During the 1840's a Vermont native son named Horatio G. Proctor, along with his parents, moved to Michigan and homesteaded 40 acres of land. During that same decade Horatio wed Miss Sarah M. (Marion or Marie) Rose and their first child, a daughter, was born in the Okemos area. Horatio farmed at Meridian (“Meridian was never incorporated as a stand alone town or village, though it existed as a historic post office and railway stop along Meridian Road just north of Jolly Road in Ingham County, Michigan.” Google Search) while Sarah kept the house and bore a total of 4 daughters during their marriage.

The first born Proctor daughter was Sarah Elizabeth, born about 1852. Elizabeth Proctor, using her middle name on the marriage license, wed Martin Keitchen (or Kitchen) 28 November 1872 in Meridian. Martin, a native of Indiana, farmed for a living. The couple would have total of 4 children before Sarah Elizabeth's untimely death in 1887, about the same time as a young son, Martin Augustus Kitchen, born 1 September 1878, also died.

Kitchen, Martin (daughter Estella Mae) repairing Meridian home, The Lansing Weekly Republican, 17 January 1883, Page 4

Kitchen, Martin death notice (father of Estella Mae Kitchen Nelson Meyers), The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, 10 June 1923, Page 9

Kitchen, Martin (father of Estella Kitchen who married Nelson, Meyers) obit, Lansing State Journal, 6 June 1923, Page 7

The first born Kitchen baby, a daughter, born 8 July 1873, Okemos, was named Estella Mae, although she was always called Stella in newspaper articles, census and on the list of students for Okemos Union School in 1888. After her mother and brother's death, Stella's father Martin moved, by 1890, back to his home ground of Indiana taking at least Stella with him. After settling in Indiana Stella met and married George E. Nelson. George a self employed painter and decorator, born 23 January 1863, Indiana, was 9 years older than Stella and well settled into his career when the couple wed. They would have one son, Don, during their 25 year marriage. George was killed when he accidentally fell from a roof top and broke his back, 8 March 1918, LaGrange County, Indiana. He was laid to rest in Greenwood Cemetery, LaGrange.

Nelson, George E. (married Stella Mae Kitchen 1892), The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Thursday, March 7, 1918

Nelson, George (married Stella Mae Kitchen 1892), The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Monday, March 11, 1918

Stella would remain in widowhood only a short while. On 25 October 1919, Livingston County, Michigan, she married long time bachelor Frank Linus Meyers. Frank, born 20 September 1879, Livingston County, was a self-employed carpenter and the couple would settle in his town of Howell and age comfortably together. Frank at age 69 succumbed to kidney disease 23 April 1949, Howell, and was interred Lake View Cemetery in Howell. Stella would follow him in death 1 June 1958 while again living in LaGrange, Indiana She was also interred Lake View Cemetery, Howell, Michigan with Frank.

Meyers, Frank Linus (married Estella Mae Kitchen 1919, 2nd husband) obit, Lansing State Journal, Tuesday, April 26, 1949

Meyers, Frank married 1919, Estella Mae Kitchen Nelson, Livingston County Daily Press and Argus (MI), 27 April 1949, Page 3

Kitchen - Keichen, Estella Mae (married George Nelson 1892, Frank Meyers 1919) obit, Livingston County Daily Press and Argus (Livingston Co., MI), Wednesday, June 4, 1958

Nothing much is known about the remaining Kitchen children after father Martin and Stella moved back to Indiana around 1890. Stella was by then in her late teens and almost ready to leave home. But the youngest daughter, Blanche, born in 1884 had been very small when she lost her mother and was less than 10 years when Stella married in 1892. Minnie Belle, the middle sister born in 1878, and Blanche, it is believed, moved after their mother's death into Horatio Proctor's, their widowed maternal grandfather, home where their mother's married sister, Asenath Cordelia “Delia” Kinsman also resided. It was within this household that Delia's husband, Frank Kinsman made a terrible choice and a 12 year old Blanche in 1895 became pregnant. Uncle Frank was arrested for the offense 26 March 1896 and a search for Blanche located her as a resident in a “charitable institution” in the Detroit area where her sister Minnie placed her. Blanche would give birth to a baby in June 1896. Ironically Frank's wife Delia had given birth in December 1895 to a daughter just a few months prior to niece Blanche's baby's birth.

Frank Kinsman was tried and found guilty of his offense and sent to a Michigan prison for 15 years in 1896. Frank would be released from a prison in 1902. Delia stood by him and remained living with her elderly father Horatio who passed away, age 81, in 1903. Frank stayed on the straight and narrow for the rest of his life. He returned home to Delia and they raised their daughter together. Delia passed away in 1933 and Frank died in 1948.

Blanche's baby's whereabouts is not known. The child was with her in a December 1896 court appearance. The child, of unknown sex, was about 6 months of age at that time. Blanche went on to marry in 1902 George William Snedicor. The marriage, in Howell, Livingston County, lasted until George's death in 1926. Blanche remarried a Mr. Eugene Joslin in 1935 but divorced him in 1941. In 1956 she married Albert Wright who passed away in 1962. Blanche died in Howell in 1965. She was interred Lake View Cemetery, Howell.

Kitchen, Blanche, preg. by aunt's husband Frank Kinsman, The Lansing Journal, 27 March 1896, Page 2

Kitchen, Blanche, confesses to Uncle Frank and pregnancy, Lansing State Journal, 14 Dec 1896. Page 1

Kitchen, Blanche, uncle Frank found guilty, Lansing State Journal, 16 Dec  1896, Page 1

Kitchen, Blanche, uncle Frank Kinsman guilty, Lansing State Journal, 20 August 1897, Page 1

Kitchen, Blanche, uncle Frank Kinsman confesses guilt, The Detroit News, 28 November 1900, page 9

Kitchen, Blanche, Uncle Frank Kinsman released from prison, The Lansing Journal, 19 Sept 1902, Page 5

Kitchen, Blanche, Uncle Frank released from prison 1902, The Lansing Journal, 21 Dec 1904, page 1