Update to Boat Story

A little more information has come in about the backyard ship of Deep River.

Update to Chester Farm, From the South

In addition to an enlarged scan of the Chester farm photo, we now have (via a comment to the post) IDs and an approximate year!

Deep River Swimming Hole

(Click on image to enlarge)
Image courtesy of Eldon Harms.

This photo comes down to us with no identifying notes on the back, but its present owner recognizes the spot — it was the swimming hole in the Deep River, where it ran along the southern border of the Harms farm east of Ainsworth. Up the bank behind the swimmers, you will notice two fence posts next to each other; they mark the boundary between the Nolte land and the Harms land.

These days, if you go through the Ainsworth Road entrance of Deep River County Park and follow the path that goes along the river (on a day when it's not flooded), at some point not too far along you will be walking opposite to the swimming hole, but I couldn't tell you exactly where it was.

No one in the photograph is identified. In my opinion, the man fourth from the left looks like Lee Thompson, and fifth from the left looks a bit like Herman Harms, Sr.

Freight Train Graffiti of Ainsworth

A freight train westbound on the Canadian National tracks stopped on its way through Ainsworth last Friday afternoon, blocking S.R. 51 for a long, long time.


(Click on image to view set)

Independence Day Parade

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Image courtesy of John Fleck.

This photo, showing the July 4, 1915 parade in Hobart, was sent to me by John Fleck, son of John and Daisy (Raschka) Fleck. He says that the driver of the car is his Uncle Bill Fleck, and the young woman in back is Mayme Brand, who would become Bill's wife in 1921.

Here is an account of their wedding, from the Lake County Times (Hammond) of June 23, 1921.


(Click on image to enlarge)

Bill Fleck and his father-in-law, Henry Brand, were the Brand & Fleck who sold meat and groceries from the Guyer Building.

The car in the photo has been traveling west on Third Street and is turning south onto Main. Concerning the car itself (which can hardly be seen for all the decorations on it), John Fleck has some interesting tidbits for us:

That old car is a 1912 Michigan & belonged to my grandfather, Michael Fleck. The car sat in his barn on West Third St., Hobart until the 1970's — I saw it many times when I was a kid. The car was later bought and moved to Hebron where it remained until two years ago. It was purchased by a cousin and moved to California where it is being restored. There are only a few 1912 Michigan's left in existence.

I believe the manufacturer of this car was the Michigan Buggy Company.

[Nov. 2020 update] The current owners of the car in the photo above have a website dedicated to it and its manufacturer, the Michigan Motor Car Company, including a blog detailing the enormous amount of work that has gone toward restoring this individual vehicle: https://michiganmotorcar.com/

Electrocution on Water Street

The evening of March 10, 1922, former photographer John J. Naumann turned off the light.


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Hobart News 16 March 1922.

The nearly illegible line in the second paragraph reads, I think, "dining[?] room in the Banks home, Mr." — the Banks home being, I suppose, the home of Nathaniel P. Banks, who was John Naumann's father-in-law (and who had lost his wife a year earlier). The 1920 Census shows the combined Banks and Naumann families living on Water Street, but does not note the house number. The address given for N.P. Banks in the 1930 telephone directory is 600 S. Water Street.

By contrast, the Gazette's report did not mention recent rains, suggesting instead that the tragedy might be explained by the discovery, the next day, of "crossed wires on a pole near George Stoecker's flats, one of the wires carrying a high voltage for running motors." ("John J. Naumann Accidentally Killed Friday Night," Hobart Gazette 17 March 1922.)

Levi Randall Huffman x 2.5

In trying to remedy my ignorance of the Huffman family, beginning with Levi Randall Huffman, whose 1903 obituary we have already seen, I find that we can learn much about his life from birth until 1882, when this biography appeared in Porter and Lake Counties (Goodspeed/Blanchard):

LEVI HUFFMAN was born in Hunterdon County, N. J., February 1, 1830, and is one of the nine children of Nathaniel and Mary Huffman, both of whom were natives of New Jersey and of Dutch descent. In 1840, the family moved to Wayne County, Ohio, and later to Henry County, Ohio, where Nathaniel Huffman died. After this, Levi being eighteen years of age, he, with his mother, moved back to Wayne County, where, at the age of twenty, he began the milling business. In 1853, he went to California, by way of the Isthmus, remaining three years, the first in the mines, the last in the grist-mill at Sacramento. In 1856, he returned to Wayne County and the milling, and in 1859, worked in the Etna mills at Valparaiso. Soon after, he returned to Wayne County, and in 1868 again to this county. On December 4, 1868, he married E. F. Hammonds,* of Valparaiso, by whom he had two children — V. Estelle and Levi R. In 1875, he purchased the farm in Union Township on which he now resides, giving attention to farming for three years, when he took charge of the Cascade Mills, which he purchased in 1882, and is doing a prosperous business. Mrs. Huffman is a member of the Christian Church. In politics, Mr. Huffman is a Democrat, and also an esteemed and worthy citizen.

The 1880 Census enumerator recorded Levi ("works in grist mill") and Emily in June of that year with their two children, Estella (8 years old) and Levi Jr. (5 months).

Levi Randall Huffman, the father, went by his first name. His son was christened Levi Randall too, and called "Levi" as a child, but as an adult he went by "L.R." or "Randall." Thus we find the elder Levi, in the 1900 Census, living with Randall Huffman, his son. Both give their occupation as miller. Levi is widowed, Emily having died sometime after 1880 — I do not know when, nor where she is buried.

L.R. Huffman, the son, was born on Christmas Eve 1879 (WWI Draft Cards).** In 1899 he married Nellie Edwards (Indiana Marriage Collection). They had five children — Estella, Enoch Randall (who I believe usually went by his middle name as an adult), Richard, and twins Thelma and Zelda (who survived influenza in the winter of 1920).

Back in January 1922, when young Richard Huffman bagged a fox, I casually tossed off some information about his parents' farm, and indeed in the 1920 Census, L.R. gave his occupation as farmer.


(Click on image to enlarge)
L.R. Huffman's farm as shown on a 1921 plat map. The map also marks a structure belonging to L.R. Huffman on the south side of Taylor Creek.
Image from http://www.inportercounty.org/Data/Maps/1921Plats/Union-1921.jpg , courtesy of Steven R. Shook.

As we've seen, in 1900 L.R. had been a miller, and in the 1910 Census he had been a miller, working his own mill. In the 1930 Census he would again be a miller.

In the 1940 Census, L.R. gave no occupation. He had moved to Valparaiso, living with his unmarried daughter, Zelda. On his WWII draft card, he described himself as a self-employed carpenter.

Nellie Edwards Huffman was still living at the time of the 1940 Census, but she was not listed in the household with L.R., who described himself as single. (I cannot find Nellie in the 1940 Census.) And yet, she was called "Mrs. Nellie Huffman" when she died suddenly on July 13, 1950, at the age of 68, while visiting at the home of her daughter, Thelma Rettinger ("Mrs. Nellie Huffman Dies in Elburn, Ill." Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso), 13 July 1950).

From the "Deaths" in the Valparaiso Vidette-Messenger of Dec. 2, 1955:

Levi Randall Huffman, 75, 406 Michigan, a retired miller, died Thursday [December 1] noon in Porter Memorial hospital after a short illness.

He was born in Porter county Dec. 1, 1879,** the son of [Levi] Randall and Emily (Hammons)* Huffman. On April 10, 1899, he married Nellie Edwards, who preceded him in death in 1950.

Surviving are two sons, Enoch R., Stockton, Calif., and Richard M., Hammond; three daughters, Mrs. Estella Kenworthy, Porter township; Mrs. Thelma Rettinger, Santa Monica, Calif., and Mrs. Zelda Reynolds, Valparaiso.

He is also survived by 11 grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.

Concerning L.R.'s son, Enoch Randall — well, I had heard stories that a Huffman son know as "Randall" or "Randy" was involved in criminal activity in the 1930s, and I found some confirmation of that, assuming I have the right person, since the newspaper identified him only as "Randall Huffman" (see, e.g., "Hold Porter County Man for Robbery," Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso), 17 June 1938). In his defense I will also say that I found newspaper evidence that he served in the military during World War II, which always goes toward restoring a person's good name. But we'll get to all this excitement in due time, assuming this blog lasts until I get to 1938 in my regular reading.


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*I do not know whether Emily's maiden name is correctly spelled "Hammonds" or "Hammons."
**L.R. himself gave his birth date as Dec. 24, 1879, when he registered for the draft in World War I and World War II; his obituary gives a different birth date.