The following is an excerpt from “Elmwood Township a Pictorial History” by Larry Wakefield.
The Corrigan Family
Michael and Julia Corrigan arrived in New Orleans in the spring 1846. Both were from County Cork, Ireland. While in New Orleans they had two children, James and Margaret. Julia died at the time of her daughter’s birth, and in 1850, Michael moved the family to Chicago. There he married Sarah Jane Fewins and in 1874 twin boys, James, Jr. and Daniel, were born.
In 1876, Michael, James, Sarah and the twins moved to the Traverse region. Another daughter, Margaret Jane, was born there in 1877. In 1881 Michael purchased 152 acres at the north end of Cedar Lake from Charles Norris. He cleared the land and built a house and barn with the timber. Fire destroyed the barn in which timber for a new home was being dried, and a granary was enlarged and converted into a home.
The property passed to James, Jr. and Sarah after Michael’s death in 1889. James planted a large apple orchard with 10 varieties, many of which he grafted himself. He was a resourceful man — land surveyor and brick-and-stone mason. He built stone foundations for many houses and barns in the area; he also laid bricks in the construction of the State Hospital buildings.
James and Robert Corrigan — son of James, Jr. — took over the farm in 1932. Corrigan Brothers Dairy pasteurized, bottled and delivered milk to homes, restaurants and commercial accounts in the area. The farm also produced apples and potatoes, as well as corn, hay and silage for the dairy herd. The dairy closed down in 1946.
The Heimforth Family
All members of the Heimforth family now living in Elmwood Township are descendants of Frederick Heimforth, who was born in Austria in 1824. He came to this country in 1850, his wifeto- be Elizabeth Zimmerman about a year later. They married in New Jersey and almost immediately came to Michigan and settled no North Manitou Island, where they spent the next 10 years farming.
Ten children were born to Frederick and Elizabeth on North Manitou. In 1884 they moved to Elmwood Township, where the three sons — William, Philip and George — eventually established farms in the northern part of the township. In 1883, William bought 270 acres from Abijah B. Dunlap, who had established the farm in 1862.
William married Rhoda E. Hatch and sired three children. Philip and Lillian (Cooper) Heimforth had seven children. George and his wife, Laverna Peck, had four daughters.
The Kroupa Family
Leopold and Petronilla Kroupa were the progenitors of the Kroupa family in America. They came from Bohemia, where Leopold was a well-to-do manufacturer of hats, gloves and hose. The Kroupas had 14 children, but only four — Charles, Ferdinand, Ludwig and John — lived to maturity.
The family emigrated in 1851. By way of Cleveland and Chicago they came to North Unity that same year by boat and spent the winter there under considerable hardship. The next spring they made their way with their oxen over the Indian trail to Traverse City, then on to Bowers Harbor.
According to family legend, Leopold had $16,000 in gold when he came to America. Perry Hannah borrowed money from him. Perry also tried to sell him land in what is now the heart of Traverse City, but Leopold laughed and said: “What use have I for land that won’t grow beans?”
Three of the Kroupa sons stayed on the Old Mission Peninsula and went on to develop prosperous farms. Ludwig, the fourth, bought land in Elmwood Township in 1872 and built a log house and barn. He worked the land with oxen and raised corn, potatoes and food for the cattle. Life wasn’t easy and Ludwig often remarked with wry humor that he was a cinch to get into heaven because his life on earth had been pure hell. He and his wife, Anna, raised five children: Frank, Elizabeth, Mary, Ella and Annie.
After his wife’s death in 1900, he opened a saloon in Traverse City, but a few years later he sold it and went back to farming. He was really a farmer at heart.
The prolific Kroupa family has members living all over the Traverse region.
The Rokos Family
John and Antonia Rokos came to Amercia from Bohemia in the 1870s and homesteaded about 250 acres on the west side of Bugai Rod, between Hoxie and Lincoln roads. After clearing the land they built a large home, barns and other outbuildings. They had five children, and three of them — Edward, John and Marie — remained in the area after they were married, The farm remained in the family until 1937. In the 1940s the house burned to the ground and no trace of it now remains.
Edward went to work for Joseph Lautner on the County Line Road farm. There he met and married Joseph’s youngest daughter, Bertha in 1907. They raised three daughters: Elsie (Walters), Matilda (Fausbaugh) and Arlene (Lautner).
Arlene served as the Elmwood Township Clerk. Edward farmed the land until his death in 1972. Former student at the Lautner School will remember trips to the Rokos sugar bush every spring, where they were treated with samples of maple syrup made there.
