A Horse Named Bob

I haven't posted in a while because I have no time to do research. So once again I must resort to posting a photo that requires no research.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Eldon Harms.

According to notes on the back of the original, this is Lester Harms with Bob on Cleveland Avenue. By Cleveland Avenue, I suppose the writer of the notes meant John and Sophie Harms farm.

No date on the photo, and nothing in it to help us guess. It must be after 1919, when the Harmses bought that land. Lester (born 1904) appears to be some indeterminate adult age between 30 and 55.

Bob is a fine-looking horse, and he must have been well tempered, too, if he let someone do up his mane in that elaborate fashion.

Is that Cleveland Avenue in the background?

"The Pleasure of Motoring, 1928"

… he wrote sarcastically.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of Eldon Harms.

"He" being Lester Harms, probably, as this photo came from the Lester Harms collection. I'm posting it now because I just recently came across a relevant newspaper item from the Hobart Gazette of July 6, 1928:

Clarence Harney and Lester Harms were to motor to Yellowstone Park, but they encountered muddy roads in the Black Hills section and gave up going further and returned via Minnesota and Wisconsin, visiting the points of interest enroute. Mr. Harney, who works at the local postoffice, had to return last Saturday at the close of his two-weeks' vacation.

The way Eldon Harms told me the story, they were heading to California. In both stories, they turned back because of the bad roads.

If Yellowstone Park was their destination, I wonder if they traveled on the Yellowstone Trail?

Lester Harms and Clarence Harney were cousins, born in 1904 and 1907, respectively. (Lester's father, John, was a half-brother of Clarence's mother, Mamie.) With the photo being so out-of-focus, it's hard to say which one of them is fixing the flat, but I am inclined to think it's Clarence. Here is his high-school senior portrait from 1925 for comparison:



And a photo of Lester from 1932 can be found here.

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This story got me wondering whether they were in the Black Hills area in hopes of seeing the Mount Rushmore monument, which led me to research how much of the monument there was to see in 1928. As it turns out: very little. The enormous work of carving the mountain had only begun in October 1927. I found some early photos here — if you scroll down, you will find one from about 1928 in which only the rough planes of Washington's face can be distinguished from nature.

Baby Les, Bejeweled

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Eldon Harms.

On the back of the original photo, someone has written: "Les baby picture," and since this photo was among those that had belonged to Lester Harms, I gather it's Lester himself. He was born August 10, 1904 (Indiana Death Certificates), and while the photo is undated, Lester appears to be perhaps three months old, which would mean the photo was taken in the autumn of 1904. The photographer was August Haase.

Lester's parents, John and Sophia (Schavey) Harms, have dressed their baby very nicely — just to have his photo taken, or was there some special occasion that this portrait commemorates?

He wears a ring on one finger of his right hand, and a heart-shaped pendant (a choking hazard, but they didn't think about things that way in 1904).

He is staring straight at the camera with such a look of curiosity!

John and Mamie Harms, by Henry Iverson of Chicago

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Eldon Harms.

This photograph is undated, but on the back of the original is the imprint of the photographer, Henry Iverson, 2176 Archer Ave., Chicago. So, thanks to the information about him compiled by the Chicago Historical Society, we can date the photograph between 1881 and 1885.

And since we know the birth dates of the subjects, we can narrow that down, based on their apparent ages in this photo, to 1884 or 1885.

John was born August 26, 1877 (Indiana Death Certificates) to Henry and Sophia (Reimer) Harms. Sophia died just a week later, of "milk fever," as the family oral tradition has it — probably puerperal sepsis.

In 1879 Henry Sr. married Johanna Springman (Indiana Marriage Collection). They had a baby daughter who was born and died in 1881. Maria aka "Mayme," born June 1, 1882 (Indiana Death Certificates), was the first of their children to live to adulthood. (As we know, she married Fred Harney.)

I have no clue why Henry and Johanna took their children to Chicago for this photograph, nor why they chose this particular photographer; but I like to imagine that this encounter had something to do with Mr. Iverson's moving down to Hobart within a couple of years, as I believe he did.

A Mystery House

Since my previous post talked about the Saager family, I thought I'd post this unidentified photo from the Lester Harms collection that somehow relates to them.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of Eldon Harms.

As farmhouses go, it's modestly pretty, and typical enough to be anybody's. The only evidence linking it to the Saagers is what's written on the back of the photo:



We know who August Saager was. And we know that the August Saager farm eventually became the William Prochno farm, of which we have a photo. From what I can see of the house in that photo, though, it does not look like the house in our mystery photo.

And I don't know who on earth H. Jaeger was. Of course, I immediately thought of the Ainsworth-area Yager/Jaeger family, but there was no H. among them. The house in the photo looks a bit like the old Yager house still standing on 73rd Avenue — assuming some remodeling — but, again, that temple-and-wing style was so often used in houses in this area. And the mystery house appears to sit very close to the road, unlike the Yager house.

There is a long blank in the history of the Saager/Prochno land (1874-1908), during which someone named H. Jaeger might have lived there — but as I noted before, the mystery house does not resemble the Prochno house. I can't identify any H. Jaeger in the census records in Lake County around the turn of the 20th century.

It seems that the H. Jaeger house was somehow important to August Saager. From general appearances, the photo seems to date to the late 19th or early 20th century — a time when photography was not the simple process it is now and may have required the services of a professional. And then the photo was mounted on a decorative cardboard frame like a family portrait, someone wrote both names on the back, and the photo was preserved all these years.

It's a mystery to me.

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1/18/2020 update: I believe that Rachel has identified H. Jaeger (see the Comments to this post), and the house where he lived in 1918 (per his draft card), 2239 W. 15th Ave. in Gary, is still standing, and only slightly remodeled.

The only mystery remaining is why that house was so important to August Saager.

A Good Old-Fashioned Barn Lowering

At some point, Lester Harms decided that the barn on his farm was too tall and needed lowering.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Eldon Harms.

I can't say I understand why he wanted to do this, but it was his barn, wasn't it?

The photo is undated, but its being in color suggests ... well, generally, I think ordinary people used black-and-white film until about 1970 or so.

Now I have to look at all the pictures I have of his barn and try to figure out if they are pre- or post-lowering.

John and Sophia Harms

In honor of John Harms' becoming Hobart Township Assessor, here's a nice portrait of him and his wife, Sophia (née Schavey).


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Eldon Harms.

The photo is undated, but from general appearances I'm guessing mid- to late 1930s.

Not Tillie, SUSIE!

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Eldon Harms family.

This is Mathilda "Tillie" Prochno with two horses, Daisy and Beauty. Judging by her apparent age (and she was born in 1911), I would date the photo to around 1920. The location may be the Prochno farm, but it is not identified.

As we know, at some point Tillie stopped being Tillie and became Susie or Sue, and it seems that someone felt pretty strongly about the name change — strongly enough to obliterate "Tillie" and write in "Susie" on this old photograph.

Hobart Then and Now: Radio Field/Southlake Mall

1937, and 2016


(Click on images to enlarge)
Image above courtesy of the Eldon Harms family.



I can't do a precise then-and-now shot because I can't identify exactly where the first photo was taken. Thanks to notes on the back, we know the year — 1937.



"Les" is Lester Harms (with his back to the camera), and "Dad" is his father, John Harms (in the driver's seat). They did not own this land; they may have rented it, or plowed it for hire. The field was called "Radio Field" because there were radio towers somewhere in it.

In the 1937 picture, there seems to be a road in the right background, with a house and farm outbuildings in the distance. We don't know which road that is, or whose house.

I never had a chance to look at this picture with Eldon Harms. It had been mislaid in his house, and in spite of the time he spent searching, it didn't turn up until after he had gone. "Where Southlake Mall is now," is how he described it, and "near I-65." I'm not sure if he himself, looking at the photo, could have told me exactly where it was taken.

Flash

Here's another photo of Noland White and one of his furry friends, this one named "Flash" according to the handwritten note at the bottom.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of Eldon Harms.

A note on the back of the original gives the date as 1937. Eldon Harms identified the car as a Ford Model A, probably a 1930 or '31.

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Speaking of furry friends — mixed in with the other photos in the Lester Harms collection was this 1931 photo of Rin Tin Tin …



… apparently a promotional item distributed by Chappel Bros., Inc., producers of the first canned dog food (according to this source).

Hobart Schoolchildren, Grades 2-3

None of the children in this photograph are identified:


(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of Eldon Harms.

Since it comes from the Lester Harms collection, I'm more or less expecting to see Lester Harms among them. I can't say that I recognize him. But someone has penciled in an arrow pointing to the boy on the far right in the middle row:



Could that be Lester? Possibly.

In the second or third grade, Lester would have been around seven or eight years old — circa 1911-12. I can't see anything in the photo inconsistent with that date. It is printed on a postcard, unused, but with a stamp box of a style that Playle's dates between 1904 and 1918.



So, again — possibly, but not definitely.

Ahoy Matey!

Can you believe this is Lester Harms?


(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of the Eldon Harms family.

I wouldn't have recognized him but for the note on the back of the original:



Per playle.com, that stamp box was used between 1906 and 1913. Judging by Lester's apparent age in the photo — he was born in 1904 — I date this to 1906 or '07.

In the Rocker, by the Window

his is how Eldon Harms remembered his grandfather, Henry Harms, Sr. — sitting in the rocker by the window in his big house in Hobart.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of Eldon Harms.

In the photo below, probably taken the same day, Henry is holding his granddaughter, Lois (daughter of John and Sophia (Schavey) Harms).



While the photo is undated, Lois was born circa October 27, 1915 (Social Security Applications), and here she looks to be only a few months old, so we can probably date the photo to the winter/spring of 1915/16.

The photographer was a Helen R. Webster of Chicago.

I forgot to mention in the previous post that the house had a small barn on the alley, where Henry and Anna kept a horse and buggy. They kept chickens in an enclosure in the backyard.

Dad Harms

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Eldon Harms.

To Lester Harms, from whose collection this photograph comes, he was "Dad" — John Harms, 1877-1946.

Since the photo was taken at Showman's Gallery, we can date it between 1893 and 1898.

Pig Pics

Speaking of pigs — as we were in our last post — perhaps the time has come for me to post all the pig pictures I have at the moment, beyond the one I've already posted.

These two come from the Lester Harms collection.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of Eldon Harms.

On the back, someone has written: "Sow and 11 pigs. 1939." In 1939, Lester was living with his parents, John and Sophia, on their Cleveland Avenue farm. But, Reader, let us not rush to conclude that these were Harms pigs.

The next picture is unidentified. Well, yes, it's a man and 12 pigs. The man looks a bit like Lester Harms, if you ask me, but I need an eye exam.




This last one comes from Minnie Rossow Harms' steamer trunk. It was taken on the old Harms homestead on Ainsworth Road.



"Our Pigs," reads the caption. The photo was developed (per the stamp on the back) on July 16, 1934. The tile building in the background was the chicken house. It was on the north side of Ainsworth Road, between the farmhouse and the lake. There is a chicken-wire fence in front of the pigs.


That's all the pig photos I have right now. We can always hope for more.

Windmill Daredevil

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Eldon Harms.

It's a poor photo, but you wouldn't want to ask him to do that stunt twice so you could be sure to get a good shot.

The notes at the bottom tell us that this was Roney Sauter in 1926. I have no idea who Roney Sauter was. Notes on the back tell us that the location is the Prochno farm.

At the base of the windmill, you can see a neat and substantial-looking structure (pump house?). In the photo of the Prochno farm posted earlier, the only pump-house-like structure near the base of the windmill is a ragged wooden shack with a hole in its roof.

That may indicate that the earlier photo dates to before 1926. Or not.

The Prochno Farm

This is the Prochno farm — probably the one on Colorado Street, near the Lester Harms farm.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of Eldon Harms.

You can see the mailbox in front, which would be used by the mail carrier working a Crown Point rural delivery route.

The back of the photo was stamped with blanks to be filled in by hand:



I'm not sure what the purpose of all this was — documentation for insurance purposes? Or perhaps the proud homeowners were ordering a tinted enlargement of this photo to hang on their wall? Anyway, I like the little color details: house white, with green trim and shutters; barn red, with white trim.

There is no date on this.

William Prochno was born in 1880 to Ferdinand and Bertha Prochno, German immigrants. The earliest I can find the family is in 1900, when they farmed rented land in southeast Ross Township. In 1902 William married Louisa Saager. Now, in 1908 the farm that would eventually be the Prochno farm was owned by August Saager, but I don't know what relationship he might have had to Louisa.

The young Prochnos were farming rented land in Eagle Creek Township in 1910. In 1920 they were back in Ross Township, farming what may have been the Saager/Prochno farm (to judge by their neighbors), but the enumerator did not know whether they owned it. They did own it by 1926.

William and Louisa had lost one child in the early years of their marriage. Only their daughter, Mathilda, born circa 1911, survived to maturity. As we know, she married Noland White and then Lester Harms, but neither marriage produced children.


Sources:
♦ 1900 Census.
♦ 1908 Plat Map.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ 1926 Plat Book.
♦ 1930 Census.
♦ 1940 Census.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.

Aunt Tillie

This is the last autograph in little Lester Harms' album.


(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of Eldon Harms.

Aunt Tillie was Lester's father's half-sister, born Mathilda Harms, having become, in 1904, Tillie Niksch.

Here she is quoting an anonymous poem. She quotes the poem closely, her spelling is perfect, her handwriting is controlled.

I have been told by a couple of people who knew her that Aunt Tillie was a formidable woman who held strong opinions and did not shrink from expressing them.


After that, we come to the back cover of the autograph album, with a pig sticker.

Aunt Louise, Whoever She Was

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Eldon Harms.

Once again I don't know exactly who this aunt was. My best guess is that she was Louise Sapper Schavey, married in 1908 to Edward Schavey and thus sister-in-law of Sophia Schavey Harms (Lester's mother).

Cousin Caroline

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Eldon Harms.

We met Caroline Sapper earlier when she signed Lena Busse's autograph album.

I'm not sure exactly how Caroline was Lester Harms' cousin, but I think it might have something to do with the Springman connection.