Biography of Bill Graff, Sunfield, Eaton County, Michigan

Copyright © 1998 by Jan Sedore. This copy contributed for use in 
the USGenWeb Archives.  


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GRAFF FAMILY
EATON COUNTY MICHIGAN

SUNFIELD TOWN AND COUNTRY
Page 31, Col. 1

   THE BLACK SMITH SHOP - - We now stand at the southwest corner of main and 
Second Street intersection. As we turn south toward the ballpark, we cross 
the alley and come to a long, one-story residence now owned by the Pitchfords. 
This was once a business place and residence of a shoe cobbler named William
"Bill" Graff. Bill had once been a giant of a man but now, was bent with age 
and navigated the streets with a decided difficulty. He was tolerant of 
young kids and the young often dropped into his shop to get warm on wintry 
days. On the north side of his shop was a broken-down old sofa placed there 
for the convenience of his customers. On the south side, Bill sat at this 
cobbler's bench with shoemaker's tools that any antique lover would be glad 
to lay hands on. I recall that on a day while sitting there on the sofa 
watching him work, the shoe cobbler kept pulling up his pant leg and 
fidgeting with his sock. Finally, mumbling something incomprehensible, he 
grabbed his shoemaker's hammer and a pinch of shoe nails and tacked the 
offending sock to his leg! It was then that I realized why he walked with 
"a hitch in his gitalong" - - he had a wooden leg!  Following bill Graff in 
this building, lived Becky Buell, her son Rolly Franks and Uncle Zack. Since 
that we're primarily concerned with businesses and business people, we will 
have to include Uncle Zack. Zack was a small man with a deeply lined face 
covered by gray stubble of whiskers. He spoke very little – hardly answering 
"yes" or "no" to a question. In his business enterprise, Uncle Zack would 
pull his little red wagon to the elevator. There, he would beg an old 
gunnysack and stuff it with corncobs from a pile always there. Next, he 
would go door-to-door down Main Street trying to sell cobs as fire kindling 
for a dime a sack. These were the days before Social Security checks and 
food stamps and Uncle Zack's small contribution probably helped the family 
to survive. After all, a dime would buy a couple of loaves of bread or a 
couple of pounds of dry beans, or a pound of hamburger in those difficult 
times. 





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