Note
This letter concerns your publication in 2000, Lost and Found' by Kit Lane and Robert Simonds. As I am directly descended from Franklin Bogue Wallin, and his son, my grandfather, recorded much of the history accounted about the Wallin tannery, I would like to suggest corrections to some factual statements.
First, my sister and I visited the museum last summer in 2005and greatly appreciated the exhibition. It was professionally displayed and contained information of great interest to us. We were delighted to see our family's contribution noted and learned things we had not known. The book, Lost and Found ' was a special delight.
My corrections pertain to the second paragraph, third column on page 11 about the closing of the tannery. True, the tannery closed in Saugatuck, but the Wallins continued in the tannery business in Grand Rapids located where the Wealthy Avenue Bridge now crosses the Grand River. The family lived in Grand Rapids at this time. The firm of C.C. Wallin & Sons started in 1851 in Chicago, continued until 1908, more than a half century in all.
Corrections in the fourth paragraph, third column pertain to the farm in Jenison called Wallinwood Farm. In 1917 Van A Wallin bought 230 acres of level farm land along the Grand River near Jenison Michigan. His son Franklin (my father) took over the farming operation after his WWI military service and after graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1920 in Agriculture engineering In 1927 his father, Van Wallin, purchased the adjoining farm that became Wallinwood Springs. Both properties were operated as one farm and ultimately sold in 1985, becoming a condominium development with an adjoining golf course.