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.

Lysander Castle's Lonely Grave

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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society, Hobart, Indiana.

The stone in this photo marks the lonely grave of Lysander Castle, who died in 1851. This digital scan of the photo is taken from the computer at the Hobart Historical Society museum. The original physical photo does not seem to be in the museum. No information about its source was preserved with the scan.

In the Chester Cemetery section of the NWIGS' Ross Township Cemeteries, we find the following text, quoted (if I understand correctly) by the 1992 readers, who noted: "This information about Lysander Castle was taken from previous records":

Lysander was actually buried by Deep River. This is a single stone of a later period than the death date. It was installed by Kelly and son. Tradition has it that this is on property originally owned by Nathaniel P. Banks. Present day owners are the Truitt family, though this property was formerly owned by John Knotts. The marker is a few feet south of Deep River, which cuts through the property, on a high bank in an area completely covered with scrub bushes and blackberry briars.

Tradition further tells that the river was so completely covered by snow and overflowing that the pall bearers could not cross the river even after a two day wait, so the casket was buried on this spot. We have placed him in this record since there are other Castles buried in Chester Cemetery.

Perhaps the photo above was taken by the writers of the "previous records," whoever they may have been, and whenever they may have hiked out there along the banks of the river to find the stone. (A photo taken in 1992, I expect, would be in color.)

Here is the 1874 Plat Map of Section 7:


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The 40 acres marked "M.A. Castle" were purchased by Lysander in 1849:


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Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records; Washington D.C., USA; Federal Land Patents, State Volumes, via Ancestry.com. U.S., General Land Office Records, 1776-2015[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.

M.A. Castle was Lysander's widow, Maria Amanda (Harvey) Castle, whom he had married in 1837 in St. Joseph County, Indiana (Indiana Marriage Collection), and who had married Samuel Lathrop in 1853.

If the "tradition" quoted in the NWIGS book is correct, Lysander may be buried on the bit of land that Nathaniel Banks owned south of the Deep River and east of Sprout Ditch. Banks would not have owned that land at the time of Lysander's death, as he was then a child of six. I don't know who owned it then; I can't find any record of Lysander buying any other land in Section 7. I am not sure why Lysander's survivors would not have buried him on his own 40 acres. Perhaps they were carrying him along the river, looking for a place where they could cross it (intending, I suppose, to carry him to the Old Settlers Cemetery north on S.R. 51), and just gave up near Sprout Ditch (would they even have tried to cross that?), and buried him there.

The reference to the Truitt family owning the land is not illuminating, as they owned a tremendous amount of land there by 1950. I can't find a plat map showing the Knotts ownership.

I have taken this break from Jeremiah Wiggins to memorialize Lysander, whose lonely grave may soon be paved over for a data center. Or may at least become less lonely, but not in a good way.

The Harpers, the Other Harpers, and the Other Other Harpers

I thought I would just quickly research Calvin and Mary (Underwood) Harper of the brick house beside the Deep River, and figure out what (if any) relation they had to Ainsworth's other Harpers (Benjamin; Middleton; Robert; and Robert's aunt, Ellen, who married Cyrus E. Smith). I did research them, but it wasn't quick.

So first let me just get the basic facts about Calvin and Mary Harper, who built the brick house.

Calvin was born in Ohio on September 24, 1819, to William and Deborah (Thompson) Harper. William was a native of New York, Deborah of Vermont, but they had moved to Ohio by the time of their marriage in 1818.

Calvin married Mary Underwood in September of 1843, in Ashtabula County, Ohio. Mary had been born in 1822[1] to Harmon and Mary (Mather) Underwood, in New York. The family must have moved to Ohio by the 1840s, although I can't find them in the census. By 1850 Harmon, Mary, and several of their children had gone to Lake County, Illinois.

But their daughter Mary, now a Harper, did not go with them. Here we see her and Calvin, with their only child, Mayvorite, in Ashtabula County, Ohio, in the 1850 Census:


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Image from Ancestry.com.

You will note that their neighbors include Harpers and Thompsons, any of whom may have been relatives. The family of Benjamin and Ruth Harper is particularly interesting. Ruth was Mary's sister, who married Benjamin Harper in 1842 (in Ashtabula County). But what was Benjamin to Calvin? — per a family tree I've found on Ancestry.com, Benjamin was Calvin's uncle, but that tree doesn't cite any definitive sources.

In my earlier post about the land now occupied by Southlake Mall, I noted its purchase in October 1852 by Daniel Underwood. He must have been some a relation to Mary (Underwood) Harper — brother, probably, or uncle. According to Early Land Sales, Lake County, in that same month and year, her father, Harmon Underwood, bought at least 160 acres in Ross Township.

Calvin and Mary Harper came to Ross Township in 1850, according to her 1916 obituary;[2] if so, that must have happened after July 1850 when the census was taken. The land they eventually owned was purchased by James Halsted in June 1852. The 1860 Census records Calvin and Mary in Ross Township. While (as we know) early censuses don't give addresses, the Harpers appear as neighbors (on the census, at least) to Carter and Charlotte Castle, who owned land adjacent to James Halsted's 1852 purchase. This suggests that the Harpers were already on their farm on what is now Grand Boulevard, living in a predecessor to the brick house.

In 1868, Mayvorite Harper married Admiral[3] Rodney Castle. He was the son of Lysander and Maria Castle, born in Ohio in 1841 (Indiana Death Certificates). Lysander had died in 1851[4], and his widow married Samuel Lathrop. The 1860 census and the 1874 Plat Map show the Lathrop-Castle blended family as neighbors of the Harpers.

As for Benjamin and Ruth Harper, they were still in Ohio in 1860, but within the decade they also came to Ross Township, where the 1870 Census found them. According to the 1874 Plat Map, they owned a good chunk of land at the tiny village of Hickory Top (later Ainsworth). They probably lived in, and may have built, the house at 6305 Ainsworth Road, built in 1869 per the county records.

The children of Benjamin and Ruth were Mary, Ellen, and Frank.

Ellen married Cyrus Smith in 1861 in Erie County, Pennsylvania;[5] in 1863[6] they moved to the farm in Ross Township where they would settle permanently.

Ellen's brother, Frank Harper, married Ella Hopkins in 1878, here in Lake County, and they had two children: Cassie and Robert. Thus, Robert was Ellen Smith's nephew.


When it comes to Middleton Harper, things get murky. From his obituary and his grave marker, we know he was born in Montgomery County, Indiana, on December 10, 1850. Per his death certificate, his father was John Harper, born in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, and his mother was Sarah Frazier, born in "East Tenn." or maybe "East Penn."

Middleton first appears as a nine-year-old boy in the 1860 Census of Tippecanoe County. The household consists of his grandfather (I'm guessing), Middleton, born circa 1795 in Maryland, and his 27-year-old mother, who is described as widowed. (She has several children besides Middleton, and there is a 21-year-old William who may be her brother-in-law.)

The next glimpse I catch of Middleton Harper is not the 1870 Census — I can't find him in it — but the Indiana Marriage Collection, which shows him in Lake County, Indiana, marrying Anna Goodrich in 1872. You'd expect to find them in the 1880 Census, but you'd be disappointed.

We do find Anna Harper in the 1900 Census. By then she was widowed. We also find her in 1910 and 1920, living with her married daughters.

But that doesn't help us figure out if Middleton Harper was any relation to all these other Harpers. I just don't know.

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All of this was put together with online sources. If I ever get the time to go through microfilm and other offline sources, I may find out more.


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[1] Indiana Death Certificates.
[2] "Descendant of Cotton Mather Dies at Miller," Porter County Vidette (Valparaiso, Ind.), 19 Apr. 1916.
[3] Yes, that was his given first name.
[4] He is buried on the south bank of the Deep River west of State Road 51; according to legend (as noted in the NWIGS's Ross Township Cemeteries), at the time of his funeral and even after two days' wait, the river was too swollen to carry his coffin across to the cemetery up the road in Hobart Township.
[5] This is according to his obituary ("Death of a Ross Township Citizen," Hobart Gazette, 8 Oct. 1915); I can't find a record of their marriage on Ancestry.com. I do wonder if this means that Ellen's family spent some time in Pennsylvania, between the time they left Ohio and the time they came to Indiana.
[6] Also from Cyrus' obituary.

A Beautiful Country Home

At the turn of the 20th century, somewhere on "the gravel road" south of Hobart — which I believe to be Grand Blvd./S.R. 51 — stood a "beautiful country home":


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Hobart Gazette 18 Jan. 1901.

While I have not figured out exactly where this country home stood, in February 1901, it was purchased by George Hayward, so I suspect it was on the Hayward farm … which would mean that the beautiful country home is no more.

As for Mr. H.W. Amlar, whose first name is later given as Harry, he's an interesting character, if I've identified him correctly. He was born in 1839 (maybe in Ireland, maybe Michigan; sources differ) and lived for some years in Chicago. At least as early as 1867, he was a "circusman." He traveled with the circus — so he told the 1880 census enumerator; that may explain why it's so difficult to find him in any other census! He and his wife, Mary, had only one child, a daughter named Frances, and through her a grandson named Lester. Poor Harry did not long survive the sale of his beautiful country home; he died September 1, 1901.

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Since we're back in 1901 for the moment, notice some news of the Lathrop family on the page above: Charles Lathrop is holding a public sale on the Lathrop homestead. As you may remember from my Lathrop summary, in 1901 the Lathrop homestead was sold to Gib Bullock.


Additional Sources:
♦ 1880 Census.
♦ Chicago, Illinois, City Directory, 1867. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
♦ Chicago, Illinois, City Directory, 1897. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
♦ Cook County, Illinois, Deaths Index.
♦ Cook County, Illinois. Record of wills, Book 37-38, 1901-1902; Book 39, 1902. Illinois, Wills and Probate Records, 1772-1999 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com.
♦ "General News Items." Hobart Gazette 18 Jan. 1901.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 8 Feb. 1901.

Adjourned Sine Die

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Hobart News 17 Nov. 1921.

I find something touching about the last meeting of the old Hobart town board, with such attention to correct procedure, being adjourned sine die — as if someday its business might be taken up again.

But that's not what we're here for. We're here to celebrate the marriage of Samuel Lathrop, the son of George and Eva, named for his grandfather. The last news I had of Samuel goes back to 1903, when he and his father moved to Michigan. Evidently, Samuel had come back to the area by 1920, when the census-taker recorded him boarding in the Gary home of Osce Amlong and working as a railroad engineer. In fact, I find a Samuel G. Lathrop listed in a 1913 Gary city directory, and again in 1918 — by which time it appears he has a spouse named Lula, so if that's our Samuel, this is not his first marriage.

However, from what I can see in the records on Ancestry.com, Samuel and Nellie stayed married. They remained in Gary for a couple more decades at least, and then I gather they retired to Florida. At present all the Lathrops are out of my bailiwick and it doesn't look as if they intend to come back, so, in spite of my peculiar fondness for them, I shall have to consider my writing about them adjourned sine die.

Lathrop Catch-Up

If I have neglected the Lathrops, I am not alone — well known Lake County historians, such as the Rev. T.H. Ball and Sam Woods, skipped over them as well.

Samuel Lathrop was born in Ohio around 1822. By 1853 he had come to Lake County, Indiana, for that was the year he married the 30-year-old Mariah Castle — a widow, I gather, with four young children from her first marriage. In 1856 Samuel and Mariah had their first child (or first to survive), George. Charles, their second and last, was born in 1860.

I cannot find any evidence that Samuel served in the Civil War.

The 1860 census shows them near the Chester family, which may mean that Samuel already owned the land that bore his name in 1874:


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In December 1880, as we know, George Lathrop married Eva Niles. In 1885 Charles Lathrop married Emma Jacobs.

After his disastrous career as an assistant postmaster, George seems to have made a success as a wholesaler buyer of apples for resale in Chicago and perhaps locally. He traveled widely in search of good fruit, including to Illinois, Colorado, New York, Utah — and, of course, Michigan, where he met his second wife.

In 1901 came a great change: the Lathrop farm was sold to Gib Bullock. A "Mr. Lathrop" bought a lot and house in Ainsworth from John Ols — that would probably be George, as we soon find him moving himself and his father from the farm they had just sold. Perhaps George's son, Samuel (Jr.), lived with them for a time, as he was "operating a feed mill at Ainsworth." George and Samuel Jr. bought some threshing machinery from the Aultman Co. of Ohio.

An even greater change came in March 1903. George uprooted his family and moved to Portland, Michigan, where he owned a fruit farm. "His family" was pretty small — besides his wife, it may have included his father and his son from his first marriage (Samuel Jr.). But the first child of his second marriage was born in Michigan.

As for brother Charles and his wife, Emma — by 1910 they too had moved to Michigan, taking their two youngest children (Earl and Etta) with them, their two oldest children (Henry and Clara) having apparently left home already. But I am not sure what happened to their marriage. This report on Earl's death has some suggestive wording:

Mrs. Catherine Pierce and sister, Louise, and brothers, John, Adam and Henry Jacobs, went to Muskegon, Mich., to attend the funeral on Wednesday of their nephew, Earle Lathrop, who died Sept. 22 at the home of his mother, Mrs. Chas. Austin, formerly Emma Jacobs-Lathrop. Earle was her youngest son, and was born Oct. 18, 1898, near Ainsworth, and was said to have been a most promising young man. Besides his parents, he is survived by one brother and two sisters.

(Emphasis added.) Make of that what you will, but to me it sounds like divorce.

And now, dear Reader, you know as much as I do about the Lathrops.


Sources:
♦ 1860 Census
♦ 1870 Census.
♦ 1874 Plat Map.
♦ 1880 Census.
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ "General News Items." Hobart Gazette 18 Jan. 1901; 5 Apr. 1901; 26 Dec. 1902; 6 Mar. 1903.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 6 Oct. 1899; 7 Sept. 1900; 20 Sept. 1901; 4 Oct. 1901; 26 Dec. 1902; 28 Sept. 1917.

Eva Lathrop SandilandsOr, The Mystery of the First Marriage

Very early in my blogging — when I had no idea what I was doing, few resources and fewer readers — I happened to stumble upon a titillating item about George Lathrop, and that was enough to endear all the Lathrops to me, whatever their faults may have been.

Now we have lost a woman who was only temporarily a Lathrop.


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Eva Niles had been just short of 16 when she married the 25-year-old George Lathrop in Lake County, Indiana. I do not know when the couple separated. George's disgrace came in 1885; perhaps Eva decided that the shame of divorce was less than the shame of being married to a thief. Her joining the Berrien Springs church in 1890 may mean that they were already living apart, but not necessarily. By 1900, George and their son Samuel (along with George's father, Samuel Sr.), were living in the household of George's brother, Charles. Eva was nowhere to be found.

Though the 1900 census describes George as married, by December 1902 he was free to marry again:

Geo. Lathrop returned a few days ago to his home at Ainsworth from central Michigan where he had been packing apples for some time and was accompanied by a bride, formerly Cora Baker, to whom he was married at Portland, Mich., Dec. 6th. This part of his late affairs was a surprise to his numerous friends but all will join us in extending congratulations and a welcome to the bride.

Notes on the 1910 census suggest that this was Cora's third marriage.

I cannot find Eva in the 1910 census. She does not resurface until her 1913 marriage in Cook County, Illinois, at which time she was still calling herself Eva Lathrop. Her having been "a patient sufferer for the past eight years" before her death in 1920 suggests she was ill throughout their marriage.

George Sandilands has proven as elusive as Eva. I cannot find any history on him, and together they evaded the 1920 census.


Sources:
♦ 1880 Census.
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois, Deaths Index, 1878-1922 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: "Illinois, Cook County Deaths 1878–1922." Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2010. Illinois Department of Public Health. "Birth and Death Records, 1916–present." Division of Vital Records, Springfield, Illinois.
♦ "Funeral of Former Hobart Resident Held in Chicago Tuesday." Hobart News 29 July 1920.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 26 Dec. 1902.

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.

A Naughty Assistant Postmaster

WASHINGTON, May 4.—George Lothrop, assistant postmaster at Ainsworth, Indiana, was arrested this afternoon for rifling registered letters. He made full confession and restitution.

Source: Sioux County Herald (Orange City, Iowa), May 7, 1885.