Friday, July 22, 2011

Hazard Halsted (or Halstead)

Hazard Halsted Barber Shop in Lightner building, undated
(Click on images to enlarge)
All photos in this post courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


Today's random old photos are not as random as usual, because Hazard Halsted* once lived near Ainsworth. The 1900 Census finds 13-year-old Hazard on a Ross Township farm with his parents, Wallace and Jessie, and his 21-year-old sister, Alta, who was then a schoolteacher. Their farm was in the vicinity of Gilbert and Estella Bullock's.

Furthermore, his grandparents, James and Mary Halstead, were described as "pioneers of Ross Township" by Sam B. Woods in his article on "The Passing of the Pioneers" in Lake County History, Vol. 10 (published by the Lake County Historical Association in 1929).

By the 1910 Census, the Halsteds had moved to Hobart. The 1920 Census shows Hazard married to Dora (maiden name unknown) and working in a steel mill, but when the 1930 Census came around, Hazard called himself a barber.

Actually, he was barbering before 1920, as shown by this notice printed in the Hobart Gazette of August 23, 1918:

7-22-2011 Halsted barber notice 8-23-1918

He was also barbering not long after 1920, as we can infer from this photo:

Hazard Halsted cutting Louis Kramer's hair, undated (but it's Louis Kramer's wedding day)

Here's the caption on the back:

HalstedLouisreverse

I've found in Hobart (per the 1930 Census) a Louis Kramer who married a Myrtle (maiden name unknown)** in 1923 or 1924 — a date not inconsistent with anything I see in that photo. [10/14/2019 update: We have a photo of the wedding party here.]

Notes on the first photo (the exterior shot) say that the barbershop was in the Lightner building. I seem to recall reading somewhere that the Lightner building was (is) the building on the northwest corner of Main and Fourth. But I can't remember where I supposedly read that, so I can't check and make sure I wasn't just dreaming it. And this building doesn't look as if it's on a corner. So … I don't know.


__________________________
*How I wish these people would decide on one spelling for their names — I'm going with "Halsted" because that's how I first encountered it and began indexing it.

**[7/27/11 update] Mystery of Myrtle solved! See Comment below.

2 comments:

Suzi Emig said...

Myrtle's maiden name was Scharbach, another familiar "old Hobart" name. So quaint that the pic was taken on his wedding day--NWIGS marriage gives the date of the wedding as June 9, 1922. I knew their daughters, Doris and Carolyn thru church, both lovely ladies; and I knew their brother George from taking care of him in the hospital. He had a condition called "dextrocardia" (his heart was on the right side of his chest instead of on the left). He always got a laugh out of the nurse who tried to listen to his heart in the usual fashion and watched the puzzled look on her face! Needless to say we all caught on as he was a frequent patient, but always tried to let him get the best of us. They all are deceased now, Carolyn most recently, at the age of 88.

Ainsworthiana said...

So George's heart was in the right place, eh? (I bet he got tired of hearing that one.) Thanks for the ID on Myrtle.