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.