Home for the Holidays - Visiting The William L. Webber Family and their 1893 Christmas Tree
- kellison71
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Visiting family and friends is one of the joys of the holiday season. And making holiday calls provides a perfect opportunity for polite exploration of the homes of our acquaintances. Today we make a visit to 536 Millard*, the home of Nancy Withington and William L. Webber and their family – daughters Frances Webber and Florence Webber Peter and her husband, James B. Peter, and the Peters’ son, James Webber Peter.
Saying their ornate Second Empire-style home is commodious is - perhaps - an understatement. Facing Millard Street, the grounds encompass half a city block and extend from Owen – then Welles - to Warren and are enclosed by an iron fence. The drive to the immense city barn is from Warren.
William L. Webber [Born 1825 and died 1901] was an attorney and businessman, he represented New York investor Jesse Hoyt in East Saginaw. His personal business interests were all encompassing and included railroads, salt and coal – to name a few. He served in the state senate and as mayor of East Saginaw. As a member of the Hoyt Trust, he was instrumental in shaping Hoyt Library. The other members of the Webber family were equally engaged in the community. However, if we continued, we would run out of time to explore their home – the real reason for our visit.
While 536 Millard has long been known as the Webber home – mansion, it was not constructed for William L. Webber. Sometime around 1870, Chester B. Jones commissioned the house. Chester B. Jones arrived in Saginaw in the 1850s, propering in lumbering and real estate. Although we don’t know exactly when he started construction, and by whom it was designed, we do know that it was huge, elaborate, and flamboyant. Although its outline is included on a map in the 1877 Atlas of Saginaw County, there is no evidence that Chester B. Jones ever completed the home to a point where he and his family could occupy it.
Over the past 150 plus years, numerous stories have developed about why the house was not completed. However, only circumstantial evidence survives, which suggested that Jones met with a financial reversal that prevented him from completing the home. Over time it had acquired a nickname - Jone’s Folly. When the incomplete house caught fire in 1881, the paper simply referred to as “C.B. Jones’ big house on Warren and Millard Streets” and noted the structure didn’t sustain damage. In 1882, C.B. Jones’ wife, Caroline H. Jones, passed away; the following year, Jones sold the yet-to-be-completed structure to William H. Webber.
Webber’s completion of the house was announced in The Saginaw Evening News – along with a rather detailed description:
“Evening News, East Saginaw:
Please discontinue the delivery of THE EVENING NEWS to my office and hereafter send the same to my house, No. 536 Millard street. Yours truly, William L. Webber.
The above informed us that Mr. Webber had moved into his new house. This residence has long been an object of interest, and previous to Mr. Webber’s purchasing it much speculation was indulged in by the curious public, and those familiar with its history, as to who complete and occupy it. The building is one of the largest, most substantial and elegant private residences in the valley. The grounds occupy one half of a large block and would be considered ample if they did not appear somewhat dwarfed by the size of the structure which they surround. This effect will disappear when they are filled with trees and ornamental shrubbery. It is understood that the grounds have been platted by a competent landscape gardener and that the work will be commenced on them as soon as the fall rains begin to soften the earth. A large force of men have been employed on the interior of the house for several months past and have nearly completed their work. The verandas and the erection of an arch over the doorway and other outside work is making rapid progress, which, when completed, will change the appearance of the house
considerably, adding thereto and relieving what would otherwise be long stretches of brick wall. The front floor of the house will contain the parlors, library, dining room, sleeping room, dressing-rooms, kitchen, etc. On the second floor will be two drawing-rooms, sleeping apartments, with dressing rooms, servants’ apartments, spare rooms and a large study. The observatory is the highest point in the city, and commands a fine view. In the basement is a fine laundry, with every convenience, a large boiler-room, coal-bins, etc. Every floor is bisected by large corridors. The upper floors can be reached by stairways from the back and front part of the house. The finish is all hardwood, cherry, red-oak, ash, walnut and butternut, in the natural colors of the wood. Every part of the house will be heated by steam and good ventilation secured by
Webber, James Webber Peter, Florence Peter, Frances Webber, Nancy Webber
grates and fireplaces, with which the rooms are well supplied. The house has all the modern conveniences, everything that a dwelling place can have to make inmates comfortable. Mr. Webber’s county home is a beautiful place, and he has become much attached to it. It is only the demands of his business which necessitate his presence in town evenings occasionally, that induces him to make this change. The condition of Jefferson street, during the rainy season, when it is neither land or water or even decent mud, is enough to drive anyone to move into town who is compelled to traverse it several times a day. And the city is to be congratulated that one of the finest pieces of property in its limits, which so long has been idle and benefiting no one, has at last found an owner who can afford to complete it and live in it. The remodeling of the interior of the house and the completion of all the work is being done under the direct supervision of Mr. George C. Zwerk, an experienced and competent mechanic.” (“Their New Home,” The Saginaw Evening News, September 12, 1883.)
The Collection at the Local History and Genealogy Department at Hoyt Library includes a photograph album documenting the Webber Home and some of his other interests and earlier residences. These are the ones accompanying this post. Included in these images, is a photograph of the Webber’s 1893 Christmas Tree. By 1893, trees displayed within private homes were starting to become popular. A Saginaw Evening News article of the decade reminds us that trees were setup just before Christmas - “At the corner of Warren street and Genesee avenue it has the appearance of Christmas coming, a fine lot of Christmas trees are for sale there. (The Saginaw Evening News, December 19, 1893.) A close study of the decorations of the Webber-Peter Christmas Tree, indicates a variety of purchased items, toys – possibly gifts for young James W. Peter -- augmented by what appears to be popcorn chains. Of course, all was lit by candles.
One of the decorations in the form of a sailboat, a foil-covered, pressed-cardboard type known as a Dresden ornament, reminds us of an image in the album of a sailboat they used at their cottage near Bay Port Michigan.
536 Millard remained in the Webber-Peter family until 1934. At that time, the home was sold to the Saginaw Public Schools Board of Education. Florence Webber was the last surviving member of the family. Although it was transformed into offices for the school system, an apartment was created for Florence Webber. When she passed away in 1938, the paper noted, “A few years later the family moved to the Millard street residence, one of the largest and finest in the city, which continued to be Miss Webber’s home until her death.”
The Webber House continued to serve the Board of Education into the 1950s.
In 1962, the house was demolished after a long grassroots preservation battle.
The Recipe: Frances Webber’s Rolled Oat Cakes
1 egg, ½ cup sugar, 2 teaspoons melted butter, 1 cup rolled oats, ¼ teaspoonful salt, a few drops of vanilla, Beat egg, add sugar gradually and stir in other things. Drop with a teaspoon about 1 ½ inches apart. Frances Webber. (From the 1929 edition of the Saginaw Cook Book.)
CTK Interpretation:
1 egg
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons butter, melted
1 cup rolled oats
¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat eggs until frothy, Slowly beat-in sugar until dissolved. Stir in remaining ingredients until combined.
Drop mixture on parchment covered cookie sheet – space about 1 ½ inches apart. Cook about 15 – 20 minutes.
CTK Notes:
The results were really quite wonderful and very different than we anticipated.
We might try a slightly higher temperature.
They were unexpectedly chewy and sticky – in a totally unexpected way.
Freeing them from the parchment was somewhat of a challenge – however, this member of the CTK staff often has difficulty unmoulding puddings and freeing reluctant cookies. Let them cool some before attempting to lift them. Also, consider greasing the parchment. Or perhaps, they would be better cooked directly on a greased cookie sheet. Then again, remember, the CTK staff does not make house calls to clean cookie sheets.
CTK Historical Notes:
It is fitting to find this recipe in a cookbook published by First Congregational Church. Members of the Webber family were long involved in the congregation. In fact, interior photographs of the church were included in William Webber’s photograph album. Frances Webber’s obituary noted: “Two activities here received much of Miss Webber’s attention over a great part of her life. She was one of the original trustees of the Children’s Home and for many years was active in its affairs and also an active worker in First Congregational Church.”
*This link will take you a biography of William Webber in James Cooke Mills, History of Saginaw County, Michigan.
All images from the collection of the Local History and Genealogy Collection, Hoyt Library
