3107 FREDERICK OATMAN
3107 FREDERICK8 (Albin7, Parker6, Asahel5, Benjamin4, George3, John2, Johannes1), son of Albin and
Louisa (Van Meer) Oatman, was born in Greenwood Township, St. Clair County, Michigan,
17 March 1876, and died 26 June 1929 when a bulk gasoline tank exploded.
He married Edith
Ulrich, born 1880 and died 1962.
Fred purchased
property in Avoca, St. Clair County, Michigan, in 1901, and in 1907, with his
brother Guy as partner, built a gas station.
For a time he did well drilling work in the area and later worked with
Frank Reeves in his auto repair shop.
After a falling out between the two, however, Fred and his brother Guy
built Oatman's Garage (what is today the Avoca Party store). At this time, the old barns from Charles
Streval's Livery, which had been in operation before the turn of the century,
were torn down. At the garage, Texaco,
Marlin and, finally, Shell brands of gasoline were sold and autos
repaired. In addition, from about 1917
through the early 1920's, Fred was Avoca's car dealer, selling Dort and Elgin
cars. Fred's son, Harold, recalls how he
and his dad, along with five other fellows, would go over to Flint, Michigan,
pick up the cars, five at a time, and drive them back to Avoca for sale. The first garage burned in the early 1920's,
and a second one was built in the same location.
In addition to the
gas station, Fred also was a Shell Oil distributor, picking up the gas and oil
in Port Huron, Michigan. He began with a
Model T truck with a tank on the back which could be removed, a rack put on,
and milk cans picked up at farms and delivered to Roy Martin's Milk
Station. Later, Shell Oil installed bulk
tanks in the location of the County Warehouse (1983), and the gas and oil were
shipped in on railroad cars. Fred burned
to death when he was involved in a gasoline explosion in 1929. At this time, his son Harold took over the
business.
Children of Frederick and Edith (Ulrich)
Oatman:
5788 Lucille, m. Harmon "Blondie"
Range. No children.
5789 Arthur, b. 22 Nov 1906, MI; d. Oct 1964; m.
Joyce .
5790 Harold, b. 31 Oct 1904, MI; d. Feb 1987, MI;
m. Laetta Jones
Sources: Vesper, Coleeta, Memory Trail: An
Early History of Kenockee, Acorn
Press, 1976, p.
27-8
Family records
Marjorie
Schumacher, Avoca, MI (#1332)
Social Security
Death Index
Research by
Barbara Hawthorne
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