Come join us at the Canterbury on Saturday, Aug. 17th from 11am-2pm as we host Patricia Schaut McMartin for a book-signing of her memoir: A Lumberman’s Daughter Comes of Age in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. McMartin recounts her time growing up in Delta County in the 1930s and 40s, and this memoir is perfect for anyone with an interest in hearing a first-hand account of what the area was like eight decades ago. This book-signing is an excellent opportunity to hear more from McMartin about her life and the history of the area.
From McMartin’s press release about her book:
A Lumberman’s Daughter Comes of Age in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula: A Memoir by Patricia Schaut McMartin is a firsthand account of growing up during the depression years as the eldest child in a family of fourteen children. The author’s description of everyday routines at her grandparents’ farm home in Labranche, and of her early childhood “back in the woods” of Northland, Michigan, transport the reader back to a time when the lumbering industry was past its heyday, and survival depended on resourcefulness, persistence, and constant hard work. McMartin describes her love of learning and her experiences transitioning from homeschooling to a one-room schoolhouse, and to public and parochial schools in Escanaba. The author’s heartfelt vignettes bring the characters in her narrative to life. Her descriptions of college and early married life provide glimpses of a time when Detroit still had streetcars; when answering a telephone call meant rushing up several flights of stairs; and when professional women were expected to stop working once they were “showing”. This memoir is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the history of Detroit, and the role of women in the history and culture of America.
About the Author: Patricia Schaut McMartin was born in Escanaba, Michigan, in 1930, and grew up in logging camps and rural small towns near Escanaba. After graduating from Wayne State College of Pharmacy in 1951, she began her career in retail pharmacy in Detroit. Pat and her husband, Chuck McMartin, founded the Essexville-Hampton Observer, a weekly newspaper that was printed in Sebewaing, Michigan, and distributed out of their Essexville home between 1965 and 1971. They also ran a photography school for several summers on the Stonington Peninsula, on Little Bay de Noc in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.