Holy Nosegay!

In the Sievert-Thompson collection at the Merrillville-Ross Township Historical Society Museum are several personalized bibles, with their covers bearing the name of a Sievert family member and a year — the year, I suppose, when the bible was presented as a gift to the family member, at Christmas or on a birthday or some special occasion.

Here we have one given to Ida Lewin Sievert in 1903. Ida was then about 28 years old. She and her husband, Henry, farmed just west of Ainsworth, and had a little daughter (a son was yet to come). It is a German-language bible, die Heilige Schrift.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of the Merrillville-Ross Township Historical Society.

Ida, like nearly every other owner of a bible or prayer book, slipped things between the leaves — for example, the little card above from her neighbor, Pearl Ols.

She also pressed flowers in it, like this little nosegay with its stems still bound by a thread.



I think there are two roses in there, along with some clover blossoms and a couple of many-petaled blooms like chrysanthemums or zinnias. (By the way, 4 Mose = Numbers, for us English-speakers.)


The card from Pearl Ols mentions a 25th wedding anniversary, which was probably Ida's and Henry's. That fell on March 17, 1921, just about four months before Ida's death.

Breakfast and Love

This typical ad for the Bass Restaurant appeared in the Hobart Index-Commonwealth of October 21, 1937:


(Click on image to enlarge)

Fred's Bakery was operated by Fred Baumer. Apparently his rolls were so celebrated around town that H.C. and Martha Bass expected them to lure people into the Bass restaurant.

Among the Basses' customers in the mid-1930s was Herbert Ols — a resident of Hobart, a 1932 graduate of Hobart High, and now a working man, single, who lived with his parents on Linda Street. Every Saturday morning, he enjoyed breakfast at the Bass Restaurant.

His waitress was often Joyce Malone, who had been helping out at her mother and stepfather's restaurant since her graduation from high school.

Saturday after Saturday, the young people got to know each other, and to like each other … very much indeed.

♦    ♦    ♦
The wedding took place on October 20, 1937.


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Hammond Times, 25 Oct. 1937.

Hobart's Index-Commonwealth[1] specified that the newlyweds would be living in an apartment at 54 Main — evidently the house was broken up into separate units.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Fred Ols.

I wondered at first why only Mrs. Henry Clinton Bass, and not Mr. and Mrs., was announcing the marriage. It's true that Joyce was not Mr. Bass's biological daughter, but a close and happy family might well have ignored that technicality. Then I learned that this was not a close and happy family. The Bass marriage was troubled. In fact, Joyce thought her stepfather treated her mother cruelly. For Joyce, the happiness of starting a new home with the man she loved was enhanced by the relief of getting away from a man she didn't even like.

This explains another thing that had puzzled me — the fact that while Joyce's mother is buried in Hobart, her stepfather is buried in downstate Illinois.

Martha and H.C. Bass eventually separated. They were recorded in the same household in the 1940 Census, but two years later, when H.C. filled out his draft card, the contact name he gave was not his wife but a relative back in Illinois[2]. And in the 1950 Census, H.C. was living alone in Illinois — calling himself widowed — while Martha and her son Carl Malone were in the crowded but (I hope) harmonious household of Herbert and Joyce Ols, who by then had two little sons, the younger of whom would grow up to share many interesting pictures and stories with Hobart history enthusiasts.

♦    ♦    ♦
This photo from the spring of 1938 shows Herbert and Joyce some six months into their marriage and looking very happy about it.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society and Fred Ols.


_______________
[1] "Herbert Ols and Joyce Malone Wed at Quiet Ceremony," Index-Commonwealth, 24 Oct. 1937.
[2] Fred Bass of Grayville, Illinois, whom I believe to be H.C.'s younger brother, James Fred Bass.

Ainsworth School-Year Souvenir, 1897-98 (Part 2)

(continued from Part 1)

As we now turn our attention to the pupils listed on the souvenir, I find there are more names here than I can index, so I'm going to have to split this up still further.


(Click on image to enlarge)

I'll deal first with the names I've encountered before.

Blachly — Earl and May were siblings, the children of Morgan and Amelia. Earl had been born in 1882, May in 1884. By the way, I think the house at 4301 E. 73rd Ave. was the Blachly house, built in 1905[1] to replace whatever the family had been living in until then.

Bullock — Hubert probably met up with the Blachly kids as he walked down from the Bullock home, unless he walked along the Grand Trunk Railroad tracks or cut across the fields … but the latter would be some rough walking.

Chase — I thought this would be easy, since I know of a Chase (aka Chace) family recorded in Ross Township in the 1870 Census and 1880 Census, members of whom were residing in Hobart into the 1920s (Minnie Chase Smith and Gust Chase). But I can't place Gracie in any census. She might not have belonged to the local Chases, but to some Chase family just passing through.

Coyle — Nina, Stella, and Arlie were the daughters of Ainsworth's postmaster, Frank Coyle. Nina, the youngest, was the only one born in Indiana (1892). Her older sisters had been born in Kansas. Why the family moved from Kansas to Ainsworth, Indiana, is a mystery, but I suspect it might have something to do with Frank's wife, Susanne, having been born a Chase — possibly she had some relation to the local Chases. The Coyle family left this area probably around 1904 (when Frank resigned as postmaster) and moved permanently to Kansas City, Missouri.

Halsted — Howard lived above the Ainsworth general store with his parents, Willard O. and Barbara (Fiester) Halsted. He probably was a promising student, since he went on to law school. As we know, he died before his time.

Kagabein aka Kegebein — Frieda lived on a farm north of Ainsworth. Her parents were John and Carolina "Lena" (Eick) Kegebein. Frieda was born in 1891. In 1911, she became Mrs. Albert Witt.

Maybaum — There were so many Maybaums around here that I can't keep them straight. These two, Louis and Hattie, were cousins, I believe. Hattie was the youngest child of Charles and Caroline, born in 1886. In 1907 she became Mrs. R.D. Sizelove. Charles and Caroline's (I believe) eldest child, August, begat Louis in 1891. The 1900 Census shows the family — August and Dora, with Louis and his two younger brothers, Harold and Clarence — farming rented land among southeast Ross Township neighbors such as Bragington, Campbell, and Doepping.[2] In 1916 Louis married Ruby Man in Porter County. By 1917 they had moved to Battle Creek, Michigan,[3] and by the 1930 Census they were running an "oil station" in San Antonio, California.

Ols — Edward was the grandson of John and Charlotte Ols, born in 1890 to their son, John Jr., and Alta (Whittemore/Whitmer). Based on the 1900 Census, I believe they owned the 80-acre parcel in the southeast corner of Section 7 that later passed to Henry Chester, then Charles Chester, then John Berndt. The census records after 1900 show Edward in various places like Starke County and Gary, Indiana; as far as I know he never lived in Ainsworth after the family sold their 80 acres.

Pierce — Ruth (b. 1882) and Jennie (b. 1884) lived with their father, Reuben, and stepmother, Catherine. Their mother, Caroline (née Kegebein), had died in June 1895, not quite a week after their grandfather, Orrin Pierce, who had owned the farm where they lived as far back as 1874:


(Click on image to enlarge)
From the 1874 Plat Map.

I don't know what, if any, relation they had to their Pierce neighbors.

Ruth Pierce married William Kelleher in Chicago in 1908; they lived and raised their family in Chicago. All I know about Jennie is that she is buried in the Hobart Cemetery under her maiden name.

Smith — Pearl Smith was the adopted daughter of Cyrus and Ellen Smith. So she was also the adopted cousin of the teacher, Mabel Smith Peterson.

Wojohn aka Wojahn — Frieda, Emil, Gust and Paul were some of the children of Julius and Alvina Wojahn. These four were born between 1884 and 1889. We've already met another of their children — Elsie, who married Howard Shearer. The Wojahn family lived on Ainsworth Road just west of the Lindborgs.[4] The schoolhouse was an easy walk west.

[to be continued]

_______________
[1] Per the county records; also in my notes I find a reference in 1907 to Morgan Blachly's "new" house being blown off its foundation during a storm ("General News Items," Hobart Gazette, Mar. 29, 1907).
[2] From that location, they may have been attending a different school, such as the Deep River school, or the Hurlburt school if it was still operating.
[3] "General News," Hobart Gazette, Dec. 21, 1917.
[4] I believe the house at 6222 Ainsworth was built for the Wojahn family, in 1930 according to the county records, so it would have replaced an earlier house.

Herman Ols and Katherine Yandow

After my post about Geraldine Ols Cliff, I remembered this wedding photo of her parents.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society and Fred Ols.

The wedding happened in 1916 per the Indiana Marriage Collection and the 1930 Census.

It strikes me as a little unusual for the groom to be standing and the bride sitting. Usually it's the other way around, if they are not both standing or sitting together.

Katherine's whole outfit is gorgeous. As for Herman … well, maybe that look of determined endurance was just his natural expression.

A Case for 23andMe

I haven't done much looking into the extended Ols family mainly because they have their own local historian/genealogist, but to get it all straight in my own mind I'm going to write a little summary.

We've already met (briefly) the families of four Ols siblings: Christ(ian), Charles, Henry, and Sophia. These, and a few additional siblings, were the children of John and Charlotte (née Kegebein), who were born and married, and had their first five children, in Germany (Prussia). They came to the U.S. circa 1871. The 1880 Census shows them farming in Hobart Township. I can't find them owning land on the 1874 Plat Map, but the 1891 Plat Book shows a John Ols (who may have been either father or son) owning an 80-acre parcel just north of Ainsworth. (By 1905 that parcel belonged by Henry Chester.[1])

Charlotte Ols died in 1885, per the local Ols expert. I can't find John in any census after 1880. They are both buried in Hobart Cemetery.


The event that prompted all this attention happened in November 1923 and concerns John and Charlotte's grandson, Herman (son of Henry and Bertha Ols). Herman was born circa 1894. In 1916 he married Katherine Yandow (Indiana Marriage Collection), about whom I know nothing. Gary city directories from 1918 and 1920 show the young couple living at 2136 Adams Street. But in 1923 they were living in Hobart, according to this news item:


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Hobart Gazette, Nov. 23, 1923.

The News gave a few more details:


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Hobart News, Nov. 22, 1923.

Yes, they got Herman's name wrong.

No clue as to the baby's biological parents has come down through the family. Her birth was local enough, it seems, to have involved Dr. Friedrich — which could mean Hobart, of course, but also Gary and other places.

The little girl would be named Mary Geraldine (or vice versa; I'm not sure), and commonly went by Geraldine. The 1930 Census records her with her parents on East Third Street, living next door to Grandma and Grandpa:


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image from Ancestry.com.

For the birthplaces of her mother and father, the enumerator used Katherine's and Herman's.

Geraldine graduated from Hobart High School in 1942. Here is her senior portrait:


(Click on image to enlarge)

The caption reads: "Gerry had an urge for drama and took the lead in many of the Dramatic Club's productions. She belonged to the band for two and a half years."

In 1944, Geraldine married a young Hobart widower named Robin Cliff.[2] Here is his senior photo:


(Click on image to enlarge)

Geraldine and Robin still have living descendants — so I am told by the local Ols genealogist. This makes me wonder what biological relatives a genetic test might turn up for them.

♦    ♦    ♦
The page from the News, above, includes an item about the "road leading from the Lincoln highway at Ainsworth to the Dunes highway at Miller" possibly being taken over by the State Highway Commission. That stretch of road corresponds to present-day State Road 51. We shall see.

_______________
[1] "Barns and Contents Destroyed," Hobart Gazette, Jan. 6, 1905.
[2] He had married Eunice Edith Peterson in 1938 (Indiana Marriage Collection); she died in 1943 (Indiana Death Certificates).

A Scandal in Old Hobart

The scandal described in these two articles dates back to the 1880s and involves adultery, an unwed mother, a man's abandoning both his families, baby farming, the abduction of a child, and theft by deception. Aside from all that, however, the two stories give us some information about small businesses in Hobart in the 1880s … but the information is not consistent.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Hobart News, Aug. 2, 1923.


Hobart Gazette, Aug. 3, 1923.

The News gives a vague description for where the Allens' "small bakery" was: "on Third street east of Duck creek bridge." The Gazette has the Allens running a "small store on Third street, in the building now occupied by the Henry Ols family." An Ols descendant tells me that in 1923, the Henry Ols family was living at 801 E. Third Street. That house, according to the county records, was built in 1918; if the county records are correct, the "small store" must have been in a previous structure on that site — or the Gazette simply got the location wrong.

The Gazette also mentions that William H. Allen was a drayman. That helps us identify him in the 1880 Census, which shows William and his wife, Elizabeth — both 35-year-old natives of Scotland — living with their two small American-born children, Harriet and George. I can't find them in any census before or after that.

The four-acre tract that the Allens bought (mentioned in the Gazette article) is too small to show up on any plat map. The brick structure built as a barn but used as a house sounds interesting. (Of course I'm thinking of Eva Thompson's house at 32 North Hobart Road, built in 1889 per the county records, but that's just a theory I pulled out of the air.)

I hope that if Anna Brighton turns up, the local papers will tell us about it.

♦    ♦    ♦
We find two of the characters in this story in a couple of the record books I've indexed. For example, here's William H. Allen getting paid in April and June of 1889 for his janitor work in one or more schools:


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

The last mention I can find of him is in 1891, but of course I have not indexed all the existing records.

And here's Anna Brighton, also in 1889, being elected as a teacher in the Union Sunday School.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

I don't think her career in the Sunday School was very long, since I don't find any other mentions of her name. I wonder if she got a chance to teach the lesson in John 8:1-11.

Caroline Campbell

On October 29, 1922, Caroline Campbell died at home on the family farm in southern Ross Township.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Hobart Gazette 3 Nov. 1922.

Her husband was Samuel, born ca. 1867; the son was Claude, born ca. 1889 (he married Bertha Nolte); but I can account for only two daughters — Fannie, born ca. 1897, and Nora, born ca. 1899.

The Campbells had been living on that farm since 1891, perhaps earlier.


In Hobart in the following weeks, several more long-time residents passed to a better world:


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Hobart Gazette 10 Nov. 1922.

Before moving to Hobart, Frank Bayor had spent some three decades in Ross Township; "the farm" belonged to his wife's parents, James and Mary Adams. Early Land Sales, Lake County shows James Adams buying, in 1847, the 80 acres shown here on the 1874 Plat Map:


(Click on image to enlarge)

The Bayors lived on the Adams farm from the 1880 Census through the 1910 Census. The 1926 Plat Book shows the farm owned by F.J. & M. Bayor — perhaps their son, Floyd James, and daughter, Mamie (for if Floyd was married by that time, I can find no proof of it).

Giertz, Gertz, Gerts, Whatever

What shall I say of the Giertz — Gertz — Gerts — however you spell it — family?

I haven't said much about them so far. When I found out that Mrs. Charles Ols had been born Louise Giertz, I didn't go trumpeting it about; I just quietly cited her father's obituary as one source of my knowledge of that branch of the Ols family.

I haven't said much because I didn't know much, because I wasn't paying much attention, because I wasn't really interested.

Then last summer I was going through the "Lake County Record of Recognizance Bonds" at the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society museum, and found this:


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Merrillville/Ross Township Historical Society.

At first I was more intrigued by Christian Kegebein. Was he related to the north-of-Ainsworth Kegebeins? I haven't been able to figure that out yet. I think I've found Christian Kegebein in the 1870 Census: a 60-year-old German immigrant farming in Ross Township with his wife, Mary (also 60), and Caroline, their 13-year-old daughter (or some kind of relative; she has the same surname). After that he vanishes.

But when I came across this little tidbit in the "General News Items" of the Hobart Gazette of Oct. 24, 1902: "It is reported that Frank Gertz quietly left Ainsworth early last week and that many creditors are wondering where he is" — that's when I started getting interested in the Giertzes. A guy slipping out of town to avoid creditors … his mother once accused of assault and battery … they sound like fun.

I'd paid enough attention to preserve the obituaries of the elder Giertzes. So I know that the Giertz family consisted of John, Hannah, and an uncertain number of children, including Louise and Frank.

Hannah died first, in December 1901:


(Click on image to enlarge)
"Mortuary Record," Hobart Gazette 13 Dec. 1901.

No doubt her survivors found comfort in seeing all these nice things printed about Hannah, but this obituary doesn't help us as much as a prosaic listing of the children's names would.

John's obituary, from March 1910, only deepens the mystery.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Hobart Gazette 11 March 1910.

If we're to believe this, John had two more children in total than he had with Hannah. Where did they come from — his first marriage?

Turning to the census records, I think I've found John and Hannah in 1870, farming in Mason County, Illinois. They have five children: Mary (born ca. 1856), Fred (ca. 1858), Albert (ca. 1865), Americus (ca. 1868), and baby Joseph (1870). If the marriage date given in Hannah's obituary (1855) is correct, these children are all by Hannah.

Sometime after August 1870, they move into Indiana and resume farming in Ross Township. I can't find them in any plat map; I can only judge by their apparent neighbors in the 1880 census in placing them in the eastern part of the township. At that time, John and Hannah had five children: Albert (born ca. 1866), Lucinda (ca. 1869), John Jr. (ca. 1871), Minnie (ca. 1878), and Frank (1880). Also in the household is John's 76-year-old father-in-law, Christopher Carbiene.

Now I'm wondering whether the Christian Kegebein of the recognizance bond and the 1870 census could be the same person as the Christopher Carbiene of the 1880 census. Who better to post bond for Hannah than her own father? — But could enumerator confusion account for the difference in names and ages?

In 1900 John and Hannah are living in their own little household, next door to their son, Frank (who had married Minnie Miller* in December 1898 and now had a baby daughter). Again judging by their neighbors, I think they were living more or less in the village of Ainsworth. (I wonder if they were living in those two little houses just north of the tracks on the west side of S.R. 51 — both had been built by then, if the county property records are correct. And in January 1902 we find "Agent Griffith," presumably Elmer Griffith, the Grand Trunk station telegraph operator, moving "into Mr. Giertz's house," so it likely was convenient to the depot.)

John Giertz died two months before the 1910 census, so we don't find him in the household of Charles and Louisa Ols. Louisa's ages in the various censuses place her birthdate around 1878, so perhaps she was the Minnie of the 1880 census.

I'm still confused.

____________________
*I have no idea whether she was related to Ainsworth's John Miller.


Sources:
♦ 1870 Census.
♦ 1880 Census.
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "Ainsworth News." Hobart Gazette 24 Jan. 1902.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.

Babe Ruth, and the Chicken-Fight Referee

While Paul Emery got to see the Sultan of Swat in Chicago on June 9, 1922, back home in Hobart, Dr. L.M. Friedrich was carrying out his health-board duties, which included the usual negotiating of peace in neighborhood chicken fights, and attending to various dead animals lying around in the summer heat.


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Hobart News 15 June 1922.

One hundred people crowded into the old Deep River schoolhouse to honor Dewey and Evalene (Ols) Thomas; I wonder they had any room to dance.


(I had never heard of the Flying Rollers before. The things I am learning!)

Hair!

This photo was taken circa 1910, at an unknown location. The only person identified is Herman Ols, at left.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society and Fred Ols.

I just can't stop looking at the ladies' hairstyles. I wonder if they used a "rat" to get that height?

In the foreground we can see the photographer's shadow. His posture suggests he's looking down into a handheld box camera.

Switching Tower

This photo has nothing to do with Ainsworth or Hobart, but I like it.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society and Fred Ols.

The identifying notes read: "Ollie James — Wanatah. Aunt Clara's husband."

According to the Wanatah Historical Society's website, two railroads — the Pennsy and what eventually came to be called the Monon — ran through Wanatah, crossing there. In fact, the switching tower above looks much like the one on their railroad history page, but I don't suppose that switching towers were the playground of architects' imaginations.

This picture is undated. It was printed on a postcard with a divided back (thus manufactured after March 1907).

I think Aunt Clara was Clara Rhoades, sister of the Ralph Franklin Rhoades who married Elizabeth Ols (daughter of Henry and Bertha (Wischman) Ols). I believe Clara Rhoades married Oliver James in Michigan in 1908, when he was about 31 and she 27. I can't find them in the 1910 Census; the 1920 Census shows them in Whitley County. Not until the 1930 Census do we find them in Wanatah (he working as a railroad telegraph operator). In the 1940 Census, if I've got the right Oliver James (this time his wife's name is Cecelia and their age gap is wider; they live in Wanatah/Cass Township), his job is described as a railroad operator-leverman.

Ols-Thomas Wedding

We have already seen a photo of Evalene (however you spell it) Ols; if it was taken after April 26, 1922, she was already Mrs. Dewey Thomas:

Miss Evalene M. Ols, second eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Crist Ols, who reside southeast of Hobart, and Dewey Thomas, of Brems, Ind., were united in marriage at Crown Point, Ind., on Wednesday, April 26. Immediately following the ceremony they left for the groom's home, where he is engaged in farming, and where for the present they intend to reside.

The young couple have many friends in their respective communities who wish for them a happy and prosperous life together.

At first I thought "Brems, Ind." was a misprint. I had never heard of such a town. You can still find it on Google maps, these days, but you'll need a magnifying glass.*

I wonder if Dewey was any kin to Auvergne Thomas Fleck — both being from Starke County families — but then Thomas is not such an unusual surname.

Dewey was born in 1899 into a large farming family in Starke County. By 1920 the family had moved to LaPorte County. Perhaps after 1920 Dewey went back to Starke County to farm on his own account. But by 1930 he and Evalene (and their three children, as well as Evalene's brother, Ervin) were living in Merrillville, and Dewey worked in a sheet mill.

♦    ♦    ♦
Back near Ainsworth, at the former Deep River schoolhouse, now the property of Edward and Tillie Niksch, dances were becoming a regular thing. An ad for a dance on Saturday, May 13, promised good music, admission 50 cents. The ad for the next dance assured the public that "everyone who attended the last dance there … had a good time."

__________________________
*You'll need a magnifying glass for Ainsworth, too.


Sources:
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ 1930 Census.
♦ "Local and Personal," Hobart News 4 May 1922; 19 May 1922.
♦ "Thomas-Ols." Hobart News 4 May 1922.

Four Generations

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society and Fred Ols.

From left to right: Martin Ols, Herbert Ols (Martin's oldest child, born April 1914), Bertha Ols (Martin's mother), Christian Wischman (Bertha's father). The photo is estimated to date to around 1915-1916.

This photo was taken near the end of Christ Wischman's life: he died in the spring of 1917. Here is his obituary from the Hobart Gazette of March 16, 1917:

Christ Wischmann, who has been ill for a couple of months, died at his home in the Ryan subdivision yesterday morning, March 15, following an attack of pneumonia, aged 78 years last November. He was born in Germany, Nov. 27, 1838, and came to this country in 1867. He lived a number of years in Hobart following his coming here, but most of his years thereafter were spent in Milwaukee and on a farm nearby. His last residence in Hobart has been about eight years.

He is survived by wife and three sons, William, Arthur and Frank, by his third marriage; a son, Christ, Jr., who lives in Wisconsin, by a second marriage, and a daughter, Mrs. Henry Ols of Gary, by his first marriage; besides a brother and a sister, William Wischmann and Mrs. Christ Passow, who reside in Hobart. Fred Wischmann, who lives here, is a nephew.

The funeral will be held this week Saturday from the German Evangelical Lutheran church at 2 o'clock. The burial will be at Crown Hill.

His first wife's name was Mina — probably short for Wilhelmina; maiden name unknown. That marriage also produced a son, Robert, who died in 1887 per the genealogy compiled by Fred Ols. It may be Mina's gravestone in the Hobart Cemetery, bearing a date of death of Jan. 26, 1872, and an age of 30 years, 9 months and 12 days, per the Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society's transcription. In 1873, in Lake County, Indiana, Christ married Amalia* Schroeder, and sometime before 1880 they moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. By that time they had three children: Herman (whose fate is unknown**), Martha,*** and Christ Jr., named in the obituary as a survivor. In 1891, Christ Sr. married another Amelia, and by 1900 they were farming in Juneau County, Wisconsin, and had five children: Willie, Louie, Charlie, Arthur and Frank. Louie apparently died between 1900 and 1905. In 1910 the family was still in Wisconsin, but they must have moved to Hobart very soon after the census, if the Gazette could reasonably attribute about eight years' recent residence to Christ. Charley Wischman died in Hobart in 1914 at the age of 21 (the cause of death being tuberculosis), and is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery under the name Wishman, as is his father.

That more or less accounts for Christ's wives and children at the time of his death. His son Arthur would not outlive him by long: he died of Spanish flu in September 1918. Here is Arthur's obituary, from the Hobart Gazette of October 4, 1918:


(Click on image to enlarge)

_________________
*Her name is given as "Mina" in the marriage record transcription, but "Amalia" in the 1880 census.
**He died in December 1910 according to a very helpful family tree compiled by the Dewell family archivist on Ancestry.com, but I have not been able to find any independent confirmation of this. I doubt that the Herman Wischman buried in Crown Hill Cemetery is Christ's son, since his birth year (1883) doesn't jibe with the 1880 census.
***This was not the Martha Wischman who married William Dewell, and died of the Spanish flu in 1918; that Martha was the daughter of Christ's brother William. (Thanks to the DeWell family archivist for straightening me out on that!)


Sources:
♦ 1870 Census.
♦ 1880 Census.
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ "Additional Local News." Hobart Gazette 25 Dec. 1914.
♦ Ancestry.com. Wisconsin, State Censuses, 1895 and 1905 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
♦ "Funeral of Christ Wischman Held Saturday Afternoon." Hobart News 22 Mar. 1917.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ Indiana WPA Death Records Index.

At the Crown Point Fair

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society and Fred Ols.

Handwritten notes on the original: "Ma got this Sept. 17, 1910. Crown Point fair."

The people in this photo are identified as (left to right) John Baessler, Sophie (Ols) Baessler, Emma Baessler (above her), unknown, Clara Baessler (seated), Minnie Baessler (big bow in hair), Charles Ols (seated), Bertha Ols (behind him, holding Elizabeth Ols), Pearl or Bessie Ols (big bow in hair), Henry Ols (seated), Louise Ols (wife of Charles), Pearl or Bessie Ols (daughter of Charles and Louise).

Together those notes and those IDs have me confused. The fashions seem consistent with a date of 1910 (though I'm a little surprised that there is not an automobile to be seen anywhere in the background). Bessie and Pearl Ols would have been about 14 and 11, respectively, in 1910, so if they are correctly identified, their apparent ages seem consistent with a date of 1910. Per the 1910 Census, John and Sophie Baessler had three girls: Carrie (18), Minnie (13), and Emily (11, and her name was given as Emma in the 1900 Census). The girl identified as Emma Baessler here looks older than 11, in my judgment (which may well be wrong). But the major problem is that Elizabeth, the daughter of Henry and Bertha Ols, was born circa 1890; either that's a different Elizabeth Ols (and one that I can't find in the census), or somebody here is misidentified.

The Streetcar Benches Didn't Make Themselves, You Know

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society and Fred Ols.

All of these men, assembled for a photo in front of a Gary-Hobart line streetcar, are unidentified save for the man in the white shirt and suspenders, second from the right. He is Henry Ols. He was employed as a carpenter for the streetcar line. He made benches for the streetcars.

The date is unknown, but estimated at around 1914-15.

Henry and Bertha Ols and Children

Here's a nice family portrait of this branch of the Ols family. In the top row, left to right, are the children: Elizabeth, Herman, and Martin. Henry and Bertha are seated in front.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society and Fred Ols.

The picture is undated. Martin was born circa 1894, so we can try to estimate the date based on his apparent age — maybe ten?

Charles Popp and a Series of Dances

I believe this is the first I've seen of Charles Popp doing anything in Ainsworth: a series of dances in the Ainsworth hall, which I suppose means Gust Lindborg's dance hall.


(Click on image to enlarge)
"Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 18 Nov. 1921.

The identity of the members of the Bruebach orchestra is a mystery, though I'm assuming it was named for one or more members of the George and Eliza Bruebach family of Hobart, whose mausoleum graces Crown Hill Cemetery. An item in 1912* described the orchestra as having three members, which might mean George Sr. and his sons, George Jr. and Paul; or it might just mean one of the Bruebachs led it.


In other news, Harvey Carey (former Ainsworth-area resident and stepson of Augusta Stolp Rossow Carey) is renting his Wheeler farm to some guy who had somehow got onto the Blachly farm earlier without me hearing about it.

And as for the birthday party for Mary Passow (who had told the 1920 census-taker she was only 89), I suppose it would be Bertha Ols, aka Mrs. Henry Ols, who baked the cake.

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*"Local Drifts," Hobart Gazette 25 Oct. 1912.

Some Women We Know

I think this is a companion photo to the men we know — that tree in the background is the same in both photos.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society and Fred Ols.

The notes identify these women only by their first names (and two of them not at all), so I'm going to have to try to figure this out. My guesses are in brackets.

Front row, L to R: Mary Mae [née Vetter; married Martin Ols]; unidentified; unidentified; Alphie [dau. of Christ and Alpha (Struble) Ols].

Back row, L to R: Catherine [née Yandow, married Herman Ols]; Emma [dau. of John and Sophia (Ols) Baessler]; Bertha [née Wischman, married Henry Ols]; Jenny [dau. of Christ and Alpha (Struble) Ols]; Sophia [née Ols, married John Baessler]; Evelyn and Caroline [daus. of Christ and Alpha (Struble) Ols]; Mary [née Ols, married Wm. Thiede]; Minnie [dau. of Wm. and Mary (Ols) Thiede]; and Liz [dau. of Henry and Bertha (Wischman) Ols].

I got the family relations from the genealogy compiled by Fred Ols, but I jumped to my own conclusions about how the surnames related to the women in the photograph.

No date on this photo either. As for the fashions — well, I'm seeing styles I'd place at around 1920, plus two or three dropped waists, which I wouldn't expect to see until circa 1923. Looking at the men's photo, I guessed circa 1926 based on one person's apparent age, but here I'm inclined to revise my estimate downward, maybe circa 1923 or '24.

Some Men We Know, or Would Have Known Sooner If I'd Been Paying More Attention

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society and Fred Ols.

Notes on the back identify these men (left to right) as "John Ols (Chris's son), Charley Ols, John Baessler, John Thiede, Henry Bodamer, Martin Ols, Grandpa Henry Ols, Henry Thiede, Chris Ols."

We already know the Christ Ols family; son John was born circa 1906. Charley and "Grandpa" Henry Ols were brothers of Christ. And Henry Ols was Martin's father.

John Baessler had married Sophia Ols in 1888, so he was brother-in-law to Christ, Charles and Henry.

Henry Bodamer had married Minnie Baessler (John and Sophia's daughter) in 1915. Henry was a son of George and Freeda Bodamer, born in 1891. We encountered him once before, I believe, as a nine-year-old schoolboy, but I don't know how he is connected (if at all) to the Bodamers who have figured in more prominently in this blog (Benjamin and Bertha, and Alvah and Vernon).

Now, as for the Thiede family — I have done a good job of ignoring them. The name has popped up in the microfilm now and then, but I've rarely made note of it and only once mentioned it in the blog, when William Thiede bought a Water Street house from Charles Maybaum. At the time I had no clue who William Thiede was, but since then I have learned that he entered the Ols family way back in 1881, when he married Mary Ols (sister of Christ, Charley, and Henry). The two Thiede men in this photograph were children of that marriage: Henry was born in 1882, John in 1890.

So, I hope we have all that straight now!

The only information we have about the date of this photo is that it was taken before 1930. Most of these men have reached that middle point in life where you must guess their age within a range of decades, not years. But John Ols (at the far left) looks to be in his late teens or early twenties, which would place the photo roughly around 1926.

Chicken-Wire Fence

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society and Fred Ols.

Left to right: Bertha Ols, Martin Ols, Elizabeth Ols (Bertha's daughter, Martin's older sister). This photo is estimated to date to about 1910, at which time Bertha was 45, Martin 16 and Elizabeth (Lizzie) 21. At that time they were living in Gary, Indiana. A 1911 Gary directory shows them at 2136 Adams St. This is probably their house — Bertha would not do her mending on somebody else's porch, would she? I don't know whether it's the front or back porch. If it's the front, it's a very plain house. But they do have a beautiful lace curtain in one window.