FANNIE ELIZABETH RANSOM was raised on the family farm, and shared in the routine chores.  She was known to have a mine of her own and was not in the least intimidated by her three brothers.  She was educated in the Kalamazoo school system.  After her brothers left the homestead, she and her husband, Franklin Scott, managed the farm and maintained their home in Plainwell.  Fannie was a lady, a town matriarch, and a leader.  She did her best to see that her brother John’s daughters were well educated and raised as proper young ladies.

 

Aunt Fannie drove a Buick Coupe with a rumble seat.  In this vehicle she took her great nieces and nephews on picnics.  The picnic could consist of sandwiches and other foods, but always included fruit or melons from the farms. The children loved that automobile and its shiny chrome and the picnics, but most of all they loved Aunt Fannie.

Fannie and Fletcher would talk of waving to Indians as they passed their home.  The road was once known as the “Old Paw Paw” road and was once a Toll Plank road between Grand Rapids and Paw Paw.  The road had been a well used stage coach route.  The “old homestead” (Ransom Homestead in Alamo) was purchased in the early 1950’s by Mr. R. Alling, who intentionally torched the large beautiful home in order to build a one story ranch type home.  The great barn burned in 1967. The horse barn still remains but is unsafe at this time.

Fannie and her husband, Franklin, endowed a senior resident home in Plainwell, and bequeathed her home to same.