Per Stephen Bromley McCracken: There are many still living in the county who will remember my grandmother, who was familiarly known as Granny McCracken. Although she died when I was less than six years old, I remember her very well, and many incidents associated with her. I have always had her in mind as a little old Scotch woman, short, but of sturdy frame. Her lineage, however, so far as I am able to trace it, gives but a small percent of direct Scottish blood. Her family name was Hutchinson, one of the regicide judges who condemned King Charles to the block. The family were, at that time, of quality and some antiquity in England. Although Colonel Hutchinson was included in the act of amnesty after the restoration, he afterwards fell under suspicion, was arrested and died in prison. Some of his descendants, either from political or other causes, went to Ireland, and it is from thence that this branch of the family is immediately derived, through Thomas Hutchinson, my great grandfather, who came to this country prior to 1740, and settled and married in Philadelphia, where my grandmother was born.
The old residents who remember Granny McCracken will be impressed the more especially by her bright, quick mind, and her strong physical powers. To go back a little as illustrative of these traits, it may be remarked that during the War of the Revolution, being a resident of Pennsylvania, she was an active patriot, being on confidential terms with General Washington and other leading officers of the army, and not infrequently acting as a bearer of important intelligence. She came to Michigan with my father's family in 1824 or '25. She built a little log house for herself a few rods from my father's cabin, cutting the logs for it herself, and at the "raising" she carried up her corner, in pioneer phrase, equal to the next man, and she was equal to the average man for a day's work in the field.
Though somewhat blunt in her ways the old lady was peculiarly tender in her disposition, and with her naturally strong mind, of marked intelligence considering the limited opportunities which the country then afforded for education and instruction. A few books that had been her companions found their way into our pioneer abode. Among them I remember Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," a work entitled "The Holy War," and a polemical work, "An Antidote to Deism." Passing over all questions of ethics or of tenets as represented by these works, their titles show the indifference in the class of reading that was deemed the most valuable at that day as compared with the present. I remember also a romance, "Charlotte Temple," and a copy of Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel," as forming a part of our limited library. The latter work I had at my tongue's end, and could repeat the most of it from memory before I had ever seen the inside of a schoolhouse. Elsewhere I may advert to the manner in which myself and brothers acquired what little of early education we enjoyed.
You will pardon a further brief reference to the dear old lady whom I remember with tender affection. It was a favorite way with her to reply to inquiries and salutations in rhyme, and to carry on a conversation and relate incidents in the same way. My excellent friend, the Hon. B. O. Williams, of Owosso, relates this of her: An occupation in which she was expert was making straw bee hives. Being thus employed on one occasion, working in the barn at the residence of Mr. William's father, one of his brothers, in her absence, tried his hand at the business. Not succeeding very well, in deep disgust he threw his piece of botch work over the bay in the barn. When Granny returned to her work she discovered it, and gathering the boys about her as an audience, told the story in rhyme, ridiculing the lad's efforts to steal Granny's trade, and closing with the couplet,
"And if you're inclined to have some fun,
Just look in the bay and see what he's done."
Grandmother died March 5, 1830. A notice of her death, probably written by Elder Ruggles, was published soon after in the Detroit Gazette. The notice is preserved in a valuable collection of clippings by Capt. J. W. Hall, of Detroit, to whom I am indebted for a copy. I reproduce it as bearing out the estimate which I have myself placed upon my beloved ancestor. The reference to her descent confirms my early impressions, and varies somewhat from the pedigree before outlined, but it is hardly worth while to try to reconcile the variance at this time. The notice is as follows: "In Pontiac, March 5, Mrs. Mary McCracken, aged eighty-two. Mrs. McCracken was born in the United States, of Scotch parents. She was endowed by nature with a healthy constitution, and uncommon powers of intellect. She educated herself, and through life discovered a great fondness for reading. At the age of thirty, she united herself with a church in Pennsylvania, and about four and a half years since connected herself with the church in Pontiac. Her life was a life of prayer, and evinced that she had much at heart the glory of God and the salvation of souls."
DEATH NOTICE
Detroit Gazette
In Pontiac, March 5, Mrs. Mary McCracken, aged eighty-two. Mrs. McCracken was born in the United States, of Scotch parents. She was endowed by nature with a healthy constitution, and uncommon powers of intellect. She educated herself, and through life discovered a great fondness for reading. At the age of thirty, she united herself with a church in Pennsylvania, and about four and a half years since connected herself with the church in Pontiac. Her life was a life of prayer, and evinced that she had much at heart the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
The old residents who remember Granny McCracken will be impressed the more especially by her bright, quick mind, and her strong physical powers. To go back a little as illustrative of these traits, it may be remarked that during the War of the Revolution, being a resident of Pennsylvania, she was an active patriot, being on confidential terms with General Washington and other leading officers of the army, and not infrequently acting as a bearer of important intelligence. She came to Michigan with my father's family in 1824 or '25. She built a little log house for herself a few rods from my father's cabin, cutting the logs for it herself, and at the "raising" she carried up her corner, in pioneer phrase, equal to the next man, and she was equal to the average man for a day's work in the field.
Though somewhat blunt in her ways the old lady was peculiarly tender in her disposition, and with her naturally strong mind, of marked intelligence considering the limited opportunities which the country then afforded for education and instruction. A few books that had been her companions found their way into our pioneer abode. Among them I remember Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," a work entitled "The Holy War," and a polemical work, "An Antidote to Deism." Passing over all questions of ethics or of tenets as represented by these works, their titles show the indifference in the class of reading that was deemed the most valuable at that day as compared with the present. I remember also a romance, "Charlotte Temple," and a copy of Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel," as forming a part of our limited library. The latter work I had at my tongue's end, and could repeat the most of it from memory before I had ever seen the inside of a schoolhouse. Elsewhere I may advert to the manner in which myself and brothers acquired what little of early education we enjoyed.
You will pardon a further brief reference to the dear old lady whom I remember with tender affection. It was a favorite way with her to reply to inquiries and salutations in rhyme, and to carry on a conversation and relate incidents in the same way. My excellent friend, the Hon. B. O. Williams, of Owosso, relates this of her: An occupation in which she was expert was making straw bee hives. Being thus employed on one occasion, working in the barn at the residence of Mr. William's father, one of his brothers, in her absence, tried his hand at the business. Not succeeding very well, in deep disgust he threw his piece of botch work over the bay in the barn. When Granny returned to her work she discovered it, and gathering the boys about her as an audience, told the story in rhyme, ridiculing the lad's efforts to steal Granny's trade, and closing with the couplet,
"And if you're inclined to have some fun,
Just look in the bay and see what he's done."
Grandmother died March 5, 1830. A notice of her death, probably written by Elder Ruggles, was published soon after in the Detroit Gazette. The notice is preserved in a valuable collection of clippings by Capt. J. W. Hall, of Detroit, to whom I am indebted for a copy. I reproduce it as bearing out the estimate which I have myself placed upon my beloved ancestor. The reference to her descent confirms my early impressions, and varies somewhat from the pedigree before outlined, but it is hardly worth while to try to reconcile the variance at this time. The notice is as follows: "In Pontiac, March 5, Mrs. Mary McCracken, aged eighty-two. Mrs. McCracken was born in the United States, of Scotch parents. She was endowed by nature with a healthy constitution, and uncommon powers of intellect. She educated herself, and through life discovered a great fondness for reading. At the age of thirty, she united herself with a church in Pennsylvania, and about four and a half years since connected herself with the church in Pontiac. Her life was a life of prayer, and evinced that she had much at heart the glory of God and the salvation of souls."
DEATH NOTICE
Detroit Gazette
In Pontiac, March 5, Mrs. Mary McCracken, aged eighty-two. Mrs. McCracken was born in the United States, of Scotch parents. She was endowed by nature with a healthy constitution, and uncommon powers of intellect. She educated herself, and through life discovered a great fondness for reading. At the age of thirty, she united herself with a church in Pennsylvania, and about four and a half years since connected herself with the church in Pontiac. Her life was a life of prayer, and evinced that she had much at heart the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
Per Stephen Bromley McCracken: There are many still living in the county who will remember my grandmother, who was familiarly known as Granny McCracken. Although she died when I was less than six years old, I remember her very well, and many incidents associated with her. I have always had her in mind as a little old Scotch woman, short, but of sturdy frame. Her lineage, however, so far as I am able to trace it, gives but a small percent of direct Scottish blood. Her family name was Hutchinson, one of the regicide judges who condemned King Charles to the block. The family were, at that time, of quality and some antiquity in England. Although Colonel Hutchinson was included in the act of amnesty after the restoration, he afterwards fell under suspicion, was arrested and died in prison. Some of his descendants, either from political or other causes, went to Ireland, and it is from thence that this branch of the family is immediately derived, through Thomas Hutchinson, my great grandfather, who came to this country prior to 1740, and settled and married in Philadelphia, where my grandmother was born.
The old residents who remember Granny McCracken will be impressed the more especially by her bright, quick mind, and her strong physical powers. To go back a little as illustrative of these traits, it may be remarked that during the War of the Revolution, being a resident of Pennsylvania, she was an active patriot, being on confidential terms with General Washington and other leading officers of the army, and not infrequently acting as a bearer of important intelligence. She came to Michigan with my father's family in 1824 or '25. She built a little log house for herself a few rods from my father's cabin, cutting the logs for it herself, and at the "raising" she carried up her corner, in pioneer phrase, equal to the next man, and she was equal to the average man for a day's work in the field.
Though somewhat blunt in her ways the old lady was peculiarly tender in her disposition, and with her naturally strong mind, of marked intelligence considering the limited opportunities which the country then afforded for education and instruction. A few books that had been her companions found their way into our pioneer abode. Among them I remember Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," a work entitled "The Holy War," and a polemical work, "An Antidote to Deism." Passing over all questions of ethics or of tenets as represented by these works, their titles show the indifference in the class of reading that was deemed the most valuable at that day as compared with the present. I remember also a romance, "Charlotte Temple," and a copy of Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel," as forming a part of our limited library. The latter work I had at my tongue's end, and could repeat the most of it from memory before I had ever seen the inside of a schoolhouse. Elsewhere I may advert to the manner in which myself and brothers acquired what little of early education we enjoyed.
You will pardon a further brief reference to the dear old lady whom I remember with tender affection. It was a favorite way with her to reply to inquiries and salutations in rhyme, and to carry on a conversation and relate incidents in the same way. My excellent friend, the Hon. B. O. Williams, of Owosso, relates this of her: An occupation in which she was expert was making straw bee hives. Being thus employed on one occasion, working in the barn at the residence of Mr. William's father, one of his brothers, in her absence, tried his hand at the business. Not succeeding very well, in deep disgust he threw his piece of botch work over the bay in the barn. When Granny returned to her work she discovered it, and gathering the boys about her as an audience, told the story in rhyme, ridiculing the lad's efforts to steal Granny's trade, and closing with the couplet,
"And if you're inclined to have some fun,
Just look in the bay and see what he's done."
Grandmother died March 5, 1830. A notice of her death, probably written by Elder Ruggles, was published soon after in the Detroit Gazette. The notice is preserved in a valuable collection of clippings by Capt. J. W. Hall, of Detroit, to whom I am indebted for a copy. I reproduce it as bearing out the estimate which I have myself placed upon my beloved ancestor. The reference to her descent confirms my early impressions, and varies somewhat from the pedigree before outlined, but it is hardly worth while to try to reconcile the variance at this time. The notice is as follows: "In Pontiac, March 5, Mrs. Mary McCracken, aged eighty-two. Mrs. McCracken was born in the United States, of Scotch parents. She was endowed by nature with a healthy constitution, and uncommon powers of intellect. She educated herself, and through life discovered a great fondness for reading. At the age of thirty, she united herself with a church in Pennsylvania, and about four and a half years since connected herself with the church in Pontiac. Her life was a life of prayer, and evinced that she had much at heart the glory of God and the salvation of souls."
DEATH NOTICE
Detroit Gazette
In Pontiac, March 5, Mrs. Mary McCracken, aged eighty-two. Mrs. McCracken was born in the United States, of Scotch parents. She was endowed by nature with a healthy constitution, and uncommon powers of intellect. She educated herself, and through life discovered a great fondness for reading. At the age of thirty, she united herself with a church in Pennsylvania, and about four and a half years since connected herself with the church in Pontiac. Her life was a life of prayer, and evinced that she had much at heart the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
The old residents who remember Granny McCracken will be impressed the more especially by her bright, quick mind, and her strong physical powers. To go back a little as illustrative of these traits, it may be remarked that during the War of the Revolution, being a resident of Pennsylvania, she was an active patriot, being on confidential terms with General Washington and other leading officers of the army, and not infrequently acting as a bearer of important intelligence. She came to Michigan with my father's family in 1824 or '25. She built a little log house for herself a few rods from my father's cabin, cutting the logs for it herself, and at the "raising" she carried up her corner, in pioneer phrase, equal to the next man, and she was equal to the average man for a day's work in the field.
Though somewhat blunt in her ways the old lady was peculiarly tender in her disposition, and with her naturally strong mind, of marked intelligence considering the limited opportunities which the country then afforded for education and instruction. A few books that had been her companions found their way into our pioneer abode. Among them I remember Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress," a work entitled "The Holy War," and a polemical work, "An Antidote to Deism." Passing over all questions of ethics or of tenets as represented by these works, their titles show the indifference in the class of reading that was deemed the most valuable at that day as compared with the present. I remember also a romance, "Charlotte Temple," and a copy of Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel," as forming a part of our limited library. The latter work I had at my tongue's end, and could repeat the most of it from memory before I had ever seen the inside of a schoolhouse. Elsewhere I may advert to the manner in which myself and brothers acquired what little of early education we enjoyed.
You will pardon a further brief reference to the dear old lady whom I remember with tender affection. It was a favorite way with her to reply to inquiries and salutations in rhyme, and to carry on a conversation and relate incidents in the same way. My excellent friend, the Hon. B. O. Williams, of Owosso, relates this of her: An occupation in which she was expert was making straw bee hives. Being thus employed on one occasion, working in the barn at the residence of Mr. William's father, one of his brothers, in her absence, tried his hand at the business. Not succeeding very well, in deep disgust he threw his piece of botch work over the bay in the barn. When Granny returned to her work she discovered it, and gathering the boys about her as an audience, told the story in rhyme, ridiculing the lad's efforts to steal Granny's trade, and closing with the couplet,
"And if you're inclined to have some fun,
Just look in the bay and see what he's done."
Grandmother died March 5, 1830. A notice of her death, probably written by Elder Ruggles, was published soon after in the Detroit Gazette. The notice is preserved in a valuable collection of clippings by Capt. J. W. Hall, of Detroit, to whom I am indebted for a copy. I reproduce it as bearing out the estimate which I have myself placed upon my beloved ancestor. The reference to her descent confirms my early impressions, and varies somewhat from the pedigree before outlined, but it is hardly worth while to try to reconcile the variance at this time. The notice is as follows: "In Pontiac, March 5, Mrs. Mary McCracken, aged eighty-two. Mrs. McCracken was born in the United States, of Scotch parents. She was endowed by nature with a healthy constitution, and uncommon powers of intellect. She educated herself, and through life discovered a great fondness for reading. At the age of thirty, she united herself with a church in Pennsylvania, and about four and a half years since connected herself with the church in Pontiac. Her life was a life of prayer, and evinced that she had much at heart the glory of God and the salvation of souls."
DEATH NOTICE
Detroit Gazette
In Pontiac, March 5, Mrs. Mary McCracken, aged eighty-two. Mrs. McCracken was born in the United States, of Scotch parents. She was endowed by nature with a healthy constitution, and uncommon powers of intellect. She educated herself, and through life discovered a great fondness for reading. At the age of thirty, she united herself with a church in Pennsylvania, and about four and a half years since connected herself with the church in Pontiac. Her life was a life of prayer, and evinced that she had much at heart the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
Family Members
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See more McCracken or Hutchinson memorials in:
- Oak Hill Cemetery McCracken or Hutchinson
- Pontiac McCracken or Hutchinson
- Oakland County McCracken or Hutchinson
- Michigan McCracken or Hutchinson
- USA McCracken or Hutchinson
- Find a Grave McCracken or Hutchinson
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