(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of E.H.
The reason we have these two photos is because, as I mentioned earlier, Lester Harms married the widow of Noland White. She retained these photos from her first husband's days as a railroad section worker.
Noland's older brother, John, was the section foreman.
The Whites came from a farming family in Pulaski County, Indiana. John was born in 1884 and Noland circa 1902. The earliest I can place them in Hobart is 1930. By then John (already a section foreman) was living with his wife, Bessie, and their 20-year-old daughter on Lake Street in Hobart. His household included his brother William and his wife (her name was Bessie, too — confusing!). William worked as a section hand, probably in John's crew. Noland, also a section hand, rented a separate residence; in 1930 he was still single, but the following year he would marry Mathilda Prochno.
The two photos above have no identifying notes — their present owner recognized them as section crews and knew about the Whites' connection with the Nickel Plate. Since I have no photos of John or William, I have no hope of recognizing them, if they are pictured here. I have three not-very-good photos of Noland (which I will get around to posting eventually), and on the basis of those, I would say that if Noland is in those photos at all — in the first one, he may be the guy second from the left, or second from the right; in the second photo, he might be the guy standing on the car with his hands on his hips. In both cases, though, I'm really not sure.
Sources:
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ 1930 Census.
♦ 1940 Census.
♦ "Noland White To Be Buried Saturday." Hobart Gazette 5 Apr. 1945.
♦ WWII Army Enlistment Records.
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