Ecorse Obituaries
Ecorse Obituaries
Ecorse Avertiser
Thursday, January 9, 1969
Mrs. Mattie Blackwell
Mrs. Mattie Blackwell, a founder and president of the Tennessee Sausage Company, 295 Southfield, Ecorse, died December 28 in Brayton, Florida, where she made her home.
Mrs. Blackwell, 66, was buried New Year’s Day in Centerville, Tennessee.
She is survived by children James Blackwell, vice-president of the company; Betty Sue Norris, of Brayton, Fla., and Floy Podeski, of Omer, Mich.; two sisters of Tennessee; eight grandchildren; 13 great grandchildren.
Mrs. Blackwell and her husband, F.W. Blackwell organized the company in Ecorse 18 years ago. Mr. Blackwell died five years ago.
Ecorse Advertiser
August 1940
Alex Campau
Centenarian of Ecorse Lies Down at Last to Rest
“For some we loved, the loveliest and best,
That from his vintage rolling Time hath prest,
Have drunk their cup a round or two before,
And one by one crept silently to rest.”
And into that world of yesterdays which flowed from the pen of the Persian poet and philosopher, Omar Kyayham, today has “crept silently to rest,” a well-loved old man- pioneer of the downriver area who closed his tired eyes at last from the shifting scenes of almost 100 years.
For today, at rest in Ecorse cemetery, very close to the place of his birth, Alex Campau has closed a lifetime of activity – a lifetime that in two short weeks would have numbered exactly 97 years.
Back in the days when Ecorse and the neighboring lands were Indian inhabited vastness, when the stagecoach was making its first run between Detroit and Monroe, Alex Campau was born – the second child and oldest son of Mr. And Mrs. Alexis Campau. The first wail of the man who was to live almost a century was heard from behind the hobnailed walls of a small frame house that today still stands on the lot next to the home in which he died, 3859 West Jefferson Avenue.
Tuesday morning a solemn requiem high mass at St. Francis Xavier church in which the Reverend Fathers John Kenna, Arthur Toussaint and A. DeCneudt officiated was chanted as last respects to the pioneer. He suffered a paralytic stroke last Monday and never regained consciousness until Saturday when, with the same spirit of peace and tranquility with which he lived, he “crept silently to rest” into the land of the shadows.
As a child he attended a little frame school house on Salliotte road, where a mere handful of boys gathered to learn the “three R’s” as taught by the one long-suffering teacher. But Alex was only a little fellow, eight years old, when the first shadow of sorrow crossed his life and death took the hard-working, generous-hearted man who was his father. After that, he did his bit in the fields and helped his mother in the house where she rented rooms to men who came to work on the laying of the first railroad line through this territory – the old Lakeshore railroad.
He was still a little fellow when he sometimes made the exciting ride to Monroe from Detroit and back again on a stagecoach which was driven by a distant cousin. It was as thrilling as a present day trip to New York to the youngster to ride, hot and dusty and thoroughly weary into Monroe at night-watch the lengthening shadows as he listened to tales spun by old and seasoned travelers and then crept to bed- to arise with the first pale streaks of dawn, to be ready, behind fresh horses, for that homeward trek. And, it was in Alex’s childhood that he learned the true friendly nature of the American Indian, for there was one – a stalwart fellow, who was helping to lay the railroad -, who roomed at Mrs. Campau’s house. The Indian took an instant liking to the active boy and went so far as to share his bed most of the time he stayed at the Campau home.
Married in Wyandotte
And so Alex grew to manhood working a little her an there with his brother – taking his threshing machine to neighboring farmers who had none-doing a little trucking business, taking the produce he grew on the farm to market, and delighting in making a good deal for it. The founding of the Tecumseh Salt Works in Ecorse found Campau one of its first workers clearing away the marshlands and the oncoming years never found him idle.
At the age of 23, he hitched up his horse and buggy one bright day – the twenty-fourth of July – and he and pretty Adis Salliotte, who lived a scant half-mile away, drove all the way to Wyandotte to be married according to their faith. They returned to Ecorse, however, and worked together with the land and the stock that constituted Alex’s farm.
Five children were born to them; one – a little boy, dying in infancy. The four other children are living today, mourning the death of a father they always knew to be kind, just and devoted to them. Two of his daughters, Lillian and Agnes, never married, and it was in the home with them that he shared his last few years – almost blind and totally deaf.
Another daughter, Florence Drouillard, married but is still living in the town hear her father’s home. His son, Ernest, lives but a few doors away from the home site. Also left to mourn is a sister, Mrs. Mathilda Grant, who lives at Ernest’s home.
Goes Deaf, Blind
Always a devotee of hunting, fishing, hiking an vigorous outdoor sports in his youth, the advancing years left the pioneer lonely and not a little bewildered as hie steps slowed and his eyesight failed. And when he hearing went completely he turned to the vivid memories within his heart for consolation. And so the last long twilight days found him, a solitary figure sitting in the window of his home – gazing not upon the busy street that is now West Jefferson Avenue – but back down the muddy lane of his childhood-past the milestones that took away the pristine liveliness of the land that he had tilled with his own hands – and turned it into the noisy paths upon which industry today travels swiftly forward.
“How do you feel today, dad?”
“Fine – just fine.”
And those were the last words ever spoken by the grand old man of Ecorse – Alex Campau. A few moments after they were uttered last Monday, he collapsed on the floor of his home, and a few days later quietly passed on into the land in which his memories – his loves of yesterday-were awaiting him.
Descendant of Pioneer, Mrs. Drouillard Dies (Florence Campau Drouillard
The Detroit News
Sunday, December 18, 1960
Services were held Monday morning for Mrs. Florence Campau Drouillard, 86, a lifetime resident of Ecorse and member of a pioneer Downriver family, who died Thursday in the old family homestead where she was born, at 3859 West Jefferson.
Burial in Ecorse Cemetery followed a requiem mass Monday in St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church.
Mrs. Druillard was te last descendant of one branch of the ampau family, which was one of the first to settle in the Downriver area. She was one of four children born to the late Alexander and Ades (Salliotte) Campau. The Salliottes also were among the early settlers in the area.
Mrs. Drouillard had lived alone in the shadow of the Great Lakes Steel Corporation since the death of a brother Ernest, six months ago. Two sisters, Lillian and Agnes, died some time ago.
Much of the land on which her ancestors settled was still in her possession. She owned 650 feet of frontage on Jefferson directly south of the steel company’s main entrance.
The land, once woods and farm fields, is now occupied by used car lots, parking areas and buildings. Part of it is still cultivated as truck gardens, but the Campau family itself long ago gave up farming.
The house she died in is still a farmhouse. An old barn at the rear of the house was torn down only a few months ago.
In the near future, 1 ½ acres of the southerly portion of the property will become the site of a proposed new police station and municipal court building. At a special meeting last week, the Ecorse city council agreed to purchase the land for $55,000.
Earl E. Montie, a himself a member of a pionner Downriver family, and a longtime Ecorse resident, was Mrs. Drouillard’s attorney. In this capacity and from close association with the Campaus, Drouillards and descendants of the area’s other early settlers, he acquired a treasure trove of historical lore.
Montie said Mrs. Drouillard’s mother was Ades Salliotte, another pioneer name in the downriver area. During her marriage to Frank L. Drouillard, Mrs. Drouillard had a home on Salliotte Street in Ecorse. But she returned to the family home after her husband’s death many years ago.
Her father, Alexander, died in 1939 at the age of 96, Montie said. He was born in a log cabin not 50 feet from the present home.
Alexander could recall first hand the Indians who hunted and fished in the region. He could remember when he shot deer where the steel plant is now, when Jefferson was a mud trail called the River Road.
He passed on to his children the stories he heard from the participants of skirmishes on Fighting Island during the War of 1812.
The recollections died with Mrs. Drouillard who had no children of her own, or nieces or nephews to pick up the thread of history.
The body is at the Frank Gallagher Funeral Home, 10750 Jefferson west, Ecorse.
Ecorse Advertiser
Wednesday, June 27, 1973
Dr. Blanche Goodell
University Professor, Dr. Blanche Goodell of Ecorse, Dies
Dr. Blanche E. Goodell, of Ecorse, a former professor of Spanish at Wayne State University, and a former teacher in Ecorse and River Rouge, died Sunday at Mt. Carmel Mercy Hospital.
A lifelong Ecorse resident, Dr. Goodell, 76, was educated in River Rouge Public Schools before going on to college where she eventually received a doctor of philosophy degree in language in 1950.
Funeral services were held Wednesday at the William R. Hamilton Company, 3973 Cass, Detroit. Burial was at Elmwood Cemetery.
Dr. Goodell was a professor at Wayne State University for 46 years until she retired in 1961. She attended River Rouge High School and graduated from Detroit Central High School in 1914. She taught second grade in Ecorse Public Schools in 1915 and 1916. From 1919 until 1921 she taught Spanish, French and English at River Rouge High School.
From River Rouge she began as an instructor at Wayne teaching basic courses in Spanish. She received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1919 and a master of arts from U/of M in 1928. Her PhD was received in 1950 from the University of Wisconsin.
She was a member of the Ecorse Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, the Episcopal Society of Cultural and Racial Unity, a past board member of Family and Neighborhood services and many inter cultural activities. She was a member of the Detroit Historical Society and was president of the Wayne State Episcopal Mission Board.
In 1962 Dr. Goodell received the Burton E Loveland Brotherhood Award, given by the Ecorse Community Relations Commission. She was cited for outstanding contributions in the promotion of brotherhood and understanding between people of every race, creed and nationality, and emphasized her particular success in creating good human relations in Ecorse.
She was a member of the hospitality committee of the nationality division of the United Community Services organization in Detroit and because of that she served as an interpreter for Spanish-speaking visitors to Detroit as official guests of the U.S. government. During the Second World War she was appointed by the War Manpower Commission and taught English to Mexican workers brought to this country to help alleviate the manpower shortage.
Dr. Goodell is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Raymond Persing of Bradenton, Fla., and Mrs. J. Howard Woods of Jackson; brother, Albert of Port Isabella, Tex., and eight nieces and nephews.
Ecorse Advertiser, 1936
Mary Emma Goodell
Ecorse Pioneer Take by Death
Mary Emma Goodell, Aged 90, Passes Away After Brief Illness
Mary Emma Goodell, aged 90, well known resident of Ecorse and member of a pioneer family which has been identified with this section since the early part of the last century, died at her home, 4260 West Jefferson Avenue, Sunday. She had been ill only a short time following injuries in a fall.
Funeral services were held from the residence at 2 p.m. Wednesday, the Rev. George Severance of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Wyandotte, officiated assisted by the Rev. Leonard Duckett of the Ecorse Presbyterian Church. Burial was at Elmwood cemetery, Detroit.
Miss Goodell was born in Detroit, December 14, 1846, the daughter of Elijah and Mary Copland Goodell. She was educated at Sacred Heart convent in Detroit and taught school in Ecorse from 1862 to 1865.
She was a member of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Wyandotte and for half a century was identified with Sunday school activities in Ecorse, a great deal of the time in connection with the local Presbyterian Church. Many times Sunday School classes met in her home.
Surviving are two nephews, Charles C. Goodell of Sturgis; and Edward G. Goodell of Stevens Point, Wis., and three great nieces, Blanche E. Goodell of Ecorse, Mrs. Bernice Persing and Mrs. Mary Ann Allen of Sturgis and a great nephew, Edward A. Goodell of Sturgis.
Her paternal grandfather, Elijah Goodell, came to Michigan from New England during the War of 1812. He was made a government Indian agent shortly after locating in the territory, and had charge of Indian affairs in a section extending from Detroit to Mackinaw. He was granted a parcel of land which now roughly includes the area between Jefferson Avenue and the river, from Salliotte Road to Benson Street. At that time Ecorse was made up largely of French, his family constituting virtually the only one of English extraction.
Ecorse Advertiser
Thursday, January 9, 1969
Mrs. Beatrice F. Heyart Ecorse resident Beatrice F. Heyart, 66, of 4264 Monroe, died January 2. She was buried Monday at the Mt. Carmel section of Michigan Memorial Park, Flat Rock, following funeral services at Edward Gerbach Sons Funeral Home, River Rouge, and St. Francis Xavier Church, Ecorse.
Mrs. Heyart is survived by sons, Charles, Air Force Captain Richard, Air Force captain Robert, and James; daughter Mrs. Barney (Bernadine) Witkowski.
Frederick Jacoby, Jr.
The Herald-Advertiser Newspapers
Thursday, August 15, 1985
Former Ecorse city councilman and the current city negotiator, Frederick Jacoby Jr., 47, died Saturday. Services were Tuesday at Ballheim Funeral Home, Ecorse, followed by burial at Oak Ridge Cemetery, Flat Rock.
Mr. Jacoby is survived by his wife Freya Jr.; daughters Susan, Jane, Diana J. Pelissier; Freya Jr., and Linda Jr.; a brother Frank Jacoby; two granddaughters, and his mother, Katherine Jacoby.
He served on the city council from 1975 to 1977. Previously, he served on the Charter Commission in 1973 and the Police and Fire Commission in 1974 and 1975. He has served as city negotiator since 1983. He was a president of the Conrail Local 683 from 1978 to 1980. Jacoby was a brakeman for Conrail for 28 years.
Ecorse Advertiser
July 4, 1946
Mrs. Estella Labadie
Death Takes Mrs. Labadie
Last Rites Conducted for Ecorse Pioneer
Funeral services were held yesterday morning at the Gallagher Funeral Home and at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church for Mrs. Estella Labadie, 76-year-old Ecorse pioneer, who died Saturday at Delray Hospital. Internment was at Michigan Memorial Part Cemetery.
Born in Ecorse February 6, 1873, Mrs. Labadie was the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Montie, and a member of one of the Downriver area’s earliest families.
She was married in 1898 to Elmer R. Labadie, scion of another pioneer Downriver family, who survives her. Labadie served from 1904 to 1906 as village president of Ecorse, and served many years as councilman and township treasurer.
In addition to her husband, Mrs. Labadie is survived by five sons, Everett R.; John R, a former Ecorse township clerk and justice of the peace; Elmer J., former councilman; Norbert F. and Richard B., three daughters, Viola, Mrs. Albert Wesner and Mrs. Clarence Mahalak, a brother, Joseph E. Montie, and a sister, Mrs. Bella Durocher. There are also 30 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Ecorse Advertiser
Thursday, January 9, 1969
Mrs. Emma A. Leblanc
Member of the pioneer LeBlanc family of Ecorse, Mrs. Emma A. LeBlanc, 91, of 4570 West Jefferson, Ecorse, died January 2.
Funeral services at Ballheim Funeral Home and St. Francis Xavier Church, Ecorse, Saturday, preceded burial at Holy Cross Cemetery.
Mrs. LeBlanc is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Marietta Forster; three grandchildren, two great grandchildren.
Claude Monroe
Ecorse Advertiser
Wednesday, November 24, 1982
Claude Monroe who has served the city of Ecorse in various capacities for more than three decades, died Thursday after a lengthy illness.
City of Ecorse flags were lowered to half staff as the city officially mourned his death. Services were conducted Tuesday at St. John’s A.M.E. Church River Rouge.
Mr. Monroe began his long tenure in Ecorse and Wayne County politics in 1937 when he was elected constable, becoming the first elected Black constable Downriver, and perhaps Wayne County. He remained in the position until 1940 when he became an organizer and representative of the UAW where he stayed until 1942 when he entered the Armed Forces.
Returning to civilian life in 1946, Monroe became a Wayne County deputy sheriff and remained in that position until 1950 when he left politics to enter private industry. He became the advertising manager for The Detroit Tribune and worked in that capacity until he became editor and publisher of the Downriver Call.
In 1953 he re-entered public life when he accepted an appointment as assistant superintendent of Ecorse public works. In 1958, Monroe became sewer inspector for the city and later was appointed coordinator for the DPW. He exited from public office temporarily in 1961 and again went into private industry where he remained until 1964 when he was appointed program director for the Ecorse Community Center, now the J.A. Thornton Community Center. Just prior to his death he was slum prevention director for the city.
Monroe was exalted ruler of E.G. Gilchrist Lodge 1561 IBPOE of W, was past commander of Alexander Dumas Post 352 of the American Legion and a life member of the NAACP.
He was a member of St. John’s A.M.E. Church.
Ecorse Advertiser
July 4, 1946
Cora Montie
Cora Montie Passes Away
Mrs. Cora Montie died suddenly of a heart attack Tuesday afternoon at her residence, 21 W. Goodell St., Ecorse.
Born in Bay City in 1891, Mrs. Montie lived most of her life in Ecorse and was
56 years of age at the time of her death. Mrs. Montie was the widow of the late Benjamin Monite, who was a member of the Ecorse Police Department and was killed in the line of duty.
Surviving are: a son, Milton Montie, an Ecorse fireman; five sisters, Mrs. Antoine Gagnon, Mrs. James Vincent, Mrs. John Pudvan, Mrs. Alice Pilon, and Miss Ida Thibeault; a brother, Alex Caldwell. Mrs. Montie was also the sister of the late Charles Thibeault.
Funeral services will be held from the Gallagher Funeral Home in River Rouge, Saturday at 10:45 a.m. with mass at St. Francis Xavier Church in Ecorse at 11 a.m. Burial will be at the Ecorse Cemetery.
Ecorse Advertiser
July 30, 1975
Joseph E. Montie
Services were conducted Monday at Ballheim Funeral Home and St. Francis Xavier Church for Joseph E. Montie, a lifelong Ecorse resident who passed away July 25 at Oakwood Hospital, Dearborn. Burial was at Michigan Memorial Park, Flat Rock.
Mr. Montie, 89, was born in Ecorse, Jan. 11, 1886, when it was known as Grandport. He was raised on a farm on Goddard Road in what was then considered Ecorse Township. His parents were Ecorse pioneers, the late Richard C. Montie and Liza Cicotte.
He is survived by a son, Raymond, of Ecorse and a sister, Mrs. Isebella Durocher; three grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.
Mr. Montie was one of five children. Mrs. Durocher, now 94, lives in a nursing home. His other brother and sisters have passed away.
In 1911, Mr. Montie married the former Justine Gee, who has since passed away. They had two children: Raymond, also of Ecorse, and Marion, who died in infancy.
He served as Ecorse village clerk in 1919 and founded the Ecorse Ice and Coal Company in 1921 with his cousin, Judge Albert Montie, now deceased.
Joseph Montie bought out Albert’s interest in the business in 1934 and Joseph’s son, Raymond, joined him in the firm which became known as Montie Fuel and Supply Company.
In 1964 the business was renamed the Montie Fuel-Warner Construction Company, of which he remained a vice president.
Ecorse Advertiser
July 4, 1946
Richard A. Montie, Ecorse Pioneer, Dies as City Celebrates Jubilee
Richard A. Montie, old time resident who lived to see Ecorse grow from a farming committee to a thriving industrial city, has found a resting place in the soil on which he was born and raised and grew to love so well.
The aged pioneer died at the age of 91 at his home, 4337 W. Jefferson, on the Fourth of July. Death was attributed to old age. He had been confined to his bed for one week. It was a strange coincidence that his death occurred at the very time his beloved city was celebrating its homecoming jubilee and Ecorse oarsmen were again bringing Ecorse rowing supremacy. Mr. Montie was a member of the old ten oared barge crew that was a forerunner of the later championship crews his famous brothers sponsored back in the 1870s.
Mr. Montie was the fifth child in a family of ten, and was born in Eocrse Township on February 6, 1855. His father, John Baptiste Montie, settled in Ecorse after leaving Quebec and married the former Amelia Goodell of Grosse Ile.
Their son John, grew to manhood and married the former Eliza Cicotte and raised a family of three sons and two daughters. After a stint of farming, Mr. Montie was employed by the D.T. and I. Railroad with whom he remained until his retirement some 25 years ago.
He was described as a man whose chief interest was his church and his family. He was a charter member of the Holy Name Society of St. Frances Xavier Parish. At one time, Mr. Montie was a member of the Ecorse Township School board, District No. 3.
Mrs. Montie preceded her husband in death some fifteen years ago and two sons, Richard and Benjamin, are also dead.
Mr. Montie is survived by two daughters, Mrs. E.R. Labadie and Mrs. Bella Durocher; one son, Joseph; a sister, Mrs. Emma Rogers of Detroit and 11 grandchildren, 16 great children and one great great grandchild.
Services were held from the residence at 8:30 a.m. last Saturday and from St. Frances Xavier Church at 9 o’clock. Requiem mass was celebrated by Rev. Monsignor T.G. Morin and buried was in Ecorse Cemetery.
Herald Advertiser Newspapers
Mrs. Mae E. Movinski
July 23, 1973
Mrs. Mae E. Movinski of Ecorse, dies at 86
Mrs. Mae E. Movinski, 86, the widow of a long time Ecorse political leader, died Sunday in the Rivergate Convalescent Center.
Mrs. Movinski’s late husband, Paul, operated a barber shop on West Jefferson in Ecorse for nearly a half century and served as a village trustee and later as a city councilman for 24 consecutive years.
Old-time Ecorse Township political leaders yearly made a pilgrimage to the Movinski deer hunting lodge near Seney where Mrs. Movinski won a reputation for her ability to prepare delicious venison dinners. As a young women, she was known as an avid hunter.
Funeral services will be held Thursday morning at the Ballheim Funeral Home and St. Francis Xavier Church. Burial will be in Our Lady of Hope Cemetery.
Mrs. Movinski is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Leone Bourassa, a grandson and four great-grandchildren. A brother Howard Solo, and sisters, Mrs. Ethel Movinski, also survive.
Grace R. Salliotte
Grace R. Salliotte of 4497 High in Ecorse, died at Wyandotte General Hospital on November 29th. She is survived by nieces, Mrs. Lucille Adam, Miss Evelyn Bouchard , Mrs. Ruth Brewer, Mrs. Harriett Meyers.
She was buried at Michigan Memorial Park, Flat Rock Tuesday following services at Ballheim Funeral Home and St. Francis Xavier Church, Ecorse.
Her husband is the late Ignatius Salliotte, who along with his father, Joseph, were original settlers in Ecorse.
She was a member of the St. Anne’s Rosary Society and the League of Catholic Women.
(Ecorse Advertiser, Wednesday December 3, 1969)
The Herald Advertiser Newspapers
Thursday August 15, 1985
Anna Butler Schwartz
A resident of Ecorse for 60 years, Anna Bertha Schwartz, 81, died Aug. 12. Services will be at 11 a.m. today at Ballheim Funeral Home, Ecorse, with burial at Woodmere Cemetery, Detroit.
Mrs. Schwartz is survived by daughters, Frances B. Lunau and Ruth Morisette; sons, Frank E. and George W.; brother, Elmer Shannon; 11 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.
She was past grand noble of the Rebecca Lodge, and a member of the River Rouge Eastern Star and American Legion Auxiliary.
Ecorse Advertiser
Thursday April 24, 1969
Margaret O. Scott
Former Ecorse resident Margaret O. Scott, 64, of 1037 New York, Dearborn, died April 16. Funeral services Saturday at Ballheim Funeral Home and St. Francis Xavier Church preceded burial at Michigan Memorial Park, Flat Rock.
Mrs. Scott is survived by her husband, Robert, brothers Thomas, Albert, Donald and Edward Ouellette; sisters, Marietta Ouellette; Mrs. Grace Mandersheid, Mrs. Mary Strasser.
Ecorse Advertiser
Wednesday, November 29, 1972
William H. (Red) Tank
Considered at one time to be one of the best oarsmen in the United States and Canada, William H. (Red) Tank of Ecorse died Nov. 21 at Riverside Osteopathic Hospital, Trenton.
Mr. Tank of West Jefferson and his late brother Louis, at one time was considered the best light weight double oarsmen in the United States and Canada. “Red” Tank won seven major national and international rowing races from 1936 to 1946. He was the last surviving tank brother of Ecorse who reorganized the Ecorse Rowing Club in 1938. His brothers were Louis, Charles and Vernon. “Red” Tank has severed in various capacities in the Rowing Club ever since. From 1941 until the present time he was a coach and a boat repairman.
Mr. Tank is survived by his wife Petula, sons John and Peter; one grandchild; sister, Mrs. Rhea Mesler.
Funeral services were conducted Saturday at the Ballehim Funeral Home and St. Francis Xavier Church, Ecorse. Burial was at Ferndale Cemetery, Riverview.
Ecorse Advertiser
Wednesday, July 18, 1973
Ellis “Duke” Underill
Duke Underill was born in Syracuse, New York, July 10. 1892 and came to Ecorse as a boy. After serving with the Marine Corps during the First World War, he returned to Ecorse and entered the real estate and insurance fields. He founded the present company more than 52 years ago. In 1968 he retired and sold his business to his brother-in-law and long-time associate, Frank Butler, but continued to visit the office.
During the 1920s, when Ecorse was beginning to grow into a thriving community, Underill worked with other real estate developers in plotting streets and subdivisions throughout the community.
Trophies from his hunting and fishing expeditions decorate the walls even today of Underill and Associates office.
And, from that office throughout the years, Underill and his co-workers handled the insurance needs of banks, corporations, municipalities and school districts.
The title of Goodwill Ambassador for the city was first given him by the late mayor, William W. Voisine, and he held that title until his death.
Ecorse Avertiser
Thursday, January 9, 1969
Russell B. Van Horn
Russell B. Van Horn, 59, of 38 West Alexis, Ecorse, died Dec. 31. He was buried last Thursday at Boyne City following funeral services at Ballheim Funeral Home and St. Francis Xavier Church, Ecorse.
Mr. Van Horn is survived by his wife,Olive; sons, Russell A., Ronald, Gary and Gregory; sister, Mrs. Marguerite Northup; three grandchildren.
Michigan Chronicle
July 16-22, 1997
J.C. Wall
Ecorse Publisher dead at 81
J.C. Wall, publisher of the Telegram Newspaper, died July 10. Services were held Tuesday at First Baptist Church in Ecorse with Rev. Alfred Davis officiating. Mr. Wall was 81.
Mr. Wall’s editorials in the Telegram Newspaper kept the Ecorse, River Rouge and southwest Detroit communities abreast of political and social activities since 1945.
As a nationally-recognized publisher and community activist, Mr. Wall received numerous awards from civic, government and community organizations. He was a long standing member of First Baptist Church, a Life Member of the NAACP, the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the Michigan Minority Press Association and the Southern Wayne County Chamber of Commerce.
“Mr. Wall was a strong advocate of fairness and built a legacy in the River Rouge, Ecorse and southwest Detroit area,” said Karen Love, assistant to Michigan Chronicle Publisher Sam Logan. The Chronicle is also a National Newspaper Publishers Association member.
Born April 23, 1916 in Carthage, Texas, Mr. Wall moved to Marshall, Texas, where he became a star football player on the Central High School team. He continued his education at Bishop College.
He moved to Detroit in 1942 and worked in several war plants during World War II. H purchased the Telegram in 1945.
In 1962, Mr. Wall married Dorothy Braxton.
Mr. Wall is survived by his wife; daughter and son-in-law, Arlene and John Nolan’ sisters-in-law, Hulena White and Ernestine Rosemond; four nephews, Michael Center, Luther, Donald and Ernest Rosemond and a host of family members.
John A. Wisler
Ecorse Advertiser
January 9, 1969
John A. Wisler, 53, of 72 Visger, Ecorse, died January 3. He was buried Tuesday at Ferndale Cemetery, Riverview following a funeral service at Edward Girrbach Sons Funeral Home, River Rouge.
Mr. Wisler is survived by sisters, Mrs. Ray (Loretta) Anderson, Mrs. Arthur (Dorothy) Montroy, and Mrs. Richard (Rosemary) Worden; brother Willard.
Ecorse Avertiser
Thursday, January 9, 1969
Mrs. Mattie Blackwell
Mrs. Mattie Blackwell, a founder and president of the Tennessee Sausage Company, 295 Southfield, Ecorse, died December 28 in Brayton, Florida, where she made her home.
Mrs. Blackwell, 66, was buried New Year’s Day in Centerville, Tennessee.
She is survived by children James Blackwell, vice-president of the company; Betty Sue Norris, of Brayton, Fla., and Floy Podeski, of Omer, Mich.; two sisters of Tennessee; eight grandchildren; 13 great grandchildren.
Mrs. Blackwell and her husband, F.W. Blackwell organized the company in Ecorse 18 years ago. Mr. Blackwell died five years ago.
Ecorse Advertiser
August 1940
Alex Campau
Centenarian of Ecorse Lies Down at Last to Rest
“For some we loved, the loveliest and best,
That from his vintage rolling Time hath prest,
Have drunk their cup a round or two before,
And one by one crept silently to rest.”
And into that world of yesterdays which flowed from the pen of the Persian poet and philosopher, Omar Kyayham, today has “crept silently to rest,” a well-loved old man- pioneer of the downriver area who closed his tired eyes at last from the shifting scenes of almost 100 years.
For today, at rest in Ecorse cemetery, very close to the place of his birth, Alex Campau has closed a lifetime of activity – a lifetime that in two short weeks would have numbered exactly 97 years.
Back in the days when Ecorse and the neighboring lands were Indian inhabited vastness, when the stagecoach was making its first run between Detroit and Monroe, Alex Campau was born – the second child and oldest son of Mr. And Mrs. Alexis Campau. The first wail of the man who was to live almost a century was heard from behind the hobnailed walls of a small frame house that today still stands on the lot next to the home in which he died, 3859 West Jefferson Avenue.
Tuesday morning a solemn requiem high mass at St. Francis Xavier church in which the Reverend Fathers John Kenna, Arthur Toussaint and A. DeCneudt officiated was chanted as last respects to the pioneer. He suffered a paralytic stroke last Monday and never regained consciousness until Saturday when, with the same spirit of peace and tranquility with which he lived, he “crept silently to rest” into the land of the shadows.
As a child he attended a little frame school house on Salliotte road, where a mere handful of boys gathered to learn the “three R’s” as taught by the one long-suffering teacher. But Alex was only a little fellow, eight years old, when the first shadow of sorrow crossed his life and death took the hard-working, generous-hearted man who was his father. After that, he did his bit in the fields and helped his mother in the house where she rented rooms to men who came to work on the laying of the first railroad line through this territory – the old Lakeshore railroad.
He was still a little fellow when he sometimes made the exciting ride to Monroe from Detroit and back again on a stagecoach which was driven by a distant cousin. It was as thrilling as a present day trip to New York to the youngster to ride, hot and dusty and thoroughly weary into Monroe at night-watch the lengthening shadows as he listened to tales spun by old and seasoned travelers and then crept to bed- to arise with the first pale streaks of dawn, to be ready, behind fresh horses, for that homeward trek. And, it was in Alex’s childhood that he learned the true friendly nature of the American Indian, for there was one – a stalwart fellow, who was helping to lay the railroad -, who roomed at Mrs. Campau’s house. The Indian took an instant liking to the active boy and went so far as to share his bed most of the time he stayed at the Campau home.
Married in Wyandotte
And so Alex grew to manhood working a little her an there with his brother – taking his threshing machine to neighboring farmers who had none-doing a little trucking business, taking the produce he grew on the farm to market, and delighting in making a good deal for it. The founding of the Tecumseh Salt Works in Ecorse found Campau one of its first workers clearing away the marshlands and the oncoming years never found him idle.
At the age of 23, he hitched up his horse and buggy one bright day – the twenty-fourth of July – and he and pretty Adis Salliotte, who lived a scant half-mile away, drove all the way to Wyandotte to be married according to their faith. They returned to Ecorse, however, and worked together with the land and the stock that constituted Alex’s farm.
Five children were born to them; one – a little boy, dying in infancy. The four other children are living today, mourning the death of a father they always knew to be kind, just and devoted to them. Two of his daughters, Lillian and Agnes, never married, and it was in the home with them that he shared his last few years – almost blind and totally deaf.
Another daughter, Florence Drouillard, married but is still living in the town hear her father’s home. His son, Ernest, lives but a few doors away from the home site. Also left to mourn is a sister, Mrs. Mathilda Grant, who lives at Ernest’s home.
Goes Deaf, Blind
Always a devotee of hunting, fishing, hiking an vigorous outdoor sports in his youth, the advancing years left the pioneer lonely and not a little bewildered as hie steps slowed and his eyesight failed. And when he hearing went completely he turned to the vivid memories within his heart for consolation. And so the last long twilight days found him, a solitary figure sitting in the window of his home – gazing not upon the busy street that is now West Jefferson Avenue – but back down the muddy lane of his childhood-past the milestones that took away the pristine liveliness of the land that he had tilled with his own hands – and turned it into the noisy paths upon which industry today travels swiftly forward.
“How do you feel today, dad?”
“Fine – just fine.”
And those were the last words ever spoken by the grand old man of Ecorse – Alex Campau. A few moments after they were uttered last Monday, he collapsed on the floor of his home, and a few days later quietly passed on into the land in which his memories – his loves of yesterday-were awaiting him.
Descendant of Pioneer, Mrs. Drouillard Dies (Florence Campau Drouillard
The Detroit News
Sunday, December 18, 1960
Services were held Monday morning for Mrs. Florence Campau Drouillard, 86, a lifetime resident of Ecorse and member of a pioneer Downriver family, who died Thursday in the old family homestead where she was born, at 3859 West Jefferson.
Burial in Ecorse Cemetery followed a requiem mass Monday in St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church.
Mrs. Druillard was te last descendant of one branch of the ampau family, which was one of the first to settle in the Downriver area. She was one of four children born to the late Alexander and Ades (Salliotte) Campau. The Salliottes also were among the early settlers in the area.
Mrs. Drouillard had lived alone in the shadow of the Great Lakes Steel Corporation since the death of a brother Ernest, six months ago. Two sisters, Lillian and Agnes, died some time ago.
Much of the land on which her ancestors settled was still in her possession. She owned 650 feet of frontage on Jefferson directly south of the steel company’s main entrance.
The land, once woods and farm fields, is now occupied by used car lots, parking areas and buildings. Part of it is still cultivated as truck gardens, but the Campau family itself long ago gave up farming.
The house she died in is still a farmhouse. An old barn at the rear of the house was torn down only a few months ago.
In the near future, 1 ½ acres of the southerly portion of the property will become the site of a proposed new police station and municipal court building. At a special meeting last week, the Ecorse city council agreed to purchase the land for $55,000.
Earl E. Montie, a himself a member of a pionner Downriver family, and a longtime Ecorse resident, was Mrs. Drouillard’s attorney. In this capacity and from close association with the Campaus, Drouillards and descendants of the area’s other early settlers, he acquired a treasure trove of historical lore.
Montie said Mrs. Drouillard’s mother was Ades Salliotte, another pioneer name in the downriver area. During her marriage to Frank L. Drouillard, Mrs. Drouillard had a home on Salliotte Street in Ecorse. But she returned to the family home after her husband’s death many years ago.
Her father, Alexander, died in 1939 at the age of 96, Montie said. He was born in a log cabin not 50 feet from the present home.
Alexander could recall first hand the Indians who hunted and fished in the region. He could remember when he shot deer where the steel plant is now, when Jefferson was a mud trail called the River Road.
He passed on to his children the stories he heard from the participants of skirmishes on Fighting Island during the War of 1812.
The recollections died with Mrs. Drouillard who had no children of her own, or nieces or nephews to pick up the thread of history.
The body is at the Frank Gallagher Funeral Home, 10750 Jefferson west, Ecorse.
Ecorse Advertiser
Wednesday, June 27, 1973
Dr. Blanche Goodell
University Professor, Dr. Blanche Goodell of Ecorse, Dies
Dr. Blanche E. Goodell, of Ecorse, a former professor of Spanish at Wayne State University, and a former teacher in Ecorse and River Rouge, died Sunday at Mt. Carmel Mercy Hospital.
A lifelong Ecorse resident, Dr. Goodell, 76, was educated in River Rouge Public Schools before going on to college where she eventually received a doctor of philosophy degree in language in 1950.
Funeral services were held Wednesday at the William R. Hamilton Company, 3973 Cass, Detroit. Burial was at Elmwood Cemetery.
Dr. Goodell was a professor at Wayne State University for 46 years until she retired in 1961. She attended River Rouge High School and graduated from Detroit Central High School in 1914. She taught second grade in Ecorse Public Schools in 1915 and 1916. From 1919 until 1921 she taught Spanish, French and English at River Rouge High School.
From River Rouge she began as an instructor at Wayne teaching basic courses in Spanish. She received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Michigan in 1919 and a master of arts from U/of M in 1928. Her PhD was received in 1950 from the University of Wisconsin.
She was a member of the Ecorse Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, the Episcopal Society of Cultural and Racial Unity, a past board member of Family and Neighborhood services and many inter cultural activities. She was a member of the Detroit Historical Society and was president of the Wayne State Episcopal Mission Board.
In 1962 Dr. Goodell received the Burton E Loveland Brotherhood Award, given by the Ecorse Community Relations Commission. She was cited for outstanding contributions in the promotion of brotherhood and understanding between people of every race, creed and nationality, and emphasized her particular success in creating good human relations in Ecorse.
She was a member of the hospitality committee of the nationality division of the United Community Services organization in Detroit and because of that she served as an interpreter for Spanish-speaking visitors to Detroit as official guests of the U.S. government. During the Second World War she was appointed by the War Manpower Commission and taught English to Mexican workers brought to this country to help alleviate the manpower shortage.
Dr. Goodell is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Raymond Persing of Bradenton, Fla., and Mrs. J. Howard Woods of Jackson; brother, Albert of Port Isabella, Tex., and eight nieces and nephews.
Ecorse Advertiser, 1936
Mary Emma Goodell
Ecorse Pioneer Take by Death
Mary Emma Goodell, Aged 90, Passes Away After Brief Illness
Mary Emma Goodell, aged 90, well known resident of Ecorse and member of a pioneer family which has been identified with this section since the early part of the last century, died at her home, 4260 West Jefferson Avenue, Sunday. She had been ill only a short time following injuries in a fall.
Funeral services were held from the residence at 2 p.m. Wednesday, the Rev. George Severance of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Wyandotte, officiated assisted by the Rev. Leonard Duckett of the Ecorse Presbyterian Church. Burial was at Elmwood cemetery, Detroit.
Miss Goodell was born in Detroit, December 14, 1846, the daughter of Elijah and Mary Copland Goodell. She was educated at Sacred Heart convent in Detroit and taught school in Ecorse from 1862 to 1865.
She was a member of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Wyandotte and for half a century was identified with Sunday school activities in Ecorse, a great deal of the time in connection with the local Presbyterian Church. Many times Sunday School classes met in her home.
Surviving are two nephews, Charles C. Goodell of Sturgis; and Edward G. Goodell of Stevens Point, Wis., and three great nieces, Blanche E. Goodell of Ecorse, Mrs. Bernice Persing and Mrs. Mary Ann Allen of Sturgis and a great nephew, Edward A. Goodell of Sturgis.
Her paternal grandfather, Elijah Goodell, came to Michigan from New England during the War of 1812. He was made a government Indian agent shortly after locating in the territory, and had charge of Indian affairs in a section extending from Detroit to Mackinaw. He was granted a parcel of land which now roughly includes the area between Jefferson Avenue and the river, from Salliotte Road to Benson Street. At that time Ecorse was made up largely of French, his family constituting virtually the only one of English extraction.
Ecorse Advertiser
Thursday, January 9, 1969
Mrs. Beatrice F. Heyart Ecorse resident Beatrice F. Heyart, 66, of 4264 Monroe, died January 2. She was buried Monday at the Mt. Carmel section of Michigan Memorial Park, Flat Rock, following funeral services at Edward Gerbach Sons Funeral Home, River Rouge, and St. Francis Xavier Church, Ecorse.
Mrs. Heyart is survived by sons, Charles, Air Force Captain Richard, Air Force captain Robert, and James; daughter Mrs. Barney (Bernadine) Witkowski.
Frederick Jacoby, Jr.
The Herald-Advertiser Newspapers
Thursday, August 15, 1985
Former Ecorse city councilman and the current city negotiator, Frederick Jacoby Jr., 47, died Saturday. Services were Tuesday at Ballheim Funeral Home, Ecorse, followed by burial at Oak Ridge Cemetery, Flat Rock.
Mr. Jacoby is survived by his wife Freya Jr.; daughters Susan, Jane, Diana J. Pelissier; Freya Jr., and Linda Jr.; a brother Frank Jacoby; two granddaughters, and his mother, Katherine Jacoby.
He served on the city council from 1975 to 1977. Previously, he served on the Charter Commission in 1973 and the Police and Fire Commission in 1974 and 1975. He has served as city negotiator since 1983. He was a president of the Conrail Local 683 from 1978 to 1980. Jacoby was a brakeman for Conrail for 28 years.
Ecorse Advertiser
July 4, 1946
Mrs. Estella Labadie
Death Takes Mrs. Labadie
Last Rites Conducted for Ecorse Pioneer
Funeral services were held yesterday morning at the Gallagher Funeral Home and at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church for Mrs. Estella Labadie, 76-year-old Ecorse pioneer, who died Saturday at Delray Hospital. Internment was at Michigan Memorial Part Cemetery.
Born in Ecorse February 6, 1873, Mrs. Labadie was the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Montie, and a member of one of the Downriver area’s earliest families.
She was married in 1898 to Elmer R. Labadie, scion of another pioneer Downriver family, who survives her. Labadie served from 1904 to 1906 as village president of Ecorse, and served many years as councilman and township treasurer.
In addition to her husband, Mrs. Labadie is survived by five sons, Everett R.; John R, a former Ecorse township clerk and justice of the peace; Elmer J., former councilman; Norbert F. and Richard B., three daughters, Viola, Mrs. Albert Wesner and Mrs. Clarence Mahalak, a brother, Joseph E. Montie, and a sister, Mrs. Bella Durocher. There are also 30 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Ecorse Advertiser
Thursday, January 9, 1969
Mrs. Emma A. Leblanc
Member of the pioneer LeBlanc family of Ecorse, Mrs. Emma A. LeBlanc, 91, of 4570 West Jefferson, Ecorse, died January 2.
Funeral services at Ballheim Funeral Home and St. Francis Xavier Church, Ecorse, Saturday, preceded burial at Holy Cross Cemetery.
Mrs. LeBlanc is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Marietta Forster; three grandchildren, two great grandchildren.
Claude Monroe
Ecorse Advertiser
Wednesday, November 24, 1982
Claude Monroe who has served the city of Ecorse in various capacities for more than three decades, died Thursday after a lengthy illness.
City of Ecorse flags were lowered to half staff as the city officially mourned his death. Services were conducted Tuesday at St. John’s A.M.E. Church River Rouge.
Mr. Monroe began his long tenure in Ecorse and Wayne County politics in 1937 when he was elected constable, becoming the first elected Black constable Downriver, and perhaps Wayne County. He remained in the position until 1940 when he became an organizer and representative of the UAW where he stayed until 1942 when he entered the Armed Forces.
Returning to civilian life in 1946, Monroe became a Wayne County deputy sheriff and remained in that position until 1950 when he left politics to enter private industry. He became the advertising manager for The Detroit Tribune and worked in that capacity until he became editor and publisher of the Downriver Call.
In 1953 he re-entered public life when he accepted an appointment as assistant superintendent of Ecorse public works. In 1958, Monroe became sewer inspector for the city and later was appointed coordinator for the DPW. He exited from public office temporarily in 1961 and again went into private industry where he remained until 1964 when he was appointed program director for the Ecorse Community Center, now the J.A. Thornton Community Center. Just prior to his death he was slum prevention director for the city.
Monroe was exalted ruler of E.G. Gilchrist Lodge 1561 IBPOE of W, was past commander of Alexander Dumas Post 352 of the American Legion and a life member of the NAACP.
He was a member of St. John’s A.M.E. Church.
Ecorse Advertiser
July 4, 1946
Cora Montie
Cora Montie Passes Away
Mrs. Cora Montie died suddenly of a heart attack Tuesday afternoon at her residence, 21 W. Goodell St., Ecorse.
Born in Bay City in 1891, Mrs. Montie lived most of her life in Ecorse and was
56 years of age at the time of her death. Mrs. Montie was the widow of the late Benjamin Monite, who was a member of the Ecorse Police Department and was killed in the line of duty.
Surviving are: a son, Milton Montie, an Ecorse fireman; five sisters, Mrs. Antoine Gagnon, Mrs. James Vincent, Mrs. John Pudvan, Mrs. Alice Pilon, and Miss Ida Thibeault; a brother, Alex Caldwell. Mrs. Montie was also the sister of the late Charles Thibeault.
Funeral services will be held from the Gallagher Funeral Home in River Rouge, Saturday at 10:45 a.m. with mass at St. Francis Xavier Church in Ecorse at 11 a.m. Burial will be at the Ecorse Cemetery.
Ecorse Advertiser
July 30, 1975
Joseph E. Montie
Services were conducted Monday at Ballheim Funeral Home and St. Francis Xavier Church for Joseph E. Montie, a lifelong Ecorse resident who passed away July 25 at Oakwood Hospital, Dearborn. Burial was at Michigan Memorial Park, Flat Rock.
Mr. Montie, 89, was born in Ecorse, Jan. 11, 1886, when it was known as Grandport. He was raised on a farm on Goddard Road in what was then considered Ecorse Township. His parents were Ecorse pioneers, the late Richard C. Montie and Liza Cicotte.
He is survived by a son, Raymond, of Ecorse and a sister, Mrs. Isebella Durocher; three grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.
Mr. Montie was one of five children. Mrs. Durocher, now 94, lives in a nursing home. His other brother and sisters have passed away.
In 1911, Mr. Montie married the former Justine Gee, who has since passed away. They had two children: Raymond, also of Ecorse, and Marion, who died in infancy.
He served as Ecorse village clerk in 1919 and founded the Ecorse Ice and Coal Company in 1921 with his cousin, Judge Albert Montie, now deceased.
Joseph Montie bought out Albert’s interest in the business in 1934 and Joseph’s son, Raymond, joined him in the firm which became known as Montie Fuel and Supply Company.
In 1964 the business was renamed the Montie Fuel-Warner Construction Company, of which he remained a vice president.
Ecorse Advertiser
July 4, 1946
Richard A. Montie, Ecorse Pioneer, Dies as City Celebrates Jubilee
Richard A. Montie, old time resident who lived to see Ecorse grow from a farming committee to a thriving industrial city, has found a resting place in the soil on which he was born and raised and grew to love so well.
The aged pioneer died at the age of 91 at his home, 4337 W. Jefferson, on the Fourth of July. Death was attributed to old age. He had been confined to his bed for one week. It was a strange coincidence that his death occurred at the very time his beloved city was celebrating its homecoming jubilee and Ecorse oarsmen were again bringing Ecorse rowing supremacy. Mr. Montie was a member of the old ten oared barge crew that was a forerunner of the later championship crews his famous brothers sponsored back in the 1870s.
Mr. Montie was the fifth child in a family of ten, and was born in Eocrse Township on February 6, 1855. His father, John Baptiste Montie, settled in Ecorse after leaving Quebec and married the former Amelia Goodell of Grosse Ile.
Their son John, grew to manhood and married the former Eliza Cicotte and raised a family of three sons and two daughters. After a stint of farming, Mr. Montie was employed by the D.T. and I. Railroad with whom he remained until his retirement some 25 years ago.
He was described as a man whose chief interest was his church and his family. He was a charter member of the Holy Name Society of St. Frances Xavier Parish. At one time, Mr. Montie was a member of the Ecorse Township School board, District No. 3.
Mrs. Montie preceded her husband in death some fifteen years ago and two sons, Richard and Benjamin, are also dead.
Mr. Montie is survived by two daughters, Mrs. E.R. Labadie and Mrs. Bella Durocher; one son, Joseph; a sister, Mrs. Emma Rogers of Detroit and 11 grandchildren, 16 great children and one great great grandchild.
Services were held from the residence at 8:30 a.m. last Saturday and from St. Frances Xavier Church at 9 o’clock. Requiem mass was celebrated by Rev. Monsignor T.G. Morin and buried was in Ecorse Cemetery.
Herald Advertiser Newspapers
Mrs. Mae E. Movinski
July 23, 1973
Mrs. Mae E. Movinski of Ecorse, dies at 86
Mrs. Mae E. Movinski, 86, the widow of a long time Ecorse political leader, died Sunday in the Rivergate Convalescent Center.
Mrs. Movinski’s late husband, Paul, operated a barber shop on West Jefferson in Ecorse for nearly a half century and served as a village trustee and later as a city councilman for 24 consecutive years.
Old-time Ecorse Township political leaders yearly made a pilgrimage to the Movinski deer hunting lodge near Seney where Mrs. Movinski won a reputation for her ability to prepare delicious venison dinners. As a young women, she was known as an avid hunter.
Funeral services will be held Thursday morning at the Ballheim Funeral Home and St. Francis Xavier Church. Burial will be in Our Lady of Hope Cemetery.
Mrs. Movinski is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Leone Bourassa, a grandson and four great-grandchildren. A brother Howard Solo, and sisters, Mrs. Ethel Movinski, also survive.
Grace R. Salliotte
Grace R. Salliotte of 4497 High in Ecorse, died at Wyandotte General Hospital on November 29th. She is survived by nieces, Mrs. Lucille Adam, Miss Evelyn Bouchard , Mrs. Ruth Brewer, Mrs. Harriett Meyers.
She was buried at Michigan Memorial Park, Flat Rock Tuesday following services at Ballheim Funeral Home and St. Francis Xavier Church, Ecorse.
Her husband is the late Ignatius Salliotte, who along with his father, Joseph, were original settlers in Ecorse.
She was a member of the St. Anne’s Rosary Society and the League of Catholic Women.
(Ecorse Advertiser, Wednesday December 3, 1969)
The Herald Advertiser Newspapers
Thursday August 15, 1985
Anna Butler Schwartz
A resident of Ecorse for 60 years, Anna Bertha Schwartz, 81, died Aug. 12. Services will be at 11 a.m. today at Ballheim Funeral Home, Ecorse, with burial at Woodmere Cemetery, Detroit.
Mrs. Schwartz is survived by daughters, Frances B. Lunau and Ruth Morisette; sons, Frank E. and George W.; brother, Elmer Shannon; 11 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.
She was past grand noble of the Rebecca Lodge, and a member of the River Rouge Eastern Star and American Legion Auxiliary.
Ecorse Advertiser
Thursday April 24, 1969
Margaret O. Scott
Former Ecorse resident Margaret O. Scott, 64, of 1037 New York, Dearborn, died April 16. Funeral services Saturday at Ballheim Funeral Home and St. Francis Xavier Church preceded burial at Michigan Memorial Park, Flat Rock.
Mrs. Scott is survived by her husband, Robert, brothers Thomas, Albert, Donald and Edward Ouellette; sisters, Marietta Ouellette; Mrs. Grace Mandersheid, Mrs. Mary Strasser.
Ecorse Advertiser
Wednesday, November 29, 1972
William H. (Red) Tank
Considered at one time to be one of the best oarsmen in the United States and Canada, William H. (Red) Tank of Ecorse died Nov. 21 at Riverside Osteopathic Hospital, Trenton.
Mr. Tank of West Jefferson and his late brother Louis, at one time was considered the best light weight double oarsmen in the United States and Canada. “Red” Tank won seven major national and international rowing races from 1936 to 1946. He was the last surviving tank brother of Ecorse who reorganized the Ecorse Rowing Club in 1938. His brothers were Louis, Charles and Vernon. “Red” Tank has severed in various capacities in the Rowing Club ever since. From 1941 until the present time he was a coach and a boat repairman.
Mr. Tank is survived by his wife Petula, sons John and Peter; one grandchild; sister, Mrs. Rhea Mesler.
Funeral services were conducted Saturday at the Ballehim Funeral Home and St. Francis Xavier Church, Ecorse. Burial was at Ferndale Cemetery, Riverview.
Ecorse Advertiser
Wednesday, July 18, 1973
Ellis “Duke” Underill
Duke Underill was born in Syracuse, New York, July 10. 1892 and came to Ecorse as a boy. After serving with the Marine Corps during the First World War, he returned to Ecorse and entered the real estate and insurance fields. He founded the present company more than 52 years ago. In 1968 he retired and sold his business to his brother-in-law and long-time associate, Frank Butler, but continued to visit the office.
During the 1920s, when Ecorse was beginning to grow into a thriving community, Underill worked with other real estate developers in plotting streets and subdivisions throughout the community.
Trophies from his hunting and fishing expeditions decorate the walls even today of Underill and Associates office.
And, from that office throughout the years, Underill and his co-workers handled the insurance needs of banks, corporations, municipalities and school districts.
The title of Goodwill Ambassador for the city was first given him by the late mayor, William W. Voisine, and he held that title until his death.
Ecorse Avertiser
Thursday, January 9, 1969
Russell B. Van Horn
Russell B. Van Horn, 59, of 38 West Alexis, Ecorse, died Dec. 31. He was buried last Thursday at Boyne City following funeral services at Ballheim Funeral Home and St. Francis Xavier Church, Ecorse.
Mr. Van Horn is survived by his wife,Olive; sons, Russell A., Ronald, Gary and Gregory; sister, Mrs. Marguerite Northup; three grandchildren.
Michigan Chronicle
July 16-22, 1997
J.C. Wall
Ecorse Publisher dead at 81
J.C. Wall, publisher of the Telegram Newspaper, died July 10. Services were held Tuesday at First Baptist Church in Ecorse with Rev. Alfred Davis officiating. Mr. Wall was 81.
Mr. Wall’s editorials in the Telegram Newspaper kept the Ecorse, River Rouge and southwest Detroit communities abreast of political and social activities since 1945.
As a nationally-recognized publisher and community activist, Mr. Wall received numerous awards from civic, government and community organizations. He was a long standing member of First Baptist Church, a Life Member of the NAACP, the National Newspaper Publishers Association, the Michigan Minority Press Association and the Southern Wayne County Chamber of Commerce.
“Mr. Wall was a strong advocate of fairness and built a legacy in the River Rouge, Ecorse and southwest Detroit area,” said Karen Love, assistant to Michigan Chronicle Publisher Sam Logan. The Chronicle is also a National Newspaper Publishers Association member.
Born April 23, 1916 in Carthage, Texas, Mr. Wall moved to Marshall, Texas, where he became a star football player on the Central High School team. He continued his education at Bishop College.
He moved to Detroit in 1942 and worked in several war plants during World War II. H purchased the Telegram in 1945.
In 1962, Mr. Wall married Dorothy Braxton.
Mr. Wall is survived by his wife; daughter and son-in-law, Arlene and John Nolan’ sisters-in-law, Hulena White and Ernestine Rosemond; four nephews, Michael Center, Luther, Donald and Ernest Rosemond and a host of family members.
John A. Wisler
Ecorse Advertiser
January 9, 1969
John A. Wisler, 53, of 72 Visger, Ecorse, died January 3. He was buried Tuesday at Ferndale Cemetery, Riverview following a funeral service at Edward Girrbach Sons Funeral Home, River Rouge.
Mr. Wisler is survived by sisters, Mrs. Ray (Loretta) Anderson, Mrs. Arthur (Dorothy) Montroy, and Mrs. Richard (Rosemary) Worden; brother Willard.