The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Dexter family had long reach in Milan
PUBLISHED: October 9, 2008
On Dec. 4, 1889, Ellen Hallett Dexter should have been happy. She had a new baby boy, just before Christmas. The new arrival was the first baby born in the Dexter farmhouse near Williamston.
Advertisement
But times were hard for Ellen. Her husband, John Russell Dexter, had died one month before from a disease affecting his back. She had a young boy, William, about 5 years old, to deal with. Two other children had died.
William went to live with his grandparents, Joseph and Melvina Dexter, who lived nearby. Joseph was one of the "Big Four" Dexter brothers who left England and settled in Milan along Dexter Road. Today, a large part of Dexter Road is known as Carpenter Road, but we still have Dexter Street still named after the four brothers.
Joseph was the one I call the "late bloomer" because he waited some years in New York before joining the others in Milan. He did marry his wife, Melvina, in Milan, and the first one or two of their children were born there. Then Joseph moved to Williamston, probably to be near Melvina's family.
Ellen had to decide what to name her new baby. Her brother-in-law, Frank Hill Dexter, lived next door with his wife, Adella. Apparently, Frank did a lot to help when his brother died, and Ellen appreciated it. She was so grateful that she named the new baby Frank Hill Dexter.
Ellen Dexter had some hard choices to make. She spent about two years doing domestic work and washing laundry for families in the area, taking her baby with her.
Within a couple of years, Ellen found another life partner, Washington Lafayette Corwin. Known as "Lafe," he had lost his wife and was raising a girl and two boys. Ellen had her sons William and Frank.
If you think three plus two equals five, you are wrong. After the marriage, the two of them had a daughter, Leona, and two sons, Louis and Arthur. This brought the children count up to eight.
Young Frank found himself in the middle of more turmoil in December 1899. At the age of 10, Frank lost his mother. She was buried in Williamston.
Sometime in his teenage years, Frank went to live with his aunt and uncle, Josiah and Rhoda Dexter in Milan. Their portrait was shown two weeks ago in this column. As a blacksmith, Josiah knew just about everybody in town. Plus, Frank was living with a new family. He got to know his cousin Louisa Melvina Dexter in a brother-sister relationship.
Why do I mention Louisa? She is Connie Dotson's great-grandmother. Louisa placed a photograph of her cousin, Frank Dexter, in her scrapbook. That picture is shown in today's column, you can see Frank working at Miller's Drugs in Milan circa 1924.
Apparently, Frank grew up to be a fine young man despite all the setbacks that happened during his life. He married Ethel Wilcox Feb. 9, 1916. The couple enjoyed living in Milan. They got a farm on Cone Road in Milan Township and he worked as a farmer for a while. At some point, he graduated from pharmacy school.
Ron Morey, who helped me with the facts for this series on the Dexter family, tells me the late historian Warren Hale had a photo of Miller Drugs taken in 1924, and this new picture donated by Connie Dotson appears to be about the same time. I agree that the date is probably around 1924. I believe the photo turned up in the scrapbook of Louise Dexter because of her close friendship to Frank as they were young and living in the same household.
Louise married Clarence Stoddard Herkimer, who went by the name "Con." He owned a Ford garage at some point in time. His daughter, Rhea Augusta Hosler, went by the name "Gusta" and had a granddaughter named Connie Dotson.
There is no information about the children born to Frank Hill and his wife, Ethel. All I can say is that Frank Hill Dexter, after serving as a fine druggist in Milan for a number of years, lived until May 22, 1973.
Marilyn Dexter of Springfield, Mo., supplied me with pictures and information about Milan's Dexter family. Her cousin, Tim Dunlap of Columbus, Ga., also gave me pictures and information. Luella Obsharsky of Mooreville, another Dexter family member, provided the photo last week of William Dexter.
Martha Churchill is a freelance writer. She can be reached at 439-4055 or MilanHistory@yahoo.com.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
Staff Blog, "Inside The Newsroom"
TOP JOBS
