I have received many comments about my articles and I greatly appreciate the sentiments. However, I am not doing this alone. Fortunately for Almont, we have had a number of people recording our history over the years.
William Bruce Hamilton Jr. wrote his “A Short History of Almont, Lapeer County, Michigan in 1876. It was published in the Almont Herald for the July 4th celebration. It was republished in 1911 by the Almont Herald.
The History of Lapeer County published by H. R. Page publishers in 1884 has no known author or authors and was assembled in response to the Congress’ request that communities write their histories for the Centennial celebration.
Mabel Emily Bristol Yoder’s “Horse and Buggy Days” (the great-granddaughter of David and Betsey Ingalls) recorded the personal history of one of Almont’s earliest settlers.
Edith Waltz for the Almont Centennial Homecoming in 1955 researched and wrote the community’s history, which was published in the Almont Times-Herald.
Edith’s daughter, Hildamae Waltz Bowman, wrote four books for various homecoming celebrations. For the 1970 Almont Community Homecoming she wrote, “The History of Almont – 1834 – 1970.” Her book, “Almont …the way it was” was done for the Bicentennial, 1976 Almont Community Homecoming. In 1985 she published “Almont, A Tale of Then and Now.” These books required a tremendous amount of research and effort. She completed her fourth book, “The History of the First Congregational Church – 1838-1988” for the 1990 Homecoming celebration.
In 1978, J. Dee Ellis published an updated version of the 1884 H. R. Page book, “Pioneer Families and History of Lapeer County, Michigan.”
Obviously the columnists for the local papers, Tri-City Times and Lapeer County Press, also need to be thanked. Two of these columnists in particular, Gertie Brooks and Rick Liblong, should be mentioned.
Gertie wrote columns for decades, first for the Almont Times-Herald and then the Tri-City Times, under the headings ‘Memory Maple Meanderins’ and then ‘Country Cousin.’ Her stories of life in and around Almont contain a wealth of historical information about our community in the Twentieth Century. In 1995, Gertie wrote the fifth book for Homecoming, “The history of Almont’s Homecoming.”
Rick started writing for the Almont Times-Herald when he was in high school and then again for the Tri-City Times as he neared retirement. He also wrote “Answering The Call to Duty” about the men of Almont in the Civil War. This well-researched and written book is my starting point for the stories on Almonters in the Civil War.
Lest I get myself in trouble at home, my wife, Cindie Walton-Wade and her mother, Betty Walton’s book for the 2010 Homecoming, “Almont, The Story Continues,” contained new material as well as updates on the ongoing stories from Hildamae’s books and also needs to be mentioned.
I have to thank each and every one of these people for their efforts in preserving the history of Almont.
Thank you.
—Jim Wade,
Almont Community Historical Society President
