There's Only One Merrillville?

I'm sure everyone who's done online research knows the pain of chasing down wild geese that happen to have the same name as your own goose. There are towns in Iowa and Nebraska called Ainsworth, and both of them still exist, unlike this little Ainsworth of mine, and they clog up my search results. And in looking for Hobart, Indiana, I keep turning up things about towns in Tasmania, New York, Oklahoma, and Washington. The good thing about Merrillville is that there's only one … or so I thought, until I saw the first item in this "South of Deepriver" column:


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Hobart News, Aug. 9, 1923.

Internet research fails to turn up the location of this town in Missouri. It does turn up references from the 19th century to a town called Merrellsville, but no one seems to know exactly where that town was. Google Maps, which identify such obscure places as my Ainsworth, don't acknowledge the existence of any Merrillville or Merrellsville in Missouri.

So if there is a Merrillville in Missouri, it keeps quiet. Very quiet.

Beyond that, the news south of Deepriver is not very thrilling.

A Chopping Bee

In December 1922, the men of the South of Deepriver neighborhood got together and held a "chopping bee" to supply Jim Jeffrey with stove wood for the winter — as Jim was in no condition to chop wood for himself, with a twice-broken leg.


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Hobart News 21 Dec. 1922.

I've paid so little attention to the Prescott family that I had to go look them up to remind myself that Mrs. John Prescott was born Carrie Sturtevant.


Over in the left-hand column, the Central Drug Store in downtown Hobart was selling popular recordings. I've never heard of either "Indiana Lullaby" or "Three O'Clock in the Morning" before. I guess I need to get out more.

Wedding Bells for Mabel and Harry

Isn't it lovely? — our friends have gotten married.


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Hobart News 31 Aug. 1922.

(Below that, a wedding involving Charles Kisela, which may or may not interest the Kisela-related person who contacted me a few years ago. Also, I did not know that Terre Haute was the standard by which Indiana bootlegging was judged in 1922.)

Order in the Court!

I wish these "Local Court Notes" gave more of the juicy details.

We know all the people in the first case. The last I heard, Nathan Bosen was renting Elmer Arment's new house on S.R. 51.


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Hobart News 24 Aug. 1922.

In the swearing case, I guess the point of where he lived was that the swearing wasn't done within Hobart city limits.

And of course we know Harry Cole, alias Harry Breyfogle. But I'm not sure which of the local John Petersons was suing him.

South of Deepriver

Random bits from the countryside south of Deepriver, late July-early August 1922.


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Hobart News 3 Aug. 1922

I don't know exactly what a separator canvas is, but the wording of that item suggests that the farmers of southeastern Ross Township had chipped in to buy themselves a communal farm machine — a sensible thing to do — and it was getting a workout in that summer's wheat threshing.

… Here's a little article about a threshing machine that has a separator and a canvas, somehow or another.


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From the Chilton Tractor Journal, Vol VIII, No. 4 (April 1, 1922). Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=xsZMAQAAMAAJ&lpg=RA3-PA14&ots=pSADxxAJwL&pg=RA3-PA14&ci=80%2C816%2C899%2C500&source=bookclip#v=onepage&q&f=false.

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Elsewhere in the August 3, 1922 issue of the News, we find out that the strikebreaker has still not recovered …



… and among the familiar names in the second column, we also find Miss Jeanette Peterson, daughter of Lena and George. The Hugo Zobjeck at Camp Knox in Kentucky was Hugo Jr., now about 17 years old.

In the third column are a couple of obituaries. The first concerns the untimely death of Ida (Heck) Carlson, who probably grew up on the old Heck place. The second brings me to consider the Wilson family of Union Township, Porter County, whom I have considered very little up to now. Mrs. Jane Harwood would have been Aunt Jane to "Miss Leola Wilson of Blachly's corners," and also, I believe, to Ralph Wilson, who in his youth took music lessons from Ainsworth's own Hugh Dotzer ("Ainsworth Pick-Ups," Hobart Gazette 6 Jan. 1905). In my notes and in the blog, I find several references to Wilsons, and some day when I retire and have time on my hands, perhaps I shall investigate which of them belonged to the Wilson family of Union Township.

Here is the farm of Jane's parents, Amos and Hannah Wilson, as it appeared on the 1876 plat map:


From http://www.inportercounty.org/Data/Maps/1876Plats/Union-1876.jpg, courtesy of Steven R. Shook.

South of Deepriver

Random events in the countryside south of Deep River … and west of Deep River, Alice Paine is on summer vacation from Teachers College.


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Hobart News 22 June 1922.

Maypoles and Gay-Mill Gardens

Tidbits from south of Deep River, late in May 1922:


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Hobart News 25 May 1922.

The list of Ainsworth graduates confirms my earlier guess (which wasn't exactly genius-level in the first place), and gives a few details about the graduation ceremonies — drills and Maypole dances in an open field that may have been a bit muddy.

So Howard H. Smith, who has been living in an undisclosed location at least since January 1922, when Melvin and Verna Guernsey moved onto his farm, is now building a house on his Porter County land? — and where might that be, I wonder?

Excuse me while I look at Union Township maps on a hunch …

… what do you know, it's right across the county line from his Lake County land.


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Image from http://www.inportercounty.org/Data/Maps/UnionTownshipMaps.html, courtesy of Steven R. Shook.

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This advertisement for the Gay-Mill Gardens sounds as if May 27, 1922 might be its grand opening …


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Hobart Gazette 26 May 1922.

… but if that's the case, then why is the "mirror floor" already famous?

In Dreams of Duneland, Kenneth J. Schoon describes the Gay Mill as "a vibrant dance and social hall with an adjacent hotel and even lakefront houses for rent." It must have seemed quite glamorous to people accustomed to dancing above a blacksmith's shop or in an old schoolhouse, if they ever ventured through the Gay-Mill doors.

South of Deepriver

Social news from the countryside early in May 1922:


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Hobart News 11 May 1922.

The Guernsey family was planning another reunion.

I don't know who Albert Starr was, but he lived in Valparaiso (1920 Census).


Over in the left-hand column, we hear of an auto accident "south of Ainsworth," but we don't get enough details to figure out exactly where it happened.

South of Deepriver

The social news from the countryside in early March 1922.


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Hobart News 9 Mar. 1922.

"Mrs. L.R. Huffman" would be Nellie, wife of Levi Randall Huffman, Jr.

South of Deepriver

Random news from the countryside south of Deep River, and elsewhere.


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Hobart News 5 Jan. 1922.

Melvin and Verna Guernsey are moving back into my bailiwick, so maybe I will start paying attention to them again. But if they are moving to the Howard H. Smith farm, where is Howard H. Smith going?

South of Deep River

The social news from the countryside as November 1921 came to an end:


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Hobart News 1 Dec. 1921.

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In unrelated news, the Roper Bros. in Hobart suggest you buy a one-ton truck chassis and build your own truck.


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Hobart Gazette 2 Dec. 1921.

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Sarah Read's return to the Nolte farm in late October did not last long. She became ill again sometime in November, I gather, and had to go back to the home of her nephew, Benjamin Packham, in Hobart ("Local Drifts," Hobart Gazette 2 Dec. 1921). She spent most of December 1921 convalescing there, and not until after the New Year was she able to leave the house — only to go to downtown Hobart, though; not to the farm ("Local Drifts," Hobart Gazette 13 Jan. 1922).

South of Deepriver

A social column from the countryside south of Deep River …


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Hobart News 13 Oct. 1921.

… and a full obituary for Harry Breyfogle's foster grandma.

Also a little more information about the Yellowstone Trail.

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Elsewhere in the same issue of the News, one heck of a chicken dinner …



If the Nelson family was our own Glen and Elsie Nelson (and their two little boys, Delmer and Melvin), I wonder if their being "of Crown Point" was only in terms of mail delivery routes. The 1920 Census seems to place them on Grand Blvd./S.R. 51 between Ainsworth and the Deep River, and I haven't seen any news since then of their moving.

Abscess on the Brain

I can't find the Harold Guernsey, Otis' son, in the 1920 census — not even in Montana, which is where his brother William had to go to fetch him when he became dangerously sick in June of 1921. Harold was about 21 years old at this time.


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Images from the Hobart News 23 June 1921.

All the other news on this page is much more pleasant, including an ice-cream social at the home of Arthur and Mary Strong, south of Deep River; and in Crown Point, a party for Elmer Bullock's 18th birthday.

In the left-hand column we find notices of an upcoming show based on the popular comic strip, The Gumps. The fact that it would be held under a "big rainproof tent" is alarming to those of us who know what waterproofed tents could do when they caught fire. But no reports of disaster came out of "Henpecked Andy" in this case.

Cement for the Lincoln Highway

"Truck loads of cement are being hauled via Hobart to Ainsworth for the Lincoln Highway," said the Gazette, early in April 1921. "This would indicate that cement work will soon start." This was welcome news to motorists (especially those driving oil trucks).

Just a few days later, Ainsworth became the center of cement activity.


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I believe "the Will Smith corner" refers to a long-time resident who died in 1919; he had once owned 50 acres on the south side of the Lincoln Highway where it meets Ainsworth Road* — he hadn't actually lived there since 1907, and yet the custom of naming this intersection after him persisted.


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The William Smith farm as it appears on the 1908 Plat Map.


For about a month, bad weather interfered with the Lincoln Highway work.


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Also, a "South of Deepriver" column, which tells us that Esther Guernsey was back after teaching a school year in South Dakota. And a revival at the Deep River church.

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*Called Greene Street from that intersection as it moves northeast to a gentle curve where it imperceptibly becomes Ainsworth Road; but as far as I'm concerned it's all Ainsworth Road.


Sources:
♦ "Additional Local News." Hobart Gazette 8 Apr. 1921.
♦ "Pouring Cement." Hobart Gazette 15 Apr. 1921.
♦ "Rainy Weather Retards Work on the Lincoln Highway." Hobart News 5 May 1921.
♦ "South of Deepriver." Hobart News 5 May 1921.

Still Not Tuberculosis

The last "South of Deepriver" column of 1920 tells us, among other things, that poor Bertha Nolte Campbell was, in the family tradition, continuing to suffer poor health; but her illness probably wasn't tuberculosis, as the treatment for that would not be surgery.


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From the Hobart News of 30 Dec. 1920.

Also, a big party for the little Sauter born on Christmas Day.

Party at Chandlers', Play at W.G. Haan

Eugene and Carrie Chandler's house on South Liverpool Road was packed with guests celebrating his 34th birthday on November 15, 1920.

The audience at the Willing Workers' play in the W.G. Haan school auditorium may have enjoyed it while sitting in new chairs.


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From the Hobart News of Nov. 18, 1920.

I do not know whether, or how, Paul Newman may have been related to the Leopold Gruel who bought the Ford sedan. Per the 1920 Census, Leopold was a 53-year-old Hobart resident, born in Germany, who came to the U.S. in 1888.

This Must Come and These Must Go

In October 1920, Albert Orcutt (who had an Ainsworth connection through his wife, née Etta Mander) had come to realize that his business building — this one, I suppose — must be renovated "sooner or later."

Also, the social activity of our friends South of Deepriver.


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From the Hobart News of Oct. 7, 1920.

Meanwhile, Edward Rohwedder is getting rid of his excess inventory as he prepares to move to a smaller farm.


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From the Hobart News of Oct. 7, 1920.

Goodbye Horses, Hello Tractor

The Price farm gets mechanized, August 1920.


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From the Hobart News of August 26, 1920.

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The "South of Deepriver" column from the same paper includes an interesting item about a schoolteacher off to teach in the wilds of South Dakota (or maybe the biggest city there, for all I know). While there were loads of Pecks in the area, I hadn't encountered the name "Myrl" before. I do wonder if it mightn't be Margaret Peck, a 21-year-old woman who had been working as a clerk in the Deep River store of William and Sadie Baker … and perhaps dying of boredom … but that's just my wild speculation.

Of Threshing and Road Trips

Since we don't have an Ainsworth social column in the newspapers anymore, the next best thing is the "South of Deepriver" column.


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From the Hobart News of July 29, 1920.

You may remember "Mr. and Mrs. Ed Cole" as the foster parents of the orphaned Harry Breyfogle.

The same issue of the News mentioned that important matter, the commencement of wheat threshing.



(The Frank Popp who had a newborn son was brother to Charles. And I think a certain someone out there has a Moehl family connection.)

What wouldn't fit on that print-out was a little story about a road trip by someone outside the Chester and Faulkner families:

Mr. and Mrs. Chris Ols, in company with Mr. and Mrs. Herman Harms and Bruce McCable motored to Lafayette Sunday, that being Bruce's former home. They report the crops in excellent condition down there and about three weeks in advance of Lake county. While there they also visited the Indiana State Soldiers' home — a beautiful place.

Judging by a collection of images from 1901, the Soldiers' Home was indeed a beautiful place. It is now called the Indiana Veterans' Home.

Here's Something About Harry

There I was, when I should have been writing something relevant, instead poking around trying to find out where Harry and Mable Schavey Breyfogle have their final resting place. By chance I came across something that actually ties Harry to Ainsworth … well, "south of Ainsworth," anyway — this, from the Valparaiso Vidette-Messenger of May 5, 1955:



So I checked Ancestry.com for the Coles. The 1910 Census shows Edward and Ella Cole on a farm in Winfield township; with them lives Harry Breyfogle, an orphan boy of eight, whose birthplace is unknown. The reason my direct searches on "Breyfogle" didn't turn him up is because the enumerator's handwriting caused Ancestry.com's indexer to misread his last name.

I still can't find Harry in the 1920 Census. By the 1930 Census, he was giving his birthplace as Indiana.

Here is the Cole land that lay just below the boundary between Winfield and Ross Townships, as shown in the 1939 Plat Book, with my attempt to mark the 80 acres that lay adjacent in Ross Township:


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The Coles were thus neighbors of Sam and Carrie Campbell, whose son Claude married Bertha Nolte, who was born and raised in that tragic house east of Ainsworth. Another Ainsworth connection!

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… And there went all the time I had for writing. I wish I were one of those people to whom research and writing come easily, but I'm not. I follow one tangent, and waste two hours. Hence all those posts of unidentified people photographed in unknown places on unknown dates: that doesn't take two hours.