TOWNSEND-TRACHSEL
514 East Jefferson Street

1894 Brick Eastlake
Home Tour 1999

This home is located on Block 46, in the oldest part of  Grand Ledge, which was originally platted in 1853.  The property passed through a number of hands in the early days.  It was originally a larger piece of land, but sections were divided off from the original lot over the years.

The home at #514 was built by Thomas G. and Rachel Townsend in 1894.    The Grand Ledge Independent May 25, 1894 announced:  “Our popular manufacturer of several popular brands of cigars yesterday broke ground for a $2000 residence on East Jefferson.”
On October 26, 1894 the paper had a follow-up item on the story:   “Thos. Townsend’s new residence is rapidly approaching completion, and will be ready for occupancy in a short time.”  On January 11, 1895, The Independent issued a year-end list of new homes built during the previous year, 1894.  Townsend’s house apparently came in under budget-- the cost listed in the paper was only $1400. 

Thomas Townsend was a cigar manufacturer in Grand Ledge for many years. He began his cigar business in Grand Ledge in 1888 after learning his craft out west. The Grand Ledge Independent wrote an article about his business on Nov. 22, 1895.  The article sang the praises of his product:  “His aim has been to keep up the quality, so that his cigars may always merit the success they have attained….The business keeps three men employed, and the owner gives everything his superintendence.  He attends to the buying of the stock and selling….He is sole manufacturer of the Townsend, T.G.T., Favorite, True Sports and other brands.  All are justly popular.  The Townsend is a ten cent brand, of clear Havana filler and Sumatra wrapper, and only made by the best workmen he has.  It is a cigar the smoker of high class goods can appreciate.  The T.G.T.  is a time tried five cent cigar.  Its reputation is of the highest with the public, and the sale is ever increasing.  It was and is made with the idea of giving buyers the entire worth of their money…The other brands made have been well received and all find a ready sale…”  In 1901 Mr. Townsend bought the old Beach foundry on E. River Street and set up his operation there.  Besides his business interests, Townsend owned other houses around town which he used as rental properties.  Just before building his own home, The Independent announced that he was buying a house on Pleasant Street from Howard Hubbard, but that he was not going to occupy it.  In 1895, he bought a home on W. Jefferson from E. Middleton for $700 which he also used as an investment. 

Thomas Townsend was born in English Canada on Jan. 26, 1855. According to the 1910 U.S. Census he came to this country in 1871.  Rachel was born in Scotland in 1853, and she came to this country as a young child in 1854, according to Census records. He and Rachel were married about 1879.   Rachel gave birth to five children, according to the Census records, but only three were living when they moved to their new home on East
Jefferson.  John C. was the oldest, born in 1880; Margaret Isabelle was born in 1886; Thomas B. (“Bert”) was born in 1888.  All of the children were born in Michigan.  Tragedy struck the family when Margaret, their only daughter, died of rheumatic fever on  Feb. 3, 1900 at her home, at the age of thirteen.  She was born on May 9, 1886, in Detroit shortly before her parents moved to Grand Ledge.  Her obituary gave a few details of her life:  “…Her home was one of her greatest comforts, and here she was the bosom companion of a loving mother, always consulting her on all questions, revealing a candor and wisdom beyond her years.  A faithful student in the school room and at home with her associates, always seeking the comfort and pleasure of others rather than herself.  A true member of the Christian Endeavor society and a faithful member of the Free Baptist Sunday School.  Her sweet and loving disposition won friends for her wherever she went…..”  The funeral was held at the Baptist Church.  “The church had been draped by the Sunday school and friendly hands supplied an abundance of beautiful flowers….” 

Several years later, in 1908, the Townsends thought about moving.  They advertised their home in The Independent:  “I want to sell my residence on East Jefferson Street.  Modern improvements.  A bargain for somebody.  Inquire of T.G. Townsend.” This house was built near the end of the Victorian period, at a time when most homes did not have bathrooms, indoor plumbing, or electricity.  By “modern improvements” Townsend was probably indicating that his house had been updated with these modern conveniences.  The bathroom was put in downstairs, near the kitchen, in space that was formerly used as a pantry.  Either there were no takers for the bargain being offered, or the Townsends changed their minds and decided not to move; in any case, the 1910 U.S. Census shows that they were still living in their home.  At that time, John was grown and gone; Thomas B. was twenty-one and working in his father’s cigar business; and the family had taken in a boarder, a twenty-one year old man named Harry Towner, a bank cashier, who went on to make a very successful career for himself in the banking business here in Grand Ledge.  Rachel Townsend died in 1915.  Thomas G. Townsend lived to be ninety-eight years old, and died at his St. Petersburg Florida home on Oct. 13, 1953. 

In Sept. 1912, the Townsends did finally sell their home to Richard and Netta  Nott, who owned a clothing store in Grand Ledge.  The property at this time was larger than it is today;  it consisted of lot 3 and 33 feet of lot 4, along with a part of lot 8 along the back of the property.  The Notts divided the property.  In June 1913 they sold the eastern 54 feet of lot 3 to Silas R. and Elizabeth B. Fenn.  In 1917 Notts sold the rest of the property to Emma and Harvey Williams.  Silas Fenn re-joined the two divided pieces of property when he bought the piece belonging to the Williamses in May 1917. 

Silas Romeyn Fenn was born on Sept. 17, 1847 in Washtenaw County Michigan.  He was the son of Orlo and Lois Fenn who came to Michigan as pioneer settlers of this area in 1832.  Orlo Fenn bought land from the U.S. government and established a farm and helped to organize one of the first Baptist churches in Washtenaw County.  Silas grew up to be a farmer like his father.  He married Elizabeth Bush on March 20, 1867 and in 1875 they bought a farm in North Benton near Potterville, where they established a successful farm and raised their family of three children.  The Grand Ledge Independent on March 28, 1913 announced that S.R. Fenn and his wife were leasing out their farm near Potterville and had leased Mrs. Jarman’s house on Scott Street.  Three months later they purchased
their home on East Jefferson where they lived for the rest of their lives.  Silas died at his home on Nov. 11, 1919.  His obituary said:  “Mr. Fenn was one of the solid and substantial farmer of Benton whose word was as good as his bond, and whose judgment on matters pertaining to the farm was sought by many neighbors and friends.”  Elizabeth Fenn died just one week later, on Nov. 18, 1919.  She had been in failing health, and after her husband’s death she suffered a stroke and died several days later.  Both are buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Grand Ledge.  Her obituary described her personality:  “Mrs. Fenn had been an invalid for three years, but during her shut-in days has always maintained her sunny disposition, which had endeared her to a large circle of friends.  She loved her home cares and her children.”

The Fenns’ three children inherited the house after their parents’ deaths.  Their names were:  Ernest Romeyn Fenn; Lucia J. (“Lutie”) Robinson; and Lizzie M. Rhodes.  They sold their parents’ home to Jay and Maude Dingler in 1920.

Jay Dingler was a lifelong resident of this area.  He was born on Aug. 13, 1871, the son of Jacob and Katherine Dingler. His wife, Maude, was the daughter of Charles and Jennie Knapp.  She was born in Oneida Twp. on Oct. 30, 1877.  They had one child, a son named Charles.  The house probably underwent some changes during the time the Dinglers lived there.  There used to be a wall that divided the present living room into two rooms—the formal parlor, and the everyday living room.  In many Victorian homes, these two rooms were divided and served separate purposes.  The formal parlor could be closed off from the rest of the house, often with pocket doors, and was reserved for special occasions.  The more informal living room was where the family lived their everyday lives.  Later residents remember hearing that this house indeed had pocket doors dividing these two rooms.  There used to be a garage on the property. In 1924,  Jay Dingler moved the garage to the west side of the property and converted it to a house, which he rented to Mr. and Mrs. Andrews, who lived there while their home at 511 E. Jefferson was being built.   When Charles got married, he and his wife Gladys lived for a time with Jay and Maude, but they naturally wanted to have their own home, and they moved into the smaller house next door at 510 E. Jefferson.  Gladys Dingler and her son Charles in fact still live in that house today.

Jay and Maude Dingler divorced in 1935, and Maude was given the house in the divorce settlement.  She lived in the house until Oct. 1941, when she sold it to Joseph and Lorna Johnston.  The abstract shows that the deed was not recorded until 1947 which indicates that there was probably a land contract between Mrs. Dingler and the Johnstons until they refinanced with a mortgage in 1947.  Maude Dingler died in Nov. 1957.

Joseph Johnston was from South Carolina.  He met his wife, Lorna Elaine Robinson, when she was working at a camp in Indiana as a nurse; she was a graduate of the Sparrow Nursing School.  They were married in 1939.    Lorna, in fact, was the great-granddaughter of Silas and Elizabeth Fenn—her grandmother was Lucia “Lutie” Robinson.  Lorna was born on Nov. 23, 1918 in Grand Ledge, almost exactly a year before her great-grandparents died.  Joseph worked for coal companies as a salesman in the early years of their marriage. Their daughter Jean was several months old when they moved into the house in 1941. Her sisters June and Carol were born in 1943 and 1947.    Jean Johnston Pixley remembers that her parents put down the hardwood floors upstairs, and that the girls shared the double bedroom upstairs. The downstairs bedroom was their parents’ room.  The Johnstons  probably painted the woodwork in the house. They stayed in the house until Joseph’s job transferred them to Grand Rapids when Jean was finishing the third grade.  Later they moved to Richmond Virginia and Radnor Pennsylvania.  Joseph Johnston died in 1979 at the age of 66 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.  He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Grand Ledge.  Lorna Johnston married Howard Bernet in 1982.  She was widowed again when he died in 1986.  She died at the age of 76 in Oct. 1995.  Jean Johnston Pixley has some delightful entries from a family diary to verify some of the story of her family’s stay in the house:  “10/18/1941—Mother and Daddy bought house from Aunt Maud.  11/1/1941—Spent first night in house.  8/3/1949—spent last night in house moved to Grand Rapids.  Rented it to Mel Barnes.”

Joseph and Lorna sold the house to Edythe Culp in November 1950, according to the abstract.  Edythe and Harry Culp lived on East Jefferson at the corner of Franklin Street; Harry Culp had an insurance agency in Grand Ledge for many years.  They did not live in the house.  They sold the house in 1951 to Floyd and Adelaide Trachsel on a land contract.  The Trachsels refinanced the house with a conventional mortgage in 1952.  Adelaide Trachsel remembers that her husband was a big man, and he said he liked the house because it was big enough for him.  He was a school textbook salesman, and he was on the road frequently.  They decided to live in Grand Ledge because it was a small town, and it was centrally located in his territory, except when he had to travel to the Upper Peninsula.  The Trachsels moved into their home and raised their five children there. 

The house underwent a number of changes during the time the Trachsels owned it.  The house was getting older and needed some modernizing and updating for their family’s needs.  They painted the brick white; the original color was a pale yellow.  Mrs. Trachsel remembers that there were a number of homes on the street made from that same kind of brick, which was probably manufactured locally.  It was a soft brick, and Floyd and Adelaide painted it themselves;  she remembers what a long project that turned out to be.  They added the bathroom upstairs by taking space from the wrap-around attic.  They paneled the dining room walls and took out the lower kitchen cupboards.  In what Mrs. Trachsel now calls a “mistake”—they took down the original front door and replaced it with a solid door.  The original door had an oval piece of leaded glass in it and she remembers that it was quite beautiful.  They put up the acoustic tiles in the ceilings.  There was a door in the dining room facing onto Jefferson that led to a small porch.  They removed that and replaced the door with a window.  They added the back porch, with help from neighbor Chick McKee.  Floyd Trachsel died in 1983.  Adelaide Trachsel stayed in the house until 1985, when she decided to move to Florida where she lives today. 

The house stayed in the Trachsel family—Laureen (Trachsel) and Douglas Kononen bought the house in 1985.  They loved the house and worked hard to restore some of the original style of the house.  They found pieces of the old woodwork that had been taken down through the years from the dining room and other places  and pieced together as much as they could to restore the original wood, and what was missing they had duplicated.  Laureen Kononen recalls that the upstairs woodwork was much plainer than the dowstairs, which was typical in homes built during this time.  The upper cabinets in the kitchen are the original ones in the house.  Douglas and Laureen removed the newer ones that her parents put in, and Douglas built new ones to match the old.  The cabinet under the kitchen sink was done by a local company, Nicholas Cabinetmakers.  They also stripped all of the painted woodwork in the house and repaired walls.  As much as they enjoyed living in the house, Douglas had been commuting to his job in Ann Arbor for quite some time, and in 1998 they decided to relocate there.  They sold the home to Jeff and Kirstin Karoub, who are the current homeowners. 

The Karoubs are delighted with their home, and want to preserve as much of its history and original stye as they can. This Eastlake style house was built in the last years of the Victorian age.  This style was adapted from the more elaborate Queen Anne style home.  Eastlake was a popular style during the 1880’s and 1890’s.  The style retains some of the features of the Queen Anne, such as the asymmetrical layout and the varied rooflines.  However, designers did away with the elaborate exterior trim and simplified the design of the exterior. The homes were popular because inside they retained the ample space that the Queen Anne provided.  It was considered more “modern” and cheaper to build than its predecessor.  Jeff and Kirstin  were pleased to find that some of the original features of their house are still there, such as the upstairs windows, which have the original “wavy” glass. The house also still has much of the beautiful wood trim with the distinctive bulleye corner pieces.  The hardware on the doors is original. The upper cabinets on the west wall of the kitchen are original,  as is  the kitchen floor, as evidenced by the uneven pine boards.  They are in the process of decorating the house to their own taste and to meet the needs of their family.  One major change they have made is to paint the exterior of the house.  The coordinated colors highlight the wonderful brick trim over the windows of the house, making it stand out as one of the grand “painted ladies” of Grand Ledge.