I enjoyed looking at the Pics posted on your website. My name is Jeriann. I grew up on this farm. (7305 Gary Rd) This home's original owner was Elijah Anderson (May 13, 1854). There were several owners over the years but I think my parents, Joseph and Jeanne Petru, probably owned it the longest.
Mom and Dad purchased it from Irvin and Lula Heise in 1959 for 11,000. Irvin had a war injury to his elbow, and couldn't bear the pain of cold in winter as he aged. They sold this farm to my parents to move to California.
Mom and Dad lived here 50 years until my Dad's death. Mom has since sold the farm to live at their cabin in Clare County. This was a "hobby" farm for my Dad, he grew soy beans and wheat. This house sat on a 40 acre square plot. Dad farmed it with a litte Ford Tractor. Dad retired from Fisher Body Truck Plant in Flint...when he got older, he rented the farm land out to one of the local large farmers.
I always remember the white brick garage but the more modern large barn in this picture was built in the mid 70's. There used to be an old gray grainery/corn crib where this barn was built. (I wish i had a picture of that grainery...)
There used to be a HUGE willow tree in that empty area SE of the house. Mom hated that tree because every wind storm would bring a mess to clean up. The day they took it down they found a lot of old bottles from late 1800s/early 1900s that looked like old "medicine bottles". A Doctor Forbes and his brother had the farm in the 1920s...likely they buried old stuff there.
I'm trying to remember the year...prob Mid 80s the large wood barn came down. Was sad to see it go...it had caught fire once and was only being used for storage by the 80s. I think Dad was worried that it might burn down some weekend when they werent home. Dad put in a huge garden after that. I think he supplied half the neighbor kids with pumpkins and all their friends up north with squash, tomatoes and zucchini.
Thanks so much for the trip down "memory Lane"

My boyfriend and I purchased this home in 2011 from Carl Degues. Since then we have remodeled the inside of the home and finished the inside of the barns. Its nice to see the history of this property!