Angle-Worm Oil On His Knee

We interrupt the Jeremiah Wiggins show to bring you a report from Israel Pierce. A veteran of the Civil War, Israel applied for an invalid's pension in the early 1880s because he was partially disabled by rheumatism contracted during his service in the Union Army. Investigation ensued. Much paperwork, many depositions.

This particular deposition, taken in October 1882, brought to my attention something I had never heard of before in all my life: angle-worm oil.


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Images courtesy of Alice Flora Smedstad.



My transcription:

Israel R. Pierce being sworn says he is applicant for pension, claim No. 349856. That for 5 years immediately preceding his enlistment he lived in Ross Township, Lake County, Indiana and was occupied as a farmer. That from the date of his discharge and return home from the army said Ross Township, Lake County, Indiana has been his residence all the time and is now. That he claims pension on account of Rheumatism contracted at and near Atlanta, Ga. in or about June 1864 caused from very great exposure and hardships, hard & forced marches, getting wet & other hardships incident to the service. That he was treated by Surgeon W. Butterworth & also Hospital Steward M.J. Whitman[?] prescribed for him in the army for his Rheumatism but so long a time has elapsed they are unable to remember his case. That he was wasn't treated by Drs. Poffenberger or Robinson of the 99th. That Dr. Vincent of Hobart, Ind. treated him from his discharge until 1870 since which time he has received no medical treatment but has used some liniments of home manufacture such as angle worm oil & skunk's oil which he procured himself & used to limber his right knee joint. He has also tried St. Jacob's Oil. He respectfully asks the acceptance of neighbors Banks & Ragen's testimony filed herewith as to existence of his rheumatism since 1870. They are his nearest neighbors. He also asks their testimony be received proving his soundness at enlistment for the reason that he was at said time an able bodied man and perfectly free from Rheumatism & never required or had the attendance of a physician at said time. Has had no disease since discharge [except] Rheumatism. That from the date of his return home from the army until the present time he has lost 1/3 of his time each year by reason of Rheumatism.

So Israel was treating his rheumatism with oil of angleworm, which is another name for earthworm. And that of home manufacture. How do you manufacture earthworm oil? For a recipe, please consult the Museum of Ridiculously Interesting Things. We can imagine Israel (or his wife, Calista) collecting earthworms from their yard, boiling them in wine on the kitchen stove, and rubbing the resulting concoction on his stiff and painful knee.

My first impulse is to declare that the stuff had to be completely useless, aside from the possible placebo effect, but a little internet research turns up articles suggesting that extracts of some species of earthworms might help with skin wounds or inflammation and fever. In Israel's case, however, the stuff was completely useless, or nearly so, since his rheumatism persisted.

I'm trying to find a recipe for skunk oil. "Boil the fat of several skunks and add a couple of tablespoons of male skunk glandular secretion before the oil coagulate[s]," says the Wisconsin Historical Society. Israel would have had to trap or shoot the skunks himself, I suppose. Skunk oil as folk medicine seems to have been used more for diseases of the respiratory system than for sore joints. In Israel's case, again, it didn't cure anything.

And neither did the commercially manufactured St. Jacob's Oil.


Someday I hope to have time for more posts about Israel Pierce, his endless paperwork, and his tragic death.

The Farm Under the Mall

I recently mentioned the Underwood school, so now I'd like to talk about the family for whom the school was named, and the farm they owned for many decades.

The 1874 Plat Map shows 160 acres straddling Mississippi Street, on the south side of present-day U.S. 30, owned by Daniel and Sybil Underwood.


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These days, of course, Southlake Mall sprawls over half of it, the other half teems with restaurants and hotels, and I-65 roars past its western border.



My imagination is not good enough to turn that into a family farm, much less virgin woodland or prairie.

The earliest record I can find of the Underwood farm is the purchase in October 1852 of the west half by Daniel Underwood (Early Land Sales, Lake County). The east half was purchased by Henry Wells[1] in 1854; how it got from him to Daniel I do not know. [Update: I think I was wrong about Henry Wells' purchase.]

Daniel was the son of Harmon and Mary (Mather) Underwood, both natives of New England who had moved to Ohio by the time Daniel was born in 1828. Sometime after 1840 the family moved to Lake County, Illinois, and it was there that, on November 7, 1854, Daniel married Sybil Huntley.

Sybil was likewise of New England stock. Her parents were Nehemiah and Lucy (née Dudley). This family, too, had relocated to Ohio, and eventually to Lake County, Illinois (with a stop in Winnebago County per the 1840 Census). If you look at the 1874 map above, you can find Sybil's younger brother, Nehemiah Jr., owning 40 acres north of Daniel and Sybil's farm.[2]

The 1860 Census shows Nehemiah and Lucy Huntley, along with Nehemiah Jr., living in the household of Daniel and Sybil Underwood and their two young daughters. Harmon and Mary Underwood are living nearby with two of their adult children, John and Ann. Harmon, as we already know, had bought the 160 acres that eventually became the Willy farm in 1852, and sold them to John in 1854.

Between 1854 and 1880, Daniel and Sybil had six children that we know of: Mary, Emma, Florence (or Flora), Clara, Frank, and Jessie.

In 1886, Sybil unexpectedly died.


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Crown Point Register, October 14, 1886.

The location given for Daniel and Sybil's marriage is not consistent with records currently available. The obituary mentions a child who did not survive Sybil; that was Flora, who died in 1884.

Daniel never remarried. He remained on the farm with three of his adult children: Frank and Clara, who were unmarried, and Mary, who was the widow of Jackson Castle. (Jackson had grown up on the old Castle-Lathrop farm north of Ainsworth.)

Findagrave.com tells us that Jackson and Mary had lost a little daughter, but the 1900 Census tells us that a son, Harry, survived and was growing up on the Underwood farm.

The 1910 Census shows Daniel Underwood still on the farm. His household now included another grandson, Willis Saxton, the child of Jessie Underwood, who had married Bertram Saxton in 1895 and died of puerperal fever nine days after giving birth to Willis. (The other surviving child of that marriage was living with Bertram closer to Merrillville.)

Daniel Underwood died in 1912.


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The Lake County Times (Hammond, Ind.), 14 May 1912.

That is the only notice I could find of his death. The Hobart Gazette said nothing about him, which is odd for such a long-time resident. The issues of the Hobart News that might have said something are missing from the microfilm.

The farm apparently passed to Daniel's children, or one of them. Frank Underwood's name is printed on the farm in the 1926 Plat Book, although the 1920 Census seems to place the household of Frank and his two sisters somewhere closer to Merrillville. They might have been living in town, possibly in the Burge-Underwood house, and renting out the farm.

Although the land appears under Frank's name in the 1939 Plat Book, by March of 1940[3] it had been bought by John and Ethel Sunderman.

John Sunderman identified himself as farmer in both the 1940 and 1930 censuses, but he was also involved, along with his father, John Sr., and his brother, Howard,[4] with the Sunderman Construction Company, a prominent local road-building firm.[5] Back in the 1920 Census, John Jr. had given his occupation as a housing contractor.[6] He was then living in Gary with his first wife, Katherine, and their two sons. Within ten years he had taken up dairy farming and moved his family to Ross Township. The enumerator of the 1930 Census records that John and Katherine owned their farm, and from the few landowners who appear near them in the census (there was a lot of farm-renting going on), I gather they were somewhere in the vicinity of the Underwood farm, but I can't find them on any relevant plat map.

The history train will now make an unscheduled stop at Gossip City to pick up some forgotten baggage.


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Lake County Times (Hammond, Ind.), 19 Nov. 1932.


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Lake County Times (Hammond, Ind.), 25 Nov. 1932.

And thus the 1940 Census shows John Sunderman on the Ross Township farm with his new wife, while Katherine is living in Gary with their two grown sons, John and William.


The 1950 Plat Book shows the farm still in its 1874 configuration, owned by J.C. and E.E. Sunderman. The 1972 Plat Book shows a change:



Sometime after 1950, apparently, the Sundermans had sold the west half of their farm, and purchased another half-quarter-section north of U.S. 30.

By 1972, though, John Sunderman was gone; he had died January 31, 1967 (Indiana Death Certificates). And Ethel died on May 17, 1972.

In the summer of 1973, construction of Southlake Mall began.


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Vidette-Messenger, 6 June 1973.

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[1] Possibly this Henry Wells? Early Land Sales, Lake County shows a whole lot of land purchased under that name.
[2] I have a story about him that we will get to some other time.
[3] "Merrillville," The Hammond Times, 28 Mar. 1940.
[4] "Hold Rites For Gary Highway Builder Today," Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Ind.), 6 July 1935.
[5] "The Sunderman company is one of the largest road contracting firms in the state." "Contract Was Not Sub-Let," Lake County Times (Hammond, Ind.), 19 Aug. 1931.
[6] In the Occupation and Industry columns, the enumerator crossed out "laborer" and "steel mills" to substitute "contractor" and what looks like "house."

The Matriarch of the Woods

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This is the first photograph in the album that I mentioned in my previous post. She was born Hannah E. Pattee on October 13, 1802, in New Hampshire. At the age of 22, she married John Wood of Massachusetts.[1] Her children were: Nathan (b. 1825), Augustus (1828), Abbie (1830), John Warren (b. 1832-d. 1836), George (1835), John W. (1838), Mary (1840), and Oliver (1842). All but the last three were born in Massachusetts. John Wood came to Lake County, Indiana, in 1835, and the following year brought his family to join him.[2]

Hannah died on September 27, 1873, and was buried in the Woodvale Cemetery.

A fine granite monument, about fifteen feet in height, marks the burial place, on which is inscribed, "A true, faithful, loving wife; a kind and affectionate mother; ever toiling for the good of all; and this is her memorial." Mrs. Wood was another of those superior New England women … with native endowments and a Puritanic training, which fit their possessors so well for frontier life and for laying the right foundations for an enduring civilization. The comfort and hospitality of her home were not excelled by any in those early years. She was one of our unselfish women, and well does her memorial say, "toiling for the good of all."[3]

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On the back of the original photo of Hannah is the name of a Valparaiso photographer:



Steve Shook's blog, Porter County's Past: An Amateur Historian's Perspective, lists Lewis H. Mandeville among the known Porter County photographers and states that he arrived in Valparaiso in 1855. Hannah's elegant dress is of a style dating to the Civil War era, and that era is consistent with her apparent age; let's say the original photo dates to roughly 1865.

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The album does not include a portrait of John Wood. Fortunately, Porter and Lake Counties (Goodspeed-Blanchard) does:



From the same source and printed in 1882, a biographical sketch:

JOHN WOOD was born in Massachusetts October 28, 1800, and is a son of Moses and Sarah (Baker) Wood; the former was born May 25, 1748, and the latter July 14, 1756. John Wood's father died when he was quite young, and his mother placed him with a friend of the family, where he remained five years, after which he learned the trade of a tanner, in which vocation he began business for himself. On November 16, 1824, he married Hannah E. Pattee, to which union there were born eight children …. In 1835, Mr. Wood came to this township, settled on a quarter section of land, built a log house and went for his family. On his return, an Indian had claimed his land, and he was compelled to pay $1,000 for it. He built the first sawmill in the county, and in 1840 a grist-mill near by, at the same time farming and raising stock. He remained in the milling business until 1860, when he sold to his sons, Nathan and George; the saw-mill has gone to pieces, but the grist-mill was rebuilt, and is being run by Nathan Wood. Moses Wood was a soldier of the Revolution, and fought at Bunker Hill. John Wood, who is a Freemason, was present at the corner-stone laying of Bunker Hill Monument. He has been instrumental in establishing several Masonic Lodges — one at Valparaiso, one at Crown Point, and was the first to aid one at Wheeler. He is a Master Mason in good standing, and a greatly respected citizen. His wife died September 27, 1873, aged seventy years eleven months and fourteen days. His grand-daughter, Miss Abbie Shedd, is his housekeeper.

John died in 1883 and is buried beside Hannah in Woodvale Cemetery.

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Finally, I just want to say that, based on very little evidence and only superficial research, I've jumped to the conclusion that the album belonged to Alice Vincent Nesbit, the daughter of Mary Wood and Dr. Alonzo W. Vincent. Perhaps someday I will be able to update this post, either to say that after intensive research I'm convinced I'm right, or to say that it's a bad idea to jump to conclusions based on very little evidence.


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[1] Hannah's birth and marriage dates, and the list of her children, come from Lake County 1884, pp. 436-7.
[2] History of Lake County and the Calumet Region, p. 182.
[3] Lake County Encyclopedia, p. 133.

Wood Family Reunion, 1923

I haven't paid a lot of attention to Deep River's famous pioneer family of John and Hannah (Pattee) Wood, since I figured the Deep River museum people had them covered; but a few months ago I acquired an album containing photographs of some of the Woods and their relations, so I am going to look into the family more closely as I get into the album. And I might as well start with the annual Wood family reunion in August 1923.


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Hobart News, Aug. 23, 1923.

The eldest relative, the 87-year-old Jane, had been born Mary Jane Dizard on March 15, 1836, and on October 2, 1857 had married George Wood (the third son of John and Hannah Wood, who came to Woodvale/Deep River ca. 1836 and built the mill that is now part of Deep River County Park). Mary and George's children were Eugene, William H., Anna E., and Sarah J.,[1] who was known as "Nettie" per the 1910 Census.

The two-month-old Bettie Mae Gunderson was the great-granddaughter of Dr. Oliver Wood, the youngest son of John and Hannah.

Mary Wood Vincent was their daughter. She had married Dr. Alonzo Vincent in 1869.

Olive Wood was known to many older folks around here, as she taught for years in Ross Township schools. She was the daughter of William and Martha Wood, and thus Mary Jane (Dizard) Wood's granddaughter.

If the William Wood residence eventually became the Olive Wood residence, then it is still standing just west of the entrance to Deep River County Park and is now known as the Mroz house; but whether that boulder was ever placed, and if so, is still there, I do not know.

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I just realized that yesterday, August 1, was the tenth anniversary of this blog. How time flies! I feel very fortunate to have this work to occupy me; without it, I might have to get a life.

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[1] T.H. Ball (ed.), Lake County, Indiana, 1884: An Account of the Semi-Centennial Celebration of Lake County, September 3 and 4, with Historical Papers and Other Interesting Records Prepared for This Volume (Crown Point: Lake County Star Office, 1884) ("Lake County 1884").

Students at the Vincent School

I have mentioned that in the spring of 1918 Evie Thompson's family moved to the vicinity of the Vincent school, and Evie became a student there. We have a photo of her with her classmates.


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Images courtesy of Eldon Harms.

On the back, someone has hinted at the identities of the children …



… failing to include a full surname, or to indicate which name belongs with which child. The only one we can recognize is Eva Thompson herself, the tall girl with glasses, second from the left in the back row.

Looking through the 1920 Census, I have come up with possible surnames for these children, based on the matching first letter and the apparent proximity of their families to the Vincent school:

Elmer Reithel, Harry Sullivan, Clarence Reithel, Theodore Henning, Delmer Henning, Donald Weiler, Eva Thompson, Mathilde Prochno, and Mabel Burkley

These are only guesses on my part, and I still don't know which name goes with which child.

The former Vincent schoolhouse still stands on the southwest corner of the intersection of Clay St. and 83rd Ave., and you can still see that pattern in the brick on its side wall.

Incidentally, I suspect that when the Gazette, in June 1912, mentioned that Gust Lindborg had "bought the old Sullivan schoolhouse" and moved it to Ainsworth to serve as his residence, the building referred to was the old frame Vincent schoolhouse. At that writing, per the 1891 Plat Book, the Sullivans had owned for some twenty years what was originally the Vincent land (per the 1874 Plat Map), and the schoolhouse had always been catercorner to that land, so I can understand why either name might be applied to the schoolhouse.

Also, this obituary of Mercy Vincent suggests that the Vincents had owned the land from circa 1844 until circa 1890, which really has nothing to do with anything, but I didn't post this before so I might as well do it now.


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Hobart Gazette 12 Jan. 1906.

First City Government

The Hobart News of November 10, 1921, gave the results of Hobart's first city election.


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The Hobart Historical Society has a photo-portrait of all those who made up the first city government of Hobart:


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


Additional Source: "Henderson Honored as First Mayor." Hobart Gazette 11 Nov. 1921.

The Night Man's Early-Morning Adventure

It was helpful of the Wood family to have a big reunion, and so remind us of Woods we've forgotten; and it was kind of John Dorman to come down off the heights of Indian Ridge and work to lure people to travel through Ainsworth; but for thrills, you can't beat Ed Kisela's 4:30-AM adventure.


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Hobart Gazette 2 Sept. 1921.

By the way, my understanding is that the route between Chicago and Valpo via Ainsworth was to be marked but, thank heaven, not named.

A Letter to Cousin Mary

A recent acquisition. This letter was written to Mary Wood of Deep River in June 1870, by her cousin Emily in Massachusetts (where Mary's parents, John and Hannah Wood, had lived before coming to Indiana). For purposes of Deep River history, it's pretty well useless, but I found it interesting anyway. Perhaps just because I like to wonder about Mary's reaction to the letter.

Without a surname, I have not been able to find Emily in the census, so I know next to nothing about her. And with only one letter to go on, I can't say whether she had a morbid turn of mind and always concentrated on bad news, or simply happened at this time to find herself surrounded by illness, death and other misfortunes. [8/27/2019 update: I have identified Emily.]

Mary Wood was about 30 years old when she received this letter. The 1870 Census shows her living with her parents in Deep River and working as a dressmaker. At the end of that year, she married Dr. Alonzo Vincent (Indiana Marriage Collection).



Here is my transcription of the letter, as best I can read it:

Andover June 19th/70

Dear cousin Mary,

I intended to have written you at an earlier date, but have had my time occupied in duties that could not well be neglected. I presume you received a Lawrence American* in May containing a notice of sister Hattie's death which occurred on the eleventh of that month. Her sufferings though borne with great patience were extreme, and we felt glad to have her relieved of them. We miss her very much and I cannot refrain from tears at times when I go into her room and see all the varieties of things she had collected together, and think how much she enjoyed in arranging them so as to please the eye. They are all left now for others to enjoy and will soon, by her wish be distributed among her relatives and friends. It falls to my lot to make the distribution and it will cause many feelings of sadness. I think she would like to have lived and she did not give up the hope that she should get well until six weeks before she died, but when told that she could not get well she made up her mind to be resigned. You know how unwilling she always was to have others wait upon her and do for her, and not till the first of March did she yield to others in that respect. She told me at that time she would allow me to take care of her and I willingly devoted my whole time to her from that time till she died. She went up and down stairs as long as she could and just four weeks before she passed away we had her bed put into the sitting room and she did not go out of it after that. She was entirely helpless the most of the time of course it was rather hard taking care of her. I took care of her through the day and Lucy and Mary Ann in turn took care of her nights, previous to her keeping her room I took care of her both night and day getting up from two to four times every night. I spent six weeks at Mrs Johnsons in the winter and my health improved in that time except for that I could not have held out to do what I did for her. I feel very thankfull that I was able to do for her as long as she lived. I have been very unwell the most of the time since but am in hope to feel better soon. Mary Ann & Lucy were about used up from loss of sleep and they have had to work very hard since as much was left undone during her sickness and has to be done now. I hope they will have a chance to rest before long. We are however feeling quite anxious about our mother. She has taken cold and coughs very badly at times. We think she has failed a great deal since Hattie died. Her flower garden is looking very nice just now Mary Ann takes care of it. The season has been favorable as we have had considerable rain. We had a fire a few weeks since quite near us. I think you will recollect the old house just above us and opposite Mrs Prichards[?] that was occupied by Trisk[?]. The fire commenced there and was not subdued until Mr Higgins Paint shop and John Cornells stable. Herman Abbots furniture establishment and Mrs Merrills House were consumed. The most of the contents of the buildings were saved. I was in Boston when it occurred. Melville Johnson came home with me and stayed four days. He had a fall about six weeks since and injured his head. He has fits every few days and if they continue I fear the result will be serious. Addie has been very sick in Philadelphia Mrs Johnson is feeling anxious about both of them. Mr Mason has moved from the house they occupied when we were there last summer. Mrs Tapla has burried her husband. He died two or three months since and she has broken up in Danvers and is tending in a fancy goods store in Lawrence. I have not seen any of Fidelia Taplas family since we were there last summer. I received a letter from Hattie Holliday last week. She is at Mr Mudges in Belvidere, has been keeping house for Mary E. while she makes a visit at her fathers and Michigan City. She says her health is poor and her cough is bad. I do not think she will ever be well. Mrs Mudge is very miserable or was when she left home. How is your health this summer? I wish you could look into our garden and see the raspberry bushes. If all ripen that have set we shall have three times as many as we had last year. The prospect for an apple crop has not been so good in many years as it is now. In fact we have had a good season and every think is looking well. Would you not like to be here? I hope this will find you all in good health. Please write soon[?] and tell us all the news. Mother Lucy & Mary Ann join me in love to your father & mother and all the cousins also accept a large share for yourself, from your cousin

Emily

[written crosswise in the margins of pp. 2-4:] I hope you will excuse the blots I have got on this. I have got some new ink and it is so thin it drops off of the pen. What do you think of Ellens going to Colorado?

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*An Andover newspaper.