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Bloomfield Blossoms: p. 74-75

Smith, Kay, 1925-

Bloomfield Township Public Library

Bloomfield Township (Mich.) -- History

Log cabins -- Michigan -- Bloomfield Township -- History

Dwellings -- Michigan -- Bloomfield Township -- History

GB01a039

part of 'Bloomfield Blossoms' by Kay Smith

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THE SEARCH FOR THE TOWNSHIP'S OLDEST HOUSE STILL STANDING CANDIDATE #3- THE LOG CABIN "FEATHERS PASS BY THE WINDOW" This little log cabin has been sitting on Lone Pine Road near Tully Court for 137 years. Dubliner William Craig claimed the land as a grant from the government and built the cabin for himself and his wife Sara in 1839. In its one room, 16 feet by 22 feet, their thirteen children, including two sets of twins, were born. In 1958, the Craigs' granddaughter, Mrs. Bessie M. Bogardus, then 73 years old, told of life in the little cabin as her mother had told her. The children slept in the tiny loft under homespun blankets while their parents slept downstairs. Uninvited guests in the form of a band of Indians who camped across the road, would push open the door, glide in, and without a word, sleep for the night on the floor in front of the banked fire. Sara Craig, brought up in Boston, was terrified of the Indians until one day two hunters tried to hassle her for money while her husband was away in Detroit. Just as she turned to get the money, she saw two Indian feathers pass by the cabin's window. In a moment the Indians had entered and run off the maurauders, establishing themselves from then on as Mrs. Craig's protector. She, in turn, often baked bread for them. Life in the little cabin was hard. At the age of 12 or at the most 13, William Craig turned out each child, son and daughter alike, to make his or her own way in the world. Mrs. Bogardus' mother went to live with the George H. Mitchell family, co-founders with Almeron Whitehead, of "The Eccentric." The Mitchells were very kind to her and she later married Andrew Quick of Pontiac and remained there until her death at age 90 in 1951.