Ainsworth School-Year Souvenir, 1897-98 (Conclusion)

(continued from Part 7)



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My last entry in this series is a disappointment, because I simply can't identify any Bessie (or Elizabeth) Switzer with any clear connection to Ainsworth.

Checking my notes, however, I do find a local connection to the surname Switzer in this "General News Item" from the Hobart Gazette of September 20, 1907:

A family reunion in which fifty-two people participated was held last Sunday at the home of Chas. Maybaum, Sr., south of Ainsworth, in honor of his sister, Mrs. Rudolph Switzer, and her daughter Carrie who are here from Ness City, Kas., visiting relatives for a few months. Those present from Hobart were Mrs. Geo. Stocker who is a sister of Mrs. Switzer and Jacob Kramer, Jr., and family. The day was very pleasantly passed.

And in the Indiana Marriage Collection we find Rudolph Sweitzer marrying Augusta Maibaum in Lake County, Indiana, on March 4, 1871. Rudolph first shows up in Hobart in the 1860 Census (age 11) with his parents, Daniel and Anna, both of whom died within a few years and are buried in Hobart Cemetery. Rudolph also makes some appearances in the Union Sunday School record books and the Hobart Township Trustee's ledger between 1869 and 1875, though I can't find him in the 1870 Census.

However, Rudolph and Augusta Switzer were in living in Kansas from the 1880 Census onward, and as far as I can tell they never had a child named Bessie.

Valpo Dummie at the Pennsy Station, 1977

Here's another addition to my collection of Depressing Photos of the Pennsy Station, this one from a slide imprinted with the date April 8, 1977.


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According to handwritten notes on the slide, standing on the track is the "Valpo Dummie," a commuter train that ran between Valparaiso and Chicago.

I have no idea what the correct spelling of dummie/dummy is. If a colloquialism like that could be said to have a correct spelling.

Ainsworth School-Year Souvenir, 1897-98 (Part 7)

(continued from Part 6)



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Maybe I should have recognized the name, Wert; I've mentioned with it a couple of times before in the blog — but only in passing, and without bothering to find out much about the family.

Ella Wert was born in 1880. In December 1900, she became Mrs. Edward Cole. She and Edward had two daughters (Evelyn and Edna), and also a foster son named Harry Breyfogle.

Ella's father, Emanuel Wert, shows up in Ross Township as early as the 1860 Census. His parents, Martin and Mary, with their numerous children (nine by 1870), farmed in southeastern Ross Township. This image from the 1874 Plat Map shows the Wert farm, which included 40 acres just over the Winfield Township line.


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You'd think, with so many children, the Wert family would have more of a presence locally, but my newspaper notes include only a few mentions of them. (Which may be due to my lack of attention.)

Also on the image above, outlined in green, is the Hooseline and Tabor farm. That, I believe, has some connection to Ella's mother, Mary Hooseline, whose obituary describes her as the child of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Hooseline. The 1870 Census shows Michael and Laura (Tabor) Hooseline living in southeastern Ross township, possibly on that farm. But Michael is not old enough to be Mary's father: he must be her brother.[1] Her father, then, was Michael Sr. I am not sure who her mother was — Mary's death certificate has "unknown" in that space. The 1860 Census shows Michael Sr. and his wife (one infers) Rebecca living somewhere in Union Township, Porter County, with Mary and her siblings. Michael Sr. was 58 and Rebecca 35; I suspect she was his second wife. Michael Sr. died in 1862.

In 1878 Mary Hooseline married Emanuel Wert. Ella was their only child — at least, the only one to survive infancy — and the Wert marriage was cut short when Emanuel died in 1886, as we learn from his grave marker in Deer Creek Cemetery. I have no idea what happened to him.

I cannot find the family in the 1880 Census. The 1900 Census shows Mary and Ella living in or near the village of Ainsworth (to judge by the names recorded close to theirs). And later that year came Ella's marriage.

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That's all the time I have right now to devote to the Werts. Just one last thing — I took a look at the satellite view of the Wert land in case their house might still be where the 1874 plat map seems to indicate: on the east side of Grand Boulevard, just north of the Ross-Winfield Township line. But now there is only an empty plowed field, and some buildings south of the township line.


[to be continued]

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[1] Michael Jr.'s entry on findagrave.com gives a little background about him and his family.

Back to 1923 Temporari-Lee

I still have a couple of items from the 1923 newspaper, from back in the good old days when you didn't need an appointment to go to the library. May those days return soon.

Speaking of returning, that is what Lee Thompson, our barber, has done — from Seattle, where he had gone in October 1922. He was just in time to meet his brand-new niece.


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Hobart News, Nov. 29, 1923.

Below that, a surprise birthday party for Asa Strong, who was 54 years old. Born November 24, 1869 (Indiana Death Certificates) and named for his grandfather, he was the first child of Augustus and Sarah (Culver) Strong, who had been married in 1868. In 1900, Asa had married Ida Roper. They lived in Hobart (1920 Census). Mrs. Ross Graham was the former Ruby Roper.