Margaret Freeman

Stephen Freeman Family: Margaret Freeman: 1993 taped interview w/ Bill Spurgeon’s son; paraphrased in 2013 by Ann Garceau:

“My mother (Josephine Walter Freeman) was a native of Wabash, IN; my father (Stephen Freeman) was a Vermonter; he was a chemist by education, and he ended up in the paper cording industry – I think there was a paper mill in Wabash and that’s how he came to Wabash; they started their married life there, then he went to West Virginia, and he was with the WV Pulp and Paper Mill there; only reason we are out here is that in 1911 (Margaret was only 3 at the time; in 1993, she was 85), he developed typhoid, and they didn’t think he was going to make it, but grandmother – my mother’s people – had a cottage on Wawasee so we all came out here in the summer of 1911 for him to recover, and that was the beginning. They told him he’d have to work outside; he couldn’t work in a mill any more. Through various connections he found out that there was some property available on the south side of the lake; grandmother was on the south side (South Park, #579). Brunje’s Park – there was a lodge there called Truesdell Lodge; apparently it was a place where people could come for a short vacation – fishermen would come there. Mr. Brunje’s had a small hotel too. He was an old German – born and raised in Germany. It was interesting – the family there – because they were still very much of the old country. But his specialty was German potato salad, fried chicken and beer. I have some pictures here that shows his place. Right next to him was this establishment that they called a chicken plant, and they raised chickens. Neither my mother nor father were ever on a farm; they were raised in the cities, but Dad took it on, and he decided he’d try it; he could do it for a while anyway. So he started out with the chicken farm, and of course Mr. Brunjes wanted the chickens. So that was a built-in way of selling them. From there things just developed. He eventually acquired more property – quite a bit of property around there, and turned the property that wasn’t on the lake into an apple orchard. We had that for a number of years, and then it got so he (her father) was no longer able to take care of it, and eventually we moved to town. There were 5 children of us – there are only 3 of us left – mother and dad are gone, my oldest brother is gone and my youngest brother is gone. There is my sister and her husband – Jim Kroh who was in Thornburg Drug Company; my brother Joe is an M.D., and he lived in Denver until he retired. I’m retired, and I ended up being a secretary.

We lived in the Truesdell Lodge which was a log cabin, but it was very nice and finished on the inside – plaster and all that sort of stuff – nice woodwork, big picture window. As the family grew, we needed a little more room. My two young brothers were born in the log cabin at Wawasee so we built a home on property adjoining that property and the people who own it now are the Porters – it’s an old colonial house (#643); it would be a colonial if it was built by my father (being from Vermont). My father made himself very much acquainted with the workings of the farm. I have a whole stack of little books that he got from Purdue University on an orchard. He was very much of a student, and when he did anything, he delved into it thoroughly. He followed pretty much the rules. He even had some incubators and hatched his own chickens for a long time – couple of years. That got to be a little too much; decided someone else could take care of the chicken business. By that time Mentone was selling day old chicks and stuff like that – mass production was beginning.

Things changed – a lot of things have changed in this century: there wasn’t electricity out there; we did have a telephone; we put in our own water system – you did everything yourself; a few people would have their own inside bathrooms, but most of them didn’t; my grandfather was a manufacturer too – he had to have his comforts, so he had a 500 gallon water tank put in the cottage utility area, so he had his own bathroom – inside toilets, everything, the whole works, the kitchen sink. There were very few homes – to one side of us was the hotel and then there weren’t any homes on the lake until you got down about across from the Sleepy Owl area; then there was a group of homes – a group of Goshen people, and a little farther on there was a Mr. Burke – I think he was from Muncie, and then there further on was a little summertime grocery store. In the winter, there was one light across (the lake) from us after Labor Day for a long, long time – Bishops.

The fish hatchery had been put in – they were quite an attraction. Margaret was sorry they were moved to Bremen by Gov. Bowen. There was Buttermilk Pt. where you could go and there was a hotel there (Johnson’s Hotel). They had a small collection of mangy animals for a zoo. On around a little farther was Crow’s Nest, and there was a year that they served dinners – someplace extra besides the hotels for eating out. There were tennis courts here – my grandmother; a lot of people had their own tennis courts at that time – that was a popular sport. The Wawasee golf course had been established; the South Shore is newer. Most everybody had boats of one kind or another – powerboats. There were 2 or 3 large launches that would take people around the lake for a dollar – that was a way you entertained your guests. A lot of people would come down from Chicago and get off at the Wawasee Station rather than Syracuse and the boats would meet them to take them around – if there wasn’t a private boat – you’d get one of the launches and go meet your friends over there. I think people used the lake a little bit more in a different way than they do now; it’s all so sophisticated now with the power boats and the sailboats all so numerous and those little scooters that I think are wicked. It wasn’t as complicated a situation – you could go swimming and not be afraid of being hit. Most everybody had a raft, and you always played on the raft – King of the raft. We did a lot of skating on the ice – we had then. There were ice boats both on Wawasee and Syracuse – more on Syracuse Lake because not too many people came in the winter time (to Wawasee), and houses weren’t winterized. After the Depression and the Second World War they started becoming more permanent homes and built for all kinds of weather.

We came into town for school. There were a number of one-room country schools around. My father entered into a lot of the civic activities around here. He was a trustee for 4 years – about 1916 – 1920. It was during that time that the general trend to eliminate the one-room school and consolidate with town school started. So, while he had to get teachers for the one-room school at the first of his term, almost by the end of it, everybody was being bused to town. That was a change that took place early in the century. We provided our own transportation (to school). In the beginning we had a horse and buggy, we didn’t have a car. Eventually the Fords became available. Dad needed that not only for the farm but for us, so we had an old Ford runabout that we used – the 3 of us that came to school. Our school was right across from the library uptown. All 12 grades were in that school plus a room for the library. The primary room was in the basement and the library was across the hall; on the first floor up were most of the grades; 7th, 8th and high school was on the third floor and right behind that was an old, old school building that they used for a gym. The pillars that were at the school building were used by Seth Ward and they are standing at his library.

Came into town to church and any school activities; basketball tournaments and basketball all the time; a band concert on Wednesday nights that was very popular; always been a movie house – same location – had a little stage area; school plays were given there. It was part of the community. In high school, family was living on Lake Wawasee until 1960 or ‘61 – they were there 40 years. Margaret went away to school, was gone for quite a few years – worked in Chicago in the medical profession as a secretary – didn’t come back here until after the Second
World War – couldn’t take the climate in Memphis – came back here to recuperate. By that time, at the end of the Second World War, things were being built up – SR 13 had been put in; didn’t use to be a road past Wawasee Boat Co. – when they pushed through Kale Island they brought that road around the Pickwick properties. Always thought of Syracuse as a small town with big city ways. A lot of people who settled around here came from cities and would bring their ways. Our movie house is up-to-date all the time; tv; good highways – weren’t so isolated as when we depended on railroads. With electricity, once it started it went all the way around the lake. Homes had been primitive before its arrival.

Neighborhood: when first there, the Schacht family from Huntington lived there a long time – Cliff lived there and other brother (Bob) lived down nearer Catholic church. Our property included one little strip that wasn’t platted. Building took place beyond the Schachts. Earle Waltz’s father built there before Freeman’s arrived – car dealer in Goshen. Another house next to it – think name was Singery. Few more lots on beyond, there were 5 houses on the lake – Elwood George on the lake – one moved across the road way down. There was a time that Elwood George was promoting a winter hotel for winter sports. He was a very strong Mason, and he was counting on their support for customers. He finally had to give it up because the winters became uncertain – he had the land for it. Paul Levernier’s property (#666) is across from the houses Elwood George used to build. The Levernier family were Huntington people – his father came up here and made a car polish/cleaning material – he sold a lot of it during the war to keep machinery clean and that sort of stuff. After someone bought one of Elwood George’s homes, then little by little they got larger and more lots were sold, and they pushed it around the corner – there weren’t any around the corner past Levernier’s at first. The channels near the fish hatchery were developed.

Industry in Syracuse: when the family came, the cement factory was there – dredged the lake – there’s a channel from around Spurgeon’s house (#790, 791) to the east end where they dredged the lake; they had great big scows, and they’d take them into the Slip, and they’d load them on to little cars; there was a little railroad that went into the factory – right down along the railroad tracks on Medusa St. there was a hotel there that housed many of the workers – lot of foreigners who came down to work at the cement plant – called it the Hunky Hotel (Margaret did not want this name used) because they came from southern European countries – some of them went to school there. Suppose they dredged the lake as much as they could, then they stopped. Since the war we have 2 big boat companies – Rinkers and Sea Nymph. Manufacturing built up after WWII.

Syracuse: Lot of churches – at least 7 in town – pretty much in town. The Noll family built Church of Little Flower before Spink became Catholic school. Episcopal on Wawasee. Churches part of social life. One church built in Village. Uptown is the bank and jewelry shop. Pickwick Block is mostly professional. Lot of people go to hardware store. Put post office up north of town. Post office first in old license branch bldg., then in pool shop after Thornburg’s, then built building across from Love Furniture. 2 drugstores uptown, think there were 3 grocery stores, a variety store, a hardware store and in Pickwick Block itself – newspaper, grocery store, variety store and other small shops. Klink building started move to Village. Mother would call up an order to the grocery and grocery people uptown would pick up meat from meat market and deliver those goods 3 times a week – wouldn’t have to go to town – common. Ice was delivered by truck, milkman (W.A. Jones Dairy) to east of Spink.

Dining out: cross from Vawter Park Hotel was Louie’s grocery store, they eventually served meals and that was good; Sargent’s Hotel had a good dining room – open early Spring and late Fall; several places – town restaurant; there was a time when 2 ladies started a tea room, they named it “At the Sign of the Kettle” located where Love Furniture (Revolving Closet) is now – didn’t last too long; people didn’t go out of town as much as they do now.

Conversation while looking through pictures: Brunje’s Park; launch – used wicker chairs in them; ladies with hats on in boat; property back of hotel; lakeside; canvas boathouse with wooden frame; ice boat; back of grandmother Walter’s house; front of her place – where John Meyer’s place is now was house Grandpa (Bossler Walter, #579) had and next door (Ralph Teetor home, # 580) was Sam Whitmer from Goshen – Margaret’s grandfather and Sam were cousins so that’s how that happened; front of grandmother’s house; part of chicken farm; orchard is platted now and there are homes in there now; Truesdell Lodge with little brother (Jim?) in picture; cute little log one-room cabin with a fireplace that they used for a playhouse; house we built next door to log cabin where we lived for 40 years; Brunje’s started out as just a place to go in the early days – maybe just one guest room, then they built another house with more bedrooms and little gazebos; grandma and couple of the kids …some pics taken in West Virginia; Mr. Kindig’s (uptown merchant) widow left Margaret a big box of pictures – nephew had it at the time. Margaret intended to take it up to the Museum eventually.

Personalities: there were some folks in the Pickwick area that entertained folks like Ring Lardner and somebody else – a relative of somebody; George Mellinger was a builder – his great-grandson has become an actor in a play in Chicago playing Will Rogers’ father in a play that depicts Will Rogers’ life (Will Rogers Follies); his name is George (Riddle), he looks like his great grandfather, he’s been here because his mother still lives in Goshen – she’s married to Riddle. George Mellinger lived on the south side – his great grandfather – was such a nice, funny little man, he was a character really, he helped people fish – he’d take people out fishing; he had one of the first cars around, and he’d meet all trains; my oldest brother used him for a theme in his freshmen year of high school – I’ll get that out because that would be interesting.

1. P. Dolan: early school teacher, quite a well-educated man for that time, interested in the schools, cute little Irishman, wonderful sense of humor; Margaret remembers and speaks of him so much because her father enjoyed him so much and worked together with him; her Dad became interested in the bank area; so was Mr. Dolan who was a very sharp individual, he did a lot for the town in a quiet way, his influence pops up everywhere, everyplace, very good mind and very good foresight.

Margaret Mead (by the 1960s, she was a world famous anthropologist) visited here many times when Katherine Rothenberger was alive; Katherine and Margaret went to DePauw together; I don’t know if she is still living.

At one time there were tensions between lake and town, she (Margaret Freeman) didn’t appreciate it because her family lived on the lake and Syracuse was her town. It has simmered down now because there are too many people living here year-round now. Transportation is such that people get around more.

Winter: someone had a bobsled – gathered at top of (now Huntington St.) hill in Syracuse –that hill has been cut down considerably; it was much steeper before 13 was put thru – we could start off on a bobsled on the hill and go almost to the railroad tracks! Traffic was nill practically. People used to skate on the lake a lot, especially Sunday afternoons, crack the whip, everybody skated young and old. Now snowmobiles and skiing, but Mt. Wawasee closed. Tried every year to have the Winter Festival – little by little it gets done.

Earle Waltz had a relative living on SR13 – Renfrow farm (Bales home on curve south of town). Margaret remembers going around the bend in road across from there and looking out over the bullrushes in the lake, and it was completely black with spots of red of the red-wing blackbirds sitting on those rushes – it was just gorgeous!

W.E. Long started the Pickwick Block; there was a time when he wanted to change the name of the town to Longville – you can imagine that created a little bit of criticism, but his heart was in the right place; he suggested planting flowers and stuff around; kept a gardener at his lagoon all year long.

When she was little, out in front of their place there was an island of reeds – they’d swim around it, and there was another one further out. Papakeechie and Tri County attract wildlife now. Margaret went to Collete (sp.?) College in Wisconsin.