Tough background

In the face of all of the hard luck stories you read about and where someone drags themselves out of economic tough times I have decided my family also has its history. I do not know a lot of facts because my Grandmother and Dad were of that generation where you just accepted your lot in life and played the best hand you could with the cards you were dealt.

My Grandmother Nettie, or Toot as we knew her, was born in 1876. She married a man named Burton Floria, my grandfather. Burt was a millwright by trade and they moved from the Remus, MI area to Manistique in the Upper Peninsula. Burt worked in the logging industry and Toot kept house. My Father was born in Manistique, MI and as a small baby the family moved to Grand Marais, MI probably around 1903. My Dad's brothers were born in Grand Marais, I believe. Burt built a home for his family which still stands to this day. My Dad told me there are boards in that home that are 36" wide, cut from the White Pine that dominated the forests at that time.

Burt apparently left the family sometime around 1909 - 10. I don't know the year, but I believe they spent a few years in Grand Marais before moving to Munising in 1913. Times were tough. There was no government program to aid destitute families and I've got to believe that mine was one of them. One of the stories Dad told me concerned an incident where he picked some small tin pails of strawberries along the lake shore and was headed home with them. A neighbor lady stopped him and asked him how much he wanted for the berries, he said a quarter. She gave him a quarter. He promptly went to a local store and bought a big container of oats which is what they ate much of the week for food.

Dad also described that Toot would bake six loaves of bread on Thursdays and the weekend. So obviously bread was a staple in their diet. In addition Toot would take the kids in the summer out berry picking. Toot and another lady would rent a team driven by a man and they would go out into the surrounding forests to pick raspberries, and other types of berries as they came into season. These she canned, made jam and sold, or some how derived some income from. In addition she took in laundry for the teachers that were located in Grand Marais to bring some money into the home.

I assume as with many families at the time the home she lived in was paid for. So at least they had a roof over their heads and that couldn't be taken from her. Other than that from things my Dad said over the years life was tough. There were times that Dad would recall some event from his childhood and just shake his head and mutter that it was tough, real tough and he had a great love and respect for his mother.

My Father always talked about the love and humor that Toot had and the antics of his brothers. Having seen my father and his brothers interact over the years I can tell there was a lot of good old fun had in there younger years. Dad always talked about his brother Earl and Cecil as being the source of the humor, but listening to them talk about early days I have a feeling the "Old Man" was right in the thick of things.

My Dad always kept a connection with Grand Marais through the years. When he ran his insurance business in Munising he had customers in Grand Marais and knew many of the people in the community. After he moved to Milwaukee he, his brothers, and my brother Dean and I made a trek back to Grand Marais to find the old homestead and to visit the community. I can tell you from participating in the trip that it was one raucous time and hardly a time when by without laughter.

So, the roots of my immediate past were founded in tough times. I have a feeling that were those circumstances recreated today Toot and her boys would've been far below the poverty level and eligible for government subsistence. Whether they would've taken assistance is another question, but they had no choice at the time. Perhaps that is where some of the metal was forged that made our family what it is today.