Wedding Report

In late November 1923, a flurry of weddings involving people we know.

The first took place on the farm of Theodore and Annie Rossow. Harry, born in 1898, was their youngest son, but not their youngest child.


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Hobart News, Nov. 29, 1923.

The young couple stayed in Gary, to judge by the 1930 Census and the 1940 Census, and had no children of their own as far as I can tell; but in 1940 their household included a young niece and nephew. I wonder what the story behind that was.


The next wedding, further down in the same column, involved Isaac Small, descended from the Smalls of Small's Crossing. Isaac's father, Richard, was one of the children of John E. and Mary Jane (Riley) Small, and had died in 1916, which is why only Isaac's mother, Carrie, is mentioned.[1]

Frances' father, Severin (aka Siegfried), was a baker with a shop on Main Street (bought out in 1922 by his son, Fred). Her mother, Lena (Conrad), had died in 1910.

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The third wedding involved the Moehl family, members of which eventually ran a garage at East and Second Streets in Hobart, near the flat where the article says the newlyweds would live.


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Hobart News, Nov. 29, 1923.

As for the Born family, I can't say I've learned anything about them since the one and only time I mentioned them before, so perhaps it's time for me to do a little research.

Viola Born's grandparents, Charles (aka Carl) and Hanna (aka Johanna) — both German immigrants — brought their family down from Chicago sometime after the 1880 Census. The 1891 Plat Book shows them owning over a hundred acres of farmland west of Hobart. Here is the Born farm as it appears on the 1908 Plat Map:


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It was the same in 1891 but for those southeasternmost 20 acres.

If I'm reading this all correctly, the brick house at 5050 Liverpool Road — built in 1900 per the county records — is probably the old Born place. And the Borns were neighbors of the Ewiglebens.

Viola's father, Paul, was the eldest child. By the 1900 Census he had five siblings. In 1901 he married Emilie (aka Amelia) Bastian (Indiana Marriage Collection). In the 1910 Census, Paul and Amelia, with Viola, Lauretta and a newborn daughter (as yet unnamed) were farming rented land in the same neighborhood — possibly part of his father's property.

Paul's mother died in 1904, his father in 1917. The 1920 death notice of his sister Anna gives a little snapshot of the family at that time:

The funeral of Mrs. Wm. Medrow was held from the home of her sister, Mrs. Bertha Thurber, of West Third street …. Burial was in Crown Hill cemetery.

Mrs. Anna Medrow died Monday at her home in Chicago after an illness of some time from tuberculosis. She was born in Hobart, her age being 46years, 4 months and 2 days, and lived here most of her life. Besides her husband she leaves seven children, six sons and one daughter, also three sisters, Mrs. Bertha Thurber, Mrs. Edward Rohwedder and Mrs. Edwin Sievert, and three brothers, Paul Born of Hobart, and Otto and Fred of Illinois.[2]

The 1920 Census shows Paul's family (now including four daughters) living on their own farm, which, according to the 1926 Plat Book, was formerly his parents' land.

Viola and Ernest Moehl are recorded in the 1930 Census living in their own home (with a radio) at 901 Garfield Street. He was employed by a lumber company as a truck driver.

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[1] Carrie's maiden name was Haxton and she married Richard in 1881 (Indiana Marriage Collection).
[2] "Funeral of Former Hobart Girl Held Wednesday Afternoon," Hobart News, May 20, 1920.

This Must Come and These Must Go

In October 1920, Albert Orcutt (who had an Ainsworth connection through his wife, née Etta Mander) had come to realize that his business building — this one, I suppose — must be renovated "sooner or later."

Also, the social activity of our friends South of Deepriver.


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From the Hobart News of Oct. 7, 1920.

Meanwhile, Edward Rohwedder is getting rid of his excess inventory as he prepares to move to a smaller farm.


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From the Hobart News of Oct. 7, 1920.

Out of and Into the Livery Barn

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Edward Rohwedder's livery business, early 1900s. Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

Edward Rohwedder had bought his father's livery business in 1911, and rented the barn behind the Hobart House as his livery stable. (The barn and a house associated with it remained the property of his mother, Margaret.) Now, after seven years, he was getting out of the livery business and selling off his equipment. The advertisement for his public sale gives us a look at what made up a livery stable.


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Before the sale even took place, the barn had been rented by our old friends, James Chester and Ross Graham. They intended to use it for their horse-selling operations, and run a livery of their own. Ross Graham rented the house and moved his family into it. As for Ed, he moved to a farm in Porter County.

If Ross & Chester did follow through with the livery plan, they were probably renting autos rather than horses, as the next month the News commented on the passing of an era:

Just as the recent sale of the Rohwedder livery marked the passing of the old-time horse and buggy livery business in Hobart, the Muzzall horse livery passed out of existence in Crown Point, on the first of the month, being the last of its kind in the county seat town. The auto has taken the place of the horse in this businesses, and we are glad of it, when we look back and think of the poor animals as they would come dragging themselves in early Monday morning after heartless drives by young scapegoats whose only thought was "a good time," but the Lord only knows how they could figure they had had a good time while driving a poor horse within an inch of his life.

Sources:
♦ "Edward Rohwedder Has Rented the Hobart House Barn." Hobart News 17 Oct. 1912.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 14 Feb. 1918; 7 Mar. 1918.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 8 Sept. 1911; 22 Feb. 1918; 18 Mar. 1918.
♦ "Public Sale." Hobart News 7 Feb. 1918.

Not Exactly a Horse Thief Story

More like a rented-a-horse-and-forgot-to-return-it story. Or maybe a saloon story.


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From the Hobart Gazette of October 27, 1916.

The Franzen saloon was somewhere on the west side of Main Street.

Come and Steal From Us

Somebody at the Hobart News displayed either a remarkable tactlessness or a mischievous sense of humor in juxtaposing this story and this advertisement:


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This and all the other horse-thief stories I've posted have me wondering about the precise details of how people their recovered stolen horses. There was no state registration of horses, no VIN numbers on horses, obviously, so — what? surely all horses were not routinely branded with each owner's individual mark?

The report states that "Mr. Rohwedder got busy." I suppose that means he got on the telephone and started calling every likely place in the region where a horse might be kept overnight, or sold. That would keep him quite busy, I imagine. So he describes his horse to the proprietor of each establishment, and if the proprietor says he's got a horse on the premises matching that description, Ed goes out there and examines it. If he says, "Yes, that's my horse," the proprietor just has to take his word for it. If the proprietor won't take his word, I suppose Ed gets his most respectable neighbors to come and swear to it. Or maybe Ed calls the horse's name and the horse comes running; who could argue with that?

Well, however he managed it, Ed got back his horse and rig. The very next week, the News reported that Ed and Marshal Fred Rose had caught this Chatman guy in Hammond and taken him before Judge Reiter, "who gave him an indeterminate sentence of one to 14 years in the penitentiary." Swift justice!


Sources: "Personal and Local Mention." Hobart News 11 Feb. 1915; 18 Feb. 1915.

"Yes, I'm a Blacksmith": Ed Sauter in Ainsworth

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The Ainsworth blacksmith shop and dance hall built by Edward Sauter. Date of photo unknown, but probably between 1904 and 1910. (Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.)

Before Ed Sauter built his saloon and blacksmith shop in Ainsworth in 1899, he had run a saloon in Hobart "in the O'Boyle building on Third Street," wherever that might be. In October 1899, closing his Hobart saloon, the 38-year-old Ed moved his whole family — his wife, Augusta; their teenage daughters, Clara and Lizzie; and their young sons, George and Edward — to Ainsworth.

While Frank Miller of Deep River ran the Ainsworth saloon for him, Ed set up as a blacksmith here. He'd done blacksmithing before, and perhaps a little during, his Hobart days, but he'd been keeping a saloon for so long that he seemed to think people would be skeptical of this change of occupation, as he ran this announcement in the November 10, 1899 Hobart Gazette:

Yes, I'm a blacksmith and horseshoer. I did blacksmithing before some people were born. I understand shoeing horses right and I can prove it. You bet I don't take a back seat for any one when it comes to horseshoeing. I can prove what I say in my shop at Ainsworth. Ed. Sauter.

Two years later, his business was coming along well enough that he felt able to expand. He added a frame addition to the west side of the blacksmith shop, with storage space on the ground floor, and on the upper floor a dance hall.

The May 10, 1901 Hobart Gazette carried this announcement:

Ed. Sauter will initiate his hall at Ainsworth next week Thursday evening, May 16th, by having a grand ball. He will employ good music and will insure all his friends who attend of having a good time. The dancing hall is 24 by 50 feet and the room contains a fine hardwood floor, the pride of any dancer. He invites all his old Hobart friends to attend and join in the festivities at the grand opening.

The Hobart Cornet Band provided the music.

By November Ed had gotten the hall plastered and was painting it to be ready for the New Year's dance. Other dances followed, only some of which were announced: a mask ball in February 1902, an April dance, a September dance with music by the Balatka orchestra of Chicago, a "Married Peoples'" dance in December 1902, a "sheet and pillow case masquerade ball" in March 1903, followed the next month by an Easter dance, and so on.

Some of the Ainsworth news items in the Gazette were, I suspect, reported and shaded by their subjects, such as this March 1902 item: "Ed. Sauter has recently purchased a lot adjoining his property from John Miller. Ed. is a hustler and is branching out in his various industries in that burg. He has also put down a town pump, for public use." Or this, from August 1903:

One has only to go to Ainsworth to realize what a busy little burg the place is. Two stores, postoffice and Ed. Sauter's various industries constitute the business features there but one will be surprised if they visit the place to see what a lively business center it is. Mr. Sauter besides satisfying the wants of the inner man supplies him with all kinds of farm implements and vehicles, shoes his horses and attends to all manner of general blacksmithing and recently has employed Paul Schillo of this place to attend to the woodwork department. His is a busy place and Ed. with his three helpers is kept at work early and late.

The "wants of the inner man," of course, were satisfied in the saloon. The saloon building was a two-story terra cotta structure, 20 feet wide and 34 feet deep. The upper floor and the back part of the lower floor were taken up with living quarters. The saloon itself occupied only the front room of the first floor, 20' x 15', with a nine-foot bar and (in 1905, at least, when this description was written) two tables and six chairs for customers' use.

As we know, early in 1904 Ed sold his saloon to Claus Ziegler, building, business and all, for $2,100.

In April 1904, Lizzie Sauter married Warren Boyd and the young couple moved to his farm in Merrillville. Later that year Clara Sauter took a job clerking at the Spot Cash Store in Hobart.

Ed continued operating the blacksmith shop and dance hall. If we can believe the newspaper reports, business was good; in May of 1904 he had "installed a new gasoline engine" in his shop and was "doing a rushing business"; in the last week of December he shod eight teams. January 1905 was a busy month in his dance hall: one Saturday evening 119 ducks and 27 geese were raffled off to the music of a Chicago orchestra, and a couple weeks later came a big entertainment and social event with "real calcium and Bengal lights." April brought an announcement of a series of dancing parties organized by two local residents.

And that's why it came as a shock when I read a one-line announcement in the Gazette's "General News Items" of November 24, 1905: "Wm. Raschka the Ainsworth merchant has been appointed receiver for the Ed Sauter estate at Ainsworth."

Was Ed bankrupt? Dead? What on earth happened?

As it turned out, he wasn't dead. Apparently some disaster befell his "rushing business." Perhaps it wasn't so rushing after all, or he mishandled his money, or perhaps the young men who fell from his staircase in May 1904 sued him into oblivion — but no such suits were ever mentioned by the Gazette, nor any other explanation ever given. All I know is that Ed somehow got over his head in debt to the First State Bank, and the bank foreclosed on his property.

On February 17, 1906, a sheriff's sale was held at the east door of the Court House in Crown Point, offering seven years' "rents and profits" from Ed's property — or, if that would not bring a sufficient price to pay Ed's debts, then the property itself. The Gazette noted that some time earlier Ed had refused an offer of $2,800 for his property, and "[t]he bank's claim and costs in the foreclosure proceedings amount to about half of that price."

At that sale, the First State Bank itself bought the property, and then turned around and advertised to sell it. When they couldn't sell it, they rented it — to Claus Ziegler, who now intended to live in Ainsworth.

In April 1906, the Gazette reported, "Mrs. Ed Sauter has moved upstairs in the Rohwedder house on our Main street," which sounds as if husband and wife were now living apart. (No word of where the children were staying.) In June came the announcement, "Edward Sauter . . . is working now in South Chicago and is looking fine." The irrepressible Ed was apparently back on his feet, or wanted to give that impression.

When Clara Sauter married John Rowe, Jr., in February 1907, her parents were described as "Mr. and Mrs. Edward Sauter," without further comment. (The announcement added that the young newlyweds "have the best wishes of a large circle of friends, in which the Gazette heartily joins.")

The 1910 Census shows an Edward Sauter living in Chicago, married but apparently living apart from his wife in a boardinghouse, and working as a blacksmith in a factory. In the 1920 Census, he is listed as single. I don't know what ultimately became of Ed and Augusta.

Well, that's rather depressing, isn't it? I may find out more as I go along with reading. I don't know if I ought to write open-ended stories like this, but if I waited until I read enough microfilm to get the full story, it would be a long time between blog entries.


Sources:
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "Additional Locals." Hobart Gazette 10 Nov. 1899.
♦ "Ainsworth Pick-Ups." Hobart Gazette 30 Dec. 1904; 6 Jan. 1905; 13 Jan. 1905.
♦ "Application for License." Hobart Gazette 22 Sept. 1905.
♦ "Buy Sauter Property." Hobart Gazette 23 Feb. 1906.
♦ "General News Items." Hobart Gazette 29 Mar. 1901; 21 Mar. 1902; 5 Sept. 1902; 3 Oct. 1902; 19 Dec. 1902; 6 Mar. 1903; 10 Apr. 1903; 15 May 1903; 14 Aug. 1903; 6 Nov. 1903; 4 Dec. 1903; 29 Jan. 1904; 6 May 1904; 28 Oct. 1904; 25 Nov. 1904; 7 Apr. 1905; 24 Nov. 1905; 22 June 1906; 1 Mar. 1907.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 14 July 1899; 18 Aug. 1899; 13 Oct. 1899; 27 Oct. 1899; 29 March 1901; 10 May 1901; 29 Nov. 1901; 7 Feb. 1902; 5 Feb. 1904; 26 Feb. 1904; 11 Mar. 1904; 16 Mar. 1906; 20 Apr. 1906.
♦ "Married in Hobart." Hobart Gazette 22 Apr. 1904.
♦ "Sheriff's Sale." Hobart Gazette 2 Feb. 1906.