Rope Bed

Photos taken inside the Hobart Historical Society museum.

Well, what I've learned so far about using a tripod is that it's a great tool, and you can do some fun things with it. It's also a pain in the neck — clumsy and time-consuming. And even using a tripod, with a little effort you can still totally mess up a shot. Which is what I did to the label describing the exhibit that is the subject of today's photo-essay. Hence I have to type it out for you.

ROPE BED

Brought by covered wagon from Virginia by the Mundell family in 1836 when the Mundell, Hurst, and Sigler families came to Hobart.

Donated by the Demmon family.

It is a bedstead with pegs on the outer boards around which ropes are strung to form a web that supports the sleeper — with a little elasticity, I suppose, which makes it preferable to sleeping on wooden planks, but not so comfortable as modern constructions like box springs.


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Two of the pegs, strung with rope:


In the above photo you can see the striped fabric of the feather "tick."

Scarlet Fever

Adding to the miseries of the winter of 1919-20 — on top of influenza and smallpox — we now find scarlet fever. By early March, it had caused the quarantine of three homes in Hobart: those of Albert Witt, Henry Ittel and Alvin Shafer.

The miseries of the approaching spring threatened to include Albert Halsted, a Ross Township farmer, running for Lake County sheriff.

♦    ♦    ♦
This little item caught my eye, as it concerns two of our acquaintances — William Schavey (Hattie's husband and Mable's uncle) and John Harms.


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According to the 1930 census, the address where William and Hattie Schavey were living was 750 Lincoln Street. (I can't find them in the 1920 census.)


Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ 1930 Census.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 11 Mar. 1920.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 12 Mar. 1920.

I'd Rather Be Holding the Dog

From the Schavey envelope collection.


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

Junior there doesn't look terribly thrilled to be holding Baby.

No ID. My vintage-car expert tells me that car in the background is a 1933 Ford; otherwise, I could have theorized that these kids were Kenny and Dwayne Breyfogle.

Wall Painting

Photos taken inside the Hobart Historical Society museum.

Someone cut part of a wall out of a house and dragged it into the museum, for the sake of preserving this painting:


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A card tucked into the window (or door?) frame explains why:



I know the card is not easy to read. It says: "Part of wall from home in which Indians once lived. Thought to be Indian art. We are doing further research."

Judging by the apparent age of that card, I'm afraid that whoever was doing the "further research" may have already gone to meet the painter(s) face to face.

Some ancient wallpaper from higher up on the wall; looks like two layers, unless that's more painting underneath:



Here's an artsy shot of the door (or window?) frame. It's artsy because it doesn't convey any information.

Dan Maybaum Again

I already told you I don't know who Dan Maybaum was. But the "Local Drifts" in the Hobart Gazette of March 5, 1920, brings us some news about him (and I'm also typing it out for you, since the microfilm is hard to read).

Dan Maybaum, who has operated for years the Maybaum farm south of Ainsworth, until it was sold last fall to Chas. Chester, has just moved from the farm to Ainsworth.

Said column also brings us news of our old friend, Jesse Frame. It's been a long time, Jesse!


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A Couple in a Cornfield

From the Schavey envelope collection.


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.

OK, you two — what were you doing out in that cornfield that's got you grinning like that?

Unidentified, and I don't recognize them.

Better Than Ontario

A recent purchase: a postcard postmarked 1916.


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I think I've posted this view before somewhere. The message on the back is more interesting.



Janette (or Jeanette) Kellen was about 13 years old when she wrote this postcard. I believe her parents were J. Cornelius and Katherine Kellen, and they lived in the vicinity of where Tenth Street and Grand Boulevard curve together. Per the 1920 Census, Cornelius operated his own greenhouse. He had done the same in Chicago ten years earlier, per the 1910 Census. From what Janette says here, I get the impression that between 1910 and 1916 the family had tried living in Ontario, Indiana, and did not like it — or, at least, Mrs. Kellen didn't.

I suppose Cornelius was the "J.C. Kellen" who signed the petition for lights on the Ainsworth road, and also the owner of "Kellen's pond," which I remember reading about in one of those Hobart Historical Society books but can't recall which one, or where.