Class of 1921: Dorothea Crisman

Meet Dorothea Crisman, who never had a bad hair day.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Yearbook images courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

Her parents, John and Ella Crisman, owned a farm in Ross Township, as nearly in the village of Deep River as a farm could be, where they raised dairy cows and occupied that house so recently wiped off the face of the earth.

Her father was actually John Jr., and John Sr. was one of 13 children — which leaves me deeply confused about all the Crisman relations and unsure whether I ought to be taking notes when I encounter the name in microfilm, nor can I tell you if this Crisman family had any connection to the village of Crisman. The earliest I can find these Crismans in the area (Porter County) is 1880.

Anyway, John Jr. married Ellen Guernsey, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Hurlburt) Guernsey, in 1902. Dorothea, their firstborn, arrived in 1903. I find a few references to them in my notes: in 1904 "John and wife" were living at Hurlburt's Corners, wherever that may be;* in 1905 they were living on "the Guernsey farm south of Ainsworth," which might still be Hurlburt's Corners for all I know. It wasn't until after 1910 that they bought the farm in Ross Township; by 1911 John (Jr.) was a citizen of Deepriver, according to the Hobart News.

Here's a little story about a farmhand who hired on with them in 1915 and turned out to be a fugitive:


(Click on image to enlarge)

By 1920 the Crismans had six children.

I haven't looked into Dorothea's future. When she looked into her own, she saw herself teaching "D.S." — Domestic Science, maybe?



In the Class Will, I have no idea what she is saying.



Was the Ford roadster driven by her classmate, Harry Hawke? — he just couldn't keep his hands off that magnificent hair.






(Incidentally, the "Martin" pictured with Dorothea and Dorothy, in the first picture, was Martin Friedrich.)

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*I have sinced learned from a Hurlburt descendant that "Hurlburt's Corners" was the intersection of Randolph Street and E. 93rd Avenue.


Sources:
♦ 1880 Census.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "General News Items." Hobart Gazette 2 June 1905.
♦ Hobart High School Memories yearbook, 1921.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ "Marshall Rose Locates Boy." Hobart Gazette 19 Nov. 1915.
♦ "Personal Mention." Hobart News 20 Apr. 1911.
♦ "Small's Crossing." Hobart Gazette 2 Sept. 1904.