REAL ESTATE ESTATE AUCTION 

Saturday, May 14, 2011 @ 10:30am 

120 Livingston St. Pinckney, Michigan 

US-23 to M-36, west to S. Howell St,south to Livingston St.

***NEW ATTIC FINDS***

 Real Estate - Antiques - 5 Antique Atlas's - Old radio equipment - Furniture - Books -WW2 Nazi-old toys- and more!

Historic Greek Revival home w/ 3 bedrooms,Front Parlor,Living room, Large Kitchen, Dining room,and 1 full bath.This home is on a corner lot that is actually 3 city lots! New roof , siding and furnace in 2007.

Pre Sale Inspection:  Monday, April 25th and Monday, May 2  5:00 to 6:00pm

Terms:   $5,000.00 Deposit due on sale day (Cashiers Check Only.)  Balance paid in full within 30 days.  Purchaser must sign sales agreement day of sale.  This real estate sold "as is"  with no contingencies.  Seller to furnish title insurance and warranty deed.  Property sold free and clear of all liens, encumbrances, and back taxes, if any.  Taxes will be pro-rated to the day of closing on a due date basis.

A Piece of Michigan History

This architectural gem was built the same year that the village of Pinckney was platted and Michigan became a state; 1837.   The house was constructed on land originally owned by William Kirkland, one of the founders of this fine village who purchased the land in 1835.  Who could have imagined so long ago that this pioneer house would expand to become a rambling home overlooking almost two hundred years of the village’s history, all the while holding safe within it’s walls the memories of generations.

 
In 1836, Alvin Mann ventured to Michigan from New York with his wife Lucy (Whittelsey) and their young children.  They first settled in Genesee County , but in 1837 moved to Pinckney to take up residence.  Alvin was one of the pioneer merchants of Pinckney.  Through the early years of the village, the Mann family owned many prosperous businesses in the village and made many contributions to the community.  They were true Michigan pioneers.

In 1860, Alvin ’s son Walter married Mary Teeple, from another prominent Pinckney family.   Like his father, Walter had a knack for constructing buildings and running businesses.  It is actually because of purchases made by Walter that the front two lots with the house and the north half of the south two lots came together as one property in 1869.

In a guide to the “Pinckney Centennial and Homecoming,” which took place on July 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th of 1935 can be found a brief history of the house.  Under the title of “The Mann Homestead” it reads:

“A building which strikes the eye of the tourist entering Pinckney is the old Mann homestead on the south side of the public square. It was built by Alvin Mann, who came here from New York State in 1837. He first started a tailor shop and then the Mann store which flourished here for over 50 years. The house is of Grecian architecture so favored at that period and has long columns reaching from the ground to the peaks of the roof. Most of the descendants of Alvin Mann have gone from here for some years and live in California and Detroit .”

According to the guide, the house was the number three tourist site after the public square itself and the old swimming hole! One can only imagine the number of tourists streaming through Pinckney admiring the house, as they still do today.

Alvin Mann was not only a notable member of the village and the owner of a popular residence, but he also had ties to politics.  In 1904 Samuel Harlow Mann, the younger brother to Walter, wrote a family history which he eloquently titled:  “A true and accurate Genealogy of the illustrious Mann Family written by one of them, which ought to be proof enough of its being true and accurate.”  Two copies, a rough draft and what appears to be a photocopy of the final copy are in the possession of a branch of the Mann family descendents.  Of great interest is the following entry:

“In 1856 President Millard Fillmore who was then running for the Presidency for the 2^nd time visited his dear cousin Alvin Mann of Pinckney Mich and spoke in the School house. Alvin Mann however refused to support him on account of his signing of the Fugitive Slave bill. This act lost him the election as it divided his northern friends and made him none in the South. It was called selling out to the South.”

 “When Fillmore and Father met at Pinckney, I was 15 years old and greatly amused to hear my father lecture a President of the US . The state of Mich had been thoroughly canvassed and it was known that Fillmore had no chance here...”

The house and land would stay with the intriguing and prosperous Mann family until 1907 when it was purchased by Carey Van Winkle from the widow and children of Walter S. Mann.  Carey was born in Howell , Michigan in 1852.  He married Clara Allison of Putnam Township in 1874.  They had one son Kirk Van Winkle on July 27, 1876.  Carey was a general farmer with sheep as his specialty.  He was described as an auto buff and drove one of the earliest model cars to California and back.  Carey, as well as his father and son, were active members of the Masonic Livingston Lodge, coincidently whose early quarters were on the specially created third floor of the building on the corner of Main St. and Mill St. built by Walter Mann.

Before settling in Pinckney, Carey moved his family to South Dakota in the fall of 1888 as homesteaders.  Their 160 acre farm was in Faulkton.  Sadly, only months after arriving, Clara died of pneumonia at the age of 33.  Carey and Kirk brought her body by train back to Livingston County where she is buried in the Pinckney Cemetery .   

Carey would marry his second wife, Georgia Reeves, on November 27, 1890.  Sadly, she too preceded him in death.  Carey married his third wife, Kate Brown, in 1918, who can be seen in an old photo standing next to her favorite cherry tree which once stood in front of the house’s main pillars.    Carey stayed at the Pinckney house until his death in 1934.  To this day on a door in the backroom there is a black printed stencil reading “C. V. VANWINKLE”.  His memory lives on. Carey’s son Kirk took over the property and eventually sold it to Charles Franklin and Cacia Curtiss Chamberlain, the third family to make this house their home.

In 1940 Charles Chamberlain moved his wife and family to Pinckney from their family farm off of North Territorial Road .  This was their dream home – their retirement home.  After a lifetime of hard work on the family farm, the Chamberlain family wanted to experience life in the bustling village.  Cacia Chamberlain had known of the house and would envision herself living there.  It was truly a dream come true when they moved in and she was able to host Sunday chicken dinners in the front rooms, with the French doors open to enjoy the breeze. 

Before marriage, Charles studied art in Detroit and New York and also made several trips to France where he studied under the old masters.  Some of his works graced the walls of the home before being passed on to relatives.  He married Cacia Curtiss in 1912 and raised their family on the old farm while he taught architectural drawing at the University of Michigan .  When he and Cacia left the farm in 1940 to move to Pinckney, they had completed a full century of the family’s ownership of that land in Webster Township . 

After Charles’ death in 1947, Cacia would remain in the Pinckney home pursuing her interests of heraldry, geology, gardening, genealogy and theology.  She was a member of the Mayflower Society of Vermont, The Daughters of the American Revolution, and a very active member of the Historical Society of Washtenaw County.  In 1962 Cacia published “Genealogies of Chamberlain, Curtiss and Allied Families” which was the accumulation of 59 years of enjoyable research involving extensive travels across the countryside.

In 1962, Welton Chamberlain, the second son of Charles and Cacia, moved his family to the Pinckney home to take care of his ailing mother.  After Cacia passed away in December of 1964, Welton, his wife Mary (Johnson) and their children remained in the home.  Both Welton and Mary were very active in the community and were educators; he at Pinckney High School and she at Hamburg Elementary.

The home provided the perfect setting for plentiful activities for young and old:  sewing, quilting, knitting and stitchery in the light of the large windows, film processing and photo developing in a room off the kitchen, a ham radio shack in the back room, wine making and painting in the basement, furniture refinishing in side yard, and of course trees to climb and bushes to hide in. 

Updates and modifications were made to the home over the course of the years with the advent of indoor plumbing and electricity, but the original structure built sturdily of hard lumber still remains.  The home boasts two large attics as well as an intriguing back room full of nooks and crannies and even the little room up a small set of stairs which for a while was used as the radio shack.   One can still imagine housing a horse drawn carriage and tack back there, or a good game of hide and seek. 

Though the barn was removed when village regulations forbid the keeping of livestock, it’s stone foundation remains, surrounded by the grape vines which provided the fruit for Welton’s wine.  A mention should be made of the flowering landscape.  In turn of the century photos one can see the “snowball” hydrangea gracing the front of the porch.  Though they have been moved around, split, and given to friends and relatives, the splendid bushes still remain in the front yard.  In addition, along with her dreams, Cacia brought with her from their farm her prized irises, poppies and petunias and lovingly tended to them in their new garden home.   

This is a house of dreams; dreams of settling in a new frontier; dreams of family and prosperity; dreams of a fulfilling life in the heart of a wonderful community.  Cacia Chamberlain said it best when she wrote in her journal on February 13, 1940:

A wish of 25 years became a reality when the papers deeding to us my dream house, were signed.

On May 18^th we moved in and took possession on a Saturday afternoon and although everything was in a state of confusion, I felt that at last I had come home.

Neighbors tell us that Walter Mann built this house.  Where the Kirklands lived, I do not know (later in the back of Roy Clark’s store).  When Kirk VanWinkle came for his old bureau, he said his grandfather (must have been Mr. Reeves) built onto the house for Mr. Mann in 1854 – the original being the east front room and dining room as far as the stair door.  As the family grew and social status increased, the old house was enlarged piece by piece or room by room.  First the west wing was added, then the south-west portion and lastly the kitchen and back room. 

July 7^th George and Nina Green called on us.  George grew up across the road.  He told us Mr. Mann was first buried under the west window as a matter of precaution (*note: his final resting place is the Pinckney Cemetery ).  That the old mill stone was first used as a horse block out in front.  Now it makes a nice step at the end of the porch. The old red carpet came with the house when it was sold to Mr. VanWinkle.

(concluding with the following poem)

Fulfillment

By Frederick W. Branch

The man who built this house of mine

A hundred years ago.

With Christian doors of smooth, clean pine

And chestnut timbers row on row,

            Whose oxen hauled the bricks and lime,

Who squared the hearth’s broad stone,

Could not foresee that Fate and Time

Would someday make it all my own.

Of course he knew that it would stay

Here, on its sturdy sills,

Long after his last spring should lay,

Her fragrant mantle on the hills.

So even if he did not know

Just who its owners were to be,

I’ll still maintain that years ago,

He planned and built this house for me.

JUST FOUND IN ATTIC! Big trunk full of WW2 German Nazi Items,a couple boxes of old toys,old magazines,and more that still has to be gone through!Check out the bottom of the picture gallery for the pics!

Antique Atlas's :

1895 Standard Atlas of Livingston county Michigan.

1875 Atlas of Livingston Co. Mi. from recent & actual Surveys& Records under superintendance of F.W. Bears

1883 Crams Unrivaled Family Atlas of the world published by O.C. Haskell

1885 Standard Atlas of Ingham County Mi. by George A. Ogle & Co.

1905 Superior Reference Atlas of Michigan & the World published by George F. Cram

1830-1841? Chickering & Sons Piano, Victorian game table, Ornate claw foot library table, turned spindle back rocker, Victifern stand, Nazi dress sword,Reed and Barton sugar tong from Stevenson Hotel.

*Guns*

Pistola Lancia-Razzi Mod.1900 cal.mm.6 Nera(Mondial)

Smith & Wesson 38 special chief special 38, 629212

* Starcraft 14 foot Siren fiberglass boat w/ trailer (been stored outside and needs work),Air guide Illuminated tachometer in box.

Utility trailer

Many , many more items not listed!

Older radio equipment (see photo gallery), many boxes of radi tubes.

Evinrude 10 hp,Johnson, and other out board.

1885 Persouah memoirs of: Ulysis Grant vol. I&II, 1901 "ABE Lincolus" Yarns & Stories, 1922 Capt. Billys Whiz Bang Books, 1895 Wehmans Wizards manual(secrets of mind reading), Magic & Ventriloquism, Chevrolet Parts list of model "Four-Ninety"(for years 1916-17-18), Ampro Distributed and Service by The Jam Handy organization.

3 gallon double handle jug S. Purdy Portage co. Ohio, Beer Steins, Antique 2 door book case, Gilbert calender clock Maranville patent March 5th 1861

Cash of Check with ID

Braun & Helmer Auction Service, Inc.

Brian Braun   734-996-9135