Investigation of the "McCullough Urn" at the Senior Center

The comment came in yesterday, while Dusty Diary was busily helping EMU's Halle Library with its surplus paper problem, via a microfilm machine:

A friend and I found a cast iron urn at an abandoned house which was about to be razed, which we "liberated" and placed behind the Senior Center between some benches. You should take a look, DD. The bottom is very like the bottom part of the illustrated urn. It was at an older Italianate house way out Michigan Ave -- I wonder how many founderies an area could support? The house is probably about the same age as Allie's diary, so the urn we found could be from McCullough's.

Deep in a scholarly analysis of, uh, 1940s comic strips, Dusty D could not go see-but she promptly telegraphed her Historical Authenticity Lightning Forensics-Wielding Investigative Team to scrutinize, analyze, and categorize.

The team roared over to Recreation Park at the historically accurate speed of ten miles an hour, and instantly targeted the object in question.

After securing the perimeter against inquisitive and possibly dangerous seniors, the team advanced upon the object, moving from tree to tree for concealment. At last Team Member Alpha broke cover and ran towards the target, photographing on the run as the other team members covered him.

Alpha sprinted around the target, obtaining some nice detail shots. The team unsecured the perimeter, briefly mulled over a nearby mound garden festooned with signs about Native American gardening, and then peeled out at top speed on the Emergency Response Vehicle (pictured in background).

You can tell the urn has been painted so many times that the sharpness of detail has softened. But are the gorgeous rococo swirls, scrolls, and leaflike patterns festooning the urn consonant with the cast-iron urn depicted in the old McCullough Foundry ad?
Could this graceful object have been cast in the McCullough foundry? If so, perhaps it was touched by William L. himself.

Or imagine Allie bringing William L. his lunch, walking just across Michigan Ave. to the foundry.


Perhaps she admired the cast urn, or even ran a finger along the curling scrolls, as, in an unguarded moment, the Investigative Team did today, quiet and mesmerized.

Response to Reader Question: Am I Living in Allie's Relative's House?!

"WE ARE THE COLLECTIVE MEMORY OF YPSILANTI." That is a motto printed out from a computer and hung up in the Ypsilanti Archives near the door to the reading room. But imagine Dusty D's amazement when she saw this motto come to life thanks to the collective comments left by incredibly helpful readers. When one kind reader, in the Allie's gravestone post, remarked,

The 1910 Washtenaw County Telephone Book has listings for Elmer and W.L. McCullough - http://books.google.com/books?id=S4bNAAAAMAAJ
Elmer: 369-J, Foundry, 4. E Congress;W.L.: 370-J, Residence, 217 Woodard; W.L. Co.: 369-J, Machinists, 4. E Congress

another reader responded,

217 Woodard is my house! My deed says it was built in 1916. Is WL a relative of Allie? This information and this question so intrigued DD that I immediately scurried off to the archives to find the answer.

Guess what I found. I found the obituary index card for Allie's father, in the obituary card files.

Here is the front of the obituary card. You can see it lists William, his wife Catharine, and seven (!) children--including Wm. L., born in 1854! He was Allie's older brother! Allie wrote her diary in 1874, when she was 16--so William was around 20 at the time of her diary.

Here is the back of the obituary card. You can see that there is no birth date or death date recorded for Alexander, another younger brother of Allie's. I wonder why; was he stillborn? You can see that his mother Catherine would have been 41 at the time of Alexander's birth--a high-risk age even today.

From the obituary card, we can construct this family tree (click for larger image):

You can see that Allie was the 4th-born child and that she had twin older sisters, Mary and Marion. You can also see that Allie was the exact middle child, in the heart of the family as it were, and that all her younger sibs were male. You can also see that Catharine had 7 children over a span of nearly 20 years!

Her little brother's name, "Benjamin" is spelled "Benjamin" on the obit card but "Benjiman" on his gravestone--odd, that.

So, to answer the kind reader's question, YES!--you are living in Allie's older brother's house! Thanks to Mr. V. for the invaluable info-tip and to K.P. for the wonderful question!