Chippewa Lake: A Community in Search of an Identity

2. Locating Chippewa Township in Time and Place

27 CHAPTER 2 Locating Chippewa Township in Time and place I was born in a log house about a mile and a half east of here [Chippewa Lake] . . . At that time nearly everyone had the floors of their home covered with rag carpet. The rags had to be cut in thin strips and sewed together and woven . . . How well I remember the good times we had sewing the rags for our carpet. A lot of young people would gather at our house in the evening and sew rags, eat popcorn and sing. When the rags were all sewed and wound into balls, mother took them to Mrs. Foot and she wove our carpet. We covered the floor with straw and put the carpet over it and tacked it down . . . We thought it was just beautiful. I have seen oriental rugs in later years that didn’t look nearly as beautiful to me as that rag carpet did then. —ViRGiNia TaBeR BaLL, “a STORY OF The hiSTORY OF Chippewa Lake” Chippewa Township is located in northwest Mecosta County. it is one of the northernmost townships, bordering on Osceola County. Chippewa Township contains ten lakes, with Chippewa Lake being the largest and most significant economically in the history of the township. Because Chippewa Lake is located in the southwestern corner of the township , the focus of this study is on those sections that surround the lake itself. The survey population did not include the northernmost sections of the township or those on the eastern edge. The former are distant geographically from Chippewa Lake and more aligned to Osceola County 28| Chapter 2 to the north; the latter are separated geographically from the rest of the township by the Martiny Lake system and are more closely aligned with Fork Township to the east. however, by limiting the scope of this research to Chippewa Township, i am forming an arbitrary boundary with Martiny Township that abuts Chippewa Township to the south. Many families who figure into the history of Chippewa Lake reside in the northern sections of Martiny. Several of the oral histories that i collected in 1983 are of families who were associated with Chippewa Lake, but who farmed land just south of the township line. Thus, when i am discussing the historical context of the lake and township, i will often refer to families in Martiny Township, as their history and contact with the lake community are often greater than those of families who live in the northern sections, and their experiences reflect life around Chippewa Lake more than those further north and east. E. White Chippewa Township| 29 hiSTORiCaL DaTa ON Chippewa TOwNShip The material i have collected on the history of Chippewa Township comes from various sources, some of which i have not been able to accurately document as to publication and date. Specifically, i have relied on two local historians, now deceased, both of whom i first met while conducting interviews for the 1983 Chippewa Lake Centennial. The first of these women is Nettie Smith, whose articles and scrapbooks provide insights into the daily lives of local families and the last indigenous residents of the area. Much of what we know about the history of Chippewa Township comes from the documentation of another local historian, Virginia Taber Ball, who was born in a log cabin just east of Chippewa Lake in 1897. During her marriage, she and her husband lived in Grand Rapids and elsewhere, but returned to Chippewa Lake, where they stayed. when she got older, and after her husband died, she began to write stories about the history of Chippewa Lake that have since become the official history of the area.1 information in her essays is also found in other local histories and published accounts, but it is unclear whether she did the research or used the sources of others, as she did not use citations. That the same informational tidbits are found in different sources indicates that historical information has freely cross-germinated among local storytellers, and the provenance of the information is not always clear. however, her lively and entertaining biographical sketches provide us with an articulate and revealing glimpse into early life in Chippewa Lake. Virginia’s family also had links to the white house, as she was always proud to relate. her brother, edward Taber, was a recognized interior designer who was chosen from a field of two hundred competitors...