Kankakee Valley Historical Society, 1099 Baum's Bridge Road, Kouts, IN (2026)

10/16/2026

Over fifteen years ago, while doing research in the genealogy department at the Porter County Library in Valparaiso, the late Larry Clark approached me with a small blue pamphlet titled “The Kankakee Marsh of Northern Indiana and Illinois” by Alfred H Meyer. The pamphlet was published in the 1935 issue of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters. Larry was the genealogy department head in addition to being the Porter County historian, selected by the Indiana Historical Society. He was aware that my wife, Mary, and I had formed the Kankakee Valley Historical Society and were researching the history of the Kankakee River. Clark told me the library was consolidating their collections; and had an extra copy of Meyer’s pamphlet they were donating to KVHS. Over the years I have reread Meyer’s paper many times and still pick up some new nuggets of information each time. I consider Meyer’s essay to be the best comprehensive scholarly short paper about the Kankakee River— prior to 1935 to present— with proposals for future restoration projects within the Kankakee Valley.

Alfred Hermon Meyer was born on February 27, 1893 to William and Maria Weihe Meyer in Venedy, IL. Alfred was the youngest of eight children born to the couple, and the only one to become a college graduate. He received his bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Illinois and his PhD from the University of Michigan. Meyer was a veteran of WW I, five years after his return from the service he married Lillian Folkers. They had one son—Alfred W Meyer.

Although, Valparaiso University is one of the older higher educational institutions in Indiana it was rejuvenated when the Lutheran University Association assumed responsibility for its support in 1925. The following year Meyer was appointed as an Instructor in the Geology and Zoology department at VU— becoming the department head in 1933. In 1937 Meyer reorganized it as the Department of Geography and Geology. In 1942 he was promoted to full Professor at VU. In addition to teaching at VU Meyer also taught summer courses at 13 other universities.

Over the years Meyer authored or co-authored s 44 papers, reports and manuals. In 1963 Meyer and his department head successor, John H. Strietelmeier, wrote the textbook “Geography in World Society: A conceptual approach” which can still be found at Amazon.

In addition to his scholarly endeavors, Meyer was also involved with his community. From 1948-1951, while presiding over the Valparaiso Plan Commission, he was instrumental in developing the city’s first master plan.

Of course, Meyer had a family life. I have been fortunate to have received remembrances from some of his grandchildren. Meyer’s son, Alfred W Meyer, often told that the family didn’t take vacations: “we went on field trips.” Meyer’s grandson Karl Meyer wrote me: “He was a bit of an odd duck as I remember him. Very task oriented and unassuming. I remember his organized little workshop in the basement. (He) Had a nice house built in the country that was fun to go to. (Grandpa was) a caring man who took us to Yellowstone and got (us) going out in Nature thing.”

In “Alfred H. Meyer: The Life and Work of a Midwestern Geographer” it is stated that: “Meyer is perhaps most noted for his application of the sequent occupance concept in the historical geography of the Kankakee and Calumet.” I had to look that expression up. The definition of Sequent Occupance is the notion that successive societies leave their cultural imprints on a place, each contributing to the cumulative cultural landscape. Cultural landscape in this context is a geographic area (including both cultural and natural resources and the wildlife or domestic animals therein), associated with a historic event, activity, or person or exhibiting other cultural or aesthetic values. Okay, with that under our belts we can fully understand what Meyer’s “The Kankakee Marsh of Northern Indiana and Illinois” is all about.

When I read Meyer’s paper, I had a hard time understanding the relationship of human history and geology/ecology. Meyer’s Kankakee Marsh paper begins an ecological overview of the marsh and its relationship with man. Meyer wrote the Kankakee is: “Marsh prairies of aquatic sedges and grasses, potential grazing areas; wild-rice sloughs, scenes of countless wild geese and ducks; flag ponds, lined with muskrat houses; a narrow but almost uninterrupted swamp forest, full of game, ri***ng a meandering river teeming with fish; the wet prairies, made humanly habitable by the interspersion of sandy island oak barrens surmounting the highest flood waters- such in brief is the physical setup which attracted the squatter pioneer from the East, who sought contentment in the solitude and seclusion of a marsh wilderness.”

Meyer interest in the Kankakee began when he started his study in the summer of 1931. He took a survey of one-mile strips three miles apart along the length of the river. The purpose was for the basis of a geographical study for a paper investigating: “concerns contending agricultural and conservational issues involved.” He made his views on conservation clear as a: “partial-marsh restoration enthusiast.”

Meyer identified four stages of settlement of the Kankakee Marsh: (1) The Potawatomi Indian, Fur Trading Stage (up to 1830); (2) The Pioneer Settler, Subsistence Agriculture Stage (1830-1850); (3) The Com Belt Farmer, Commercial Agriculture Stage (1850-1900) and (4) The Agricultural and Industrial Specialization, Conurbation Stage (1900-1953). Another stage that Meyer nestled in his timeframe was the Rancher’s and Recreationalist’s Kankakee (1880-1910).
What many people don’t realize is the amount of cattle ranching activity that took place in the Kankakee River Valley. Chicago meat packer, Nelson Morris, owned 23,000 acres in Jasper County where he fattened up thousands of cattle grazing off the abundant marsh hay of the Kankakee. Many of his cattle were originally shipped in from Texas. Morris led an adventurous and exciting life— including surviving the ill-fated Hindenburg airship fiery crash in 1937.

Another cattle ranch of local interest was the Burke Ranch, which was located southeast of Kouts. In 1887 brothers Jim and John Burke and George Adams purchased 6,000 acres from the Aetna Life Insurance Company. The ranch was named Clanricarde after Jim Burke’s wife’s hometown in Wales. The ranch was short-lived and was bankrupt by 1893.

Today there are Federal wetland restoration programs that take inspiration from Meyer's research and publications. Pictured are images taken of a Wetland Restoration project in south Porter County, Indiana.

10/12/2026

What the heck are these things? I went to get the mail, when I spotted these things near the mailbox. They are around 10 to 12 inches in diameter and have the texture of heavy vinyl, almost like a volleyball, but not quite as heavy, but not too far off. They are flexible and appear to be mushrooms, but I don't ever recall seeing any mushrooms looking like these. Please let me know your thoughts.

10/09/2026

One question I am frequently asked is: why weren't there objections made to prevent the channelization of the Kankakee River? I've wondered the same thing!

I subscribe to a historic newspaper database; it is a fantastic research tool! In my investigation into the subject the best comparison I can come up with is the controversy over the proposed construction of Data Centers throughout the United States. I follow the planned project because of its effect on the Kankakee River basin in some cases. There are many comparisons!

Times were different a hundred years ago. A few years ago there were a number of environmental groups fighting Data Centers and even taking legal action to stop their construction. I find almost no newspaper articles about groups trying to stop the straightening of the Kankakee. I do however find a report made to the U. S. Congress in 1916 from the Secretary of War over the proposal.

The report was an examination "with a view to devising plans for the flood protection and determining the extent to which the United States should cooperate with the States and other communities and interests in carrying out such plans, its share being based upon the value of protection to navigation." Originally the channelization of the Kankakee was proposed to improve navigation. Later it was sold as means of flood control. The report chiefly focuses on the issue of leveling the limestone rock near Momence, IL, but speaks much of the total character of the Kankakee and its channelization.

There is a lot of information in the report. The final sections were public input on the matter. To me it's clear that letters submitted by landowners mostly stress the increase of land value after channelization. The final letter addresses the environmental impact. It was submitted by the Marion County, Fish and Game Protective Association.

"Gentlemen: The petition presented to the board recently by Mr. F. M. Trissal of Chicago, relative to the drainage of the Kankakee Marsh by removal of rock at Momence, IL., was the subject of much discussion at the last meeting of the Marion County Fish and Game Protective Association held January3, 1916.The result was the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted:

"Be it resolved, That, as the Kankakee drainage proposition seems to be a scheme for the sole benefit of land speculators, and as it is a debatable question of the success of the project, and as this marsh is practically the only place in the State where bird life can be found in its natural environment, and as a movement is now on foot to interest the State in buying this marshland as a bird refuge and game preserve, the Marion County Fish and Game Protective Association is opposed to any action that would destroy the present wild state of the Kankakee River and marsh adjoining same."

There is no question that there was flooding before the channelization of the Kankakee and yet, to this day, we continue to see severe flooding of the Kankakee. Much is spent in maintenance of the levee embankments. What real gain has been achieved and what have we lost?

In the case of Data Centers, we need to be clear headed with the construction and consequences to the land and environment.

Go here to read the 1916 Congressional Report:https://kankakeevalleyhistoricalsociety.org/Wordpress1-13-2017/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Congressional-Report-Kankakee-River-1916.pdf

10/02/2026

Religious persecution and economic hardships led many Dutch to emigrate to America during the mid to late 19th century. The Kankakee Marsh, in Jasper County, attracted a large number of these dissatisfied Dutch. Thomas Swart left his native Holland in 1868 and settled in Cicero, Illinois. Then, in 1888 he purchased 234 acres in Keener Township along the Kankakee Marsh and built up his farm. This farm property contained the legionary Grape Island! Thomas’s son Louis moved to Jasper County in 1903. Louis and his wife Anna Abbring had six children, the last of which was Leonard, born in 1908. Leonard purchased his farm in the late 1930s. In 1992 Leonard sat for the Demotte-Kankakee Valley Rotary Club Oral History Project to tell his story. Leonard “Buzz” led a diverse life along the Kankakee, including playing for the DeMotte baseball team. Leonard saw first-hand the dredging of the Kankakee: “I saw the dredge that dug the Kankakee River out on the Old Grade. My dad heard in town that it was going to be up close by the Grade. We got in the Model T and went out to see it. It was a big outfit. It wasn’t done in one year.” Leonard married Mary Catherine White in 1933 and four children.

Leonard passed away in 2000, Mary Catherine followed eight months later. I want to thank Dan Swart, Leonard’s grandson, for family pictures and more details about his grandfather’s life. Go here to read Leonard’s life story: http://kankakeevalleyhistoricalsociety.org/?page_id=1416 Leonard Swart in front in between his parents. His brothers and sister are standing behind

09/25/2026

Soon after I began researching the Baum’s Bridge area I happened upon a pamphlet titled “The Kankakee River” by Ira M Fry. I was able to track Ira down and we became close friends. Ira was the only person I have met that actually remembered the Kankakee before it was channelized. Most of the following material comes from Ira M’s pamphlet.

Ira Miller Fry was born in October of 1906 to Ira Vinson and Annie Miller Fry in Hebron. The Fry family can trace their family in America to Gottfried Fray. Gottfried was born in Germany in 1721. He married Maria Linn in Pennsylvania in 1742.
Gottfried’s grandson, John, was born in York, Pennsylvania in 1792. In 1846 John and his family headed for the “fabulous new country” near Crystal Lake, Illinois. It was an arduous journey traveling the old Joliet Road. The Fry family arrived in McHenry County, Illinois in September, 1846. All were ill with what was called ague. The family recovered, but John continued to slip. It was decided to return to Pennsylvania. When they reached the small community of Valparaiso, John could travel no further. They rented a small house for him to recover, but John was not able to regain his health and died on November 17, 1846. By spring of 1847 the Fry family decided to stay in Porter County. They purchased a parcel of prime property east of Hebron. This is how the Fry family came to settle and flourish in Northwest Indiana.

As the community of Hebron grew the need for a school became apparent. The Fry family had expanded to the extent that they built a schoolhouse east of Hebron near present day SR 8 and named it the “Fry School.”

John’s grandson, Ira Vinson Fry, was born to William and Sarah Wallace Fry in 1861. Ira M later wrote: “At age 22, my father decided he no longer cared for farming and went to work for Joe Reif, a contractor and builder in Hebron. His wage was $1.00 per day, the going rate at the time. The hours were seven to six, six days per week.” He also worked at the sawmill that was located near the present day Hebron Middle School. At the gristmill, located next to the sawmill, Ira V met the gristmill owner’s daughter Annie Miller. Ira V and Annie were married in 1885.

In 1896 Ira V started his contractor business in Hebron. Ira V built many of the homes, barns and churches in the Hebron area. In the 1920s with his business booming he brought his son, Charles, into the company and established Ira V Fry & Son.

Another major interest of Ira V’s was the nearby Kankakee Marsh. In the spring of 1893 Ira and some friends built a cabin on what was formally known as Deserter’s Island. Deserter’s Island was reputed to be the hideout of a group of Civil War deserters. They named the cabin the “Columbia Shooting House Sixty-two.” Much controversy surrounds the origins of the name Sixty-two. In truth the name came from the fact that the members consisted of six Democrats and two Republicans. Surprisingly, the members never talked politics!

Ira M Fry continued with the family tradition of association with the Kankakee Marsh until his passing in 2006 at the age of 100.

Realizing that as the years passed there were fewer and fewer of the old rivermen left to tell the story of the Kankakee River Ira decided to set to paper his remembrances of life along the Kankakee River. His writings also give us a glimpse into the childhood life of Ira M. Fry. “More Than a Treasure,” written by Ira Fry on October 24, 2001, is a plausible theory explaining the finding of coral along the Kankakee.

09/18/2026

Historian Dick Schmal wrote in “Tales of the People and Places of the Olde Kankakee River:” “Rol Gordon, a Paul Bunyan-type character, is supposed to have roamed the Kankakee Valley for as long as anyone can remember. The buck-skinned giant was said to tell tall tales about the animals in the region, including man-eating turtles and buffalo fish bigger than a man, with scales twice as big as a silver dollar. That old river holds lots of secrets, and some people say that if you listen to the murmur in the wind down the valley, it may be old Rol telling animal stories once again in the "Land of the Wolves."

The Gordon family settled in the Kankakee Marsh area of south Porter County by the mid-1840s. Solomon “Sol” Gordon was born in 1834 to John and Sally Gordon. The John Gordon family arrived in Indiana by 1844 and established his farm in Boone Township. Sol was the oldest of seven children born to John and Sally. Sol was ‘one with the marsh’ and knew it like the back of his hand. His listed profession was butcher, but his love and knowledge of the Kankakee Marsh was where his heart was.

Around 1875 Sol built a steam powered barge that he used to transport timber to Momence. By that time railroad construction was in full force and the demand for timber was huge with that; and the rebuilding of Chicago after the Great Chicago Fire. Soggy ground conditions made hauling timber by wagon impractical. One day the engine quit — Sol traveled to Valparaiso to fetch Dell Kellogg, who installed the engine. After replacing a gasket and stripped out threads the engine was up and running. Sol and Dell later partnered and formed one of the earliest steamboat businesses of the Kankakee Marsh. With Sol’s vast knowledge of the river and Dell’s machinist background the business was quite successful.

Roscoe Leslie “Rol” Gordon was born in 1858 in Indiana to Samuel and Rachael McCandless Gordon. Sol and Samuel were either brothers or cousins. Rol was born in Ross Township, Lake County, Indiana. By 1870 the Gordon family is living in Union Township, Porter County. In 1883 Rol married Sophia Volke, they had five children. In 1934 Rol’s daughter, Gene Gordon Dye wrote to the Vidette-Messenger about the life of her father. Rol was best known for building and running hunting clubhouses on the Kankakee. In 1896 Rol operated the place at Baum’s Bridge, later known as Colliers.

Rol passed away in 1937. His obituary sums up his life and that of the Kankakee best: “Mr. Gordon was widely known among sportsmen, having been intimately identified with the Kankakee in the days when that entire region was teeming with wildlife of endless variety. The clubhouses owned and operated by him were gathering places where the friend and the stranger were equally welcome. It seems a sad but fitting coincidence that with the ruination of the marsh lands by commercial interests, and the passing of that river paradise, so passed the prime of life for this man, exponent of that era of freedom and Rol Gordon and the Kankakee gradually faded from the picture together, the curtain to rise no more.”
Rol Gordon is pictured in the above image.

Dick Schmal's "Tales of the People and Places of the Olde Kankakee River" is now in its third printing. Go here to purchase "Tales of the Peoople and places of the Olde Kankakee River" :https://kankakeevalleyhistoricalsociety.org/?page_id=3147

09/11/2026

In 1992 the DeMotte-Kankakee Valley Rotary Club initiated the “Oral History Project.” The project was named “The Settling of the Grand Marsh of the Kankakee River.” The first transcript I’ve posted, of these recordings, at our Kankakee Valley Historical Society website was given by Casper Belstra. Belstra was born on July 5, 1895 in Bierum, Groningen, Netherlands. The Belstra family arrived at New York harbor on November 29, 1904 and were settled on the family farm in Keener Township, Jasper County, Indiana by 1910.

Casper remembered his immigration to the United States: “My father decided to immigrate, he was going! His sister did not want to leave, (she thought it was a waste of money), so she was left behind. We arrived December 4th and landed in Thayer. That was the end of our journey.”

After arriving in Thayer and all settled in, it was time to support the Belstra family. Even at the early age of 10, Casper was expected to help contribute to the household: “I remember that first winter here. Dad got a job with Corneilus Evers Sr. baling stacks of hay and I hired out with him. They paid $2.00 a day, $1.00 a day and I got fifty cents a day. And I had to drive the press team around and around. The press team would get the hay and put it in the press. The horses came around and they drove pretty easy. They would get a roll and start over new again. I had to get the chain going, but at the same time you had to keep that team running. Corneil Evers fed the press and George Mosier, who was a steady hired hand with Evers, took charge of the wires for the cut hay and then it went to Chicago. Chicago was run with horses with no trucks or anything.

Casper married Grace DeFries in around 1920—they had 8 children. Casper, a farmer, talks about the dredges and his experience with ditches dug to drain the marsh. One ditch was even named for Belstra! Casper told of the coming of the dredges: “ Then we got ditches, dredged ditches. That started about the first year we came to the States and had that farm. There was a dredge already laid. The fellow that was to operate it came and built the dredge and they floated in water (the machine that dug the ditches). They had to have water and they had two long arms --- four of them --- and they moved forward and that way they could dig again. Someone would come in from another area to do the ditching. These ditches didn’t run into the river. They ran on into the marsh and after awhile flooded the marsh and made higher ground and of course, later on, not too much later on, they ditched the river. They made a ditch out of the river.

Belstra also talks about working the land and overcoming the challenges the Kankakee Marsh presented. This interesting transcript are from the perspective of the common man. This is a too often overlooked viewpoint of settlement in the Kankakee Marsh.

Grace passed away in 1980 and Casper followed in 1992, shortly after he sat for the recording of his life story. Go here to read Casper’s story: http://kankakeevalleyhistoricalsociety.org/?page_id=1388

09/04/2026

The story of the Kankakee River has many authors: first the Native American, then the fur trapper and pioneer. The railroads brought the rich and famous to the Kankakee; where they erected clubhouses — the heyday of the sportsman era. Other important contributors were the local men that worked the land and acted as guides for the sportsmen. Eleazer "Tad" Starkey was just such a man.

Starkey was born in 1877 to Eleazer and Ellen Hayes Starkey in Kouts, Ind. Tad's grandfather, David Starkey, brought his family to Indiana around 1840 and by 1850 they were well established in Center Township. In 1854 Eleazer moved to Pleasant Township, where by the mid-1870s he is farming a 30 acre parcel located a mile east of Baum's Bridge. After the passing of Eleazer in 1900 and his wife Ellen in 1909, the farm was passed on to Tad. In 1902 Tad married Lulu M. Barber. By 1921 Tad added another 27 acre parcel that fronted on the Kankakee River proper. Tad raised grain and had a small herd of dairy cows. He and Lulu were deeply involved with the Indiana Farm Bureau and experimented with the new farming practices of the day. In 1938 he reported the results of a study he conducted on fertilization of his pasture fields. Tad applied ammonium sulphate to a portion of the fields. Within a week he could see a dramatic improvement and his "cattle showed a strong preference for the fertilized grass."

Tad is one of those individuals closely associated with the story of the Kankakee during the time of transition while the marsh was drained. He spent his entire life on the marsh. He supplemented his farm income by working as a "pusher" for the sportsmen that hunted the marsh. Living close to Baum's Bridge Tad became acquainted with Lew Wallace. In 1965 Tad was interviewed by the Vidette-Messenger and told "that the general would come to the Kankakee area to fish, camp and work on one of his books. On one occasion he was asked to help Wallace locate a site for a camp. He was able to do so, and later helped Wallace pack supplies, and sometimes pushed his boat down the river for Wallace on sight-seeing excursions. He said Wallace wasn't much of a hunter, that didn't care much for hunting, but that he liked to camp out on the banks of the Kankakee do a little fishing and writing."

Tad had a unique perspective on the draining of the marsh; with half of his life spent on the marsh before the draining and half after. He admitted that the draining gave him a lot more land, but "There are a lot more things to life than just farming."

Starkey was one of the last "pushers" of the old Kankakee Marsh before it was drained and channelized. Tad passed away in 1967 at the age of 90, Lulu was to follow in 1970.

Tad Starkey is seated on right.

08/28/2026

A few years ago, while browsing the internet, I ran across some Kankakee River pictures I had never seen before. The webpage owner told me they were in a box of glass negatives he bought at a flea market and were for sale! I purchased the negatives; a small notebook was included in the shipment. The notebook contained names, dates, costs, job estimates, sketches and even what appeared to be a Christmas list. In one of the negatives, I could make out a sign that said “Ahlgrim Park.” I began my search and hit on the family tree for Max Ahlgrim of Shelby, Ind. The Christmas list names were of Max’s children! I continued my search for more information about Ahlgrim. While most pioneers to the Kankakee Valley were trappers, hunters and farmers, Max chose a different livelihood — recreation.

Max John Ahlgrim was born in 1858 in Chicago to Christian and Maria Fleck Ahlgrim. Chris immigrated to America from Germany in 1853, Maria arrived in 1856. They married in 1857 and had six children. Max was the oldest son.

In 1875 the Ahlgrim family packed their belongings and moved from Chicago to near Shelby. Max was 17 at the time and given the responsibility of moving the Ahlgrim possessions from Momence to their new home. Included was a load of lumber for their home’s construction. Max learned of a steamboat for hire and decided to ship everything by the Kankakee River instead of wagon.

The morning of Aug, 21, 1875 found Max onboard the steamboat “Morning Star” heading east toward his new home. In later years Max told of the sights up the Kankakee: "While the scenery from Momence up to the state line was grand, all day Sunday up the river a grand and marvelous work of God and nature opened up to man. At nearly every bend some wildlife scampered out. Young mallard ducks hardly able to fly, coots, sandhill cranes, and "thunder-pumpers" by the hundreds scampered out from the underbrush to get out of the way of our disturbance, while many squirrels in the trees barked at us defiantly. We shot several ducks that got in front of our outfit to be used for Sunday dinner."

In 1878 Max married Ida Bell Parks. They had 11 children. Max and Ida made their home at Water Valley on the Kankakee River where he later built the Ahlgrim Park campgrounds. Ahlgrim was an enterprising entrepreneur of the type that made this country great. Over the years Max stated his occupation as carpenter, machinist and resort keeper. Even in his late 70s he kept active doing odd jobs around the resort. Ahlgrim Park was located near the Monon tracks making his campground an easy railroad trip for Chicago area residents. Max built power boats and used them for excursions on the Kankakee. In 1907 he acquired the Clyde King photography business, making possible the glass negatives I later purchased.

Max Ahlgrim’s vison and hard work made his park one of the first and most successful recreation destination spots on the Kankakee River. Max passed away in 1936, Ida followed in 1945. They are buried in the Lowell Memorial Cemetery.

Go here to read the Max Ahlgrim notebook:http://kankakeevalleyhistoricalsociety.org.previewc38.carrierzone.com/Kankakee%20River%20History/Books%20and%20papers/Ahlgrim%20notebook-complete.pdf

08/21/2026

The Hall family story is one of the more interesting Kankakee River tales. Edward Hall was born in Ireland in 1812. He immigrated to Canada with his wife, Ann Maxwell, where they lived for two years and then on to Indiana in 1836. They owned property in section 6 in Pleasant Township, Porter County. Major McFadin was a close friend of Edward Hall's and wrote this: "I was acquainted with him for over 20 years, and he was a good, kind man, and had a large family of boys, all hunters and trappers, and they lived like Robinson Crusoe in the wilderness, without any neighbors within 5 or 6 miles of them, and I begrudged them their happy and wild life, and would like to have joined them in their romantic home near the banks of the Kankakee." Edward died in 1881 and Ann in 1914.

James was born to Edward and Ann in 1853. James married Nancy Cannon of Kouts in 1875, they had 8 children. A majority of the following comes from the writings of historian Richard "Dick" C. Schmal as was told to him by Kris Hall, the grandson of James.

James and Nancy Hall lived in San Pierre, Indiana. James was working stacking hay on the Brown Ranch near Shelby, Indiana. He heard that a dredge barge was for sale and purchased it. In 1900 he decided to move his family to Shelby on the barge that he converted to a houseboat. The houseboat was 34 by 14 feet in size. Schmal writes: "There were nine family members who made the trip: James and Nancy, along with daughters Ella, Daisy, Dora and Hazel, and sons Elmer, Millard and John (who was just a baby). Also, several old hound dogs, a flock of chickens and barrels filled with staples such as flour and apples added to the clutter."

The Hall family moved slowly down the Kankakee. "In late November they finally reached the 3-I railroad bridge above Shelby. Here they had to stop for the winter because they were driving pilings for a new bridge... In the late spring of 1901 the new bridge was completed and the old pilings were cut away, leaving room for the barge to pass through." writes Schmal.

The Hall family found a place near Shelby. "The family lived on the floating houseboat for a period of time until it began to leak so badly that it had to be pulled onto the bank, where they lived for several years (at least through 1917), paying five dollars rent annually for the site."

Around 1910 James leaves his family in Shelby and moves to Florida. His obituary dated July 23, 1920 reads: James Hall, known as "Dad", was found dead on Shell Island in his bachelor's quarters Sunday afternoon by Tom Williams. As near as could be ascertained the old fisherman came to his death from natural causes. The only articles found in his pockets were receipts for dues paid the Odd Fellows Lodge. He had been living on Shell Island, acting as fisherman and guide for a number of years, and living the life of a hermit." Nancy died in Shelby in 1945.

The Halls were a large family and many descendants remain in Northwest Indiana to this day. Pictured is the Hall family in front of the barge that brought them to new home in Shelby.

Kankakee Valley Historical Society

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