Postcard from the Pines: Born in Mrs. Little’s House

Our photo this week is an oldie, and so we apologize for the quality. This is from a glass negative photo taken in 1908. The large house on the right is the Carrow/Mrs. Little’s Maternity/Fosnaught-Holdship Funeral Home. The next is Frank White’s, the bottom half remains. Of the eleven houses shown, and some are distant, amazingly 9 remain.

We enjoyed Aaron Mitchell’s the Faces in the Crowd featuring Dan Williams. It appeared in the March 24 edition of the Press.
Aaron’s first question always includes “Where were you born?” And Dan’s answer was one we don’t hear too often. He was born at the maternity home in Marion. Questions about the maternity home pop up from time to time. If we don’t tell the story every so often, we would forget, and we can’t have that.
For much of Marion’s early history new residents were born at home. One of the local doctors was called when a birth was imminent and his services needed. Marion’s best remembered long time doctors, Donald Johnson, Joseph Carrow, Harry Willet and Douglas Youngman all delivered Marion babies, and many at home. Doctors Johnson, Carrow and Willet logged many hours and miles attending to childbirths. Youngman delivered babies at home, and even one or two in his office, but more commonly at Mercy Hospital in Cadillac. He knew the highway to Cadillac like the back of his hand.
Dr. Willet’s career spanned the era from home to hospital deliveries. He was the first Chief of Staff at Clare Osteopathic Hospital and honored as Practitioner of the Year in 1960 by the Michigan Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons, which was quite an honor.
Harry Willet’s baby delivering career also covered the era of the ‘maternity home’. Loosely defined, this was a private residence, owned and operated by a registered nurse, where a doctor delivered babies in a home like setting. The new mother and baby stayed a week or more after delivery, under nursing care. The cost was far less than a hospital stay.
During the 1940’s the use of a maternity home was a local option, available at Evart’s Rohen Maternity Home, most capably owned by Freda Rohen, RN. There were a lot of area babies delivered at Rohen’s during that home’s 11 years. Dr. Willet delivered a lot of Marion babies at Rohen’s. About 1940, Mrs. Little’s Maternity Home opened in Marion.
Mrs. Little’s was located at 406 East Main Street in the large block house built in 1903 by Dr. Joseph Carrow for his new bride, and where the couple raised three daughters. The Carrow’s moved to Pickard Street and the large block house remained a private home, was briefly cut into small apartments and during the years of WWII, became a place where area babies were born. They were welcomed by Mrs. Little and Dr. Willet and for a time, Dr. S.N. Seltzer. Mrs. Viola Little, RN served the Marion area for roughly six years during the 1940’s.
During the last two weeks of January, 1944, six babies made their way into the world via Mrs. Little’s. A few weeks later, three babies were born to women from Kalamazoo, Cadillac, and Farwell.
The popular teacher Helena VanderWoude Blackledge delivered at Mrs. Little’s. Her students came to visit and viewed the new babe through a window. This was something which made a lasting impression on her students and never happened at home.
Mrs. Little’s Maternity home was done when the house was sold and the stork no longer had a regular stop in Marion. Dr. Carrow’s house on East Main would become the home for another new trend; the use of a large, private home as a funeral parlor…a funeral home. Mrs. Little’s Maternity Home would become Fosnaught Funeral Home by 1947. There haven’t been many babies born in Marion since.
Dr. Willet continued to deliver babies in Evart until Mrs. Rohen closed, and then at the Clare Hospital until he retired.
Through the years I’ve made a list of Mrs. Little’s babies as they came my way, via old newspapers or word of mouth. The Marion Press announced births of Marion folks and their relatives in the long defunct Cradle Roll column. I’ve added Dan Williams to Mrs. Little’s list. He’s in good company.
I also have a rather short list of Marionites born at Rohen’s, of which I am one. We’ve found that the common factor was Dr. Willet.
Happy Easter and Peace from the Pines.