A Dorman Family Reunion (ca. 1907)

From the Dorman descendant who gave us the photo of the Dormans at home comes this photo of the extended family, taken probably circa 1907 and probably at Blue Island, Illinois …


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Images courtesy of James Dorman Greene.

… with this information about who is in the photo:

Front (left to right): Willard, Winston, and Harold with their parents John Dorman and Ella (Walts) behind. Behind them are the other two Dorman boys I believe: John Carlisle and Clarence.

The rest of the front row: Edith Dorman (my grandmother) and two of her cousins. Edith's parents Louis and Ida Hecker are behind her. To their right is William Dorman and his with Lina. Back row starting from third on the left is Fred Dorman and his wife. Then Charles Dorman and his wife Elizabeth Ramm.

Blue Island was where John Dorman's parents had settled after coming over from Germany around 1849. He was born there in 1859.

From the same source comes this map showing where in Germany John Dorman's parents came from:



Their home village, Tangendorf, is now part of the municipality of Prignitz, in the state of Brandenburg. Per Wikipedia, its population in 2010 was 85.

The Dormans at Home on a Summer Day

A great-grandnephew of John and Ella Dorman recently sent me this wonderful family photo:


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Image courtesy of James Dorman Greene.

It was taken circa 1907 at Summit Lawn, where the Indian Ridge Golf Course now operates.

Ella Dorman is standing at center. John is seated at right. The boy in the toy automobile is little Winston, who would not live to be named in the 1910 census. The boy standing behind him is probably his brother, Harold. The others are not identified.

It's summer, obviously — leaves everywhere; light clothing, shirtsleeves, and bare feet. Looking at the two American flags on display, I'm inclined to think the family is celebrating Independence Day.

Winston's toy auto is interesting, isn't it? It's probably a pedal car, resembling the full-size autos of the time (minus the headlights). Automobiles for adults were just beginning to be popular in this area. A little boy with a miniature auto suggests financially comfortable parents, who liked to give their children nice things.

The other boy is riding a tricycle of the penny-farthing style that was popular in the 1880s.

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From the same Dorman descendant comes this circa-1935 photo of the Summit Lawn house …


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Images courtesy of James Dorman Greene.

… and these portraits, also circa 1935, of Ella and John Dorman:




These images are from a complete copy of Rose Mathew Dorman's family history booklet, which I will soon substitute for the incomplete copy I posted earlier.

The Harper-Carlson-Grabowski-Pike House

I came across this article, in the Hobart Herald of September 9, 1954, summarizing the history of the house at 6430 Grand Boulevard.


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According to the county records (which tend to be imprecise when you get back into the 19th century), the house was built in 1879: a date not inconsistent with this article. I am so curious to know what the author was told that led her to say that the house was built "sometime after 1863" — not that I doubt it; I'm just curious. I'm guessing she talked with old-timers to get this information.

The article doesn't mention William Blumenthal's brief ownership, but of course he was a mere passer-by, wasn't he?

Considering that the Grabowskis' addition to the house was begun in 1923, it's possible the old timers' memories were not serving them well if they thought it hadn't been completed yet by 1930.

The "Verne Manteuff" whose identification of a shoe is said to have been so important after the accident that killed the Grabowskis was LaVerne Manteuffel.

I want to get into more detail about some of the people mentioned in this article, and I will do that in future posts.


By the way, the photo at the top of my second image above doesn't relate to the house, but to a monument I posted about 'way back in 2010, which (according to the program John Dorman had printed up) was erected in 1931.

The Grabowski Home

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Image courtesy of Aneta and Zenon Grabowscy.

This photo shows the home of Teofil and Wanda Grabowski at 6430 Grand Boulevard in May of 1928. The handwritten caption translates (via Google) to something like "Spring — estate of T.H. Grabowski." The photo shows the park-like grounds in bloom, and right in the middle, there's Wanda (I'm guessing) with baby Edwin.

The photographer (was it Teofil himself?) stood southwest of the house, pointing the camera northeast. Behind mother and baby we see the driveway that goes down to Grand Boulvard/S.R. 51, flanked by three brick pillars, two of which are still standing. Further north are a couple more brick pillars, which haven't survived. In the background, above that bench in front of Wanda, I believe we are looking at John Dorman's stone pillars.

The Grabowski home was as close to Ainsworth as to Hobart, but the caption associates the property with Hobart — by then incorporated as a city — rather than with the tiny unorganized Ainsworth.

Finally, a Golf Course

Late in June 1923, the golf course on the Dorman farm was nearing completion.


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Hobart News, June 28, 1923.

It was opened to the public on July 4, 1923 ("Local Drifts," Hobart Gazette, July 12, 1923).

John Dorman's Golf Course

This sounds like the beginning of what is now the Indian Ridge golf course.


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Hobart Gazette, May 18, 1923.

The previous day's News had said the golf course was already laid out (as an afterthought to the news about his tuberculosis-free cattle). One of these two reports had to be mistaken.


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Hobart News, May 17, 1923.

Visions of Concrete

The new year, 1923, brought dreams of pavement:


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Hobart News 4 Jan. 1923.

From the Lincoln Highway to Lincoln and Tenth would be the route of today's State Road 51. From the brickyards and the Chicago road to Miller would be Lake Park Avenue.

Speaking of pavement — the next column we find William Raschka winning a lawsuit against the Federal Paving Co. — the same company that had recently lost a court battle with some Ross Township farmers.

The story in the right-hand column about the lecture course interested me mainly because of who was selling tickets — among Hobart's high society, we find Lovisa Chester Nelson in her little house in the village of Ainsworth.

Rose Mathew Dorman

I was curious about Rose Mathew Dorman so I started poking around in my notes and on the internet.

Born in 1896, Rose was the eldest of the four children of William and Edna (Tobey) Mathew* and grew up in Plymouth, Indiana (1900 Census, 1910 Census). Sometime after 1910 the family moved to Gary. According to her marriage announcement, Rose had begun working as "society editor" for the Gary Tribune around 1914.


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Lake County Times (Hammond, Ind.) 12 May 1917.

Her father, William, was an attorney. According to his obituary, he served as "special prosecutor" in the murder trial of Harry Diamond (former owner of the Berghoff roadhouse).


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Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Ind.) 19 Feb. 1931.

However, in A Jazz Age Murder in Northwest Indiana: The Tragic Betrayal of Nettie Diamond, Jane Simon Ammeson depicts William Mathew as acting for the defense.

That's the extent of my research thus far.

____________________
*The surname also shows up as "Matthew" and "Matthews"; I'm sticking with the way Rose wrote it.

A Dorman Story

Today, courtesy of Leslie Dorman Hagerty, I am bringing you part of a mysterious pamphlet or book — it looks professionally typeset, but there is no title and we don't know when it was written or if it was part of a larger work (and how much preceding the first page was cut off). [Update: Courtesy of James Dorman Greene, you may view/download the complete booklet here.]

It relates some of the background and experiences of John F. and Ella (Waltz) Dorman of Summit Lawn/Indian Ridge. The writer was Rose Mathew Dorman, who in 1917 married John and Ella's son, Harold C. Dorman. Rose's article here seems to be addressed to her children (and maybe their cousins), and when she says "your grandfather" she means John F. Dorman.

A Dorman History by AinsworthIN on Scribd

The Old Folks at Home Drove Her 'Round the Bend

On August 25, 1922, at their farm on Liverpool Road, Eugene and Carrie Chandler had a birthday party for their daughter, Mildred. A few days later, John and Ella Dorman hosted a Sunday school picnic on their lovely farm overlooking the Deep River, now the Indian Ridge Golf Course.

And the Kemerley family took a long motor trip that included a visit to Mrs. Kemerley, whose first name I still do not know, and whose hard work at the restaurant and boarding house in Hobart had shattered her nerves.


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Remember that undated photo of Hazard Halsted in the car sales and service business? The item in the right-hand column gives us a starting date for that venture.

Just above that … well, I know young people weren't angels even before the 1960s, but I am surprised at the number of extramarital births locally. (An article in the Gazette on the same topic explained that the area in question was Hobart and East Gary, and the time covered was the past six months; see "Shocking Birth Conditions," Hobart Gazette 1 Sept. 1922.)

Ainsworth Then and Now: Summit Lawn/Indian Ridge

Circa 1898, and 2015.



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First image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

I had intended to take the "now" photo in the winter, when the view wasn't blocked by all those leaves, but you know how it goes. The circa-1898 photo is not very clear, being a reprint from the Gazette souvenir edition of 1898 — how I wish we had the original. When I moved out here in 1990, there was still a house standing among those trees. I'm not sure whether it was the same house as in the 1898 photo; it was knocked down so long ago that I scarcely remember how it looked.

The stone pillars and walls remaining on the grounds may date to 1911, when "John R. Dorman … greatly ornamented his home place by erecting some tall stone posts" ("Ross Township Notes," Hobart Gazette 1 Sep. 1911).







The newspapers rarely referred to the Dorman place as "Summit Lawn," but I do find this in my notes from the Hobart Gazette of Sept. 13, 1907:

Dorman's Summit Lawn Stock Farm of Duroc Jersey swine captured nine firsts and two seconds, also sweepstakes making this the second year the same herd has done this. He showed against 5 different herds and breeds this year at Porter County Fair.

When I go back and read the 1890s newspapers, I hope to get a better idea of when John Dorman bought this parcel. The 1891 Plat Book shows it belonging to George Sykes, but John Dorman owned it by 1899 per the notes I have on hand, and perhaps earlier.


Another pillar, north of those shown above, has halfway collapsed. I have no idea when or why it got a horseshoe embedded in the cement:




Here is a picture of John Dorman in his later years, from an unidentified 1944 newspaper (clipped and pasted into a scrapbook by Minnie Harms).


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Image courtesy of Eldon Harms.

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[7/18/2015 update] From the Hobart Gazette of June 15, 1928, here is an article describing the types and sources of the rocks composing these pillars:


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The description of pillars — their height and the four-sided pyramid topping them — matches the existing pillars, but I'm wondering why the article was not written until 1928 if the pillars were indeed erected in 1911. On the other hand, the article does not say they were recently built.

John Dorman

I noticed this item about A.G.* Kemerley's new lunch counter/rooming house and thought it might refer to what eventually became the Ho-Hive house …


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Hobart Gazette 24 Feb. 1922.

… until I checked the 1922 Sanborn map and saw that there were three houses north of the Nickel Plate Garage. Which was the MacPherson place is a mystery to me.

But here's what I found most interesting in this issue of the Gazette — an open letter wherein John Dorman, amid the name-dropping, gives us some tidbits about his life before coming to Ainsworth:



From the historical listing of aldermen in the Proceedings of the City Council of the City of Chicago for 1900-1901, I gather that the four years he mentions were 1891-1895.

That information led me to an on-line issue of the Chicago Daily Tribune of March 22, 1892, which, under a headline reading, "WHO THE INDICTED MEN ARE" (with a subheading, "The Record of the Aldermen Charged With Boodling"**), included this very brief biography:

John F. Dorman, Alderman of the Tenth Ward, was born in Germany forty years ago. He came to Chicago with his parents when a boy and received his education in the Lutheran parish schools of the southwest section of the city. In the winter of 1887-'88 he was one of the Representatives of the Fifth Senatorial District at Springfield, where he made no particular reputation for himself one way or another. He has been a committeeman from his ward for a number of years, has held minor appointive positions in the City Hall and other public offices, and has been more or less of a local politician for a long time. He was elected to the Council a year ago. He is a Democrat.

I gather that this indictment did not lead to any serious consequences for Alderman Dorman. Unfortunately I have neither the time nor the eyesight to read up on all the details of this case, or of John Dorman's political career in general.


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From the Chicago Daily Tribune, 22 March 1892.

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*He liked to go by his initials, evidently; his name might have been Arthur Garfield Kemerly but I'm not certain.
**More precisely, the charge was conspiracy to commit bribery, according to another story from the same issue.

Merry Christmas from the Ainsworth School!

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Image courtesy of Eldon Harms.

There is no date on this program, but one of the participants estimates that it took place in the very late 1930s, or 1940 at the latest. The Ainsworth school had a Christmas program every year (she tells me), as well as a Halloween masquerade party and some sort of program in the spring. And every month during the school year, a "community meeting."

I wish I could index every surname, but Blogger won't let me. So I will just type them out for the search engine: Baldner, Bergman, Blimel, Bodamer, Bowers, Bryant, Buchfuehrer, Bush, Busselburg, Carden, Collins, Dick, Doepping, Dorman, Engstrom, Ford, Gernenz, Harms, Hartin, Homeier, Johnson, Jones, Kissinger, Klemm, Kuntz, Lines, Madura, Maihofer, Mitchell, Moreland, Nelson, O'Brien, Olson, O'Neil, Peterson, Pike, Piske, Ready, Robb, Robinson, Schmidt, Shaw, Sullivan, Tonagel, Watts, Weiler, Wesley, Willy, Wise, Witham, Wojahn, Yager, Ziemanski.

The Night Man's Early-Morning Adventure

It was helpful of the Wood family to have a big reunion, and so remind us of Woods we've forgotten; and it was kind of John Dorman to come down off the heights of Indian Ridge and work to lure people to travel through Ainsworth; but for thrills, you can't beat Ed Kisela's 4:30-AM adventure.


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Hobart Gazette 2 Sept. 1921.

By the way, my understanding is that the route between Chicago and Valpo via Ainsworth was to be marked but, thank heaven, not named.

Los Angeles Honeymoon

Carlisle Dorman was sufficiently recovered from his nervous breakdown to be married in January 1921. (Who knows? — maybe he suffered the breakdown waiting for her to say yes.)



It sounds as if Carlisle is marrying his business partner's daughter, which would be convenient as long as both relationships go smoothly; otherwise, things could get awkward. Dorman & Sykes owned the Fifth Avenue Garage in Gary. The 1920 census lists Edith Sykes, 28, as a stenographer in a garage — I have an idea which garage. The News mentioned that she had once taught in the Hobart public schools.

The young couple were shipping their car to Los Angeles for the honeymoon, they (and the car) traveling there by rail, I suppose.


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.
Handwritten notes on the back of this photo identify it as Edith Dorman. Since John and Ella Dorman did not have a daughter by that name, I'm guessing it's Carlisle's wife.


Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "Dorman-Sykes." Hobart News 13 Jan. 1921.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 21 Jan. 1921.

Third Time's the Charm?

Albert Witt started farming again late in December 1920 — the third start, by my count. (Also, a few random happy reports about people whose names we know.)


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Albert's first start was barely perceptible. Born into a farming family, he grew up with the line of work, and in 1910, at the age of 25, he still lived on the family farm, giving his occupation as farmhand. On March 1, 1911, he "quietly married" Frieda Kegebein, the only surviving child of John and Lena Kegebein — likewise a farming family — and came to live with his wife and in-laws, to farm the land the Kegebeins had bought sometime between 1874 and 1891.



In November 1915, Albert placed this notice in the Gazette:

Having decided to quit farming, I will offer for public sale at the John Kegebein farm, located 2½ miles south of Hobart, and ½ mile north of Ainsworth, beginning at 10 a.m., Monday, Nov. 15, three horses, 12 milch cows, 14 heifers, 15 head of hogs, chickens, farming implements, household furniture, and many articles not mentioned.

I don't know what Albert did instead of farming, but he was still on the Kegebein land in 1916 when he traded farms with his neighbor, Glen Nelson.

Albert remained on the Charles Chester farm until he quit farming the second time, and this time he really meant it — temporarily, at least. The January 1920 census records him working in the steel mills; he and Frieda and their four children lived on the "Chicago road," which I believe is Old Ridge Road.

(I don't know where John and Lena Kegebein had been living while their farm was rented by Glen and Elsie Nelson. The 1920 census shows the Kegebeins on their own property somewhere in the vicinity of Ainsworth, but John's occupation is given as "retired farmer." Perhaps they had a little house in the village, or even on their own land.)

But now, as we see, Albert and Frieda Witt have come back to the Kegebein farm, and we shall see how long the farming lasts this time.


Sources:
♦ 1874 Plat Map.
♦ 1891 Plat Book.
♦ 1908 Plat Map.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 30 Dec. 1920.
♦ "Public Sale." Hobart Gazette 12 Nov. 1915.
♦ "Quietly Married." Hobart Gazette 3 Mar. 1911.

How the Dormans Partied

On November 19, 1920, they partied with 35 people from Gary and goodness knows how many other neighbors and friends.


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From the Hobart News of Nov. 25, 1920.

(Also an update on the show-biz career of Ellsworth Humes.)

On November 22, 1920, they partied with ten carloads and one truckload of church people.


From the Hobart News of Nov. 25, 1920.

(And from the "South of Deepriver" we learn the interesting news that Nora Campbell is about to be married.)

The 1920 Census gives John Dorman's age as 59, Ella's as 56.

Can't I Have a Nervous Breakdown in Private Around Here?

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From "Local Drifts," Hobart Gazette, Oct. 22, 1920.

I really wish I knew whether the Dorman family called up the Gazette office to impart that bit of information, or whether the editor found it out through local gossip and decided to plaster it on the front page because, well, it's news, isn't it?

If your curiosity was piqued by that announcement in the right-hand column about the parking ordinance published elsewhere, you can read some of its text on this page:



The same page informs us that Gust Deering, thus far best known for changing his mind, has changed it yet again. Gust would move with his family into their Joryville home in early December. The 1930 census shows them living on Linda Street, and Gust working in a steel mill.


Sources:
♦ 1930 Census.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 9 Dec. 1920.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 22 Oct. 1920.
♦ "Ordinance No. 274." Hobart Gazette 22 Oct. 1920.
♦ "Public Sale." Hobart Gazette 22 Oct. 1920.

State-of-the-Roads Report

Random road-related items, from mid-April to mid-May 1920 …

South Main Street is getting paved, but not fast enough for this fruit truck; a team of horses finally saves the day.


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In this ad, Goodrich makes bad roads a selling point for its tires.



The Gazette of April 23, 1920, was just full of road tidbits.



The last News of April added: "The work of grading Indiana and Lillian streets is about completed ready for the pavers."

By early May 1920, the Lake County commissioners were considering a proposed cement road running from Gary to Miller, then north to Lake Michigan and east to the Porter County line, thus cutting across northern Hobart Township. (According to, e.g., the 1926 Plat Book, Hobart Township extended north to Lake Michigan at the time.) The proposed road would consist of two 20-foot-wide cement lanes divided by a 20-foot median. From the heights of Indiana Ridge, John Dorman wrote an open letter supporting the proposal, as it would help make Hobart "a high class suburb to Gary."



Of course, everyone favors good roads, but not everyone favors paying for them; and when the county commissioners met on May 10 for a vote, they had before them a remonstrance signed by "several hundred" Hobart Township citizens who protested that the road's $250,000 cost was more than the township could afford. And in the end the commissioners voted down the road proposal.


Sources:
♦ Advertisement. Hobart News 22 Apr. 1920.
♦ "John F. Dorman Favors Good Roads." 7 May 1920.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 15 Apr. 1920; 29 Apr. 1920.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 23 Apr. 1920.
♦ "Road Petition Denied." Hobart Gazette 14 May 1920.
♦ "Who Will Pay?" Hobart Gazette 23 Apr. 1920.

Again with the Woodchucks!

As town and country celebrated the Christmas of 1919, John Dorman and his woodchuck meteorology were again making news.


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From the Hobart News of Dec. 25, 1919.


From the Hobart Gazette of Dec. 26, 1919.

The Dec. 25 News, above, included a little advertisement of the Mackey medical practice, of the kind that had appeared in both local papers many times over the years — unchanged, still, as if the elder Dr. Mackey had not passed on. I suppose amidst all the stress of grief and the work of taking over the whole practice himself, the young Dr. Mackey had overlooked this small matter … or maybe he just couldn't bring himself to make that final change.