The Commute Was Killing Him

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I believe this was the Julius Triebess farm, as it appeared in 1926 Plat Book.

For over two years, Julius Triebess had been a commuter: a trip to Chicago, 24 hours as a fireman, then a trip to Ainsworth and 24 hours as a farmer. It was a life of perpetual tiredness. (I know; I myself used to commute between Chicago and Ainsworth.) After two years and a few months, Julius couldn't take it anymore. He had to choose whether to be a fireman in Chicago or a farmer in Ainsworth.

He chose Chicago, but not so completely as to sell his land. His livestock and his farming equipment, yes …

… but the land he would hang on to, renting it out to a couple of brothers, Charles and Lee Harris, who up until then had been renting the Albert Halsted farm northwest of Ainsworth.

And so Julius and Sophie, and their two teenaged children (Evelyn and Raymond), would be living at 6936 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago in January 1920, when the census came around.

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The Gazette of October 31, 1919, aside from its comments on Julius, mentions a few other people we know, or wish we knew:



I must have missed some news about Earl Blachly: as far as I knew, he was living on his own farm, having moved back there in 1914. Apparently that didn't last long! But now he's going to try farming once again.

"Miss Chester" would be Jennie, now about 21 years old. Her position must have been in one of Hobart's elementary schools, as I don't see her among the high-school faculty in the 1920 Aurora yearbook.

As for the "Jolly Four," I don't know who they were, but I wish I did.


Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ 1926 Plat Book.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 16 Oct. 1919.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 31 Oct. 1919.
♦ "Public Sale." Hobart News 30 Oct. 1919.

Wildflowers of Ainsworth: Solomon's Seal Berries

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This year I have Solomon's seal growing in my own field. Or maybe I've had it all along, and just never noticed it, because it's lurking in an overgrown area. Not precisely the same species I posted before; otherwise these berries would be hanging in pairs, not groups. That photo from Deep River County Park shows Polygonatum biflorum, but I think what I've got here is Polygonatum commutatum.



The berries are poisonous to humans, but according to what I've read, birds and bears like to eat them (the berries, I mean), and suffer no ill effects.

Mable in a Buggy

From the Schavey envelope collection.


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

On the back of this tattered and faded photograph, someone has written: "Mable Schavey Breyfogle – 1921(?)" The question mark is in the original, which must have been written later, since, in 1921, she was Mable Schavey.

The young woman at left certainly looks like Mable, so I suppose the question is about the exact date. If it's off, I don't think it's off by much. The fact that they are in a buggy doesn't rule out the 1920s; people still used horse-drawn buggies and wagons into the 1930s and even 1940s, or so I am told. The style of their clothing looks pretty much consistent with 1921.

Wildflowers of Ainsworth: Smooth Sumac Berries

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The fruit of the smooth sumac.

I was just looking around to see what eats these nasty-looking berries, and came across this page, which (if you scroll down) has a chart showing everything that has any kind of relationship to this plant. Except for blogs.

A Toy Velvet Rabbit

This little "lost" item hopped right out at me:


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The advertiser was Mrs. George A. Rhodes (née Helen Mackey), and I expect the toy rabbit was the property of little Frances Ruth Rhodes. She had been born in the latter part of the winter of 1919, and was now (October 1919) about 8 or 9 months old. I don't think an infant of that age knows one toy rabbit from another, so why George and Helen didn't just go out and buy a replacement, I don't know … except that it was a more saving age, that did not consider material goods as disposable as they are now; and then again, perhaps that particular rabbit was a gift from some beloved relative, with a sentimental value above its worth.


Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ Untitled notice column. Hobart Gazette 24 Oct. 1919.

Wildflowers of Ainsworth: Panicled Dogwood Berries

The panicled dogwoods in Jerry Pavese Park have borne fruit.


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Not very appetizing, if you ask me, but the birds don't ask me.

Mable 1918, or Was it 1924?

From the Schavey envelope collection.


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

Handwritten on back: "Middle: Mable 1918(?)" Yes, that's Mable Schavey Breyfogle in the middle, but I have some doubts about that date, partly because the Mable of this photo looks almost identical to the Mable of 1924. She is dressed alike in both pictures, but for the hat; she's carrying the same bouquet, and wearing the same ring on her left hand.

Secondly, the fashions in this photo look more like the fashions of 1924 than 1918.

Mable's companions are not identified.