"In regard to the early history of them (our ancestors), I can't inform you as I was never with my grandparents to learn of them."
—Laban Hause, in a letter to his cousin James Dwight Hause (1901).

Correspondence File Image From:   Laban Hause To:   James Dwight Hause Subject:   Family History of the Augustus Hause line Date:   3/6/1901 Pages:   1, 2, 3, 4 View file SOURCE: Collection of Stephen Hause.

   As the Twentieth Century began, Laban Augustus Hause became somewhat introspective. But little of our family's history was available to him. His mother, Jane Jones-Hause, had died while he was a teenager, and he was apparently never told of her family origins, because we have no records of her ancestors. His knowledge of the Hause family history wasn't much more informed.
   So Laban began to trace his family roots with a distant cousin, named James Dwight Hause (b. 1866), who was also descended from John Hause and Esther Ketcham-Hause of Fayette, through their son, John Jr.
   This was an important milestone in our family history, because Laban was the first in our line to be able to write, meaning he was the first who could record our particular family history for future generations. Up until the genealogical work of Laban and Melissa, all we have to go on are sparsely recorded government documents, a few church records, and fuzzily-recalled anecdotes handed down at bedtime through the generations.
   Now that the Hauses could write, and photography was readily available, a Family Bible was created, featuring portraits of everyone from Augustus Hause to Frank and Fladella. (The Bible was handed down from Frank to his son, Basil. It is now in the possession of Basil's son, Jerry Hause.)

A page from the Family Bible handed down from Laban Hause, now in the possession of Laban's great-grandson, Gerald Hause. This page features the parents of Laban (top) and his wife, Melissa Sanderson (bottom). (Click here to enlarge.)

Correspondence File Image From:   Caroline Hause-Gage To:   James Dwight Hause Subject:   Family History, dealing with the line of John Hause and Esther Ketcham Date:   February, 1901 View file SOURCE: Collection of Stephen Hause.

"Joseph Hause (son of William) was one of the pioneers of Seneca County, and helped to clear up the virgin forests around Farmer. He and an Irishman (ex-Senator Francis Kernan's father) went across Seneca Lake and settled in Tyrone, to which point they presently removed their families. The Hause family trace their ancestry back to William Hause, who settled in Pennsylvania in 1750."
—"Portrait and Biographical Record of Seneca and Schuyler Counties, New York (Chapman Publishing Company, 1895).

Correspondence File Image From:   Alfred B. Hause To:   James Dwight Hause Subject:   Hause Family History, dealing with Johannes (John) Hause and Sarah Allen Date:   January 28, 1904 View file SOURCE: Collection of Stephen Hause.

Personal Information Census Image Name: Laban Hause Home in 1900: Riley Tp, St Clair, Michigan Age: 69 Estimated birth year: 1831 Birthplace: New York Occupation: Landlord View image View blank 1900 census  (PDF 13K) Personal Information Census Image Name: Frank Hause Home in 1900: Richmond, Macomb, Michigan Age: 33 Estimated birth year: 1867 Birthplace: Michigan Occupation: Drygoods View image View blank 1900 census form SOURCE INFORMATION: 1900 United States Federal Census. T623, 1854 rolls. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington DC

   Fortunately, the Hause family is much easier to trace throughout the 20th Century, thanks to the records of the now-literate family members, photographs, and especially the more exacting census records.
   In Michigan, Main Street in Memphis was fitted with a gasoline light, suspended by wires from business buildings on the four corners. Meanwhile, Laban was living with Melissa and Edith, and declared his official job as "landlord" in the census. Frank is listed as a merchant in dry goods.
   On October 1st, Fladella had another boy, Frederick Clinton Hause. But he lived just under a year before his death on October 2, 1901. No photographs of him exist.
   Frank and Fladella moved again in 1905. They rented the Taylor House at 81521 Belle River Road in Memphis, Michigan.1 Soon the whole Raymond clan had followed them to Memphis, where Fladella's dad, Albert Raymond, became the postmaster for five years (Albert's father, Julius, had lived in the area previously until his death in the late 1870's, and is buried near Laban's farm property in the Lown Cemetery).

The Memphis homes of the Hause and Raymond families are highlighted on this Riley map from 1906. Lovina Sanderson's property (she was the sister-in-law of Melissa's father, David Sanderson) is at right (enlarge).

   The Raymond family lived just down the street from the Laban and Melissa Hause, where Maple intersected with Belle River Road (Laban, with typical Hause dissatisfaction, had left the brick house for greener pastures next-door—literally—to live in a house on Maple).

THE UNITED STATES IN THE EARLY 1900'S:

The average life expectancy was 47 years. The US population was 75,995,000. There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire US. More than 95 percent of all births took place at home. Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone. Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub. There were only 8,000 cars, and only 144 miles of paved roads; The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph. The average wage was 22 cents an hour; The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year. Sugar cost four cents a pound; Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen; Coffee was fifteen cents a pound. The ice cream cone made its debut on April 30. Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo. Two of 10 adults couldn't read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated high school; Ninety percent of all physicians had no college education. December 19: The Dawson City hockey team began a 9-day walk to get a boat to Seattle to catch a train to Ottawa to play in Stanley Cup on Jan 13, 1905. Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health." In April of 1909, the area where Laban had moved from, in Niagara County, New York, became so cold that the American side of Niagara Falls froze solid (pictured below). People were able to walk on the river bed just above the falls where there was normally water.

Newspaper Article Image Title: Laban A. Hause Newspaper: Port Huron Times-Herald Subject: Obituary Publication Date: March, 1906 View

   On March 14, 1906, Laban Augustus Hause died, just days after his 75th birthday. Funeral services were held at the Memphis Mason's Lodge. He left Melissa with a large frame home that she couldn't tend by herself. So eventually, it was split into two houses, that now stand at 34720 and 34730 Maple, in Memphis. The farm outside of town was sold around 1920—ironically and somewhat fittingly, to the descendants of the Dysinger family.
   Meanwhile, the Hause family continued to grow. Laban's grandsons Raymond and Carlisle both married in 1911 and were starting families of their own—but the first Hause to be born in the 20th century would not be either Ray's or Carlisle's: MAURICE CALVERT HAUSE was born in 1910—to none other than 42-year-old Frank and 4o year-old Fladella. He was regarded as somewhat of a miracle baby, and his full-grown brothers delighted in playing with him and posing for photographs.

LEFT-RIGHT: Marjorie Marchant-Hause, Basil Hause and Carlisle Hause, who pose around Maurice Hause in 1910; The Frank Hause family posing in the early 1900's (alternate photo); Fladella and Frank on their 50th Wedding Anniversary, 1938.

Edith Hause-Cottington

   Meanwhile, after years of dissent and rebellion, Frank was finally following in his father's footsteps—he farmed the family land, and then opened a store at 80850 Main, as well. The actual store is still there today in Memphis (see photos, below, for the store in 1902 compared to 2002).
   Frank originally went into partnership at the general store with C. B. Oakes (related by marriage through his aunt, Basheba) at 1539 Riley Center Road, in Riley Center. Later they engaged in mercantile business in Memphis, erecting the building occupied by A. J. Pearsall (1938). When Mr. Oakes withdrew from the partnership, Frank carried on the business with his brother-in-law, George Cottington, husband of Edith Hause, who is pictured at right. They started out in a simple wooden shop, but eventually moved into a brick building, at 80850 Main Street in Memphis. Edith was by all accounts a great beauty, and probably enlarge the store's male clientele by a great number. Soon they even began selling their own product lines.
   Frank and Fladella eventually moved into the second floor of the shop, accessible by stairs on the left side of the building. The store is still in operation today, but is now a chain drugstore. (Frank, Edith, Fladella and Frank are standing in front of the store, below, left.) After Laban's death, however, Frank and Fladella moved their family, with their new son Maurice, in with Melissa at 34730 Maple, in Memphis. Melissa even made a quilt for Maurice with the year emblazoned across it.
   Frank also became very active in local politics—he served as both clerk and treasurer of Riley township, as well as president, clerk, trustee and assessor of Memphis village. He was also a member of the Memphis Board of Education, which must have pleased Melissa to no end. He was even active in the Mason's Lodge, like his dad (he apprenticed, earned his Fellowcraft Degree and his Master Mason Degree in 1900, then was made a lifetime member in 1940). Beyond that, he and Fladella presided over the Hause clan in Memphis for the next thirty years.
   Memphis itself continued to grow, as well. In 1909, the town council granted St. Clair Electric a 30-year franchise to light the streets. Thirteen lights were installed in the business section, including Frank's store, in hopes that people would soon want light in their homes.

At left, Frank, George, Edith and Fladella in front of the store; At right, the store today.

Newspaper Article File Image Title: History of Memphis Subject: Downtown fire Original Publication Date: 1911 View file SOURCE INFORMATION: Memphis Bee

   Then on February 12, 1911, a fire broke out in the American House, a hotel that stood south of the store. The blaze grew out of control quickly, and it was feared that the whole east side of the Memphis business section would be destroyed. But the town turned out in total to fight its spread, and local legend even has it that Fladella herself saved the drug store building by hanging wet blankets over the walls until the fire could be put out. (In the article at right, you can see how close the fire got to the drugstore).
   Within a couple of years, the Hause family moved on, however, as Ray, Carl and Basil would move away and begin raising families of their own.

   The official enumeration day of the 1910 census was the 15th of April. There were a total of forty-six states in the Union, with Utah and Oklahoma being the latest editions and Arizona, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska as new territories.
   By this time, Laban Hause had been dead for half a several years, but Melissa is still living in he big farmhouse in Riley Township. She also inherited a large chunk of farmland from the Sanderson family, and was one of the more prosperous landowners in the area. Meanwhile, Frank ran the store and was listed in the census as a general auctioneer. All four sons still live at home (although Raymond was working as a commercial soap salesman).

Personal Information Census Image Name:   Melissa L Hause Age in 1910:   70 Estimated birth year:   1840 Birthplace:   Ohio Home in 1910:   RILEY TWP, ST CLAIR, Michigan Series:   T624 Roll:   673 View image View blank 1910 census form Part:   2 Page:   224A Personal Information Census Image Name: Frank A Hause Age in 1910: 43 Estimated birth year: 1867 Birthplace: Michigan Home in 1910: RICHMOND TWP PCT, MACOMB, Michigan Series: T624 Roll: 659 View image View blank 1910 census form Part: 1 Page: 166B SOURCE INFORMATION: Data imaged from National Archives and Records Administration. 1910 Federal Population Census. T624, 1,784 rolls. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration.

Book Information Book Image Name: Raymond Hause's 1910 Scrapbook Author: Raymond Hause Year: 1910-11 View Scrapbook SOURCE INFORMATION: Collection of Carl Hause, Jr.

   Melissa Sanderson-Hause was now the matriarch of the family, and the first teacher in the family, as well. So Melissa was going to make sure her that grandchildren were properly educated. Her daughter-in-law, Fladella Raymond-Hause, was also intent on raising the first generation of Hauses with college degrees. So the family had to find creative ways to accommodate the cost of their education.
   Their determination would change the family forever—and the Hauses went from being a family of farmers, to become a family of teachers. Melissa's grandsons, great-grandson and great-great-grandchildren would become educators.

Carlisle (second from left) sports the victory sash on the championship track team, although he doesn't seem too happy about it (maybe it had to do with the major wedgie visible in his shorts).

Carlisle Hause

   Carlisle would go on to become an educator like Melissa, although he may not have been a very popular student with his own professors. You see, Carlisle was a pretty intense guy in his youth. (Have you noticed yet that nobody really smiles in my family?)
   So how intense was Carlisle? Here's just one example: In the 1950's my father, Carleton Jr., attended Eastern Michigan University, as Carlisle had done 40 years before. As it happened, one of the older professors there recognized the name "Carl Hause" one the attendance sheet and asked if there was a relation between Carleton and Carlisle. My dad explained that Carlisle was indeed his grandfather... which was a big mistake: This professor still HATED Carlisle so intensely, 40 years later, that she gave my dad the only "D" of his college career. (It turns out that Carlisle had missed the final exam in her class to argue a traffic ticket in court, then when he was flunked, went over her head and petitioned the School Dean to retake the test.)
   Despite Carlisle's battles with the structure of public education, he actually had a pretty good, if dry, sense of humor. He loved practical jokes. When tourists passed through Memphis, they would ask Carlisle directions he would offer the most complicated directions imaginable and say, "Do you understand?" Once the completely confused listener would nod yes or no, then Carlisle would finally reveal, "Well, you don't go that way."
   He was one of the few to ever dare the wrath of Fladella—even she wasn't spared from his pranks. When she ordered Carlisle and Ray to move a kitchen table into the backyard for a large picnic event, Fladella kept barking orders until Carlisle calmly dropped a milk bucket over her head as he passed by to carry the table out.
   Thanks to the efforts of Melissa and Fladella, education had become the chief preoccupation of my family line—and eventually, the chief occupation, too.

A Hause get-together with Melissa, Frank, Fladella, Carlisle, Basil and others. Why the guy on the left is in blackface, I have no idea...

"About 2 O'clock Saturday the door bell rang furiously & before I could get to the door a man called out this house is on fire!"
—Melissa Sanderson Hause, on a fire at the boarding house that she ran with Fladella Hause, in a letter to her grandson, Raymond, 1920.

Correspondence File Image From: Melissa Hause To: Raymond Hause Subject: Ypsilanti boarding house fire Date: March 9, 1920 Pages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 View file SOURCE INFORMATION: Carl Hause, Jr.

   Over and over again, the Hause women showed their toughness and determination. First, by marrying a Hause (which, let's face it, up to this point was a pretty fool-hardy thing to do), and especially when it came to raising the children. Starting back with Melissa, a schoolteacher, education had become the first priority in the Hause family. At a time when only 6% of the population had even graduated from high school, Fladella was determined to give her children a college education—but it cost a lot of money, and she had three boys to put through school.
   So while Frank stayed behind and took work making hats in Flint, Michigan, Fladella and Melissa packed a few belongings into a moving van and moved to Ypsilanti, in Washtenaw County, where they rented a house on Hamilton Avenue operated a room & board home for the male students of Cleary College, and later to girls from the Michigan State Normal School—now called Eastern Michigan University. This way, Fladella's sons could study there, as well. The university (founded in 1849) was the first teachers’ college outside the thirteen colonies, and the oldest teachers' institution west of the Allegheny Mountains. The boarding house still stands today (in 2006), just across the street from the university.

The boarding house near EMU in Ypsilanti, run by Fladella and Melissa, as it looks in 2005.

Marchant

   But Carlisle wasn't alone in his boarding room: Before he started college he had courted MARJORIE MARCHANT (1892 - 1939), a girl he had known for many years around Memphis, but before the romance could advance any farther her mother was killed in streetcar accident. Marjorie then moved to Minnesota to be closer to what was left of her family, namely her sister and brother-in-law, a lawyer who would eventually become the Attorney General of that state.
   It could have ended there, but Carlisle Hause was always a tireless hunter: He followed Marjorie to Minnesota, swept her off her feet, brought her back to Michigan, and married her in Memphis.
   But that didn't end Melissa's and Fladella's hopes for Carlisle's college education. He and Marjorie lived in the boarding house in 1914 while they attended school—in fact, they're listed as boarders in the 1914 Polk's County Directory (below).

County Directory File Image Title:   POLK'S Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Washtenaw County Name:   Frank & Della Hause Residence:   19 Hamilton St., Ypsilanti Page:   539 Date:   1914 View file County Directory File Image Title:   POLK'S Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Washtenaw County Name:   Frank A. Hause Residence:   19 Hamilton St., Ypsilanti Page:   509 Date:   1916 View file

   After finishing school, they moved to Mount Clemens in Macomb County. Carlisle eventually relaxed enough to become a high school business teacher. (The 1921 Central High School Yearbook from Detroit, Michigan, says that he taught "Phonography"—a style of shorthand used by reporters. Years later, he signed my parents' Wedding Book in shorthand and today nobody can figure out what he wrote.) Being a teacher was a great job in the Great Depression, as he had a guaranteed salary while people in other jobs saw their wages drop or cease entirely. Carlisle used the extra cash to buy property, including a large Christmas tree farm, which made him wealthy later in life.

Carlisle Hause and Marjorie Marchant picnic with Ethel Hause, circa 1915. (Raymond Hause)

Personal Information Draft Card Name: Carlisle Hause Status: Natural born citizen Occupation: Teacher View file SOURCE INFORMATION: National Archives and Records Administration. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. M1509, 20,243 rolls. Washington, D.C.

   Carlisle and Marjorie had two children together. The first was a daughter named Gretchen (1912 - 1985), and Carlisle was never prouder.
   World War I plunged the country into global combat, but fortunately as a new father, Carlisle was able to stay home with his family, especially since he and Marjorie had my grandfather, CARLETON MARCHANT HAUSE, in 1917!
   While Gretchen was always "daddy's little girl," Carleton always seemed closer to his mother (maybe his middle name of 'Marchant' did it).
   Here are the two children of Carlisle and Marjorie Marchant Hause:

CHILDREN OF CARLISLE HAUSE AND MARJORIE MARCHANT

GRETCHEN HAUSE (15 Aug. 1912 - Feb. 1985) married Alan John Brundage in 1939. They had three children: Susan, Nancy and James. They purchased a cabin next to her father's on Vaughn Lake, and Gretchen and the children spent summers there while John worked. She and her family then moved out west, but spent every summer on the lake. She died in 1985 in San Marcos, San Diego Co., California, and her ashes were spread over the Pacific Ocean. Posing with her father in 1928; Posing with her mother; The Brundages with sister-in-law Jeanne Brunner-Hause at Torrey Pines in the 1970s.

CARLETON MARCHANT HAUSE was born in 24 July 1917. He started out working in a Michigan factory for his father-in-law, but ended up teaching in Southern California with his wife, JEANNE BRUNNER. "Bud" loved the water, whether in his youth at the cabin on Vaughn Lake, or raising his kids, Carl Jr. and Marjorie, on the shores of Lake Erie in Gibraltar, MI, or at his retirement home on a tributary to the Colorado River at 85344 Parker, LA Paz, Arizona... or finally the Pacific Ocean, where his ashes were spread in 1983 by his loving wife and children.

   Carleton, nicknamed "Bud" by the family in order to differentiate him from his father (the other Carl) when Marjorie was screaming at him, was mischievous—he always enjoyed a good laugh, even if he was the only one in on the joke. If you look at photos from that time, he appears to be the first person in our family to actually smile. And he would continue to flash that grin often, for the rest of his life. Unlike Carlisle, he didn't like to hunt, but he did inherit his father's love of the water, and would live along the shores of a lake or river for most of his life. Another trait he got from his father was a penchant for moving around a lot.
   Never content, Carlisle and his new family resided in three different places in the first four years. The following comes from the annual Mt. Clemens City Directories from 1915 to 1919:

Census Information Image Name:   Malissa Hause Age:   80 Birth year:   1840 Birth place:   Ohio Race:   White Home in 1920:   Riley Township, St. Clair Co., MI Home :   Owned Marital status:   Widowed View image View blank 1920 census form  (PDF 136K) Roll:   T625_795 Page:   2B ED:   130 Image:   0428 Census Information Image Name:   Frank A. Hause Age:   52 Birth year:   1867 Birth place:   Michigan Race:   White Home in 1920:   Ypsilanti Township, Washtenaw Co., MI Home :   Owned Marital status:   Married View image View blank 1920 census form  (PDF 136K) Roll:   T625_795 Page:   8A ED:   168 Image:   0435 Census Information Image Name:   Carlisle Hause Age:   28 Birth year:   1892 Birth place:   Michigan Race:   White Home in 1920:   Mt. Clemens, Ward 2, Macomb Co., MI Home :   Owned Marital status:   Married View image View blank 1920 census form Roll:   T625_782 Page:   7A ED:   77 Image:   0801 Census Information Image Name:   Carleton Hause Age:   2  1/2 Birth year:   1917 Birth place:   Michigan Race:   White Home in 1920:   Mt. Clemens, Macomb Co., MI Home :   -- Marital status:   -- View image View blank 1920 census form Roll:   T625_782 Page:   7A ED:   77 Image:   0801 SOURCE INFORMATION: Federal Population Census. T625, 2,076 rolls. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration.

Newspaper Article File Image Title: Melissa Hause Newspaper: Port Huron Times-Herald Subject: Obituary Original Publication Date: November, 1921 View File

Laban and Melissa Hause's century-old farmhouse in 1970, long-abandoned.

A baby photo of Maurice Hause

   After Melissa's death, another Hause generation was gone. Laban's Memphis farmhouse fell into disrepair over the next century, but it remained a landmark in the area until burning in 1986, leaving only the windmill and barn standing. The entire estate was completely demolished by 2005. Most of the bricks were hauled away to build other farmhouses, and the forest has since reclaimed the land.
   The next death in the Hause family, however, was completely unexpected. In 1926, Maurice Hause died from pneumonia that he contracted while on a trip to the movie house in Richmond, just a few weeks before his fifteenth birthday. By all accounts he was a popular, delightful kid. According to the Port Huron paper: "Maurice Franklin Hause was born in Memphis April 5, 1910 and was called to the Great Beyond by our Heavenly Father, March 19, 1926. Maurice was a boy much loved by the whole community, and his fine and manly principles will be missed in the future welfare of his home, his church and classmates. The high esteem in which he was held by his school associates was evidenced by their last fine tribute paid him. Maurice has spent most of his aggressive life in Memphis, returning from Ypsilanti in 1921 with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank A. Hause. His interest and enthusiasm in home, church, music and school was an inspiration to all who knew him. Maurice was received as a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church by letter, having previously joined in Ypsilanti. Besides his parents he leaves three brothers, Ray L Hause, San Diego, California; Carlisle Hause, Detroit; Basil F. Hause, Mishawaka, Ind., and a host of relatives and friends."
   The effect on the family was profound, if unspoken. Perhaps the death was too painful to bring up, because he was never spoken about again—in fact, when his grave was discovered among the rest of the Frank Hause family's by some descendants in our line a few years ago, nobody knew who he was. It was only after reading old obituaries that his identity was deduced.

Frank and Fladella Hause

NOTES

¹—In 1973, Memphis was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the "highest number house in the world:" 81950 Main Street.
²—In an interesting twist, genealogist Alfred Hause married back into the Loescher family (now spelled "Lasher" page 150), marrying his distant cousin without even knowing it! (He never got far back enough to discover the connection.) His wife Henrietta Lasher's line included Anna Margaretha Loescher, the mother of Sarah Wheeler, who married Johannes Haus @ 1750 and gave birth to William Hause. Now that's dedication to retracing your roots!

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