Michael family begins its sixth generation in South Sound

Originally published Saturday, January 12, 2002

Ken Michael attributes his affinity for the simple life to his pioneer roots.

"That seems to have carried through. That's been my lifestyle," he said.

His predecessors, Peter and Mary Michael, came west via covered wagon in the late 1800s, with a milk cow in train that Mary's parents had given them as a wedding present.

They lived in Oregon for a couple of years before settling near Bigelow Lake about 1900. The Michael family originally came from Bavaria and settled in the Midwest before heading to Washington. The family has lived in Thurston County for six generations, with four generations still living here.

Though he was a small child when Peter died, Michael remembers the orchard Peter had on the east side of Olympia. Long after Peter was able to work, the fruit trees were still producing.

Peter, a big man with heavy Germanic features, would sit in a big chair and peel apples and pears by the hour. He dried them on a screen that could be raised to the ceiling with series of pulleys.

"I was fascinated by livestock around the old folks' place," Michael said. "Except for a few years away in college, I've had a few cattle all my life," he said.

He and his daughter still raise pigs together, he added.

Michael said two of his four grown children also have opted for the simple life.

"We want to live in country and lead a bit of a rural life," he said.

Michael raised his four kids on Hawks Prairie.

"They thought they were at the ends of the earth, and at that time they were," he said.

Butter churns and TV

Michael said he milked his own cow until four years ago, and always had a big garden that led to a freezer full of food. He even used a butter churn the whole time he was raising his kids.

He and his daughter still laugh about the fact that the kids were allowed to sit in the living room and watch TV, but that they'd have to crank that butter churn.

"I always thought I'd have been better off if I'd been born 50 years earlier," said Michael, who has been self-employed since 1963. He owns Ken's Auction Service and buys and sells estate merchandise. He also operated Morgan Transfer, a moving and storage business from 1970 to 1990.

He sold the moving business to his son, Michael Michael, who decided to give up his job at The Boeing Co. for a simpler life.

However, Michael is a bit more aggressive with the business. "He now makes a profit; I just made a living," Michael said, adding he had one truck compared to the 10 his son runs.

His daughter, Dawn Mobbs, also decided to simplify her life after working as a paralegal for the state Labor and Industries Board of Appeals.

She now works hand-in-hand with Michael in the auction business. He deems her the organizer and himself the seller, though she is a licensed auctioneer.

His other children, Darin and Michelle, work for their brother in the moving business.

"I think we're carrying on as our ancestors would expect," Michael said of the family business interests.

His grandfather, E.J. Michael, had a secondhand store in Oregon called the House of 1,000 Bargains.

On the moving side, Michael's father, O.F. Michael, retired from Simpson Timber Co. as superintendent of transportation.

"There are some threads that seem to carry through," he said.

Strong family ties are another aspect that's been carried from generation to generation, he said.

"The family remains very much united," Michael said.

His mother, Charlotte, 89, still lives in the area and is the matriarch of the family. Though only one of his three siblings lives locally, they all come home to Thurston County for holidays.

The family's religious affiliation, though still there, has been diluted, Michael said.

His grandfather, E.J., helped construct what is now the Evergreen Christian Center, he said.

Also, his sister is a district moderator for the Pacific Coast for the Church of the Brethren, and his mother is active in her community church in Lacey.

"The rest don't attend on a regular basis, but I believe the moral teachings have followed through," Michael said. He said he sees a strong sense of right and wrong in both his siblings and his children.

He hopes to see that carry through to his grandson, Aaron, son of Michael, the first of the sixth generation of Michaels to be born in the area.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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