My grandmother Gladys Roiser Shannon would always comment with a shiver, about the stone house as we would pass by it on a trip to town. She lived there as a young married and soon to be pregnant housewife in 1921. My grandfather rented the house from his good friends for a song as the dwelling was in need of repair.

My grandparents remained in the house for several years, my uncle Budd having been born there with his grandmother Jennie Sawyer Shannon as the midwife. But even though they had good times there with friends and relatives, she would comment how the house gave her the creeps. The flatware would move on its own and many houshold items would just disappear. She couldn't wait to move out. So she had her wish granted and the new family moved to the other side of the lake before my dad was born in 1826.

Did she know about the stories of Juliette? Did her mother in law Jennie tell her some tall tales about the Sawyer family to scare her? Or maybe my grandfather teased his new wife, I will never know. Hamburg is a very small town and I am sure tales were told. So read the next few lines from other sources and see what you think. Did Juliette poison her family? And don't forget to leave a comment to let me know what you think or if you have someting to add, thanks in advance.

“Caleb Sawyer died in 1882 leaving his property to Eliza, his wife. She lived there with daughter Julia (Juliette) and her husband, Charles Butler. In 1887, presumably when Eliza died, Caleb Sawyer’s properties were divided among seven heirs and the parcel with the house was deeded to Charles Butler. He and Juliette remained in the house until their deaths. Juliette died in the house in 1895, rumored to have killed herself and to have poisoned her husband, Charles in 1893.” (Green Oak Township Intensive Level Survey 1999, Livingston County, Michigan, p. 90, Jan Enns and Ina Hanel-Gerdenich)

In another article, “At the turn of the century the stone and frame house was the home of a mad daughter who poisoned her parents and attempted to poison her neighbors before taking her own life.” (Huron Valley Advisor, Wednesday, May 26, 1971, p. 3, Lee Edgren)

And not to forget, Juliette and Charles are not buried side by side, Juliette is buried near her father and Charles is buried in the middle of the cemetery, very strange indeed.