Sunday, March 10, 2013

From the Crime Files:
The Case of the Roving Ruminant

Ensign cow crime
(Click on images to enlarge)

In the annals of unsolved crime, it's hardly enough for a footnote, but this story gives me the impetus to look into the Ensign family, whom up until now I have mentioned only in passing.

I believe "Mrs. Ensign" in the story would be Elizabeth Ensign, listed in the 1920 census as a divorcée of 62 (the 1910 census described her as widowed). She apparently lived near her son, John, who was married with several children. I think John may be the "J.E." marked on a small parcel in a 1926 plat map:

Ensign 1926

… in which case the cow did not have far to wander to end up in William Bracken's field.

John Ensign describes himself in 1920 as both a farmer and a telegraph operator (with the E.J. & E. R.R., per his draft card). Elizabeth also had a younger son, Walter. I don't know whether she had any other children because this family is proving elusive as we go further back in time.

♦    ♦    ♦

Above the cow story you will note the story about the progress of paving Hobart … or lack of progress, at least temporarily. I don't know how the strike was "adjusted." The Gazette, published a day later, serenely ignored the strike, and a week later reported:
The Powers-Thompson Co. has finished paving 6th street, and Wednesday morning commenced work on Indiana street, at Cleveland avenue. It is probable that South Main street and Garfield will not be done until quite late this summer.

Sources:
1910 Census.
1920 Census.
1926 Plat Book.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 10 June 1920.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 11 June 1920; 18 June 1920.
WWI Draft Cards.

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