Chester's Camp: Purchase of Land

I notice that the Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society moved its photograph of Chester's Camp from "Unknown Lake County" to "Ainsworth." You're welcome, NWIGS. (I'm kidding! I doubt anyone affiliated with NWIGS even knows this blog exists.)

In the following little item from the Vidette-Messenger of July 7, 1926, I think we see John and Emma Chester buying the land where Chester's Camp would be built: "Helmuth Foreman wid to John Chester and wf Emma pt 18-35-7…………..1.00." In other words, part of Section 18, Township 35 North, Range 7 West of the second Principal Meridian — one of the sections comprising Ainsworth, and bisected by the Lincoln Highway. Too bad the newspaper item doesn't say how much land was transferred; that would be helpful to know. Here is Section 18 as it appears in my 1939 plat book:


(Click on image to enlarge)

In the northwest quarter of Section 18, on the east side of the T-intersection of Lincoln Highway and Dekalb Street (the latter not labeled), is a two-acre parcel without an owner's name. For reasons that I will explain in a later post, I am going to focus on that two-acre parcel.

One of the reasons it will have to be in a later post is because there are so many lines of inquiry branching out from this topic, and I think I have adult ADD. I can feel my brain overheating. I'm not a very adept historian. I have to go take the dog for a walk and let my brain cool off. Maybe tomorrow I can start afresh.

Sources:
♦ Lake County Title Co. Plat Book of Lake County 1939. n.p., n.d. Print.
♦ "Real Estate Transfers." Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Ind.) 7 Jul.1926. Access Newspaper Archive. Lake County (IN) Public Library 15 Nov. 2009 .