According to Dottie "....Joseph Aloysius Uicker who built the house in the first two pictures (which is actually a two-level flat) that is now listed on the historic register. He was a carpenter and died at the age of 43 from lockjaw (from tetanus) after getting scratched on a iron wagon wheel. He also built a number of the businesses in Derry. He left a large and young family, so my grandfather (the oldest child) John Uicker,sr. quit school to work and support the family. After working a few years, he went back to school and finished at the University of New Hampshire. John was the number one engineering student in his class while continuing work! He began teaching and later earned a Mechanical Engineering degree at New Hampshire which was equivalent to a doctorate at that time. He worked as an Instructor in Mechanical Engineering at University of New Hampshire, then moved to teach at Pennsylvania State University, and finally went to University of Detroit where he eventually became the Dean of Engineering before his retirement in 1970. John Uicker married Elizabeth Flint of Lyme Center, NH in 1934... She was well educated (a Master's degree in Mathematics from Harvard!) but worked in the home raising eight children and following her husband's career from state to state. They moved to State College, PA in September 1937 then to Detroit, MI in September 1940, and finally retired to Harbor Beach, MI where they built a home on Lake Huron that has passed down to their youngest daughter. John Uicker passed away in 1988 and Elizabeth in 2003. They've left a large number of Uicker/Flint descendants now spreading out from the midwest! "
Dottie forwarded a preview of this blog post to her father, John Joseph Uicker, a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, and he added the following information: "I was the oldest boy of eight children, but I was the only one born in Derry. We visited that house many times when I was young. Actually, the house next door (13-15 Griffin Street) was nearly a twin and was also built by Joseph A. Uicker, before he built the one pictured. The upper flat in that one was the home of my aunt Lenore for many years, but is no longer in the family." Joseph Aloysius Uicker was his grandfather.
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| Photo circa 1960 |
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| rendering by Betty Trombetta in 1993 |
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| My photo, 9 January 2011 |
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| The current resident of the Uicker House is Harvey Cote, first cousin once removed of Dottie Winger |
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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
Heather.. I can't believe your blog is about the house on Griffin Street. I will check my records but I believe my great aunt, uncle and family owned the house at 13-15. They also had a cottage at Beaver Lake.
ReplyDeleteLucie
If any of the Uicker family reads this blog, they might remember the Legendre family, relatives of Lucie, who left the comment above. According to Lucie "...my relatives lived at 18 Griffin which would be across the street. The Legendre family lived there. Marie Legendre was my grandmother's siter married to Antonio Legendre. They had 11 children and 4 lived with them at that address. Three lived there after their parents were deceased. What a small world!"
ReplyDeleteSmall world Lucie and Heather, I'm going to have to take a ride to see Griffin St. Heather, how nice that your distant cousin found your blog, then wrote a nice piece and shared pictures to boot. I also like your recent photo.
ReplyDelete