In the Archives: First in Print
The Steinkes have been a mainstay over the years in The News-Palladium, The Herald-Press, The Herald-Palladium, the St. Joseph Saturday Herald and the St. Joseph Daily Press. But someone had to be the first in print, right? That distinction, as far as I can tell, goes to great-great-grandpa Julius.
Where would we be without old real estate news, am I right? This is for a real estate transfer from Ferdinand Richter to Julius Steinke. It was reported here in the Oct. 2, 1903 edition of The Herald-Press. The same information was reported in the Oct. 3 St. Joseph Saturday Herald and the Oct. 6 edition of The News-Palladium.
Section 15 of Sodus Township is bound by Dutch Lane to the south, River Road to the west, U.S. 31 to the east and Naomi Road to the north. The south side of that section is where the family farm is. I believe this is just down the road from that, closer to River Road. My plat map reading skills are a little rusty. As we know, Julius and his family came to America in the late 1800s, and landed in Sodus after initially living in Benton Harbor. Julius bought this property from another immigrant.
Ferdinand bought the Sodus property in 1881. He, too, came from Germany, but earlier (1880). After selling his Sodus property to Julius, he moved to St. Joseph and died less than four years later of a brain hemorrhage at about 71 years old.
Anyway, back to our story. Julius stuck around his farm for a long time. Here in his 80th birthday announcement in July of 1945, you can see that he was still living there. It does note, however, that he sold the farm in 1944 to his son, Carl. It must have been a handshake deal, because there was no reference to the sale in any of the newspapers of the day.
By the time Julius died in 1953, he was living with his son Paul, somewhere in Sodus. I'm not sure if Paul moved to Julius' property and helped take care of him, if he never left the property, or if he lived elsewhere in Sodus. I do know, however, that Carl ended up at one of the houses on the current family farm -- at the address where my brother, Tim, now lives.
Section 15 of Sodus Township is bound by Dutch Lane to the south, River Road to the west, U.S. 31 to the east and Naomi Road to the north. The south side of that section is where the family farm is. I believe this is just down the road from that, closer to River Road. My plat map reading skills are a little rusty. As we know, Julius and his family came to America in the late 1800s, and landed in Sodus after initially living in Benton Harbor. Julius bought this property from another immigrant.
By the time Julius died in 1953, he was living with his son Paul, somewhere in Sodus. I'm not sure if Paul moved to Julius' property and helped take care of him, if he never left the property, or if he lived elsewhere in Sodus. I do know, however, that Carl ended up at one of the houses on the current family farm -- at the address where my brother, Tim, now lives.
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