Monday, April 30, 2012

Geisha Day at Ainsworth School

Geisha Day at the Ainsworth School, 1919.
(Click on image to enlarge)
From the collection of R.F.


This photo, so I am told, shows "Geisha Day" at the Ainsworth school in 1919. I have no more exact date than that.

I don't know who these little girls are, except for the one at the right end — we think she is Gladys "Toots" Lindborg. The teacher is unidentified.

Nope, I don't know what "Geisha Day" involved, beyond little girls dressing up according to their notion of what a geisha might wear.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Clarence Goodrich Comes Home

"Clarence Goodrich has landed at Boston," said the Hobart News of April 17, 1919. He was on his way home from "over there."

He arrived back at his parents' farm on Sunday, April 20. That same day, the Merrillville Study Club held a memorial service for the four Ross Township men who died in the war — among them, as we know, Clarence's younger brother, Harold. The memorial service ended with the planting of four trees along the Lincoln Highway, each marked with the name of one of the fallen soldiers.

The report doesn't state whether Clarence attended that ceremony, but as Harold's brother and a veteran of the battlefields himself, he was an object of much attention. The last day of April, the Goodriches hosted an evening reception at their farmhouse in Clarence's honor; some 300 people from Ainsworth and vicinity attended. They were eager to hear about Clarence's experiences, and Clarence was willing enough to talk.

Harold, he told them, had fallen just a few feet from him on that day in July 1918 — killed in the heat of battle, and instantly, Clarence believed. But something about the way Harold had said goodbye the evening before suggested that the young man had a premonition of his own death. As for Clarence himself, he had gone through much fighting without ever being wounded, and through an epidemic without ever getting sick.

The Gazette of May 9 included a brief summary of his military experience:
Clarence was in the service about two years. On April 10, 1917, he enlisted with Co. F, at Gary, and when he went to camp at Hattiesburg he was assigned to Co. F, 151st Inf., but when he later went to France he was transferred to Co. I, 104th Inf., 26th Division. He sailed overseas March 2, 1918, and upon returning to America he was discharged April 19, 1919. He saw considerable service being in the Marne, in the Pas Ferris sector, July 4 to Aug. 1, 1918, and in the Marne offensive from July 18 to Aug. 23, in the St. Mihiel offensive, Sept. 12 to Sept. 15, and the Truyon sector from Sept. 14 to Oct. 5, and the Marne-Argonne offensive, Oct. 10 to the signing of the armistice.
And now he was back on the farm.


Sources:
♦ "Additional Local News." Hobart Gazette 9 May 1919.
♦ "Honor Soldier Boy." Hobart Gazette 2 May 1919.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 24 Apr. 1919.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 25 Apr. 1919.
♦ "Memorial to Fallen Heroes." Hobart Gazette 25 Apr. 1919.
♦ "South of Deepriver." Hobart News 17 Apr. 1919.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Lois By Flashlight (WWI-Era Photo Album)

Lois Beehler by Flash Light (15a)
(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


The handwritten note behind this photo reads:
Lowis Beelher
June 1918
(Flash Light)
We find a Lois Beehler (1910 Census) or Beeler (1920 Census) living with her parents, Daniel and Ida, on their farm in Union Township, Porter County. She was 17 years old in 1920, so probably about 14 or 15 in this photo — if that's her.

On the same page in the album, a missing photo of "Uncle George."

Uncle George caption (15b)

Friday, April 27, 2012

Oscar Still At It

Nearly four years after his first "scrap" with the town over Linda Street, Oscar Carlson still hadn't given up the fight.

Town Board Doings
(Click on image to enlarge)
From the Hobart Gazette of April 18, 1919.


Thanks to those glass-plate images, I feel as if I know Oscar better than when I came across the 1915 incident. I was still unclear on who was who among all the Carlsons in Hobart, but then in May 1919, Swan Peter Carlson died, and his obituary helped to explain the relations.

SP Carlson obituary
(Click on image to enlarge)
From the Hobart News of May 1, 1919.


The Hobart museum has a large binder devoted to Carlson genealogy, for anyone who is serious about it.

♦    ♦    ♦

In non-Carlson news, a somewhat vague report seems to have John Dorman leading the effort to get firefighting equipment for Ross Township, and to store such equipment at Ainsworth … the heart of Ross Township.

Township Firefighting Equipment
(Click on image to enlarge)
From the Hobart News of April 17, 1919.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Vera Quinlan

Last in our little series of re-discovered Quinlan photos is Vera.

Vera Quinlan
(Click on images to enlarge)
All images in this post courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


Handwritten notes on the back read: "Merry Xmas to Uncle Gil & Aunt Tell"; in another hand: "Vera Quinlan." And embossed on front: "Vreeland Studio/Alva O.T." The photo is undated, but since Mrs. J.C. Herron opened the Vreeland Studio in 1901 (you can go here and search or scroll down for a brief biographical sketch of Mrs. Herron), and Oklahoma became a state in 1907, we have a possible range. Vera was born in 1900.

"Uncle Gil & Aunt Tell" would probably be Gilbert and Estella Bullock.

This photo of Vera, also undated, was taken in Hobart by August Haase.

Vera Quinlan

I really can't tell which photo is earlier.

Finally, a photo of Vera later in life, undated (but she died in 1958).

Vera Quinlan

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Wildflowers of Ainsworth: Chokecherry

Chokecherry blossoms
(Click on images to enlarge)

Another from Jerry Pavese Park.

I was first introduced to these on one of my childhood visits to my grandparents in southern Missouri. A little neighbor girl there told me the trees got their name from the bitter taste of their fruit. She was brave enough to taste the fruit — and spit it out. I wasn't brave enough to taste it.

The Wikipedia entry on this topic includes a puzzling statement: "Chokecherry is toxic to horses, and moose, cattle, goats, deer, and other animals with segmented stomachs (rumens), especially after the leaves have wilted (such as after a frost or after branches have been broken) because wilting releases cyanide and makes the plant sweet" — puzzling, I say, because I would not expect the poisonous qualities of cyanide to be limited to the animals listed. But then, I have not closely studied either chokecherries or cyanide.

Here are some chokecherry bushes overlooking Lake George.

Chokecherry bushes

Liberty, Victory … Whatever

The leadership structure for the fifth Liberty Loan drive had been announced in March. In mid-April came the announcement of quotas for northwest Indiana's major towns, including Gary, East Chicago, Crown Point, and, of course, Hobart, with a quota of $109,800 in bonds. (Nobody bothered setting quotas for one-horse burgs like Ainsworth.)

The official opening of the drive itself — now called the "Victory Loan Drive" — would begin on Monday, April 21, 1919. Leading up to it would be a series of four-minute speeches at the Gem Theater, two given by those experienced speakers, the Rev. A.H. Lawrence and John Killigrew, and one by "some foreign speaker."

John Cavender, in charge of the Hobart part of the drive, expected a "war exhibit car" to pass through Hobart the Sunday before the drive — at least, he had "heard nothing so far to the contrary." And then on Monday, canvassers would go forth to ask for money.

Victory Loan ad
From the Hobart News of April 24, 1919.

The Victory Loan Drive seems to have gone off like a damp firecracker. As May opened, the News complained that the drive was "lagging sadly to the rear in Hobart." Volunteer canvassers were in short supply, and so were volunteer subscribers. The Gazette chided those who sat back and waited to be solicited. "The resources of the three banks in Hobart for the first three months of this year increased over $100,000. This shows that there is money in this community, and plenty of it." Both papers conceded that the interest rates weren't as appealing as some stocks and bonds offered lately, but the Victory Bonds were a surer investment. And, of course, there was the appeal to patriotism: "Don't let the boys returning from France, where they fought your battles, learn that you have not subscribed for a bond," the Gazette warned. "The boys have shed their blood — let us all pay the cost."

Victory Loan ad
From the Hobart Gazette of May 8, 1919.

There was no parade this time, and if the "war exhibit car" came through Hobart, its appearance was not reported on. Although volunteers were still in short supply, several unnamed local women worked steadfastly as canvassers. As the drive ended, Hobart limped "over the top." Subscriptions in the town itself fell just short of $72,000, but many Hobart residents worked in Gary and had subscribed for bonds at their places of employment; those amounts, added to the total, brought Hobart over its quota.


Sources:
♦ Advertisement. Hobart Gazette 8 May 1919.
♦ Advertisement. Hobart News 24 Apr. 1919.
♦ "Have You Taken a Bond?" Hobart Gazette 2 May 1919.
♦ "Hobart Goes 'Over the Top' in the Victory Loan Campaign." Hobart News 15 May 1919.
♦ "Loan Drive Starts Monday." Hobart Gazette 18 Apr. 1919.
♦ "Victory Loan Drive Will Start Next Monday." Hobart News 17 Apr. 1918.
♦ "Victory Loan Is Not Progressing as Rapidly as Previous Loans." Hobart News 1 May 1919.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Wildflowers of Ainsworth: Pussytoes

Pussytoes up close
(Click on images to enlarge)

These flowers get their name from their resemblance to a cat's toes — with the claws retracted, of course. The blossoms are just little white puffs, the stems and leaves downy.

According to Jack Sanders, their other folk names include ladies' tobacco, love's nest, poverty weed, and pearly mouse-eared everlasting.

The only one of those names with any explanation is "poverty weed," for their ability to grow in poor soil. That name is also applied to other plants with the same ability.

I came across these in Jerry Pavese Park, or whatever they call that part of the park with the Scout cabin, but they are common.

Pussytoes tend to grow in colonies, and the plants in each colony are connection by runners beneath the surface of the soil.

Pussytoe colony

Jessie Bullock Quinlan

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


Continuing with the little collection of Quinlan photos … this graceful portrait is identified by a handwritten note on the back as Jessie Quinlan. There is no date, and I have yet to learn during what time span Roland(?) Grabill operated his Hobart studio. From general appearances, I would place this photo, very roughly, in the early to mid-1930s. In the 1930 Census, Jessie was 53 years old.

Monday, April 23, 2012

The Crisman House

Earlier this month I was driving around with an old-timer, who was telling me who had lived where back in the day. As we drove along 73rd Avenue, he pointed to a big white farmhouse, saying, "That's the Crisman house."

Crisman! I've seen that name often enough, as anybody would who reads up on Deep River's past, but I had not known where exactly they lived. Now I knew. I vowed to come back soon with my camera. A couple of weeks later, I did.

… See that bare patch of earth behind the trees? That's where the Crisman house used to stand. I missed it by a matter of days.

Crisman house
(Click on image to enlarge)

I just took that picture this morning. When I first made the discovery, I was too upset to do anything. In fact, I was so upset that one night soon after, I dreamed I was looking at the bare earth where the Bullock house had stood — it had disappeared as well, and I thanked my lucky stars that I had got a picture of it beforehand. So vivid and realistic was the dream that I awoke thinking it was a memory. Many hours passed before I started questioning myself. Finally I drove out to 69th Avenue to make sure, for better or for worse.

Turned out to be only a dream.

When I drove out on 73rd this morning, I was half-hoping that the Crisman part would turn out to be a dream, too. But it didn't.

As you can see, the barn is still standing, at least for the moment. If I'm not mistaken, this land belongs to the Lake County Parks Department now.

Community and Communicable

Community Hall opening announcement

The former Hobart House, remodeled and with a new hardwood floor in its dance hall, was now to re-open as the Community Building. It was thus "Hobart's oldest and newest hall," since the third floor had been a dance hall half a century earlier, before being partitioned into hotel rooms. The building's basement, also newly remodeled and painted, was expected to be used for a soft drink and ice cream parlor. All in all, the old building seemed prepared as the site of much sociable fun for the town.

Speaking of sociable fun, the M.E. Church on Fourth Street had just seen a lively celebration, as Bertha Messick hosted a joint birthday party honoring her daughter, Dalia, and a boy names James Hawke (poor little overshadowed thing!). Some 34 children and unnumbered adults crowded into the church basement for three hours.

Community Hall's first dance took place on Wednesday, April 23, and thereafter the hall was opened to the public every Saturday night. A mid-May notice read: "You who enjoy dancing on a fine floor to good music, are assured a pleasant and enjoyable evening in Community hall every Saturday. Admission: Gentlemen, 50 cents. Ladies, 25 cents."

♦    ♦    ♦

The day after the hall's first dance, the News reported that an "epidemic" of typhoid fever "raging" in Hammond had taken the life of an uncle of Hobart's Charles Nitchman. Early in May, the Gazette noted that an "epidemic of scarlet fever" was apparently underway in Valparaiso. A month later, measles, chicken pox and whooping cough were reported in Hobart.


Sources:
♦ "Additional Local News." Hobart Gazette 9 May 1919.
♦ "Community Hall Will Be Formally Opened to the Public on April 23rd." Hobart News 17 Apr. 1919.
♦ "Grand Opening of Community Hall, Hobart, Ind., Wednesday Evening, April 23rd, 1919." Hobart Gazette 18 April 1919.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 24 Apr. 1919; 15 May 1919; 12 June 1919.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 18 Apr. 1919.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Sam Quinlan, Knight Templar

At the Hobart museum, I find that it pays to go through files again and again, because the more I learn, the more meaningful the contents become. Case in point: some Quinlan photos that I recently encountered in a photo file — I'm sure I looked through that file a couple of years ago, but the presence of the photos did not register in my mind the first time I saw them because the name, Quinlan, simply didn't mean anything to me.

This is one shows us — according to a handwritten note on the back — "Sam Quinlan, Knight Templar" in all the glory of his Masonic regalia. No date on it, nor any indication of whether it was taken in Oklahoma or Indiana.

Sam Quinlan, Knight Templar
(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Final and Other Business

Simeon and Abbie Bullock were happy to open their home to their grandchildren, Lester and Vera Quinlan. The young folks had now enrolled in the Hobart school; they were no doubt making new friends, and they had plenty of relatives in the area. But the newly widowed Jessie Bullock Quinlan still had her husband's estate to settle. In mid-April 1919, she and her father left for Alva, Oklahoma. They spent three weeks attending to the final business, returning to Hobart on May 3.

Meanwhile, in Hobart, the first ad of the resurrected business of Lee & Rhodes appeared, perhaps by accident, next to an ad placed by Charles Lee's long-ago partner, George Bruce.

Lee-Rhodes ad
(Click on images to enlarge)

And the Gem Theater's Saturday-night features included a comedy starring the immensely popular Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.

Gem Theater ad


Sources:
♦ Advertisements. Hobart News 10 Apr. 1919.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 10 Apr. 1919; 8 May 1919.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Four Women, Three Names and a Boujai
(WWI-Era Photo Album)

On page 22 of the album, we get an odd juxtaposition of smiling young women, and dead birds.

First, the smiling young women.

Hideen, Manteuffel (22a)
(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


Handwritten description behind the first photo:
Anna Hideen
Selma " Larson
Evelyn Manntyffle
Nice, but we don't know which name applies to which young woman, and one apparently hasn't got a name. Though the photo is undated, from the fashions it looks to be from roughly the same time as the dated photos in this album, i.e., 1917-1919.

Anna Hideen was 18 years old in the 1920 Census, her sister, Selma, 16. If Selma went on to marry a Larson, I haven't found out about it yet. Their older brothers, Elmer and Eric, had already left home by then. Their mother, Christine, was widowed, but I don't know how or when.

Evelyn Manteuffel was the daughter of the shoe people, Paul and Emilie Manteuffel. I believe she was the first child of that marriage, but she had two older siblings, Clara and Elsa, from their mother's first marriage, to the Mr. Piske who started the shoe store. (I got the information about the two marriages from here.) Evelyn was 20 years old in the 1920 Census.

Now, let's see some dead birds.

Hunting in Bayou (22b)

And let's see some creative spelling as well. Handwritten on back of this photo:
Shot with 22 Rifel
May 3 – 1917
In Gruel's New Slauter House Boujai from EJE Tracks
By "Boujai," I suppose he means "bayou." I don't know where the slaughterhouse was. The "Gruel" would probably be Charles Gruel, the butcher, whose biographical sketch you can read in the Lake County Encyclopedia, if you are so inclined.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Open for Business!

The Hobart Gazette of April 11, 1919 carried the announcement that Lee & Rhodes were open for business.

Lee, Rhodes announcement
(Click on images to enlarge)

The same paper carried ads from our other commercial friends at the Ainsworth Department Store and the Batavia Grocery and Market.

Sauter, Goldman ads

Perhaps the "New York purchase" was something Amelia Goldman had bought in the course of her business-and-pleasure traveling.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Ole's Pasture (WWI-Era Photo Album)

Unidentified (1a)
(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


This first photo is unidentified only because it is so generously glued to the album page that I can't lift it enough to read the writing on the back. Looks like a swampy area, and what might be a beaver's den among the vegetation — that would be a subject of interest to "Myself" as a likely place to shoot things, wouldn't it?

Ole's pasture (1b)

The handwritten note behind the second photo on the page reads:
Looking N. From Grand Trunk Bridge into "Ole's Pasture"
Sept – 1918
1 – Mile North "Deep River Town."
I believe the only Grand Trunk bridge in the vicinity of that village was, and is, the one over the Deep River, now in Deep River County Park. I have no idea who Ole was, though. None of my plat maps, from 1874 to 1926, show anyone named Ole owning that land. Might have been a tenant, though.

What really strikes me about this photo is how open the land is. These days, you can't see the land for the trees.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Of Auctions and Chickens

This page from the Hobart Gazette of April 4, 1919, carried an auction notice that suggests that William and Antonia Rossow were getting out of the farming business. I have seen later plat maps with Rossow acreage south of the streetcar line — maybe the Rossows would keep the land but let someone else farm it; on the other hand, it wouldn't be the first time a plat-mapmaker seemed confused.

And since it's time for people to plant their gardens, Dr. Clara Faulkner wants all those wandering chickens penned up.

Gazette 4-4-1919
(Click on image to enlarge)

Monday, April 16, 2012

Only a Skunk; Rabbits from Sherr's Farm
(WWI-Era Photo Album)

"Myself" is once again showing off his hunting prowess.

Only a Skunk (14a)
(Click on images to enlarge)
All images in this post courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


This photo has no information beyond the handwritten caption informing the world that this is "only a skunk."

Handwritten on the back of the next photo:
Nove 28 – 17
Rabbits Got on Sherr's Farm
Rabbits Got on Sherr's Farm (14b)

I suppose this farm is where Ruby lived.

The previous page had lost its photos, but still had this caption to suggest that the lost photos were of more victims of the mighty hunter.

13 caption but no photos

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Stay for Supper

"Stay for supper, won't you?" Minnie Osborne urged her sister, Ethel Meyers. The little Meyers family — Ethel, Warren and their nine-year-old daughter, Marie — had come out from their Porter County farm to spend Saturday, March 29, in Hobart with the Osbornes.

It was a tempting offer. Ethel and Warren wavered, but finally duty won out: there were chores that needed to be done before dark, and a drive of nearly 20 country miles lay between Hobart and their farm northeast of Hebron. So around 5 o'clock the Meyers climbed into their Ford and set out, heading southeast. Their route was through Wheeler.

At Wheeler, William Raschka sat in his car near the railroad depot, looking toward the west crossing. Two sets of railroad tracks, the Pennsy and the Nickel Plate, ran side-by-side through the town. William could probably already hear the rumble of the Nickel Plate mail train, approaching from the east. It was running late, and with no need to stop in Wheeler, the engineer could throw open the throttle to make up for lost time.

As William watched, two autos approached the crossing: from the north, the Meyers' Ford, and from the south, a car driven by Clarence Burge of Wheeler. There were, of course, no lights or gates at the crossing. Clarence cleared the Nickel Plate tracks, but he had noticed the train flying toward the crossing, so he called out a warning to Warren, who was just then crossing the Pennsy tracks.

What happened next mystified Clarence. Later he theorized that his shouting may have confused Warren. For whatever reason, the Meyers' Ford slowed down, and then, as it rolled onto the Nickel Plate tracks, it stopped.

The speeding train caught the Ford square in the middle. Pieces of the car were flung toward the south, scattered for a hundred feet along the tracks, but the top of the car and the three occupants it sheltered were caught by the engine's pilot and carried for the half-mile it took the train to stop.

Clarence and William left their cars and ran to catch up with the engine.

William knew the Meyers family, so it must have been a shock when the men pulled aside the wrecked car top and found Warren and Marie dead, killed instantly. Ethel, remarkably, was alive and conscious, though badly injured. She recognized William. He asked her if he could do anything to help, if he could notify anyone. She told him no, and added that she would be all right as soon as the pain stopped.

She and the bodies of her husband and child were loaded onto the train that had hit them, bound for Hobart. Someone probably called ahead to alert doctor and undertaker; when the train stopped at Hobart, the bodies were removed, to be taken to Alwin Wild's undertaking parlor, while Dr. C.C. Brink boarded the train to accompany Ethel to Mercy Hospital in Gary.

She died on the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

Warren was survived by his father, Henry Meyers of Crown Point, and one brother. Ethel was survived by her parents, Wallace and Mary Thompson of Hebron, two twin brothers, and — besides her sister, Minnie Osborne — another sister, Olive, now married to Arthur Weiler of Deep River.

The little family's funeral took place that Wednesday in Hebron, and they were laid to rest in the Salem Cemetery.

I expect that Minnie Osborne suffered a little from the kind of guilty hindsight that tends to afflict survivors in such cases — that she spent some time wishing she had been more forceful in urging her sister and brother-in-law to stop worrying about the chores so much, just this once, and stay for supper.


Sources:
1900 Census.
1910 Census.
1920 Census.
1930 Census.
♦ "Family of Three Killed at Wheeler." Hobart Gazette 4 Apr. 1919.
♦ "Myers Family Killed in R.R. Accident at Wheeler." Hobart News 3 Apr. 1919.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Photograph of a Photographer (WWI-Era Photo Album)

Photographer shoots photographer (36a)
(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


This photo was alone on page 36 of the album, and had no description of any kind.

Behind these two guys is the Hobart library, and behind it, the water tower on New Street.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Class of 1919

Willard Dorman and Wilma Cullman, last seen as juniors, graduated with the Hobart High School class of 1919.

HHS 1919 yearbook, W. Cullman, W. Dorman
(Click on images to enlarge)
All images in this post courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


When the News announced that Wilma was to be valedictorian of this graduating class of nine young people, it noted that she had won out over Alice MacIver by only a fraction of a percentage point.

Both Willard and Wilma were on the staff of the Aurora yearbook.

HHS 1919 Aurora staff photo
HHS 1919 Aurora staff roster

The Class Will and other humorous items give us sketches of these two personalities.

HHS 1919 Class Will

HHS 1919 Class Mirror

Laugh is the cure

That last one I originally posted when speaking of the serious accident that Wilma and her family had been through. It also mentions Willard Dorman, pairing him up with Emma Carstensen (for awhile, anyway, since the Class Will suggests he lost her to some guy in Hammond).

Finally, an essay on how the Class of 1919 learned Mathematics, from Wilma, gives us a glimpse of Alfred Epps as a teacher.


Sources:
♦ "Graduating Class Composed of Seven Girls and 2 Boys." Hobart News 27 Mar. 1919
♦ Hobart High School Aurora yearbook, 1919.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Finery and Smokestack (WWI-Era Photo Album)

44a
(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


44b

These two photos are unidentified except for a handwritten note stuck behind the second, which reads, simply, June 1918. But I'm pretty sure these were taken on the same day, at the same place, as the other two photos we've just seen — since it is June 1918, and there they are, all dressed up in an open field, with crowds of people and parked cars behind them, and watched over by a belching smokestack.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Fred and Emily (Schnabel) Shults

Fred and Emily (Schnabel) Shults
Image courtesy of Suzi.

After I just mentioned Fred Shults in the post focusing on his brother, William, Suzi sent me this photo of Fred and his bride, the 21-year-old Emily Schnabel. They were married November 20, 1912.

Here is the marriage announcement from the "Local Drifts" column of the Hobart Gazette of November 22, 1912, which I partially quoted in the earlier post:
Fred Shults, brother of Chas. and Wm. Shults who live in Ross township, and Miss Emily Schnabel, second youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Schnabel, Sr., who live in Hobart, were quietly married Wednesday afternoon at Crown Point and are receiving the hearty congratulations of their many friends with whom the Gazette joins. The young couple will shortly go to housekeeping in the B.B. Bale residence near the Penna depot.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Wildflowers of Ainsworth: Corn Speedwell?

Corn Speedwell
(Click on images to enlarge)

I more or less matched this up to Corn Speedwell in Newcomb's Wildflower Guide. Then I went on-line to try to confirm it. All the images brought up by a search for "corn speedwell" showed flowers that were more blue than this. So I don't know.

The plants are low and sprawling; the flowers tiny, less than ¼" across, with three large petals and one small.
Corn Speedwell up close

These photos were taken in my garden. I won't be identifying any woodland flowers or mushrooms this year. Old age has finally caught up with Maya and she doesn't want to go for long walks in the woods anymore; only short walks in civilized places. And I can't go into the woods without a dog.

Scarlet Fever

We've heard nothing from the John Chester family since they moved to Gary.

When we finally do get news of them, it is sad:
Eddie, the 2-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. John Chester of Glen Park, formerly of Hobart, died Saturday [March 22, 1919] after an illness of a few days from scarlet fever. The funeral was held at the home Sunday afternoon, burial being in Crown Hill cemetery.
The Chesters had four children surviving, three daughters and a son.

Eddie rests beside Otto, the infant brother he never knew.

Chester, Edward
(Click on images to enlarge)

Chester, Otto


Sources:
1920 Census.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 27 Mar. 1919.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Ruby Sherr (WWI-Era Photo Album)

Ruby Sherr (23b)
(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


The handwritten note behind this photo reads:
Ruby Sherr
June 1918
At Old Base Ball Ground
I believe this photo dates to the same day as the one of the home guard band.

In the background, right of Ruby, you can see what looks very much like a brickyard stack spewing out smoke.

Checking the 1920 Census, I find a likely candidate in Ruby Shurr, 21 years old, living in Porter Township, Porter County. Her parents, Andrew and Clara, farm their own land. You can see the Shurr farm on this map, if you really want to.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Delilah (Random Pointless Photos)

No baby squirrels this spring (so far), but my sister has adopted one of two tiny kittens that were dropped off at the animal shelter where she volunteers. Delilah is still so young that she has to be fed by hand.

Delilah
(Click on images to enlarge)

Delilah

Happy Easter!
Enjoy It While It Lasts!

Easter 1911
(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


These somber chicks look as if they were already contemplating their final destiny on the chopping block. And who received this Easter memento mori? Frederick Henrickson — the same little boy who got the serial-killer Santa Christmas card.

Easter 1911 back

I hope the poor kid turned out OK, in spite of it all.