The Dole Family of Saugatuck

--By Andrea Olmanson

Thomas Dole, born 27 August 1812 in Hartford, CT, died 30 June 1889, Saugatuck, MI, was married to Elizabeth, nee Bennett. They were my great great grandparents. Thomas and Elizabeth had 3 children, all boys. They started out their married life in Waterloo Seneca County, NY. Their boys were George W. Dole (1840-1849, buried in the Stark Street Cemetery in the Village of Waterloo, Seneca County, NY, next to his grandfather John Dole and his uncle Henry Dole), James Knox Dole (1844-1910, buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Allegan County, Michigan), and Charles T. Dole (born 1850, died unknown).

Thomas, Elizabeth, and at least their son James were Congregationalists.
Census records show Thomas as having various occupations-- painter, hotelier, and farmer. The 1860 census shows that Thomas and Elizabeth owned and operated a hotel. Fast forward to 1869.

Thomas was ardently anti-alcohol, much to his financial detriment.  From the Saugatuck Commercial Record, May 15, 1869:

"Union Hotel- Mr. Dole is repairing his bar-room but says he will not keep liquor, living or no living. We glory in his spunk, and have not the slightest doubt of his success. The idea that a hotel can not prosper without selling liquor, is humbug. We can recommend the Union Hotel as a quiet house, with peace and plenty."

1869 Ad For the Union Hotel

From the Saugatuck Commercial record, July 31, 1869 (two and a half months later):
"Mr. Rode is fitting his building, formerly used for hotel business by Thomas Dole, up in good shape, and will open his saloon some time next week."

Union Hotel About 1874- Today "Pumpernickel's"

The 1870 census shows that Thomas and Elizabeth were farming. Poor Elizabeth! Having to go back to farming in her elder years, after a comfortable life in town. 

Elizabeth died in 1878 at age 68 of a "strangulated hernia," according to her Michigan death record.

Thomas and Elizabeth's son, Charles, is described in census records as a "riverman." James was an engineer, a ship's captain, a carpenter, and a carriage-maker, as his main occupations, but I know that he was also a some-time hotelier.

Hotel Built By Capt. James Dole- The White House, Today " Good-Goods"

James and his brother Charles were on a sloop called the Water Witch that overturned a mile out from Saugatuck Harbor in November 1879 and they were rescued by an August Burkholtz, who heard them yelling from a mile away, according to an article in the Commercial Record.

Also, James was in an accident with a swing bridge when he was captaining some boat with a Congregationalist girls choir from Chicago that had come to Saugatuck in 1907. The full story is in the August 30, 1907 edition of the Commercial Record.  Three girls were injured.  The paper reported that the owner of the boat anticipated taking some sort of legal action against the municipality.

James was the only one of Thomas and Elizabeth's children who married. He married Jantje "Jane" Bouwmeester who was originally from the Netherlands. They had 4 children-- George (1870-1941), William (1873-1949), Mattie Daisy (1879-1956), and Winnifred May "Winnie" (1878-1953).

Here is Jante/Jane's obit from 1900:
"Mrs. James K. Dole, a highly esteemed resident of this village, died on Tuesday morning from bronchitis, of which she had been a sufferer for a year and a half. Deceased was born in the Netherlands, October 20, 1844, and came to this country with her parents at an early age. The family lived at Overisel, this state, for some years, and deceased came to Saugatuck in 1865, where two years later she was united in marriage to James K. Dole. She was the mother of four children, two sons and two daughters, all of whom are now living. The funeral occurred on Thursday afternoon at the residence, Rev. Ireland, officiating."

Evidently, the family was too proud to admit the real cause of Jane's death, which was tuberculosis, not merely bronchitis.

Although the Doles were too proud to admit that Jane/Jantje died of consumption, when her sister died of it about a decade before, it was admitted.  The December 12, 1890 Commercial Record says:

"Miss Mattie Bouwmaster, aged 38 years, whose home was at Jenniston, this state, died at the residence of her sister, Mrs. Jas K. Dole, on Friday, December 5, of consumption.  She had been at her sister's home here receiving medical attendance since last spring, but her case had long been considered a hopeless one.  A funeral was held at the Dole residence on Sunday last, Rev.  J. Rice Taylor, officiating."

Here is James Dole's Obituary, from the Saugatuck Commercial Record, Friday, June 24, 1910

"James K. Dole died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Oscar Peterson in Holland Tuesday morning, June 21 at 10:00 after an illness of eight weeks with paralysis. He was born Oct. 19, 1844 in New York and came to Kalamazoo when a boy after which he moved to Saugatuck where he married Jane Boumaster in 1867. Ever since, he has made this his home till about a year ago when he went to live with his daughter in Holland where he passed away. Mrs. Dole departed from this life some ten years ago but he leaves behind four children to mourn for him, Geo. A. Dole of Lombard, Ill, Wm. L. Dole of Enid Oklahoma: Mrs. Eugene Munson of Roswell, Idaho, and Mrs. Oscar Peterson of Holland. The funeral will be held today 2:00 from the Cong'l Church and the remains will be laid to rest in the Saugatuck cemetery."

In 1910, the local paper ran an article about a reunion of civil war soldiers (James had been in the cavalry). It read:

"As the roll of the drum and the pipe of the fife of his comrades were wafted in through the window at the home of James K. Dole of this city, his spirit fled. Mr. Dole, who was 65 years of age, had been ill for some time, and expressed a desire to hear the tramp of the Army in Blue once more before he died."

George A. Dole (James and Jane's son) married and was a businessman in Chicago. He and his wife had no children. The census records show that they had at least one servant, so they must have been a bit posh.

William Lloyd Dole (James and Jane's other son) married Effie E. Glenn in Scranton, Iowa. He was a severe alcoholic, and as a result they separated, him leaving her with their three boys-- Ralph, Harold, and Enid. Because of the way that their father was, Ralph and Harold were very strict teetotalers. William couldn't stay anywhere long and was in diverse places such as Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Texas, and Idaho. I suppose that this could have been predicted by old articles appearing in the local paper:
From the Commercial Record, December 19, 1890 (a week after his aunt's death):
"Will Dole will be missed from Taylor's school hereafter.  He has entered the high school at Douglas with the laudable ambition of getting an education."
Less than a year later, the Commercial Record reported the following on October 2, 1891:
"Henry Schnobel, Jr., and Will Dole have concluded to spend a winter in Florida.  They will seek employment in the orange district."  So much for a high school education... And shortly thereafter, the Commercial Record reported on November 5, 1891:
"Will Dole and Henry Schnobel, Jr., left for Louisiana last Tuesday night.  They will spend the winter in the southern states."

And then to cement William's flighty nature, the Commercial Record reported on November 20, 1891:
"Will Dole, who went South last week to spend the winter, "did" Louisiana in two days and returned to Michigan."

By the nineteen-teens, Effie was living in Shell Lake, Wisconsin, with the three boys, and William was living in various places, particularly Texas.  The three boys grauated at various times from the Shell Lake High School.

In 1921, at age 12, Enid was thrown from a horse, but survived.  The one surviving letter from William to Effie relates to that accident; evidently Effie had written to WIlliam about it.  At that time, William was living in Ranger, Texas, and had PO Box 488.

William ultimately died in San Antonio Texas in 1949, of complications of diabetes.  He was living in a boarding house at that time.  His body was taken back to Scranton, IA for burial.  I searched and searched the cemetery for a headstone, but could not find one.  Effie was responsible for having his remains brought back, so presumably subsequent to her 1942 letter she was able to locate him.

Going back to William's siblings, Winnifred May Dole married Oscar Peterson, and they stayed in Michigan, living in Holland. They had one child, Winona, born in 1911 and died in 1959. Winona married Everett Elwood, but they didn't have any children.

Mattie Daisy married Eugene Munson, but I don't believe that they had any children.

So out of all of James K. Dole's children, only William has living descendants.

Of William's three boys, Enid, Ralph and Harold, here is information regarding their jobs and who they married:

Enid graduated from the Shell Lake, Wisconsin, high school in 1928.  He was described in the 1930 census as working in the shipping room at a rubber tire factory (the census doesn't say this, but I know it was Uniroyal).  Enid married Dorothea Scovil. They lived in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. They had a baby girl who lived only a couple hours, and one boy, whose name I won't identify because we're getting toward living people. That boy was married twice and had 4 children-- 2 boys and 2 girls.  I recall that Grand Uncle Enid and Grand Aunt Dorrie had a lot of cats and a dog or two that were very friendly.  Enid was hard to understand (perhaps he had had a stroke; I don't recall), but he was good at using gestures to indicate that the kids who were visiting should be given candy from the dish on the table.  Enid died at age 70 in 1979.  He was the only one of his siblings who drank alcohol. I had just turned 10 when Uncle Enid passed away.  When we went to the funeral, I sneaked my new hermit crab, Herbie, along in my jacket pocket.  I just couldn't bear to leave him at home.  My mother was horrified!  But Enid's son was *so* cool about it, commenting to me that he liked hermit crabs, holding the hermit crab, complimenting it, etc.  What a terrific way to diffuse the situation and keep a kid out of trouble.

Ralph graduated from the Shell Lake High School in 1926.  He was described in the 1930 census as working in the curing room of a tire factory (again, Uniroyal).  He eventually married Veronica B. Kleckner, and they resided in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. They had no children.  Ralph died of a heart attack in 1959 at age 53.  I recall that their house was spotless and that Grand Aunt Verona, Ralph's widow, always had candy for us kids, usually lemon drops.

Harold graduated from the Shell Lake High School in 1925 and was described in the 1930 census records as working as a typist.  He subsequently married Grace Brown at the Little Brown Church in Iowa.  Grace had gone to the college in Eau Claire, and was a teacher at Brackett School in Eau Claire County at the time.  They eloped and kept the marriage secret, so that Grace could, for the time being, keep her job. They subsequently settled in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, where he was a shipbuilder and a radio operator. They moved briefly to Florida, but ended up settling in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where Harold had a TV and radio repair business. They had 2 girls and 2 boys, one of whom died in 1974 at age 21. Grace and Harold also have grandchildren, of which I am one.  Harold and Grace attended a Baptist church in Sturgeon Bay, and then First Baptist Church in Eau Claire.  Harold was an ardent teetotaler, even though his doctor tried to get him to drink a shot per day to thin his blood.  Harold passed away at Luther Hospital in Eau Claire on January 4, 1964, after suffering from a massive heart attack.  He was age 57.  On his death bed, he asked his oldest daughter if she smoked, and she said "no," even though she secretly did.  Because she didn't want to be a liar, she never smoked again.  Because she no longer smoked, her new husband stopped smoking, too.