200th Birthday!

The state of Indiana will turn 200 years old next year.

It was admitted to the United States as the 19th state on December 11, 1816.  As part of the bi-centennial celebration, the Indiana Historical Society with contributions from Care Group, Inc. has created a new free website called "Destination Indiana", www.destination-indiana.com.  The website has information about each of Indiana's 92 counties and a variety of historical tidbits about the state.  I am particularly enjoying the map collections.

Violet Ida Carpenter

Violet Carpenter, circa 1924

My maternal grandmother, Violet Carpenter was born February 26, 1920 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Hulda Louise Armke and Harry Lee Carpenter.[i]  She was their only child.  Her father, Harry Carpenter worked for the railroads and as a result he and his family moved to different locations.  I have not been able to locate the family in the 1920 census.  They could literally be living anywhere in the United States that had a railroad depot. 

In 1930 the family was living at 506 West 7^th Street in Cincinnati, Ohio[ii] and by 1940 the family unit had been divided.  Violet’s father, Harry Carpenter is living in Dayton, Ohio[iii] and her mother, Louise Carpenter is living in Terre Haute, Indiana[iv].  I have not been able to locate Violet in the 1940 census records.   

However from family, I know that in 1940 she was attending the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis.  This may help to explain why I can’t locate her in the census records. 

Violet about 1940

Violet Carpenter and Jack Harden met at the Christian Science Church in Terre Haute, Indiana.  Jack was sitting a few rows behind Violet and he followed her out when the service concluded and made her acquaintance.  Even after Violet married Jack Harden in 1941, her life continued to be on the move.  Jack joined the Army and they lived on several different Army bases throughout the country during the next ten years.

Violet was a very talented artist, and an avid reader.  More importantly, she always seemed to keep the family on an even keel.  That in my mind was her greatest gift of all. 

Unfortunately, she passed away on February 2, 1979 in Terre Haute, Indiana leaving behind many family members and friends.

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[i] "Indiana, Marriages, 1811-1959," index and images, Vigo County, 1941-1941, Volume 100, page 32, License #6042/00069A.pdf,  Jack Harden and Violet Ida Carpenter, County clerk offices, Indiana, Family Search (https://familysearch.org : accessed 21 January 2015), image 72 of 337.

[ii] 1930 U. S. census, Hamilton County, Ohio, population schedule, Cincinnati, Ward 18, Block 11, ED 31-202, page 174 (stamped), 6B (penned), dwelling 55, family 200A, Harry Carpenter, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 January 2015); citing NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 1813.

[iii] 1940 U. S. census, Montgomery County, Ohio, Population schedule, Dayton City, Ward 8, Block 57, ED 94-125, page 1841B (stamped), 81B (penned), dwelling T, Harry Carpenter, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 January 2015); citing NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 3254.

[iv] 1940 U. S. census, Vigo County, Indiana, Population schedule, Terre Haute, Ward 7, Block 328, ED 84-53, page 320B (stamped), 8B (penned), dwelling 179, Louise Carpender, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 Jan 2015); citing NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 1104.

Mary Virginia Hudson

Mary Virginia Hudson (1900-1941), circa 1908

I really would have liked to have known my paternal grandmother.  But unfortunately, she died when my father was just five years old and as a result I know very little about her.  Mary Virginia Hudson was named after her grandmother, Mary Virginia Tarvin and was the eldest child of Orin Tulley Hudson and Maude Belle Nicoson.  She was born in Brazil, Clay County, Indiana on August 27, 1900.  Both of her parents were also born in Clay County, Indiana.

Virginia married Russell McCullough on November 15, 1919 in Clay County, Indiana when she was 19 years old.  She and Russell had five children together, they are John, Marjorie, Orin, Dale and Claude.  Child number six was on the way, when she fell on the steps to their house.  She was fairly far along in the pregnancy and the fall triggered labor to begin.  The doctor was called and he tried to save the unborn baby’s life and her life to no avail.

When she died on July 27, 1941 in Clay County, Indiana she was 40 years of age.

Russell McCullough

Russell McCullough 1954

I never met my paternal grandfather, Russell McCullough. He was the oldest child and only son of John Russell McCullough and Emma Florence Boes.  He was born in Brazil, Clay County, Indiana on Jul 16, 1894, just the right age to be drafted into WWI.

Unfortunately, most of the federal records for the state of Indiana in WWI were burned in the 1973 fires at the NARA building in Missouri.  Most of the limited information that I have collected so far came from his Veteran's Burial Card.  It indicates that he was a part of the 52nd Artillery C. A. C, Battery D.

I am not a military buff, all the acronyms, ranks and organizations of the military are somewhat baffling to me.  I'm not sure that the information written above is in the preferred sequence.  To make matters more difficult there was a lot of  reorganization and renaming of his unit.  But still I wanted to learn more about this man so....

First I looked up C. A. C., and found that it stands for Coast Artillery Corps.  Why would Russell be drafted into this branch of the military?  Since when did Indiana have a coastal port that needed to be defended?  And why would a Coast Artillery Unit go to another country during war time?  Shouldn't they be at home defending their country?

It turns out that when the U.S. decided to enter World War I, there were not as many trained troops as needed to fight, so soldiers were pulled from every available resource.  My understanding is that as the war continued, new recruits were placed into already existing units.

Russell entered service April 3, 1918 and was honorably discharged January 24, 1919.  His rank was Pfc, or private first class.  The 52nd Coast Artillery Corp was a railroad gun unit responsible for building railroad tracks to maneuver large 320 and/or 340 mm caliber guns where they were needed.  Then they fired the guns on designated targets, To get a rough idea of what the guns looked like picture a large cannon on a flatbed railroad car.  Russell was in the military for less then a year.  But that was long enough for him to be sent to France and to be exposed to Mustard Gas according to some of the family reports.

The exposure to Mustard Gas would continue to be bothersome throughout the rest of his life.  Russell died just a little more than a year after this photo was taken on July 19, 1955.