Whittemore Family (Tawas City, Mich.)

The Whittemore family, led by Gideon O. Whittemore, were founders of the town now known as Tawas City, Michigan. As men of business, they lumbered, milled, and sold the pine timber on their land then known as Ottawas Bay on Lake Huron. They were also civically responsible, serving their local community and the state in various capacities.

Gideon Olin Whittemore was born August 12, 1800 in St. Albans, Vermont. He came to Michigan in 1820 and in 1826, began practicing law in Pontiac. During his time there, Gideon Whittemore held many offices of trust in Oakland County as well as the state, and was at one time or another the Secretary of State, a member of the University of Michigan Board of Regents and the State Board of Education. On Feb. 13, 1828 he married Mrs. Harriet Mack Hatch, the daughter of his former employer, Colonel Stephen Mack of Detroit and his wife Temperance Bond Mack.

In 1853, Gideon Olin Whittemore left Pontiac and made an exploratory visit to the Tawas Bay area. He purchased 5,300 acres of land, which included the mouth of the Tawas River, and with two business partners, James Covert of Albany and his daughter Harriet Frances Mathews, began harvesting the trees on his land as well as operating a steam saw mill. A. B. Mathews, the husband of Whittemore's daughter Harriet, was also active in the business as were Gideon's sons, James Olin Whittemore, a younger brother Charles Hanover Whittemore, and the youngest son William Bond Whittemore. Gideon Olin Whittemore died in June of 1863, followed by his daughter Harriet Frances Mathews in 1866, and his wife Harriet Mack Whittemore in 1872.

James O. Whittemore was born December 3, 1828 in Pontiac, Michigan. He began college in 1843 at the Pontiac branch of the University of Michigan. He continued his studies in Ann Arbor where he graduated in 1846. After graduation, he became book-keeper for Mathews and Co. of Rochester, Michigan. He taught school in Hillsdale, Michigan and in the South (Kentucky, 1851-1852) and (Georgia, 1853-1854). He returned to Michigan making Tawas and Iosco County his home; and in 1856 he married Melissa Sarah Starkweather. In Tawas Whittemore practiced law and served his community in various capacities: as postmaster of the first post office between Bay City and Mackinac (Tawas in 1856), as county clerk, register of deeds, and judge of probate. He died June 7, 1889.

William Franklin Whittemore, son of James Olin Whittemore and Melissa Starkweather, married Jessie Estella Lyon, daughter of James Monroe Lyon and Anna (Harlow) Lyon. Their son was Harlow Olin Whittemore, a landscape architect and professor of landscape architecture at the University of Michigan.

From the guide to the Whittemore Family Papers, 1817-1978, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)