Horses, Potatoes, and a Barn on Water Street

Since I'm obsessed with the Chester family (among others), I simply must, must, must bring us up to date on James Chester, one of the quieter members of that family, quiet to the point of being boring, but I expect life with him was easier than life with the more interesting Chesters, such as John or Jerome (or even Charles, with his epic road trips). We haven't even mentioned James since 1911, when he gave up farming and moved to Hobart. At first he lived in the Stoeckert flats on Water Street. Later he acquired a couple lots on south Water Street, and in 1913 built a frame "cottage" there.

Then he went about his life quietly. For the most part, I gather, he bought and sold horses. In 1914 he got sued: he sold Charles Blancher (or Blanchard) a horse on July 7, 1914; on September 16, the horse died; Charles sued James for $90, claiming he must have sold him a sick horse. Judge John Mathews heard the case and found no evidence that the horse was sick at the time of sale, so James won. His activity didn't rate a mention again until January 1916 when he sold a "valuable black mare" to Albert Witt.

In 1916 it becomes evident that at some point James had built a barn on Water Street. (I'm trying to picture Water Street with a barn on it. Trying and failing.) He seems to have gone into some kind of partnership with a man named R.W. Graham — probably Ross W. Graham of Hobart, a 32-year-old teamster. In October of 1916, the two of them somehow got hold of 180 bushels of potatoes and advertised them for sale out of James' Water Street barn.

"Graham & Chester" were busy that month with more horse-trading. They went down to Plymouth, Indiana, where they bought a "fine matched team of black five-year-olds … weighing 3,400 pounds" and sold them to someone in Gary. A few days later they contracted to haul a load of household goods to Chicago, using their own team and wagon. While in Chicago, they decided to make a jaunt over to the stockyards, where an agent for the British military was inspecting horses for possible purchase. Probably to their surprise — since he was rejecting two out of every three horses offered — the agent bought their team on the spot. James and Ross had to take the train back to Hobart. I suppose they sent their wagon home by train, unless the British military got that, too.


Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "Hobart's 1913 Growth." Hobart Gazette 26 Dec. 1913.
♦ "Horse Swapping Case." Hobart Gazette 2 Oct. 1914.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 12 Mar. 1912; 16 May 1913.
♦ "Personal and Local Mention." Hobart News 20 Jan. 1916; 2 Nov. 1916.
♦ "Potatoes For Sale." Hobart News 26 Oct. 1916.