Breakfast and Love

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


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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.


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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.


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[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.

Valedictorian, Class of 1935

Since I attended a high-school graduation ceremony a few days ago, it seems an apt time to present to you a high-school graduate whom we last saw out front of her home on Central Avenue: Joyce Malone, valedictorian of the Class of 1935 of Edison High School in East Gary (Lake Station).


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society and Fred Ols.

This is the speech she gave at the ceremony:

Good Bye and Good Luck

During the past year we have listened to the Byrd broadcast and the thrilling communications between America and Little America[1] and as we heard the announcer, Harry von Zell, sign off with his "Good bye and good luck" we have thought that those men in the expedition must have been reluctant to hear those words for it meant that a whole week would elapse before they would again have the same opportunity of communicating with home folks. Harry von Zell was given a special privilege in the opportunity to say for all the people in the United States, "Good bye and good luck."

I feel that mine is a special privilege when I am permitted to voice the farewells for the class to teachers, fellow school mates, school associations and class members. We have enjoyed our years of fellowship together, particularly this last year of school, and we are reluctant to say the last good bye. We have enjoyed many sessions in this school. Some of us have been here for years and others but a comparatively short time and we hope that we have been able to give something to the school as well as to take so much from it. What we take from the school has not lessened its usefulness nor its material content but is measured in our training and in our character and our abilities. In giving to us the school has not lessened its efficiency but rather it has given us something that money cannot buy and that nothing can take from us.

Today we come to the last program together. Soon we will separate and go our several ways, some to one thing and some to another and will attempt to put into practice some of the knowledge and abilities we have secured while in school. Education is something to be desired and thinking people are anxious to give the young graduates a chance to do something with their training. We need education to live worthwhile lives in this great democracy, and democracy needs educated men and women and thinking boys and girls.

As we say good bye and good luck to old school friends and go out into the world of business and adult living we need to consider what our part will be in the future and what is needed from us in the present. While it is true that we will doubtless have difficulty in securing what we commonly call "paying positions"[2] there will be work of one sort or another for each and every one. It may be that we will be able to do something to make life easier for our parents who have denied themselves in order that we might complete our school work and now may be our "golden opportunity" to repay them in a small measure. Our community offers many opportunities for service in leading young people's activities or assisting with adult organizations. There is no need of our simply sitting down with folded hands, waiting for something to turn up.

As we say "good bye" to schoolmates who remain in the school for another year or more we do so with a feeling of sadness. You will be going on in the old ways that are no longer ours, you will tread the stairs and enter into the school activities but we will be out and away. We trust you to carry on the school spirit and traditions and to make us proud that we once belonged to this school. We are sorry to leave but such is the decree of progress. We would no longer remain once we are fitted for higher things but still we are saddened at the parting. As another school year opens before you, fellow school mates, we shall be watching you with pride and anticipation.

Teachers of this school, to you we must also say "good bye and good luck." Faithfully you have performed your duties and more, for you have gone outside your regular work to help us and to guide us. We may have seemed ungrateful at times and often you have questioned if it was worth all it cost you. In the future we hope to make up to society if not to you for what you have given the members of this class. Will you accept our heartfelt thanks and our "good bye and good luck."

As we come to the parting of the school ways we look back over our school life and wish that we might have done some things differently but this is no time for hashing our past mistakes.

Tonight we are looking into the future with eagerness, and with joyous anticipation of what life may hold in store for each of us. Tonight we are starting forth in a new life, a new world in which each one is to be the master of his fate and the captain of his soul. Parents, school mates, officials and friends, we hope that this new life may bring to each of the members of the class of 1935 some of the richer blessings, some of the finer things of life and that each member of this class may succeed in life to such an extent that we justify the confidence which you have placed in us. Trusting that our ambitions and ideals of tonight may not prove to be empty dreams I bid you all "good bye and good luck."

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[1] The "Little America" exploration base established in Antarctica set up the first radio station on that continent in 1933 and continued broadcasting until January 1935.
[2] Joyce and her classmates were, of course, beginning their adult lives in the midst of the Great Depression.

The Girls in Their Summer Dresses

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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society and Fred Ols.

I've had this photo for years but didn't post it because I had so little information about it, and couldn't even definitely place it in Hobart beyond oral tradition. However, just recently I came across an article in the Index-Commonwealth of March 26, 1936, entitled, "Mitchell's Restaurant Sold to E. Gary Couple," which named the buyer as Henry C. Bass, "who formerly operated the Bass Confectionary and Lunch Room on Park[update] Street in East Gary [Lake Station]." Not named in the article was his wife, Martha, who is standing in the restaurant's doorway in this photo.

The seller was Flora Belle Mitchell, who went by her middle name. She had been operating a restaurant in Hobart since 1930, perhaps earlier. She and her husband, Tymon, had left farming in Porter County (1900 Census) to open a restaurant in Valparaiso by 1910 — the "Farmers Restaurant," according to a 1911 directory. [1] Presumably Belle was involved in operating that restaurant, although she had some seven children to look after as well. After moving to Indiana Avenue, the Mitchells left Valpo in 1916 to relocate to Gary;[2] but the 1920 Census shows Tymon managing a hotel in Wheatfield, Jasper County. Tymon died in 1928. The 1930 Census finds the widowed Belle in Hobart, "cook and manager" of a restaurant, located at 231 Main Street per our 1930 directory. The 1936 article about the restaurant's sale gives its address as 216 Main Street.

And now I have spent so much time talking about the Mitchells that I shall have to leave Martha and the rest of the Basses for another time.
♦    ♦    ♦
[4/30/2022 update] I forgot to add that Ainsworth's vintage-car expert thinks that the car parked in front of the restaurant is probably a 1935 or '36 Pontiac.

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[3/29/2023 update] Fred Ols tells me that Parke Street in Lake Station was much closer than Park Street to the Basses' home, and also that Martha did not drive a car. It's quite possible that whoever wrote the article for the Hobart paper confused Parke and Park Streets in Lake Station.
[1] Valparaiso, Indiana, City Directory, 1911. Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
[2] "Do You Remember the Day?" Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Ind.), 16 Apr. 1931.

H.C. Bass' Restaurant

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

I've had this photo for years but didn't post it because I had so little information about it, and couldn't even definitely place it in Hobart beyond oral tradition. However, just recently I came across an article in the Index-Commonwealth of March 26, 1936, entitled, "Mitchell's Restaurant Sold to E. Gary Couple," which named the buyer as Henry C. Bass, "who formerly operated the Bass Confectionary and Lunch Room on Park Street in East Gary [Lake Station]." Not named in the article was his wife, Martha, who is standing in the restaurant's doorway in this photo.

The seller was Flora Belle Mitchell, who went by her middle name. She had been operating a restaurant in Hobart since 1930, perhaps earlier. She and her husband, Tymon, had left farming in Porter County (1900 Census) to open a restaurant in Valparaiso by 1910 — the "Farmers Restaurant," according to a 1911 directory.[1] Presumably Belle was involved in operating that restaurant, although she had some seven children to look after as well. After moving to Indiana Avenue, the Mitchells left Valpo in 1916 to relocate to Gary;[2] but the 1920 Census shows Tymon managing a hotel in Wheatfield, Jasper County. Tymon died in 1928. The 1930 Census finds the widowed Belle in Hobart, "cook and manager" of a restaurant, located at 231 Main Street per our 1930 directory. The 1936 article about the restaurant's sale gives its address as 216 Main Street.

And now I have spent so much time talking about the Mitchells that I shall have to leave Martha and the rest of the Basses for another time.

♦    ♦    ♦
[4/30/2022 update] I forgot to add that Ainsworth's vintage-car expert thinks that the car parked in front of the restaurant is probably a 1935 or '36 Pontiac.

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[1] Valparaiso, Indiana, City Directory, 1911. Ancestry.com. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
[2] "Do You Remember the Day?" Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Ind.), 16 Apr. 1931.

Hair!

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


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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.


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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.

Rose Kietzman(?)

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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society and Fred Ols.

This photograph comes down to us identified as Rose Kietzman. We have already seen a photo of Rose as a teenager, and there's some resemblance between the face of the girl in that photo and this one.

I'm just wondering about photographer, and the style of her dress. Her sleeves suggest the fashions of the 1890s, and, while I still don't have a definite ending date for L.K. Showman's career, he seems to have been most active in the 1890s. Well, let's suppose the photo was taken in 1900 — Rose was eight years old. I don't think this girl could pass for eight, and moreover she's holding what looks like a diploma or certificate of some kind. So I'm puzzled.

Four Generations

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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:


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_________________
*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

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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

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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?

Rose Kietzman

We've seen her wedding photo; now here's a portrait taken on some other special occasion — confirmation, or eighth-grade graduation, by the looks of it.


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

Rose was born in 1892. Assuming she's about 14 years old here, we can estimate this photo's date at around 1906. The photographer was August Haase.

I love her shoes, but they were not meant for walking.

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

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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.

Rose and Fritz

I recently came across an article about their wedding (while looking for something else), so I may as well post this lovely wedding photo of Rose Kietzman and Fred (aka Fritz) Scharbach taken by August Haase:


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

From the Hobart Gazette of 24 June 1910, an article entitled, "Hobart People Marry":

Fred Scharbach, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Scharbach, and Miss Rose Kietzman, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Kietzman, were united in marriage on Wednesday of this week, June 22d. The ceremony was performed at 2 o'clock at the bride's home on Kelly street in the north part of town by Rev. E.R. Schuelke and in the presence only of members of the two families.

The bride was attended by the groom's cousin, Miss Helen Scharbach of South Chicago and the groom by the bride's brother Charles.

The happy young couple left that evening for Chicago but returned on the late train to take up their residence on Devonshire street where their new home has been furnished for their occupancy.

Both have been raised in Hobart and possess a large circle of friends who wish them a happy wedded life. The Gazette extends hearty congratulations.

Rose was then just 17 years old, and Fred 21. According to the 1910 Census, in spite of Fred's father owning a lumber yard, Fred himself worked for a railroad as a section "boss."

Chicken-Wire Fence

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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.

The Guy on the Baggage Cart

We local-history buffs have all seen this picture of the Pennsy station:


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

Now we have learned the identity of one of the people in it: the guy on the baggage cart is Martin Ols, one of Henry's children. Since the photo dates to about 1913, Martin would be about 19 years old here. According to notes on the back of the photo, Martin was a clerk and responsible for unloading baggage (for the Pennsy Railroad, I suppose, though the notes don't specify), and later became a watchman in a tower along the EJ&E RR.

Brickyard Buddies

A member of the Ols family has allowed the Hobart Historical Society to copy a number of photographs and documents. We shall begin looking at some of those here.

By the Ols family I mean John and Charlotte Ols and their descendants. We have already met two of their sons: Christ (and I shall have an update on that story), and Charles. It is their eldest son, Henry, we are to deal with now.

Henry was born around 1860, when the family was still in Germany (Prussia). They arrived in this country in the early to mid-1870s,* and by 1880 were farming in Hobart Township. In 1884 Henry married Bertha Wischman of Hobart. They had five children, three of whom survived infancy: Herman (born 1887), Elizabeth (1889) and Martin (1894).


Let's start with this photo that has come down to us from Henry:


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

Handwritten notes on the back: "Henry buddies from brickyard (probably Natco)." We don't have a date for this photo. It is printed on postcard with a divided back, but no printer's name or other helpful information.

I am not sure whether Henry is in the photo at all. I don't recognize him, but then again the faces of a few of these men are so blurred their own mothers wouldn't recognize them. Nor do I know whether Henry ever worked in any brickyard. To the census-takers, he gave different occupations: farm laborer (1880), day laborer (1900), carpenter (1910 through 1930).**

So we don't know who these brickies are, but it's a nice brickyard picture.

________________________
*Henry gave different dates to different census-takers.
**The 1920 census is illegible on that point, but it looks as if it might possibly have "carpenter" as his occupation.