Family History - Iron Mtn. Michigan

A little tidbit here, another tidbit there. That's how I'm building the story of my family's history. There will always be blank pages in the story, because there aren't any people left who really know - why did my great grandparents come to Iron Mountain from Canada? Was it other family members and friends who had already come here from Quebec who enticed them here with promises of better living? I found today a reference in a city directory from 1892 that my great grandfather lived at 120 W. A St. But when we drove by, all we found was a vacant lot. The entry in the directory listed his occupation as "lab." which I take to mean he was a laborer. I know this was a big mining and logging area, so I don't know if he was a laborer for one of those industries, I presume so.

And one of the biggest questions I'll likely never have an answer to: why did my grandfather leave his family and change his name? Why did he never want to have contact with his family again? Through studying the history of places my family has lived, I can imagine what the stories might be. Gee, if I'd known how interesting this history can be, I'd have paid a lot closer attention in school!

This is a picture of my grandfather, he was known as Gus Perry, but he was born as August Louis Perigny in Quebec, Canada in 1875:

I will continue my research here tomorrow. Today I only got as far as the library. There is still a local history museum and the County Courthouse.

This afternoon we took a short drive to a neighboring town. The dog food BoJangles eats is only available in certain places, so when we need to replenish his supply, we have to look for a nearby distributor. The closest one to Iron Mountin is in Norway, Michigan, about 8 miles from here. We stopped at a little roadside park on the way home, and found a small waterfall.

I climbed up a lot of stairs to get to a little observation deck:

We crossed this bridge to get a better view of the falls:

Pretty little falls:

That's about it for today!