USA > Indiana > History of Hastings, Indiana > Part 2
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We wished teacher would be back next year but she had her "practice" teaching and could leave janitor service, 30 to 40 classes a day for better pay, so we walked slowly home, happy to have known such a wonderful teacher.
The Furnace
Probably the most memorable day was the one when several boys and myself arrived at school about seven o'clock. The boys were "fiddlin" with the furnace and filled the school room
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with smoke that you could "cut with a knife." This was not unusual as the burning of Indiana coal made us smoke eaters. We sizzled on one side and froze on the other.
When the teacher asked if I had been in the basement I said "nope" and felt relieved for I had not monkeyed with the furnace.
As school left out my name and Allen Dierks and Roy Thaden were called to stay after school. As the other children left the room and went home I had a funny feeling.
The teacher started to sweep and when they were down the road a ways he stopped and went outside.
What should I do?
Judgement night was here. Why hadn't I hid behind the
fifth amendment this morning? I was too small to put up a fight. There was no shingle to put in my pants and no extra overalls to put on.
I could tell him my dad would be up in the morning, but if you get a licking in school you get another one at home, squashed that. I could run home, but I had tried that when a stone fell from my hand and broke a window light and as I ran down the lane, I heard a voice say, "You'll be home for supper. " I was!
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I could play deathly sick -- I did feel sick, honest. I was born 50 years too soon. If Bible reading had been banned I would have been innocent - because I didn't know better.
Again you shouldn't punish a child while angry. That morning our old back cow stuck her foot in my pail of milk and the next second saw the bucket hit the barn siding. I just whispered in old Bosse's ear, "You're not in good humor this morning and I'm not either. Next week when we're both 'sittin on top of the world' we'll finish this." And she didn't object. Maybe teacher had heard of this new approach.
I had heard a political office seeker say, "it's a poor hide that can't take one tanning. " After his defeat I found he had a "poor" hide. Did I have a good hide?
The quietness was killing!
As teacher came through the cloakroom with a hickory sprout ( that had been growing several years) I was relieved.
He said, "You lied to me this morning" and applied that hickory oil with rhythm fit to kill while I performed the "twist" without practice. After a few minutes of this tornado, he stopped abruptly and said, "You may go now" and I took off for home. I felt I could not thank him from the bottom (of my heart).
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In all seriousness - - 40 odd years later I met and thanked him for this lesson in life, and to this day have no love for untruthfulness. His reply was, "Surely you're not the clubfooted, pigeontoed third-grader I taught back in Hastings school?"
My heart goes out to these fine teachers who labored with low wages to raise knowledge and character to us who now travel this wonderful community.
See you next week -- in church.
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CHURCH HISTORY OF HASTINGS AS RECALLED By Kenneth Haney (Fifth in a Series)
One of the first churches was located to the right at the entrance to Island cemetery. The building was used as a church and as a school. It burned down and was never rebuilt.
The Primitive Baptist church was built before the turn of the century. The building (still standing) was last used for worship in the 1940's. Most of the people who worshipped here came originally from Virginia. Among the prominent families were the Prices, Tusings, Lathrops, Silveus, Esteps, McGowns, Rymans, Collins, and Hollars.
Services were held Saturday and Sunday about every two weeks. Elders Pittman and Ford are revered among others for their labors for the Lord.
Every year the people of this denomination would have a Baptist Association or convention. It was held in the woods in front of Russel Hollar's house and later in his woods. The faithful people would come from Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana in buggies for a spiritual retreat.
Although the church was closed from dwindling numbers these Christian people have left a great heritage to us.
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Enos Hollar says he has attended the Hollar reunion in Virginia when the attendance varied from 200 to 500 people -- about like a fair. Now attendance is about like all family reunions. It seems like the younger group is not interested in family gatherings anymore. Why?
Island Chapel
The Island Chapel church was built about 1875. Prominent families represented were the Dausmans, Pinkertons, Billers, Foxes, Geigers, Brunings, Haneys, and Swartzlanders.
One of the early ministers was the dynamic and eloquent "Little Wes" Pinkerton. He lived in the "Pinkerton Settlement" on the eastern end of the island.
Another minister, Rev. Rarry, held a revival service about 1900 when 40 people were converted.
Circuit riding preachers filled the pulpit at irregular times. These early preachers had a zeal for the Lord that marshes, mud, bad weather and hardship could not stop.
The expression "You can't pull yourself up by your own boot straps" was a common expression in sermons.
The story goes that a little boy got a new pair of red rubber boots, which he was very proud of. Everybody had a pair of rubber boots and they either had a strap or loop to pull
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them on. This urchin soon went to the back of his father's farm to test them in the water.
He soon bogged down in the mire. He tried to pull his foot and one boot out and the other went deeper. As the water ran into the top of his boots he yelled for help. His father finally came and threw him a rope to catch hold of, but, he couldn't hold the rope and the boot straps at the same time. As he struggled he went deeper. Finally he let go of his boots, grabbed the rope and was pulled out of his boots to safety -- and then the pastor would say that the Gospel was just that simple.
The churchgoer would unload his family at the uncovered platform and then tie his horse at the hitching rack and blanket it, if it was winter, maybe using the horsehide robe used to keep warm in the buggy.
The porch had large cracks to let the dirt fall through and was the main entrance. The pulpit was on the east end of the church. Hard high backed seats were on either side with the men and boys on one side and the women and girls on the other.
Stoves furnished the heat and coal oil the light, with gas, Delco and REMC coming in that order.
One Sunday school report for January of 1900 says there
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were a total of 40 males and females present and the collection was 37 cents.
Many of us can remember when David Dausman gave us a penny to put in the primary class Sunday school collection when we didn't have one.
A Sunday school convention would be held about every year in the George Roberts woods.
Every year the Evangelical denomination would hold camp meeting at Conkling Hill (Oakwood Park) for revival services. Just as the Baptist came from far and near so would these veterans of the Cross put forth a great effort to get to these services.
Oscar Haney remembers when two double buggy loads of people from Argos stopped one Sunday morning to water their horses at their home on the way to the "Hill."
These folks would pitch their tents and stay several days. In the big revival tents with sawdust isles many found a Christian experience. The slang expression "hitting the sawdust trail" was something to be proud of. At that time there was an entrance charge to the park.
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HASTINGS HISTORY - ISLAND CHAPEL CEMETERY By Kenneth Haney (Sixth in a Series)
The church and the "gravy" (grave yard) have always been inseparable. As a child I couldn't quite get the connection between "gravy" and a cemetery. You seldom heard the word cemetery in those days.
Because of the water level, the Island grave yard was located where it is.
C.R. Brittsan
Henry Heightsmith, a man with a long beard, was the first undertaker in Milford. These beards were a fad or custom from Civil War times.
In 1904 Mr. Keltner and Mr. Brittsan came to Milford from Ohio and took over the undertaking business from Mr.
Heightsmith who moved to Michigan.
They also opened a furniture store in the Opera House block (southwest corner of Main and Emeline Streets). Because of ill health, Mr. Keltner sold out to Mr. Brittsan two years later. I give this information because Mr. Brittsan buried the
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majority of the Islanders in his time - as well as those in the Milford vicinity.
The pinto driving horse team or those beautiful black drivers owned by Jap Clem, the livery man, was a familiar sight. Mr. Clem's stables were near the back of the Myers Ford Agency . As Mr. Brittsan sat in the open beside his driver pulling the small black hearse, you were reminded of an early English coachman's picture. Many times Rev. W. E. Groves would accompany and preach the funeral sermon.
Questions
Why are people embalmed? Why are people buried in vaults? Why did people sit up at night to watch the dead? These are questions that puzzled me.
Using information from Mervin and Wade Mishler I will try and pass some information along.
I have been told people were found turned over when disinterred and some heard a tapping after they were buried and the corpse came alive -- so embalming made them sure dead or deader.
Now I'm told there is no state law requiring embalming; But it is up to the county health officers. There is a law requiring burial within so many hours if not embalmed. So, it seems the reason for embalming is for preservation of the body
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and to kill the disease germs (especially the contagious ones). The law taking embalming from the home and to a licensed parlor was passed about 1940.
"Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return" says the Scriptures. With this in mind it looks foolish to put in vaults.
The grave was dug by neighbors or friends and the rough box consisting of inch or two inch oak was placed in the bottom.
After the pallbearers lowered the coffin (casket) into the box by leather straps, the top was covered with short boards. While the grave was being closed by the pallbearers, hymns were sung .
Many times, water was trickling in the grave at the time of burial. Sometimes ground hogs would bring up bones of the dead. There was a large mound of dirt at burial time and when the boxes and caskets decayed there was a depression. With the discovery of cement we have the answer. The result is our level, beautiful cemeteries.
Charles Sparklin was the first maker of vaults in the Milford community. His business was located on the W.R. Deeter farm - - where gravel was available.
The practice of sitting with the dead was a European
custom. I am told it was to watch so rats, cats, mice, and
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other animals would not harm the body. Sometimes cold water, ice, etc. would be used for preservation during the night. Superstition of the dead was another reason. When embalming in a licensed place came into being the night "vigil" disappeared and the funeral home came into being.
When death came into the community the church bell would be tolled (clapper hit on one side of bell) and folks would inquire who had departed. On the day of the funeral the bell would toll from the time the funeral train came into sight until the service started.
Pennies (they were larger than the ones today) were placed on the deceased eye lids to keep them closed. This was done soon after death. This is where the expression used to describe a dishonest man came into use - "He'd steal the pennies from a dead man's eyes."
Most of the women dressed in black and wore veils. The obituary was always read in the services because it never came in the paper until the next week and I believe you then had to pay for its insertion. The names of the pallbearers were generally added. The epitaph was common on tombstones.
Bad Luck
It was bad luck to drive back over the same road on the
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way to the cemetery so this was avoided. It was a bad sign to rain in the grave - - another one in the family would soon die. "A green Christmas and a white Easter makes fat grave yards" was a fearful saying. Don't be too critical! This
unseasonable weather caused colds, flu, etc. and with no medical know how the death rate was high.
As I said before the Island cemetery with no income but donations was covered with briars, weeds, etc. which left it in a deplorable condition until its care and that of the Brumbaugh cemetery were paid by public taxation. It's a free public burying place.
Bert Irvine saw the condition of Island cemetery as he looked over the fence from his farm and determined to do something about is in the 1950's.
Enlisting the help of relatives of the deceased, he put his bulldozer to work to push out the brush and trees from the back part and leveled it off so it could be mowed.
John Kaiser gave a strip of ground so the drive way could be widened, graded, drained and graveled, so it's a public road.
A well was driven, a gravel drive around the cemetery made and the drives were all enclosed with a new fence. This was done by donated money and labor. A cemetery "fit for a king to
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be buried in." "Those who honor the dead will respect the living."
Among those who helped in this worthy project were Enos, Ernest, Paul, and Russel Hollar, Henry and Royce Biller, Rudy and Otto Sierk, Lew Davis, Frank Charlton, Glen Pinkerton, Lawrence Dierks, and myself.
Tragedies on the Island
We have had our share of sorrows, too. My great- grandmother was killed by a sheep buck as she crossed the hill one half mile south of Gerald Charlton's farm. Gerald McDonald was gored by a bull about 1935 and Fred Wuthrich, Sr., met the same fate in 1921. Truly "You can't trust a bull any farther than can throw him by his tail." Mr. Wuthrich had purchased this white faced bull as a calf from Mervin Mishler about two years before.
Arthur Hall was buried beneath a load of tile in the bottom of the Neff ditch when a temporary bridge gave way in 1915. Berniece Spicher was burned to death. Billie Moore and several horses were killed by lightning just south of the old Milton Berger gravel pit about 1906. Aaron Slabaugh met death when run over by a wagon in front of the Hastings store about 1925.
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Noah Estep was run over by a car in Ohio, and Mrs. Daniel Haney's life was snuffed out by a car on a South Bend street. A car accident caused the untimely death of Darell Kaiser on the Community Center road.
Farm tractor accidents took the life of William Sierk in 1946 and Glenn Baker recently.
Truly as we lay our friends and loved ones tenderly away, we look for a city whose maker and ruler is God.
The Gravel Pit
In regard to W.R. Deeter gravel pit now the Zimmerman pit. I recall when this hill reminded you of a Benton Harbor fruit orchard. After we had tied our horses across the road from what is now Dr. Rheinheimer's residence we started to pick those luscious red cherries from the loaded trees.
From our perch in the trees you could see the "mud" train loaded with its precious cargo and Tom Thumb engine wind its way toward the cement factory in Syracuse. It's load of marl had been dredged from the bottom of Waubee Lake.
Years later when I remember that "toot" "toot" of the choo! choo! as it crossed the country roads my conscience sort of pricked me. What he was trying to tell me was he was bringing me a better life. With the gravel under me and the
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cement he helped to make, would come concrete roads, pavements, sidewalks, foundations, vaults, huge silos, and houses. Yes, he would pull our feet from the mud and miry clay and set us free. He would get rid of the rats by destroying board floors and breeding places. Truly, I should have saluted my choo! choo! train as he glided by. Thanks little engine for your help in making the Orn road concrete!
Years later, about 1919, a railroad hauled gravel from the gravel pit to a washing plant near the outlet, to Waubee Lake. The present beautiful beach and park came from the washed sand. Several acres of lake were filled up, getting rid of the old 'swimmin' hole. Where for years the young men of the community had enjoyed swimming in their birthday clothes.
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COURTSHIP BY HORSE AND BUGGY IN HASTINGS AREA
(Ninth in a Series) By Kenneth Haney
This is a ticklish as well as a loveable subject and I hesitate to try and write on my experience in automobile days. Therefore, I shall rely on those who were successful competitors for the lady's hand in the horse and buggy days. I am reminded of some tourists who stopped at an Indian Reservation at noon and asked for the singing of "The Indian's Evening Love Song" and were refused. The Indian said it wasn't evening yet. So I am told it was necessary to have ideal conditions for the pursuit of a mate.
Most of the young men worked on the home farm or by the "month" for a neighbor, getting his room and board "throwed in." If he had a "driver" it was cared for also.
He was allowed to wash the buggy on Saturday afternoon and put some leather split washers inside the spindle and grease with lard or later on with "Black Beauty" or some other brand of axle grease. Then with the top folded down and with the blanket or robe cleaned he was ready for town.
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The picture of their beautiful horse and buggy was the envy of many a young man. Notice the martingales, the high reining of the horse's head, the buggy whip, and I believe an "open" bridle as well as the road conditions.
The Ardent Suitor
With all the wiles of an ardent suitor the young man would try and persuade his intended companion to ride with him to her home. If in town he had to tell ma and pa she was going with him.
Sometimes he would single her out from a group walking home from church or a party. With the gallantry of a knight he would alight from his buggy after turning his horse to the right. With his lines (reins) in his left hand he would assist his girl with his gentle right arm to the buggy seat. Then, if the distance was short he would let the horse "poke" along or drove around the square to "kill" time.
There was no need for introduction because everyone was acquainted with each other. Most men got their bride within a few miles of their homes. So as in all small communities in those days everybody was related. With the advent of high school and college this has all changed.
Now, with more cordial relations established, regular trips to town, parties, and church became more frequent. With
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birds singing in the branches above, bees humming, crickets chirping, a little red "piney" squirrel running along the rail fence, maybe a few small rabbits calmly sitting by the roadside, how could hearts beat otherwise but in unison.
With the lines wrapped around the dashboard, even the horse sensed the trust that was beginning to emerge in his youthful passengers. That one horse with horse sense was safer without a driver than 300 under the hood with one hand and divided attention!
Every school play was not complete without uncle Josh or some bashful boy trying to "pop" the question. His girl friend would keep "prodding" him for the invitation.
Motorcycles
At one time there were many motorcycles in Hastings. There was the "Indian" all painted red; Henderson; and then those twin cylinder Excelsiors, the speediest of anything on the road. Horses never got used to motorcycles.
Among those having motorcycles that I "faintly" recall were Roy Tusing, Roy Teeple, Austin (Jack) Mckibbin, Roy Thaden, Chester Tusing, Jesse Biller, Leland Rohrer, and Henry and Arthur Biller.
This Harley-Davidson, single cylinder, flat belt driven, was used part-time by "Bill" Biller to woo Ella Waldsberger.
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This one with no lights had to be pushed to get it stared and then with a jump like getting on a galloping horse you landed astride the seat.
One night on the way home from Henry Dierk's he collided head on with a junk man. He narrowly missed the shaft, but tore the harness from the horse and it took off. As he lay "badly hurt" by the roadside, the excited peddler bent over him saying "are you deadt?" Are you deadt?"
Reminds me of a doctor telling me he was called out to a farm home where a small boy was killed when a horse kicked him. As the sad family quietly carried the lifeless precious bundle to the house the mother began to wail and say, "And just think, Johnny died without his supper."
One band concert night someone was trying to start a balky cycle just south of the band stand. Someone lit a match and the cycle caught fire. The Hastings fire department was soon put into action.
There were about a dozen kids around the machine and someone yelled "throw dirt" and with about two inches of dust that fire was "snuffed" out "pronto" and most of the kids looked like they had been on fire too as they missed the fire target.
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Getting Courage
After convincing his girl friend he was the only man in the world for her and getting courage to ask her parents' consent, they would make a flying trip to the justice of the peace or a minister.
Not too many "pomp" weddings, as many times their wages were collected by the parents for a girl to 18 and a boy to 21. They had little to start with.
The ceremony was much the same as today except I believe three things are now deleted. Do you promise to obey your husband? Do you take your husband for better or for worse? there anyone here who objects to this marriage, if not let him forever keep his peace? If these are not correct I welcome criticism.
Is
The Chivaree
After the marriage came the belling or chivaree, when all the young people came at night with shotguns, buzz saws, dinner bells, dishpans, washtubs, and what have you noisemakers.
After the shooting of guns, yelling and all the noise you could make for 15 to 30 minutes the happy couple was expected to invite you into the house and as you passed and congratulated them your name was written down and you were eligible for a cigar or candy treat at the Hastings Store. Oh!
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as a kid I loved belling.
Sometimes the house was "guarded" to see that the "honeymooners" didn't escape.
Johnny Biller tells me several boys were delegated to watch the Jacob Fox residence to see that Mr. and Mrs. Don Fox didn't "fly the coop" when they got married.
The boys hatched up a trick that as one boy, the victim A, came around the corner of the house he would yell "There goes Foxy . " With boy B several rods ahead they took up Enos Hollar's lane. B was caught by A several blocks away and when A discovered the joke on him, he was unhappy and angry for awhile. How would you have reacted?
Golden Anniversaries
I have attended quite a few golden wedding anniversaries of those we belled. As I have seen these wonderful pairs brave hard work, disease, death, privation, and the storms of life to bring up loving, obedient children and true to their wedding vows, I can only wish them many more years of such fruitful life. Yes, they married for "keeps."
In discussing marriage one girl said, "If we can't get along we can separate. " Needless to say she was "dropped like a hot potato."
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I am told that better food, the age of maturity comes several years earlier in youth physically. How about judgment and experience? When I see divorces involving two to 15 children in the paper surely something is wrong. Would a marriage counselor or semi-official judge investigation more thoroughly help?
Will there be no divorce proceeding by 1985 as the Supreme Court will rule that takes away Civil Rights and all will become common Law marriages?
A judge said there is no 100 per cent divorce on one party's part; it may be 10-90, 20-80, 30-70, 40-60, or 50-50, but not 100 per cent. I might add that's in any area of conflict or opinion. Would you agree? It is food for thought! We might sing that old negro spiritual, "It's me, It's Me O' Lord, Standing in the Need of Prayer."
TREES ON THE ISLAND AS REPORTED BY MR. HANEY
(10th in a Series) By Kenneth Haney
As I write I meditate as I work. Many poetry gems come to memory, some being exact wording and others the gist of what the poet implies. One of these is "I think I shall never see anything as lovely as a tree" - - Joyce Kilmer. This is the
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pleasure in writing this time.
As I said before trees made the early settlers' lives difficult but they were also a blessing. The Coppes Brothers and Mutschler woodworking factories used a large amount of logs from the Island. The Lentz saw mill also purchased many.
Many of these four feet to six feet "across the stump" (diameter) virgin trees were growing before the Revolutionary War. When these ripe trees were cleared, mushrooms popped up by the wash tubs full. The hollow logs were split into halves and boards nailed across the end made a watering trough or a milk trough where cold water kept the cream, milk and butter cool. Sometimes the butter, etc., were put in the well pit. The Mud Boat
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