Return to the Frank Passic
Any photos not otherwise credited are from the personal collection of Frank Passic, Albion Historian.
|
Morning Star, May 20, 2018, pg. 4 Regarding our article on March 26, 2017 about Albion druggist Archie Miller and the bottle bearing his name we featured, we have learned that Archie James Miller was born April 30, 1879 in Michigan, and died November 22, 1970 at age 91 in Hendersonville, North Carolina. He is interred there in Oakdale Cemetery. He is listed as a retired pharmacist at his drug store. His www.findagrave.com listing memorial number is 115421342." Please update your records. Each year at this time we feature one of Albion’s Civil War veterans. This year we are featuring Bradley Waterman (1827-1914). Born July 3, 1827 in New York, Bradley served as a Private in Company I of the 2nd Michigan Infantry. The 2nd Michigan Infantry was organized in Detroit in May, 1861. Most of Company I’s members were from the Kalamazoo area, but there were a number of them listed from Homer, including Waterman. Included in Company I were his fellow Homerites: Robert Babcock, William Down, Philip Hester, George Rhodes, and Edson Knowles of Albion. The 2nd Michigan Infantry saw engagements at the first and second Battles of Bull Run, the Peninsular Campaign, the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Sieges of Vicksburg and Knoxville, the Battle of the Wilderness, the Battle of Cold Harbor, and the Siege of Petersburg. The regiment was mustered out on August 1, 1865 in Detroit. Bradley Waterman’s wife was Ann Wilbur (1833-1920), daughter of George and Sarah (Moore) Wilbur, and the couple enjoyed sixty-three years of marriage. On their 63rd anniversary in 1913, The Albion Recorder wrote on October 16 that the Waterman’s were probably the oldest married couple in this area. Regarding Mrs. Waterman, the Recorder wrote: "Probably every person in Albion has seen Mrs. Waterman who presides at her popcorn stand at the corner of Superior and E. Erie St. every pleasant evening in the summer near the Bullen store. For 23 years Mrs. Waterman has sold corn from that corner." The couple had two boys: Fred and Earnest, and one daughter, Belle Brainard (1869-1940). During the 1880s the family home was at 104 E. Pine St. They later lived at 410 E. Mulberry St. by the 1890s. Bradley was a local carpenter at the Union Windmill Company, one of Albion’s prominent late 19th century manufacturers. That firm produced wooden windmills and was located at 417 E. Mulberry St. just across the street from the Waterman home. Bradley joined the local E. W. Hollingsworth Post No. 210 of the Grand Army of the Republic, which conducted his funeral when he died at his home at the age of 87 on August 17, 1914. Interment was at Riverside Cemetery, Block 37, Lot 24. From our Historical Notebook this week we present a 1913 photograph of Bradley Waterman, one of Albion’s Civil War veterans.  Bradley Waterman (1827-1914), 2nd Mich Infantry
All text copyright, 2026 © all rights reserved Frank Passic | Artwork copyright Maggie LaNoue © 2026
| |
