Photos of Elmer Herron and his family

 

Elmer Herron was born on 12/3/1884, the last of thirteen children of George Herron and Catherine Link. He married Mary Ann McKay, the daughter of John McKay and Anna McSorley Wyman, the second of his three wives. They were married on 8/8/1907. Mary Ann was born born on January 31, 1888. She and Elmer had three children:

Ivan Elmer Herron born 4 April, 1908,

Arthur Clayton Herron born 13 June, 1909,

and Inez Anna Herron born 3 July, 1911.

Mary Ann subsequently left the Alpena area after Elmer died pematurely due to complications from an injury as a child. In the 1930s Ivan returned to his uncle's (Fred Herron) farm as reported in the 1930 census. Mary Ann was reported to live in Detroit, I believe. She remarried twice. The first time was to a George M. Brown whom she married on September 27, 1920. He seems to have died within a few years. Myra says she has heard Mary Ann was true sweetheart. This probably accounts for her third marriage. It was around 1927, and it was very unusual for the time in that, at 39, she married Earl S. Johnson who was 28, eleven years her junior. They had at least one son, Donald Johnson, believed to be born in September, 1928. She eventually died in Los Gatos, CA on January 30, 1966.

This file lists the descendants Matthew McKay the father of John McKay. I think it is fairly accurate for Mary Ann and the kids Ivan, Arthur, and Inez. I briefly met Inez Herron van Zee's son Gary van Zee and his wife in San Francisco's South Bay area shortly before we moved to Michigan. I had heard from Myra that Inez was living there. I hoped to meet her as she was the last of my grandfather's generation, and I wanted to hear what she remembered of that time. Unfortunately, she died about six months before I met Gary. Of course, she may be sitting somewhere in the sky saying, "That was a close one. Like I wanted to be reminded of that part of the family tree."

 

 

A photo of Elmer, Mary Ann, and the kids. Left to right: Elmer, Arthur (I think), Inez (I'm pretty sure of this), Ivan, and Mary Ann. Judging from Inez's apparent age (see above), this photo was taken around 1913 - 1914.

A photo of Ivan (left) and Arthur (right). I'm pretty sure about names on this one.

A photo of Elmer at a picnic. Based on a picture Myra sent me I believe the couple on the right are William and Annie King, one of Elmer's sisters and her husband. The woman speaking to Elmer looks very familiar from some photo or another, but I haven't figured out which one yet.

Elmer Herron's grave in the King Settlement Cemetery, Wilson Township, Alpena County, MI.