In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s most Mason County newspapers, including the Ludington Daily News, employed numerous individuals to gather news from the many small communities scattered around the County. These reporters, nearly all women, lived in these “rural” communities and frequently filed their articles via U. S. Mail.
These articles most commonly consisted of what today are considered social items pertaining to a small geographic area near the homes of the reporters. However some of these correspondents, like the subject of this article, expanded their work to include a significant addition to local history records.
RURAL CORRESPONDENTS
By the 1930’s The Ludington Daily News employed over 40 rural correspondents. The newspaper gathered this group together periodically and on December 5, 1939 published an article listing 43 of these correspondents. The article also included a photo of several of these women standing on the steps of the newspaper building noting their names and the district they represented.
This is a partial list of the Ludington Daily News rural correspondents at that time:
Mrs. Stanley Morton (1903-1996) of Morton district in Riverton Township.
Mrs. Patrick Murphy (1879-1970) of Center Riverton Township.
Mrs. G. Pearl Darr (1878-1951) of Darr district in Free Soil Township.
Mrs. John Butz (1893-1968) of Marchido district in Pere Marquette Township.
Mrs. John Hemmer (1889-1974) of Reek district in Sherman Township
Mrs. Larry Kistler (1895-1979) of Kistler’s Corner in Summit Township.
Mrs. Frank Barclay (1881-1968) of Scottville.
Mrs. E. M. Stephens (1870-1941) of Free Soil.
ETTA M. STEPHENS
Etta May Japhet was born in Oxford, New York on March 11, 1870 to Charles Japhet (1826-1871) and Mary Sarah Gates (1833-1913). Etta was only a year old when her father died. Census records indicate she lived the first decade of her life in New York before arriving in Free Soil, Michigan in 1880. She was active in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in Free Soil, The Free Soil Methodist Church and was a founding member of Mason County Historical Society.
Etta, now using the surname Gray from her step-father, must have known many of the early settlers of Free Soil and undoubtedly listened to many stories from “the early days.” She would retell those stories until the end of her life.
Etta married Thomas Sherwood Stephens in 1885. They had five children including a daughter also named Etta who, as Mrs. Frank Hunt, would take over the Free Soil rural correspondent duties after her mother’s death in 1941.
VILLAGE OF FREE SOIL
The Village of Free Soil is believed to have been named in honor of the Free Soil Party, also known as the Free Democratic Party. This political party opposed the expansion of slavery in the United States and was active from 1848 to 1854.
The Village grew around some of the earliest sawmills to be constructed in Mason County. By the time Etta arrived the Village had become one of the most prominent commercial centers in the area boasting a general store, drug store, undertaker, school, churches and numerous residences. Etta seems to have known everyone that lived and or worked in the new community. This would become the basis for many articles she contributed to the Ludington Daily News in her role as the rural correspondent from Free Soil.
LOCAL HISTORY ARTICLES
Etta M. Stephens wrote over 50 local history articles for the Ludington Daily News from the 1920’s to the 1940’s. The following excerpts from some of those articles illustrate her passion for her community and its history (she uses an alternate spelling of Free Soil):
August 31, 1938 — “History of Freesoil Region Reaches Back 100 Years: Freesoil Township has a very unique history and within its borders was the first white settlement in Mason county. History, in Freesoil Township, covers almost 100 years.
It was in 1842 that the first death occurred here, that of a man named Allen who was a government surveyor. His epitaph was carved in the bark of a beech tree at the head of his grave and remained there for many years as a monument to his memory.”
April 1, 1939 — “ Former Methods of Travel Are Recalled: When one skims over a wintry road nowadays in a comfortable car at an average rate of 50 or more miles an hour, shielded from wintry winds and made comfortable with a heater while listening to radio programs as we go, memory brings to mind former methods of travel over practically the same roads.
Many an early pioneer, having no method of transportation, except his own feet, was obliged to walk to Manistee and carry his provisions home on his back, some of the distance being made over mere trails through dense woods. The more fortunate pioneer had an ox team, which lumbered along slowly, deliberately, but faithfully, taking two days to make the trip to Manistee and back.”
Some of the most important records of the Rose Hawley Archives housed by Mason County Historical Society are hundreds of binders with copies of newspaper articles. Included in those binders are many articles written by Etta M. Stephens, offering her treasured memories of her hometown, Free Soil.