarah told Joanne Heinz that the house was yellow when SHE bought it. She said that their bluff house was really a shack with space between the wood (logs?) and didn't keep out much weather. The only work I remember her saying was to do laundry for the resorters. Perhaps she had earlier income? Sarah mentioned that the Lake St. home had no bathroom, running water or electricity when they moved into it. Her children were enthralled with turning on the lights when they finally had electricity put in. She still had the little hand pump over her sink and the outhouse in the backyard when the Heinz family moved in next door to her. Her entire family stored potatoes for the winter in her Michigan basement.

Myrtle told of her father, James, singing them to sleep often, and telling them stories. She fondly recalled going to the lumber yard at the foot of the East Hill, in Harbor Springs, to walk home with their father. One day, he led them to the edge of the lake, near the Wequetonsing entrance, and dived in. He proceeded to swim to Harbor Point and back. This to the delight of the children!
   
James' death record, in the Emmet County Courthouse, says that he was a machine operator, probably in Lansing, but he was a lumberjack for most of the years he was with Sarah. It also states that he died of aterioschlerosis and that he was 85 at his death.

Obituary

Petoskey Evening News, Petoskey, Michigan, Tuesday, September 4, 1951, p. 4:

Former Harbor Man Dies Monday

HOWSE, James M., 85, an Emmet county resident for many years before going to Lansing 30 years ago, died Monday at a Petoskey convalescent home where he had been a patient for some time. He had been ill for two years.

Mr. Howse was born in Sanilac Co. July 29, 1866.

He was married in 1895 at Gaylord to Miss Sarah Phillips.