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Hobart News, May 3, 1923.
(Lew Wallace Watson was about 32 years old, a military veteran, and (I believe) the son of the Dr. Joseph C. Watson who delivered, among others, Elna Hazelgreen. He is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.)
In the same issue we find more sociable entertainment in another dance on the Houk farm.
The only plat map of Winfield Township I have at the moment is from 1939, and it shows two different parcels under the Houk name. I shall have to track down other plat maps to try to determine where these dances took place. I seem to remember asking Eldon Harms if he'd ever heard of this dancing farm, and he had — if my memory is correct, the dances must have gone on for a number of years.
Given that the farm's owner goes by title of Dr. Houk, I think he might be Dr. William Houk, a physician living in Crown Point, now about 47 years of age (1920 Census). Why a doctor in Crown Point would own a farm in Winfield Township and give dances there, I do not know. But it appears he grew up on a farm (1880 Census), so perhaps had a nostalgic fondness for rural amusements and the money to indulge it.
2 comments:
Poor Wallace. Was it internal injuries? Unfortunately I think that looks like an adult's handwriting.
Per his death certificate, it was a fractured skull.
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