Crops and Malted Milk and Love

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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

In July 1913 Jessie Bullock Quinlan received this postcard from Wellington, Kansas, sent by "S.H.Q." — who could that have been but her husband, Samuel H.? They had been married for 13 years by that time.

The Last Saloon License of Ainsworth?

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I just had to post this notice from the October 1917 News — it represents probably the last time William F. Wollenberg, Sr. will ever renew his liquor license for the Ainsworth saloon, and perhaps even the last time anyone got a liquor license for an Ainsworth saloon, since I'm not sure whether Ainsworth ever had a saloon again after Repeal.

At this point we have only half a year until Indiana's state-wide prohibition law goes into effect. Perhaps somewhere deep in his heart, Will Sr. was cherishing a hope that the law might still be challenged, as the women's suffrage law had been.


Source: "Notice to the Citizens of the Town of Ainsworth, in the Township of Ross, County of Lake and State of Indiana." Hobart News 11 Oct. 1917.

"Teddy." D'oh!

If I'd been paying attention when I fetched Margaret Bullock's high-school picture from the 1909 yearbook, I wouldn't have had to wonder later whether her nickname was "Teddy." The facing page tell us it was.


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From the Hobart High School Aurora yearbook of 1909. Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

Simeon Bullock

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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

Since we've been seeing so much of Abbie Wood Bullock — now here's her husband, Simeon, having a good hair day. Born in 1850, he was the eldest of Moses and Amanda Bullock's children, brother of Gilbert and Asa (also of Ruth Bullock Halladay, but we haven't talked about her much and probably aren't going to).

I'm roughly estimating his age here to be about 45, which would put this photo somewhere in the mid-1890s. The name on the card is "Globe Studio, Ottawa, Ill.," but that doesn't help.

William Devonshire (Random Pointless Photo)

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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

This is William Devonshire, an "early Hobart resident" according to the notes on the back of this photo. I suppose this is the guy who gave Devonshire Street its name. He first shows up in Hobart in the 1870 census. He was born in England in 1839, came to this country in 1866. Beyond that I don't know anything about him and don't particularly want to. I wouldn't have scanned this photo at all if John and Mary McDaniel hadn't lived on Devonshire Street.

Albert Witt Quits Farming

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Albert Witt placed the above notice of public sale in the News early in October 1917. The social column on the same page sums up the situation: Albert had been renting and farming Charles Chester's 80 acres of land just north of Ainsworth; Charles sold the parcel to John Berndt; perhaps Albert was required to vacate to make way for the new owner, but it was no skin off his nose because he'd had enough of farming anyway.

The 80 acres we're talking about were probably the same as John Berndt owned in 1926:


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That parcel belonged to John Ols in 1891, but there was time enough between then and 1910 for either Henry or Charles Chester to buy it.

♦    ♦    ♦
I have to revise my earlier guess at which parcel Lovisa Chester Nelson had rented from Charles Chester in 1911. Now I think it was the Berndt 80 plus an additional 30 acres somewhere adjacent (which Charles sold to Charles Ols at the same time as the Berndt sale).


Sources:
♦ 1891 Plat Book.
♦ 1926 Plat Book.
♦ "Personal and Local Mention." Hobart News 12 Oct. 1916.
♦ "Public Sale." Hobart News 11 Oct. 1917.
♦ Untitled social column. Hobart News 11 Oct. 1917.

Carrie Bullock? Is That You?

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Image courtesy of the Hobart

This is why I think Abbie and Simeon's third daughter was named Carrie: because someone has written on the back of this photo: "Abbie Bullock's daughter, either Jessie, Carrie or Ida."

No date. Jessie was born in 1876, Ida in 1878, according to the 1880 Census. I haven't been able to find Carrie in any census.

There was a Carrie Bullock, apparently, whoever's daughter she may have been. The handwritten note on the back of this photo reads, "Carrie Bullock Winters taken Alma, Okla."


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Image courtesy of the Hobart

No notation as to date. The "pigeon front" style of her blouse was fashionable just after the turn of the century. I can't tell whether this young woman is the same one as in the first photo.

And this little undated photo has "Carrie Bullock?" handwritten on the back.


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Image courtesy of the Hobart

I believe that dropped-waist style was fashionable for little girls in the early 1880s.

[3/6/2015 update] Here is Carrie Bullock Winters' obituary, from the Hobart Gazette of September 7, 1917:


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The description of her birthplace as "a farm west of Ainsworth" makes me think that perhaps she was born on the Bullock homestead.

♦    ♦    ♦
In unrelated news, I finally got Ross and Hobart Townships from the 1874 Plat Book scanned and up in the "Land Ownership" page in the sidebar. And in the process found out that I can take the lid off my scanner without harming it. The things you learn by blogging!

Hey, It's Cold Out Here! (Random Pointless Photo)

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I like winter, but after a couple of months it starts to get old. So I was delighted yesterday to come across a few snowdrops in the garden, even if it's too cold for them to open their blossoms.

A Quiet Life, A Quiet Death

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On this image from the 1926 Plat Book, the farm of William and Mary Boldt is outlined in red.

She lived a quietly useful life, and died younger than she should have. She was Mary Sullivan Boldt, daughter of Patrick and Sarah Sullivan.

She had been born November 11, 1857, at Kendallville, Indiana, but as she was only six years old when her parents settled in this area, she probably remembered little of any other home. She grew up south of Ainsworth. In her twenties, she spent several years teaching in the Hobart public schools. In 1888, at the age of 30, she married William Boldt, a German immigrant turned Hobartite and a bricklayer by trade. For the next two decades they lived on the 80-acre farm shown above. They had five children: Carl, John, Theresa, Margaret and Helen.

Around 1909 William and Mary left their farm and moved to Hobart. William continued to do some masonry work. Mary was active in St. Bridget's Church as well as the Woman's Sodality. Their nieces and nephews (children of her brother Thomas and his wife Augusta) came up from Ainsworth now and then to visit.

Although Mary had not been in the best of health for a few years, her death came as a surprise; she was suddenly taken ill one evening after dinner, lost consciousness by the next morning, and quietly passed away within three days. She was just short of 60 years old.

William survived her. By this time only two of their children, Margaret and Helen, remained at home — John had joined the U.S. Army and was stationed at Borden, England (and by December would be in France); Carl was somewhere in the south (I believe he had joined the army as well, or soon would); and Theresa had married Fred Collins of Crown Point.

Mary is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery. Her grave marker is slowly being covered by the earth and a tree.


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Sources:
♦ "Additional Local News." Hobart Gazette 4 Aug. 1916.
♦ "Ainsworth Pick-Ups." Hobart Gazette 1 Aug. 1910; 26 Aug. 1910.
♦ "Funeral of Mrs. Wm. Boldt Held Wednesday Morning." Hobart News 11 Oct. 1917.
♦ "Local U.S. Service Items." Hobart Gazette 14 Dec. 1917.
♦ "Mrs. Wm. Boldt Dies Suddenly." Hobart Gazette 12 Oct. 1917.

Abbie Wood Bullock

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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

This photo on display at the museum is captioned: "Mrs. Sim Bullock." According to the census records, Abbie W. Wood was born in 1855. In this photo, I'm judging her to be about 55 years old, so I estimate the date of this photo at around 1910. Per the Indiana Marriage Records, she married Simeon Bullock on January 28, 1875. (Simeon was Gilbert's brother.) The 1900 Census states that she had three children, all of whom were still living then, but I know of only two daughters, Ida and Jessie. The third might have been named Carrie (based on handwritten notes on another photo that I'll get to later).

Doesn't she give an impression of kindliness in this photo? — something about her half-smile, and her eyes, and then that rose in her hair.

Below is a slightly earlier photo of her. It's undated. While I don't know whether the "1888" printed on the card is the year the card itself was printed or the year the M.M. Mudge photography studio was founded, that is probably roughly the era when the photo was taken, judging by Abbie's apparent age here.


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Image courtesy of the Hobart

And here she is once again, this time with her daughter, Ida Morris, and grandson Wilbur. Ida Bullock married Wilbur Morris (Sr.) on August 12, 1902 (per the Indiana Marriage Collection). If I've found the right people in the 1920 Census, Wilbur Jr. was born about 1905. I'm guessing that he's about six years old in this photo, which would put it around 1911.


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


[Update 2/24/2011] Here's a little more information on this branch of the Bullock family, sent in by a reader:

The Find A Grave website has an entry for Abbie Wood Bullock with a photo of her grave marker in Crown Hill Cemetery in Hobart.

Also entries for Abbie's husband Simeon, her daughter Jessie, and Jessie's husband, Samuel H. Quinlan.

The Hotel McDaniel

So far nothing interesting has come of the McDaniel action to quiet title, but I begin to get a notion of why John and Mary might have been interested, just now, in settling their ownership rights. They had plans that likely required capital.

Perhaps that was the motive in their decision to "clear their 40 acres of wooded land near Ainsworth" — possibly the northern 40 in dispute. They hired a man to look after the cutting and sawing of the timber, and I expect the McDaniels would sell the lumber or firewood thus produced.

That was just one minor announcement out of several that appeared in the October 5 Gazette. The other news was more surprising.

We now learn that in mid-summer 1917 John McDaniel had purchased the Transfer Hotel at 1162 North Clark Street in Chicago. He'd been operating it for three months, and evidently he liked the business so well that he meant to expand his holdings.

So he and Mary made a deal with George M. Grace, owner of the Westminster Hotel at 1219-1223 North Clark. Mr. Grace got the McDaniels' Hobart property, consisting of their Devonshire Street home and a rental house on Michigan Avenue that sat on two acres of land; the McDaniels got the Westminster Hotel.

John and Mary announced a public auction to be held on Tuesday afternoon, October 9, in their home on Devonshire, where they would offer all their household and kitchen furnishings for sale. The sale took place as scheduled, and the next day the McDaniels packed up whatever remained of their possessions and moved to the Westminster Hotel. Hobartites no longer, now they were Chicago hoteliers.

I've not been able to find any information on either of these hotels, although they seem to have been substantial establishments. The Gazette describes both as "modern four-story structures," with the Transfer Hotel having 42 rooms and the Westminster 84. (On the other hand, when the owner of an 84-room hotel in Chicago considers two houses in Hobart a fair trade for it, it probably wasn't a five-star hotel.) In 1893 there was a Westminster Hotel at 264-266 North Clark; in 1894, another Westminster Hotel operated at 462 North Clark. But to suppose that the Gazette made a mistake in the address (mentioned two separate times) and one of these eventually became the McDaniels' property is a little far-fetched even for me. As for the Transfer Hotel, apparently it foundered and vanished into the ocean of time without so much as a ripple of history* (none perceptible, at any rate, to a half-hearted on-line researcher like me). I can only hope that future issues of the Hobart papers will have progress reports on the McDaniels that may give me more information.

_______________________
*Is that an awesome metaphor, or what?


Sources:
♦ A Week at the Fair. Chicago: Rand, McNally & Company, 1893. http://books.google.com/books?id=9BlAAAAAYAAJ&dq (accessed 12 Dec. 2010).
♦ Chicago Blue Book. Chicago: The Chicago Directory Company, 1894. http://www.archive.org/stream/chicagobluebooko1895chic#page/xii/mode/2up (accessed 12 Dec. 2010).
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 5 Oct. 1917; 12 Oct. 1917.
♦ "McDaniel Buys Hotel." Hobart Gazette 5 Oct. 1917.
♦ "Public Sale." Hobart Gazette 5 Oct. 1917.

Helen Mackey

Since we mentioned Helen Mackey recently, let's see a couple more pictures of her, shall we?


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Images courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.
Awww, isn't that cute! Some imaginative photographer has put her in the clouds like a little angel. There is no date on this photo, but Helen looks about seven years old here, which would put it in the late 1890s (she was born in 1891 per the 1900 Census).



This undated photo is captioned, "Teddy Bullock and Hellen [sic] Mackey." The caption doesn't specify which girl is which, but I'm guessing Helen is the one on the right, based on a mild resemblance to the earlier picture above.

Then the girl on the left was "Teddy" Bullock, whom I've never heard of before. I think she resembles Etta Bullock — I wonder if Etta's nickname was ever "Teddy"? The girls appear pretty close in age, and I'd say they're around their mid-teens here. Etta was born in 1892 … it's possible.

I believe the house in the background is on Center Street and still standing. Perhaps the Mackeys or Bullocks lived in that house. An announcement of the wedding of Dwight Mackey and Ruth Bullock described her as the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Bullock of Center Street (Hobart Gazette 4 Nov. 1910).

Here's the present-day Center Street house I'm thinking of:



Looks like a match, doesn't it?

Pedestrian Bridge Remnants (Random Pointless Photo)

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I gather that the two parts of Fred Rose Park used to be connected by a pedestrian bridge. Anybody out there remember that? It was gone before I ever saw the park.

Rings and Wings

Out in the west Texas town of El Paso,
I fell in love with a — North Dakotan girl?…

In October 1917 George and Anna Severance received a letter from their soldier son, George Jr., with some surprising news. It seems that fighting wasn't all he had done during the summer of 1916 when he was stationed on the Mexican border. He'd also found time for love.

I don't know the young woman's maiden name, or even her given name. By the time George wrote to his parents about her, she was Mrs. George Severance, Jr. But if I've found the right people in the 1920 Census, her name was Alberta … so that's how I'm going to think of her until proven wrong.

Originally from North Dakota, Alberta happened to be in El Paso at the same time as George, and they struck up an acquaintance that soon developed into something more. And it seems that when George was transferred to an army camp in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Alberta went to Maryland — a not inconvenient distance. In the summer of 1917 they married, and she joined her new husband in camp.

George had reached the rank of Second Sergeant, and so far advanced in his aviation skills that he was now a flight instructor.

On October 21, Anna Severance's mother died in Chicago. George Jr. got ten days' furlough to attend his grandmother's funeral. He and his wife came to Ainsworth, and for the first time the elder Severances got to meet their new daughter-in-law.

The young couple stayed over the last weekend of October, and that Sunday relatives from all around gathered at the Severance home to greet the newest addition to the family. On Tuesday, with his furlough swiftly running out, George Jr. and Alberta left for Gettysburg.

In mid-November the Severances got word that George Jr. had been transferred to Charlotte, North Carolina. The Gazette did not mention whether Alberta went with him.


Sources:
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 5 Oct. 1917; 26 Oct. 1917; 2 Nov. 1917; 16 Nov. 1917.
♦ Robbins, Marty. "El Paso." Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs. Columbia, 1959.

Train Crossing Lake George (Random Pointless Photo)

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A westbound train crossing Lake George on the Norfolk Southern (formerly Nickel Plate) tracks, as seen from Fred Rose Park.

The Bullock Sisters in Drag

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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

This photo, on display at the museum, is captioned "H.B.I. Club." I don't know what "H.B.I." stands for, but it looks like fun.

Luckily for us, the caption identifies all these lovely ladies.

Back row, left to right: Lily (Mrs. Fred Hammond) Johnston; Cora Beach Schedell; Elizabeth Rossow; Ida Heck; Ida Rossow Hendricks; Lillie Mereness Davis; Alice Vincent Hatfield; Clara Rossow.

Second row from top, left to right: Anne Fleck Ingram; Lily Rose Scholler; Martha Heck; Elsie Picke [Piske, perhaps] Mummery; Lena Michelson; Emily Johnston (Sterling).

Third row from top, left to right: Hazel Lueher Vincent; Ruth Bullock Mackey; Anna Michaelson (Dr. Morton-Schwab); Julia Fleck Griffin; Clare Fleck; Etta Bullock (Killigrew).

Bottom row, left to right: Lillie Rossow Hasselbar; Margaret McCormick Scholler Wilson; Helen Mackey Rhodes; Martha Heck.


Helen Mackey was the younger sister of Dwight Mackey. Helen married George Rhodes, the plumber (of the famous plumbing firm, Lee & Rhodes). She became the bookkeeper of the business. All of which means that Charles Lee had an Ainsworth connection. (Charles Lee » George Rhodes » Helen Mackey » Dwight Mackey » Ruth Bullock » AINSWORTH!)

A Man of Mystery

After Morgan Blachly's death in 1910, his widow, Amelia, retained ownership of at least part of the 180-acre homestead, although she and their only daughter, May, went to live in Hobart. In 1912 Amelia sold the southeast 40 acres to Christian Weiler. As for the rest, she may have rented or sold parts of it to the three Blachly sons, Walter, J.B. and Earl, as all of them were farmers.

In 1913 Earl got tired of farming, bought a partnership in B.C. Wells' Hobart garage and sold all his livestock and farming equipment — but he didn't sell his land, just rented it to someone else. After about a year in the garage business, Earl had enough of that and returned to the farming life. His wife of 12 years, Elizabeth (née Bodamer), divorced him in 1916 and was awarded custody of their daughter. Earl consoled himself in 1917 by marrying Annie Witt — yes, of that same Witt family whose members have been all over the Ainsworth area. (Elizabeth married Walter J. Tutwiler of Hobart in December 1917.)

By contrast, J.B. and Walter Blachly had more stable lives. Their farming and their marriages went on without interruption.

In 1915 May Blachly traded three lots she owned in Hobart for 75 acres of farmland, known as the old Ragen farm and lying across the Joliet road (73rd Ave.) from the Blachly homestead. A couple years later, she and her mother left their Hobart home and moved to May's farm. After living there about four months, May began advertising her farm for sale.


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Outlined in green is the 75-acre parcel May Blachly bought in 1915 — just north of the old Blachly homestead, outlined in red.

She found a buyer in S.J. Craig, Lake County's agricultural agent and the author of this immortal tome:


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I wonder if there was any awkwardness about his coming into the neighborhood, considering the unpleasantness of 1914 — following the outbreak hoof-and-mouth disease that year, local farmers John Gruel and William Shults (along with Fred Bowman of Lowell) led an effort to remove S.J. from office, and the petitions they circulated eventually garnered 200 signatures. But perhaps by 1917 that was all bygones.

As for S.J. himself, he's a man of mystery. I don't even know his given name, since he never used it, even, it seems, hiding out from census enumerators so he wouldn't have to give it — which also means I know nothing about his family, if he had one. I've seen him now and then in the news, but only in his official capacity, e.g., haranguing people to produce food for the war effort.

Perhaps if he comes to live on this farm, we'll find out more about him.


County Agent S.J. Craig (right) on the job, from The Lake County Agricultural Advisor. Note how he carefully hides his face from the camera.


Sources:
♦ 1891 Plat Book.
♦ 1926 Plat Book.
♦ "Additional Local News." Hobart Gazette 21 Sept. 1917.
♦ "Blachly-Witt." Hobart News 19 Apr. 1917.
♦ Craig, S.J. The Lake County Agricultural Advisor. Crown Point: Lake County Star, 1916.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 30 Jan. 1914; 1 May 1914; 3 Aug. 1917.
♦ "Personal and Local Mention." Hobart News 31 July 1913; 10 Dec. 1914; 28 Jan. 1915; 4 Feb. 1915; 9 Mar. 1916.
♦ "Personal Mention." Hobart News 8 Aug. 1912.
♦ "Public Sale." Hobart News 20 Feb. 1913.
♦ "Tutwiler-Blachly Nuptial." Hobart Gazette 7 Dec. 1917.
♦ Untitled social column. Hobart News 19 Apr. 1917; 2 Aug. 1917; 11 Oct. 1917.
♦ "Wells & Blachly Is Name of New Garage Firm." Hobart News 3 Apr. 1913.

Not Different Enough

There goes my pet theory — that Bertha Nolte Campbell lived to a ripe old age, stepping out from the parade of untimely death that otherwise constituted the Ainsworth branch of the Nolte family.

Now I've just come across evidence that she died in December 1929, which would make her about 37 years old. She is buried in the Salem Methodist Church cemetery just over the Porter County line.

No information about the cause of death. No mention of any children either. Perhaps I will find out more when I get to 1929 in the Hobart newspapers. But that's far in the future.

So, just a little depressing news to end a gloomy day.

Cressmore Grove Cabins

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Here's something useless that I bought on eBay.

I can't do a then-and-now shot because I don't know exactly where these were. Probably somewhere near the Cressmoor Country Club, I'm guessing, but that doesn't help much for purposes of photography.

The postcard is unused and undated, and the reverse is not illuminating. However, according to this website (and what a lot of work must have gone into compiling that chronology!), since the card has a silver border and a serial number beginning with the letter G, it was probably printed circa 1939-1941.

John Killigrew, High School Senior

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Images courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

This is from the Hobart High School Aurora yearbook of 1910. These yearbooks can be helpful in giving you a notion of someone's personality — at least, as it was perceived by his or her friends in high school. When you're starting with just a name and a few vital statistics, and (if you're lucky) a few highlights of a career, even a little semi-facetious sketch like this is an oasis in the desert.

And I didn't know John had red hair!

Here's the full page, for anyone interested:

Small-Town Gossip, 1917

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These were some of Hobart's Red Cross volunteers during World War I. Handwritten notes on the back of the original identify only four of them: in the first row, from the left: Blanche Roper and Lillian Burge. In the second row, at center, Mrs. Lacey; at the right end, Mrs. Messick. They are in front of the M.E. Church on Fourth Street. Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


As summer faded into autumn, a story was making the rounds in Hobart about Mary Bruce (the plumber's wife). Eventually it reached Mary's own ears, and she was astonished to learn what she'd been up to lately.

According to the story, in an act of patriotic voluntarism, Mary had knitted a sweater as something the Red Cross could give to some soldier headed overseas to fight for his country. She had slipped a note inside it, with her name and address, asking the recipient to write to her. After some time she received a letter from the soldier now wearing her sweater — but he told her he'd bought it at Marshall Field's department store in Chicago. The story's implication was that the Red Cross was taking donated goods and selling them.

Mary was so annoyed that she wrote in to the Gazette to denounce this ridiculous concoction, and the Gazette printed her letter. In the first place, Mary said, she did not knit a sweater; she did not even give a purchased sweater to the Red Cross; so of course all the rest of the story was utter nonsense.

As a piece of gossip, however, it's both inventive and efficient: it packs the maximum slander into the minimum narrative. In just a few sentences, it insults Mary (for being so forward as to ask a strange man to write to her), the Red Cross (for selling donated goods) and Marshall Field's (for buying what it should have known were donated goods). The only one who comes out unscathed is the (nonexistent) soldier — I suppose even gossips wouldn't cross that line.


Source: "Just a Canard." Hobart Gazette 28 Sept. 1917.

Etta Killigrew, Undated Photos

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All images in this post courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

Undated photo with "Margaret Bullock Killigrew" handwritten on the back.





Someone has written "Margaret Bullock Killigrew" and "Louise Hallady Hile" on the back. I have no idea who Louise was.*





Handwritten notes on the back: "Etta Killigrew 2nd from left." None of the other women are identified, although the woman to the right of Etta does look like Louise from the photo above, no?





Just "Etta Killigrew" written on the back. From the dress, I'd say this is maybe from the 1940s?

____________________
*[2/20/11] It just occurs to me that Louise might be a relative of Etta's aunt, Ruth Bullock Halladay (or Hallady; I've seen it spelled both ways, and even Haladay). If Ruth had a daughter named Louise, I haven't heard about it.

The Sun Sets on the Blizzard (Random Pointless Photo)

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In honor of the Great Blizzard of '11, which, since we are expecting a warm spell now, will soon be only a lot of mud and memories ("Yes, children, I lived through the Great Blizzard, and I remember it well. Let me tell you all about it. You see, those those days … Hey, where are you going?! … Rotten kids!") … here is a picture of the sun setting over the Ainsworth garbage company building, while its rays gild the snowdrifts whose untrammeled serenity belies the fury of the Great Blizzard of '11 … Hey, where are you going?!

Two Long-Timers Leave (Part 2)

(Continued from yesterday)

Edward Maybaum was one of the many children of Charles and Caroline Maybaum. The elder Maybaums bought their 80 acres south of Ainsworth sometime after 1874 and before 1891; since Ed was born around 1881, that old farm had been his home probably from early childhood.

The first mention of him in my reading came in 1901, when he lost a thumb to a corn husker. That seems not to have dimmed his spirits, as most of his subsequent mentions in the paper have involved his organizing or attending public dances. At one Ainsworth social he even acted as "auctioneer." It's true he once disrupted a dance by slapping Louis Weiler, but — who knows? — maybe Louis had it coming.

Around 1905 he married a young woman named Frieda, whose maiden name I don't know. By 1917 they had two young sons, Russell (10) and Gordon (4).

Sometime previously Ed's health had taken a turn for the worse. In 1916 he underwent surgery in a Chicago hospital. Perhaps that failed to set him right, and he wanted to escape the strenuous physical labor involved in farming; for whatever reason, in 1917 he decided to quit farming. And so to dispose of his livestock and equipment, he hired the same auctioneer as Louis Wojahn, and placed a similarly high-profile ad.


(Click on image to enlarge)

Ed planned to move his family to Gary and try his hand at the garage business.


Sources:
♦ 1874 Plat Book.
♦ 1891 Plat Book.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "Ainsworth Pick-Ups." Hobart Gazette 27 Jan. 1905; 17 Feb. 1905.
♦ "General News Items." Hobart Gazette 5 Apr. 1901; 4 Dec. 1903; 7 Apr. 1905.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 27 Sept. 1917.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 26 Feb. 1909.
♦ "Personal and Local Mention." Hobart News 7 Sept. 1916.
♦ "Public Sale." Hobart News 17 Sept. 1917.
♦ "Ross Township." Hobart News 22 May 1913.

Train in Motion (Random Pointless Photo)

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I hate these know-it-all digital cameras that have the power to keep you from ruining a shot. If I want to ruin a shot, I should have the right to ruin a shot! This is America, darn it! Back in the good old days when I had a film camera, I ruined shots all the time and nobody ever tried to stop me!

So this is only a semi-ruined shot of a train in motion at night. On the Canadian National tracks. Ainsworth, Indiana.

Two Long-Timers Leave (Part 1)

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Outlined in red is the John Wojahn farm, where his son Louis farmed; outlined in orange is the extensive Bragington farm, part or all of which was rented and farmed by Ed Maybaum.

Late in the summer of 1917, two long-time Ainsworth farmers separately announced their intention to get out of farming and Ainsworth.

If we can believe the News, the Wojahn family bought their 92 acres on the south side of the Lincoln Highway around 1882, when Louis was born.

Louis' parents, John and Minnie Wojahn, had both immigrated from Germany (1871 for John, unknown date for Minnie). Ross Township was crawling with Wojahns, but since I haven't figured out their family relationships yet — I suppose I have to wait for the right obituary — I won't go into that now.

At the age of 20, Louis went to work on the William Sykes farm in northern Ross Township. After about a year of that, he came back home to rent the old place from his parents and farm it for himself.

On May 10, 1903, Louis married Lena (Carolina) Fasel, eldest daughter of Henry and Mary Fasel, who farmed south of Hobart. The young couple lived and worked on the Wojahn farm. (About a year later his parents moved to Chicago to stay with another son, but they eventually came back to Ainsworth.) In 1905 Louis expanded his operations by renting additional farm land near Wheeler. The little household had increased by one: in 1904 the Wojahns took in an 11-year-old orphan boy named Charlie Wishon. He stayed with them for six years, then abruptly ran away.

Louis and Lena had three children — Irwin (born 1908), Emily (1910) and Lucile (1914). In 1910 the Wojahns bought Dr. L.M. Friedrich's brick house in Hobart and moved it onto a lot on Lake Street south of the "J" tracks, to rent out for additional income. By 1911 they had a telephone and an automobile. Life seems to have gone along peacefully for them, aside from the occasional tree thief and uninvited visitor.

Then in July 1917, Louis placed an ad in the News: "For Rent — 92-acre farm, one mile southeast of Ainsworth on Lincoln highway. Louis Wojahn, Phone 1626-J-2." From the description, it could only be the old homestead. A week later the Gazette explained that the Wojahns were planning to retire from their farm. Lena's parents had given them a 15-acre parcel southeast of Hobart (I believe it was on the south side of 10th Street, east of Hobart Road) where they were now building a six-room bungalow, their new home.

By mid-September, the Wojahns had found for the old farm a new tenant, who was to take possession on November 1. All that remained to do was to sell off the livestock and farming equipment they would not need on their new 15 acres. They hired an auctioneer and ran this advertisement for the October 2 auction:


(Click on image to enlarge)

I find ads like this interesting for the information they give about what livestock and equipment made up a farm in that era. (For those who may be wondering — as I was until I looked it up — a cow is said to be "fresh" when she has newly come into milking condition, e.g., after having delivered a calf).

Just below this ad in the News of September 17, a similar ad appeared for the other long-time Ainsworth-area farming who was about to cut and run — Ed Maybaum.

(To be continued)


Sources:
♦ 1874 Plat Book.
♦ 1891 Plat Book.
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ 1926 Plat Book.
♦ 1930 Census.
♦ 1939 Plat Book.
♦ "Ainsworth Pick-Ups." Hobart Gazette 30 Sept. 1904; 5 Aug. 1910; 2 Sept. 1910.
♦ "General News Items." Hobart Gazette 28 Mar. 1902; 29 Sept. 1905.
♦ "General News." Hobart Gazette 20 July 1917.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 23 Aug. 1917.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 9 Jan. 1903; 29 July 1910; 5 May 1911; 24 Nov. 1911.
♦ "Personal and Local Mention." Hobart News 29 Oct. 1914.
♦ "Personal Mention." Hobart News 11 May 1911.
♦ "Public Sale." Hobart News 27 Sept. 1917.
♦ Untitled social column. Hobart News 12 July 1917; 20 Sept. 1917.
♦ "Wojahn-Fasal Nuptial." Hobart Gazette 15 May 1903.

Cecil and Elmer Bullock with Grandma

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

We've seen the boys separately; now here they are together, with Grandma Emily Markham. The photo is undated. I'm surprised at how close in age to two boys look though there are seven years between them — Elmer was born in 1910 and Cecil in 1903.

A Setback for Suffrage

In September 1917 a Superior Court Judge John J. Rochford of Marion County, Indiana, ruled that the limited women's suffrage bill passed by the Indiana legislature earlier that year was unconstitutional. The essence of his decision was that the legislature did not have the power to grant women the vote because the Indiana constitution "specifies who may have a right to vote, and does not mention women."

Back in Ainsworth, I expect Pearl Ols was annoyed — but not entirely discouraged, for the same News article that reported this decision also said it would shortly be appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court.

Around the state, women continued registering to vote, in the hope that the upcoming appeal would reverse Judge Rochford's ruling.


Sources:
♦ "Judge Holds Woman's Suffrage Bill Unconstitutional." Hobart News 20 Sept. 1917.
♦ Monks, Leander (ed.). Courts and Lawyers of Indiana. Indianapolis: Federal Publishing Co., Inc., 1916. Google books. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.

Ainsworth? ... We Don't Speak of Such Places

In September 1917 George Yager, Jr. and his wife, the former Pearl Severance, observed a special occasion:

Relatives from Hobart, and a score of Chicago friends, united in helping Mr. and Mrs. G.W. Yager celebrate their second wedding anniversary. Cards and music passed the time pleasantly. A dainty- two-course luncheon, followed by toasts, completed the evening. Mrs. Yager received several costly gifts, among them being a handsome victrola from her husband. Mr. and Mrs. Yager expect to leave in a short time for a tour through the west, visiting Yellowstone National Park en route.

"Relatives from Hobart"? Excuse me, their relatives were from Ainsworth. If one of the celebrants composed this description for the Gazette — and it wasn't the editor's mistake — it sounds as if certain people did not wish to be associated with Ainsworth!


Source: "Celebrate Anniversary." Hobart Gazette 14 Sept. 1917.

Friend Is Back (Random Pointless Photo)

(Click on image to enlarge)

Friend is pretending he doesn't know what happened to Possum.

He lets me get remarkably close before he runs away. Maybe one of these days I will be typing my blog with only seven or eight fingers.

John Killigrew, Sr., circa 1892

Here's a badly faded photograph of John Killigrew, Sr., that someone has kindly estimated a date for, so I don't have to try.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

I wish I were better at estimating dates of photos based on what the people are wearing, how they are doing their hair and such, and also the photographic technique involved. I have ordered a few books of fashion history that might help me somewhat. It seems a dauntingly huge subject to try to master.

Put Your Hands — er, Corners Up!

The Gazette reported that a strange arrest had gone down on the morning of September 4, 1917: "Marshal Rose saw fit to close the saloon on the ground floor of the Hobart House by arresting the license. The action taken by Marshal Rose is quite unusual, and the first time such has been attempted in Hobart."

At the town board meeting the following week, the Marshal explained his action and the board voted to approve it. The Gazette displayed its usual discretion about the reasons for the closure, saying only that that saloon had not been "run according to law." The News was less tactful: "For some time complaint has been made, quietly if not openly, that the orgies taking place at the cabaret were not conducive to the good of the town or of the morals of our young people." Still, the News took pains to make clear that the technical licensee, Louis Dunham,* only held the license on behalf of the saloon's owner, W.L. Helm ("a common practice heretofore") and had nothing to do with the saloon's operations, or its orgies.

The Gazette that reported on the town board's approval of the closure also carried Louis Dunham's notice of intent to renew the saloon's license.

______________________
*A couple of years later Louis Dunham would become the foster father of Richard Chapman.


Sources:
♦ "Application for Renewal of Liquor License." Hobart Gazette 14 Sept. 1917.
♦ "Hobart House Bar Following Complaint Is Closed Up Tight." Hobart News 6 Sept. 1917.
♦ "Marshal Rose Closes Saloon." Hobart Gazette 7 Sept. 1917.
♦ "Town Board Doings." Hobart Gazette 14 Sept. 1917.

Two John Killigrews

Here are a couple of photographs I came across yesterday at the museum. Both are labeled "John Killigrew" with no indication of which John they are. Neither is dated.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

This is likely John Killigrew, Sr. He does resemble the John Sr. in the photo I posted a few days ago, but he looks perhaps 8 or 10 years younger in this photo. So I'm guessing it dates to roughly the turn of the century.



(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.
So this is probably John Killigrew, Jr. Of the two older boys in the group photo from a few days ago, he looks more like the one on the right. (Which would let us identify the one on the left as William.)

I don't know whether he's graduating from high school or college here. The photographer of this picture was Mabel Sykes, who, according to this website, was working (or at least taking pictures of vaudeville artists) in the period roughly from 1907 to 1926. So that doesn't help us much.

♦    ♦    ♦
I haven't found anything relating to the O'Boyle (Boyle) family, but I haven't finished looking yet. I have found some other photos of Killigrew and Bullock (and related) people that I will post as I get them organized.

His Brother's Keeper

Perhaps Dennis O'Hearn's 1914 drunken horse-swap was followed by other such incidents, and Mike got tired of seeing the damage his brother was doing to himself — hence this notice in September 1917. I don't understand on what grounds Mike proposed to prosecute people buying articles from a consenting adult, unless he had some sort of guardianship over Dennis. (Which is possible. A few months later we find two sisters in Hobart applying to have a guardian appointed for their father because he is "a habitual drunkard" and unable to "judiciously care for his estate.")


Sources:
♦ "Notice to the Public." Hobart Gazette 7 Sept. 1917.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 21 Feb. 1918.

McDaniel v. Everybody

In September 1917 John McDaniel brought an action to quiet title against everybody who might possibly ever had anything to do with a couple of parcels east of Ainsworth. He published this "Notice to Non-Resident" to tell them about it:


(Click on image to enlarge — if you dare)

Not residents of the state of Indiana — I expect that by 1917 some of them were not residents of this world.

That's all pretty boring, isn't it? But I find it interesting because some of the land involved is now mine.

The only reason John McDaniel had anything to do with the matter was because he had married Henry Chester's third wife and widow. The parcels in question were part of the old Chester land.


The disputed parcels as shown on the 1926 plat map.

Some of the names I recognize. Willard O. Halsted sold the Ainsworth general store to the Raschkas in 1901. Lucy M. Hanks was, according to Homer Ghearart, the sister of Henry Chester's second wife, Harriet (and Lucy's husband's surname was Spencer).

Charles Chester, of course, we know well — he was Henry and Harriet's son. And what's up with that "Mrs. Chas. Chester, his wife, whose true Christian name is unknown"? Constance Chester was John McDaniel's stepdaughter-in-law-by marriage; you'd think he'd know her name. Perhaps this is evidence that relations between Mary Chester McDaniel and her stepchildren were a bit strained.


Source: "Notice to Non-Resident." Hobart Gazette 7 Sept. 1917.

Burning Patriotism

It's interesting to see the issue of patriotism invoked where you might not expect it. For example, this article from the Hobart Gazette of August 24, 1917, reported the position of the National Board of Underwriters that fire prevention was now a patriotic duty:



And when the State Forestry Board urges the use of wood as fuel instead of the increasingly expensive coal — a practice that incidentally would clear out dead wood from woodlots and forests — the article appears in the August 24 Gazette under the headline, "Wood Fuel as a War Measure."


(Click on image to enlarge)

If I were cynical, I'd say the Underwriters and the Forestry Board were using patriotism to advance their professional interests. On the other hand, the diversion of manpower, materials and fuel into the war effort did create shortages of both in everyday life.