Maria Amanda Harvey Castle Lathrop

This obituary appeared in the Hobart Gazette of December 18, 1896:

Maria Amanda, wife of Samuel Lathrop, one of Ross township's oldest and well-known citizens, died at her home[1] about 2½ miles south of Hobart at 4 o'clock Wednesday afternoon, Dec. 16th, aged nearly 80 years. While Mrs. Lathrop had suffered more or less for the past ten years from heart difficulties her general health of late had been reasonably good for a person of her age and on the day of her death she had been about her home as usual.

The deceased was born in Vermont in February, 1817. By a former husband she was the mother of four children, sons, Lucius, Harrison A., Jackson and A[dmiral] R[odney] Castle, and by her marriage with Mr. Lathrop she was the mother of two sons, Charley and George, all of whom survive her.

The funeral services will be conducted at her late home this afternoon (Friday) at one o'clock and the interment will occur at the Hobart cemetery.

Poor Lysander Castle: he never got his own obituary, and here he's not even named — just "a former husband."

Maria probably placed the monument on his grave. I believe it was placed there before 1895, when the partners making up Kelly and Son both died, as we learn from helpful information posted to findagrave.com. I do not know when the firm started its business. The 1880 Census shows George Kelly as a farmer, and David as a farm laborer. The earliest reference to the firm I can find in the on-line newspapers comes from the Hobart Gazette of August 7, 1890:


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[1] The home where she died is still standing, though severely neglected, on the south bank of the Deep River, overlooking S.R. 51.

A Hodgepodge of Tidbits

A few news items that for some reason I thought needed to be in this blog, dating to mid-March 1920.


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When I saw that item about Gust Deering moving onto an Ainsworth-area farm, I thought I had never heard of him. But upon perusing my notes, I see he's figured in them twice before (though I never mentioned him in the blog), and both times because he was moving, or thinking of moving, to another farm, i.e., in January 1910:

Gust Deering who lives on the Kruse farm east of Ainsworth has rented the Wm. Bissell farm five miles east of Crown Point and will move sometime next month. We understand that James Ed Kelly who formerly lived on the Kruse farm will again occupy the place as soon as Mr. Dearing [sic] moves.

and in February 1920:

Gust Deering and family are preparing to move on to the Nightingale farm, [microfilm illegible but I think it says: formerly known as the Zeller] place containing 220 acres, located southwest of Ainsworth. They have resided on the Clinton farm for the past five years, but this farm was sold last year to D.C. Frank. Mr. Deering thought some of quitting farming, and last year bought the Thos. Hanna home in Joryville, but when his son Henry returned from the war and concluded to stay with his father on the farm, Mr. Deering thought it best to continue farming. Their other son William, is employed this winter in Gary.

So at this point I don't know anything about Gust except that he keeps changing his mind.

As for what was formerly known as the Underwood farm, if we go back to 1874 we find several parcels owned by various people with that surname, but the one directly north of the Vincent schoolhouse comprised 240 acres on the west side of Clay Street.



Concerning Lesta (not "Tesla") Raschka and her visit to Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, the News attributed her health problems to an attack of "infantile paralysis several years ago."

"Mr. Chester" is, of course, Charles Chester.


Sources:
♦ 1874 Plat Map.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 5 Feb. 1920; 18 Mar. 1920.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 14 Jan. 1910; 19 Mar. 1920.

Two Things I Did Not Know

(1) I did not know that silos were such a recent invention. I have been educated by this little nostalgia item (somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but still) from the Hobart News of May 8, 1919.


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(2) I did not know that Kelly Street in Hobart was named for Patrick J. Kelly. I have been educated by his obituary in the Hobart Gazette of May 9, 1919.



Here is another version, from the News, May 8, 1919.


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The "Lake county history" would be, I'm guessing, the Lake County Encyclopedia.