After searching city directories and other sources, I am unable to find who lived in the house after George Stewart died in 1901 through 1903. However, there were ads in the Grand Rapids Press during those years so someone was living there!
*Residents of 624 (274) Henry Ave SE are in red font color to help the reader keep track of names
1904-1906: L D Cutler, his wife Bessie (Burnett) their children, & Bessie's mother, Frances L Burnett (Durham)
L.D. Cutler was born in March 1880 in Elm Hall, Michigan to James and Lepha Virginia (Sargeant). James was born in 1853 in Ontario, Canada and immigrated to Michigan in 1872. At the time L.D. was born, James was working as a Blacksmith in the very small farming village. Lepha's family were very early settlers of New Hampshire and Vermont- I could trace her family back to the early 1700's!
Frances Durham was born January 1852 in Coopersville, Michigan to Joseph and Mary (Himelberger). Joseph and Mary were born in New York and Pennsylvania respectively, in the early 1800's. Joseph died in 1859 which left Mary to raise four young girls alone. On the 1870 US Census, Mary was remarried to a John Boone, and all her daughters, including a 18 year old Frances, were living on their farm in Coopersville - which was the highest valued farm in their area. At this time, Frances was working as a Primary School Teacher. The family's race was white from Dutch descendents.
Frances married Horace Burnett in October 1870. Between 1870-1880, they must have lived in Illinois because on the 1880 U.S. Census from Muskegon, all their children stated they were born in Illinois. From the copy of the 1880 US Census below, the Burnett family of five lived on Sophia St in Muskegon, MI - Horrace was working as a Teamster.
In March of 1882, Bessie was born to Frances and Horace. Horace was 15 years older than Frances, and unfortunately he passed away in 1894. The obituary on the right hand side tells his life story well which is quite remarkable. Note - he was born in Salem, MI, similar to another family from the first historic house post.
In April of 1900, Bessie was 19 years old working as a cashier to support her and her mother. A few months later in November, she married L.D. Cutler in Muskegon, MI.
Two years later, L.D. and Bessie had a son - Stanley Burnett. They were living at 132 Amity Ave in Muskegon along with Frances. L.D. was a Streetcar Conductor for the Muskegon Street Railway Co.
The Cutler family, along with Frances, moved to Grand Rapids in 1904 and lived at 274 Henry St. A few months after they moved, they had another son, Russell Edward. They only lived in Grand Rapids for those three years (1904-1906) and L.D. worked as a Conductor for the G R Ry for that duration. I'd assume with his previous railroad experience in Muskegon, the job of a Conductor for a Railway was a promotion and the main reason for their move to Grand Rapids.
After Grand Rapids, they all moved to 1506 Frances St., Jackson, MI where L.D. was a Conductor for the new Jackson Electric Railway. After a few years there, they eventually moved back to their "home" in Muskegon and to their same house on Amity St.
Frances lived with Bessie and her family the entire duration after Horace passed away. Frances died in 1925 at 73 years old.
L.D. and Bessie remained in Muskegon and L.D. retired from the railway industry and eventually became a caretaker of their church for many years. L.D. passed away in November 1949; Bessie followed in June of 1957. Stanley and Russell married (Lucile and Dorothy respectively,) and mostly stayed in the Michigan area. Coincidentally, both died in 1980.
Another interesting fact - Horace and Frances' son, Charles, worked in the Muskegon, MI Police Department. In 1918, he was Assistant Chief of Police, and then retired as Police Captain per his death certificate below from 1937.
From 1907 until 1997, only two more families lived at 624 Henry! Each of those families deserves their own post. So I want to take this extra space on this post to show what Grand Rapids, and the Henry St area, was like between 1895 - 1906.
Just a few houses south of 274 Henry, on Thomas St, was a large greenhouse. I'd assume it belonged to the owners of 193 Thomas. But in 1895, the owner of that house, William Corbin, was a Travel Agent. Maybe I should add the property to my idea list!
Henry Street School was already built in 1895.
Below: Sanborn Insurance Map of 1895 - Downtown Grand Rapids.
Click on the image to enlarge; (Island St = Weston St; Spring St = Commerce St;)
Below: clippings from the 1895 Grand Rapids City Directory
Below: Clippings from the 1906 Grand Rapids City Directory
