Sunday, March 31, 2013

Happy Easter

Easter Greetings
(Click on images to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


What had the artist been smoking, I wonder?

The back of the card notes that this is a replica of an antique, and a fairly recent replica, too (1963 or later, since the publisher uses a ZIP code). It was never sent. Though it was in the files at the Hobart Historical Society museum, I don't see that it has anything to do with Hobart, except perhaps that someone from Hobart donated it.

Easter verso

Friday, March 29, 2013

Piano Pieces

Photos taken inside the Hobart Historical Society museum.

Go ahead, tickle the ivories a little. Often visitors to the museum just can't resist.

Piano keys
(Click on images to enlarge)

Horizontal strings.

Piano strings

Heavily carved legs, a little the worse for wear.

Carving on piano leg

I believe this piano is the type known as the "square grand." I did not step back and take a picture of the whole thing. You will have to come to the museum to see it.

Thursday, March 28, 2013

The Lindborg Era, Main Street at the Bridge

One of the former owners of the service station at the bridge has kindly allowed me to scan a collection of photos and newspaper clippings dating from 1963 to 1979, and I have added those to the Downtown Hobart blog under (40) Intersection of Main and Center Streets.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

"Our Home"

From Mildred Lindborg's photo album.

2 Our Home
(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of N.B.


Mildred's caption is: "Our Home."

This is the Lindborg house on Ainsworth Road, still standing today (with some alterations, e.g., the front porch has been enclosed). None of the other buildings remain. At left is a barn, at the immediate right, a storage shed, and at the right edge of the picture, the west wall of the dance hall/blacksmith shop building.

The boy in front of the house is not identified. To my eyes he resembles Franklin Lindborg, which would make sense if this photo dates to the early 1920s, as Franklin was born December 31, 1908.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Kitten Pics

Everyone likes kitten pics better than history, right? I know I do.

Here's the happy little family. The kittens are a few hours short of five weeks old. And yes, there are actually five kittens in this picture; one is only a little patch of fur sticking out between two others.

Maisy and Kittens
(Click on images to enlarge)

Here's the little patch of fur, aka Buster.

Buster

Oreo, giving me the kind of look a kitten gives when it wakes up to find a camera in its face.

Oreo

Cookie.

Cookie

Cookie leaning on Oreo.

Cookie and Oreo

Monday, March 25, 2013

His Dog and His Daughter

In June 1920 Charles Ols lost his dog and his daughter. He wanted the dog back.

Weddings: Bessie Ols, Margaret Boldt
(Click on image to enlarge)

We've previously met Bessie's younger sister, Pearl. Irvin Ols was an eight-year-old cousin, a son of their Uncle Christ and Aunt Alpha (who now farmed rented land east of Ainsworth — I believe it was the former James Chester place, at the county line). As for little Totsie, I can only guess that she was one of Irvin's sisters.

Earlier that month, some of Bessie's friends had thrown a bridal shower for her, held at farmhouse of her neighbors, Albion and Ethel Paine.

Here is Bessie, in her senior portrait in the Hobart High School Aurora yearbook of 1915:

Bessie Ols

♦    ♦    ♦

A day after Bessie's wedding, Margaret Boldt became Mrs. Raymond E. Cosgrove. Margaret, as you may or may not remember, had an Ainsworth connection through her mother, the former Mary Sullivan, who did not live to see the wedding.


Sources:
1880 Census.
1910 Census.
1920 Census.
♦ "All kinds of Wants." Hobart Gazette 25 June 1920.
♦ "Boldt-Cosgrove." Hobart Gazette 25 June 1920.
♦ "Boldt-Cosgrove." Hobart News 24 June 1920.
♦ "Ittel-Ols." Hobart Gazette 25 June 1920.
♦ "Ittel-Ols." Hobart News 24 June 1920.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 6 Mar. 1914; 11 June 1920.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Home-Made Chair

Photos taken in the Hobart Historical Society.

Spencer label
(Click on images to enlarge)

The label says "chairs" but I saw only one chair in the immediate vicinity.

Spencer chair

It looks as if it had been pretty comfortable in its day.

I don't find any Spencers around here in the 1840 Census, but starting with the 1850 Census Hobart is crawling with them (among them, Orsemus).

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Mildred's Photograph Album

Since my microfilm reading is getting into the 1920s (and since I am looking for ways to spare myself work), let us now open a small photo album assembled and labeled by Mildred Lindborg, containing photographs mostly from the early 1920s. (We have seen a few of them already in this blog, and guess what? we're going to see them again.) The original album is privately owned, but I have scanned it, gone through it with the owner to get any additional information I could for each picture, and given copies of all the photos and my notes to the Hobart Historical Society.

Mildred, born in 1906, was the eldest child of Gust and Anna Lindborg, whose home and businesses (the blacksmith shop, farm equipment sales, and — eventually — auto repair shop, and the dance hall) lay in downtown Ainsworth.

The first photo in the album is a nice shot of the whole Lindborg family.

1 The Family
(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of N.B.


Back row, left to right: Mildred, Franklin, Anna and Gust.
Front row, left to right: Gladys, Raymond and Norma.

Since Raymond appears roughly three years old here, the photo probably dates to about 1921.

The location is unidentified. Based on what's in the background, I'm pretty sure this photo was not taken on the Lindborg property in Ainsworth.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Road Trip with Grandma

Our road-tripping Dr. Clara Faulkner was at it again in the summer of 1920. Aside from Mary Kipp, who accompanied her as always, the doctor had two new companions this time: her 17-year-old grandson, Elmer Bullock, and the 26-year-old Elsie Rose (daughter of the town marshal).

Dr. Faulkner's road trip
(Click on images to enlarge)

Their planned route was to take them through Indianapolis and southern Ohio, on to Pennsylvania to visit Mary Kipp's relatives, then a trip to Niagara Falls. Elsie Rose planned to leave the party at some point, returning early by train. "The doctor is loath to leave her practice for that length of time," said the News, "but feels the necessity of a vacation."

♦    ♦    ♦

Their being out of town for a month meant that they had to miss the circuit Chautauqua scheduled to open in Hobart on July 4, 1920, and run for five days.

This page from the Gazette includes a few of the planned features. (Sorry I cut it off — I was more interested in that irrelevant assault and battery case.)

Chautauqua events

The Chautauqua was well attended, and — what was unusual — actually made a small profit.


Sources:
♦ "Chautauqua a Success." Hobart Gazette 9 July 1920.
♦ "Get Ready for Our Chautauqua." Hobart Gazette 11 June 1920.
♦ "Hobart Chautauqua Will Open Here July 4th." Hobart News 10 June 1920.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 17 June 1920.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 18 June 1920.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

A Boring Machine

Even the label says so.

Boring label
(Click on images to enlarge)

Don't ask me exactly how this thing did all its boring.

Boring machine

Here's a boring drill bit.

Boring machine drill bit

Artsy and boring.

Boring machine gears

Feeling bored yet?

Photos taken inside the Hobart Historical Society museum, in case you hadn't guessed.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Good News, Bad News and a Meal Ticket

The good news is that the owner of a certain old steamer trunk has graciously allowed me to start looking through its contents in search of Ainsworth history.

The bad news is that the owner laughingly describes the steamer trunk thus: "Whenever we had something we didn't know what to do with, we threw it in that trunk." It contains a hodge-podge of newspaper clippings, professionally produced souvenirs, informal mementos, photos (mostly unidentified), letters, greeting cards, IOUs … you get the picture. I have to sort through all that to pick out what is or might be relevant, try to identify and date photos, scan everything, organize my images and notes … and this on top of everything else I have to deal with at home.

I want to get back to daily posting, but I'm not sure I can keep up.

♦    ♦    ♦

Our first little steamer-trunk treasure is this meal ticket from the Ainsworth School Cafeteria. It is undated, and I don't know what significance there is to the name being "Ainsworth School" as opposed to "W.G. Haan School." Thus far in my microfilm reading (1920) I've never seen any school in Ainsworth called anything but "the Ainsworth school"; and while we know that the new school had been re-named in honor of Major-General Haan by November 1929, I'm wondering whether the traditional name might have persisted on minor items like cafeteria meal tickets, even after the renaming.

Ainsworth school cafeteria meal ticket
(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of E.H.


On the back, someone has typed some disjointed remarks.

Ainsworth school meal ticket verso

Here's my theory about those remarks. ***WARNING: WILD THEORY AHEAD!*** I think they were bits and pieces remembered from a speech heard at an eighth-grade graduation, or some such ceremony, noted down afterwards by Minnie Rossow Harms. How's that for a wild theory? It rests on a lot of assumptions, and a major difficulty is whether Minnie would have troubled herself to resort to a typewriter.

But let's not worry about that right now, when we've got ourselves an Ainsworth school cafeteria meal ticket.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I just popped in to mark St. Patty's Day, or rather to let Evelyn Triebess do it for me, via her high-school scrapbook.

St. Patrick's Day 1920
(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.



(Still on break. Getting lots of sleep. It's great.)

Thursday, March 14, 2013

What Time Is It?

Mantel clock
(Click on image to enlarge)
Photo taken at the Hobart Historical Society museum.


It's Mojo Break Time!

I know this blog bores most of the people most of the time. That's not a problem. But when it starts to bore even me, that's a problem.

So I need to take a week or so off to try to get my mojo back.

Cute Kitten Pic

I finally got a half-decent photo of Oreo.

Oreo
(Click on image to enlarge)

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Trinity Lutheran School circa 1900

One last photo in connection with Adeline Busse.

Trinity Lutheran School ca 1900
(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


Lena is somewhere among these children, according to the caption at the museum, but it lists so many of the same names as the ten-years-earlier photo, in the same order, that I have to wonder. The caption reads as follows (and the blank lines are in the original):

_____ Born, __________, Teacher Duttemeir, Eda Schuelke Wolkenhauer, Louis Passow, Martha Busse Gardner, Billie Maybaum, Barney Scharbach, Henry Kruse, ______ Kegebein, __________, __________, Eddie Fasel, _____ Fasel, Emil Moll, Walter Watson, Billy Busse, _____ Maybaum, Fred Scharbach, Clara Ahrens, _____ Maybaum, Tillie Gruel, __________, Minnie Busse, Adline [sic] Busse, Emma Kossow, Sofie Schavey, Tillie Wishman, Carrie Wishman, Fritz Schroeder, Paul Schuelke, Charles Fasel, Albert Witt, _____ Maybaum, Bertha Kossow, Tillie Triebess, Mary Kossow, Malie Schavey, Cora Niksch Jeffrey, Alma Maybaum, Martha Busse Gardner, Eda Schuelke Wolkenhauer [listed for the second time], Emma Busse Scharbach.

Cute Kitten Pics

This is Rex.

Rex 1
(Click on images to enlarge)

Rex 2

This is Krystal.

Krystal

Here's Maisy and Mini-Maisy (aka Cookie).

Maisy and Cookie

There's only one kitten that I haven't been able to get a decent photo of yet (Oreo).

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Trinity Lutheran School circa 1890

I bring you this photo because it allegedly shows two of Lena Busse's sisters who did not sign her autograph album.

Trinity Lutheran School pupils ca 1890
(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


The caption at the museum lists the following names, although I am not sure that their order corresponds to some order in the photo, e.g., left-to-right, back-to-front:

Ed Niksch, Fred Ahrens, Henry Fasel, Louis Maybaum, Lena Ewigleben Scharbach, Amanda Boldt, Mary Born, ________ Wojahn, Charles Koeppen, Traugott Reick, Louis Breitspecker, Otto Hasse, Carie Maybaum, Hulda Lewin, Lena Schroeder, Mary Wishman Rieck, Emil Hasse, Pastor Schuelke, Phillip Ahrens, Billie Witt, Emma Kossow, Sofia Schavey, Tillie Wishman, Carrie Wishman, Fritz Schroeder, Paul Schuelke, Charles Fasel, Albert Witt, Lillie Maybaum, Herman Maybaum, Frank Maybaum, Bertha Kossow, Lillie Triebess, Mary Kossow, ______ Schavey, Coca Niksch Jeffrey, Alma Maybaum Perwitz, Martha Busse Gardner, Eda Scheulke Wolkenhauer, Emma Busse Scharbach.

Monday, March 11, 2013

The Last Autograph

From the Busse autograph collection.

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


This autograph concludes Lena's album.

No, I'm not even going to try. Listen, people — you can personalize your handwriting all you want, but don't expect bloggers who come along a century later to puzzle it out so they can plug it into online translators and come up with some idea of what you're saying. They are too tired to care.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

From the Crime Files:
The Case of the Roving Ruminant

Ensign cow crime
(Click on images to enlarge)

In the annals of unsolved crime, it's hardly enough for a footnote, but this story gives me the impetus to look into the Ensign family, whom up until now I have mentioned only in passing.

I believe "Mrs. Ensign" in the story would be Elizabeth Ensign, listed in the 1920 census as a divorcée of 62 (the 1910 census described her as widowed). She apparently lived near her son, John, who was married with several children. I think John may be the "J.E." marked on a small parcel in a 1926 plat map:

Ensign 1926

… in which case the cow did not have far to wander to end up in William Bracken's field.

John Ensign describes himself in 1920 as both a farmer and a telegraph operator (with the E.J. & E. R.R., per his draft card). Elizabeth also had a younger son, Walter. I don't know whether she had any other children because this family is proving elusive as we go further back in time.

♦    ♦    ♦

Above the cow story you will note the story about the progress of paving Hobart … or lack of progress, at least temporarily. I don't know how the strike was "adjusted." The Gazette, published a day later, serenely ignored the strike, and a week later reported:
The Powers-Thompson Co. has finished paving 6th street, and Wednesday morning commenced work on Indiana street, at Cleveland avenue. It is probable that South Main street and Garfield will not be done until quite late this summer.

Sources:
1910 Census.
1920 Census.
1926 Plat Book.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 10 June 1920.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 11 June 1920; 18 June 1920.
WWI Draft Cards.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

The Accursed Articles of Toilette

Photos taken inside the Hobart Historical Society museum.

Folks, I have been trying for months to photograph this nice little arrangement of personal grooming tools, and every darn picture I take turns out out-of-focus! Here's my latest:

Toilet articles
(Click on images to enlarge)

Obviously one of these articles is haunted and its previous owner does not want me displaying how he/she made himself/herself beautiful.

The haunted article isn't this ornate brush, since I was able to take a clear shot of it. If only I knew what it was. It doesn't look like your typical shaving brush, and it doesn't look stiff enough to brush lint off your clothes. Perhaps some lady liked to lay on the face-paint generously.

Ornate brush

Friday, March 8, 2013

Lillian Keilman

From the Busse autograph collection.

Lillie Keilman
(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


Estelle's big sister, Lillie, was about 12 years old when she wrote out this arch little poem (which was in general circulation at the time, but I can't identify any specific source). You can see the family resemblance in the two sisters' handwriting, though Lillie's naturally is under better control.

Here is Lillie's senior portrait, from the Hobart High School Aurora yearbook for 1916:

Lillie Keilman from HHS 1916 Aurora yearbook

Lillian's obituary, which ran in the Hobart Gazette of March 26, 1980, described her as "a retired Hobart Elementary School teacher and a Hobart resident prior to her retirement twelve years ago to Phoenix, Ariz." She had died March 18 in Phoenix. Her husband, John Gresser, had died the previous September; his obituary (Hobart Gazette, Sept. 26, 1979) described him as "a popular Hobart barber for 40 years and a resident for 71 years." I do not know when they married. It appears that they had no children.

Cute Kitten Pics

This is Buster.

Buster
(Click on image to enlarge)

Here's Cookie again.

Cookie again

The whole family.

Maisy family

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Nelson Twigs on the Chester Tree

On May 25, 1920, a son was born to Glen and Elsie (Henning) Nelson. They named him Melvin Robert. He was their second son — little brother to Delmer, who had passed his fourth birthday.

Owen and Caroline (Sapper) Nelson also had two little boys, Charles and Edward.

I can't tell you for sure how many little twigs there now were on this branch of the Chester family tree, since I can't find Ernest and Myrtle (Nelson) Sitzenstock in the 1920 census. The last I heard of them they were farming in Ross Township; the 1930 census shows them with a girl of 12, Alice, and a ten-year-old boy, Raymond, but I can't be sure exactly when Raymond was born. [3/8/13 update: It was 1919; see Comment.]

But Lovisa Chester Nelson was now a grandmother at least five times over, if not already six.


Sources:
1920 Census.
1930 Census.
♦ "Births." Hobart Gazette 4 June 1920.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 3 June 1920.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

"Such a Hard Pain"

Today's post comes from Suzi, with my thanks! Suzi writes:
A copy of this letter was found in the Chester family file at the Hobart Historical Society Museum, Hobart, IN. The letter writer appears to be Harriet Lovisa Hanks Chester (1836-1878), the second wife of Henry W. Chester of Ainsworth, IN. Harriet and Henry were married in 1866. The date on the letter appears to be Sunday, April __th,1 1872 and was written to her friend,2 Alice. Harriet refers to the ages of her children which would correlate the year 1872 with the information on the family in the 1870 census and her son Charles' birthday in November of 1871. It is difficult to read in some places due to damage, but I have done my best to transcribe it. It is a very soulful, poignant expression of the feelings of a young woman, wife and mother in rural Indiana in the 19th century. She would have been in her mid 30's when this was written and would have two more children before her death in 1878. I believe that the "Lucy" she refers to was her sister, Lucy M. Hanks Spencer (1850, 1860, 1870 Federal Censuses). They were about 2 or three years apart in age. Lucy married Orsemus H. Spencer in Lake Co., IN in 1867, and by 1880 he is remarried and living in Kansas. I believe she was his second wife, as in the 1870 census they are listed along with two sons, ages 13 and 11, which were most likely his children by a previous marriage. So Lucy most likely died between 1870 and when this letter was written. As of this date I do not know who "georgy" was.

Harriet Chester Letter 1872 by AinsworthIN



(Suzi did 99% of the work in preparing the following transcription, but I also went through it and added where I thought I could; since I was less cautious in guessing at words, any errors are probably mine! Blank line = illegible word; question mark = uncertainty.)

Sunday, April __th, 1872

Dear Alice

I received your letter(?) dated Feb.(?) __ and most heartily thank(?) you for writing, why did you __________ I did not want(? wait?) to hear(? bear?) ______ ______ I have thought of you often and wondered if you ever thought of me I have not written to my friends as often as I should, but it has not been want of affection but of health, and it makes me hurt(?) every time I __________ I am sorry you have been sick ______ ______ family(?) gone(?) _______ you are lonely to to bad your family are all broken up have your Mother and Losica(?) forsaken you all together I wish I could see you Alice I could give you some advice that might be useful

Now it is June 2(?) and you(?) … [page 2] to write if I want to, now Alice I have got more to do then a woman had ought to have with my health we milk five cows and henry has to do all the churning and all the heavy work I can not lift my babe and I have not lifted a pail of water in most two years, henry has bought me a sewing machine it was 85 dollars but I cant stand it to sew more than an hour at a time, if I could have had it when I was well I would enjoyed it so much for I think a great deal of it and I like to have all things orderly and sewing done up in season

Now it is June 30 and I will try to finish this but it is hard work to write for I have such a hard pain in my right side with evry breath I draw Samuel Fullers(?) family live in the house with us they have been here since March Janes(?) has three chrildren her health is not [page 3] rearl good her youngest is a boy 18 months old and my youngest is a boy 7 months old and just as smart and pretty as georgy3 was we think there never was another such a boy the girls are five and three and very near of a size I have been making them some white lace hats I trimed them in pink flowers and green grapes and corn collord riban and I have made me one of white tarlton and black edging, we are having verry warm weather now so warm I can't write decent and it has been verry dry but yesterday we had two nice showers and it looks like rain now, Jame(?) has gone to meeting I could not go for I cannot ride in enny but the easiest wagon there is, and ours is to hobart getting repaird henry is verry patient with me more so then I should think one as stout and healthy as he is could be father and mother chester lived with us awhile after they sold their farm but now they have built a house just in [page 4] the next yard so we three familys make quite a setelment of our own I wanted to see Jane for a long time before she came for I have felt verry lonely since dear lucys death and I want to see you alice and I hope that you have learned in your short life that afflictions though they seem severe in mercy oft are sent. I hope that you have chosen the good way the only way to get to heaven, never let the troubles of this brief life worry you but ever sing we'll stand the storm it wont be long we'll anchor by and by,4 now alice I _____ set(?) the day for more then one year ___ write to your father I do want to hear from him so bad and pa too and I have waited so long now that I don’t know where to write now do write and tell me and I will write if not more then one line(?), you are single(?) come and see me …[The rest of the line is illegible. The letter resumes at the top of page 4, written upside-down] … all inquiring friends dont fail to write this from your affectionate Aunt(?)

Harriet L. Chester
Henry W. Chester

____ ____ ____ ____ [four illegible words, circled]
_______________________
1 Sundays in April 1872 fell on the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th; what Harriet wrote looks like "20th," and of course it's possible she did not have a calendar to hand and got the date wrong.
2 Or possibly her niece.
3 I don't know who Georgy was, either, but I can't help theorizing! Perhaps he was another child, born to Henry and either this Harriet or the first Harriet, who died in infancy. A little boy named George lies in Chester Cemetery under a stone that describes him as the "son of Henry & M.E." Chester — according to earlier readers, that is; the stone itself is now weathered beyond legibility. According to those earlier readers (in the Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society's compilation), little George died August 15, 1860, aged two years and two days. Beside him lies his sister, Olive, listed in the NWIGS compilation as the daughter of "Henry & M.E." Chester, but looking at the stone itself (and it's even more clear in person), I'm inclined to think the "M.E." is more correctly read as "H.E." — which could be the first Harriet, though I don't know what her middle name was — and thus I'm inclined to think that one initial on George's grave marker was misread as well. However, the way our letter-writing Harriet describes "Georgy" sounds as if she knew him herself; and since the 1860 Census found her in New York State, I don't think she could have known the little boy in Chester Cemetery, assuming the date of his death was read correctly. And that's as far as my theorizing has got me.
4 These words come from a hymn, "We'll Stand the Storm."

♦    ♦    ♦

Harriet L. Chester 1878
(Click on image to enlarge)
Harriet Lovisa Hanks Chester's grave marker, in Chester Cemetery.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Ice Box

Photos taken inside the Hobart Historical Society museum.

There's simple classic beauty in this cabinet, though I wish I could have seen it when it was new:

Icebox full
(Click on images to enlarge)

The manufacturer's label tells you everything except what this thing is.

Manufacturer's label

The McDougall Co. manufactured various models of useful kitchen furniture.

However, open up the top door and look at the heavy insulation on its interior surface …

Top compartment

… I think we've got ourselves an ice box here. This compartment would hold the block of ice, carried in by the iceman's tongs there.

The lower compartment, with an equally insulated door, would hold the perishables — though this one now holds imperishables.

Bottom compartment

At the bottom, a hinged panel that probably hid the pan that caught the dripping water as the block of ice slowly melted. Some small child in the household was charged with emptying out the pan before it overflowed.

Hinged panel

Ant's-eye view:

Ant's-eye view

I'm photographically obsessed with these clasps on the door. I can't rest until I've posted an artsy version of one:

Door hardware artsy

… Ah, at last.