We thought for this one we would talk about the history of the house. Note, we are still researching the house and hoping to learn more about it, but here is what we know so far.
The county website says the house was built in 1920. However, we noticed that a lot of historic houses in this county are listed as being built in 1920. So, we needed to do more sleuthing into when it was built. To do this, we went to look at some plat maps of the township.
In 1859 the land was owned by Chester Adams and had no buildings on it.
In the 1876 plat map there is a building added to the picture and it is now owned by William Cade.
In the 1916 county atlas the property is now owned by Herman Bottcher.
Well, on the 1859 map there were no buildings shown on the plat map, so we knew that the house was built after 1859. Then we looked at the 1876 plat map and saw that there was a building in the same spot consistently after that. That spot, when lined up with a modern map of the same scale would be exactly where our house is. Ok so narrowed it down. The house was most likely built between 1859 and 1876. Now… who built it and when….
From there we went to the county recorder office and researched the owners of the property listed on the plat map to see who owned the property when. We learned that, the owners were as follows:
1917 - Albert A Betker
1903 - Herman Bottcher
1873 - William R Cade
1863 - Richard E Cade
1857 - Chester Adams (Buying property for railroad easement)
18XX – William Insley
We were able to find transfers of deeds for most of the early property owners. We still haven’t found the deed for the transfer between Richard Cade and William Cade (father and son). Richard Cade and William Cade were the owners for most of the 1859-1876 time frame. We did recently find in a local history book published by the Capac Historical Society that Richard transferred the property to William in 1873. So, we went forward looking for information on them to try to figure out which one built the house.
What we found was really interesting.
Richard Cade came to Michigan in 1856 and rented a farm in Washington Township. Later, he came to Mussey Township and purchased 80 acres of forest land in section 18. Here he built a log cabin and cut a wagon road through the woods to Downey’s Corners (today, this is the road that runs from our house into town!) He then got rid of the farm and moved to Romeo, MI. From there, he moved to Washington state. William R. Cade his son spent much of his younger years helping his father clear and improve their homestead, particularly after he returned from the Civil War. William served in the 4th Michigan, Company H. When he turned 22, his father turned it over to him. He was married in 1872. In the book, written in 1903, it is written that “Mr. Cade has 70 acres of his farm under cultivation, conducts general farming and stock breeding, has an excellent barn and a very handsome dwelling, and a wind-mill for pumping water for his home and stock.” We believe this is about our house. We are currently thinking that the house was built between 1866 (when William R. Cade musters out of the 4th Michigan and returns home to help his father improve their homestead) and his marriage or transfer of ownership to him in 1872 and 1873, respectively. The house is built in a similar style to other houses in the area built in the late 1860’s - mid 1870’s.
Since the house was built, it has been added onto 3 times, at least. The first being the addition of what is now a bathroom and a kitchen (we think this was added in the early 1900’s between 1903 and 1922). Perhaps, this is where the 1920’s date the county had came from. At this time, it appears the house was heavily remodeled, including the laying of a second hardwood floor on top of the original 19th century floors on the first floor of the home. We found a picture at the Capac Historical Museum, taken at the schoolhouse across the road, that has our house in the background from 1922. In this picture, the addition had already been added.
The owners before us heavily remodeled the house, much of which we are undoing to bring back many of the historical features of the home. Many of these projects are/will be featured on this blog. For additions, they added on a sun porch, living room, and craft room.
Though the house has gone through many changes, we know it is a home filled with many great memories. In doing research, we found many newspaper articles that referenced township farm bureau meetings being held here, other social groups meeting, families raised, and even a wedding ceremony! We hope to bring back many of the historical features of the house both from the 19th century and the turn of the 20th century, add to the houses memories, and see what other clues we can find as to when the house was built.
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