TYRE

NAME: Tyre COUNTY: Sanilac ROADS: 2WD GRID: 6 CLIMATE: WInd From Lake makes Cold Winter and Warm to Hot Summer BEST TIME TO VISIT: Summer is nice

COMMENTS: The General Store is being used by someone for storage.The Train depot is falling down and covered alot by trees.Take Tyre Rd over railroad tracks and your there... REMAINS: General Store and Railroad Depot

The Village was founded in 1857, by Alex Soule, John Getty, and others, John Getty became the first Postmaster on Oct. 7, 1863; the office was closed on Sept 14, 1881, but was restored from Nov. 25, 1881, to July 31, 1964. A station on the Pere Marquette Railroad; the Soule family named it after Biblical Tyre because of its stony terrane. Much of Tyre was burned during the fire of 1871 it was rebuilt and burned out again in the fire of 1881, Most of the homes and businesses were rebuilt after the fire of 1881. There appears to have been quite a mix in the area settlers from English, Scotch, Ireland,Bohemian ,and Poland all for Farming..In 1894 there were two genral stores. One closed in 1954, the other in 1978.. Now here is an interesting story I got from the Name book of Graves at the Old Tyre Cemetery: One of the graves in the cemetery is that of John Wesley Sparling. He died suddenly and mysterious on 08 July 1909. A year later his oldest son, Peter staggered from a field where haying was in progress and died 5 days later. Albert, the next oldest Sparling, became ill in church a year after Peter died; he suffered the exact symptoms as Peter and his father, and died after a short struggle for life on 03 May 1911... A Doctor John MacGregor treated each Sparling man during his individual ordeal. On 04 Aug 1911 the strange symptoms struck a third Sparling son, Scyrel(Cyril). Dr. MacGregor called in a collegue, Dr. Conboy, to examine Scyrel. Dr. Conboy suspected poisoning and reported the same to local authorities. Scyrel grew worse and died 14, Aug 1911 leaving only the youngest son, Raymond alive. The prosecutor ordered the examination of Scyrel's organs; they reported finding arsenic. The body of Albert was exhumed and examined with identical findings, death by arsenic poisoning. Dr. MacGregor was arrested and tried for the murders of the four men in a trial which gained national attention. Dr. MacGregor was found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to life impris! onment. Five years after he entered prison, MacGregor was pardoned by the then Governor of Michigan, Woodbridge Ferris, who refused to five his reasons for the pardon. The Governor shortly thereafter appointed MacGregor as the official state doctor to the Jackson prison where he had just been an inmate, again without explaination. In 1928 still the prison doctor, MacGregor died. Submitted by: Michael Hicks

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