Who better to tell his life story then my grandpa himself... Submitted by Bev Edwards.
I never got the chance to know my grandpa, but through a few of the stories kept in the family along the way. Grandpa passed away just about three and a half months before my birth. If others researching in Berrien, happen to run into any stories he has written, please contact me at berriengen@yahoo.com. Pen names he wrote under could be: Joe Parleyvous or Joe Canuk. I was told that he had written several while working for the News-Palladium. I also remember that the men in the news room called him Little Joe

The following was a story written by My Grandpa Joe.

Orphaned At Four Months,
Printer Searches In Vain
For Identity Of Parents

(Editors Note: Joseph Hastings Dumond, News-Palladium compositor who has written occasional humorous articles about the north woods lumber camps, observed his 56th birthday Sunday. Orphaned in infancy, Dumond has for 40 years been trying unsuccessfully to acquire definite information about his parentage and kinsman. Traveler, printer, salesman and former companion of the pituresque woodsmen in northern Michigan, Dumond has written the folowing story).

By Joseph Hastings Dumond
The following true life story is dedicated to the relentless and unceasing effort on my part in securing definite information regarding my parents or relatives which as yet I have been unable to obtain after an elapse of 40 years of dilligent search and inquiries. To some, 40 years may seem a long time to devote to such a cause, but to me it simply means the passing of on more year and the beginning of another, for Sunday marked the 56th anniversary and the 40th year of my unsuccessful mission.

Search Becomes a Hobby
What has started out to be a mere search has proven to be a hobby, judging by the amount of newspaper clippings, correspondence and transcripts of records amassed during these years from various sections of the country. In some cases I have been able to secure some information through personal contacts in different cities of the middle west. Before confining myself to the intimate realms of my life narrative let me pause for just a moment in respect to a man who was born on almost the same day of the month and year, Oct. 30, 1887 and I refer to the President of the Chinese Republic, Generalissimo Chiang KaiShek.
It was during the great blizzard of March 1888 which struck New York and the Atlantic seaboard, causing many deaths, that I at the age of slightly more than four months was placed in the receiving crib of the New York Foundling Home, located at 175 East 68th, New York City, destined to remain there until the elapse of my sixth birthday. The record at the home showed "Joseph Hastings, born October 24, 1887."

New Home
The year 1893 was the first turning point in my career. A new home, different locality and environs greeted me as I was transferred from the charitable institution to a permanent home under the tutorship of my foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Dumond, then residing at Marinette, Wis., who a short time later moved to Cedar River, Michigan.Through their efforts I was accorded a cordial home with good Christian atmosphere and received splendid treatment. Educational and religious training were at my disposal, all of which I generaously took advantage of. My early school days were spent at Cedar River, a small lumbering town in the upper peninsula of Michigan, where I came in daily contact with people of different nationalities. Frequently I made trips to the lumber camps and it was there that I watched and listened to lumber jacks particularly of French-Canadian descent. I found that those associations with the "Canuks" helped me immensely, when in later life I wrote articles for different plublications under the pen names of "Joe Parleyvous" and "Joe Canuk." The first business venture of mine came when, as a kid, I sold papers during the Spanish-American war. After a number of years spent at Cedar River the family moved to Stephenson, another village in the upper peninsula.

Embarks On Business Venture
It was in this town that I finished my education and later embarked in the insurance and real estate business, having as a partner the grandson of a former justice of the Michigan supreme court. About 1908 when I was engaged in the insurance business a young lawyer from down state dropped into the office and said he wanted to start in the practice of law in the town. There were quite a number of farmers in the district who claimed they were being "gipped" by horse dealers. After inducing this attorney to take up these cases, his practice began to increase and after a few years this attorney-at_law moved to a larger field, Escanaba. While he was located at Stephenson I did clerical work for him, traveled considerably with him to political gatherings and I got to like him. Having foreseen great posibillities in him I was not surprised to hear that he was elected Attorney General of our state---he's none other than Herbert J. Rushton. My first glimpse of royalty was back in 1901 when on a visit to a town in eastern Canada, I got a look at the Duke and Duchess of York who were then touring Canada.

Panic---A New Start
Panic years and depression years were not to my taste according to my way of thinking. On one occasion in the course of making a new start, I went to work in a sawmill. I had worked there a week when the mill and the greater portion of the town burned down. After paying my board bill I had $1 left. I went to the city and secured a job as a printer's devil. The pay was $2 per week with room and board which in those days was $2.50. I was in need of a suit of clothes and the installment slogan of a dollar down and a dollar-a-week caught my eye. I continued the printing game going from a job shop to a weekly; from a weekly to a daily until I landed on a daily at : Marquette where I worked continuously for 12 years, leaving the southern part of the state in 1921. While at Marquette I had the privilege of attending several sessions of the famous Roosevelt-Newett case which came to trial in the Marquette County Circuit Court. Both of my foster parents have since passed away. May God bless them and may they rest in peace. It was also at Marquette that another chapter in my life was chronicled, for it was there, on April 29, 1920, that I was united in marriage to Alice L. Glover formerly of Cheboygan, Michigan.

Daughter Born On Birthday
The oddity in connection with our marital life is that one of my daughters, Beatrice, was born on my birthday; a son, Joseph Hastings Jr., on Washington's birthday; a son, William, on one of our wedding anniversaries; a daughter , Gladys, on income tax day, and a son, Louis Alexandre, on Labor Day, all residing at the parental home, 116 Oden street.

Note: Joseph had two more children who were not mentioned above. His Eldest child, Clara Marie, who was my adopted mother and Dorothy Alice, who was my biological mother and his youngest child..

. Outside link to Roosevelt-Newett Trial:
Rough Rider Clears Name In The U.P. (PDF)