Written and told by Helen Kavanaugh Tobbe (1905-2002) and transcribed by her youngest child, Kate Tobbe Ptak

A note from Kate: My grandfather, William Patrick Kavanaugh (WP), was a prominent businessman in the 1900s until his death in 1932.  He owned and operated five fish houses in Bay City, MI and along the Lake Huron western coastline as far north as Alpena, MI.  He processed and sold fish locally and to fish markets as far away as Chicago and the Fulton Fish Market in New York City. 

This blog series talks about a girl’s life growing up in Bay City beginning in the 1900s, as seen through the eyes of Helen Kavanaugh Tobbe or Mudi (a variation of grandma, loosely based on the German term for grandmother).  Mudi was the first-born child of William and Helen Callahan Kavanaugh (Nellie).  Mudi was our mother.   It is an introduction to her father.  Following that a new series of blogs will be published that cover the life and times of her father in more detail.

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PART 1: 1870 TO 1904 - Setting the stage

Both of my father's parents were dead before I came of an age to know them.  Mother's parents, Bridget and Dennis Callahan lived on Monroe Street, one block away from our home.  Grandpa Callahan was in the draying business.  He hauled goods.  He had two horses and a dray (like a moving van today). Grandma always said she never got $40.00 saved up for a luxury item that one of the damned horses didn't die!  Grandpa Callahan was also a stone mason.  He helped build their parish church, St. James.  The school was for students in grades one through twelve. It was the first accredited High School in Michigan.  Grandpa Callahan died when Jr. and I were about in 4th grade.

Photo:  Our Legacy: THE WORK OF ELIZABETH SETON’S MUSTARD SEED, pg 3. An article in the INTERCOM quarterly magazine of the Sisters of Charity, summer 2014.

Grandma Callahan had a sister, MaryAnn, who married Tim Lynch.  They had a son called Jim.  Jim had two children, a son, Tim, and a daughter, Marguerite, who was about ten years older than I.  Marguerite married Bill Pulte.  So that's how Pat Pulte, one of their children, belongs to the Kavanaugh Clan.

Aunt Aggie was Grandma Callahan's first cousin.  She married a man named Hannon.  She was a widow as long as I can remember.  She had two daughters, Aggie and Caddie.  When Aggie was a young woman, she went to work in Detroit.  Her boss bought some stock for her in a new motorcar company, called General Motors.  She continued to invest in that company and ended up a millionaire.  She never married and lived in Detroit with her sister.  Caddie was artistic.  Among other ventures, she painted ceramic pieces and even had her own kiln.  I used to visit them with Norge and Bill when the boys were little.  One morning, Norge was up early with Caddie. He asked for "Popsies", his favorite cereal. Caddie decided to take him to the store to find his special cereal.  They spent all morning going from store to store, Caddie asking for Popsies at each store - but no one seemed to carry that brand of cereal - later she found out that Norge didn't know the correct name for the cereal.

WP was born in Guelph, Canada in 1870.  His father, Peter Kavanaugh, died and was buried there. When WP was about 6 years old, the family moved to Bay City Michigan.

WP's mother, Mary Ellen Kelly Kavanaugh, re-married to Fred Simon, in 1883, when WP was about 13 years old.  WP did not get along with his step-father.  He moved out of the home at the age of 14 and began finding jobs.  In 1886 at the age of 16, WP met and hooked up with Sol Richardson who was in the fish business.  WP's first job with Sol was peddling fish in a basket. WP grew into the business, bought out Sol and further developed the business.  He was well established by 1905, when I was born.  He had fish houses in the thumb of the state, and up north as far as Tawas.  He later extended up to Alpena.  WP had four tugboats: the Helen K., the Junior. K., the Margaret K., and the Shasta. There was a hatch in the back of the tugs into which the fish were loaded.  The boats' cabins were small.

Nellie was born and raised in Bay City.  She was one of thirteen children.  TB [tuberculosis] killed two of her siblings while they were just children. By the time I was old enough to know my relatives, only seven or eight of the thirteen had survived.

Photo: Kavanaugh family files.  Nellie is standing on the right side and Molly is next to her, facing her brother.

She was a phone operator as was her sister, Mollie. The operators got to know the businessmen of the town, joking and so on with them when asked to place a call. When Molly got to know W.P. through connecting his business calls, she connected him to her younger sister Nellie; as it turned out – for life.

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My brother Bill and I have printed two books about the Kavanaugh Family in Bay City and are working on a revision of the second book as we have discovered more details about his business. Copies of the first two books can be viewed at the Bay County Historical Society Museum.

THE KAVANAUGHS: A FAMILY ALBUM Written and printed by Bill Tobbe and Kate Tobbe Ptak, September 2003

WILLIAM PATRICK KAVANAUGH: HIS LIFE AND TIMES Written and printed by Bill Tobbe and Kate Tobbe Ptak. 2024

“Like Santa giving gifts on Christmas, the image or Ervin Witucki tossing candy to the crowds came to define the Munger Potato Festival.” Bay City Times (Bay City, Michigan), February 17, 2013: 1.

 

Ervin Witucki, born in Bay City in 1924, served the Munger Potato Festival for 28 years and volunteered till the year he died.

 

He married Mary T. Matonek in 1943 and grew their family with four kids. He also served as a medic in World War II. Erv became well known in Merritt Township through his work with the Farm Bureau Insurance Company, as treasurer of Merritt Township, volunteer fireman for the Merrit Township Fire Department, and member of St. Norbet Church.

 

Erv was instrumental in developing the festival to include carnival attractions, nationally booked bands, demolition derby, wrestling matches, and tractor pulls. Upon retiring from chairman, Erv was given the title Honorary Chairman. He continued to volunteer and consult the organizers until his death in February 13, 2013. Bay City Times (Bay City, Michigan), February 17, 2013: 7.

 

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For more information about the Munger Potato Fest visit the Bay County Historical Society. 

 

by Jamie Kramer

The museum took in a donation of small models, built by Mike Janczewski, from the amusement park that never was: Little Michigan. The 20-million-dollar development, conceived by Jamies L. Graham, was unveiled in Detroit in September 1972. The park was to be 250 acres situated at Wilder Road and US23 in Monitor Township. The main part of the park would be in the shape of the state of Michigan with small versions of the Great Lakes surrounding it. The attractions were said to include a monorail, an observation balloon that would be lifted 250 feet into the air, small cruise boats, a hotel, amusement rides, and representation of the biggest Michigan manufacturing names at the time. However, by 1977, the project still had not gotten off the ground. The project’s projected financial burden kept rising and financing was not there. By the early 1980s it was decided that the project would not see actualization. Today, a brick American Flag stands in its place.

Swart Jewelry Timeline:

1869 – Opened (S. Linn St., West Bay City)

1891 – Built the Swart Block

1905 – Stephen Swart Died

1906 – A.T. Swart Jewelry opened by Aurthur T. Swart

1909 - Closed

Founder: Stephen Swart   “Was One of the Best Known Jewelers in the State …”  (Bay City Times, September 11, 1905, 1)

Stephen Swart was born in Lapeer County in 1845.  At the age of eight, his family moved to Goodrich, Genesee County, where he worked in his father’s general store.  He served one year in the Civil War with the Union Army under the Eighth Michigan Infantry. In 1868, Swart married Charlotte Woodruff, and they had four children.  The family moved to West Bay City in 1869 and opened Swart Jewelry on S. Linn St.  

In 1891, the city approved the construction of the Swart Block. The building was designed by P.C. Floeter, a local architect, in the Romanesque Revival style. The front was made with Michigan buffstone and adorned with a clock tower. Swart’s jewelry store and work rooms were on the first floor, and offices for rent were on the second floor.  Swart was well-known across the state for his craftsmanship.  He specialized in watch and jewelry repair, diamond settings, and optical fitting.

Swart died suddenly in September 1905 from a cerebral hemorrhage.  The downtown business closed during the hour of the funeral to honor his memory. He left one son, Arthur T. Swart, also a jeweler, who took over the business and renamed it A. T. Swart.  The jewelry store closed in 1914 and Arthur relocated to California.

SOURCES: 

Bay City Times, January 7, 1894, 2

Bay City Times, September 11, 1905, 1

Bay City Times, August 29, 1991, 8

Bay County Historical Society Research Library