Life Summary: Lizzie Margaret Whipple (1875 - 1963)

Lizzie M. Whipple, about 1893

Lizzie Margaret Whipple was born on June 24, 1875, in Fairgrove, Tuscola County, Michigan, to Lyndon Leander Whipple and Alida Electa Hand Whipple. She was the fourth of five children born to the couple, only two of whom lived to adulthood. Claud and Maud died before Lizzie was born. Lizzie's older brother Harry was born in 1873. A younger sister, Mattie, born in 1876, lived less than a year.

On June 24, 1896, Lizzie married David Winter Brown in Fairgrove. According to the marriage record, she was a music teacher at the time.

As mentioned in the post on Lizzie's husband David, Lizzie and David moved several times early in their marriage. Their first child, Harmon, was born in Sebewaing in 1897. Fred apparently was born in Fairgrove in 1899. At some point in 1900 the family moved to a rented home in Winsor Township, where they lived alongside other employees of the Wallace Stone Company. David and Lizzie's son Lynn was born in Colfax Township, Huron County, in May of 1900. A daughter, Myrtle, was born in 1902. Neil, according to his marriage record, was born in Manistee, Michigan, in August of 1905. This was just two months after Lizzie's brother Harry was married in Manistee. Was the family visiting Harry and his wife when Neil was born? Pictures from 1908 show the family living in the "Quarry Home" near Bayport.

Lizzie in the Quarry Home with Fred, Lynn, Myrtle and Neil, Christmas 1908

Lizzie and another woman with Fred, Lynn, Myrtle and Neil

Carpenter Street house in Midland

David and Lizzie welcomed Kenneth into the world in 1910 and Walter in 1912. In 1912 David was corresponding with Harmon Fairchild, his brother-in-law, regarding the purchase of a house, apparently in Midland, and also five acres of land. He asked Harmon Fairchild to take pictures of the house. He said Lizzie was concerned about the height of the ceilings. In 1913 and perhaps before that, their oldest son Harmon was living in Midland with Harmon and Harriet Fairchild, attending high school. 

In 1916, when Lizzie was 41, the family moved to Midland. David and Lizzie’s youngest son Herb was born there in 1917. According to the 1920 census, the family lived at 608 Carpenter Street, West. Later they moved to another house at 1316 West Carpenter Street.

Lizzie Brown, December 1950

Lizzie was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. After David died in 1953, she lived another ten years. I remember going with my dad to visit her in her house in Carpenter Street. She died on August 25, 1963 in Midland, Michigan. She is buried in the Midland City Cemetery.