Joseph Wright Family Plot Map

Joseph Wright family plot, I.O.O.F. Cemetery, Alexandria, Indiana

Obtained this cemetery plot map of the Joseph Wright family plot at the I.O.O.F. cemetery in Alexandria, Madison County, Indiana from the Monroe Township Trustee's office.

Burials listed there include the following:

Grave 1. Rebecca Wright  March 21, 1890  [Joseph's 1st wife]

Grave 2. Mildred Wright September 13, 1903 [Joseph's granddaughter]

Grave 3. Joseph Wright September 16, 1919

Grave 4. Dortha P. Wright March 4, 1926 [Joseph's 2nd wife]

Grave 5. ______  Wright  (no date listed)

Grave 6. Martha Wright April 1, 1948 [Joseph's daughter-in-law]

Grave 7. Edward Wright July 6, 1960 [Joseph's son]

Grave 8. Zelma R. Wright June 11, 1988 [Joseph's granddaughter]

This information begs a couple of questions:  is the date listed the date of death or the date of burial?  I believe that it is the date of death.  At least it is for Joseph, whose two wives, Rebecca and Dortha, are buried in the same plot with him.  The death dates for his wives correspond with my database.  However, the dates for Edward and Martha do not jive with what dates I show, though my sources were family group sheets that could have been in error.  Will need to check for obituaries and death certificates.

Who is buried in Grave number 5?  Is it even used?  I need to get back out to the cemetery and see which headstones are located on this plot.  I remember taking pictures years ago of each of the names listed.  Not sure who could be in grave number 5, though they likely died between 1926 and 1948.

Black Sheep Sunday: Kokomo Woman Was Friend of John Dillinger

KOKOMO WOMAN WAS FRIEND OF JOHN DILLINGER

By Bob Hullinger

John Dillinger, Indiana's most notorious gunman, reportedly had a Kokomo woman as one of his best friends during the height of his crime spree in the early 1930s.

However, the woman, Mrs. Pearl Elliott, wasn't the only contact Dillinger had with Kokomo.  The Mooresville, Ind., bandit once spent a couple of days here and one of his friends robbed a Kokomo bank.

Dillinger's known visit here was legal - he was seeking parole for one of his friends.  Reports have it that Dillinger was in Kokomo other times too, hiding out.

Mrs. Elliott was said to be involved closely with Dillinger and his gang.  It was reported she was treasurer for the gang and served as arbitrator during arguments which occurred among its members.

The Kokomo woman, listed as a roadhouse proprietress during her stay in Kokomo, had several run-ins with law enforcement officers here.  According to police records, several cases involving violation of public morals were listed against her.

She figured prominently in the 1924 robbery of the South Kokomo Bank and at the time was operating a place of questionable standing at Washington and Madison Streets.

Supposedly she harbored the gangsters who robbed the Kokomo bank, prior to the robbery.  The gangsters, headed by Harry Pierpont, obtained $4,828 in cash, $4,300 in liberty bonds and $2,000 in unnegotiable securities.

Pierpont and his associates were captured later in Detroit and brought her for trial and were convicted.  Pierpont escaped from prison, then "rescued" Dillinger from a Lima, Ohio, jail, after murdering the sheriff.

Kokomo's Chief of Police, Clint Jackson, traveled to Tucson, Ariz., to question Pierpont about activities concerning the Elliott woman, after Pierpont had been recaptured in that city.

The bandit told Jackson that he had stopped at the place on North Washington Street, formerly occupied by the Elliott woman, and had kicked open the door.  He found her gone, but talked briefly with a woman who apparently was keeping the place.

Although Mrs. Elliott was never captured by the police, the Department of Justice sent posters all over the nation, carrying her picture and listing her as wanted in connection with Dillinger and his gang.

After Dillinger was killed by FBI men July 22, 1934, Mrs. Elliott traveled to Mooresville to view the body in open defiance of authorities.

According to one newsman, Mrs. Elliott went to the funeral home in the company of four other women, all associated with the Dillinger gang.

The women drove a smart, maroon-colored coupe within hand-shaking distance of state troopers and detectives, then joined the line of those waiting to see the body.

One reporter for a wire service centered his story around the Kokomo woman.  "Official Indiana State Police circulars asking the apprehension of Pearl Elliott are in a hundred cities," he pointed out, "The woman has long been sought as the advance fixer and brains as well as treasurer of the Dillinger gang.  It is believed that this former proprietress of a fancy Kokomo establishment engaged apartments for the Dillinger-Pierpont bandits before they came in to 'pull their jobs', directed the division of loot, and acted as arbiter in the inter-gang quarrels."

The reporter claimed he approached the Elliott woman and asked, "What brings you here?"  She hesitated, and then answered, "I came for a last look at Johnny.  He never threw me down and I wouldn't do it to him."

Only a few months after Dillinger's death, Mrs. Elliott was reported near death of an incurable disease at her mother's home in Frankfort.

State police, upon learning she was in Frankfort, claimed they no longer wanted her since the death of Dillinger and the capture or death of most of the Dillinger gang.

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This undated article was part of the vertical files at the Kokomo-Howard County Library under "Pearl Elliott".  Pearl was the Kokomo madam who helped to aid young Harry PIERPONT and then later, John Dillinger, during the days of the "Terror Gang".  Harry PIERPONT (1902-1934), was my paternal cousin.


Black Sheep Sunday – create a post with the main focus being an ancestor with a “shaded past.” Bring out your ne’er-do-wells, your cads, your black widows, your horse thieves and tell their stories. And don’t forget to check out the International Black Sheep Society of Genealogists (IBSSG). This is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.

Funeral Record: Betty King

This funeral record for Betty KING was located at the Alexandria-Monroe Township Historical Society collection.  Elizabeth Ann (SCHELL) KING was the wife of my paternal 2nd-great granduncle, Benjamin Zellen KING.


Betty died October 13, 1948 at St. John's Hospital in Anderson, Madison County, Indiana.  She was a resident of Orestes and was a housewife. She was born February 22, 1873 in Frankton, the daughter of George and Elizabeth (________) SCHELL.  Her cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage.  


The cost of the funeral was $ 509.75 and was paid in full by her husband, Ben KING, on November 4, 1948.  Betty was buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery in Alexandria, Madison County, Indiana.  The funeral was held at October 16, 1948 at 2 p.m.  

Wehrly Family, Madison Township, Jay County, Indiana (1907)

Source: Complete Directory of Jay County, M. & M. Directory Co., Portland, Ind., 1907, p. 239

These listings of the WEHRLY family in Madison Township, Jay County, Indiana in 1907 are of my paternal 2nd-great grandfather, William P. WEHRLY, and his sons, Harvey and Alva.


Alva Monroe WEHRLY (b. 1878) is a bit of a mystery as to why his wife and children are not listed.  He was married in 1901 to Emma YAEGER and they would have had 3 or 4 children by the time of this directory.  I know of no other Alva WEHRLYs in the family that this could have been.


Harvey Allen WEHRLY (b. 1876) had married Nettie SHREEVE in 1898, and is listed here with her and daughter, Ada.


William P. WEHRLY (b. 1845) married Olive Jane SMITH in 1866 in Jay County, right after returning from the service with 130th Indiana Infantry.  His youngest son, Martin Nimrod (b. 1888) is listed as still living with them.

Funeral Record: Amanda King

This funeral of Amanda KING was found at the Alexandria-Monroe Historical Society museum. Amanda was my maternal 2nd-great grandaunt, the wife of Suman Douglas KING.  Her maiden name was Amanda Louise FOX.


According to the record, Amanda was born September 24, 1860, the daughter of Philip and Mary (RECTOR) FOX.  She died June 22, 1944 at 12:10 a.m. in Orestes, Madison County, Indiana.  The cause of death listed was a cerebral hemorrhage.


Her husband, Douglas, aged 83, was the responsible party for the bill, which totaled $ 321.00.  The ledger is interesting, as it lists installment payments made on the bill, and lists who made the payment - by her children. The final payment of $ 24.00 was made January 14, 1950 by Fred KING when the bill was marked "Paid in Full".  That was the time of her husband's death, so the children must have been made aware of a balance and settled up at that time.

Black Sheep Sunday: Police Keep On Trail Of The Bandits

Source: Marion Leader-Tribune, Marion, Indiana, November 27, 1924, page 1.


POLICE KEEP ON TRAIL OF THE BANDITS


TRY HARD TO FIND THE GANG WHICH ROBBED SOUTH MARION STATE BANK


Many Clues, But None Had Resulted In Arrests At Early Hour Today -- Bank Is Robbed of $ 4,000 In Middle of Afternoon, Robbers Displaying Remarkable Nerve -- No One Injured, Not a Shot Fired -- Bank Fully Insured


In the middle of the afternoon yesterday, when the sidewalks in the vicinity were filled with people, none of whom knew the very unusual thing which was happening on the inside, not even the operator of the filling station, directly across the street, seven bandits, young, unmasked, well dressed, believed to be the same gang at Converse a week ago, held up the officers, and two customers of the South Marion State Bank, at Thirty-first and Washington streets, about 2:45 o'clock, robbed the bank of approximately $4,000 in currency, thereupon, in a cool and collected manner, just as if they were transacting an ordinary business affair, they jumped into their purring Nash motor car at the curbside, and drove rapidly away, less than five minutes passing from the time they entered the bank until they were on their way out of the city, followed closely by the police.


Clues galore have come in, the police are working desperately on the case, through the late afternoon and long hours of the night they scoured the countryside for miles around but no definite trace of the band had been received.


No One is Hurt


No one was injured, not a shot was fired, the employees and customers of the bank who were there at the time scarcely had an opportunity to suffer from the nervous shock, for almost before the robbery occurred, it was over.


Five of the men went inside, two stayed outside.


The first of the five, probably the leader, walked to the door of the cash room and ordered "hands up."


The other four followed closely behind.


The cashier and bookkeeper and one of the customers were ordered into the vault.  Still another customer, a woman, was forced into the back room.


No one there attempted to resist, it was realized such would be ridiculous.


The thieves talked little, little was said by anyone, the gang had evidently studied the situation, knew the surroundings and carried out their job with clockwork precision, and almost uncanny accuracy.


They failed in trying to lock up the force and one of the customers in the vault, but they raised the revolvers and eyed them closely.


Is Fully Insured


The loss is fully protected, the board of directors carrying the heavy and reliable burglar insurance.


Following a report that several men answering the description of the bandits in a car said to be a Nash, had stopped at Thirty eighth and Washington streets before the noon hour yesterday and inquired the road to Muncie, Chief of Police Frank Brandon and Captain Jake Campbell left for Muncie last night, but had not returned at a late hour.  The bandits worked so smooth and fast, that but very few clues were left to work upon.


Soon on the Trail


Immediately after the robbery the police were notified.  Chief Brandon, accompanied by Captain Campbell and Patrolmen Braden and Marsh, armed with riot guns and shot guns left the police station and reached the bank within ten minutes, where a description of the car and bandits was given.  They then drove south, in which direction the bandits left after the robbery, and for more than two hours covered many roads in every direction from Marion to Anderson and Muncie, but failed to get sight of a clue of the robbers.  They returned to the city after dark.


Many Towns Notified


Sixteen towns and cities within a fifty mile radius of Marion were notified by the police of the robbery within a short time.  A few minutes later a telephone call was received from Liberty Center, near Bluffton, that a Nash car had been driven at a fast rate of speed east through that town and was been the bandits.  Another report brought in was that a Nash car was seen going west on State Road No. 35 a short time after three o'clock.


From reports received by South Marion residents, the bandits, after leaving the bank drove south on Washington street.  At the Scientific Milling company plant at Thirty-second and Washington streets, Harry Jones, manager stated that a large car with yellow license plates, corresponding to the plates seen on the bandit car, had narrowly missed hitting a team standing at that place and were travelling at a fast rate.


Near the corner of Thirty-fourth and Washington streets, where a number of city employees were at work in a ditch, the same car narrowly escaped going into the ditch.


Employes [sic] remarked that the party in the car must be trying to get out of town for some good reason.


Residents along East Thirty-eighth street, reported a car of this description as going east on that street, near the Home corner.


Byron Baxter, cashier of the bank stated that the loss is fully covered by insurance and that no loss would be sustained by bank patrons or the bank.


When It Happened


At two forty-five, within fifteen minutes of the closing hour of the bank, Mr. Baxter, cashier, and Miss Margie Warren, assistant cashier, were in the bank, as were two customers, M.E. Pope of the Pope Grey Iron foundary [sic], and Mrs. George Van Cleave, each of whom came into the bank to make deposits.  As the patrons were at the windows, five men, none masked, entered the bank, one of whom appeared to be the leader marched ahead of the four others, who were grouped together.


They walked back to the side door leading into the bank cage, when they drew guns on the bank officers and customers and gave a command for them to turn their faces to the walls.  


An instant later, the bank officers were told to come back and walk into the vault in the rear.


Shoved Into Vault


They were shoved in, together with Mr. Pope.


An attempt was then made by the bandits to lock the vault, but their efforts failed and the three persons were ordered to obey their commands.


Mrs. Van Cleave was ordered to step into a rear room.


Two of the men then walked to the cash drawer, where they gathered all of the money in sight, including $50 which Mr. Pope had just deposited.


While they were busy at the cash drawer, the three other bandits told Cashier Baxter to open the safe, which he did.


Valuable bonds and papers, which were picked up by them were thrown down on the floor, while a box of silver money amounting to $200 was picked up and then set down again, not being taken on account of its weight.


The bandits then walked out of the bank and jumped into their auto and drove rapidly south on Washington street.


Bandits Described


Mr. Baxter described the bandits as being from 25 to 30 years old and well dressed.  He said that they worked with a system and that the robbery was completed in a little more than a minute.  According to persons outside, the bandits' car was a Nash, blue body with wire wheels and carried a yellow license plate.  No one secured the license number or the state from which it was issued, but it was stated that Michigan license plates as well as Pennsylvania are of a yellow color, while Illinois license plates of yellow lettering.


From the description given of the bandits and of the apparent circling around the county after the robbery, it is thought that they are the same robbers who held up and robbed the Farmers National Bank at Converse a week ago yesterday.


According to citizens who were in the vicinity at the time, the bandits' car came up to the bank from the north and parked in front of the bank.  The robbery was done so quickly that not one person in the community, even the persons in the filling station across the street, were aware of what was taking place until the robbers had completed their work and disappeared.


The report of the robbery spread quickly throughout the city and the news that the robbers were using a Nash car was also spread quickly and many people began to look for Nash cars.  Last night a man who resides on Thirty-eighth street, reported to the police that he was the owner of a Nash car which had a Michigan license plate on and he desired to tell the police that it was not his car which was used in the robbery.


The board of directors of the bank had just held a meeting at the bank last Monday night, when the subject of the recent bank robberies in the state was taken up and a special inquiry was made to see that the bank customers were well protected and that there was sufficient insurance carried by the bank to insure no loss to anyone.


Officers of Bank


The officers of the bank, which is located at Thirty-first and Washington streets, are Ernest Prior, president; Carl F. Barney, vice-president, and Byron W. Baxter, cashier.  The directors are Ernest Prior, Carl Barney, E.S. Townsend, J.D. Williams, William Berger, W.B. Stephenson, Guy Boots, M.A. Bartels and John Hungerford.  The bank is a member of the Indiana Bankers Association.


----
This account of cousin Harry PIERPONT (1902-1934) and his gang of bank robbers was located at the Marion Public Library.  In late 1924 and early 1925, Harry led a group of ex-cons in terrorizing a number of banks around Indiana.  The South Marion State Bank job, and others like it, laid the ground work for the later robberies of the Dillinger "Terror Gang."  The robbery and subsequent capture of members of the gang, generated a lot of ink in the Marion newspapers.




Black Sheep Sunday – create a post with the main focus being an ancestor with a “shaded past.” Bring out your ne’er-do-wells, your cads, your black widows, your horse thieves and tell their stories. And don’t forget to check out the International Black Sheep Society of Genealogists (IBSSG). This is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.

Fire At Victor Opera House

As a follow up to my previous post about the fire at the Victor, Colorado opera house and my paternal great-granduncle, William Clifford LeMASTER's involvement, I received the following email information:

Dear Travis,

   I apologize for the delay in responding to your inquiry regarding the fire that burned down the Victor Opera House in 1920.  I have been out of town.

   I was able to locate two newspaper articles written about the fire. 

   According to the first article published in the September 27 edition of the Cripple Creek Times (the local evening paper at the time), the fire started around noon.  No one was in the building at the time, although Mr. Le Master and the janitor John Kimberling had been in the building around 9:30 that morning.  Authorities believed that the fire was started when a boiler burst.  Eyewitness' said they heard the explosion.The article did state that an investigation would take place.

   W. C. Le Master's personal loss was estimated at $3,600.  Additional losses included the organ valued at $7,000 and the film library valued at $1,000.

   The property itself was owned by E.H. Hall of Denver.  His loss was initially estimated at $100K.

   A second short article ran on September 28 in the Cripple Creek Times stated the Mr. Le Master was unsure if he would be seeking a new location to reopen the theater.

   I continued through the newspapers for about a month following the fire, but did not locate any further information regarding the investigation or if Mr. LeMaster did reopen the theater in a different location.

I also checked both the US Census and our District Directories and did not find any record of W. C. Le Master or William C. Le Master residing in the Cripple Creek/Victor area past 1920.

   I hope this information is helpful to you.  If there is anything further that I may do for you, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Melissa Trenary
Archives and Research
Cripple Creek District Museum
500 E. Bennett Avenue ~ P.O. Box 1210
Cripple Creek, Colorado  80813
719-689-2634 ~ 719-689-9540
www.cripple-creek.org

 I am thankful for their research help, and need to send off a donation.  This gives me more leads to follow, perhaps I can locate the newspapers through interlibrary loan.

LeMaster Family, Madison Township, Jay County, Indiana (1907)

Source: Complete Directory of Jay County, M. & M. Directory Co., Portland, Ind., 1907, p. 235

This listing of the LEMASTER family in Madison Township, Jay County, Indiana appears at first glance to be for my paternal great-grandfather, Luman Cooper LeMASTER, but actually is for my 2nd-great grandfather, Luman Walker LeMASTERS, who married Mary Keziah CHEW.  Somehow the listing combined the family of Luman Walker with the initials of his son, Luman Cooper.

Luman Walker LeMASTERS and Mary's four youngest children: Edith (b. 1879), Maude (b. 1884) , Arthur (b. 1885) and Vernon (b.1888) are listed living in the household.  This is why I know the directory made a mistake.

Luman Cooper's family is not listed elsewhere in the directory, though they should have been in Madison Township during this time period.

Check out History Press

Thanks to fellow blogger Marian Pierre-Louis for the heads up about History Press.  If you haven't taken a look at their catalog, you really should.  I think I've just found some new titles to add to my Christmas and wish list.

Several of their titles look interesting, including the Civil War sections, and the prices seem reasonable.  They are also on Facebook and Twitter, so they just gained me as a friend and follower.


It pays to be a member of the genea-blogger community....

Marriage of William Smith to Prudence Maxson

Source: "Ohio, County Marriages, 1790-1950," index and images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org): accessed 30 July 2011. entry for William Smith and Prudence Maxson, married 5 October 1836; citing Marriage Records, FHL microfilm 466399; Clark County Courthouse, Springfield, Ohio.

Spent some time searching through Ohio marriage records database at FamilySearch and made a discovery - I had the date wrong in my database for the marriage of my paternal 3rd-great grandparents, William SMITH and Prudence MAXSON.

The image clearly shows they were married on the 5th of October 1836 in Clark County, Ohio.  Previously, I had the date as the 3rd of October 1836 without knowing the county.  Both the "Biographical and Historical Record of Jay County, Indiana (1887) and "The Maxson Family. Descendants of John Maxson and Mary Mosher of Westerly, Rhode Island" (1954) by Walter Brown had this incorrect date.  Brown probably received his information from the 1887 history.

It was good to get the correct date, and even better to confirm the place of their marriage.  Previously, I had searched Jay County, Indiana for a record - but their marriage date was too early for that county.  The families were from the Clark County, Ohio area prior to the move to Jay County by the time of the 1840 census.

Now on to search for the rest of the families in Ohio...

Fun With Search Terms

This past month has brought some interesting search terms to my blog.  Always fun to find out how someone finds me. These were the top search terms, according to my Blogger stats:

• freezer slaw - Wow, Grandma Wright's recipe was extremely popular this month.  Of course, a lot of folks have cabbage on and were probably looking for a good recipe.  I hope they enjoyed it. 
• Harry Pierpont - Not surprised at all to find his name in the list.  Harry is my bad-boy cousin, Dillinger gang leader, and only known relative to be executed via the electric chair.  Probably my main obsession of late has been tracking down newspaper articles on his early bank robbing career.  Look for more posts in the future.

The following search terms didn't get near as many hits, but they made 

• U S Navy records online -  My May post about Ancestry posting U S Navy muster rolls online has been popular.
• 1900 "portland indiana" -  Not surprised to find this search brings folks here, as most of my paternal ancestry lived in the Portland, Indiana area.
• anna hunnicutt economy indiana - Don't have this lady in my database, though am familiar with the Quaker settlement there.
• cora wehrly -  Someone was looking for my Wehrly tree, wish they would have stopped and left a comment.
• easterday family tree -  Same with the Easterday family tree - which married into my Haley line in Jay County, Indiana.
• open faced peach pie -  Someone was hungry, hope they liked my family's recipe.
• ruby june lambertson - Ruby is my maternal great-aunt, and recently I posted some pictures of she and my grandmother.  Was this visitor a relative?  They didn't leave a comment.

Black Sheep Sunday: Kokomo Robbers Held In Detroit

Call-Leader, Elwood, Indiana, April 3, 1925, page 1.

KOKOMO ROBBERS HELD IN DETROIT

Two Young Men Arrest and $ 7,100 in Securities Are Recovered

STOLEN AUTO PROVES CLUE

(International News Service)

Detroit, Mich., April 3. – James E. Hayes, 27, said to be the third member of the bandit gang which last week held up and robbed the Southside bank at Kokomo, Indiana, of $ 9,000, was held by the police today.  His alleged accomplices, Henry Pierpont and Thaddeus Skeer, also held here, will be taken to Kokomo.  Five thousand dollars have been recovered.

Detroit, Mich., April 2 – Frank Mason, alias AL Pierpont, 24, and Thaddeus Skeer, 22, were arrested here to day and are being held for Kokomo (Ind.) police in connection with the robbery of South Kokomo Bank last week, in which nearly $10,000 was taken.

A girl giving her name as Louise Brunner, 22, of Fort Wayne, Ind., was arrested and, is being held as a witness.  Miss Brunner was trailed to Detroit by detectives, who apprehended Skeer and the girl as the two met.  Mason was arrested later.

Pierpont was found with $ 4,000 on his person and bonds and securities totaling $5,400 were uncovered in the apartment where the trio was found.  The loot originally amounted to $ 7,000 in negotiable securities and about $ 2,000 in Liberty bonds.

Suspension [sic] was directed toward Skeer, it is said, when it was learned that the machine used by the bandits had been stolen in Fort Wayne a few days before.

He was suspected of the automobile theft, and when the robbery was reported, police began working on the theory that he was implicated.

Kokomo, Ind., April 2 – Louise Brunner, held as a witness at Detroit in the South Kokomo robbery case, Harry Pierpont and Thaddeus R.  Skeer, both held as suspects in the robbery, are to be returned to this city tomorrow, according to word received by Kokomo police tonight.  All the bonds, amounting to $ 7,1000, stolen from the bank, have been recovered and have been identified by A.E. Gorton, cashier, according to information received here.  A part of the case has also been recovered.

The three prisoners have waived extradition and warrants charging petit larceny and bank robbery, have been issued here by City Judge Joseph Cripe against Pierpont and Skeer.

---

This account of the arrest of cousin Harry PIERPONT (1902-1934) and part of his gang in Detroit was from found during research at the Elwood Public Library, and provides a different take on the account from other papers, such as here and here.

Black Sheep Sunday – create a post with the main focus being an ancestor with a “shaded past.” Bring out your ne’er-do-wells, your cads, your black widows, your horse thieves and tell their stories. And don’t forget to check out the International Black Sheep Society of Genealogists (IBSSG). This is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.

Sunday's Obituary: Ora Lee (Brady) LeMaster (1920-2008)

Commercial-Review, Portland, Indiana, April 16, 2005, page 2

Ora Lee LeMaster, 87, 229 W. McNell St., Portland, died Tuesday at Miller's Merry Manner in Dunkirk.


Born on June 17, 1920, in Jay County, to Harry and Rebecca (Lindsay) Brady, she was married on May 9, 1942 , to Garth L. LeMaster, who died on Feb. 5, 1998.


She was a homemaker and attended Portland Friends Church.


Surviving are three sons, Garth L. "Mike" LeMaster, Portland; James "David" LeMaster, Portland, and Pat LeMaster, Balbec; a daughter, Martha "LeAnn" Morrical, Indianapolis; three sisters, Ann Reed, Florida, Marie Bierbaum, Elkhart, and Doris Myers, Minnesota; nine grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.


Services are Monday at 11 a.m. in Baird-Freeman Funeral Home.


Burial will be in Salamonia Cemetery.


Visitation is Monday from 9 to 11 a.m. at the funeral home.


Memorials may be sent to Portland Friends Church, Gideons International or State of the Heart Home Health and Hospice.




Sunday’s Obituary – if you have obituaries of family members and ancestors, consider posting them along with other information about that person as part of Sunday’s Obituary. This is an ongoing series developed by Leslie Ann at Ancestors Live Here.

How many facts do you add to your Ancestry tree?

I'm sort of proud of the family tree I've been creating on Ancestry.com.  As I've written about before, I'm taking baby steps to ensure that I document and source as much information as possible.  In contrast to my tree on WorldConnect, which contains my entire GEDCOM database, with this tree I've just put out a "skeleton" of the family tree.  


Right now, I've been focusing on my maternal line, working with my grandparents and great-grandparents to be sure that I have all facts listed with source citations, and have been adding some photos and other media.  My intent is to slowly move back through each generation and add source information.  I understand this is Genealogy 101 but when you find yourself going back and re-examining your work with fresh eyes you begin to see things you've missed.


Question for those who use public trees on Ancestry, how many facts do you add to your trees?  Besides the birth, death, marriage and census information, do you add the "miscellaneous" facts such as draft registration, mentions in the newspaper, etc?  


I've finding that there is much information I either don't have sources for in my Rootsmagic database, or the sources are derivative and I need to seek out the original sources.  Too many items I thought I had scanned, I'm realizing that I hadn't, so that adds to my list of things to do.  Such fun!

Black Sheep Sunday: Laketon Robbers Traced To Warsaw

Elwood Call-Leader, April 1, 1925, page 4

LAKETON ROBBERS TRACED TO WARSAW


Fort Wayne, Ind., March 31 - Efforts of police departments and sheriff's officers to find trace of the bandits who robbed the Laketon State bank, Laketon, Ind., this morning, in the northwestern section of the state, were unavailing, according to fragmentary reports received here tonight.  One report indicated that the bandits who fled in two autos had been traced to Warsaw, Ind., but communications from that city did not substantiate the rumor.


According to word received here from Laketon, the bandits secured slightly over $1,000, which they secured from the cash drawer of the bank.  Cashier E.L. Bright, who was held at bay while the money was taken, is quoted as having said that over $8,000 in liberty bonds and nearly that much in currency was overlooked by the bandits in their haste to escape.


---
This article provides some follow-up to the suspected robbery by Harry PIERPONT (1902-1934) of the Laketon State Bank in Laketon, Indiana.


Further transcripts from the Wabash Plain Dealer were provided by Ron Woodward, Wabash County Historian from the April 1, 1925 edition:


---

SEARCH FOR LAKETON BANDITS CONTINUES; CLEWS ARE MEAGER

Exact loss placed at $1,969.31 by Cashier E.L. Bright following check of accounts.  Sheriff Summerland goes to Marion on possible clue.  Willy-Knight coupe was stolen at Ft. Wayne. 

Cashier tells story of robbery.

Sheriff Summerland went to Marion this morning in response to a call from the sheriff of Grant county, who thought he might have a possible clue to the bandits who robbed the Laketon bank yesterday.  Deputy Sheriff Smallwood was inclined to think, however, that the Marion clue was not as good as another that came this morning from the northern part of the state.

An officer from Lagrange county telephoned here this morning that three men in a Willys-Knight car stopped at a small town in his county and had dinner at a boarding house.  When they paid the woman who served the meal they asked here for a ten dollar bill in exchange for silver.

If it was the bandits who robbed the Laketon bank, it is wholly possible the officers thought, that they wished to get rid of some of their silver as they had taken from the bank $20 in half dollars and $150 in quarters.

License Stolen at Ft. Wayne

Officials in the northern part of the state are on the lookout for the robbers, some cities, including South Bend, having men out on motorcycles to apprehend them if possible.

There is no clue other than the description E.L. Bright, cashier, of the Laketon bank, was able to give of the men, and the fact that they were driving a Willys Knight car.  It has been ascertained that the license number on the Willys Knight car, which is known to the officials, had been stolen from a Buick car in Fort Wayne last week, so that this offers no tangible clue.

The license had been issued to Lagrange county and belonged to a salesman who worked out of Fort Wayne, but whose home is in Lagrange.  His numbers were stolen last week.

Farmer Gets Number

The procuring of the license number of the Willys Knight was a very thoughtful piece of work on the part of a farmer named Bohnstedt, who lived north of Laketon near where the bandits left the Willys Knight and where they returned in the Ford coupe after they had stolen the money.

The two men who did the actual robbing left a third man in the car until they should return.  Mr. Bohnstedt noticed the Willys Knight coupe standing in the road-which was a by-road-about 6:30 in the morning and it remained there for about three hours.

The car attracted the attention of Bohnstedt because the man in it seemed so nervous.  He would get out and look around the car, doing that frequently.  Later Mr. Bohnstedt talked to him and the man said he was stalled because of a bad battery.

The farmer then became suspicious and took his number, writing it on the side of his wagon so he would not forget it.  And it was from the wagon bed that officials procured the number.

Bandits Get $1,969.31

The bandits procured $1969.31 from the bank, according to the check-up made yesterday afternoon by the cashier.  From the safe they got $1200 in currency, $495 in gold, $20 in halves, $150 in quarters, $2.50 in pennies, making a total of $1867.50.

On the counter they got $28.39.  They also got $73.42 which were the receipts from the Moyer farm sale, which Mr. Bright had clerked.

In the cash drawer near the safe was about $1000.  Mr. Bright said, but this the bandits overlooked.

Fully insured

The total loss is covered by insurance, Mr. Bright said yesterday.

“None of the depositors will lose anything as we have complete insurance coverage,” said Mr. Bright.  “I figured that right away as soon as I realized what was being done and then I knew too that there was no use to resist.

“Mrs. Ogden happened to be in the bank Tuesday morning, though generally she does not come until noon.  We were sitting in the ? room which is right in line with the front door and we could easily see the front part of the bank.  I had a business letter that I wanted Mrs. Ogden to know of and I was reading it to her when a man came in the front door.  I went to the front counter and gave him $5 in change as he had asked.

Story of Robbery

“He looked to be a man of 21 or so.  He was shabbily dressed and had a court-plaster across his nose.  I asked him if he had been in an accident and we started chatting.  After a while I happened to glance out the front door and saw a strange man looking in and watching me closely.  In a second he opened the door, held his gun drawn and then the man at the counter got his gun and said:  “You had better put ‘em up.”

“I realized at once what was happening and called Mrs. Ogden to put up her hands.  One of the men went back and brought her in behind the counter and then they asked me where the money was.  I told them in the safe in front, but they doubted me.  Finally I convinced them and they took the money, all the time keeping us both covered.  One man seemed frightfully nervous.  The right hand which was holding his gun shook a great deal as he worked with his left.

“It really made me sick to see them scoop up all that money and put it in their sacks, but resistance was useless.  When they finished they asked for my gun.  I convinced them I didn’t have any and then they put us in a back room and told us to stay there five minutes.  I was out as soon as I heard their car start which was about thirty seconds.  I think and then I got on the telephone and called every town anyways near.

“Just then a man came in at the front door of the bank-a customer-and I asked him to go out and spread the word.”

Good Business Institution

The Laketon bank is a small frame building and is located on a corner.  It does a good business, it is said, due to the good farming country around Laketon.

S.D. Henry is president of the bank; George Frederick, vice president; F.L. Bright cashier; Violet Ogden, assistant cashier/  Directors include Mr. Henry and Mr. Frederick, Lyman Metzger, William Frev A.M. Robinson, John Tryon and H.W. Rager.

The bank was the scene of more or less excitement all day yesterday, though in the late afternoon there was nothing more than quiet, curious conversation among those who dropped into the bank to hear the story of the robbery and to wonder whether “any one lost anything.”

State Bankers Interested

Mr. Bright kept the bank open all day, though did no business.  After the word of the robbery spread, he did little but answer the long distance telephone calls.  The State Bankers’ association, who are making special efforts to capture bandits, were notified and two of their members came last night to consult with Mr. Bright regarding the affair.

Black Sheep Sunday – create a post with the main focus being an ancestor with a “shaded past.” Bring out your ne’er-do-wells, your cads, your black widows, your horse thieves and tell their stories. And don’t forget to check out the International Black Sheep Society of Genealogists (IBSSG). This is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.

Sunday's Obituary: Ralph Vernon LeMaster (1922-1996)

Commercial-Review, Portland, Indiana, February 1, 1996, page 14

Ralph V. LeMaster, 73, Elkhart, a native of Portland, died Tuesday evening in the emergency room at Elkhart General Hospital.


He retired from NIPSCO in 1983 after working there for 27 years.


A World War II Army Air Corps veteran, LeMaster was a member of the Grace Bible Church.


Born May 2, 1922, in Portland, he was married Dec. 16, 1942 to Donnabel Fields, who survives.


Surviving besides his wife are three sons, R. Vernon LeMaster, Greenville, S.C., Robert and Jeff LeMaster, both of Elkhart; one sister, Doris Shaneyfelt, Portland; one brother, Dale LeMaster, Springfield, Mass.; nine grandchildren; and one great-granddaughter.


Services are set for 11 a.m. Saturday at the Westbrook-Metz and Clouse Funeral Home, Elkhart, with Rev. Mike Fisher officiating.  Burial will be in Sugar Grove Cemetery with military graveside services.


Friends may call at the funeral home from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Friday.


Memorials may be made to the Grace Bible Church.




Sunday’s Obituary – if you have obituaries of family members and ancestors, consider posting them along with other information about that person as part of Sunday’s Obituary. This is an ongoing series developed by Leslie Ann at Ancestors Live Here.