This continues a series adapted from the book, “A Port Oneida Collection,” Volume 1 of the two-part set, “Oral History, Photographs, and Maps from the Sleeping Bear Region,” produced by Tom Van Zoeren in partnership with Preserve Historic Sleeping Bear. Here we continue a look at the Goffar Farm, along M-22 on Lake Narada.
After the original owners of the Goffar Farm sold it and moved to Traverse City, the farm was purchased by Julius Prause, who owned a farm a short way north, along the shore of Shell Lake. Exactly who among that family lived where, and when, is unclear. Julius and his wife Barbara had 11 children who came of age during this time, so there are a lot of possibilities.
By 1912 it was Julius’ son Albert and his wife Ida who owned the Lake Narada farm. Ida was from the large Dechow family, and in 1919 they sold the place to her sister Olive and Olive’s husband Milton Manney. (Albert & Ida then purchased the two farms across the lake, as described in Chapter 23.)
