Drunks Upon the Streets

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Hobart Gazette, Aug. 31, 1923.

We do not know what the commentator meant by "formerly" — before Prohibition? two months ago?


In more constructive news, the Fifield ice-cream parlor has been doing very well, it seems.


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Hobart Gazette, Aug. 31, 1923.

William Raschka Still Busy in Ainsworth

Lest we forget that William Raschka was still doing business in Ainsworth in 1923, in spite of having sold his department store business long ago, here is an ad for his feed, grain, and fertilizer warehouse:


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Hobart News, Aug. 16, 1923.

In the left-hand column is the beginning of an article about the death of Kelly Norris. I find him interesting because (1) he might not have died if antibiotics had been available; and (2) his widow was the former Edith Busse. Here is the full story:


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Hobart News, Aug. 16, 1923.

It is interesting to see the number of Hobart people who traveled with his remains to Lagrange, Indiana, including George Sauter and Fred Rose, Jr.

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Speaking of George Sauter — his mother, now Augusta Fiester, had a nice 62nd-birthday party on August 9, 1923.


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Hobart News, Aug. 16, 1923.

The Edward Sauter who attended was, I am sure, Edward Jr., not Edward Sr., Augusta's ex-husband. I have completed lost sight of Edward Sr. He was last seen in the 1920 Census, living in a rooming house at 1249 W. 103rd Street, Chicago, and working as a blacksmith, shoeing horses. I can't find him in the 1930 Census; can't even find a record of his death.

Above that item, the Pecks have returned from their hot and mosquito-ridden motor trip, and chosen to call it pleasant.

An Eight-Pound Gordon

On January 12, 1909,¹ an eight-pound boy was born to Zora and E.R. Gordon — delivered neither by his father nor his great-uncle Pliny, but by an out-of-town physician named A.G. Schklieker.² I find that a bit odd.

The child was named John Jackson, probably in honor of both his grandfathers. Little John would spend much of his first year in the house where his father grew up.

In March, "Dr. E.R. Gordon … moved his office from the First State Bank block to the Fiester block, upstairs in front,"³ which explains why his name appears on the second-story front windows in this photo:


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


In May, as we've learned, construction began on the new Gordon house. All in all, it had been a very eventful year-and-a-half for E.R. and Zora.

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[1] "Local Drifts," Hobart Gazette 15 Jan. 1909.
[2] Indiana Birth Certificates.
[3] "Local Drifts," Hobart Gazette 19 Mar. 1909.

What the Heck?

Now the 1926 Plat Book has me confused again because it shows some land being owned by Christian Heck that he reportedly sold in April 1921:


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From the Hobart News 14 Apr. 1921.

Here it is in 1926:



I don't know why I care, except that (1) Christian, with his parents, Frederick and Doretta, lived in Ross Township (northwest of Ainsworth) in 1870 and 1880; and (2) in 1900, when he farmed his own land south of Tenth Street, he shows up as a neighbor of Augusta Rossow, the second wife (and by then the widow) of Henry Rossow, who was Minnie Rossow Harms's grandfather. Augusta was renting (I believe) the land shown on the above map as belonging to William Lute, but in her time the land had belonged to Jacob Fiester, so it was known as the Fiester farm.

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In other news, John and Goldie Ensign had a new baby, John Jr.




Sources:
♦ 1870 Census.
♦ 1880 Census.
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ 1930 Census.
♦ "Births." Hobart News 14 Apr. 1921.
♦ "C.F. Heck Sells His 187-Acre Farm to Louis Kelle of Gary." Hobart News 14 Apr. 1921.

Blood Poison and Home Sales

Bad health plagued George Sauter. In July 1920 a simple cut on the index finger of his left hand led to "an attack of blood poison" (sepsis). He "suffered greatly," according to the Gazette.

At the same time his mother, Augusta Fiester, was ill, suffering from rheumatism. His sister Lizzie Epps came down from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to visit Augusta, bringing along her two teenaged sons. (Lizzie's husband, Alfred, was away visiting his "old home in England.")

But Lizzie's visit was more than a mission of mercy. She had a house to sell.


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This house was still the home of her suffering brother George. (The earlier report that George and his wife, Mabel, had bought the house appears now to be in error.)

But by mid-August, it seems that George had recovered from his blood poison sufficiently to attend to real estate matters. In the week following Lizzie's putting their home up for sale, George and Mabel bought Willard Stevens' house (described as being "on Lincoln avenue, in Joryville"), while John Ziegler bought Lizzie's house.

On August 30 George and Mabel moved into their new home. Within a month, the industrious George had installed a new cement sidewalk in front.





Sources:
♦ Advertisement. Hobart News 26 Aug. 1920.
♦ "All kinds of Wants." Hobart Gazette 13 Aug. 1920.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 22 July 1920; 5 Aug. 1920; 19 Aug. 1920; 2 Sept. 1920; 30 Sept. 1920.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 23 July 1920; 13 Aug. 1920.

A Clean Shirt Forever

It was just ten days into the new year, into the new decade, and our old friend Willard Halsted, the former Ainsworth storekeeper, no longer needed a clean shirt every Sunday.

His death at 62 years of age came as a shock to all who knew him. He had been so active — only the previous summer we saw him doing the carpentry work on a new home for the Dwight Mackey family, and no doubt he had other work not reported on. (I am not sure if he was one of the "Halsted brothers" working on the Chandler barn in November 1919.)

Only recently he had suffered some unspecified ailment (the newspapers being uncharacteristically reticent about its nature) serious enough to warrant surgery at Mercy Hospital in Gary. His operation took place on January 7, 1920; the next day's News reported that he was "doing nicely." Bad news was not expected, but it soon came.


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(His daughter, Hazel, had married Byron Findling in June 1917, and his namesake grandson was now just over a year old. Per the News, his surviving siblings were brothers Albert, Wallace and J.M. (James?) of Hobart, and sister Ruby Rhodes of Gary.)

W.O. lies in Crown Hill Cemetery, near the son who had gone before.



Also nearby, the family monument:




Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 8 Jan. 1920.
♦ "Prominent Hobart Citizen Dies Suddenly." Hobart Gazette 16 Jan. 1920.
♦ "W.O. Halsted, Hobart Contractor, Passes Away." Hobart News 15 Jan. 1920.

A Veteran Returns, a Veteran Departs

In early June 1919, Edward Sauter set sail from France, homeward bound.

His mother, Augusta Sauter Fiester, was showing around Hobart a memento he had sent her — "a handsome beaded hand-bag" purchased in France, which she "prize[d] very highly." That Friday the 13th was no unlucky day for her, as she received a telegram from Edward, announcing that his boat had docked in American waters. Ten days later — having made a detour to Camp Taylor in Kentucky for his discharge — Edward was back home in Hobart. According to the Gazette, he had spent nearly a year as a gunner in France, and had seen "much active service, likewise great hardships," but now he returned in triumph, bearing "numerous souvenirs." The News crowed: "Edward Sauter … is looking the picture of health. He weighs more than 200 pounds and stands more than six feet in height."

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As new veterans returned, old veterans were leaving — the whole generation that had fought the Civil War was passing, more and more of them, as we are now losing the generation that fought World War II.


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Sources:
♦ "Chas. W. Estelle." Hobart Gazette 20 June 1919.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 12 June 1919; 19 June 1919; 26 June 1919.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 27 June 1919.

Restless George Settles Down

The first hint that George Sauter had plans for settling down came in mid-February 1919, when the Gazette reported that he had bought "the Epps house and lot on Third street."

The owners had been his sister Lizzie and her second husband, Alfred Epps, now living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The News described the house's location as "the corner of Third and New Street," but did not say which corner. (The Gazette added that the house had been occupied by the Messick family, which probably included the budding artist, Dalia.)

At the time, George was still managing the grocery department at the Tittle Bros. store on Broadway in Gary. That soon changed: not two weeks after he bought the house, he also bought the Carstensen-Anders market in Hobart. (Around the same time, George's former business partner, Armin Mackeldey, sold the market they had once operated together to H.J. and W.B. Anderson.)

Announcements of George's most recent purchase noted that he expected to take over the market's management on March 10. Why he did not do so immediately became clear with the first newspapers of March. On Wednesday, March 5, George married Mabel Johnson.

Mabel was the daughter of John and Clara Johnson of Hobart. She was 24 years old and had been earning wages for several years at various Hobart businesses — among them the Sauter & Mackeldey market, where she had worked as bookkeeper.

The wedding, held in Mabel's home on Center Street, was small and quiet. Only close relatives attended. The fact that George was described by both papers as the son of Mrs. John Fiester, with no mention of Edward Sauter, Sr., suggests that Edward did not come to town for his eldest son's wedding.

After the ceremony, the party sat down to a three-course dinner, and then the newlyweds left for Grand Rapids. They would spend much of their honeymoon visiting Lizzie and Alfred Epps — a short honeymoon, for George was due back at his new business on Monday. Though it seems he was ready, at the age of 28, to give up his wandering, he wasn't ready to give up his workaholic ways.

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I believe the Carstensen-Anders market was already in the location where George ended up operating his store. It had originally been in the Roper/ATS building, for the Carstensens had bought out James Roper's market around 1904. After Conrad Carstensen died in 1911, his widow ran the market herself. When the American Trust and Savings Bank moved into the Roper building in 1912, Emma Carstensen had the market's new home built at 413 Main. In 1915 she remarried, and lived in the flat over the market with her new husband, Emerson Anders. They intended to continue living their after George Sauter took possession of the store.

I may never know for certain, but now I suspect that Mabel Johnson was one of the young women in the photo with Fred Rose, Jr. and George Sauter in uniform — probably the one second from the right.


Sources:
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ "A. Mackeldey Sells Out." Hobart Gazette 28 Feb. 1919.
♦ Christianson, Elin B. Hobart's Historic Buildings. Hobart: Hobart Historical Society, 2002.
♦ Cook County, Illinois, Marriages Index.
♦ "George Sauter Buys A. Carstensen-Anders Store." Hobart News 27 Feb. 1919.
♦ Indiana WPA Death Records Index.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 14 Feb. 1919.
♦ "Sauter-Johnson Marriage." Hobart Gazette 7 Mar. 1919.
♦ "Sauter-Johnson." Hobart News 6 Mar. 1919.
♦ "The Carstensen Market Sold." Hobart Gazette 28 Feb. 1919.

New Love For That Other One, Too

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Handsome fellows, aren't they? … These young Hobart women are in costume for some sort of performance (date unknown).
Back row, left to right: Edith Wood Parker, Ruth Nitchman, Clara Sauter Rowe, Bess Hayward, Elsie Mummery.
Front row, left to right: Unknown Wilson, Carrie Bullock, unknown, Mabel Rowe Black.

Clara Sauter seemed always a few steps behind her little sister Lizzie, in joy and in sorrow. She was three years behind Lizzie in becoming a wife and three months behind her in becoming a widow. She was still a widow when Lizzie remarried in July 1915, but she too was on her way to new happiness.

After the death of her husband John in 1910, Clara had remained in Hobart, living quietly, occupied with caring for her little son. When her brother George opened a store in partnership with Armen Meckeldey in the summer of 1913, they hired Clara as their bookkeeper. She held that position for two and a half years, but as 1915 turned to 1916 she resigned, and the Gazette commented: "Dame Rumor says she is to be married the coming month."

Dame Rumor was right in this case. On February 1, 1916, Clara married Frank Severance. He farmed just east of Hobart in Porter County (and I don't know if or how he was related to the Ross Township Severances). Because he lived in Porter County, he and Clara thought they were acting properly in going to Valparaiso for their license, but there officials turned them away on the grounds that the bride's residence was in Lake County. So they had to make the trip to Crown Point. There they were quietly married, and quietly returned home, not even having planned any reception.

That evening a group of relatives and friends showed up at their "beautiful country home" to throw a surprise reception for them. (Clara had also been surprised a week earlier by a shower, organized by and held in the home of her mother, Augusta (Mrs. John Fiester).)"Both are popular and well known in this vicinity," said the Gazette, "and their many friends will wish them a prosperous and happy companionship."

If her father, Ed Sauter, was present at any of these events, no one saw fit to mention him.


Sources:
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 31 Dec. 1915; 28 Jan. 1916.
♦ "Personal and Local Mention." Hobart News 6 Jan. 1916.
♦ "Severance-Rowe Nuptial." Hobart Gazette 4 Feb. 1916.
♦ "Severance-Rowe." Hobart News 3 Feb. 1916.

The End of the Sauter Marriage

Speaking of John Fiester (yes, we were, if only incidentally), in 1914 he developed a very weak Ainsworth connection. And now I know a little more of the subsequent history of Ed and Augusta Sauter, who had been so busy in turn-of-the-century Ainsworth.

I hadn't heard much from either of them since they left Ainsworth. In April 1908, Ed was reportedly planning to start up a blacksmith shop in Indiana Harbor, while Augusta remained in Hobart with the two of their children who were still at home. Within a couple of years, Ed had moved to Chicago. By 1913, Augusta, still in Hobart, was operating a boardinghouse.

It didn't come as a surprise when the Hobart News announced that Augusta had been granted a divorce from Ed in late September 1914. What did surprise me was that two months after the divorce, Augusta married John Fiester — or, no, it wasn't the marriage that surprised me so much as the apparent lack of social stigma attached to her status as a divorcée. The News, in an article on its front page, described the newlywed Mr. and Mrs. John Fiester as "among the most highly respected citizens of our community." The Gazette said they were "popular and well known citizens of this community and … receiving the congratulations of their many friends." After their quiet marriage in Crown Point, they came back to Hobart for a wedding supper at the home of L.E. Barnes, the Hobart Township trustee.

On the other hand, we can't know what private snubs may have gone on, and what ill-natured gossip.

And I don't know what Ed thought about all this, either. He seems to have returned to live in Hobart for a while, or else he was visiting quite often, since he remained active with the Hobart Freemasons.

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I've already told some of the history of the Sauters' two daughters, Clara and Lizzie. Now I should speak of their older son, George, who around this time began to make his mark in Hobart.

George had been clerking for several years in the grocery department of the Wm. Stommel & Co. store in Hobart. In the summer of 1913, at the age of 22, he decided to go into business with Armen Meckeldey, who had been working in the Carstensen meat market. The partnership of Sauter & Meckeldey bought the grocery store of A.C. Thompson & Son, intending to operate henceforward as a combination grocery store and meat market. "Both young men possess commendable reputations in the community," said the Gazette.

(Fred Thompson — the "Son" of A.C. Thompson & Son — announced after the purchase that he now intended to take his first vacation in 18 years.)

I don't know how long the partnership with Meckeldey lasted; I believe that by 1919 or so George was operating a grocery store solo. Here is a photo of the interior of that store, circa 1920 (George is on the left):


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.
I like this photo because you can see the photographer's reflection in the mirrored door at the back of the shop.

George Sauter's grocery was at 413 Main Street, and I believe the building it occupied is still standing:



As for the younger Sauter boy, Edward, in 1910 (age 17) he was still at home, supplementing the family income by clerking at an ice cream parlor. Within a few years he had landed a job in the electrical department at a Gary steel mill. In May 1915 he abandoned that job to go to Detroit with a couple of other young Hobart men, seeking work at the Chalmers auto factory. After little more than a month "Eddie" returned, saying he preferred Indiana to Michigan. He got his old job back.


Sources:
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ "Fiester-Sauter." Hobart News 3 Dec. 1914.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 17 Apr. 1908; 4 Dec. 1914.
♦ "New Grocery Firm." Hobart Gazette 1 Aug. 1913.
♦ "Personal and Local Mention." Hobart News 12 June 1913; 1 Oct. 1914; 29 Apr. 1915; 20 May 1915; 1 July 1915.