Hettie Rifenburg Gordon

Here is another Gordon-related obituary — Hettie, wife of Pliny P. Gordon; mother of Howard (and Mildred, who died in infancy); sister of William H. Rifenburg:


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Hobart Gazette Aug. 7, 1891.


She made quite a few appearances as a teacher in the early-1870s Union Sunday School record book that I indexed.

She is buried in Hobart Cemetery.

"Old Fasel Homestead Destroyed by Fire"

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Hobart News Mar. 23, 1923.

Once or twice, when we were driving along Tenth Street, Eldon Harms pointed out a two-story house on the south side of the road and told me, "That's the old Fasel homestead." Maybe that's the house that replaced the old Fasel homestead after it burned down in 1923? The County Assessor's records do not agree with that theory, but the County Assessor's records are not reliable.

In the right-hand column, we find James Chester working as an auctioneer.

Among the farmers who lost cows (in the article above the one marked) are some of our acquaintances, including Mike (aka Helmuth) Foreman of Ainsworth. We've also met Duffy DeFrance before. For the location of the "old DeFrance farm," we can go back to the 1870 Census and Duffy's parents, Charles and Catherine, living in Portage Township, Porter County; and the Portage Township plat map of 1876 shows them owning 120 acres in two parcels, one of which borders E. 37th Ave. not far east of where it is now crossed by the Prairie Duneland Trail, the old EJ&E line.


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Image from http://www.inportercounty.org/Data/Maps/1876Plats/Portage-1876.jpg.

Freight Train Graffiti

A few monikers from the freight train blocking the Ainsworth crossing on Sunday, January 21.


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A Tragedy in Two Purchases

Here is a page from a daybook I have been indexing, which shows transactions in 1839. Among some familiar old-settler names — Sigler, Mundell, Pierce — we find a Charles Walton who, in early September 1939, made two purchases telling a grim story:


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Image courtesy of the Hobart Historical Society.


You can fill in the blanks.

I do not know the full name of the deceased brother. Charles Walton does show up among the locals in the 1840 Census, but that census gives so little information that I cannot trace him any further.

Update to "Timber Required for a Grist Mill"

What happens when Ainsworthiana loses internet service for 4.5 days? — Work happens, that's what. I have been indexing, and now that I've gotten more familiar with the contents of the 1830s/40s ledgers, I have formed an opinion on the authorship of the grist-mill recipe.

The Michigan Central "Wolverine" at East Gary

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Images from Ainsworthiana collection.


This photo is identified by notes on the back of the original:



I have to take the note-writer's word for it, since there is nothing in the photo to identify East Gary/Lake Station.

The Wolverine ran between Chicago and New York. Amtrak still operates a train by that name, but it runs only between Chicago and Detroit, and does not pass through Lake Station.

Flip This Horse-Drawn School Bus

James Chester, wheeler-dealer, bought two horse-drawn school buses that nobody wanted and managed to sell them to somebody else that same day.


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Hobart News 29 March 1923.


I wonder what Jerry McAuliffe did with his?

I never heard of Julius Salzwedel before. Per the 1920 Census, he was a retired harness-maker living somewhere near where Tenth Street meets the road to Ainsworth, now S.R. 51 (aka Grand Boulevard, aka Lake Park Avenue).

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Over in the right-hand column, it looks as if plans are being made for what would eventually be the Roosevelt Gym.