The Hurlburt Family

Let us now speak briefly of the Hurlburts. It will have to be briefly, because I don't know a lot about them. Unlike the Chesters and the Raschkas (of whom more later), the Hurlburt name generally appeared in the newspapers only in connection with such respectable activities as buying real estate, selling farm equipment, and dying from natural causes. The one exception was more amusing than scandalous, as we shall see.

The Hurlburt name shows up all over the Ainsworth area in the 1939 plat book:


(Click on image to enlarge)

From the bottom up, we see Milan Hurlburt holding a parcel of 70 acres (outlined in green), while C.S. and S.M. Hurlburt hold an adjacent parcel of 140 acres (outlined in pink). Further north, at the northeast corner of the Lincoln Highway and State Road 51, Jacob and Augusta A. Hurlburt hold 77 acres (outlined in yellow), where they ran a dairy farm.

Milan (or Milon; we encounter both spellings) was, I believe, a son of the pioneer Jacob Hurlburt who gave his name to the village of Hurlburt, which shows up in tiresome abundance in the newspaper archives when you are trying to find out something about the Ainsworth Hurlburts.

Milan was born in 1849. His 24th year must have been very happy for him: he married Mary Ann Guernsey, and bought a chunk of land in Section 29, Range 7 — probably part of the land we see him holding in 1939.

Milan was the father of Jacob (born 1874). I believe the "C.S." is Milan's other son, Chester (born 1880), and the "S.M." Chester's wife, Sidney. Milan also had a daughter, Jennie (born 1877), who became Mrs. Charles Stevens of Hobart. [Update — It was not Jennie but her sister Ethel who married Charles Stevens; see post of Nov. 25, 2013.]

Jacob and Augusta married around 1900. By 1906, they owned land in Ainsworth. By 1909 they had a son, Vernon, and around 1911 another son, Emery.

All the Hurlburts seem to have lived quiet and peaceful lives, and their sorrows, if any, were private — until 1932, when a family discord brought their name into the Vidette-Messenger.

82 YEAR OLD MAN CONVINCES JUDGE HE IS ALL RIGHT
CROWN POINT, Ind., June 1 — An 82-year-old defendant, represented by an 83-year-old attorney, soon convinced Judge E. Miles Norton that he still is mentally qualified to handle his own business affairs.

The octogenarian, Milan Hurlburt, owner of a 210 acre farm near Deep River, was termed mentally incompetent by his son, Jacob Hurlburt, who sought to have a [guardian] appointed for his father after the latter had tried to sell a part of his property.

* * *
He took the stand in his own defense. Attorney George Hershman, of Crown Point, representing the son, started to question him.

"How much money have you now?" Hershman asked the aged witness.

Hurlburt reflected a moment.

"Wa-a-ll," finally drawled the old man, in a firm voice, "there ain't anybody got very much now, and besides, it ain't proper to tell how much you have — it all depends on the crowd you're in."

Judge Norton looked up appreciatively.

"There's nothing wrong with your mind," he said. ["]Case is dismissed."

The 1939 plat book shows a 210-acre parcel divided between Milan and Chester, the good son. That may have been the proposed sale to which Jacob objected.

No further troubles came to light. Per a cite-less family tree I found on Ancestry.com, Milan died in 1936.

Jacob and Augusta remained in Ainsworth all their lives. After Jacob died in 1945, his sons, Vernon and Emery, continued farming his land. Augusta died in 1957. Vernon died in 1966, survived by his wife, Alice; two children; and his brother.

Two years later Uncle Chester died; I know nothing of Sidney, or their children, if any.

Emery quit farming in 1970 and sold all of his farm equipment at auction; in 1972 he and his wife announced they were moving and auctioned off all of their household goods. Emery died in 1990.


Sources:
♦ Ancestry.com, 1920 United States Federal Census; 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.
♦ ———, Social Security Death Index [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009. Original data: Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index, Master File. Social Security Administration.
♦ ———, World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: United States, Selective Service System. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. M1509, 4,582 rolls. Imaged from Family History Library microfilm.
♦ ———, U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: United States, Selective Service System. Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. National Archives and Records Administration Branch locations: National Archives and Records Administration Region Branches.
♦ Lake County Times (Hammond, Ind.), Jun. 28, 1906.
♦ Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Ind.), Jun. 1, 1932; Dec. 17, 1945; Oct. 8, 1957; Nov. 7, 1966; Mar. 22, 1968; Nov. 19, 1970; Aug. 10, 1972.
♦ Weston, Arthur Goodspeed, Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana: Historical and Biographical (Chicago: F.A. Battey & Co., 1882).