Washburn

WASHBURN


    Home of Mary E. BRADY WASHBURN, b. 7/19/1852, m. 6/20/1873, d. 1/4/1934)?  This could possibly be the Jay WASHBURN (b. 4/14/1852 in HURON CO., Ohio, d. 3/30/1912) homestead........but my Grandma Bernice BLISS SAURER (b. 5/22 or 23/1916 in Greenwich, d. 2/4/1985 in Wayne Co.) merely wrote on the back of the picture "Grandma Washburn's homestead" (note that Jay died before Bernice was born, thus, it is likely she identified the home as being that of just her Grandmother's).

bio of homestead below picture

   Picture belongs to  Beth Saurer
 

    This homestead was built by Henry Griffin WASHBURN. It is located at 3306 Greenwich Milan Townline Road in Greenwich. Henry Griffin WASHBURN (b. 5-31-1813 NY, d. 9-22-1886) m. 2-20-1842 in Huron County Anna Maria VAN BENSCHOTEN (b. 8-23-1823 Erie County, d. 3-30-1912)
    One of Howard's grandsons tried to buy the house in about 1961 but borrowing money was tough at the time. The man who helped Howard's grandson in trying to purchase the home was the one who wound up buying the 201 acre plot for his family from the WASHBURN estate. A couple interesting things about this farmhouse was that there was a wood shed connecting an outhouse directly to the home. During the winter months wood would be stored in the shed so that the family didn't have to go outside in the cold to get some to keep the home warm. ...And throughout the year old catalogues (e.g., Sears catalogues) were kept in the outhouse. After you used the bathroom, you ripped a page out of the catalogue to wipe! This outhouse was still in use when the current owners purchased it in March 1961! You could bet that the outhouse was the first thing to go! (Giggle!) Another modern change was that a basement was made under the entire house as there was originally a basement only under a portion of it.
    This homestead was one of the last three or so places in the area that were part of the Firelands Land Grant. It was the first of the three to go in to ownership outside of the family name. The other two were the MEADS's and ROSCOE's homesteads. Both of those are now owned by other families.



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