The Pennsy Bridge and the Spell of Nostalgia

This postcard joins a view of the Pennsy Railroad bridge with a little nostalgic poem …


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… but it seems the typesetter wasn't much of a speller. Eyes dimmed with nostalgic tears, maybe? Or should I say nostalgic "ears"?

Here's a high-resolution scan of the tiny (about 1.5" x 2") photo.



I think it's a reproduction of another photo postcard.

The postmark on the verso is nearly illegible, but the year looks to me to be 1912.



It was sent from Wheeler to Hobart by someone who saw no need to sign a name, counting on the recipient to recognize the handwriting.

The recipient, Pete Schaller, was a local whom I've never paid any attention to before. Here is his obituary from the Vidette-Messenger of October 12, 1954:



His family shows up in Union Township, Porter County, in the 1880 Census; by the 1900 Census Pete and his widowed father, August, were the only ones still in the household. They were farming rented land. August died in 1905.

By 1910, Pete was living in the home of Paul and Elizabeth Fredrick, probably in the big white house on the east side of S.R. 51 midway between Ainsworth and Hobart (it's still standing). He is described as Paul's cousin. So far the only explanation I can find of this relationship is — if I've found the right people — Elizabeth Fredrick's maiden name was Gross, like Pete's mother's (Paul and Elizabeth having been married in Chicago in 1899 per the Cook County, Illinois, Marriages Index).

Peter remained a part of the Fredrick household through the 1920 Census, at least; I cannot find him in the 1930 Census. By the 1940 Census he had become a lodger in a rooming house in Valparaiso.

Pete's obituary reveals another connection to a local family, the Frames. Anna M. Schaller married Irvin G. Frame in April 1905, in Porter County (Indiana Marriage Collection). But I don't know exactly how Irvin (who seems to show up sometimes as Irving or Erwin) fits into the Frame family that I have previously mentioned in the blog. Irvin and Anna show up occasionally in "South of Deepriver" columns and the announcement of the birth of their son Thomas describes them as living "east of Deepriver."[1] But strangely, I haven't been able to find them in any census.


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[1] "General News," Hobart Gazette, Aug. 20, 1915. I have found, on the 1921 plat map of Union Township, a farm southeast of Deepriver under the name of Anna E. Frame. It's across the road from Henry Schaller's farm.

The Hay Press and George Bodamer

Hay press runs over George Bodamer, ruptures an artery in his leg. If it was the femoral artery, he could easily have bled to death. He gets first aid, then — goes to the hospital? Not George!


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"Local Drifts," Hobart Gazette, Sept. 7, 1923.

I think this is the George Bodamer who first separated my 3.5 acres from the Chester land. I hope it is, since I'm now going to spend some of my precious time researching him.

He, like Benjamin, was one of the children of Christopher (aka Christian) and Elizabeth (Lortz) Bodamer. (For a little background information on those two, visit Christopher's entry on findagrave.com.)

George was born in Indiana on October 12, 1853 (Indiana Death Certificates) — about the time the family came to Lake County from New York. The 1860 Census records the family farming in Ross Township. I can't find them in the 1870 Census, but the 1876 plat map of Union Township, Porter County, shows them owning 80 acres:


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Image from https://www.inportercounty.org/Data/Maps/1876Plats/Union-1876.jpg.

And that is where the 1880 Census places them.

On June 3, 1885,[1] in Porter County, George Bodamer married Christina Frederika (Gross) Stoeckert, widow of George Stoeckert. The next record we have of them is the 1900 Census, which shows George and Frederika (or Freeda) owning a farm in Ross Township. To judge by their neighbors, it is in the vicinity of these Bodamer parcels that appear on the 1908 Plat Map:



All of this land (and more) had been owned by C.F. Bodamer in 1891, per the 1891 Plat Book.

The 1900 census shows George and Freeda with three children: Elizabeth (14), Christopher (12), and Henry (9).

In April 1901, Christine Frederika Gross Stoeckert Bodamer died.


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Hobart Gazette, Apr. 5, 1901.

I can't account for the six children mentioned in the obituary vis-à-vis the three in the 1900 census; the others were probably from her previous marriage.

On March 19, 1904,[2] George's daughter Elizabeth married Earl Blachly. (The marriage did not last.)

I cannot find George Bodamer at all in the 1910 Census. One son, Christopher, was farming on the old Bodamer place in Union Township, Porter County, living with his grandmother; the other son, Henry, lived in Wheeler in the home of a Walsh family and worked in a mill.

The "Local Drifts" in the Hobart Gazette of April 3, 1914, included this item: "James Chester has sold four acres off the old Flaherty farm to Geo. Rodamer for $525." If "Rodamer" is a misprint for "Bodamer," that could be our George. Looking on the 1908 plat map image above, we see below the Bodamer parcels two parcels belonging to Hy. Chester and T.&E. Flaherty. Henry Chester apparently bought those ten acres from a D. Flaherty around 1891 (1891 Plat Book). After Henry's death in 1910, his son James may have owned that land at the south end of S. Hobart Road.

Later that year, George's older son, Christopher, shows up in Michigan marrying a Lavina Hilliker.[3] It appears that Christopher and Lavina settled and lived out their lives in Michigan.

In October 1915, George's younger son, Henry, married Minnie Baessler. By the 1920 Census, the two of them were living in Gary, so Henry must be the son in Gary to whom George went with his ruptured artery in 1923.

I cannot find George in the 1920 census, and (spoiler alert!) he died in 1929 (Indiana Death Certificates).

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[1] Indiana Marriage Collection; other sources say June 4.
[2] Indiana Marriage Collection; March 23, 1904, per "General News Items," Hobart Gazette, Apr. 1, 1904.
[3] Ancestry.com. Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867-1952 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Original data: Michigan, Marriage Records, 1867–1952. Michigan Department of Community Health, Division for Vital Records and Health Statistics.