Unidentified Young Love

Time for another unidentified wedding photo that must have meant something to Minnie Rossow Harms, since she kept it in the steamer trunk.


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Image courtesy of E.H.

The identity of the photographer isn't very helpful in narrowing down the timeframe, since (so far as I know at this moment) W.H. Hayward operated solo in Crown Point for several decades.

And I'm having trouble putting a date on the style of the bride's clothing. I suppose if I had to guess, I'd say early 1890s.

Checked Out of the Hotel McDaniel

"March has been a splendid month so far," said the Gazette, but in the home of George and Mabel Sauter it was miserable. George, who'd been through several illnesses already, was again confined to his bed with some unspecified ailment, unable to work in his grocery store. Mabel was "quite ill with rheumatism" — with a 15-month-old child to care for.

And now we hear from Mary Baird Chester McDaniel, whose ill health perhaps prompted her and her husband, John, to give up operating their Chicago hospitality business, whatever it was — the Gazette now calls it a "rooming house," but had described their 1917 purchase as an 84-room hotel. It's possible they had downsized in the interim. Anyway, the McDaniels were contemplating a move to Hobart or Valpo, probably in search of peace and quiet and fresh air; for a few days now they were enjoying the fresh air at the farm she had once presided over as Henry Chester's wife, now owned by her step-son, Charles Chester. The two granddaughters mentioned in the item below were Helen and Edna Scroggins.


From the Hobart Gazette of 18 Mar. 1921.
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Sources:
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 10 Mar. 1921.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 18 Mar. 1921.

Third and Main for the Millionth Time

I know, I know: we've seen Third and Main over and over again, but I don't believe we've seen this exact, precise view, which is why I bought it.


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The postmark is unclear, but looks to me like 1924. That seems consistent with the style of the ATS building's façade (it was remodeled in 1926) and the cars in the street.



I haven't identified the sender or the receiver.

I just wish somebody could explain this thing to me:

Three Little Kids

This small, faded photo was loose in the back of Mildred Lindborg's photo album.


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Image courtesy of N.B.

I don't recognize the girl at left, but the other two are probably Norma and Raymond Lindborg, and, judging by their ages, I'd guess the date to be around 1920 or '21.

And with this, folks, we come to the end of Mildred's album. I always feel, when we come to the end of a collection, that we're saying goodbye to a friend! I wish I were able to thank Mildred for putting this all together and captioning so many of the pictures; she has allowed us a glimpse of life in Ainsworth some 80 or 90 years ago.

A Minnie of Many Names

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Otis and Minnie Guernsey.
Image courtesy of Victoria Rickey.

OK, here's the thing that surprised me, when I just recently re-learned it, about Otis Guernsey's wife, Minnie: she was born a Schavey, half-sister to Henry and the other Schavey siblings, thus some sort of half-aunt to Mable Schavey Breyfogle. I learned this from her father's 1910 obituary:


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Fred Sr.'s first wife came to this country and then departed this world in between censuses, so I don't even know her given name. The 1870 census shows Minnie in the household with Fred's second wife. (However, my assumption that I've found the right household requires me to believe that the enumerator made a mistake in putting Frederick down as "Philip," and there's also what seems to be an older sister to Minnie, named Augusta, while the obituary has Minnie as the sole surviving child of the first marriage by the time of the second marriage — but in between 1870 and 1910 there was plenty of time for confusion of memories, nor would it be the first time we've seen a mistake in an obituary.) In 1880, Minnie was still at home (and Augusta, whoever she was, was gone).

And then Minnie got married to someone who wasn't Otis Guernsey … but I can find no record of it. We know she was Minnie Jones when she married Otis (and furthermore she had a son, John Jones, who served in France during World War I, and afterward came to the Guernsey farm in July 1919*). I thought there might have been a second marriage pre-Otis, because we've encountered a son of hers with the surname McDonald. However, the Dewell family archivist has done some detective work on that question, and writes:

I started to try to figure out if Clarence really was her son, and came to a negative conclusion.

1) There is a Clarence listed in the 1900 Census living in the Guernsey household. His birthdate is listed as June 1892, which would have been before Otis [Guernsey] and Amanda [Rex, Otis' wife before Minnie] married. Amanda says she had 5 children and 5, including Clarence, were living in the household. So perhaps Amanda was married before or had Clarence 'McDonald' out of wedlock.

It would seem natural that if Minnie raised the children after Amanda ran off and met her horrible end, Minnie would have received notice of Clarence McDonald's death in 1918, being sort of the next of kin.

Now it gets tricky... FamilySearch.org shows a Clarence Edward McDonald getting married in Newton Co IN on 20 Dec 1919 to Amanda Myrtle Parks. And his mother is listed as Amanda Rex! So is it possible that Clarence was resurrected by the US Army? I suppose the name may have been common enough that there could have been a mistake made. Did they have dog tags? What a shocker that would have been!

Clarence has a WWI and WWII draft card showing his birth in Hebron IN on 12 June 1892. SSI records show death in Lake County in Oct 1970.

♦    ♦    ♦
Now let's look at some incidents from Minnie's time under the surname Guernsey. Well, she was exposed to the hazards of farm life, as this 1910 incident shows:



Shortly the cow attack, several of the Guernsey kids came down with scarlet fever and the house was quarantined. I believe they all recovered.

In 1913 Minnie had serious problems hinted at in a short news item: "Attorney R.R. Peddicord and Henry Schavey went to Longcliffe Saturday and returned with Mrs. Otis Guernsey, who has been an inmate of the Northern Hospital for the Insane for the past three weeks." That was the only such incident, so far as I know from the newspapers. Three years later, she temporarily left Otis — we can only speculate as to why.


There you have it, a brief summary of the highlights, or the lowlights, in the life of Minnie Schavey McDonald(?) Jones Guernsey.

______________________________
* The Dewell family archivist has also found John Jones living in Minnie's household in 1900, 1910 and 1930.



Sources:
♦ 1870 Census.
♦ 1880 Census.
♦ "Death of Old Citizen." Hobart Gazette 2 Dec. 1910.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 10 June 1910; 1 July 1910.
♦ "Mrs. Otis Guernsey Returns From Northern Hospital for Insane." Hobart News 10 July 1913.
♦ "South of Deepriver." Hobart News 24 July 1919.

Guernsey Report

In February 1921, the Melvin Guernsey family, back from their unsuccessful Florida experiment, moved onto land described as "the Neilson farm five miles east of Crown Point." I don't know where that is, so I'm going to forget about the Melvin Guernsey family for now.

In April we hear from my favorite Guernseys, Otis and his fourth wife, Minnie.


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I can't find Otis Guernsey on the 1908 Plat Map, where I believe he should be, but I can find him in the 1926 Plat Book, where he shouldn't be … unless he bought his farm back later.



In going through my notes, I discover Otis had been trying to sell that land way back in 1913, when he described it as an "improved farm of 78 acres about 2 miles southeast of Deepriver, adjoining the C. & O. railroad station." But I also discovered something interesting about Minnie Guernsey, which had completely slipped my memory after I first made note of it. I will get to that in the near future.

As for the buyer of the farm, this James Jeffrey, in spite of his having "lived at Liverpool for quite a while," I can't find him in the 1920 census. I believe he was born circa 1876 to John and Ann Jeffrey of Hobart. In 1902 he married Angeline (or Engeline) Escherich; by 1910 they had four children, whom James supported by doing "odd jobs." Their stay on the former Guernsey farm was less than ten years — by 1930 they had moved to a farm in Winfield Township (and added four more children to their brood).

Anyway, in early May, Otis and Minnie Guernsey returned from their visit to St. Louis, but I don't know where they deposited themselves, since their farm was already occupied by its new owner.


Sources:
♦ 1880 Census.
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ 1930 Census.
♦ "Additional Local News." Hobart Gazette 24 Jan. 1913; 6 May 1921.
♦ Indiana Marriage Collection.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 10 Mar. 1921.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 22 April 1921.

Lester Harms

Having posted a picture of Lois Harms, I can't very well neglect her brother, Lester, now can I? This photo comes from Aunt Minnie's steamer trunk.


(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of E.H.

This may be a confirmation portrait (there's a cross on the book he's holding — a catechism, maybe?). Lester was born in 1904 (Social Security Death Index), and here he appears perhaps 13 years old, so I'm guessing the photo dates to about 1917.