Wildflowers of Ainsworth: Sweet Viburnum Berries

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I have to go back to Extreme Summer Posting Time because I'm tired. So here's the fruit of the sweet viburnum. Which it appears that somebody likes to eat. Maybe somebody with wings.

Found in Jerry Pavese Park.

The Death of Henry Ream

In spite of the fact that the Ream family seems to have no connection whatsoever to Ainsworth, there has been a special place in my heart for them ever since I happened to buy some of their papers at auction almost three years ago. So I take note of the passing of Henry Ream — father of the 17-year-old Arnold killed by lightning, as reported in the ragged 1903 newspaper I found among the papers (and random dishes and books) in that box I bought.

His son's untimely death was not the last tragedy Henry had to live through. A year later, his 17-year-old nephew, Roscoe Howard, died after accidentally shooting himself in the head as he went out to hunt birds on a neighbor's farm. In 1917, Henry had lost another son in an accident. William Ream, 33 years old and single, living with his parents, had been doing some work in the basement of "Watkins," wherever that might be. He was alone at the time, so when he was found in the afternoon, unconscious on the basement floor, no one knew what had happened — or would ever know, for William died that evening without regaining consciousness. The conjecture was that he had fallen and struck his head.

Henry, in contrast, died in his own bed on October 15, 1919, peacefully, and not unexpectedly, as he had suffered from "heart trouble" for several years.

He had been born on June 20, 1852,* in Ohio. Sometime before 1860, his parents, John and Mary (Clark) Ream, brought their family to Indiana and settled on a farm east of Hobart. There Henry grew up.

For unknown reasons, in 1883 he went to Arkansas, and there he met and married Josephine Havely. Henry and "Josie" returned to Hobart to live and raise their family. They farmed east of town until the spring of 1908, when Henry decided to retire from farming and move his family to Hobart. According to the Gazette, he "joined two small houses on the corner of Third and Linda streets" to create the new family home. (Unfortunately the story doesn't indicate which corner of Third and Linda Streets.)

Henry was survived by his wife and three children in their twenties: Bert and Edith, who both still lived at home, and Ollie,** now the wife of John Fleming.

Henry is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery.


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__________________
*This is the date given in both his obituaries and it accords with the Indiana death record, but all census records suggest he was born in 1850, and that is the year carved on his grave marker.
**The Gazette gives her name as Alice, but the News and the census and marriage records all call her Ollie.


Sources:
♦ 1860 Census.
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "Accidental Shooting." Hobart Gazette 15 July 1904.
♦ "Death Comes Suddenly to Wm. Elmer Ream." Hobart News 30 Aug. 1917.
♦ "Dies as a Result of Fall." Hobart Gazette 31 Aug. 1917.
♦ "Henry Ream Dies Suddenly." Hobart Gazette 17 Oct. 1919.
♦ "Henry Ream, Aged Hobart Citizen, Dies Suddenly Wednesday." Hobart News 16 Oct. 1919.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ Indiana WPA Death Records Index.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 27 Mar. 1908.

August 3rd 1919

From the Schavey envelope collection.


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

A handwritten note on the back of this photo reads: "(Right) Mable Breyfogle 1919." I would never have recognized her. In 1919, of course, she was Mable Schavey, so the note was written later, perhaps much later.

She and her friend borrowed those hats from their brothers or boyfriends, I think.

No indication of where they are. The setting looks a bit farm-like, with that plain plank building beside a little ornamental garden roughly marked off with rocks. That's the farm dog in the right background, I suppose. Notice the hand pumps behind Mable's head. Above them you can see part of some large metal framework that looks to me like the supporting structure of a windmill.

"Whiskey Still Raided"

On the afternoon of October 14, 1919, three U.S. Army trucks drove into Hobart from the northwest, as if coming from Gary. Though this caravan moved quietly and at a moderate pace, it couldn't help being noticed; yet its mission was as mysterious to the town's officers as to any ordinary citizen. The trucks headed toward the southern reaches of the town, south of "Jake Kramer's subdivision," and finally stopped at a house that Jake Kramer had sold, a couple years earlier, to one John Preslach of Gary.


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I cannot locate any area in southern Hobart designated "Jake Kramer's Subdivision," so I suspect the area in question was the Jake Kramer, Jr. Addition, lying south of 10th Street and north of 14th, east of State Road 51.
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

Out of the trucks leapt federal officials and armed soldiers, who swiftly carried out their mission: raiding the house and arresting John Preslach.

The reason soon came to light, as the raiders spent the afternoon hauling barrel after barrel out of the house — 18 barrels of whiskey, several more of "fresh made" wine, and as much as 2,000 gallons of raisin brandy. The soldiers also hauled out (in the words of the Gazette) "one of the largest illicit stills for making whiskey ever captured by the government…. The still was a superior make and had a capacity of three gallons per hour." Two of the Army trucks were loaded with barrels of liquor and the third carried the still when the caravan finally set out to return to Gary.

In Gary, another raid had been carried out that afternoon, at a building at 17th and Delaware, also owned by Mr. Preslach. That raid yielded about 1,000 gallons of raisin brandy.

The total haul of raisin brandy alone that day was valued at about $75,000 — nearly $1 million in today's dollars.

Both of Hobart's papers, reporting on the raids, asserted that John Preslach was something of a lower-level worker in a liquor-manufacturing outfit headed by a couple of Gary residents, one whose name is given variously as Sava Gaich or Sace Babich, the other named John Kocich. Those two had been under suspicion for a couple of months; local authorities finally called in the feds. "Local authorities" in the reports probably meant Gary authorities, as all of Hobart had been in the dark, according to the Gazette:

As far as can be learned, no "tip" came from this town and no one here seemed aware that Hobart was sheltering the largest known still for making whiskey in Lake county, if not in the state. Neither were the local officials advised of the arrest or asked to assist. Uncle Sam works quietly….

Hobart was only the manufacturing site. The liquor was to destined for sale in Gary.

One can almost hear a note of wistfulness in the final comment by the News: "The whisky and wine is freshly made, and seasoning of the same would have made it the strongest and best liquor obtainable."


Sources:
♦ "A Whiskey Still Raided in Hobart Last Monday." Hobart News 16 Oct. 1919.
♦ CPI Inflation Calculator.
♦ "Government Makes Still Raid in Hobart." Hobart Gazette 17 Oct. 1919.

Schavey Envelope Collection: Mable and Harry

At last the time is ripe (in other words, it suits my convenience) to begin a tour of another collection of photos, similar to the WWI-era photo album and the glass-plate negatives. Like the other two, I came across this collection in the files of the Hobart Historical Society. It consists of a number of small photographs stuffed into this envelope:


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

Hence these photos shall be known as the Schavey envelope collection. The very few that are identified show Mable Schavey, along with Harry Breyfogle (whom she married circa 1922), and their son, Kenneth (born circa 1925).* If I've figured out the family relations correctly, Mable was the daughter of Henry Schavey, who was among the many sons of Fred and Anna Schavey. So the "Grampa Schavey" mentioned on the envelope was Henry (born circa 1871), who married (circa 1892) Frances Springman and fathered Mable (circa 1896). The other names on the envelope are thus Mable's siblings.

Mable grew up in western Porter County. In 1900, her parents were farming rented land in Portage Township; by 1910 they had bought their own land in Union Township, where the 1920 census found also found them.


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This excerpt from a 1921 plat map of Union Township shows the Schavey farm. The residence of Otto Gruel, noted at the lower left, was just over the Lake County border, on the north side of Ainsworth Road.
Plat map, digitized by Steven R. Shook, via www.inportercounty.org.

I don't know exactly when the Schaveys moved to Hobart, but Mable and her husband and son were there when the 1930 census came around, and so was her father (widowed and remarried).

Let's start with this photo which, according to handwritten notes on the back, shows Mable (Schavey) and Harry Breyfogle on May 10, 1924.


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

_____________________
*Dates estimated from the 1930 Census.

Another Long-Timer Gone

William Smith had lived 54 of his 72 years in Ross Township, and aside from a couple years' residence in Hobart, had left only for brief visits to family and friends. In October 1919 he left forever.


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William had been quieter than his older brother, it seems; his name rarely appeared in the newspapers except in connection with visits and bereavements. His only daughter, Mabel, and her husband Frank owned a farm well south of Ainsworth. William's four surviving grandchildren were Lynne, Helen, Glen and Ruth, the oldest being about 14 and the youngest an infant.

William was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery with both his wives.







The first wife, Cassie, had originally (in 1877) been buried somewhere else — I don't know where. About two months after the second Mrs. Smith died (November 1908) and was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery, the first Mrs. Smith was removed from her first grave and reburied in the cemetery where lay her successor … and also her grandson; but whether that made any difference to her, I cannot say.


Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "Death of a Ross Township Citizen." Hobart Gazette 10 Oct. 1919.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 6 Nov. 1908; 22 Jan. 1909.
♦ "South of Deepriver." Hobart News 9 Oct. 1919.

Wagon Wheel Menu (Random Old Image)

Do you remember the Wagon Wheel restaurant? I don't.


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No date on this thing.

Only a Thousand Miles

The autumn of 1919 found those road trippers, Charles and Constance Chester, on the road again, but this time it was a comparatively short trip: only a thousand miles.

Also, we find out that Constance had a niece in Kansas, Mrs. Etta Messmaker (whom the 1920 Census shows as a 41-year-old widow).


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From the Hobart Gazette of October 10, 1919.

Pennsy Depot, 1987 (Random Old Image)

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It's not all that old, but it's pretty darn random. Per handwritten notes on the slide this is scanned from, this photo was taken August 1, 1987.

Did people still use slides in 1987? … I suppose so; what else was there then? What on earth did we do before computers???

Anyway, you can now see the above slide at the Hobart Historical Society museum, if you want to hold it up to the window and squint, because it's quite small.

He Went Home Again

I didn't even know that Charles Maybaum, Jr. was in poor health. And now, having learned that from the age of 17 he suffered from "rheumatism" (probably arthritis), I am surprised that he was so active. As the years passed, his condition grew worse: by his early thirties, he needed a crutch and a cane just to move about, and toward the end he was "quite helpless."

All of this came out (to me) only after Charles died on October 11, 1919, in the house in Ainsworth where he had moved only three months earlier. He was 53 years old, having been born July 23, 1866, in Germany.

I do wonder if the grief and disruption in his life — the loss of his mother, who had cared for him all those years, the move from his old familiar farm home to a house in the village — hastened his death, but that is just my wild conjecture.

Charles was survived by his nine siblings, and since eight of them lived in northwest Indiana, they likely attended his funeral at the M.E. Church in Hobart. The possible exception was his sister Lena Barney, who now lived in Battle Creek, Michigan; but her branch of the family was represented by her 28-year-old son, Ray, who made the trip down to pay his respects.

Charles Jr. was laid to rest in Crown Hill Cemetery.


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That is the west side of the stone whose east side memorializes his parents.

His brother-in-law, R.D. Sizelove, was appointed administrator of his estate.




Sources:
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ "Additional Local News." Hobart Gazette 11 July 1919.
♦ "Card of Thanks." Hobart News 16 Oct. 1919.
♦ "Death of Charles Maybaum." Hobart Gazette 17 Oct. 1919.
♦ "Funeral of Charles Maybaum Held Monday Afternoon." Hobart News 16 Oct. 1919.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 16 Oct. 1919.
♦ "Notice of Administration." Hobart News 16 Oct. 1919.

Hobart Then and Now: Union Block/MainSource Bank

Circa 1911, and 2012.



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Here we have the southwest corner of Third and Center Streets in downtown Hobart, Indiana. The first image comes from a postcard postmarked 1911. At the east (left) end is the Wm. Stommel & Co. Spot Cash Store; to the west of that is Charles Borger's harness shop; and at the west end, if I'm reading the lettering on the window correctly, is Charles Gruel's store — probably a meat market, since he so describes his business in the 1910 Census. And the next building down the street would be The Hub, John Hillman's saloon.

I feel lucky to have got this postcard, as I don't believe I've seen this particular view of the Union Block before. The details are wonderful, so I scanned the living daylights out of this thing; while the image above links to a reduced version, you can view the "Original" size on Flickr to see details — but I warn you, it's a very large file.

Here are a couple details I especially liked. First, two women(?) watching the photographer from the second-story bay window to the right of the Spot Cash Store sign.



On the door below the Spot Cash Store sign, we can see the names Mackey and Faulkner. I expect the two doctors had offices on the second story.



And the fancy lettering on Charles Borger's windows!



The left windows reads: "C.A. Borger/Whips." On the right window, we can partially see what I think is "Harness," and below that, smaller, "Blankets." Which latter would account for those blankets festooning the entrance.

The Old Mill circa 1932 (Random Old Photo)

Photographers never got tired of shooting the old mill, and sometimes when I'm trying to figure out if I've got a "new" photo or one I've already used, I feel as if I were a child again, playing that game where you try to spot the small differences between nearly identical pictures.

But I think this is a new one (in the sense that I hadn't put it up on the Downtown Hobart blog yet).


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Notice the three or four figures on the riverbank — women, I think, though the one in the hat might be a boy. That's probably a plain old skiff pulled up on the bank, as opposed to a coffin that they're about to launch for a Viking funeral. The water level seems low.

Here's the reverse.



So it was sent from Chicago in 1932, to Wisconsin, and not signed. As for sister Signa, I do find in the 1930 Census a Signa Oberg living in Gary, with husband Frank, but none in Hobart. With so little to go on, I can't know if that's the right one.

I'm deciphering the recipients' name as Greenhault, but that doesn't do me any good; I can't find them.

Clifford Blachly, Race Car Driver

Another report on the exploits of some area speed demons. Behind the wheel of a racing car was Clifford Blachly, who had left Ainsworth, along with his parents (J.B. and Belle), not quite two years earlier. And those crazy Hoovers are winning motorcycles races, as usual.


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From the Hobart Gazette of October 3, 1919.

(I think George "Demons" might have been George Demmon.)

Main Street Looking North from Third (Random Old Photo)

When I bought this postcard, I thought I was buying just another copy of something we already had, but upon searching around, I can't find it on the Downtown Hobart site, so maybe I was only remembering it from a previous appearance on Ebay. Anyway, it's a nice view of Main Street!


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Speaking of my poor memory, I've been reading recently (and by "recently," I mean late summer/autumn 1919) about the paving of some of Hobart's main streets, but for the most part I didn't take notes and can't recall the details. I understand from the December 11, 1919 Hobart News that the paving of Main Street through downtown had been completed, but other paving work remained to be done the next spring. In this photo it looks as if Third Street has been paved as well — I don't know when that was done. For the moment, I'm going to estimate the date of this picture as between 1920 and 1926 (when the building at right had its façade remodeled).

I like some of the details here — the kid on the bike out in the middle of the street, no need to fear the traffic; loafers hanging out in front of the drugstore; nearby, a weight machine that you probably had to put a penny in. Just to the right of the center streetlamp you can see the steeple of the old St. Bridget peeking up out of the trees, and just below it, the bay window of the Pedersen building.

Here's the reverse of this unused postcard.

Health Care Costs, 1919 (and More)

A few stories on this page from the Hobart Gazette of October 3, 1919 — first, doctors' fees have gone up a bit since 1907.

Then we have the marriage of 19-year-old Martha Mackey to 21-year-old Donald B. Gilger (ages per the 1920 Census. It is not surprising that Lee & Rhodes employed Martha, since her sister Helen was Mrs. Rhodes.

And last but not least, a story about one of the orphan boys adopted by William and Minnie Springman, who had done his foster parents proud.


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Wild Grasses of Ainsworth: Soft Rush

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Found by the dock in Jerry Pavese Park. In fact you can see the reflection of the dock in the water.

Here's a close-up of the inflorescence, and I know your life would not be complete without this:

Heuring Ford (Random Old Photo)

Speaking of Ridge Road, aka U.S. 6, or 37th Avenue, here's an unused postcard I bought that shows Paul Heuring Ford at its "new facilities" south of U.S. 6 on S.R. 51:


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Here's the back:



I'm not going to pester my usual source for car identification, so I'll just say, based on my own murky memories of the cars of my younger days, I think we're looking at the early 1970s here. Anyone who knows more about cars and/or Heuring Ford than I do is welcome to give his/her opinion in the comments.

The Ridge Road

Congratulations to our old friend, C.C. Shearer, for completing work on the Ridge Road. I just wish I knew what the Ridge Road was in those days — the one we now call Old Ridge Road, or the "new" Ridge Road, aka 37th Ave., aka U.S. 6? Or something else?


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From the Hobart Gazette of Sept. 26, 1919.

If you go here you can watch The Poor Little Rich Girl, all 63 minutes and 58 seconds of it. And look what someone has put on YouTube — Sunnyside with Spanish subtitles!

Raschka's Store and Wells' Garage

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This postcard shows William and Carrie Raschka's store in Ainsworth around 1910. I know, we've seen this image before. But the last time we saw it, it wasn't scanned from my personal copy of the postcard, which I myself bought, personally, and which therefore is my own personal postcard. Mine, mine, mine!

… Yes, I was a bit excited to get my very own Ainsworth postcard!

The message on the back is cute:



If I've deciphered the signature correctly, the sender was Helen (Wilson) Wells. In 1910 she was 30 years old, married since 1903 to Burgess C. Wells (28), a Ross Township farmer. They had no children.

I think Burgess was the "B.C." Wells who for a time around 1912 ran a garage in Hobart. I don't know how long that garage lasted. If I've found the right people in the census, the Wellses had moved to Denver, Colorado, by 1920.


Sources:
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.

His Own House in Town

John Baessler, whom we've only mentioned so far as the brother of Michael Baessler, Jr., was born and raised on his parents' farm in Union Township, Porter County. In 1888 he married Sophia Ols of Hobart, and as their little family grew, John continued to farm — moving around, renting land. In 1900 he rented a farm in Portage Township, Porter County. In 1909 he moved into Ross Township, renting land somewhere about two miles southwest of Ainsworth; five years later he moved again, renting Earle Blachly's farm on "the Joliet Road," aka 73rd Avenue. Four and a half years later, he'd had enough of farming, and of living in other people's houses.


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And so the 1920 census finds John and Sophia living in their own house on Lake Street in Hobart. John has not retired — he is earning wages in some capacity in, I believe, a garage (the version of the census I'm using is almost illegible).


Sources:
♦ 1880 Census.
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 5 Mar. 1909; 30 Jan. 1914; 26 Sept. 1919.
♦ "Public Sale." Hobart Gazette 30 Jan. 1914; 26 Sept. 1919.

Superior Farm Milk Bottle Cap (Random Old Image)

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OK, so the milk was pasteurized on Saturday. It would be nice if we knew which Saturday. This cap could date to the Gruel era, or the Carrozzo era, or perhaps a subsequent era, but I know nothing of the dairy's post-Carrozzo history.

Dan Maybaum

I am puzzled by the identity of Dan Maybaum, whom in September 1919 we find announcing a public sale on the Charles Maybaum farm.


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I've found him in the 1910 census, where he purports to be the son of Charles and Caroline Maybaum, and yet the obituary of Charles Sr., whence I gathered the long list of their children, does not mention a Dan, nor does Caroline's, nor any census other than the 1910.

Here and there I find Dan in my notes: in 1905 he bought a "trick donkey" (and then sold it); in 1910 he won a prize for his comic costume at a Deep River masquerade ball.

My theory at the moment is that this is one of the Maybaum sons (other than Charles Jr.) going by his middle name, or just a name he preferred.

Anyway, with all this selling going on, I wonder if the Maybaum land itself will go soon.

♦    ♦    ♦
About two weeks earlier, William and Carrie Raschka made the 50-mile trip down to Knox, Indiana, for a big party in honor of Louis and Anna Raschka's 25th wedding anniversary.

Frank and Frieda Raschka also attended the party, traveling from their sadly quiet farm in Winfield Township.


Sources:
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ "Ainsworth Pick-Ups." Hobart Gazette 13 Jan. 1905.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 18 Sept. 1919.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 4 Feb. 1910.
♦ "Public Sale." Hobart News 25 Sept. 1919.

42 Miles in 3.5 Hours (Random Old Photo)

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I recently bought this postcard, postmarked 1909, of Hobart High School. I had already posted a colorized version of this to the Downtown Hobart blog; now I can add this version.

The message on the back is interesting — we have a retired farmer taking a road trip by automobile.



The sender was, I believe, Jacob H. Van Nuys, and I call him a retired farmer because he called himself a farmer in the 1880 Census; by the time the 1910 Census came around, he gave his occupation as "None," but he and his Lucinda ("Mrs. J.H.") were able to maintain their own household in the village of Colon, Michigan … and, the previous year, Jacob had been able to afford a road trip to Chicago.

When he writes of traveling 42 miles in three-and-a-half hours, I think he's bragging, not complaining, since he goes on to mention that "the car runs fine" and is "a vary nice one."

Back in the Army Again

Our war hero, George Severance, Jr., had at long last come home from the army, but it seems he soon decided that the army was his real home. By early September 1919, the News was reporting that George had re-enlisted for another four years. Within another week the Gazette noted that he and Alberta had left Hobart to do some visiting and touring before, I suppose, he reported to wherever he would be stationed in this time of peace.


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You will notice that social column also has an item about Mr. and Mrs. George Yager, Jr. ("Mrs." being the former Pearl Severance): they had left Chicago and were now Gary residents.

♦    ♦    ♦
Here's what was playing at the Gem in mid-September 1919:


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From the Hobart News of Sept. 11, 1919.


Dorothy Gish (Lillian's little sister), from Stars of the Photoplay, 1916, via Wikimedia Commons.


Sources:
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 11 Sept. 1919.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 19 Sept. 1919.

Three of Seven (Random Old Images)

Evidently someone in Hobart sent these cards to Helen Hopp when she was serving in the Women's Army Corps.


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According to the WWII Army Enlistment Records, Helen enlisted in the WAC in February 1943, when she was 22 years old (per the Social Security Death Index).

I know that she went on to teach at Hobart High School for many years, and was among the founders of the Hobart Historical Society.

From Hobart High School's Brick-art yearbook for 1948, here is Helen Hopp (at left) with Esther J. Risinger; both teach commercial courses.


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.