SMITH-GRANGER-PETERS
319 East Jefferson Street

1892 Eastlake
Home Tour 1998

Like a number of other homes in Grand Ledge, this house was built on a different site from the one that it occupies today.  It did not have far to move, however;  the original address was 309 E. Jefferson, Lot 7 Block 36.  The house is now located on Lot 9 of the same block. 

Both of these lots are located in the original town of Grand Ledge, as laid out in 1853 when the original plat map was drawn.  Samuel Chadwick owned lot #7, and his own home was located next door on the corner lot, which today is known as the Peters & Murray Funeral Home.

At some point, he transferred ownership of lot 7  to his second wife, Nancy, and it was she who sold the property to George B. and Betsey Smith on June 2, 1892 for $600.  The Grand Ledge Independent on June 24, 1892 reported: “Geo. B. Smith, who recently moved to this village from Delta, has purchased of Sam’l. Chadwick, Esq., the fine lot east of his residence, and will erect a house on the same at once.” 

The Smiths were long-time farmers in Delta Center.  George was born about 1832.  He served with the  2nd U.S. Sharp Shooters during the Civil War and was seriously wounded when he was struck in the head by a shell.  Although he lead an active life as a farmer and was active in the community and church, he suffered from the aftereffects of the injury for the rest of his life.  His wife was born Betsey Tordiff in Canada on Nov. 19, 1844.  She came to the U.S. in 1874.  The Smiths had no children.  After 22 years of farming, they moved into town in June, 1892 and built this house on E. Jefferson, where Mr. Smith died just a few months later on Dec. 15, 1892.  Asthma was the immediate cause of his death, but the lingering effects of the head injury were thought to be a contributing factor. 

On July 7, 1904, Betsey Smith sold her house at 309 E. Jefferson to Sarah B. Granger for $2500.  Mrs. Smith then bought a lot from Mrs. E.M. DeGroff across the street from her old house, and built a new home in July 1905.  She lived the rest of her life in that house at #308 E. Jefferson and died there at the age of 79 in December 1923. 

The Granger family was a very prominent family of merchants who began to establish themselves in Grand Ledge during the late 1860’s.  William Granger and two of his sons, George and Sylvester, owned a great deal of property in town. There are several Granger family  homes still standing on E. Jefferson.   George Granger had a store with George Berry before he moved to Mt. Pleasant, where he became a prominent businessman and civic leader.  Sylvester Granger spent the rest of his life in Grand Ledge.  He built several buildings which still stand in the downtown area.  His business interests included a hardware business, real estate, furniture, cattle, several local farms.   He died a very wealthy man in 1893; his estate was valued at over $73,000.

Sylvester and Rosina (Nixon) Granger had two sons,  William R. and George L. Granger.  It was George and his wife Bessie (Sarah B.) who purchased Betsey Smith’s house in 1904.  George Lawrence Granger was born Feb. 4, 1875.  About 1902 he married Bessie Pipp.  It was his first marriage, her second.  Bessie was the daughter of Dr. D.D.F. Brown (David Delvin Fordyce Brown).  Dr. Brown came to Eagle c.1875 and practiced medicine there until he moved into a home on West Jefferson in Grand Ledge around 1888. Bessie was married to Benjamin G. Pipp on Oct. 15, 1895. They lived briefly in a home they built on the north side of town until Bessie’s father died, when they moved into the family home  with her mother on W. Jefferson St.  Benjamin worked for the railroad and in 1897 he was transferred to Detroit.  The young couple had only been living in Detroit for four weeks when Ben became ill and died of brain fever.  Bessie returned to Grand Ledge and married George Granger.   George and Bessie had one child, Sylvester.  George briefly owned a clothing store.  He purchased the Economy Clothing Store from George Sheets in Sept. 1909.  He sold out his interest in the business in June 1910.  He managed the family properties, and sold insurance.  Sadly, Bessie Granger’s life was a brief one.  She died at her home at the age of  35 on Dec. 8, 1910 of an abscessed gall bladder.  After her death, George continued to own the home, but he and his son Sylvester soon moved in with his mother, Rosina Nixon Granger, who lived across the street at #406 E. Jefferson.  George was married again, on Dec. 31, 1934 , to Elena Archer.  They had no children, and Elena died on Aug. 5, 1936. Many years later,  George Granger committed suicide at the age of 79, on Feb. 7, 1954.

The house was rented out for some period of time after George and Sylvester Granger moved out. One of the tenants was William L. Ireland and his family.  Mr. Ireland came to Grand Ledge with his family from Chesaning Michigan.  In the early 1900’s he owned a grain elevator on the north side of town, called the Ireland Elevator.  This business had been established by John Burtch.  Ireland dealt mostly with beans.  He was also mayor of Grand Ledge at one time.  He and his family lived at #309 around 1916.

Another tenant at #309 was George’s own brother, William R. Granger.  He and his wife Nina were renting the house at the time the census was taken in 1920.  William Robert Granger was the elder of the two sons of  Sylvester and Rosina Granger.  He was born July 13, 1873 and lived most of his life in this area.  He married his wife in 1898.  In 1920 he listed his occupation as farm manager, and he owned real estate in this area. William and Nina purchased the house at 309 East Jefferson from George’s son Sylvester and his wife, Josephine (Merrill),  on July 12, 1929.  There were two mortgages of $2000 on the property at the time of the sale. William and Nina had no children.  Nina Granger died of appendicitis on October 7, 1933 at the age of fifty-three.  William married Mrs. Winifred Merrill Himmler Aug. 3, 1937.  The marriage was brief and troubled and was about to end in divorce when William, like his father before him, committed suicide with a shotgun at the home of a friend on his sixty-third birthday, July 13, 1939. 

There was a lawsuit filed by William’s estranged wife, Winifred, against Sylvester B. Granger and his wife Josephine, disputing ownership of the house, but it appears that the title to the house went back to Sylvester Granger after his uncle’s death. 

The next owner of the house also used it as a rental property.  Bertha Beach Field owned the house.  Her father was Moses Beach, who was a local businessman in the late 1800’s who owned a great deal of property around town and had several different businesses over the years.  Bertha and her husband and family did not live in the house at #319 West Jefferson. 

The house had various tenants over the next few years. 

Franz L. and Grace S. Harker rented the house from Bertha Field during the 1940’s.  At the time they were living in the East Jefferson home, Franz worked in the oil room at the Olds Motor Works in Lansing.  Later, he spent seven years in Tokyo and Oppma working for the department of army civilians.  They returned to Grand Ledge about 1958 and lived at 407 Taylor St.

According to the 1950 city directory, Hugh M. Trantum and his wife, Jane,  lived in the home.  He was a social worker with the Michigan Childrens Aid.

Joseph and Evelyn Stanger lived there in 1953.  He worked at Fisher Body in Lansing and they were the owners of Stanger’s Dry Goods, at 207 N. Bridge St. 

In 1956, a clergyman at Trinity Episcopal Church (Gen.) Lester C. Maitland and his wife Kathleen were renting the house. 

In May 1956, the home became associated again with the old Chadwick house on the corner, known as the Peters & Murray Funeral Home today. Leslie Peters was born in Shiawassee County  on Jan.1, 1905 and graduated from Elsie High School.  He attended Michigan State for two years, working on a milk route to pay his way.  After he completed his mortuary training at the Worsham College of Embalming in Chicago, he and his wife Florence moved to Grand Ledge in 1936 and Leslie worked as a mortician at the Smith- Hoag Funeral Home (Peters & Murray Funeral Home in 1998). He and Florence lived in an apartment above the funeral home during this time. In 1939 he and Joseph Otto formed a short-lived partnership and took over the Smith-Hoag Mortuary.  Later, Mr. Peters became sole owner and the name changed again, from Peters & Otto to Peters Funeral Home. Leslie and Florence Peters purchased the house next door to the funeral home at #309 from Bertha Field in May of 1956.  They continued to live in the apartment over the funeral home, and they used the house at #309 as a rental property.  Their daughter, June Peters Baker, remembers that she lived in the house at #309 for a time with her first child while her husband Thomas was away in the service. 

In 1960, Tom Murray came to Grand Ledge to serve his apprenticeship at the Peters Funeral Home before continuing his studies at the Worsham College of Mortuary Science in Chicago.  He and his wife Pyllis lived at #600 ½ E. Jefferson and the Leslie and Florence Peters continued to occupy the apartment above the funeral home while they rented out the house next door at #309.  Tom Murray returned to Grand Ledge after completing his studies and he became a partner in 1965 in the Peters & Murray Funeral Home. 

It was decided that the funeral home needed a larger parking lot.  Leslie Peters decided to move the house at #309 to make room for it.  In 1961 they purchased lot #9, two doors to the east,  and had the house moved to the empty lot.  They also bought several smaller pieces of land from adjacent property owners for the parking lot around the same time in early 1961. 

The lot at the new site was #319 East Jefferson.  It was owned by Robert and Marian Hamill.  They owned the house at #315, and the empty lot.  The empty lot once held a very old home that was built by a businessman named J.S. Holmes.  A local banker named Fred Berry bought the house at #315, and the older house next door built by Mr. Holmes.  He tore down the Holmes house to enlarge his lot, and he had a wonderful garden on the empty piece of property. 

When the house was moved, major remodeling and redecorating was done.  Leslie and Florence stayed on in the funeral home apartment  for several months while this work was completed.   The old back porch was enclosed into a breakfast nook off of the kitchen and a ½ bath was added off of the dining room. The kitchen was redone and modernized. The walkout basement with a fireplace was put in.  The large porch across the front of the house was taken down. The part of the porch that wrapped around to the front door was made smaller, and part of it was incorporated into the house to make an entry hall with a glass block window.  There was a red brick fireplace in the room on the east side of the living room.  The old red brick was replaced with the more modern light brick that is there today.  The old photos show an exterior door to the front porch from the front room, which would have been the formal parlor; this door was eliminated.  Leslie Peters lived there for the rest of his life; he died at the age of eighty on July 4, 1985.   Florence Peters moved to an apartment on Jenne St. around 1986, and then she moved to Melbourne Florida where her son William lived.  She died there at the age of 91 on Nov. 23, 1996.  

Roger and Lois Burgdoff bought the house from Florence Peters when she moved to the apartment about 1986.  They updated and redecorated the house.  Roger is a skilled woodworker, and using his talents, the Burgdoffs did major work on the floors and woodwork throughout the house.  One of the features of this  house are the beautiful hardwood floors throughout most of the  house.

Charles and Ann Miller bought the house from the Burgdoffs circa 1990.  Charles was the assistant director for the Greater Lansing Convention Authority.

Scott and Lari Lymburner bought the house from the Millers in Feb. 1996.  In the 2 ½ years that they have lived there, the Lymburners have updated and redecorated the house.  They have done all of the work themselves. They have painted the exterior of the house a warm beige with red-tone trim which emphasizes the wooden pillars and trim.  Lari is a gardener, and she has put in a large flower bed of mostly perennials in the front yard, reminiscent of the flower gardens Fred Berry had on the property.  They have done a great deal of work on the master bedroom, which is upstairs overlooking Jefferson.  They stripped the floor and refinished it.  They stripped off the old wallpaper and painted walls.  The upstairs hallway walls are rag painted to disguise the uneven surface of the old plaster walls.

This house is classified as a modified Eastlake style house.  The Eastlake style of Victorian architecture is very similar to the Stick Style, except it does not have elaborate exterior wood trim.  This house has the steep pitched roof and the intersecting gables which give an asymmetrical layout to the house, typical of the Eastlake style.  Earlier photos of this house show that there was once gingerbread in the front gable end of the house and a large wraparound porch on the front which had turned spindles and posts, also features of the Eastlake home. Like many homes around Grand Ledge from this time period, some of the distinctive wood trim and the large porch is gone.  The projecting bay window in the living room adds an asymmetrical shape to the house. This house was typically Victorian, with its formal front parlor which could be closed off from the rest of the house, usually with pocket doors.  Often the formal parlor had its own exterior door onto the porch, as this house once had. The front door  typically opened directly into the everyday parlor or living room. The kitchen was usually a one-story or one and a half story section at the back of the house.  The side room, on the east side of the living room, was probably used as a bedroom when the house was built.  The fireplace was probably added later after the house was built. Upstairs, the layout has been changed from the original floor plan.  This house would have been built without a bathroom.  It seems likely that the current upstairs bath was either built in part of the upstairs landing, or was a small third bedroom.  It appears that there was once a small hallway between the two bedrooms upstairs, because the closets have wood trim inside which suggests that they were doors leading out of the rooms into a hallway.  Bedrooms from this time period would not have had built-in closets; those would have been added at a later date to modernize the house.  The attic space with the slanted ceiling over the kitchen was finished into a room which various residents have used as a spare bedroom or sewing room or the like.  This house has interesting flower corner pieces in the wood trim around the doors and windows throughout, a variation on the traditional bullseye pattern.  Some of the pieces are slightly different, and suggest that they were made to match at a later date. 

Although this house has seen many changes throughout its years, there are still many elements of its original Victorian style, which have been combined with the practical modernizations which today’s lifestyle demands.  These two contrasting elements have been gracefully combined in the Lymburner home, making it a comfortable family home while retaining the flavor of its historical past.