In 1972, a bundle of over forty Preston family letters, dating mainly from 1850 to 1870, were discovered in the attic of the family home in St. Joseph. Over the next few years, Harriet N. Preston, wife of Arthur G. Preston, Jr. (grandson of Wallace Preston), took an interest in these letters and the Preston family history. Mrs. Preston arranged the letters, compiled typed transcripts, and authored several papers based on the letters.
The Preston family papers document Great Lakes shipping in the nineteenth century, the Union Navy during the Civil War, and daily life in St. Joseph, Michigan during the latter half of the nineteenth century. The collection has been divided into five series: Correspondence; Legal Documents; Newspaper Clippings, Scrapbook and Miscellaneous Materials; Family Histories; and Photographs.
The Preston family included some of the first settlers to southwest Michigan (Berrien County). Sons of those early pioneers went on to become sailors on the Great Lakes and Union Navy veterans of the Civil War. After the war, the Prestons became one of the more prominent families in St. Joseph, Michigan as a result of successful business and political endeavors.
Fowler Preston was the first member of the family to travel west to Michigan. He arrived by way of the Erie Canal in 1829. Born in Massachusetts in 1800, he died at St. Joseph in November, 1843. In 1831, he was appointed captain in the militia of the Michigan Territory and later served as sheriff of Berrien County and Marshall of the village of St. Joseph. In 1836, he married Ann Jenette Loomis (1812-1891). She was also, originally, from Massachusetts.
The Prestons had three boys: Norris (1837-1856); Wallace (1842-1924); and Fowler, Jr. (1844-1896). Fowler, senior, died in 1843, a few months before the birth of his youngest son. Despite this loss, the family was able to maintain a modest living after the father's death based upon income from property acquired during the marriage and Ann Jenette Preston's own ingenuity.
The three sons all began careers as sailors on the Great Lakes. Norris, a steward on the Toledo, died in a shipwreck off the Wisconsin coast in 1856. Fowler Jr. began sailing as a cabin boy at the age of 13 and a few years later captained his own ship. With the coming of the Civil War, Fowler enlisted in the Navy in 1861. During 1861-1862, he served on several ships which were maintaining the blockade of confederate ports off the North Carolina coast. He also visited Havana, Cuba (a neutral port) while in the Union Navy. With his one-year enlistment completed, Fowler returned to Michigan.
Wallace Preston spent the early part of the Civil War shipping on the Great Lakes but, in 1863, he also enlisted in the Navy. Wallace was assigned to the U.S. Steamer Proteus which was based in Florida. The Proteus was engaged in enforcing the blockade off of Key West and Galveston. Like his brother, Wallace also returned to Michigan after military service.
Following the war, the two brothers took different paths. Fowler turned again to the Great Lakes. For the rest of his career, he owned or captained a succession of vessels which hauled lumber and other goods along the Lake Michigan coast. He died in Chicago in 1896. Wallace returned to St. Joseph where he established a successful lumber business (Champion Planing Mill). He later served in a number of political offices before becoming mayor of St. Joseph (1893-1894) on the Republican ticket. He died in St. Joseph in 1924.
