Simeon Bullock and the Old Bullock Homestead

It's September 1923 and Simeon Bullock has left us.


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Hobart News, Sept. 20, 1923.

I did not know about his time in Alva, Oklahoma. That might help to explain why his daughter Jessie and her husband, Samuel Quinlan, lived there.

We have already met Simeon's widow, Abbie Wood Bullock, as well as his daughters — Jessie and Ida, and Carolyn (Carrie), who had died in 1917.

Simeon was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery.

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This obituary clears up for me something I've been a little confused about: the old Bullock homestead where Simeon spent his youth is marked here, on the 1874 Plat Map in red:


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The land marked in green, owned also by Moses Bullock, was where Moses' son Gilbert later built the big house that is still standing, but apparently it was not where the original Bullock family lived. I'm glad I got clear on that point.

A few years ago, I received an inquiry about the house at 3720 E. 73rd Avenue, which I was not able to answer very well at that time because I did not have the legal description of the land it stands on. Now, however, I do have that description: "PT. N2.W2.E2.SW. … S.13 T.35 R.8." This description matches up with the western part of the old Bullock homestead. According to the county records, the house was built in 1900; but I am beginning to suspect that "1900" in county records is often code for: "The house was built a long time ago, but nobody knows exactly when."

The earliest purchase I can find relating to the old Bullock farm, in Early Land Sales, was by Elizabeth Ayers, who bought the west half in September 1851. She was probably married to the Nathaniel Ayers who bought part of the east half in 1852.

Here is the Ayers family in Ross Township in the 1850 Census:


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Comparing the names of their neighbors to names in Early Land Sales, I am inclined to think they were in the area of their 1851 and 1852 purchases. Since I can't find the Ayers family in the 1860 Census, I don't know how long they stayed in the area. Perhaps they sold their land directly to the Bullocks in 1860.[1] The Ayerses soon migrated completely out of our story, traveling west to Oregon by 1870 and to California by 1900.

The Bullocks owned the land through 1874, as we've seen on the plat map above. Moses Bullock died in 1873. The 1891 Plat Book shows the west half of the old Bullock land being owned by "A. Bullock" — perhaps Moses' widow, Amanda, or his son, Asa.

The eastern half of the land had been purchased by Morgan Blachly, probably around 1883, from what we know of him. By 1908 (per the 1908 Plat Map) he had also purchased the western half of the old Bullock homestead (in addition to other adjacent land; he owned a parcel totaling 256 acres).

Here is the old Bullock homestead in the 1926 Plat Book:


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The west half was owned by two sons of Morgan and Amelia Blachly: Walter and Earl. (I don't know much about Clarinda Hayden except that she apparently lived in Cedar Creek and West Townships at various times, but I can't find her ever living in Ross Township.)

Here is the old Bullock homestead in 1939 Plat Book:


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I've found William and Iva Kuntz, owners of the east half, in the 1940 Census, but I can't identify the owners of the west half, Steven and V. Kovac.

The 1950 Plat Book shows the same ownership.

Here is the 1972 Plat Book:


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It's still recognizable as the old Bullock farm, though it's lost a few acres on the north. The person who inquired about the house at 3720 E. 73rd told me his parents bought it from an older couple by the name of Walsh, who may be the Walshes shown here. Hartcock, I believe, is a misspelling of Hartsock; see Jones Hartsock's death certificate:


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Image from Ancestry.com.

1972 is the most recent plat map I have.

Here is my attempt to outline the old Bullock farm on a screenshot from the Lake County GIS site:


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[1] Simeon's obituary suggests it was 1862 when the Bullocks moved here from LaPorte, but they are recorded here in the 1860 Census, and Moses Bullock's bio tells us that he bought his farm in 1860.

The Hay Press and George Bodamer

Hay press runs over George Bodamer, ruptures an artery in his leg. If it was the femoral artery, he could easily have bled to death. He gets first aid, then — goes to the hospital? Not George!


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"Local Drifts," Hobart Gazette, Sept. 7, 1923.

I think this is the George Bodamer who first separated my 3.5 acres from the Chester land. I hope it is, since I'm now going to spend some of my precious time researching him.

He, like Benjamin, was one of the children of Christopher (aka Christian) and Elizabeth (Lortz) Bodamer. (For a little background information on those two, visit Christopher's entry on findagrave.com.)

George was born in Indiana on October 12, 1853 (Indiana Death Certificates) — about the time the family came to Lake County from New York. The 1860 Census records the family farming in Ross Township. I can't find them in the 1870 Census, but the 1876 plat map of Union Township, Porter County, shows them owning 80 acres:


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Image from https://www.inportercounty.org/Data/Maps/1876Plats/Union-1876.jpg.

And that is where the 1880 Census places them.

On June 3, 1885,[1] in Porter County, George Bodamer married Christina Frederika (Gross) Stoeckert, widow of George Stoeckert. The next record we have of them is the 1900 Census, which shows George and Frederika (or Freeda) owning a farm in Ross Township. To judge by their neighbors, it is in the vicinity of these Bodamer parcels that appear on the 1908 Plat Map:



All of this land (and more) had been owned by C.F. Bodamer in 1891, per the 1891 Plat Book.

The 1900 census shows George and Freeda with three children: Elizabeth (14), Christopher (12), and Henry (9).

In April 1901, Christine Frederika Gross Stoeckert Bodamer died.


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Hobart Gazette, Apr. 5, 1901.

I can't account for the six children mentioned in the obituary vis-à-vis the three in the 1900 census; the others were probably from her previous marriage.

On March 19, 1904,[2] George's daughter Elizabeth married Earl Blachly. (The marriage did not last.)

I cannot find George Bodamer at all in the 1910 Census. One son, Christopher, was farming on the old Bodamer place in Union Township, Porter County, living with his grandmother; the other son, Henry, lived in Wheeler in the home of a Walsh family and worked in a mill.

The "Local Drifts" in the Hobart Gazette of April 3, 1914, included this item: "James Chester has sold four acres off the old Flaherty farm to Geo. Rodamer for $525." If "Rodamer" is a misprint for "Bodamer," that could be our George. Looking on the 1908 plat map image above, we see below the Bodamer parcels two parcels belonging to Hy. Chester and T.&E. Flaherty. Henry Chester apparently bought those ten acres from a D. Flaherty around 1891 (1891 Plat Book). After Henry's death in 1910, his son James may have owned that land at the south end of S. Hobart Road.

Later that year, George's older son, Christopher, shows up in Michigan marrying a Lavina Hilliker.[3] It appears that Christopher and Lavina settled and lived out their lives in Michigan.

In October 1915, George's younger son, Henry, married Minnie Baessler. By the 1920 Census, the two of them were living in Gary, so Henry must be the son in Gary to whom George went with his ruptured artery in 1923.

I cannot find George in the 1920 census, and (spoiler alert!) he died in 1929 (Indiana Death Certificates).

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[1] Indiana Marriage Collection; other sources say June 4.
[2] Indiana Marriage Collection; March 23, 1904, per "General News Items," Hobart Gazette, Apr. 1, 1904.
[3] Ancestry.com. Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867-1952 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867–1952. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics.