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.

Trench Mouth and a Twice-Broken Leg

In early December 1922 we find disease and an accident in the Ainsworth area. Alice Paine had to suspend her schooling while she battled a case of trench mouth, which sounds rather unpleasant. In the Goldman household, little Reva, only a few months after coming to America, was hospitalized. (And in the left-hand column we see that the Goldmans' store was going to be open every evening until Christmas!) On the former Otis Guernsey farm, James Jeffrey had broken the same leg twice.


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Hobart Gazette 8 Dec. 1922.

Happier news comes in the "Births" column — a new Wesley baby. I haven't completely ignored the Wesley family, but I have pretty well ignored this particular member of it. I had to go checking on Ancestry.com to get some basic information about William Wesley. Thanks to William's death certificate, I now know that his mother (his father's first wife) was Augusta Miller.

William was born in 1890 and named, apparently, for his grandfather (1900 Census). In 1917 he married the 18-year-old Pearl Auton (Indiana Marriage Collection), daughter of Harvey and Elma (Smith) Auton (1900 Census).

Per the 1920 Census, William and Pearl owned their own farm, somewhere in southeastern Ross Township. It may have been this small parcel shown in the 1939 Plat Book.


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(The 1926 Plat Book shows that land owned by "J.W." — probably John Wesley, William's father.)

By 1920 they had one little boy, Howard. The daughter born in 1922 was named Helen. They would have another three daughters (Thelma, Betty, and Elsie Mae) by the time of the 1940 Census.

License

Take a look at this announcement about a marriage license:


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Hobart Gazette 11 Aug. 1922

The Hobart News used the same wording, but prefaced with "This item has been handed in to The News for publication," as if to say, "Don't blame us, we just print what we're given."

The lack of enthusiasm and the reference to both of them living in Gary spurred my imagination to a gallop, and it leapt over all the more innocent possibilities, to the conclusion that this item must have been "handed in" to inform local gossips that an irregular situation was about to be regularized.

As you may recall, the James Jeffrey family moved to Ross Township in 1921. May was listed in the 1910 Census as their eldest child, at seven years of age, so she was about 19 in 1922.

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In the item just above that, we find Mr. and Mrs. Hoken Hazelgreen leaving Lake Station to go live with their daughter in Crisman. I believe these are Elna's parents, Hoken being Mr. Hazelgreen's Swedish name (more commonly spelled Haken), which he often Americanized to Henry (when he wasn't just using his initials, H.S.). On the other hand, if any of their daughters ever married a Pete Nicholson, I haven't been able to document it. Update: There has to be a mistake in this item. By 1922, both Haken and Christine Hazelgreen were dead. The mother of Pete Nicholson, Jr. of Crisman had been a Hazelgreen, or Hasselgren, but whether any relation to Haken I don't know and don't intend to find out. Pete Jr.'s wife's maiden name was Gustafson. Perhaps Pete Jr.'s parents went to live with him, and the Gazette's editor had a moment of confusion (in which I sympathize) preserved for posterity.


Additional Source: "Local and Personal." Hobart News 10 Aug. 1922.

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 Deep River

First of all, I think that the reference to "Mrs. Carl Harper" as the secretary of the League of Women Voters' Ainsworth chapter was the newspaper's mistake for Pearl Harper, aka Mrs. Robert Harper. In the April 6, 1922 issue of the Hobart News, we find her placing a "Notice to Women Voters of Ainsworth" to announce a meeting at Lena Hunter's house, and signing herself as Secretary. Mystery solved.

Now, on to the social news from the countryside south of Deep River:


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Hobart News 6 Apr. 1922.

I suppose M.J. Guernsey was Melvin Guernsey, son of D.L. (David) and Stella Guernsey.

I'm having a little trouble identifying this newcomer, John Arnson. I suspect that the un-Americanized version of his name was Anders Johan Aronson, and the land he bought was in Union Township, Porter County, near Huffman's mill.


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Union Township plat map, 1928, from http://www.inportercounty.org/Data/Maps/1928Plats/Union-1928.jpg, courtesy of Steven R. Shook.

If I've identified him correctly, he was born in Sweden circa 1868, came to the U.S. circa 1886, and married Cora Burge on August 17, 1910. I suppose she was related to the Burges, a large family that went back to the 1830s locally, but I can't identify her precisely. As far as I can tell, John and Cora had no children. She died in 1939, he in 1944.


Additional Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "Hold Rites for Mrs. Aronson." Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso), 26 May 1939.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ "Johan Aronson, Age 74, Dies Sunday Night." Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso), 21 Aug. 1944.

Frederick Doepping

Frederick Doepping was an "aged Ainsworth citizen" when he died in March 1922.


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Hobart News 23 March 1922.

Per my own imaginative reading of the 1920 Census, I'm guessing Frederick and Mary occupied one of those little houses on the west side of Grand Blvd./S.R. 51 just north of the Canadian National tracks, either of which is old enough to accommodate them. But that's just a guess.

I am a bit confused about the Doepping family. According to the obituary, Frederick had no daughters (if a daughter had died before him, you'd still expect her to be mentioned). And yet the 1900 Census shows Frederick and Mary sheltering under their roof a schoolboy of 13 named Henry Kastner, described as their grandson. With only two sons, how did they get a grandson with a different surname? Or is that just a mistake by the census enumerator?

You may have noticed some mention in this blog of a Reinhart Doepping, most notably in connection with tree-related crime. I'm beginning to suspect that "Reinhart" was the newspaper's mistake for "Rheinholdt." It appears that the enumerator of the 1900 Census made the same mistake, while the 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1940 Census got the name more or less right.

Rheinholdt/Reinhart had a son named Richard Doepping (and I've encountered more than one reference in the newspapers to "R. Doepping," which isn't illuminating). In January 1919, Richard Doepping bought a farm belonging to Chester Guernsey — exact location unknown, but my guess is that it was somewhere close to the Ross-Winfield Township line and the Lake-Porter County line. ("South of Deepriver," Hobart News 23 Jan. 1919.)

The other son, Emil, is elusive. He may be the Emil Doepping born Dec. 24, 1880, who married a woman named Bertha between 1910 and 1920 (though I can't find the record of their marriage). But in that case, the official records would seem to place him in Chicago, not south of Ainsworth.

This is where I stop trying to figure out the Doeppings.

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Moving on to the items in the "Local and Personal" column, Mrs. Mike Foreman was married to a man who liked to confuse historians by going by Michael, Mike, or Helmuth, as his fancy took him. She had been born Mary Mau (Indiana Marriage Collection).

James Jeffrey had indeed bought some Guernsey land, but I wouldn't describe it as being near the old Deepriver schoolhouse.

Elizabeth Fredrick was my favorite census enumerator; Sadie Baker helped her husband, William, run their general store in Deep River. I have no idea who Mrs. Carl Harper was. Mrs. Lulu Crisman was married to Thomas, who was a son of John and Elizabeth (Small) Crisman of Porter County … which would, I think, make him a brother of John Crisman of Deep River.

And, of course, we all know the Raschkas and the Shearers.

Sarah Read

At 76 years of age, Sarah Read had still been trying to make herself useful while she struggled with heart disease; but as January 1922 passed into February, Sarah gave up the fight.


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Hobart News 2 Feb. 1922.

She had no biological children, I gather, but her stepchildren did not make the distinction in thanking those who helped them in their bereavement:


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Hobart News 9 Feb. 1922.


Arthur J. Newman (brother of Paul and Lillie, among others) was named executor of Sarah's estate. I don't know of any family relation between them.

I'm trying to determine whether this Arthur Newman, who ran a confectionery shop, was the same Arthur Newman who ran the news stand. At the moment I think they were different people — I have the impression that Confectionery Arthur's middle initial was "J" but News-Stand Arthur's was "A," only I can't lay my hands on anything in writing to prove it.


Additional Sources:
♦ "Mrs. Read Dies at Mercy." Hobart Gazette 3 Feb. 1922.
♦ "Notice of Administration." Hobart Gazette 3 March 1922.
♦ "Obituary." Hobart Gazette 10 Feb. 1922.

Guernsey Report

In February 1921, the Melvin Guernsey family, back from their unsuccessful Florida experiment, moved onto land described as "the Neilson farm five miles east of Crown Point." I don't know where that is, so I'm going to forget about the Melvin Guernsey family for now.

In April we hear from my favorite Guernseys, Otis and his fourth wife, Minnie.


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I can't find Otis Guernsey on the 1908 Plat Map, where I believe he should be, but I can find him in the 1926 Plat Book, where he shouldn't be … unless he bought his farm back later.



In going through my notes, I discover Otis had been trying to sell that land way back in 1913, when he described it as an "improved farm of 78 acres about 2 miles southeast of Deepriver, adjoining the C. & O. railroad station." But I also discovered something interesting about Minnie Guernsey, which had completely slipped my memory after I first made note of it. I will get to that in the near future.

As for the buyer of the farm, this James Jeffrey, in spite of his having "lived at Liverpool for quite a while," I can't find him in the 1920 census. I believe he was born circa 1876 to John and Ann Jeffrey of Hobart. In 1902 he married Angeline (or Engeline) Escherich; by 1910 they had four children, whom James supported by doing "odd jobs." Their stay on the former Guernsey farm was less than ten years — by 1930 they had moved to a farm in Winfield Township (and added four more children to their brood).

Anyway, in early May, Otis and Minnie Guernsey returned from their visit to St. Louis, but I don't know where they deposited themselves, since their farm was already occupied by its new owner.


Sources:
♦ 1880 Census.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1930 Census.
♦ "Additional Local News." Hobart Gazette 24 Jan. 1913; 6 May 1921.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 10 Mar. 1921.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 22 April 1921.

The Housekeeper's Social Life

The Nolte brothers' housekeeper, Sarah Read, had a more active social life than they did — which isn't saying much. In the summer of 1919, I suppose you could attribute the Noltes' quietness to grief over the death of their younger brother, but then they've been like that all their lives thus far. August 1919 brings two stories about Sarah's social life, and not a word about the Noltes'.

Sarah Read was a widow. She and her husband, William, had been married in England in 1881 and had come to the U.S. around 1889 (when William was 53 and Sarah 43). By 1900 they were in the Hobart area, farming in a small way on rented land near the Fox farm.

William died in September 1910. I do not know when Sarah joined the Nolte household, but the first mention I hear of her being there is this, in the Gazette of August 22, 1919: "Mrs. Wm. Read of near Ainsworth visited with relatives in and around Hobart this week." (I'm reading a lot into "near Ainsworth.")

If the Reads had any children, I don't know about them. Sarah did, however, have a sister, as we learn from this article in the next week's Gazette:


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Ann Jeffery (or Jeffrey) and husband John were in Hobart as early as 1880.

That obituary is a lot of newspaper space to devote to someone with a very tenuous connection to Hobart; I suppose it is evidence of the sisters' love for their brother-in-law, or pride in him.

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Speaking of tenuous connections, here's a story about an early encounter Louis Dunham had with a criminal:


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Sources:
♦ 1880 Census.
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ "Additional Local News." Hobart Gazette 22 Aug. 1919.
♦ Indiana WPA Death Records Index.
♦ "Obituary." Hobart Gazette 29 Aug. 1919.
♦ "Pickpocket Caught." Hobart Gazette 22 Aug. 1919.