Emily and John McKay raised their four children, and his previous three children in the cabin, which required four additions to the cabin for space. His third wife was Emily Ann Lester, with whom he had four children, Zada Gay, Elza, Earl, and Zane. He and his second wife, Anna Mesorley Wyman, had Robert Victor and Mary Ann, both of whom survived into adulthood, but Anna died in 1891. McKay married thrice, but his first wife, Barbara Kramer died in 1884, and only one of their children, Herman Isaiah, survived into adulthood. It was located on Smith Road in Wilson Township. McKay came to Alpena County from Ontario, Canada at age 25, working as a lumberjack, and claimed a large tract of land along the Thunder Bay River, where he built the 828-square-foot home with two stories. The John McKay Log Home was built in 1898. ![]() It then passed through 10 more owners before Eugene Hoppe donated it to the museum in November 1969. When Collins died in 1896, he was listed as a resident of Alpena and bequeathed the property as part of his estate to his heirs. The property was transferred in 1874 to Horace deLousada, Francis deLousada, and Mariane deLousada, then in 1879, the property was sold to Thomas Collins and William Johnson from Massachusetts. This form of land ownership became the most common way for people to acquire land in the unsettled areas of the United States.” “In order to earn a title to the land, the individual had to live on the land for five years. ![]() Government to grant land to individuals who paid a filing fee, ranging from $10 and up,” the Besser Museum Historical Village Self-Guided Tour brochure notes. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed the U.S. “Frances Lousada filed a Homestead Patent on 80 acres of land in February of 1868. ![]() This cabin has been mistaken for a shed that belongs to the McKay Cabin, but it is actually its own homestead. The tiny Lousada Homestead Cabin is nestled between the Maltz Exchange Bank and the John McKay Log Home on the Besser Museum grounds. Admission is $5 per adult, $3 per senior or child, and free for museum members.
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