Bad Times at the Black Cat: Domestic Edition

"The triumph of hope over experience" turns into "fool me twice …"


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Hobart Gazette, 20 Jan. 1955.

The 1950 Census shows Ronald Reed managing the Black Cat, along with his brother William (and William's wife, Darrielyn).

I've found the October 1953 record of Ronald and Laura's re-marriage in Lake County, Indiana. I can't find the record of their original marriage. I'm guessing that happened in Pennsylvania sometime between (probably) 1935 and 1940, when they show up married in the census, living in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

The owners of the Black Cat, Paul and Elva Allen, are recorded the 1950 census on the page before the Reed brothers. Elva was the mother of Ronald and William. Paul was their stepfather. Apparently Elva and their father, William, had been divorced, since William lived until 1959.

Now I'm wondering about Betty Reed, described in the 1953 article as the "wife of the owner." I can't find any Betty in the 1950 census. Did the article just get her name wrong?


I don't actually know if the divorce went through for Ronald and Laura. If she got her $30,000 in alimony, she did pretty well; that's about $341,000 in 2023 dollars (the $200,000 gross income of the Black Cat would be over $2,000,000 today). The next I hear about Ronald is a newspaper item in 1957 saying that he was marrying Lorraine Brady.[1] But I can't figure out what happened to Laura.

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In happier news, Jack Hendrix is back!


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Hobart Gazette

He was "back" from Key West, Florida, where he lived most of the time, I believe. A "Hobart Happenings" item from the Gazette of March 3, 1955, said:

Jack Hendrix will leave Tuesday for Florida, where he is the featured organist in the Bamboo Room at Key West. He has been visiting friends and relatives in this area for the past two months.

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[1] "News From the Court House," The Brook Reporter (Brook, Ind.), 3 Jan. 1957.

A Scandal in Old Hobart

The scandal described in these two articles dates back to the 1880s and involves adultery, an unwed mother, a man's abandoning both his families, baby farming, the abduction of a child, and theft by deception. Aside from all that, however, the two stories give us some information about small businesses in Hobart in the 1880s … but the information is not consistent.


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Hobart News, Aug. 2, 1923.


Hobart Gazette, Aug. 3, 1923.

The News gives a vague description for where the Allens' "small bakery" was: "on Third street east of Duck creek bridge." The Gazette has the Allens running a "small store on Third street, in the building now occupied by the Henry Ols family." An Ols descendant tells me that in 1923, the Henry Ols family was living at 801 E. Third Street. That house, according to the county records, was built in 1918; if the county records are correct, the "small store" must have been in a previous structure on that site — or the Gazette simply got the location wrong.

The Gazette also mentions that William H. Allen was a drayman. That helps us identify him in the 1880 Census, which shows William and his wife, Elizabeth — both 35-year-old natives of Scotland — living with their two small American-born children, Harriet and George. I can't find them in any census before or after that.

The four-acre tract that the Allens bought (mentioned in the Gazette article) is too small to show up on any plat map. The brick structure built as a barn but used as a house sounds interesting. (Of course I'm thinking of Eva Thompson's house at 32 North Hobart Road, built in 1889 per the county records, but that's just a theory I pulled out of the air.)

I hope that if Anna Brighton turns up, the local papers will tell us about it.

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We find two of the characters in this story in a couple of the record books I've indexed. For example, here's William H. Allen getting paid in April and June of 1889 for his janitor work in one or more schools:


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

The last mention I can find of him is in 1891, but of course I have not indexed all the existing records.

And here's Anna Brighton, also in 1889, being elected as a teacher in the Union Sunday School.


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

I don't think her career in the Sunday School was very long, since I don't find any other mentions of her name. I wonder if she got a chance to teach the lesson in John 8:1-11.

The New Captain Becomes Official

Draft 258 was deemed "most appropriate" for Co. K's fundraiser because — as I gather from the only synopsis I've been able to find — it was pro-war propaganda. It starred Mabel Taliaferro, whom I never heard of before.

Anyway, it went over well with the patriotic locals, and the Gazette reported that the benefit show had brought in $157.60 for Co. K.

Meanwhile, Charles W. Reeves' new rank became official. As the company's first lieutenant, he had risen to the rank of captain by default when Charles Allen resigned. Now the commander of the Indiana State Militia sent orders commissioning Reeves as captain and Walter MacPherson as first lieutenant. Franklin T. Fetterer retained his position as second lieutenant.

Charles Reeves was just 25 years old — the youngest captain in the state, according to the News — but he had training and experience. He had earlier been a member of the Georgia National Guard, and within the last couple of years had served on the Mexican border as a sergeant with Co. F of the Indiana National Guard.

He now commanded the 88 men of Co. K. Their number had fallen somewhat since the company's mustering-in; the News explained that a dozen former members had either enlisted in the regular military or relocated. Still, Co. K was the largest in Indiana, and Hobart the smallest town to have its own company, if we are to believe the Gazette.


Sources:
♦ Advertisement. Hobart Gazette 19 Apr. 1918.
♦ "Charles W. Reeves Promoted to Captain of Co. K, I.S.M." Hobart News 2 May 1918.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 3 May 1918.
♦ "New Company Commander." Hobart Gazette 3 May 1918.