Where the Bruebach Farm Was: A Theory

Since I started researching the Bruebach family, I have been wondering where they lived. Newspaper items reference a farm, but I could not find any property labeled "Bruebach" on any plat map.

The reason for this, I have come to believe, is that the farm was too small to allow a mapmaker to write out the full name, and that the Bruebach farm is marked by the initials "G.B." on the 1908 Plat Map:


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It's a parcel of probably less than 20 acres straddling Rand Street on the west side of present-day State Road 51.

Aside from the initials matching George Bruebach's name, what evidence do I have for my theory?

First of all, in the 1920 Census, the enumerator's notes place the Bruebach household on the "East Gary Road between East Gary and Hobart, Ind.," which describes S.R. 51.



That phrase could also describe Lake Park Avenue, I suppose, so let's look at the 1910 Census.



Of all the names recorded near the Bruebachs, only Larson also appears on Lake Park Avenue. I think the Jacob and Anna Haller below the Bruebachs show up on the 1908 map misspelled as J. & A. Keller, while Kostbade in the census comes out Kostbach on the map.

Also note that George Bruebach, Sr. was an electrician by trade, not a farmer, so he wouldn't need a lot of land.

In further support of the S.R.-51 theory, I offer early-20th-century newspaper descriptions of the location of the Bruebach home. The "Local Drifts" column in the Hobart Gazette includes a couple of items: in the July 7, 1914, issue: "Mrs. Frank Able [née Johanna Bruebach; married Frank Abel, Jr. in 1906] and two children spent Sunday with her parents northeast of town"; and in the September 29, 1922 issue: "Mr. and Mrs. Paul Bruebach, who live in the Lounsbury house, on Cleveland avenue, will move about next Monday to the home of his mother and sister, northeast of the city." I emphasize "northeast" because that direction more accurately describes S.R. 51 than Lake Park Avenue; the latter would just be "north."

In their obituaries of George Bruebach, Sr. (who died June 15, 1920), the Gazette states: "Fifteen years ago last April he purchased a small farm northeast of Hobart,"[1] while the News describes the farm as being "about two miles from town."[2] Measured on Google maps, the distance from the center of town to the Rand-S.R. 51 intersection (traveling by road) is about 1.77 miles.


So there you have my theory, and the evidence on which I base it.

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[1] "Death of George J. Bruebach," Hobart Gazette, June 25, 1920.
[2] "George Bruebach, Sr. Expires Suddenly Tuesday Evening," Hobart News, June 17, 1920.

Brave Critters of Ainsworth

Some brave critter (skunk? raccoon?) came by in the night and dug up a yellowjacket nest in my yard.


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I knew the yellowjackets had built a nest in the ground by that old elm stump last summer, but I didn't know how big it was.



And to think I mowed around there all summer without getting stung. It seems the yellowjackets of Ainsworth are pretty mild-mannered.

Jim's Bad Day on the Dunes Highway

James Chester's first time ever driving on the newly opened Dunes Highway did not go well.


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"Local and Personal," Hobart News, Nov. 29, 1923.

An item in the same column tells us that an infant daughter of Leo and Augusta (Buchfuehrer) Fifield was seriously ill. Clara Mae Field had been born August 14, 1923 (delivered by Dr. Clara Faulkner). Fortunately, Clara survived her illness and shows up alive and well in the 1930 Census and beyond.


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Image from Ancestry.com.

Ainsworth School-Year Souvenir, 1897-98 (Conclusion)

(continued from Part 7)



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My last entry in this series is a disappointment, because I simply can't identify any Bessie (or Elizabeth) Switzer with any clear connection to Ainsworth.

Checking my notes, however, I do find a local connection to the surname Switzer in this "General News Item" from the Hobart Gazette of September 20, 1907:

A family reunion in which fifty-two people participated was held last Sunday at the home of Chas. Maybaum, Sr., south of Ainsworth, in honor of his sister, Mrs. Rudolph Switzer, and her daughter Carrie who are here from Ness City, Kas., visiting relatives for a few months. Those present from Hobart were Mrs. Geo. Stocker who is a sister of Mrs. Switzer and Jacob Kramer, Jr., and family. The day was very pleasantly passed.

And in the Indiana Marriage Collection we find Rudolph Sweitzer marrying Augusta Maibaum in Lake County, Indiana, on March 4, 1871. Rudolph first shows up in Hobart in the 1860 Census (age 11) with his parents, Daniel and Anna, both of whom died within a few years and are buried in Hobart Cemetery. Rudolph also makes some appearances in the Union Sunday School record books and the Hobart Township Trustee's ledger between 1869 and 1875, though I can't find him in the 1870 Census.

However, Rudolph and Augusta Switzer were in living in Kansas from the 1880 Census onward, and as far as I can tell they never had a child named Bessie.

Valpo Dummie at the Pennsy Station, 1977

Here's another addition to my collection of Depressing Photos of the Pennsy Station, this one from a slide imprinted with the date April 8, 1977.


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According to handwritten notes on the slide, standing on the track is the "Valpo Dummie," a commuter train that ran between Valparaiso and Chicago.

I have no idea what the correct spelling of dummie/dummy is. If a colloquialism like that could be said to have a correct spelling.

Ainsworth School-Year Souvenir, 1897-98 (Part 7)

(continued from Part 6)



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Maybe I should have recognized the name, Wert; I've mentioned with it a couple of times before in the blog — but only in passing, and without bothering to find out much about the family.

Ella Wert was born in 1880. In December 1900, she became Mrs. Edward Cole. She and Edward had two daughters (Evelyn and Edna), and also a foster son named Harry Breyfogle.

Ella's father, Emanuel Wert, shows up in Ross Township as early as the 1860 Census. His parents, Martin and Mary, with their numerous children (nine by 1870), farmed in southeastern Ross Township. This image from the 1874 Plat Map shows the Wert farm, which included 40 acres just over the Winfield Township line.


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You'd think, with so many children, the Wert family would have more of a presence locally, but my newspaper notes include only a few mentions of them. (Which may be due to my lack of attention.)

Also on the image above, outlined in green, is the Hooseline and Tabor farm. That, I believe, has some connection to Ella's mother, Mary Hooseline, whose obituary describes her as the child of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Hooseline. The 1870 Census shows Michael and Laura (Tabor) Hooseline living in southeastern Ross township, possibly on that farm. But Michael is not old enough to be Mary's father: he must be her brother.[1] Her father, then, was Michael Sr. I am not sure who her mother was — Mary's death certificate has "unknown" in that space. The 1860 Census shows Michael Sr. and his wife (one infers) Rebecca living somewhere in Union Township, Porter County, with Mary and her siblings. Michael Sr. was 58 and Rebecca 35; I suspect she was his second wife. Michael Sr. died in 1862.

In 1878 Mary Hooseline married Emanuel Wert. Ella was their only child — at least, the only one to survive infancy — and the Wert marriage was cut short when Emanuel died in 1886, as we learn from his grave marker in Deer Creek Cemetery. I have no idea what happened to him.

I cannot find the family in the 1880 Census. The 1900 Census shows Mary and Ella living in or near the village of Ainsworth (to judge by the names recorded close to theirs). And later that year came Ella's marriage.

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That's all the time I have right now to devote to the Werts. Just one last thing — I took a look at the satellite view of the Wert land in case their house might still be where the 1874 plat map seems to indicate: on the east side of Grand Boulevard, just north of the Ross-Winfield Township line. But now there is only an empty plowed field, and some buildings south of the township line.


[to be continued]

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[1] Michael Jr.'s entry on findagrave.com gives a little background about him and his family.

Back to 1923 Temporari-Lee

I still have a couple of items from the 1923 newspaper, from back in the good old days when you didn't need an appointment to go to the library. May those days return soon.

Speaking of returning, that is what Lee Thompson, our barber, has done — from Seattle, where he had gone in October 1922. He was just in time to meet his brand-new niece.


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Hobart News, Nov. 29, 1923.

Below that, a surprise birthday party for Asa Strong, who was 54 years old. Born November 24, 1869 (Indiana Death Certificates) and named for his grandfather, he was the first child of Augustus and Sarah (Culver) Strong, who had been married in 1868. In 1900, Asa had married Ida Roper. They lived in Hobart (1920 Census). Mrs. Ross Graham was the former Ruby Roper.