Murder in Eastport: 1870, A Family Tale

Description

This is the tragic story of the murder of a black man, William Swan, a former slave who was a well-known farmer in Charlevoix and supported a wife and six children. He was set upon in 1870 by a group of local residents, some of which are ancestors of the speaker, Norton Bretz, and killed on the highway near Eastport while walking to Traverse City to meet friends. Sadly the killer was a Civil War veteran. William was buried in the only cemetery that would take his body and Greensky Hill Methodist Church in Charlevoix, the only marked grave in the Old Cemetery. There is no charge for the lecture but donations are welcome. Coffee and cookies will be served.