I referenced a photo I found of an old\u00a0water pump\u00a0that sits on the\u00a0original\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0McKenzie Schoolhouse, in a previous blog post called\u00a0Road Trip Through Our Family History<\/a>.\u00a0In today’s blog post, I will provide additional details about the McKenzie Schoolhouse and it’s wonderful history and connection to my McKenzie family.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\tJeremiah McKenzie and Family\n\tJeremiah McKenzie was born on April 15, 1842, in Blenheim, Ontario, Canada to\u00a0Donald S. McKenzie<\/a> and his first wife Mary Moore<\/a>. Mary (Moore) McKenzie passed away in 1847.
\nJeremiah immigrated from Canada to northern Michigan in the late 1880s. On October 18, 1888, Jeremiah<\/a> was deeded land through the homestead act. He was deeded 160 acres by President Glover Cleveland for his military service.\n\t

On February 3, 1893, Jeremiah married Ella Powell<\/a>. they had six children: Mary, Katheryn, Russell, Oscar, Elliott, and Hubert.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\tLand patent for Jeremiah McKenzie\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\tLand deed for Jeremiah McKenzie\n\t

In 1848,\u00a0Donald<\/a>\u00a0married\u00a0Sarah Marie Biggar. They had eight children. One of these children was\u00a0Alexander Orlando McKenzie<\/a>, who is my 2nd great grandfather.<\/p>\n

Alexander also immigrated from Canada to Northern Michigan in the late 1880s, making his home in Montmorency county on the adjoining property to his half brother Jeremiah<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On March 22, 1889, Alexander<\/a> married\u00a0Mary Anna Faught<\/a>.\u00a0From this union were born eight children.<\/p>\n

\n
• George<\/li>\n
• Joseph<\/li>\n
• O<\/a>rlie<\/a><\/li>\n
• Olive<\/li>\n
• Oral<\/li>\n
• Lawrence<\/li>\n
• Cora<\/li>\n
• Edward<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\tAlexander Orlando McKenzie\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t1903 Plat Map showing property of Jeremiah and Alexander McKenzie in Montmorency County, Michigan\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\tJeremiah McKenzie Homestead\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\tMcKenzie Homestead – Hossler Rd. Atlanta, Montmorency, Michigan\nMost likely around the year 1900, Jeremiah<\/a> and Alexander<\/a> worked together to build a schoolhouse for their children on what is now called Baker Rd. This schoolhouse would soon become to be called the McKenzie schoolhouse after the men that built it.\nA well was drilled for the schoolhouse by a Mr. Dogan, who used a team of small horses to work the drill. The team walked round and round in a circle to provide the “horsepower” necessary to motivate the drill.\n\tI believe that photo I found is of a water pump that is located at the spot where this well was drilled.\nIn 1937, the schoolhouse was converted for use as the Pine Tree Grange Hall. The woodshed was enlarged and remodeled to provide kitchen facilities for the Grange Hall.\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\tWater pump at the original location of the McKenzie Schoolhouse in Atlanta, Montmorency, Michigan\n\t

  In 1983, the McKenzie schoolhouse was moved from its location on Baker Rd to the county fairgrounds in Atlanta, Montmorency, Michigan.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\tNews articles about the moving of McKenzie Schoolhouse in 1983\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\tNews articles about the moving of McKenzie Schoolhouse in 1983\n\t

  The restoration of the schoolhouse was complete with the addition of a new belfry which holds the original bell from the schoolhouse.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\tThe schoolhouse is now used as a museum and a home based for the\u00a0Montmorency County Historical Society.\nFirst, I would like to save a big Thank You! to\u00a0Joeann Comber<\/strong>\u00a0for providing me with so much wonderful information about the McKenzie family, including the news articles that I have included in this blog post.\nThe McKenzie schoolhouse played an important part in my family’s history and I am proud that it now still plays an important part in the life of Montmorency County.\n\t\t\t\t\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I referenced a photo I found of an old\u00a0water pump\u00a0that sits on the\u00a0original\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0McKenzie Schoolhouse, in a previous blog post called\u00a0Road Trip Through Our Family History.\u00a0In today’s blog post, I will provide additional details about the McKenzie Schoolhouse and it’s wonderful history and connection to my McKenzie family. Jeremiah McKenzie and…<\/p>\n

  Continue reading<\/span><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n

  Continue reading<\/span><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,37,82,49,96],"tags":[271,281,284,236,282,283],"location_tag":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/genealogistonajourney.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/3743079_orig.jpg?fit=941%2C800&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogistonajourney.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogistonajourney.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogistonajourney.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogistonajourney.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogistonajourney.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/genealogistonajourney.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59703,"href":"https:\/\/genealogistonajourney.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions\/59703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogistonajourney.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/genealogistonajourney.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogistonajourney.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogistonajourney.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"location_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/genealogistonajourney.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location_tag?post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}