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Several young Ainsworth people graduated from Hobart High School in the spring of 1916. One of them was Theresia Chester, daughter of Charles and Constance Chester.
I'm still pretty confused about the Charles Chester family, because I've come across evidence that this might have been Charles' second marriage as well as Constance's. I hope when I go back to the pre-1899 newspapers, I can confirm whether he did marry before, and if so, whether that marriage produced any children. Charles and Constance were married on December 27, 1898, and going by Theresia's age as given to census-takers, she was too old to be a child of that marriage.
Theresia has been a quiet person all these years, so I don't know much about her — except that she must have been a good baker, as she won first prize in the girls' bread exhibit at a Ross Township Farmers' Institute meeting in January 1913.
Sources:
♦ Hobart High School Aurora yearbook, 1916.
♦ "Ross Township Farmers' Institute." Hobart Gazette 7 Feb. 1913.
10 comments:
You are not alone in your confusion re: the Chester family!this is what I have been able to find: Constance McClain of Ill. was married to a Mr. Booty of whom I've uncovered zip about. They had 2 boys, Arthur H. and George R.. Don't know if they divorced or he died--haven't really gone down that road yet. I'm wondering if his name was also A.H. and named their firstborn after him. I believe that the boy was also called "Frank", who grew up and went to war and survived, but met an unfortunate end, being shot and killed by his sister-in-law Ruth, George's wife, in self defense after he went berserk in June of 1933, which you related in one of your posts. Seems never a dull moment in this family. George took the last name of his stepfather. According to Constance's obit she was "survived by husband, C.E., and sons Charles of NY, George, Frank, Robert of Ainsworth, and Vincent, Great Lakes, Ill; daughters Sela of Peru; Mrs. Robert Shaw and Mrs. H.C. Hull of Chicago". Jennie is Mrs. Hull. Was Tressie Mrs. Shaw? Was Charles from C.E.'s first marriage (to Dora Foreman in 1893??) No mention of Raymond and "Kittie" who predeceased her. Obit states that Con. and C.E. had 8 children. A hers, mine and ours situation I guess! Poor Sela was listed as a son on the 1920 census--no wonder we are confused! Well I have enough to keep me busy with just this branch of tree for a long time. Will update info when I can. Strange also that Con.'s name is not inscribed on the headstone at Crown Hill!
I've had ZERO luck in finding out anything about Mr. Booty thus far. I'm hoping when I go back to the 19th-century newspapers I may hear something.
I'm not sure Arthur and Frank could be the same person, since (if I've identified the right child, and that's a big "if") Arthur lost an arm as a child but Frank was accepted into the army.
If Constance's obit says Sela was a girl, that just makes it more mystifying, since the Hobart News mentions Sela as one of George's sons and "Seely" as having joined the Hobart militia in 1917, and I can't see the militia allowing a woman in back then. "Sela" sounds like a feminine name, but there was a long-time Hobart resident named Sela Smith -- and he turns up male in every census.
All very confusing.
Well, after HOURS online I have new info on those challenging, but always interesting Chesters! Re:Charles E.--I found a marriage to Dora Foreman on August 15, 1893, but haven't been able to find out what what happened to her or their marriage--my to-do list includes talking to the Foreman's that still live on the former farmland. So, this leaves me wondering if Tressy and Jennie are from this marriage and their mom died??? It would be so much easier if dob's were accurate!
Constance McClain married Chas. H. Booty on March 17, 1886. He was born in London, England in July 1862, and immigrated at the age of 9 or 10. They were married 9 yrs. and lived on Wentworth Avenue in Chicago. He died of pneumonia on March 29, 1895 at the age of 33 yrs, 8 mos, 29 days. They had 4 boys: Chas. Henry Booty born Sept. 25, 1888; Frank L. Booty born August 1, 1889; Geo. Robert Booty (later Chester as you know) born November 15, 1893; and Arthur H. Booty (also later Chester) born May 12, 1894. All my info is from Fam. Srch. and Ancestry.com. and is on my public tree at A.com. (Buchfuehrer-Casey-Kegebein-Schnabel)
Tressy married Robert C. Shaw at Holy Name Cath. in Chicago in 1919--found their marriage license online and it is beautiful, all "scrolly" writing. Jennie married Homer C. Hull in 1921, and also lived in Chicago. Understandable that CE and Con. put on so many miles back and forth! Sela EDWARD ended up in Peru, IN and married a Josephine Lotz in 1925. We know that Kittie died at the age of 10, in 1910. Robert Enos died in 1995 at the age of 90ish. Vincent also lived to a ripe old age and died in Denver, CO. in 1996. And we can't forget little baby Raymond who died at the age of 8 mos. in 1908. Whew! Regards, Suzi
Wow! You just cleared up a whole lot of the confusion, and I don't know if I would ever have found all this out on my own. Many thanks for sharing the results of your investigation!
Well, I've checked with a local Foreman descendant, and Dora is as much as mystery to him as to us. He theorizes that she might possibly have been a cousin of the great-grand Foremans.
interesting! well, sometimes one just stumbles across info, here's hoping that this will be one of those situations! have been enjoying your posts, new as well as older, and esp. then and now pics!
I would love to learn more about Theresia Chester who turns out to be my biological great grandmother.
My biological great grandfather is George Christian Peterson who lived with and farmed for Nick Fleck Jr. around the time (1917) my grandfather would have been conceived.
My grandfather was adopted by Thomas and Lenore (Quinlan) Haggerty whom also lived in the same area. I don't believe it was a formal adoption. Thomas Haggerty's sister was Anna Haggerty who married George Lutz whom I believe also had a farm in Ainsworth.
My grandfather's birth name was George Peterson born 05/14/1918. His name was changed to Donald Robert Haggerty.
This is all pretty new information to me and I would love to learn anything I can about the family. :-)
-Mandy Haggerty
Hi Mandy -- Theresia has been so quiet through all these years of newspapers, etc. that I really don't know much about her. This high-school yearbook portrait is the only picture of her (identified) that I've ever seen. I think the only other info I have about her is her marriage to Robert Shaw of Chicago, posted about here: https://ainsworthindiana.blogspot.com/2012/08/tressy-leaves-ainsworth.html
Since apparently Mr. and Mrs. Shaw lived out the rest of their lives in Chicago, I don't know if I'll be seeing any more of her in the local Indiana papers.
I'm curious how you know about George Peterson's association with Nick Fleck, Jr. Thus far I haven't seen anything at all about George in the papers. I've only seen mentions of another George Peterson who was prominent in the Hobart school system, as well as a family of Petersons living south of Ainsworth -- none of whom, as far as I know, have any connection to this George Peterson.
Someday, someday, I have to go back and read the local papers again more closely and see if I missed anything the first or second time through!
Hi, Nick Fleck Jr. was listed as his employer on his WW1 draft card.
I see! That's helpful, it gives us his date of birth.
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