Summary
Martin Arthur “Big Art” Larsen was born on Garden Island on January 30, 1898, moved with his family to Beaver Island in 1906, and became a commercial fisherman. The June 1964 Beaver Beacon says he married Sybil Tilley in 1918 and worked from an early age with his father. It identifies his diesel tug Estonia and remembers his nearly $7,000 net loss in the 1940 Armistice Day storm.
Larsen died at Little Traverse Hospital on June 3, 1964, after a year’s illness. The source reports June 6 funeral and burial arrangements but does not provide a held civil or cemetery record.
Evidence and limits
This record reconciles the full name “Martin Arthur Larsen” in the obituary with “Arthur Larsen,” “Art Larsen,” and “Big Art” in the local retrospective accounts. The sources establish his connection to the Estonia and the 1940 storm, but not the tug’s registry, a complete fishing career, or a complete family record.
Open questions
- Can a civil, church, or cemetery record document Larsen’s full family and burial details?
- What registry or local records identify the Estonia and document its later history?
See also
- Armistice Day storm at Beaver Island (1940)
- Death of Martin Arthur Larsen (1964)
- Estonia (Arthur Larsen fishing tug)
- Commercial fishing
Sources
- Beaver Beacon, June 1964, “Big Art” and “Obituaries: Martin Arthur Larsen.”Gives the January 30, 1898 birth on Garden Island, 1906 move to Beaver Island, fishing with his father, 1918 marriage to Sybil Tilley, 1940 storm losses, June 3 death, and June 6 burial wording.
- Beaver Beacon, November 1968, “Beaver Tales.”Names “Big Art” Larsen as the skipper of the Estonia during the November 11, 1940 storm account.
- Beaver Beacon, September 1964, “Beaver Island Memories.”Identifies Big Art Larsen’s Estonia as the first diesel-powered outfit on the Island in Helen Hoffman Collar’s retrospective harbor account.
- Beaver Beacon, October 1961, “But Perch Disappear.”Names Art Larsen as a lifelong Garden and Beaver Island resident who could not recall an almost complete disappearance of the perch run. The article does not independently expand his full identity.