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Indiana Pioneers Harlow and Sophronia Barber

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  Harlow and Sophronia Barber Sophronia Case Barber Note: One section of this article previously appeared in “Myron F.’s Forgotten Life, Part I.”      On both sides of his family, Harlow Barber descended from Puritans who immigrated to Connecticut in the 1630s. But a life in settled Connecticut was not Harlow’s fate. He would twice be a pioneer, moving west, clearing land, building log cabins, establishing new settlements - an iconic part of American history.       Born in Goshen in 1798, he was the son of Jared Barber and Eunice Bissell. His father was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. For the years of his early boyhood, Harlow was a Connecticut Yankee. When he was about nine years old his parents made an exciting announcement. They were moving to Genesee County in western New York.       And why wouldn't they want to? Handbills circulated up and down the Atlantic advertising this marvelous land. They promised it wa
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Fort Wayne Gleanings: May 1880s- Baseball, Alleyways, & a Spilled Wagon of Molasses

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  Newspapers in the 1870s and beyond almost all had a column with a name like “Gleanings,” “Brevities” or “Town Topics” in which the editor commented on local happenings, seasonal changes, who was visiting in town and so on. I’ve compiled collections of these from the two places the Barbour branch of my family were living in during this era: Coffeyville, Kansas and Fort Wayne, Indiana. Almost all my earlier “Gleanings” articles were from Coffeyville, however. I picked up with Fort Wayne items in April 2024.         An 1888 sketch of "Smiling Tim" Keefe, a pitcher with the New York Giants. 6 May 1881, Fort Wayne Sentinel Clean up the alleys. Baseball clubs are springing up all over. The oats is up and looks beautiful at the county farm . The fields are ready for planting corn.  The street car drivers are asking for an increase of wages from $1.25 to $1.50 per day. The matter has been taken under consideration by management. Superintendent Wilkinson took Mrs. Vizard to the po
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Over the Hill to the Poor Farm: Allen County, Indiana's Asylum and Its Superintendents, Part 4

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  This is the final part in a 4-part series on the Allen County Asylum (the Poor Farm) in Indiana. H.W. Felts (1893-1901)   A newspaper photo of Harman Felts in 1914 when he ran for Wayne Township trustee.       Harman Felts was born in 1862 in Fort Wayne. Harman was his mother’s maiden name, but his name was misspelled as Herman more often than not. He attended Methodist Episcopal College, which later became Taylor University. His first career was as a locomotive engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad, a job he gave up to become the asylum superintendent. A “practical farmer” in Lafayette Township, he was the brother of the recently-resigned school superintendent George Felts. He and his wife Emma had three children, Clifford, Homer and Grace, who were only six, four and one when he took the position.       As usual when there was a change in administration, the newspaper reported a thorough cleaning and overhauling of the facilities. Beds and wards were described as clean as a first-
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