During my Indiana visit, my cousin (third, twice removed) Ron Casbon toured me around the parts of Porter County most closely associated with the descendants of Amos James Casbon (1869–1956). Amos was the only one of James Casbon’s (~1813–1884) sons who came with him to America. As such, he is the patriarch of what is probably the largest branch of the family in the United States.
The highlight of my driving tour was a visit to the farm that originally belonged to Amos, and is still occupied by one of his descendants. Here is a picture of the farm as I saw it.
We’ve encountered Amos in two previous posts: “Cousins” and “Amos Sees Something Amiss.” Likewise, I’ve mentioned his father James in two earlier posts: “James Casbon of Meldreth, England and Porter County, Indiana” and “James Casbon in the 1880 U.S. Census, Porter Township, Porter County, Indiana.” Readers may recall that Amos was only 15 when his father died from complications of a bite wound inflicted during an unprovoked attack.[1]
The historical record is silent about what happened to Amos immediately after his father’s death. Unfortunately, the 1890 census was lost in a fire, so there are no records to cover the twenty-year gap between 1880 and 1900. An article in the Valparaiso Vidette Messenger commemorating his 50th wedding anniversary tells us, “before his marriage he was a gripman on the street car in Chicago for four years. He then came to Porter county and started farming.” Cousin Ron suggests that Amos did not get along well with his step-mother, Mary (Payne), who eventually moved to Valparaiso, where she died in 1903.[2] Perhaps his poor relationship with her motivated him to seek employment in Chicago.
Exactly when he left Chicago and returned to Porter County is unclear, but the 1900 census shows him listed as a boarder in the household of William Shreves, a farmer in Porter Township.[3]
The census does not list Amos’ occupation, but the fact that he was boarding with a farmer suggests that he was probably working on Mr. Shreves’ or another nearby farm.
1900 was also noteworthy for the fact that on November 28th of that year, he married Carrie Belle Aylesworth (1873–1958), daughter of John and Eliza Jane (Herring) Aylesworth.[4] The Aylesworths lived in Boone township, just a few miles away from the Shreve farm. Since Amos did not yet have his own farm, where did the newlyweds live? Probably with her parents, but that is only a guess.
Amos began to rectify the living situation quickly. Porter County records show that he made his first land purchase in January, 1901, when he bought 65 acres in Porter Township from Hattie Dye for the sum of $3,250.[5] The land was located in section 32 in Porter Township, just southwest of the small community of Boone Grove. It was on this site that Amos and Carrie started to build their farm.
Which brings me to a wonderful photo, provided by Ron Casbon.
Not only were Amos and Carrie building a farm, they were building a family as well. The photo shows their first six children, beginning with Berlyn Clyde (b. 31 May 1901); followed by Ada Lucille (b. 5 November 1902), then Vernon Lloyd (b. 9 August, 1904), Harry James (b. 23 February 1906), Neva Beatrice (b. 6 September 1907), and Herbert Aylesworth (b. 29 August 1910). Given Herbert’s apparent age of 1–2 years, the photo must have been taken in 1911 or 1912. Amos and Carrie would go on to have three more children: Donald Glen (b. 8 February 1913), Doris Bernice (b. 14 April 1914), and Delbert Keith (b. 30 October 1916).
According to Ron, the children in the photograph are standing in front of the original farm house. Quite a cozy little home for a rapidly growing family! If you look to the left of the picture, you can see the “new” house, either still under construction or newly built. Compare to this photo I took during my visit.
By chance I happened to take this picture from roughly the same position as the earlier photo. The “new” house is on the left. Where did the original house go? It’s still there, but it has been moved to the back of the house and greatly modified. It is the garage you see in the background. Here’s a picture taken from the back of the garage, showing what appears to be an original window.
Amos continued to make land purchases up through 1922, eventually totaling more than 220 acres, by my calculations.
There are probably many family stories associated with this farm. Unfortunately I don’t know them. Hopefully family members will feel free to share them as comments to this post.
Is the current occupant of the family farm still farming? The reason I ask is that in northern New England, very few family farms from the nineteenth and early twentieth century are still in existence. Either the land played out, or they were bought out by agribusiness when the economics of small-scale farming become unsustainable. I was wondering if that was the case in the Midwest.
Hi Liz, Yes they are still actively farming. That part of the county still has a lot of agricultural.
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