It occurred to me this week, while I was in pursuit of information about my elusive great-great-great grandfather Michael McGurn (1826-1868), that learning about family places is probably as important as learning about our family stories. I’d hoped to write a post on Michael, but I just don’t know enough for sure about him yet, so I had to shelve that idea for now.

Instead, here’s a first installment on a place where the Forquers and McGurns have deep roots: Sumner, Gratiot County, Michigan. My great-great grandfather Reason M. Forquer (1849-1934) came to Sumner in 1873. He farmed and also owned a general store in town. Another great-great grandfather Thomas Henry McGurn (1853-1937), a blacksmith and later a saloon keeper (and son of the elusive Michael), was living in Sumner by 1880, though I don’t know exactly when he arrived.

Sumner’s first settlers came to Gratiot County in the mid 1850s, establishing a sawmill and a store in the location that would become the village. The settlement was first known as “Belltown” after George S. Bell, who came from Ohio in 1854 and took possession of 400 acres of land in Sumner Township. Another of the first immigrants into the area, Titus Stover, ran the store, and his customers took to calling the settlement “Stoverville.”

The village that would eventually be Sumner was laid out in 1868 and named Estella. When the post office was established in 1869, it was named Sumner because it was the first post office in Sumner Township. Between 1869 and 1887, the town had one name and its post office had another, until frustrated residents petitioned the board of supervisors to change the name of the village to Sumner.

Willard D. Tucker’s history of Gratiot County provides a snapshot of Sumner (and of the whole county, for that matter) in 1913. That year, for instance, the post office was operating two rural delivery routes. One rural delivery carrier was Charles L. Booth (1879-1926), husband of Minnie (Forquer) Booth (1879-1967). Minnie’s brother Arthur Reason Forquer (1881-1951) was my great grandfather, and I knew Aunt Minnie when I was a child. The other delivery carrier was Elmon Jesse Evey (1869-1932). Elmon’s son Walter Evey (1901-1991) became my great uncle Walter by marrying my grandmother’s older sister Opal Jeanice (Forquer) Evey (1903-2006).

In 1913, Sumner’s school had two teachers and ten grades. There were churches in town for Free Methodists, Adventists, and members of the Church of Christ. You can see the school and the three churches on the map.

Businesses in Sumner in 1913 included a flour mill, a hotel, and a blacksmith shop. There was also a resident physician. Several stores sold general merchandise, including the store owned by my great-great grandfather Reason Forquer, which he would later sell to his son Arthur Forquer, my great grandfather.

That’s a start on the history of Sumner and its relation to our family. More to come in later posts.

How I’m related to Reason M. Forquer:

Reason M. Forquer (1849-1934) and his wife Isabella “Lizzie” (Edgett) Forquer (1853-1929)

Their son Arthur Reason Forquer (1881-1951) and his wife Mable Blanche (McGurn) Forquer (1882-1984)

Their daughter Katy Pleasant (Forquer) Hundey (1910-2000) and her husband Harold Benjamin Hundey (1907-1987)

Their daughter, my mother

Me

How I’m related to Thomas Henry McGurn:

Thomas Henry McGurn (1853-1937) and his wife Anna E. (Doxey) McGurn (1858-1945)

Their daughter Mable Blanche (McGurn) Forquer (1882-1984) and her husband Arthur Reason Forquer (1881-1951)

Their daughter Katy Pleasant (Forquer) Hundey (1910-2000) and her husband Harold Benjamin Hundey (1907-1987)

Their daughter, my mother

Me

Sources:

1880 United States Federal Census. Census Place: Sumner, Gratiot, Michigan; Roll: 580; Family History Film: 1254580; Page: 639C; Enumeration District: 102; Image: 0377. Record for Thomas Mcgurn. http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1880usfedcen&h=22275303&indiv=try.

1900 United States Federal Census. Census Place: Sumner, Gratiot, Michigan; Roll: 713; Page: 21B; Enumeration District: 0060; FHL microfilm: 1240713. Record for Thomas H Mcgurn. http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1900usfedcen&h=24777605&indiv=try.

Centennial Committee. Sumner Michigan, 1868-1968: Centennial Yearbook. 1968.

Death Certificate, Michigan Department of Health, Certificate of Death: Reason M. Forquer. Donna Hundey Burke Weaver Archive.

MIGenWeb Project. Gratiot County Michigan. 1901 Map images. http://www.mfhn.com/gratiot/maps.html

Tucker, Willard D. Gratiot County Michigan. Historical, Biographical, Statistical. Saginaw, Mich.: Seeman & Peters, 1913. (May be accessed online here: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL6566617M/Gratiot_County_Michigan.)