Philip Anstett

Now that I've finally got the time and everything sorted, I'm going to start sharing information about my Dad's side of the family.

My Dad (George F. Matyn)'s beloved maternal grandpa was Philip Anstett.

The Anstetts came from France where their surname is found in records dating back to 1660.

In 1834 Francis  Antoine (Tony) Anstett (1805-1872) married Therese Roethel (1809-1859). They left Alace, France in 1841 and immigrated to Ontario, Canada, with their two surviving children, Anthony and Therese. They settled in New Germany, now Maryhill, near Kitchener.  Together they had either 12 or 13 children, depending on the source: Anthony, Therese, Madeleine (d. age 6 months in France), Franz, an unnamed boy, Helena (born enroute or shortly after they arrived in Canada), Regina, Joseph, Ignatius, Wendelin, Philip, Mary Anna, and Felix. Eight of their children eventually married and generated 75 grandchildren.

Philip, their 11th child, was born January 30, 1850. In 1854 many of the Alsatian families, including his own, moved northward to Bruce County, which had opened for homesteading. The family settled in Formosa and Francis opened a small general store on Anne Street, a street on which they also lived in a two-story log farm house.  His mother died when Philip was 9. Francis did not remarry. Francis was a shoemaker and a talented wood carver, highly respected and very religious. He reportedly did a lot of the carving for and statues of the first log church in Formosa. Francis and Therese are buried in Conception Catholic Church cemetery in Formosa.

Here's a tintype of Philip as a dashing young man. The table cloth is hand-tinted blue. That would have cost extra.

Philip married Catherine Dresch (b. 1848-) in Formosa on July 30, 1872. They had 8 children mostly born in Teeswater, a town near Formosa. I have some images of the children and more info I will share in later posts. Again, there are a lot of Anstett descendants. Many of Philip's children lived in Detroit, but sometimes periodically in Boyne City, probably following work in the railroad or related businesses. Many are buried in Detroit, often in Mount Olivet cemetery.

Here are the children of Philip and Catherine:

Phoebe (1872-1917, married John Reno) They had children. The Renos were quite musical and performed on the American stage as a singing family.

Joseph (1876-1948), married Emma. He was a telegraph operator. He ran the first telegraph wire from Gaylord to Boyne City. They had children.

Frank Louis (1878-1958) married Pauline Schmidt in 1910. Frank was also a telegraph operator, but in Vandervort, Grayling, and Saginaw, Frank played the violin and Pauline the piano). As a kid, George Matyn and his family drove up to Uncle Frank's cabin on Lake Margarethe near Grayling, and loved it so much that eventually my Dad moved our family to Grayling. Frank and Pauline did not have children.

 [Valentine] Walter, the family photographer (1882-1969), married Rose Bonneau with whom he had 10 children.

Anne Margaret or Marguerite known as Margaret (1885-1962), married my Grandpa George S. Matyn, with whom she had 4 children, and later Papa Luke. Much more later.

Theodore "Manny" (1887-1953). He died a bachelor having worked in real estate and was a tool and die man.

Mary 1891- was alive in 1977 (married Gordon Schmidt with whom she had children). She had a lovely voice singing with the Detroit Civic Opera company, later married Henry Schmidt)

Olive (who married Norman Dickie), 1897-1928.  They had children.

Here's Philip and Catherine's (40th?) wedding anniversary photo with all their children and grandchildren. Dad is sitting in front on the floor in front in his dressy shoes in front of Philip who is sitting next to Catherine, who is holding a baby. Uncle Walter is to Dad's right, on the end in the front row controlling the camera button on a cord with his hand. Dad's mom, Margaret, is standing behind the woman in the front row with the white hat holding a baby, and Dad's Dad, George S. Matyn, is on the stairwell, the man not wearing a coat with one of his daughters, I think Aunty Gert, standing directly behind him.

Philip worked in Teeswater and other local towns as a boiler operator and tended furnaces in a saw mill. At one point he owned a bakery shop in Formosa. He moved to Detroit where he worked as a watchman, probably for the railroad in a tower, later he moved to Boyne City, MI, and then to Windsor, Ontario where he worked for the railroad again as a watchman in the tower. Philip kept in touch visiting often with family. Many members were musical and accompanied their singing with piano and violin.  He died in 1938 at age 83 and was buried in Mount Olivet cemetery in Detroit.

The Anstetts got along very well and visited often. Dad always talked about his aunts, especially Aunts Phoebe, Rose and Olive, and his uncles, especially Uncle Frank, and some of his cousins. with great affection. The only ones I don't recall ever hearing about were his Uncles Joe and Manny.

(The genealogical above information is from A History and Descendant Record of Philip and Catherine (Dresch) Anstett, 1972 by Mrs. F. M. Radigan. Mom told me that Dad helped Mrs. Radigan by contributing a lot of the information about his grandparents, aunts, uncles, parents, siblings, nieces and nephews. The information records the MI, Canadian and New York branches of the Anstett family. Some of the earliest Canadian Anstetts had 22 children each, including multiple sets of twins. The genealogy work began when an Anstett participated in the Miss America pageant. At that time everybody watched the show. Afterwards people wrote asking her, are we related? Her mother undertook extensive correspondence and research and created an extensive Anstett genealogy. This was all before the Internet and digitized information, so Mrs. Radigan, my distant cousin, we salute you and your genealogical efforts!

Dad was quite fond of his Grandpa Philip, who he remembered as a really kind, good man. Philip had a horse and used to feed it broccoli, a memory Dad always told us about when he was offered and refused broccoli. If his Grandpa thought it was only good enough to feed to horses,  who was Dad to argue?

Here's Philip as a senior gentleman.
Another story I wanted to share was about when Catherine Dresch Anstett died. Dad's eldest sister, Aunt Gert, told me they dressed up and went to Grandpa's house. At the time Grandma was lying on the parlor sofa in her grey silk dress with everyone around her talking and sympathizing. A lot of people were laid out in their homes, parlor or bedroom, at the time, not in a funeral parlor. After awhile Aunt Gert said everyone left the room but her and she was afraid and got upset and started screaming. Her Dad, George S. Matyn, came in and asked, Gertie why are you upset? She said, Grandma's dead and I'm alone with her. He asked her if Grandma had ever been anything but kind to her. Aunty responded, no. He asked her, Why do you think she'd hurt you now? And that was that. Aunty never forgot it.

If you have anything you'd like to share about Philip, please let me know. If you'd like to you can join this blog.