Thursday, July 15, 2010 • HERITAGE NEWSPAPERS/WESTERN REGION m Page 7-A

Study of local history is a guessing game

Local history is like put-ting together a puzzle. I keep looking for more pieces and then I hope

that some of them will fit together.

People call me about lost builders, asking if I know who built their home and when. They contact me about lost fam-ily members, wanting to know the names of great grandmoth-ers and others in their family tree. Some even call me about lost souls.

The questions are easy to answer if I happen to have the information around. Thanks to the fire insurance ledgers, I’m accumulating more informa-tion about who built homes and businesses around Milan, as well as some in Mooreville, Azalia and Oakville.

The way it worked back then, someone would waltz into the office of Mell Barnes, founder of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Milan. He just hap-pened to be the agent for at least three different fire insurance companies. The customer could choose which fire insurance company to purchase from.

This is where the fun part begins. The customer had to reveal how much his or her property was worth. In addition to the real estate, the customer had to indicate how much his or her personal property was worth. If he had a safe in his store, he often specified it, stat-ing its value for insurance pur-poses. Sometimes the person was building a house or store,

and received a policy for con-struction.

Emily Howard came back to Milan in between stealing large sums of money with a stock fraud in New York. Eventually, in 1888, she built a home like a mansion on the northeast cor-ner of Arkona and Platt roads. But two years before that, in August 1886, she was visiting Mell Barnes to insure her home on the east side of Hack Street.

In January 1887, she was back in Mell Barnes’ office, which shared space with the Whitmarsh Department Store. This time, she was insuring her barn, worth more than double the value of anyone else’s barn. She also insured her cow, hay and grain.

Things got really wild for her in May 1887, as apparently she had a lot of money and felt like spending it quickly. Her

house went way up in value, like a movie star’s home. She had carpets, a library and $350 worth of jewelry –– a fantastic amount. She listed on her insur-ance a music box and cylinder, an expensive clock, as well as a piano, plus two horses in her high-class barn.

The fabulous wealth exhib-ited by her must have sparked a great deal of gossip in a small community like Milan. It also attracted attention with the executives at the Hartford Insurance Co. In July 1888, before the sugar scandal Howard was involved in hit The New York Times, the insur-ance company decided there was something fishy about her policy, so they canceled it.

If someone finds out his or her home was owned by Emily Howard circa 1886, and was located on the east side of Hack

Street, you have hit a gold mine. She probably would have built the home and insured it.

Trying to find out who built your historic house is frustrat-ing. You can learn who owned the property and when, but it’s hard to know which one of the previous owners had the home built. With local history, there are plenty of lost people. These are the questions everyone asks about his or her family tree. Today, there are loads of Internet sites, many of them free, where you can find out about your family. I recently found a website showing birth information in Scotland, which opened up a world of informa-tion about my great-grandmoth-er’s brothers and sisters.

As far as local history is concerned, the Milan Township census is a treasure trove for certain years in the 1880s and in

the early 1900s. York Township, Augusta Township, and London Township have the same type of information. Not only does it tell who was where, and how old the person was, the census gives a rough idea who the neighbors were.

The early pioneers in Milan had to be careful where they bought their farmland because most likely the neighbors would become their in-laws.

Today’s photo, a gift from Les and Terrie Hall, was handed down in the Ralph Woolcott family. The back of the photo contains a note that states: “Marry Xmas 1912. Julie and Ralph. From Don and Carrie.” Because of the handwriting, it might be “Leon” and Carrie.

Because almost 100 years have gone by since this photo changed hands, it’s hard to know the address of this charm-ing house. The home looks like it could be a Milan home and perhaps someone will recognize it.

One more type of mystery is the lost souls. For example, I might get a phone call from a woman who tells me her son is hearing the voices of ghosts.

“Tell me who lived in this house in the past, and how they died,” the woman asks.

She is trying to do research on the “lost souls” who are “talking to her son.”

I informed the woman about the old atlas books available for free at the Milan Public Library, and there are more atlas books at other libraries and on the Internet. I told her about researching previous owners of the home through the Register of Deeds office.

Most people who hear about the Register of Deeds office would rather jab a stick in their eye than sort through the Grantee Index at the Register of Deeds office.

Anyhow, I gave the caller another option. I suggested she take her son to the family doc-tor and point out that he hears the voices of ghosts.

“Are you telling me my son is crazy?” the woman demanded, clearly insulted.

“No, he’s not crazy. It’s just that you hate to let him hear the voices of ghosts if medication could help him,” I explained.

Don’t let local history drive you crazy. Just keep plugging through the information, and slowly, it will all come together. The pieces will fit.

Martha Churchill is a free-lance writer. She can be reached at milanhistory@yahoo.com.

PAST TENSE

MARTHA CHURCHILL

Emily Howard came back to Milan in between stealing large sums of money with a stock fraud in New York. Eventually, in 1888, she built a home like a mansion on the northeast corner of Arkona and Platt roads. But two years before that, in August 1886, she was visiting Mell Barnes to insure her home on the east side of Hack Street.

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