Saturday, January 19, 2013

Updated Again With More Photos!

I believe we have a candidate for the title of Most Photographed Farm Auction of 1917. I now have four more photos of the Buchfuehrer auction, from another source, to add to the original post.

(And yes, again, that's all you get today.)

Friday, January 18, 2013

Updated with Photos

A Buchfuehrer descendant has made it possible for me to update a couple of previous posts with relevant photos.

We now have a portrait of John and Lillian (Buchfuehrer) Call.

We also have a couple of very interesting photos of the 1917 auction that took place on the Buchfuehrer farm.


(And that is all you get today. But isn't it enough?)

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Barred Plymouth Eggs

I get a little thrill every time one of the Noltes breaks their silence voluntarily — that is, not because of a death or a crime — even if it is only to sell some Barred Plymouth Rock chicken eggs.

All kinds of Wants
(Click on image to enlarge)
From the Hobart Gazette of April 2, 1920.


John Sievert, the one selling the colts, was a Ross Township farmer who has earned only one individual mention so far in this blog, though his parents are buried in Chester Cemetery.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Mary Kegebein

From the Busse autograph collection.

Mary Kegebein
(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


Mary was about 13 years old when she wrote this. The 1910 Census shows her living on Lake Street in Hobart, with her parents, Charles and Anna Kegebein — the third of their nine children. At that time both her father and older brother were employed in a brickyard. Her 17-year-old sister was a telephone operator. Her father was a brother of the John Kegebein, Jr. who owned a farm north of Ainsworth (see also the 1891 Plat Book).

I believe Mary became Mrs. Homer R. White in July 1917 (Indiana Marriage Collection) and in the 1920 Census can be found in South Bend, Indiana, with her husband and a little daughter, Gertrude.

As for the "angles," this is one of those traditional children's prayers with a morbid twist (like "if I should die before I wake…"). A little research suggests that the more common form is:
Four corners to my bed
Four angels round my head
One to watch and one to pray
And two to bear my soul away.
These days you can buy a sanitized version to hang on your wall.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Antimacassar

Photos taken inside the Hobart Historical Society museum.

Here we have a luxury item: an upholstered reclining rocker.

Reclining rocker
(Click on images to enlarge)

This is on display without comment, so I don't know how old it is. Nor do I know to whom it belonged — but I'm guessing someone in comfortable circumstances.

You all know the history of the term antimacassar, don't you? This one looks so delicate that I wonder how they laundered it. But even buying a new antimacassar was less expensive than having the chair reupholstered.

Lace Antimacassar


And now for some low-rent artsiness! Here I just messed with the brightness and contrast.

Antimacassar contrast

This is an "effect" from Paint.NET called "polar inversion":

Antimacassar polar inversion

It's a great tool for procrastination.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Update to Estelle Keilmann

I found a photograph to go with Estelle Keilmann's autograph in Lena's album. It's cute — see for yourself!

The Fire Next Door

I was looking through the files at the museum for a picture of the original First Christian Church that stood next to the Raschka house … and this is what I found. At least now I know why the congregation wanted a new building.

First Christian Church from rear
(Click on images to enlarge)
Images courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


According to a handwritten note on the back, these photos date to 1948. The above was taken from the northeast; in the next three, taken from the south, you can see parts of the Raschka house in the background at left. (So the porch was enclosed by 1948.)

First Christian Church

First Christian Church from south

First Christian Church demolition

I think the last photo shows the demolition underway.