Mae Evelyn Boyer was my Great Grandmother. She was the daughter of Austin and Mary Florence (White) Boyer. She was born in Rose Township, Oakland County, Michigan on October 29, 1883. She married George Stephen Losee on her 19^th Birthday, October 29, 1902.

Mae Evelyn Boyer on her Wedding Day.

George and Mae’s first son, Lester, was born in September of 1903. Two years later, in February of 1905, Lillian was born, then Wallace, two years after that in February of 1907.

This picture is identified as the Austin Boyer house in Clio Michigan.

It was shared with me by my cousin Nancy Redman. It is a picture of the extended Boyer family, Austin, all of his siblings and their families. I have tried to find a reason, an event or celebration, which would have resulted in this gathering but so far I have found none. Standing on the porch holding the toddler in white is Mae. She is holding Wallace and is standing next to her father, Austin. Lillian is on the step below her, standing between her mother, Mae and Austin, with Lester directly in front of Mae on the bottom step. We have estimated the year of this photo to be most likely the fall of 1907 based on the age of Wallace who was born in early 1907 and the fact that Austin Boyer died in May of 1908.

Austin Boyer’s Death Certificate

In the years preceding Austin’s untimely death, Austin and Mary Florence, with the help of George, Mae and other Boyer family members, were building a flourishing floral business in Clio, Michigan. After Austin’s sudden death in May of 1908, George and Mae play a pivotal role in the running of the florist. Three years after Austin died, George and Mae had their second daughter, Mary Florence in 1911 and then Ernest was born two years later in 1913. In the eleven years since George and Mae were married, they had 5 children.

On February 13, 1914, Mae left Lillian in charge of the younger children when she left the house to hang up laundry in the back yard. The temperatures in February had been relatively mild and it was a good day for hanging laundry on the line. Lillian watched the children as instructed. After what seemed like a long time, Lillian realized that her mother had not returned to the house. Lillian went to see what was taking her mother so long and she found Mae slumped over the wet laundry basket under the clothes line. Mae was thirty years old and Lillian was eight. Mae was gone way too soon and Lillian was way too young to be a witness of this event. The death of their mother would turn Lillian, her four siblings and their father’s lives upside down. Everything changed in an instant.

Mae Evaline Boyer Losee’s Death Certificate

George was left with five children whose ages ranged from 1 to 11 years old. I can not imagine how overwhelmed he must have felt. His relationship with his children would change forever. Lillian, Florence and Ernest went to live with Mae’s mother, Mary Florence Boyer, in Flint. She had left the florist business to George and Mae to run and bought a boarding house in Flint a few years after her husband died. She was renting rooms to factory workers as they came to Flint looking for jobs in the new automotive factories.

Mary Florence and Ernest at Grandma Boyers with Rex Boyer – 1915

Florence and Ernest were toddlers when their Mother died. George would never be able to care for his young children and run a farm. For years I wondered why Lillian was with Mary Florence since she really was old enough to help with the household chores at the farm. I assumed that she was needed to help take care of the toddlers at Mary Florence’s Boarding House. George and the older boys, Lester and Wallace, are found together in census records at one or the other of the two farms that George now owns in Clio and Gladwin, Michigan. I found out years later that it was against the law for a father to raise an under age daughter by himself after his wife died. Female daughters were generally sent to live with a Grandmother or an Aunt as well as the younger toddlers siblings.

Eventually George would remarry, but by that time the girls , Lillian and Florence had been raised by their Grandma for so long that they remained in Flint with Mary Florence. Ernest did go live with George and his new wife Alice when he was older and could help on the farm. The children seemed to see each other and their father regularly. There are pictures of all the kids together when they were young. Lester, attended the Doyle School with Lillian. Lester and Lillian are marked on the photo below with an x drawn with a pencil by Lillian. This Photo was taken in 1915 or 1916, a year or two after their Mom’s death.

Doyle Street School – 1915 or 1916

Lillian Losee

My preteen Grandmother making a fashion statement or playing dress up. I am not sure which! I always loved this photo of her. It is one of the few childhood pictures that we have of her. For nine years Lillian lived with Mary Florence in the boarding house. At the tender age of 18, she married Everett Smith on August 28, 1923.

Lillian and Everett Smith on their Wedding day.

On what would have been her Mother’s 41^st birthday, Lillian gave birth to her first child, Lucille Smith. Four years later on August 29, 1928, she gave birth to my father, Harold Smith. On September 08, 1928, Lillian’s Grandmother, Mary Florence, was walking along the interurban train tracks to go visit her granddaughter, Lillian and her new baby, Harold, as she frequently did, when she was struck by a train and killed at Crago Crossing. I can’t help but wonder how she did not hear the train coming. Had she lost her hearing? Did the train not use it horn?

Mary Florence’s Death Certificate

Lillian and Everett’s daughter, Lucille died at the age of six years old, three short years later.

Lucille and Harold Smith 1928 or early 1929

This is the only picture that Everett and Lillian had of both of their children together. Lucille died of Strep which had gone into her blood stream.

Lucille Smith’s Death Certificate

As I write this I am reminded of all of the sad events that shaped my Grandmother’s early life. By the time that Lillian was 26 years old, she had lost a grandfather, her mother, a her grandmother who raised her and her only daughter all within 23 years. I guess I had never really put all these events on a timeline. That is a lot of heartache in 23 short years for one person to bear. She experienced so many people who were gone too soon. Lillian was a strong woman.

Happy Hunting,

Jan

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