Person:Matilda Hoffman (3)

MATILDA HOFFMAN HARTMANN (1877-1974)

Well known in her local community as "Aunt Til", she lived her whole life in the area in and around Dyer, Indiana. Her grandparents and parents were successful farmers, and she met Louis Hartmann while he was working on one of the farms.

One of her main hobbies was photography - her family purchased one of the first cameras available in the area. In fact, they were also the first family to have a phonograph, organ, and other new devices installed in their home. She was very active in the Catholic Church, Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), and the Democratic Party.

I remember when I was young, she dressed me up. I sat in a cart behind a Shetland Pony as we attended a 1909 Democratic event during the campaign of Governor Thomas R. Marshall. I recall her standing by the podium on the platform giving a speech which began "We, the people of Ross County...". I was so proud of her.

Mabel Newquist

I spent many enjoyable summers with my Grandma Hartmann and my Aunt Mel, exploring their huge house on the corner, and playing with the terrier dog, Tiny. She would set up a card table on the front porch and we'd play with loads of jigsaw puzzles. One was a Rockwell picture called "Catch him Gramps". It was exciting to watch the Monon trains slowly rumble along the railroad track adjacent to the south of the property, and the house would rattle as each train passed. I'd always wave to the engineer, count the number of cars, and then wave to the caboose man. Occasionally I'd put a nail on the track before the arrival, and then have a "keepsake" metal sculpture afterwards. We'd frequently visit the Gettler home to the west across the street.

I had lots of summertime friends to return to each year, and one of our pastimes was to play in the corn cob bins in the large grain storage elevator across the street to the north. Or we'd walk several blocks to the main street, and hang out at the drugstore soda fountain - reading comic books. On Saturday nigbts, we'd sit on wooden benches and watch outdoor movies shown against a huge cloth draped against the side of one of the stores.

She was a good cook, and her kitchen wwas equipped with a large cast iron stove, a pantry loaded with homemade goodies, and a separate washroom. She could also handle firearms. She kept a Luger pistol in her bedroom for protection, and could easily pick off a few pigeons for dinner with an accurate shot from a .22 rifle.

A walk across the lawn (past the croquet set-up) to the garage/storage room led to a ride in the sleek, black 1935 Oldsmobile. Shopping trips to the meat market (there was a large statue of a steer on a shelf behind the counter) and to the grocery store were real treats.

Once when I was about 7, we drove to the hospital for an afternoon card party, which I expected to be pretty boring. She bought me a ticket for a raffle of door prizes, and I proceeded to spend the afternoon roaming around the hospital grounds. Later, when they announced #42 as the first prize winner, I shouted "That's me!" But I had lost my ticket stub, and everyone was more than a little suspicious. After I searched in vain for it (and no one else obviously claimed it), they awarded me the ceramic butterfly vase. We obviously were embarrased, but the" first prize I ever won" vase adorned our living room in DeKalb for many years.

Grandma spent her later years living with Mel & Charles. In 1967, she provided each of her grandchildren with a hand-written booklet of the Hoffman family record. And that provided most of the info for this record.

Harvey P. Newquist II