Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Ainsworth School-Year Souvenir, 1897-98 (Part 3)

(continued from Part 2)

And now I shall educate myself about the names I don't recognize.

2020-08-25. Ainsworth school souvenir 1897-98 b - Dumas
(Click on image to enlarge)

Rosa Dumas was about 15 years old, while Charlie, Maggie, and Moses ranged from 11 to 7. At home were two more siblings: Lucy, age four, apparently was not in school yet, nor, of course, was the two-year-old James. Their parents, Lucien and Hannah, rented a house somewhere in the village of Ainsworth (1900 Census). Lucien worked as a railroad section boss, perhaps on the Grand Trunk Railroad. In 1899, Hannah would give birth to twins, but only one, Genevieve, would survive — yes, I did note that down while reading microfilm,[1] but the Dumas name meant nothing to me and I quickly forgot about it.

I found a few other forgotten references in my notes. This one, from January 1905, suggests that Maggie was a popular young lady.

2020-08-25. Dumas, Maggie, Gazette, 1-6-1905
(Click on images to enlarge)
Hobart Gazette, Jan. 6, 1905.


From the same issue, we learn that Rosa had moved out of the family home.

2020-08-25. Dumas, Rose, Gazette, 1-6-1905

Sometime after 1905 (I find no mention of any Dumas later than that in my notes), the family moved to Chicago, where both the 1910 Census and the 1920 Census record them. The 1930 Census shows that they had moved to Otsego, Michigan. Lucien and Hannah lived out the rest of their lives there, but when Hannah died in 1937[2] and Lucien in 1940[3], each was brought back to Valparaiso for burial.

Both Lucien and Hannah had grown up in Porter County. The 1870 Census records the eight-year-old Lucien in Valparaiso with his parents, Levi and Lucy. By 1880 he was working in a woolen factory. I can't find Hannah in 1870, but in the 1880 Census she was counted twice: once at home in the village of Hebron with her parents, Andrew and Margaret, and once as a servant in the household of Thomas and Mary McKay, who farmed in Winfield Township, Lake County. Lucien and Hannah were married in 1883.

I wonder if this Dumas family has any connection to Dumas Street in Valpo?


[to be continued]

_______________
[1] "Local Drifts," Hobart Gazette, Oct. 13, 1899.
[2] "Sister of Local Woman Succumbs at Home in Michigan," Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso), Mar. 27, 1937.
[3] "Lucien Dumas Death Victim," Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso), Feb. 5, 1940.

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Mr. and Mrs. Postmaster

While snooping around on Ancestry.com for my last post, I came across these photographs of Frank and Susanne (Chase) Coyle.

2020-08-19. Coyle, Frank ca. 1885 5dc61506-fee7-44ae-86cd-c4dd192741a6
(Click on images to enlarge)
Images from Ancestry.com


2020-08-19. Coyle, Susanne (Chase) 7cf67923-e294-4eef-aa91-f0ad2f38c10b

Frank's photo was taken in 1885, according to notes on the site, and Susanne's was likely taken around the same time, to judge by the style of her dress and her apparent age. (She was born in 1867, he in 1859; both in Pennsylvania.) So add 15 years to these portraits, and you've got Mr. and Mrs. Ainsworth Postmaster.

I did send a message to the person who uploaded these to Ancestry.com, hoping for some insight as to why the Coyles moved from Kansas to Ainsworth, Indiana, but I haven't received a reply.

Friday, August 14, 2020

Ainsworth School-Year Souvenir, 1897-98 (Part 2)

(continued from Part 1)

As we now turn our attention to the pupils listed on the souvenir, I find there are more names here than I can index, so I'm going to have to split this up still further.

2020-08-14. Ainsworth school souvenir 1897-98 b
(Click on image to enlarge)

I'll deal first with the names I've encountered before.

Blachly — Earl and May were siblings, the children of Morgan and Amelia. Earl had been born in 1882, May in 1884. By the way, I think the house at 4301 E. 73rd Ave. was the Blachly house, built in 1905[1] to replace whatever the family had been living in until then.

Bullock — Hubert probably met up with the Blachly kids as he walked down from the Bullock home, unless he walked along the Grand Trunk Railroad tracks or cut across the fields … but the latter would be some rough walking.

Chase — I thought this would be easy, since I know of a Chase (aka Chace) family recorded in Ross Township in the 1870 Census and 1880 Census, members of whom were residing in Hobart into the 1920s (Minnie Chase Smith and Gust Chase). But I can't place Gracie in any census. She might not have belonged to the local Chases, but to some Chase family just passing through.

Coyle — Nina, Stella, and Arlie were the daughters of Ainsworth's postmaster, Frank Coyle. Nina, the youngest, was the only one born in Indiana (1892). Her older sisters had been born in Kansas. Why the family moved from Kansas to Ainsworth, Indiana, is a mystery, but I suspect it might have something to do with Frank's wife, Susanne, having been born a Chase — possibly she had some relation to the local Chases. The Coyle family left this area probably around 1904 (when Frank resigned as postmaster) and moved permanently to Kansas City, Missouri.

Halsted — Howard lived above the Ainsworth general store with his parents, Willard O. and Barbara (Fiester) Halsted. He probably was a promising student, since he went on to law school. As we know, he died before his time.

Kagabein aka Kegebein — Frieda lived on a farm north of Ainsworth. Her parents were John and Carolina "Lena" (Eick) Kegebein. Frieda was born in 1891. In 1911, she became Mrs. Albert Witt.

Maybaum — There were so many Maybaums around here that I can't keep them straight. These two, Louis and Hattie, were cousins, I believe. Hattie was the youngest child of Charles and Caroline, born in 1886. In 1907 she became Mrs. R.D. Sizelove. Charles and Caroline's (I believe) eldest child, August, begat Louis in 1891. The 1900 Census shows the family — August and Dora, with Louis and his two younger brothers, Harold and Clarence — farming rented land among southeast Ross Township neighbors such as Bragington, Campbell, and Doepping.[2] In 1916 Louis married Ruby Man in Porter County. By 1917 they had moved to Battle Creek, Michigan,[3] and by the 1930 Census they were running an "oil station" in San Antonio, California.

Ols — Edward was the grandson of John and Charlotte Ols, born in 1890 to their son, John Jr., and Alta (Whittemore/Whitmer). Based on the 1900 Census, I believe they owned the 80-acre parcel in the southeast corner of Section 7 that later passed to Henry Chester, then Charles Chester, then John Berndt. The census records after 1900 show Edward in various places like Starke County and Gary, Indiana; as far as I know he never lived in Ainsworth after the family sold their 80 acres.

Pierce — Ruth (b. 1882) and Jennie (b. 1884) lived with their father, Reuben, and stepmother, Catherine. Their mother, Caroline (née Kegebein), had died in June 1895, not quite a week after their grandfather, Orrin Pierce, who had owned the farm where they lived as far back as 1874:

2020-08-14. Pierce, Orrin - 1874
(Click on image to enlarge)
From the 1874 Plat Map.


I don't know what, if any, relation they had to their Pierce neighbors.

Ruth Pierce married William Kelleher in Chicago in 1908; they lived and raised their family in Chicago. All I know about Jennie is that she is buried in the Hobart Cemetery under her maiden name.

Smith — Pearl Smith was the adopted daughter of Cyrus and Ellen Smith. So she was also the adopted cousin of the teacher, Mabel Smith Peterson.

Wojohn aka Wojahn — Frieda, Emil, Gust and Paul were some of the children of Julius and Alvina Wojahn. These four were born between 1884 and 1889. We've already met another of their children — Elsie, who married Howard Shearer. The Wojahn family lived on Ainsworth Road just west of the Lindborgs.[4] The schoolhouse was an easy walk west.

[to be continued]

_______________
[1] Per the county records; also in my notes I find a reference in 1907 to Morgan Blachly's "new" house being blown off its foundation during a storm ("General News Items," Hobart Gazette, Mar. 29, 1907).
[2] From that location, they may have been attending a different school, such as the Deep River school, or the Hurlburt school if it was still operating.
[3] "General News," Hobart Gazette, Dec. 21, 1917.
[4] I believe the house at 6222 Ainsworth was built for the Wojahn family, in 1930 according to the county records, so it would have replaced an earlier house.

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Primrose Moths

Here are two primrose moths (Schinia florida) on an evening primrose blossom.

2020-08-11. Primrose moths 1
(Click on images to enlarge)

2020-08-11. Primrose moths 2

They are called primrose moths because the caterpillars feed on primrose blossoms and seeds. They are night-flying moths. During the day they like to come back to their childhood homes to rest.

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Ainsworth School-Year Souvenir, 1897-98 (Part 1)

Here is the first page of another recent acquisition.

2020-08-05. Ainsworth school souvenir 1897-98 a
(Click on image to enlarge)

This program must date back to the era when the old Ainsworth school had only one room — otherwise, there would have been more than one teacher.

The teacher, Mabel Peterson, was the daughter of William and Cassie (Booth) Smith (and niece of Cyrus Smith). She had been born in 1872. In 1896 she married Frank Peterson (Indiana Marriage Collection), but in 1897-98 they had no children yet (1910 Census). I believe they were living somewhere near the Ainsworth schoolhouse: according to the 1908 Plat Map, they hadn't yet bought the farm in southern Ross Township; and the 1900 Census shows them farming rented land near her father and Uncle Cyrus — possibly her father's farm on 73rd Street (where Exceptional Equestrians Unlimited is now). From there, it was a walk of perhaps 2,000 feet up (present-day) Greene Street and Ainsworth Road to the schoolhouse.

Dr. Homer L. Iddings, Ross Township trustee, was a practicing physician in Merrillville, and himself a former schoolteacher, according to a 1904 biographical sketch.

Francis "Frank" Ebenezer Cooper, the Lake County superintendent of schools, was likewise a former schoolteacher (1880 Census), and a resident of Crown Point, where he is buried.


Next, we'll get to the pupils.