A Bicycle Built for Seven

This little item appeared in the "Local Drifts" of the Hobart Gazette of October 4, 1901:

Chas. Blank and party of young men from Millers came to Hobart Saturday evening on their new Orient septet, a wheel that carries seven persons. The machine weighs about 200 pounds and is geared to 118. The young men have gotten so they can ride the wheel with perfect success and wherever they go they create quite a sensation."

I'll bet they did. I haven't been able to find a picture of the Orient septet, so just imagine this with three more riders:


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Image credit: Library of Conress.

Or this, with three fewer riders:


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Image credit: http://urbansimplicity.net.

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Since the item speaks of "young men," I'm guessing the Charles Blank in question was the 22-year-old Charles A., rather than his 45-year-old father, Charles F. As we learned recently, Elna Hazelgreen's mother, Christina, had been one of the Blanks of Miller. To Elna, this septet-riding youth was Cousin Charles.

Uncle Charles had his own locomotive distinction, which we shall get to in the future.


Sources:
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ Ancestry.com. U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1992 (Indexed in World Archives Project) [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
♦ Cook County, Illinois, Deaths Index.

The Harms Barn

The mention in my last post of the Harms barn reminded me that I have a couple of photos of it.*

This first photo is undated.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of Eldon Harms.

The barn stood across Ainsworth Road from the Harms farmhouse — in other words, on the south side of the road.

Hay was stored in the loft of this barn. Eldon Harms explained to me the laborious process by which hay, brought in from the fields on a wagon, was carried up to the loft:

You slid open those big doors at the center and drove your horses and wagon straight in. Once it was all inside, you unhitched your horses and brought them out through the small doors at right. Then you hitched them to a rope that ran up to a mechanism inside the top of the barn. The mechanism inside included a "fork" that moved up and down, and laterally along a track attached to the top beam of the barn. One person worked with that fork mechanism inside, while another handled the team outside. The inside person let the fork down into the load of hay on the wagon, then signaled to the person outside.

The outside person drove the horses forward toward the road (away from the barn). Their power lifted the "fork," now full of hay, upward. When it reached the top, a tripping mechanism caused it to move laterally, over the floor of the hayloft (still powered by the horses moving forward). When it reached the right spot, the inside person would make the fork stop and release its load of hay.

Then the horses had to retrace their steps backward, to bring the fork back across the loft and down to the wagon, where it would pick up another load of hay. Repeat until all of the hay had been transferred from the wagon to the hayloft.

Here's the second photo of the barn:



"The Old Red Barn in 1937," reads the handwritten caption. Not much is different from the first photo except that the big side doors have been replaced or resurfaced. I think this photo is later than the first one (just on general appearances); it couldn't be earlier (not much earlier anyway), since the Harmses left the farm in 1938.

I also scanned the 1937 photo directly from the negative.




No trace of the old barn remains.

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*I don't know for certain that this is the barn damaged in the window storm in 1922, but the barn in these photos was on the Harms farm.

Wauhob Lake

I never heard of Lake Wahob, or Wauhob Lake as it seems to be called now, until Charles Lee took a vacation there with family and friends in early July 1922.


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Hobart News 13 July 1922.

Wauhob Lake is in Liberty Township, Porter County:



(Elsewhere on the same page, we find the summer visiting of the Bullock-Killigrew-Halladay crowd.)


Charles and Anna Lee returned from their vacation to show Charles' brother, mother, and sister around Hobart.


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I suppose J.W. Lee was the 49-year-old John W. Lee who showed up in the 1920 Census in Hominy, Oklahoma, working as a superintendent at a gas company. The rest of the genealogy I shall have to leave to the Lee family.

On the page above, we see that Henry Harms, Sr. suffered some wind damage to the barn on his farm, then occupied by the Herman and Minnie Harms family.

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Here's what August 1922 held for Charles' plumbing firm: "Lee & Rhodes submitted a bid of $198.50 for paying 330 feet of water pipe on Linda street, or to do the work for $132 if the city furnishes the pipe. Supt. Wheaton was directed to purchase the material and have the extension made at once." ("City Council Proceedings," Hobart Gazette 18 Aug. 1922.)

The Famous Hazelgreen

Here is a portrait of Elna's big brother, Malcolm — more formally known as A.M. (Alexander Malcolm) Hazelgreen.


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This isn't just any portrait; this is the one that got published in A Standard History of Lake County, Indiana, and the Calumet Region (1915), along with this biographical sketch:

For thirty or forty years a large amount of the railway construction work and of other similar types of contracting in this county has been performed through the Hazelgreen family. While the representative above named is one of the aggressive young business men and contractors, with his home in East Gary [Lake Station], it was his father who inaugurated that line of business in this county.

A.M. Hazelgreen was born in Chicago, January 14, 1879, but has lived in Lake County since infancy. His father, H.S. Hazelgreen, born in Sweden, January 20, 1838, and who died June 26, 1913, came to the United States at the age of thirty years, spent one year in New York, went west to Chicago, engaged in contracting, and did a large amount of pioneer railway construction in Northern Indiana. He had charge of the grading for the Baltimore & Ohio through this section, and also for the Wabash company. The mother's maiden name was Christina C. Blank, born in Sweden, June 26, 1849, and coming to the United States in 1863. She lived at Miller, Indiana, and she and her husband were married in 1873. Of their family there are four daughters and three sons still living. Mrs. Jeannette Ahlberg and Clara E. both reside in Seattle, Washington; Mrs. A. Esther Anderson lives at Laporte; and Elna J. lives at home. The other two sons are J. William and H. Albin, both of whom are unmarried and have their home in Seattle, Washington, and H. Albin is one of the leaders in the Luther League on the Northwest coast. The daughter Clara a number of years ago predicted the founding of the town and the development of the industrial center at East Gary, and just about twelve years ago drew a map on which the town was depicted, and since then East Gary has been growing rapidly up to the anticipations of Miss Hazelgreen.

When A.M. Hazelgreen was a year and a half old his parents located at Lake Station, and he lived at home, attending schools at East Gary and the high school at Hobart, until he was sixteen years of age. Since then his career has been almost entirely taken up with railway contracting, and he was with his father until his death. Mr. Hazelgreen is now president of the town board of East Gary, and has been instrumental in effecting many improvements for this community. He has led the way in getting the people to indorse and to vote the necessary bonds to establish a lighting plant. Mr. Hazelgreen was chiefly concerned in having the dedication celebration at the opening of the town hall, at which time a very elaborate program was held. Mr. Hazelgreen is fond of outdoor life, of baseball and fishing, is a republican in politics, and a member of the Swedish Lutheran Church.

The back of the original photo retains notes related to its use in the book, as well as the autograph that appeared below Malcolm's portrait in the book, ink blots and all.

"Sweet Marie" on Tennis Rackets

[The images and information in this post have been provided by J.C., who noted the attention this blog gives to his ancestor, Sylvester Casbon.]



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Images courtesy of  J.C.

This photo somehow got handed down to me. The woman in the center wearing the black skirt is Lida Axe (1875-1967), daughter of Cyrus Axe and Harriet Finney (sister of my great-grandfather Arthur Alanson Finney). Lida was the second wife of Martin Eugene Bogarte (1853-1911). Martin was born in Ohio, but settled in Valpo. His first wife's name was Lillian Chamberlin, born 1860; she died 14 April 1904. Martin and Lillian share a large vault at Maplewood Cemetery, while Lida gets a smaller adjacent marker.

It wasn't the first marriage for Lida, either — she had been married to Alfred Homfeld, a dentist, in 1900. I wondered if they might have had any children in the short time they were married. I found a record for Evangeline E. Homfeld, b. 30 May 1901, d. 8 June 1901. Death was always lurking around the corner in those days. Alfred died 26 April 1904.

Martin and Lida were married 1 Aug. 1908 in Porter County. Martin's occupation was listed as "Professor of Mathematics." I found this photo of him, taken from the 1912 Valparaiso University Record.



As far as I can tell, no children were born to Lida Mae and Martin Bogarte during their short marriage.

Back to the photo: a handwritten inscription on the back says "October 17, 1894 ... Rushton Tennis Club." I don't have any more info about this tennis club — do you?*

As to the annotation "Sweet Marie" on the front of the photo, given the fact that everyone in the photo is pretending to strum a guitar or banjo, my best guess is that the title refers to a then popular song of that name, written by Raymon Moore and Cy Warman in 1893.

Here are the lyrics:

I've a secret in my heart, Sweet Marie
A tale I would impart, love, to thee
Every daisy in the dell
Knows my secret, knows it well
And yet I dare not tell Sweet Marie
When I hold your hand in mine, Sweet Marie
A feeling most divine comes to me
All the world is full of Spring
All the warblers on the wing
And I listen while they sing, Sweet Marie

Chorus: Come to me, Sweet Marie
Sweet Marie, Come to me
Not because your face is fair, love, to see
But your soul, so pure and sweet,
Makes my happiness complete
Makes me falter at your feet, Sweet Marie

Verse Two:
In the morn when I awake, Sweet Marie
Seems to me my heart will break, love, for thee
Every wave that shakes the shore
Seems to sing it o'er and o'er
Seems to say that I adore Sweet Marie
When the sunset tints the west, Sweet Marie
And I sit down to rest, love, with thee
Every star that studs the sky
Seems to stand and wonder why
They're so dimmer than your eye, Sweet Marie

Chorus

That's the story ... I hope you like it. Lida must have been a crack up!

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In poking around for a recording of "Sweet Marie," I learned that — according to somebody on YouTube — a fragment sung by Ada Jones in 1893 or '94 constitutes one of the earliest known commercial recordings of a female singing as a solo artist.

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*I don't.

To Yellowstone Park via Yellowstone Trail

It was only fitting that Paul Newman, local trailsman, should travel the Yellowstone Trail himself. He and his wife, Margaret, set out from Hobart on June 26, 1922, driving west on the Trail. They were halfway to Yellowstone Park when they sent a progress report back home:


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Hobart News 13 July 1922.

They completed the westbound journey on the Yellowstone Trail. The return trip followed an alternate route that included parts of the Lincoln Highway. After six weeks of traveling, the Newmans arrived back home in Hobart.


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Hobart News 10 Aug. 1922.

Unidentified Schoolchildren and Teacher

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Image courtesy of Eldon Harms.

This photograph is a mystery. There are no notes on the original to tell us where or when it was taken. We can guess that these are all the pupils of a school, and to judge by the way the instructor (at right) is dressed, the school is Catholic.

Two of the little boys seated in the front row are holding up slates, but if any identifying information was written on them, it is illegible, and stays illegible no matter how much I tinker with the light, dark, and contrast in the image.

The photo comes from the collection of Eva Thompson. I do not know what religion or denomination she and her family belonged to.

His Former Valentine

If I'm reading the handwriting below this portrait correctly, this young woman's name was Tina Clark.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Eldon Harms.

Handwritten notes on the back tell a story of failed love: "Henry's girlfriend. He gave her a diamond ring. She gave it back to him. Grandmother H. had then. Who got it I don't know." "Henry" would be Henry Harms, Jr., who recovered from this disappointment and married someone else. "Grandmother H.," who had the returned ring, would be, I suppose, Anna Harms, wife of Henry Sr.

I have failed to identify Tina Clark and have no idea what became of her … or the ring.

Of Garages and Grief

At Newman's garage in Hobart, on a July day in 1922, a car was brought in by some men who didn't have sense enough to keep from getting rowdy and attracting attention when they were carrying moonshine.


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Hobart News 13 July 1922.

Meanwhile, the Nickel Plate Garage slipped out of William Fisher's reach. We shall see if he continues operating out of the old whip factory with his surviving eldest son, Floyd. (He had two more sons, but they were still schoolboys.)


Additional Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "Lands Four in Jail." Hobart Gazette 14 July 1922.

Gladys Harney

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Eldon Harms.

This is little Gladys Harney at the age of six months, according to notes on the back of the original, which would date to photo to January or February of 1923.

A Dance and a Daughter

The Niksches were planning yet another dance for July 12, 1922, in the old Deep River schoolhouse; and the day after Independence Day, Mayme Harney gave birth to a baby daughter … unnamed at the time, apparently, but she would soon be Gladys.


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Hobart Gazette 7 July 1922.

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From the same issue of the Gazette, some random news — Calvin and Howard Shearer had a contract for sewer work; Old Settlers Cemetery on S.R. 51 was in sorry shape; someone had run a car down the "steep embankment" near the George Lutz farm (which steep embankment you can still run a car down, if you are so inclined); and on the Peterson farm, a big family reunion … but no list of surnames that might help a genealogist.


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Here's What I Think of That Tractor!

Sometime in 1917, it seems, Charles Chester bought a tractor from Justin B. "Jud" Blachly on credit. When the tractor failed to meet his expectations, Charles refused to finish paying for it, thus setting in motion legal proceedings that came to trial in the summer of 1922. At some point between the purchase and the trial, Charles publicized his dissatisfaction by abandoning the tractor on the EJ&E right-of-way, according to the News:


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Hobart News 6 July 1922.

… Meanwhile, brother James, the quiet Chester, went about peacefully trading in used furniture.


Additional Source: "Bank Gets Judgment." Hobart Gazette 7 July 1922.

Edward Hahn

This is Edward Hahn, one of the boys taken in by the McAuliffe family.


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society and Jocelyn Hahn Johnson.

The photo is undated. Edward was born around 1906, and here I would say he looks about four or five years old. I haven't been able to learn anything about the photographers, but as you can see from the studio's stamp in the lower right corner, it operated out of Dubuque, Iowa. I suppose this was before Edward came to live with the McAuliffes. But where was he staying, I wonder, that he would be dressed in such finery? Those aren't orphanage clothes. (I hope whoever was caring for him didn't let him go to school looking like that; can you image how much he'd get beaten up?)

The Old Lincoln Farm Again

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Image from the Chicago Daily Tribune 12 Mar. 1901.

On the morning of March 11, 1901, a boiler explosion at a Chicago laundry killed eight people. Among the dead was the 15-year-old Bessie Kucaba, whose mutilated remains were identified by her brother-in-law, Hugo Zobjeck. Her parents, Frank and Mary Kucaba, resided "on the old Lincoln farm," according to the Hobart Gazette.

I have previously seen a reference to the old Lincoln farm describing it as south of East Gary (Lake Station). I have never been able to identify the Lincoln farm's location, not then and not now. But the fact that elsewhere I've seen references to the Kucabas living at the Bijou, which has also been described as being south of Lake Station, makes me wonder whether the Bijou's grounds had once been the old Lincoln farm.


Sources:
♦ "Boiler Bursts; Dead Number 8, the Injured 51." Chicago Daily Tribune (Chicago, Ill.) 12 Mar. 1901. Newspapers.com.
♦ "General News Items." Hobart Gazette 15 Mar. 1901.
♦ "Laundry Explosion, Dead and Injured." Chicago Daily Tribune (Chicago, Ill.) 12 Mar. 1901. Newspapers.com.