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Two guest books from the summer home, Birchmont  in Ironton, MI. of the George R. Hemingway family, uncle of author Ernest Hemingway . The first book, 8x9½” containing 88 pages, with 58 pages of autograph inscriptions filled out, covering the years 1898-1914, and the second book, 7x10½” containing 46 pages completely filled with inscriptions, covering the years 1914-1922.

All together there are hundreds of entries in the two volumes, but importantly there are approximately 287 Hemingway family members who have signed and mostly dated their entries. Ernest Hemingway has signed the book 4 times, with an additional entry written in by his mother, Grace Hall Hemingway in 1902, at his age of 1½ years old, where she writes, “”Ernest Miller Hemingway, (X) his mark, January 5, 1902."  Ernest himself signs in 1911 at 11 years old, again in 1913 where he first uses the form of the T-H combination, and 1914 at 15 years old. In 1917 his Mother Grace signs for all en route in the Ford to Walloon Lake, the Hemingway summer home. Finally Ernest signs in March of 1919, age 20 right after he arrives home to Oak Park after being wounded in the Ambulance Corps in Italy, as “Tenente Ernesto M. Hemingway, Segure IV Auto Ambulance”, followed by an address in Italian that needs to be deciphered. The Hemingway entries include every member of the Hemingway family in multiples over the years representing 4 generations from the Hemingway grandparents  Anson T. and  Adelaide Hemingway, Errnest’s  father  Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, mother Grace, all his siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, their siblings and their families. The George Hemingways were family favorites, and everyone loved gathering there for holiday festivities. In the later years of the guest books it appears that they may have used them at their home down in Illinois, but virtually every signature is dated, which provides a road map where everyone was at a specific time. The array of entries of family friends from all over the country is immense.  A truly one of a kind genealogical item. These books descend from the family that bought Birchmont in later years from the Hemingway family, and  were left behind.