A Pressed Flower from the Past Leads Historian To Preston Family History

I was cleaning out my garage one cold and rainy day recently when I came across a box filled with old newspapers and magazines.  The box had been rescued from a dumpster several years ago while some people were cleaning out a house that belonged to a member of the Preston family in Shelby Township. 

In it were Detroit newspapers with headlines that read "President Kennedy Assassinated in Dallas," "Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor," and "Red Wings Win Stanley Cup."  There were issues of Life Magazine from the 1930s and 1940s filled with glossy photographs of celebrities and harrowing pictures from World War II.  While I rummaged through the box, a small envelope fell from between the sandwiched layers of newspaper.  It contained a single pressed and dried flower with several bits of leaves.  On the front of the envelope was the faded inscription, "One of Ella's wedding roses, July 12th 1892."  Intrigued by this discovery, I left the garage project for another day and went to find out what I could about Ella.

Logging on to my favorite genealogy website, I typed in "Ella Preston," guessed at her birth date, and within seconds found Ella Victoria Preston who was born in Michigan in 1866.  Ella was the great granddaughter of Ira Preston, a Connecticut-born farmer who settled his large family at the four corners of 25 Mile and Schoenherr Roads in Shelby Township in 1827.  There the Prestons built several houses, various farm buildings, a sawmill by the creek, and a schoolhouse.  Altogether the family owned and farmed between 460 and 500 acres of land around this intersection.  The small crossroads hamlet became known as Prestonville and many generations of Prestons called it home.

Ella's grandfather, Riley Sedgewick Preston, owned an 80-acre farm in the southeast corner of the hamlet.  Ella lived there with her parents, Julius and Cornelia, along with several brothers and sisters during the 1870s and 1880s.  She probably attended grade school in the one-room schoolhouse that was built on Preston land and originally located on 25 Mile just west of Schoenherr.  The schoolhouse was moved or rebuilt on Riley's land to the south on Schoenherr around 1880.

Ella married Elam Porter Chapin when she was 26 years old.  Elam was from Flint, Michigan and was also born in 1866.  The couple went to live with Elam's mother, Josephine, in Honolulu where she ran a boarding house.  Elam and Ella had six children while living in Hawaii, including a son they named Elam Preston.  They traveled from the island to the west coast of the United States and back several times over the years.  I wonder if they ever made it as far east as Shelby Township to visit Ella's family in Prestonville.  How her family must have missed her and she them, only being able to communicate through letters and, later, an occasional long-distance telephone call.  Could that be why a rose from her wedding bouquet was saved and treasured, perhaps by her mother Cornelia?

Ella Preston Chapin died in Honolulu in 1942, three months after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.  Living very close to the harbor, the Chapins must have witnessed the attack and one can only imagine their bewilderment and terror.  Elam died four years later in Pocatello, Idaho.  I have not yet found where Ella and Elam are buried.  That's another research project for another day.

There is not much left of Prestonville today.  Ella's home is gone.  So are the houses and barns that belonged to her uncles, her grandfather, and her great grandfather.  So is the schoolhouse where she learned to read and write.  Along 25 Mile Road you can still see the one remaining 19th century Preston family house, a chicken coop, a garage, and the cemetery where many of Ella's relatives are buried.  Housing developments have moved into the area, temporarily halted by the poor economy.

After I search the box once more for hidden treasures, I am going to repack the old newspapers and magazines and donate them all to the local historical committee - all except for Ella's wedding flower.  I think I will hold on to this small memento, this small bit of local history.  Just for a little while.