The complete book has been copied and electronically stored and is available to those wishing copies via CD ROM in PDF.
It is conceded that a history such as this is out of date before the ink is dry. It is inevitable that in a family as large as we have grown to be, babies will be born and members will pass on. The book isn't as complete as I would wish. Some members of the family are missing, only because there was no response to my letters for information. I hope that in another ten years some one of the family will take the history from where I left off and bring it up to date.
I am, for the most part, letting each member of the family tell their own story. It gives variety and that personal touch needed to make the book alive and interesting.
I want to acknowledge the willing assistance of other members of the family. Especially that given by Fannie Miller, Verna and Ira Yoder, my brother Millard and others.
At the age of 68 he left the well developed comunity of Howard County, Indiana, and came to Oscoda County, then a wilderness so far as farming was concerned. The land had just been lumbered and the H.M. Lound Company offered large tracts of cut-over land for sale, cheap. At about the same time, wealthy farmers from Illinois came to Howard and Miami County, Indiana, and bought up large acreage of improved farm lands. They paid what was considered exorbitant prices for it. As much as $100 per acre. The setting was just right for the migration of the Stutzman family.
In 1901 Grandpa John and his wife, Fannie, their daughters, Fannie (not married) and Teracie and her family pulled up stakes and made the move to Fairview. Other members of the family came in succession, until, in 1907 all of his ten living children had settled in the community, except Dave and Lydia.
John and Fannie Stutzman were of German descent and belonged to the Mennonite church. Other Mennonite family came from Indiana, from Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, and soon thee was a large church around which the settlement was centered. There were no roads, no schools, no markets. These improvements came rapidly, and the community became a prosperous entity.
The family grew and in the early 30s began to gather once a year in a reunion. Most of these were held at the home of Kate. Her home seemed to be a natural place to have them.
The family became so large that these annual gatherings could no longer be sheltered in the Jeff Miller home and large barn. They moved to the school house at Fairview.
At the reunion in 1941, F.F. Stutesman gave a short history of the family as part of the program. From this historical sketch came the idea of writing a history of the family. He began gathering the data necessary, but the war and other circumstances hindered the work until this year, 1951, more than fifty years after the family first came to Oscoda County. The story will, if the Lord wills it, be put into print.
The members are scattered all over the United States, East, South and West.
John Stutzman was born in Holms County, Ohio, the son of Jacob Stutzman, on October 22, 1832. He died at the home of his daughter, Barbara Kaufman, at Fairview, Michigan, on April 17, 1917.
Francis Troyer, (we have always known her as Fanny), was born in Holms County Ohio, April 4, 1836, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mike Troyer.
John and Fanny were maried in 1855. Both were members of the Amish Church and grew up on the farms of their parents. The communities were small in those early days and no doubt their homes were not far apart.
After marriage they lived on a farm in Holms County, Ohio, until 1873. In that yea and the following several years there was a general migration from Holmes County to Howard and Miami Counties, Indian. Lands were cheaper and any young man with a strong back could hew a home out of the forests. Grandpa and his family were among those migrants. They lived in Miami County, Indiana, for 27 years during which the community grew and became prosperous. Their family grew up, married and settled on farms near them.
In 1900 there was a general migration to Oscoda County, Michigan. Grandpa and Grandma were among the families to make the move largely because some of their children migrated. There were nine children: Teracie, b August 1, 1856; Benjamin, birth date not know, he died on his third anniversary; David, b July 27, 1859; Lydia, b January 28, 1857; Jerry, b April 23, 1863; Barbara, b July 12, 1865; Kate, b July 21, 1867; Sarah, b October 3, 1869; Fannie, b January 1, 1872, died at Fairview July 8, 1908; Mary, b January 24, 1874.
Photo of Earl Stutesman Family (Son of Jerry) Circa 1937 taken in Oscoda County
