Q = Phelps Hines
Q2 = Mernie Hines
J = John Burkman
R = Ruth
J. My name is John Burkman
and the date is October 14, 1988. You
ask questions and I’ll answer.
Q. You came from
Houghton? What year did you leave
Houghton and come down to this neck of the woods?
J. Well, I was still a
youngster when my folks came down here and bought a farm out west of Birmingham
and we grew up there. Went to school in
Birmingham.
Q. What was the occasion
where you met your wife in this area down here in Northville?
J. Yes, well I worked in
Northville for Stinson Aircraft and lived there and met my wife at that time.
Q. Where was the Stinson
Aircraft Plant here in Northville? Beck Road and Six Mile or somewhere out there?
J. No, no, right in
town. Yeah, Main St. goes around the
bend and it was right on the bend.
Q. I thought it was outside
of town, but right here in town? And you told me you worked for Stinson and any
comments you want to make about the product or Stinson Aircraft? I’d like to
hear about that.
J. Well, back at that time
aircraft was quite new, and anybody involved with an interest in aircraft was
in the business that had a lot of intrigue.
Q. It was a bit precarious
and you didn’t know what was going on the next day. And the man, Stinson, who ran this, he was a
local person or he moved here?
J. He moved here.
Q. To set up business. Any particular reason why he came to
Northville to make planes?
J. No, not that I know of.
Q. I thought there was
something in the way of business here that interested him. Well then you worked for Stinson in their
plant here in town. What kind of life
did you lead, what kind of social life was there in town at that time.
J. Well, course I wasn’t
married then, so I don’t know too much about the social life.
Q. What was the occasion through the church that you met your wife?
J. Yeah I guess so.
Q. Um hum
Q2. Did Stinson sell
airplanes to any interesting customers?
J. Well, yes, and most of ‘em
back then when they bought a plane or contracted for a plane, they would move
right into Northville while that plane was being built.
Q. They parked right here
while they built the airplane. I tell
you. I spoke of Six Mile and Beck. I
think there was an airfield out there. Did they test the planes there?
Q. Cause you can build them
here in Northville, but you gotta get somewhere where you can fly them.
J. That’s right.
Q. Well all those years at
Stinson. How many years were you working
with Stinson?
J. I can’t tell you exactly,
but I think it was in the neighborhood of six years.
Q. I see. And you left Stinson and went to work as a freelance accountant more or less, doing accounting for places in town, people like that. What were some of the companies you did accounting for in Northville.
J. The merchants, mostly.
Q. Storekeepers. Then you were here in the early days when
Freydls and Laphams were in business, but the earlier generation. Were there any interesting things you can
tell us about the merchants you can tell us about?
J. Well, not really. It was just small-town storekeepers and so
forth. At that time Northville was quite
a small town.
Q. At that time Henry Ford
showed quite an interest in Northville, didn’t he? And, did you have any
occasion to have any contact with him or people from Ford Motor?
J. No
Q. He used to be around town
a lot I guess. He came here to visit.
About that time he got the new Ford plant started.
Q2. One of the things I was curious about John
when was we first came to town 30 years ago wonderful old houses would
disappear overnight. Then we heard about
the definition of the historic district and we heard about the development of
Mill Race, and we heard that you were involved in that.
J. Yes, yes I was. Very much.
Q2. How would you go about
the historic district? What would you
have to do?
J. Well, there wasn’t much
work done. It was pretty much preserving this historic district.
Q2. Who did you have to
contact to get this sort of a legal definition made? So that the area was
protected? Do you remember?
J. Well, there was a bunch of
us who worked for Stinson Aircraft and we were the ones who promoted the
historic concept of the village.
Q. What year did you get the historic district established?
J. Well, I can’t tell you
exactly. It was in the early 30s.
Q. Early 30s. Did you have to
file an application for this with the federal government in some way?
J. No, no. It just incorporated the town.
Q. I see. Incorporated
yourself here within Northville. How did
it work to prevent houses from being messed around with?
J.
That’s why it was
done, to keep...
Q. Keep from tearing down and
changing them.
J. So we made it a little
tough to get permission to tear one down.
Q. So you
incorporated...filed papers of incorporation for the historic district of
Northville. What determined the area
covered by this?
J. Let’s see. Where the older
parts of town and the older houses more or less determined where the boundaries
of this historic district would be.
Q. Mill Race, that land was
provided by Ford. Ford gave the land to the city or something?
J. I think so.
Q. What was the first
building put in Mill Race, Hunter House?
I know I took pictures of them moving the Yerkes house down on Cady
around the way. I took pictures along
the way and have them at home. I know it
was already established when they moved that house. Like the old New School Church was one of the
early ones. I have made drawings of the one on Wing Street so I was
familiar. I was wondering which was the
first house?
J. I don’t know.
Q. That’s quite something to
be proud of. A very very lovely
arrangement. We’ve had company from out
of town and showed them Mill Race. They
were very impressed. A nice job. The
Cady Inn.
J. It was done because
so-called businessmen, they had no feeling for an old house.
Q. History.
J. They just wanted it out of
the way, so they’d tear it down. We
fought against that.
Q. I know one time I was
talking to a businessman and I said it’s too bad we have to tear down these old
houses to build a parking lot for the track.
He took exception to my complaining about the track being responsible
for losing these houses. All I said was
I hate to see these houses go, that’s the main thing. Between Center and Wing,
several houses in there were just taken down.
J. That’s what we battled
against. It had some effect.
Q. It worked.
Q2. Who worked with you, John?
J. Gee, I can’t even
remember. I can’t remember.
Q2. Fran Gazlay I think was one.
J. Yeah, Fran Gazlay was and
oh, a woman’s name, she owned a house out in the country. But she was very much against tearing down
all the buildings in town.
Q. Were there any other
instances you can remember as a young man before you were married and back in
the old days of anything of interest in town that you can tell us about?
J. Well, Stinson Aircraft was the big deal, and
to save that took some work. But other
than that...
Q. Who were some of the people from Stinson Aircraft that worked with you on the historic district?
J. This was a long time ago...Your memory gets
worse as you get older, you know.
Q. Yes, I know that from
personal experience.
J. So I wouldn’t dare start
naming names.
[PAUSE TO INTERVIEW RUTH
BURKMAN]
R. My name is Ruth Yerkes Burkman.
Q. I know the ladies are not
supposed to tell their age. We’d like to
know when you were born?
R. 1905
Q. Where were you born? In
Northville?
R. Yes, right here.
Q. Right in the present
house, 535. You haven’t moved around too
much have you?
R. No, well during college
days and after school I wasn’t back home right away. I lived away from home for
a while. But most of the time I was
here.
Q. You spoke of college. Where did you go to school?
R. I went to school in Ann
Arbor.
Q. U of M?
R. Yes.
Q. I see. What area did you
specialize in?
R. I took a smidge of
everything and my major was literary.
Q. Literature?
R. Yeah.
Q. Now you had several
brothers, at least two that I know of.
Ed, Was he your brother?
R. No he was a cousin.
Q. I want to get the
relationship, and Don Yerkes was also your cousin?
R. No, he was my brother.
Q. Your brother. I knew Don and I knew Ed but I didn’t know
what the connection was. Then you met
John back when you were a young lady here in town. He was working at Stinson Aircraft or
something like that.
R. No, he was working for my
father. My father had a mill right down
here, and he worked for my father.
Q. Doing accounting work for
him?
R. I can’t remember.
Q. He spoke of doing
freelance accounting work for various businesses in town.
R. I don’t know if he was one
of them.
Q. Is there anything about
those early days in Northville that you want to tell us about? Like young ladies, wasn’t there a Princess
Club here in town?
R. I’ve never heard of it.
Q2. I’m curious, back behind the Marquis Theatre,
there was some sort of hall wasn’t there?
It was an old skating rink or a hall?
R. Yes, it was a
theatre.
Q2. Oh, there was a theatre
in back of the Marquis, which probably wasn’t a theatre.
R. No, I think it was the
Marquis, the Marquis was the name of the theatre.
J. Where the parking lot is
now.
Q. It seems like there was a
social club of some kind back there. And
they used to have parties.
R. I don’t know about it.
Q2. The Yerkes family, when did they come here?
Who came here, was it like your grandparents?
R. Well, let me see. I really
don’t know.
Q. Your father owned this
house and lived here. Was he a farmer
and owned land around here and farmed?
As far as you know, were his parents living in Northville ahead of him?
R. Well this was the family
farm and I think it was owned by my grandfather and then my father.
Q. What was the
occasion? When did he come to
Northville? What year?
R. No I don’t know. I have the Yerkes Book which probably would
tell that right away. Pappa? Could you find the Yerkes Book over there?
Q. I understand that there is
a Yerkes house off the north side of the 275 freeway at just about 10
Mile. As you go north on 275 on the
right-hand side, there is a big old Greek Revival two-story farmhouse, still
sitting there. In fact they have been complaining with a banner on the back of
it about not putting up a sound barrier against the 275 traffic. It’s very noisy. And several years ago we
attended a class at Mill Race by Jack Hoffman, and a woman came to it who lived
in that house with some Yerkes connection.
We were wondering what the connection is?
R. I have no idea.
R. What was I going to look up in this? (holding
Yerkes Book)
J. I don’t know.
Q. When your grandfather
first came to Northville.
R. Here Pappa, you take it
and look it up. It’s heavy.
Q. When William Yerkes came
here in 1884?
Q2. With his father, Joseph.
Q. In 1884?
J. Sept. 11, 1794.
Q. He was born then or came
to Michigan.
Q2. He was born then, that
was his birthday.
Q. That’s not when he came to
Michigan.
Q2. They came here in 1826,
with his father Joseph.
J. William Yerkes was soon
appointed territorial Justice of the Peace by General Cass which he held
throughout many terms.
Q. How old is this house?
R. It was built in 1825, I
think.
Q. About the time they came
here. Moved here and built the house
soon after he got here. An old, old
house.
J. Reads from a book: Mr.
Yerkes was a member of the Oakland County Pioneer Society. He married Nov. 5, 1817 Hester Dennis, born
in New Jersey in 1799. Died at Novi,
Michigan, ll September 1881, daughter of Joseph Dennis by his wife, Sarah
Miller. At the golden wedding of Mr. and
Mrs. Yerkes, their son, Robert Yerkes, read the following poem composed by him.
Q. Seems to me, that the
answers to our questions can be found in the book. And just get a lot of information from there
this afternoon, instead of reading it right now.
J. The anniversary of the
marriage of Mr. William Yerkes was celebrated by his own wedding at his
residence Tuesday the 5th. Over 100 relatives and many acquaintances were
present. Among those who offered their
congratulations to the couple were Mr. Thomas Pinkerton, Mr. John Yerkes and
Joseph Yerkes (Uncle Joe), Miss Nancy Yerkes, and Mrs. Utley who extended the
same courtesy at their marriage in Romulus, New York.
Q2. Did you go to school here
in town? You went to high school here in
town though?
R. Yes
Q2. It’s hard when buildings
change, but the building that has the arch window, called Old Village School
now, I think was the high school. Do you
have any idea if that’s the school you went to?
R. No, I don’t. The school
that I went to was later turned into the high school. I don’t know anything about the one that you
speak of.
Q. This cemetery that is
called the Yerkes Cemetery, on Eight Mile Road, is that the old family burying
ground? What of these people that are
mentioned in the book here? Are those
people buried in that cemetery as far as you know?
R. Some of them, I couldn’t
tell you which ones without looking them up.
But, I think probably.
Q. It was called Yerkes Cemetery, and I figured
it must be the burying place of many of the ancestors. Down on Cady Street is
Oakwood. Oh Yeah.
Q2. Your father had a mill here?
R. Right next door.
Q2. Where the lumber company is now? The other side of the tracks.
R. It was this side of the tracks.
Q2. Oh, this side of the
tracks? Ah, what happened to it? Did it
burn?
R. No, let me see. Father was the one who
changed it to a lumber company. There
wasn’t enough business from the other company, so he changed it to a lumber
company.
J. And continued the milling
business too.
Q. When you were in business,
was it operating off the river? What was
it, a feed mill, gristmill, what kind of a mill was it?
R. Well, it was a grist mill wasn’t it Jack? Wouldn’t
it be a gristmill?
Q. Grinding wheat and corn
and so forth? Where was the mill
located?
Q. Oh, right next door
here? I thought it might be near the
river.
R. No
Q2. What would they use for
power, what would they use to make the mill turn?
Q. A coal boiler? Or
electricity?
R. Electricity.
Q2. We were aware that
electricity wasn’t available everywhere.
And we weren’t sure when they started these mills what they were getting
their power from.
Q. We wouldn’t have to go
back very far before you wouldn’t have power.
It wasn’t too terribly long ago that power was established. Electricity.
Q2. Were there other mills in
town at that time?
R. No, no.
Q2. Down by the bend on Main
Street, there seemed to have been factories at different times.
J. Stinson Aircraft
Q2. Yeah
J. And I worked for Stinson
Aircraft when I first came to town.
Q2. Uh huh. Has the
Presbyterian Church always been in that building as far as you know?
R. Uh, it was in a very small
building.
Q. On the same site though?
R. Yes
Q. That would have been an essential gathering
too. Lots of things went on there. The young people would gather there. I remember my own mother talking about the
church was central, all the activities revolved around the church. Is there anything of interest about church
affairs you could tell us about?
R. I don’t believe I
can.
Q. That was so long ago, I
thought it would be okay to tell about it now.
R. I know that our family was very active in the
church. I’m sure that we could find
reference to them in the church.
Q. Records?
R. Yeah.
Q2. We were interested too in the Mill Race
Village and Historic District here in town and were checking about that.
R. Well, that was pretty much before my time, so
I can’t remember too much about it. It was on Main Street. They had their office in the theatre building
on Main Street.
J. You mean the city did, the
town did at that time?
Q2. What group are you speaking of that had their
offices there?
R. Well, the church I
think. I’m not sure, it was a long time
ago.
J. I was under the impression
that the church was a much older building than the theatre.
R. Well, the church that is
there now is a reconstruction of the original building.
Q. In the last 15-20 years,
they did quite a bit of adding on to and adding to the church building.
R. Yes, they added on to it
just once that I know of. And that was
when they made it into a theatre.
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