"See the Mende believe that if one can summon the spirit of ones ancestors that they’ve never left, and the wisdom and strength they’ve fathered and inspired will come to his aid."

- John Adams, Amistad

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Esmond's wife, (Gram Goodhue's mother /Erin's maternal great-grandmother) Edna VanClowes Crowley, was born and raised in Butte, Montana.  She was a gifted musician and actress, entering Emerson College in Boston MA at age 12

 

 

Edna performed in many Harvard Hasty
Pudding Club shows. Later she gave private lessons along the North Shore of Boston and was the producer of many plays in the North Shore Theaters.  Here she is in her boat, Psyche, on Lake Winnipesaukee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
   

 
Alison's other paternal Great Grandfather James Leenhouts aka Papa was one of eleven children who grew up in Holland, Michigan.  (Only one of his siblings, Abraham, got to go to college.  Abraham became a doctor and removed Grammy Porter's tonsils on her dining room table). 
Gypsum Outcrop where Plaster Creek flows into the Grand River - Grand Rapids, Michigan
 
 
Papa made his way to Grand Rapids at the age of 16 and got a job sweeping out a drugstore.  Eventually he went on to become head of Grand Rapids Gypsum.  The very first telephone in the city of Grand Rapids was installed there, and the first phone call in the city of Grand Rapids was made from there in 1881.
 
 
The beautiful 'Porter Hills' Retirement Community in Grand Rapids is located on land given to Papa Leenhouts in payment for a debt.  John and Holly were supposed to build a home on this land but it was decided that Porter Hills would be a far better use of this wonderful property.
 
 Recognizing the need for an alternative source of employment as the lumbering era came to an end, W.P. purchased a farm and planted several thousand cherry trees.  The Porters formed the East Jordan Canning Company, which ran until the 70s.  During World War II, Alison's father John and Aunts Annie and Marty were often sent to the can cellar in the basement, stocked with Jordan Beans, to fetch a can of whatever to eat for supper. 
They also supplied wood to the Steinway & Sons Piano Company.  It made lumbering the leading industry in East Jordan until the last of the company's mills closed in 1928. 

 

In 1882, W.P. Porter established the East Jordan Lumber Company with $600 he managed to save.  Somewhere he found time to import his wife, Harriet Jamison from Pittsburgh.  The lumber operation began manufacturing cedar shingles in 1890. By 1912 it operated two sawmills and a maple flooring plant.

 

His son, William Pitt Porter (A's paternal great grandfather) grew up among Indian playmates and then as a young man traveled around Grand Traverse Bay and settled in East Jordan.  

 

Erin's paternal great-great grandfather, John Porter, came to Michigan as a missionary to the Indians and settled in Leelenau County. 

 

East Jordan, Michigan

 

What's left of it, anyway... 

 

 John and Eva Porter Estate, 

 

We Porter girls had a big crush on him when we were little.

 

was Blue Boy on the television show, High Chaparral. 

 

Erin's cousin, actor Mark Slade,

 

 

Our great cousin, John Goodhue (with Holly in 2003)

 

 


 

and "Younger Next Year for Women"

 

"Younger Next Year" 

 

the best selling author of (appropriately) the books, 

 

Holly with cousin Chris Crowley, who also happens to be

 

 

with Erin's brother Don

 

 

 

 

Goodhue Cousin Chuck Hunewell

 

 

Kona Farm, New Hampshire

 

Goodhue Family Reunion - 2003

 

 

Denton, Maryland - May 2009

 

Holly with Ann Peters Crowley Marvin, aka "Ann Pete" at Paul's graduation party 

 

 

Mom and her Goodhue cousins - 2001

 

 

Esmond had a sister named Gladys, aka Aunt Gladie. She went to Smith College. She married  Dr. Fergus Butler and they had one son, Tony Butler.  Uncle Fergie’s sister, Lurana (Aunt Lury) married Aunt Gladie’s brother, Daniel Napoleon (Uncle Dimpy).

 

 Esmond Richardson Crowley, Sr.  was Gram's father, and Erin's great-grandfather. He went to Dartmouth College. He also had two brothers: Benjamin, the law partner of Franklin Roosevelt, and Daniel Napoleon, aka Uncle Dimpy.

 

 

A beautiful portrait of our beloved Gram Goodhue

 

 

Like, really spooky.

 

It was always a little bit spooky to us kids. 

 

Gram and Gramp bought around 1968. It was part of the infamous 'Underground Railroad', enabling former slaves to come to safety in the North.

 

This is "The Sawyer House" in Wolfeboro that 

 

 

And, the Swallow herself is no more.

 

Here is the beautiful Swallow Boathouse today, it was part of the magnificent Kona Farm estate on Moultonboro Neck. Sadly, today Kona Farm is deserted and decaying. 

 

The Swallow Boathouse and some Goodhue Lakers are depicted in the Peter Ferber print above.

 

Here is the Swallow getting ready to dock at Goodhue and Hawkins

 

 

 Gramp owned and operated the steamboat Swallow, a beautiful and memorable boat that ran around the lake. 

 

and still going strong.

 

And another one of the Goodhue Lakers, built in the 1930s,

 

Here is the Keen Kutter,  still in operation on Lake Winnepesaukee today.

 

 

This is the Keen Kutter, built by Erin's grandfather for Thomas Plant, the owner of 'Castle in the Clouds'.  This boat has been lovingly restored and it owned by our family friends, Dick and Pat Hopgood

In the foreground is a Goodhue Laker.

 

Gramp Goodhue built and raced gorgeous wooden boats on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire.  The Goodhue and Hawkins Navy Yard is depicted in this Peter Ferber painting above and still exists in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. 

 

 

Gram and Gramp smoking their pipes

 

 

(they eloped in this car!)

 

Nat and Elizabeth "Buffie" Goodhue, our Gram and Gramp

 

 

All of the Goodhue kids were farmed out but stayed close throughout their lives. Above is a picture of some of them at the top of Mount Major (something Erin's family still loves to do together).

 

 

with their mom in 1913.

 

Here are ten of the Goodhue kids 

to the eleventh child. 

was one of eleven children. 

Nathaniel William Goodhue,   

Erin's maternal grandfather,   

(along with some fruits and nuts!)

"The older your generation gets...the wilder the younger generation becomes."

-Anonymous

 One of the funniest cousins, Prisca Chen Marvin 

 

Their mother, Josephine, died while giving birth

The people in this shot are Erin's Great Grandfather, Esmond R. Crowley, along with his wife, Edna, his father and mother, Daniel Napolean Crowley and Katherine Richardson Crowley, and his son, Esmond R. Crowley, Jr (aka Uncle Buddy).   Daniel was a lawyer in Salem, Massachusetts. He came to America as an indentured worker from Ireland.  The picture of their boat, Psyche, was taken at the Town Docks in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire

ERIN'S FAMILY TREE IS FULL OF RARE AND BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS