52 Ancestors in 2022 - Week 7: Landed

The prompt for week 7 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge is 'Landed'. 

This is a picture of my great-grandfather, Paul Janco. He is standing on his land in Branch Township, Mason County, Michigan. The young girl next to him is probably his daughter Elizabeth. 

Paul immigrated to the United States, arriving at the Port of Baltimore on June 4 1907. He lived in Peoria, Illinois for several years after his arrival. He moved to Michigan and bought his farm in 1919. Paul raised goats on his farm. He also sold wood locally.

His farm became a refuge for his daughter's family during the Great Depression. Susie Janco Petrini brought her daughters to stay with Paul. Her husband remained in St. Louis to look for work. Refuge may be an exageration. Conditions were not easy. The family squeezed into a house that was little more than a shack. There was no running water or electricity. They had to trudge through the deep snow to the outhouse. To avoid getting lost in the snow, a rope was strung between the house and the outhouse. As a newspaper article reported, "there is nothing in its appearance from the outside to commend it as a home".

 

By 1940, Paul was living with his son in Granite City, Madison County, Illinois. He was 75 years old by then, so it is likely he'd sold the farm and retired. I want to find a plat map of Branch township from the 1920s or 1930s to see if I can locate his plot of land. I'd also like to find property records that show the transfers of the land. I don't have any experience researching Michigan records. If you do, and you know of a source for me, give me a shout!