Four generations of the Butler family helped shape Great Lakes maritime history

June 5, 2026

Capt. Frank E. Butler

This Great Lakes History Log is presented by Filer Credit Union, the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum and Sable Points Media.

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief

Editor’s Note: This story was first published on March 16, 2026. Since that time, I have had the pleasure of meeting Barbara Butler, the keeper of the Butler family archives and have found out much more of the Butler story, which has been updated here, along with many amazing photographs that Barbara has generously shared with me and the Mason County Historical Society.

At 93 years old, Barbara lives in Howell. Barbara and her late husband, U.S. Coast Guard Chief Boatswain’s Mate Glynn Francis Butler II, spent decades researching the family’s legacy, which includes four generations of Butler men who worked on the Great Lakes. Since Glynn’s passing in 2004, Barbara has continued the work. The result has been an invaluable collection of original photographs, documents and artifacts dating back to the late 1800s. It is one of the most complete collections I have seen so far in my research of the masters of the Ludington train vessel fleet.

Barbara’s granddaughter, Ashley Rowe, lives in Commerce Township. Ashley grew up spending summers at her grandparent’s house in Frankfort. She will eventually inherit the duties of family historian.

I want to thank Barbara and Ashley for meeting with me and sharing their family’s amazing story.

Capt. Frank Butler

On the morning of Thursday, Oct. 23, 1952, a crowd of people gathered along the Ludington channel to watch the arrival of the brand-new SS Spartan carferry. The Spartan arrived in Ludington just three days after the end of a 15-week strike that had halted C&O Railroad ferry service since July 4. The ship was launched on Jan. 4, 1952, at the Christy Corporation shipyard in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., with little ceremony. It wouldn’t be christened until Sept. 6 when its sister ship, the Badger, was launched.

The arrival of the first new carferry in 11 years was something worth seeing. The previous ship, the SS City of Midland 41, had arrived in Ludington on March 12, 1941. Among the crowd was a legend. At 85 years old, Capt. Frank Butler had sailed on the very first carferries. He was not only a captain, but he was the son of a captain and the father of a captain.

Leonore P. Williams, a writer for the Ludington Daily News, came upon Capt. Butler at the boat docks that morning — a tradition held to this day among the alumni and fans of the fleet. With pen and paper in hand, Williams wrote a fitting tribute to the great master among the newspaper’s coverage of the arrival of the largest carferry to ever sail on the Great Lakes at that point in time.

The Spartan, foreground, and the PM 18 (II). Mason County Historical Society Ernest Beimer Photography Collection.

“Capt. Butler, now retired and living quietly in his small apartment at 307 S. Harrison St., has a wealth of memories of sailing vessels, cargo steamers, carferries and tugboats, each of them playing an important role in the development of marine traffic on the Great Lakes over a span of 70 long years,” Williams wrote in an article published on page 7 of the Oct. 23, 1952, edition of the Ludington Daily News. “He has held his master’s license for 64 years, a record achieved by few in the annals of Great Lakes shipping.”

Capt. Frank Butler. Butler Family Photographic Collection.

Frank Eugene Butler was born May 20, 1867, in Sheboygan, Wis., the son of Capt. Charles Jacob Sherwin Butler (1837-1906) and Grace Amelia (Foster) Butler (1839-1924).

When Frank was 18 months old, the Butler family moved to Golden Township near Pentwater in Oceana County, where Charles engaged in fishing for two years. Then the family moved to Leland on the Leelanau Peninsula, where Charles continued fishing.

Frank E. Butler as a child. Butler Family Photographic Collection.

“Then came the big Chicago fire of 1871 and at the same time the woods of Northern Michigan were engulfed in gigantic forest fires,” Williams wrote. “Capt. (Charles) Butler traded his fishing outpost for a team of mules and wagon into which he loaded his family and all their possessions and drove down to Frankfort.”

Now in Benzie County, Charles J. Butler operated a tugboat that moved booms of logs and vessels.

At age 16, Frank Butler began his sailing career as a linesman for the Canfield Tug Line in Manistee. He later worked as a fireman on a tug in Manistee Harbor.

“The harbor tugs of those days were the backbone of commerce and industry,” Williams wrote. “They brought the logs and other supplies to the mills and carried away the manufactured lumber products. Sailing vessels were helpless to enter or leave a port without the aid of a tug, and the steamboats, too, relied on the guidance of the harbor tugs to safely reach their docks.”

The Canfield Tug Line was one of the earliest and most important tugboat operations on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan during the late 19th century. It played a crucial role in supporting the booming lumber and shipping industries that made Manistee one of the busiest ports on the Great Lakes in that era.

John Canfield. Sable Points Media Historical Photograph Collection.

The tug line was founded in 1866 by Manistee businessman John Canfield shortly after the Civil War. Canfield asked his brother-in-law, Abram Oren Wheeler (A.O. Wheeler), to come to Manistee and establish the towing business. The company was initially organized as a partnership, with Wheeler managing operations.

At the time, Manistee’s economy was booming due to the lumber trade. Hundreds of sailing vessels visited the port each year, carrying lumber and supplies. Tugboats were essential because sailing ships could not easily navigate the narrow Manistee River channel between Lake Michigan and Manistee Lake without assistance.

The Canfield Tug Line quickly became one of the primary towing services for ships entering and leaving the harbor. By the late 1870s, the company operated six tugs, considered sufficient to handle most of the shipping needs at the port. In the early 1880s, Wheeler gradually purchased the interest of founder John Canfield and became the principal owner of the line.

Frank worked in that position for three summers and continued to attend school in the winters.

His next job was on the three-masted wooden schooner Mineral State, which operated between Wisconsin ports and Cleveland, Ohio. The Mineral State was built in 1873 by William Clark Shipyard in Trenton, along the Detroit River.

He then worked on a steam freighter that carried iron ore from Escanaba to Port Huron and then returned with coal.

Ann Arbor No. 1. Butler Family Photographic Collection.

SS Ann Arbor No. 1

In 1896, Frank became second mate of the SS Ann Arbor No. 1. The AA No. 1 was the first Great Lakes carferry. Built for the Ann Arbor Railroad, the 260-foot-long wooden vessel began service in 1892. Two years after being hired, at age 31, Frank was promoted to master.

The AA No. 1 was designed by naval architect Frank E. Kirby (1849-1929) and was built by Craig Ship Building in Toledo, Ohio, as Hull No. 55. The coal-powered steamship was operated by three horizontal compound engines, 20 inches plus 40 inches by 36 inches, at 1,830 horsepower. The engines were built by S.F. Hodge & Co., Detroit. Its three firebox boilers were built by Lake Erie Boiler Works, Buffalo, N.Y. In 1901 the boilers were replaced with two Scotch boilers built by American Ship Building Co., Cleveland. The ship had four tracks and could hold 24 cars.

(Read more about the AA No. 1 here)

Ann Arbor No. 1. Photo from the Mason County Historical Society Rose Hawley Archives.

“We could handle 22 freight cars (the ship could actually hold 24 cars) and carried flour, feed and grain going east and coal going west,” Butler told Williams. “Once each week we had an eastbound load of butter and eggs. We never stopped for weather, went through thick and thin and charted our course with just an old-fashioned compass. We traveled between Frankfort and Manitowoc, Wis., and carried a few passengers along with our freight.”

Frank told Williams about one winter when the AA No. 1 remained frozen in the ice of Green Bay for 60 consecutive days and he and his crew of 30 men waited out the two months aboard the boat.

“It was not too bad though,” he said. “The mail stage operating over the ice between Menominee and Sturgeon Bay passed within a few feet of our ship every day and brought us our mail and supplies from the mainland. We were stuck just a mile from Green Island and the chief engineer, Al Ackerman, and I used to walk across the ice to the island where we borrowed the lighthouse keeper’s rifle and dog and went rabbit hunting. As our coal supply ran low, more fuel was hauled out to us on sleighs by teams of horses.”

From left: Maud Butler (Frank’s sister), Glynn Butler I, Charles Butler (Frank’s mother), Eliza Butler, Capt. Frank E. Butler, Ralph Butler, Ellis Butler. Butler Family Photography Collection.

On Dec. 1, 1897, Frank married Eliza Helen Belonga (1874-1938) in Frankfort. They had four sons: Charles Ezra (1898-1978), Ralph S. (1899-1964), Ellis Millard (1901-1980), and Glynn Francis (1903-1928). Of those sons, Charles also served as a ship captain.

In 1900, the Butlers moved to Ludington, where Frank was hired by the Pere Marquette Railway and served as first mate on the Pere Marquette (later known as the Pere Marquette 15). For many years they resided at 206 N. Lewis St. They also lived at the corner of James and Haight streets and the southeast corner of Robert and Haight streets.

The Pere Marquette. Photo from the Mason County Historical Society Rose Hawley Archives.

SS Pere Marquette

The 337-foot-long Pere Marquette was designed by naval architect Robert Logan (1861-1918) and was built by F.W. Wheeler & Co. in West Bay City (Bay City) as Hull No. 119. It entered service for the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway in Ludington on Feb. 13, 1897. The Pere Marquette was the first steel carferry on the Great Lakes.

The F&PMRR had begun shipping freight from railcars across Lake Michigan in May 1875, just six months after completion of the railroad’s construction, which terminated in Ludington. The railroad used “break-bulk” ships, which required more than 400 men to work the docks at Ludington, removing freight from the railcars and loading them onto the ships (and then repeating the process on the other shore).

The Pere Marquette Railway was formed Nov. 1, 1899, to consolidate the Flint & Pere Marquette, the Chicago & West Michigan and the Detroit Grand Rapids & Western.

As first mate of the Pere Marquette, Frank served under the command of John Ackerman (1862-1916), whose brother, Albert (1867-1936), served as Frank’s chief engineer on the AA No. 1. Albert became chief engineer of the newly built Pere Marquette 17 in 1901. His career with the Pere Marquette Railway included service as chief engineer on the PM 17 (1901-1910, 1912-1916, 1917), PM 16 (1911), PM 18 (II, 1916, 1931-1932), PM 19 (1918-1924, 1926-1930), PM 21 (1925, 1933-1936).

In the April 21, 1904, edition of the Ludington Record Appeal, Frank is listed as first mate of the Pere Marquette 20 with John Ackerman as captain and Robert McClaren as chief engineer. In an article published Feb. 1, 1906, in the Record Appeal, Frank is listed as first mate of the PM 15 with Ackerman as captain and McClaren as chief engineer. In the 1952 Daily News article, Williams stated Butler served as a supply captain on the PM steamers, but his primary job was master of the tug W.L. Mercereau during the winter months when the boat was chartered to the Pere Marquette Railway for duty in Ludington.

The tugboat W.L. Mercerau, 1911. Handwritten note on the photograph from Capt. Frank Butler. Butler Family Photography Collection.

Tug W.L. Mercereau

The 74-foot-long W.L. Mercereau was built in 1910 by the Great Lakes Towing Company of Cleveland, Ohio (Hull No. 12), which also operated the boat. During the warmer months, the boat operated on the Chicago River, where it towed steamboats.

The tug was named after William Lincoln Mercereau (1866-1955), who served as superintendent of the Pere Marquette steamships from 1899 until 1931. Under Mercereau’s leadership, the Ludington-based carferry fleet became the largest on the Great Lakes. Read more about William Mercereau here.

The tug W.L. Mercereau was sold in 1937 and renamed the New Mexico. In 1997, it was sold again, renamed the Punta Lima, and transferred to Puerto Rico.

Eventually, Frank went to work for Great Lakes Towing and became the ranking captain of its tug fleet in Chicago, a job he held until he retired in 1941.

Capt. Charles J. Butler. Butler Family Photography Collection.

Capt. Charles Jacob Butler

Frank’s father, Charles Jacob Sherwin Butler, was born Jan. 24, 1837, in New York state. He was the son of Horace Sherwin (1816-1887) and Thunsey Hogle (1816-1840). He married Grace Amelia Foster on July 8, 1866, in St. Joseph.

According to Barbara Butler, who was married to the late Glynn Butler II, great-grandson of Charles J. Butler, the surname Sherwin and the switch to Butler is a mystery she has been unable to solve in over 50 years of researching Butler family history.

Grace Foster (1839-1924) was born in Sheriff Hutton, England.

Grace and Charles had three children: Frank Eugene (1867-1962), Grace (1869-1870) and Maude (1877-1945).

When talking to newspaper reporter Leonore P. Williams that October 1952 morning, watching the Spartan enter Ludington’s port for the first time, Frank was reticent to talk about himself but “he did condescend to tell about his father, whom he described as ‘a real sailor,'” Williams wrote.

“In the last years of his life the senior Capt. Butler lived year-round in the little cabin of his sort of pumpkin-seed-shaped sloop, the M.M. In the M.M. he crossed and recrossed Lake Michigan carrying fruit, wood and other cargo between Michigan and Wisconsin ports. He showed little regard for the weatherman and often ventured forth when many larger craft stayed safe in the harbor shelter. His only companion aboard the sloop was a large dog, who served as deck watch while his master slept. When Capt. Butler, regardless of the weather, went below to eat and sleep he would lash the tiller down and the little craft, heeled far over, would speed on through the water. The dog remained above deck and, should any other vessel approach near the M.M., he would quickly awaken the captain and warn him of the danger. During the early years of the 1900s the M.M. was a frequent visitor in port at Ludington and will likely be remembered by the residents of that day.”

It’s likely that Capt. Charles Butler didn’t live all his days on the sloop since he had a wife at home. Census records show Grace and Charles living in Benzie County by 1894. Both are buried at Crystal Township Cemetery North.

Capt. Charles E. Butler. Butler Family Photography Collection.

Capt. Charles Ezra Butler

Frank’s oldest son, Charles Ezra Butler, was born Sept. 18, 1898, in Frankfort.

In the May 31, 1967, edition of the Ludington Daily News, Dorothy Trebilcock wrote a feature about Charles Butler in her column, “Port Side.” Butler, who was 68 years old at the time, had been retired for about four years and was living on Lewis Street in Ludington.

As the son of a Pere Marquette Railway steamship employee, Charles began working as a teen at the boat docks, loading and unloading the “black boat” break-bulk freighters.

“There was also a paint shop, a carpenter shop and a grain elevator,” Trebilcock wrote. “Charles Butler knew them well. He was one of the ‘school kids’ who worked there.”

Charles E. began his sailing career at age 26 in 1925 when he worked as a watchman on the SS Joseph Block.

Joseph Block. Sable Points Media Historical Photography Collection.

SS Joseph Block

The Joseph Block was named after one of the original investors of Inland Steel Co., who helped start the company in 1893. The Inland Steamship Co., a subsidiary of Inland Steel, was formed in 1911 with Hutchinson & Co. of Cleveland serving as purchasing agent and manager of marine operations. The company purchased two steamships from the Acme Transit Co., the Arthur H. Hawgood and the W.R. Woodford.

Capt. Charles Butler. Butler Family Photography Collection.

The Hawgood was built by Chicago Shipbuilding Co. as Hull No. 76. It was launched Oct. 5, 1907, at 569 feet long, 56 feet wide, with a depth of 31 feet. The ship was operated by coal-fired triple-expansion engines that operated at 2,000 hp. It entered service in 1907 for Neptune Steamship Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, with A.H. Hawgood as manager. In 1911, the fleet merged into Commonwealth Steamship Co., again with Hawgood as manager.

Inland Steamship Co. purchased the ship in 1912 and renamed it Joseph Block. The ship was rebuilt in 1945. Its boilers were converted to oil firing in 1947. On May 22, 1968, the Joseph Block ran aground at Death’s Door Passage north of the Door Peninsula in Wisconsin. The ship was abandoned to the underwriters as a constructive total loss and then was sold to Lake Shipping Co., a subsidiary of American Ship Building Co., and towed to South Chicago for repairs.

Capt. Charles E. Butler. Butler Family Photography Collection.

The Kinsman Marine Transit Co. of Cleveland purchased the vessel in 1969 and renamed it the George Steinbrenner. It was sold for scrap to Marine Salvage Ltd. of Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, in 1978.

Charles sailed on several other ships before receiving his master’s papers. In 1940, he had his first master assignment onboard the Buckeye Steamship Co.’s Maritana.

As an officer he served on the following vessels:

SS AA Augustus: first mate, April 5 to Dec. 4, 1937; second mate, April 16 to June 6, 1938
SS David Thompson: second mate, June 19 to July 14, 1938
SS W.D. Calverley Jr.: second mate, July 15 to Aug. 7, 1938 and Aug. 23 to Sept. 4, 1938
SS William Fairbairn: third mate, Sept. 28 to Dec. 3, 1938
SS Pere Marquette 21: wheelsman, Feb. 12 to 21, 1939
SS City of Flint 32: third mate, March 10 to 20, 1939;
SS Pere Marquette 17: third mate, March 23 to 26, 1939
SS J.J. Sullivan: third mate, April 22 to May 10, 1939
SS James E. Ferris: first mate, May 11 to June 26, 1939
SS James P. Walsh: first mate, June 26 to Nov. 28, 1939
SS Maritana: captain, 1940 to 1943
SS Mariposa: captain, 1944
SS William Fairbairn: captain, 1945-1946
SS Princeton, captain: 1947-1952; 1955
SS William A. Paine: captain, 1953 to 1954
SS John Stanton: captain, 1956-1957; 1959
SS Donald B. Gillies: captain, 1958
SS Gene C. Hutchinson: captain, 1960
SS Henry LaLiberte: first mate, May 4 to Oct. 7, 1961; captain, 1963
SS Ann Arbor No. 7: first mate, July 9 to July 14, 1964
MV Viking: pilot, April 22 to 26, 1965

SS Princeton. Butler Family Photography Collection.

SS Princeton

Capt. Charles Butler spent his longest tenure as a captain being the master of the Princeton. The Princeton was a classic straight-deck bulk freighter. Built in 1900 by the American Ship Building Company at Lorain, Ohio, and operated by the American Steamship Company of Cleveland, Ohio, the steel-hulled steamer was launched on July 28, 1900, and entered service later that year. The vessel measured 474 feet in length, had a beam of 52 feet, and a molded depth of 30 feet. Powered by a coal-fired quadruple-expansion steam engine developing approximately 2,000 horsepower, Princeton was designed to carry iron ore, coal, grain, and other bulk commodities.

The Princeton served under several ownership groups during its remarkable 63-year career, including the Kinsman interests and later the Ford Motor Company fleet. During its years with Ford, it became an important link in supplying raw materials to the company’s sprawling River Rouge industrial complex near Detroit. As larger and more modern vessels entered service, Princeton remained a reliable workhorse of the Lakes.

By the time Capt. Butler commanded the vessel from 1947 to 1952 and again in 1955, Princeton had already spent nearly half a century in service and was regarded as a veteran of the Great Lakes trade. The vessel continued operating for Ford until 1963 before being laid up and sold for scrap in 1966.

Charles and Cecile Butler. Butler Family Photography Collection.

On Dec. 13, 1930, Charles married Marie Vera Farrington Butler (1905-1984). Marie was born Feb. 12, 1905, in Yates Township, Lake County, near Baldwin. On Feb. 24, 1925, she married Glynn Francis Butler, Charles’ brother, in Ann Arbor. The couple had one son, Glynn Butler Jr. (1926-2004).

Two years after Glynn died in 1928 at age 24, Charles married Marie on Dec. 13, 1930, in Ludington and later adopted Glynn Jr.

Charles E. and Marie had two other children, JoAnn Lou Butler (1931-2022) and Alice Marion Butler (1933-2019). Charles and Marie divorced in 1949. Charles then married Cecile Elizabeth Rockwell (1899-1978) in 1951. Barbara Butler said Charles and Cecile had been childhood friends.

Charles Ezra Butler died July 15, 1978, in Muskegon at age 80.

Capt. Charles Butler, right, with his son, Glynn. Butler Family Photography Collection.

Chief Boatswain’s Mate Glynn Francis Butler II

Glynn Francis Butler II was born on Jan. 20, 1926 in Ludington, the son of Glynn Francis Butler (1903-1928) and Marie (Farrington) Butler (1905-1984). The senior Glynn Butler was the son of Frank and Eliza Butler. He married Marie Farrington on Feb. 24, 1925. On Aug. 4, 1928, Glynn I died from pneumonia. Two years later, on Dec. 13, 1930, Marie married Charles E. Butler, Glynn’s brother. Charles raised Glynn II as his son but didn’t formally adopt him until he was 18 years old. In fact, Glynn II did not know Charles was actually his uncle until he enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard and had to present a birth certificate. Following that incident, Charles formally adopted his son-nephew in December 1943.

Chief Glynn Butler. Butler Family Photography Collection.

Glynn II enlisted in the Coast Guard during World War II in 1943. He served on three different destroyer escorts, crossing the Atlantic Ocean and helping guide ships to various destinations in Europe before crossing to the Pacific after victory in Europe. Although there was no invasion, he was part of the invasion fleet assembled to enter Japan when peace was declared in the Pacific.

After his service in the war, he returned to the Great Lakes area and served in the Toledo area on the Topelo, a USCG buoy tender and then went on to serve for a total of 17 years in various ports on the Great Lakes; 15 of those years on Lake Michigan.

From Toledo he served in Green Bay, Wis. and Plum Island, Wis. coast guard stations. He was then assigned to South Manitou Island and later to Grand Haven for winter duty before moving to Holland in April 1958.

Soon after, he was introduced to Barbara Jean Mowry of Grand Rapids (born in 1933) on a blind date.

Glynn adn Barbara on their wedding day. Butler Family Photography Collection.

In July 1958, he returned to South Manitou Island to prepared the station to be a part of Sleeping Bear Lakeshore National Park. He then returned to Grand Haven for winter duty, became engaged to Barbara in December 1958, and the couple married on March 7, 1959, in Grand Rapids.

Glynn was transferred to the Coast Guard Station Holland in April 1959, where he was assistant officer in charge. He was promoted to chief boatswain mate in 1961 and then was transferred to Frankfort and promoted to officer there in September 1961.

Glynn and Barbara had four children: Glynn F. Butler Jr. (1960-2023), Claudia (born 1962), Gayle (born 1964) and Cheryl (born 1968).

Glynn retired in March 1965, bringing to a close more than 100 years of Butler family service on the Great Lakes. Following his retirement he worked at Frankfort Manufacturing for 23 years as a tool and die maker.

Glynn died Dec. 25, 2004. He is buried at Crystal Lake Township Cemetery near Frankfort near his son, Glynn Jr. and his great-grandparents, Capt. Charles Jacob and Grace Butler.

Richard Ellis Butler

Richard Ellis Butler (1934-2019) was the grandson of Frank and Eliza, the son of Ellis Millard Butler (1901-1980) and Beatrice (Malliet) Butler (1905-1972). Richard took a slightly different route than his grandfather. He grew up in Ludington.

Though he began his career on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway carferries (the Pere Marquette Railway was absorbed by the C&O in 1947), he later became a train conductor and was eventually transferred to Grand Rapids.

The C&O became the Chessie System in 1973, a result of the final merger of the C&O, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the Western Maryland Railway. In 1980, following the merger of the Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries, CSX was formed. Richard Butler worked over 40 years for the railroad.

After graduating from Ludington High School, he married Delphine Kozlowski (1935-2019) in 1956. They had four children: Ken, Sue, Carol, and Dennis.

He died on Oct. 18, 2019.

Capt. Frank E. Butler later in life. Butler Family Photographic Collection.

Retirement and death of Capt. Frank Butler

Frank’s wife, Eliza, died Dec. 4, 1938, in Ludington. After he retired in 1941, Frank split his time between Ludington and Frankfort. He was a member of the Pere Marquette Lodge No. 299, Free & Accepted Masons, and spent his last eight years at the Masonic Home in Alma, where he passed away.

Frank died Saturday, March 17, 1962, at age 94.

Frank and Eliza Butler, along with Charles Ezra Butler, are buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Ludington.

Barbara Butler and her granddaugher Ashley Rowe.

Barbara Butler and Rob Alway.

Masters of the PM Steamers series to date:

Family histories needed

Editor’s Note: I am seeking historical artifacts and stories from people whose family members worked as ship captains or in Ludington’s maritime industry. While this project focuses on the Ludington carferry fleet, I am also interested in items related to anyone from Mason County who worked on the Great Lakes or oceans.

This series has three goals:

To share Ludington’s rich maritime history with readers of the Mason County Press.
To publish a biographical book about the Ludington fleet captains.
To create an interactive kiosk exhibit at the Port of Ludington Maritime Museum for historical research.

I am looking for artifacts such as photographs, written documents, or digitized materials. Items will be placed in the Mason County Historical Society archives, and donors will receive documentation of their contribution.

If you have items or stories to share, please email editor@mediagroup31.com or call/text 231-757-3202.

Note: I am also interested in collections related to the Mason County railroad industry.

If you would like to financially contribute to the book project, please click here for more information.