Fred Blanding

Although Blanding was born in California and passed away in Virginia, he is buried in the Franklin cemetery.  His final resting place is here because his family, the Slys, were deeply rooted in the community.

When Fred’s father passed away in California not long before Fred was born, his mother Emma and his sister Charlotte, moved back to Michigan to live with her parents, George and Jane Sly.

Blanding attended the University of Michigan.  He was a right- handed pitcher for Cleveland from 1910-1914.  In the 1920’s,, he was a manager of a garage in Lansing and in the 1930’s, he was president of a Ford-Lincoln dealership in the same city.

Rosemond Van Every 

Have you ever wondered as you walked or passed by the Rosemond trio of streets, how they were named?

Rosemond Van Every was the honoree.  She was the granddaughter of Peter Van Every Sr. and Amy Dear.  Peter opened the grist mill at 14 Mile and Franklin roads around 1838.  Peter Jr., also a miller and his wife Jane, a hotel keeper, were her parents.

She was born in Franklin in 1870.  At the time she married Karl Tibbits in 1888, she was a dressmaker.

By 1920, she followed in the footsteps of her mother and became a hotel keeper.  The building was called the Rosemond Inn.  It was ironic that she started her business the same year as women were allowed to vote.  Times were changing.