Mary Lapham Wilbur Van Buskirk (1834-1928)

Mary Lapham Wilbur Van Buskirk

Birth

19 Feb 1834

Rush, Monroe County, New York, USA

Death

6 Apr 1928 (aged 94)

Chelsea, Washtenaw County, Michigan, USA

Burial

Springport Cemetery

Harrisville, Alcona County, Michigan, USA Show Map

Memorial ID

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Alcona County Review
Thursday, April 12, 1928

MARY L. VAN BUSKIRK DIES AT CHELSEA, MICH.
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Funeral services for the late Mary L. Van Buskirk, widow of Joseph Van Buskirk, were held Sunday afternoon at the Methodist church, Rev. Herbert E. Davis in charge. Interment was made in the family lot at Springport.

Mrs. Van Buskirk died Friday at Chelsea and the body was accompanied to Harrisville by three grandchildren--Stewart J. and Wilbur Monroe of Detroit, and Mrs. Ruby Steere of Oxford.

Born in Rush, New York, the youngest of ten children, she was reared by an older sister, her mother having passed away while she was a babe in arms. Married in 1857 to Joseph Van Buskirk, at the old home in Rush they came to Pine Run, Mich., soon thereafter and settled in a little log house. Soon an upright was added to the log house, with a wagon shop below and a wing was built. Two children, Mary Frances and Stewart were born to them and the family continued to reside at Pine Run during the Civil War in which Mr. Van Buskirk was a volunteer. At the close of the war they all moved to Clio where they lived four years when with several friends they started out as pioneers to Northern Michigan. They located at Springport and lived in a house near the lake until 1877 when they completed the big house (now known as Springport Resort) and that was their home for many years.

The Van Buskirks were active in the social and church work of the community until the death of Mr. Van Buskirk in 1905. After a few years Mrs. Van Buskirk felt the responsibility of the old place a burden and arranged her affairs so that the remaining years of her life were spent in the peace and comfort of the Methodist Home at Chelsea, where amid association with people of her own age and belief, and the visits of her own people from time to time, she passed a calm and contented life that continued for twelve years.

She is survived by one daughter, Mary Frances Monroe of Oxford; four grandchildren, Mrs. Inez Cragg of Grand View, Wash., Mrs. Ruby Steere of Oxford, Stewart Monroe of Ferndale, Wilbur Monroe of Detroit, and seven great grandchildren.