You Bought What At The Auction?

October 1st found me at an auction over in Jay County at the Portland 4-H Fairgrounds.  The contents of the general store of Murl May in Salamonia, Indiana, which had been shut up as it was since 1952, were being auctioned off by an auctioneer out of Greenville, Ohio.  Because so many of my relatives had lived their lives in Salamonia and Madison Township, I was hoping there might be some items of interest of the LeMaster, Wehrly, Chew, etc. families.  Plus, I just love going to auctions.

I spent nearly 6 hours at the sale, watching the farm-fresh advertising, parts and other items of local interest go for extremely high prices.  Wandering around the sale items, I located a set of ledger books that appeared to be from the store.  

Flipping through the books, I searched the "L" section for entries regarding my LeMaster relatives, and hit the jackpot.  I found listing for my grandfather, my great-grandfather and my great-great-grandfather, as well as entries for great-uncles, etc.  The auctioneer was a long way away from getting to these tables, but I was definitely going to stick around and see whether or not I could get them.

I managed to obtain a few pieces of local memorabilia from the 4-H fair at a very reasonable price - the type of things that could end up on eBay or in a museum.

The Lon Wehrly listed as a President of the Fair was the son of John P. and Catherine E. (LeMASTERS) WEHRLY, making him a 1st cousin 3 times removed.

By the time the sale came around to the tables with all of the ephemera and the ledger books that I wanted, I had been there almost 6 hours.  I was fortunate enough to obtain a couple of sets of loose ledgers for $ 2, that appeared to be from the same store and mentioned my relatives.

I quickly snapped up several other ledgers at similar prices, but by the time it came around to the large ledgers, someone else had caught on and the bidding war began.  Not wanting to let a piece of family history to get away, I was willing to spend what it took, which in this case turned out to be $50 for the two large books.  Not much more than I might spend on a good genealogy book, I tried to explain to my wife and family who questioned my sanity.

When I finally had a chance to bring them home and take a look at what I had purchased, I realized that not only did I have more than one ledger that mentioned the financial transactions of my relatives from the mid-1920s through the early 1930s, but that the ledgers were not from the store, as I had first believed.  Instead, what I had was the ledger books of the Farmers  Bank of Salamonia.  Indeed, I had the records of deposits and withdrawals, including some copies of cancelled checks from the 1920s.  How cool is that!

What a thrill it was to find the record of my grandfather depositing $1 in a savings account for my uncle, when he was just a baby.  There is a lot of genealogy in these records, as the accounts often mention the names of the parents, etc. as well as showing who endorsed the checks and dates when accounts were closed, etc.  At least one administration of an estate in my LeMaster family has been discovered.

I have yet to begin the process of scanning the relevant pages and adding the information to my family history.  Eventually, these books will probably be donated to the Jay County Historical Society.  I've already contacted them to try and find out more about the history of the bank.  The ledger records go up until 1933, I'm wondering if the bank survived the Depression.

Black Sheep Sunday: Bandit Trio Leave Today For Prison

Source: Marion Leader-Tribune, Marion, Indiana, January 4, 1925, p. 2.


BANDIT TRIO LEAVE TODAY FOR PRISON


Sheriff's Force Start at Early Hour for State Reformatory


NEXT STEP IN THE GAME


Expect to Arraign Two Women and Man in Jail Sometime Monday or Tuesday.


One week after the arrest of the first bank robber in connection with the South Marion and Upland bank robberies, six of the nine bandits alleged to be implicated in both jobs have been arrested and three of the six given sentences of from ten to twenty-five years in prison, who will start on the trip to prison this morning, while the other three, one man and two women are in jail awaiting arraignment in circuit court on charges of automobile banditry.


James Robbins, the first bandit to be arrested, at Lebanon; William Behrens, arrested next at Monticello, and Marion, alias "Red" Smith, arrested at Indianapolis, will be taken to the reformatory near Pendleton this morning over the traction line to begin their long sentences.  They will be accompanied by Ralph Malott, sent up for obtaining money under false pretenses, and Ray Wilson, who was given a sentence for forgery.  They will leave in the company of a sufficient number of deputy sheriffs to insure their safe arrival at prison.


Only three of the bandits who are alleged to have taken part in the robbery of the Upland and South Marion banks, remain uncaptured, but operatives from the Webster agency at Indianapolis, the department at Indianapolis and sheriffs from several counties are on the job and it is believed that the three will yet be arrested, but it may not be accomplished for some time.


Mr. and Mrs. Robert Morse, who were arrested at their home in Indianapolis Friday evening and Mrs. Mary Bridgewater, arrested at Indianapolis Wednesday afternoon, will probably be arraigned in court Monday or Tuesday of this week, Sheriff Bert Renbarger said yesterday.  Morse and his wife have admitted to having taken part in the South Marion robbery, Mrs. Morse remaining in the automobile, while the men went in the bank.  Mrs. Bridgewater has admitted to being in the car with the bandits when they came to Marion to rob the South Marion bank, but said that she was not aware of the bank being robbed or of the nature of the automobile trip from Marion to Indianapolis on November 26, the day on which the South Marion robbery took place.


The round up of the bandits during the past week, in which the active co-operation of Sheriff Renbarger, the Webster agency and the police of Indianapolis and Lebanon took part, was one of the biggest roundups of any gang of robbers which has taken place in the state for some time, all of which resulted from James Robbins displaying a big roll of money at Lebanon a week ago yesterday.


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This article is another in a series of follow-up stories to the robberies of the Upland State bank and South Marion bank by a group of robbers, led by my paternal cousin, Harry PIERPONT (1902-1934).  Harry later became famous as a member of the "Terror Gang" with John Dillinger.  These earlier robberies terrorized Indiana during 1924-25.





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.

Searching for Brazil Sand & Gravel Company Name

I wrote off to the Brazil Indiana Public Library, hoping that they might have city directories going back to the 1920s that would list the name of the sand and gravel company that Harry PIERPONT's father ran.


Harry worked there for awhile after his release from prison before embarking on a series of robberies throughout Indiana in 1924-25.  It appears that his bank robbing partner, William Behrens, may have also worked at this same company.


The response I received back from them was:

One of the ladies did some research and BPL does not have directories going back to the 1920s.  She suggested that maybe the Clay Co Geneology in Centerpoint may have some of those that old.

So, looks like my next contact is the Clay County Genealogy Society.