A sepia toned black and white photo postcard of the Bisbee home of A. Roy Tietsort, circa 1908. A small white dog can be seen sticking its head past the porch railing. A person wearing a hat can be seen in the doorway. The part of the porch without railing has been covered in chicken wire. Lynn Nadeau Collection.

Abram Roy Tietsort was born to Ira Tietsort (9/16/1835-11/12/1903) and Mary Banks on December 4th, 1880. His siblings were A.E. Steward, J.H Keyser, and Francis J. They lived on 175 Twenty Fourth Street in Detroit and attended the Preston M.E. Church. His father worked as an accountant for the Michigan Central Railroad Company. A. Roy Tietsort graduated from Detroit Eastern High School on June 13, 1903 and joined the engineering faculty of the Detroit Technical Institute on September 22 1910. He later was a graduate of the Houghton School of Mines with experience with mining, mechanical engineering, and architecture. Tietsort worked as a janitor to help fund his schooling. Roy Tietsort sent several postcards to Grace Evelyn Murdoch during his time and job hunt in Bisbee: She was born May 19th, 1882 in Huron, Michigan to John Jones Murdoch and Louise M. Sollau. A. Roy Tietsort and Evelyn Murdoch were married on Friday October 3, 1908 at 6 o clock at the Trinity ME Church by the Reverend C.S. Wright. They had one son, Wendell Tietsort, they later moved to Detroit in 1911 and then to a farm in McKinley. Roy worked as a principal at the Sebewaing school for a year while working at the Huron County Road Commissions Office at Bad Axe over the summer. The family then moved to Caro and Roy worked at the State Highway Department, later transferring to the head office in Lansing. During the last three years of his life, Roy Tietsort was employed at the Lansing Sugar Company. A. Roy Tietsort died on January 11th 1940 from an illness at Miller Hospital in Lansing. The funeral was conducted by Clare Harrington of the First Church of Christ, and he was buried at Hillside Cemetery in Eaton County in Michigan. He was survived by his wife, his son, and his brother and two sisters: Frank Tietsort in New York, Mrs John Keyser and Mrs Steward in Detroit. Grace Tietsort and Wendall Tietsort lived for a time on the island of Bermuda. Wendell was a Michigan State Graduate and was employed by General Electric.

2018.40.13