(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Merrillville-Ross Township Historical Society.
So many Ainsworth people all signing their names in one place! (Unfortunately we don't have the original petition, only a photocopy, which I scanned to produce the poor-quality image above.) They hoped to have at least a couple years of high school taught in the Ainsworth school. The petition wasn't successful.
It's undated, as you can see. At this point I know only enough to date it sometime between January 1915 (before that time Charles Goldman had nothing to do with Ainsworth) and December 30, 1934 (after which date Henry Nolte could not have signed anything). Mrs. C.E. Smith is the only woman signing, which suggests that Cyrus was not alive to sign for himself, hence the petition probably dates after October 1, 1915. [An update on the likely timeframe for the petition, and its success, here.]
I have encountered all these names in the social columns, even if I haven't written about them in the blog. I can't help but look at how these people signed their names and thereby try to get some insight into their personalities — a futile endeavor, I know, but that doesn't stop me. F.A. (Frank) Peterson's style is careful and clear, and the text of the petition looks to be in his hand. Charles Goldman has splashed his name across the page as if it were the most important one on there; Frank Stiener Jr. wants to rival him. Henry Nolte's style is simple and unobtrusive. So is Glen Nelson's. Herman Harms seems to have had fun writing those embellished Hs. Sam Campbell's penmanship looks antebellum; Lee Hunter's looks modern. And so on….
I suppose I had better type out all the names for search-engine purposes.
| F.A. Peterson John Benson Arthur Strong James Frame S.E. Bowman James Pecinka Charles Goldman Robert Harper John Berndt Edward Cole Henry Nolte Frank Stiener, Jr. Gust Lindborg Charles Henrichs Glen Nelson Otto Klemm Fred Carbine [Carbein] Herman Harms | John Miller Mrs. C.E. Smith H.O. Jones Chas. E. Chester Sam Campbell Wm. Springman Henry Sievert Paul W. Fredrick Albert Weiler Ed Maybaum C.E. Peterson Lee Hunter C.S. Guernsey Thos. Y. Crisman J.E. Crisman Wm. Foreman |
1 comment:
So wonderful to see my Grandpa's(Fred Carbine's) familiar signature--I still have all my old birthday, get well cards, etc., from him and my Grandma--but have never seen any historical papers signed by him. Another family connection is with Charles E. Chester--his second wife Constance was the sister of my greatgrandmother. I'm starting to feel like I know these people the more I dig into their lives!
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