The Soft-Drink Hub

The more people I get to know, the more often I run into newspaper pages that are just jam-packed with news about … people I know.

First, I gather that liquor prohibition had turned The Hub in Hobart into a "soft-drink emporium." About 45 minutes' worth of research tells me that its owner, John Hillman, had lost his first wife, Mary, in 1917, and married his second, Sarah, circa 1918. Sometime before 1920 John had given over the operation of The Hub to his son, Fred (the only child of his first marriage). Fred was now about 25 years old; in 1917 he had married Bessie Ellington, but they had no children yet. So now you know who is leaving the flat over the soft-drink emporium, and who is moving in.


(Click on image to enlarge)
From the Hobart News of 7 Apr. 1921.

Among the social news in that "South of Deepriver" column comes a report of a whooping-cough (pertussis) outbreak in the W.G. Haan school.

And a happy birthday to Robert Rossow, whose picture can be seen in the new Images of America: Hobart book. Robert was born in 1870, so this was his 51st birthday. If I've got the genealogy right, Robert was a brother of William Rossow, and thus an uncle of Minnie Rossow Harms. I recently learned, from Minnie herself, that her parents once farmed just south of Ainsworth (at the intersection of E. 73rd and S.R. 51) which as far as I'm concerned gives me not merely an excuse but an obligation to talk endlessly about the Rossows. All of them.

For the moment, however, I'm going to shut up about the Rossows and get back to Bessie Ellington Hillman. I learned her maiden name by accident:


(Click on image to enlarge)
From the Hobart Gazette of 4 Mar. 1921.

Just a week later, Farmer Ellington was reported to be "recovering nicely."

Can I fit in one more random piece of news? It concerns the Tabbert grocery store (photo still uncorrected!). Early in April 1921 Emma Tabbert and her son George sold their grocery business to Edward Grieger and Adolf Siegesmund of Wanatah. Edward Grieger reportedly had eight years' experience in general merchandise business with his brother, but I know nothing about his experience or his brother.


Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ 1930 Census.
♦ "E. Tabbert & Son Sell Grocery and Market to Grieger & Siegesmund." Hobart News 7 Apr. 1921.
♦ "Farmer Ellington Seriously Hurt." Hobart Gazette 4 Mar. 1921.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 7 Apr. 1921.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 11 Mar. 1921.
♦ "South of Deepriver." Hobart News 7 Apr. 1921.