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"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).
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View fileSo 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.) |
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But Aunt Caroline (sister of Laban's father Augustus Hause) was even less help. She was seemingly even unaware of William, or of his exploits during the American Revolution. She was beginning to fail physically and probably even mentally—and had come to believe that her parents, John and Esther Hause, were immigrants! When she wrote back to James Dwight, she said: "Father and Mother came to America after they were married .... Father was English. Mother was Dutch. I have heard Mother say many times they were eleven weeks on the ocean." We have to much proof of John springing from William and Martha Hause for that to be a possibility.
Thus, by 1900 most of the family's history was already lost—nobody could seem to find any clues past William Sr. in the Revolutionary War... if they were even aware of him. In fact, much of that history is still a mystery today. (Maybe there's a reason that the words 'history' and 'mystery' sound so much alike.) Another story was printed five years earlier:
"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).
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Alfred still lived in Ovid, Seneca County. He co-owned the Hause & Purdy Insurance Agency, but spent a great deal of time unearthing his genealogy. Part of the reason may have been that he wanted to learn more about his father, Joseph Jr., a teacher who died in May of 1864, while Alfred was young—his mother died in 1872, and teenagers Alfred, Thomas, and their brother William were raised by their mother's parents, the Purdy's.
Alfred used a family history written in 1850 by his uncle Lewis K. Hawes (born @ 1820), as well as the family bible of Joseph Hause, that Thomas apparently hadn't known about. (Both of these sources are now lost.)
Alfred and his distant cousin James Dwight Hause together traced the family all the way back to Johannes, correctly deduced that his origins were from Germany—and also uncovered some interesting stories about William.
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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: | |
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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.
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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.  |
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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.
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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).
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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). |
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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) |
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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 |
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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:
| Name | Address | Street | Employer | Year |
| Hause, Carl (Marjorie E.) | 68 | Hubbard | High School | 1915 |
| Hause, Carl | 16 | Ferrin Place | High School | 1917 |
| Hause, Carl (Marjorie M.) | 46 | Washington | -- | 1919 |
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