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Author: BMichie1
Surnames:
Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/topics.cemetery.us.in/986.3/mb.ashx
Message Board Post:
The question of where the Shattos of Jay, Delaware and Blackford counties lived is most
problematic in one case .. as per the following newspaper article about a court hearing on
a ditch dredging case:
The Fort Wayne Sentinel
Monday, April 28, 1913 p. 3
NEWS OF FORT WAYNE'S NEIGHBORS
House Located in Three Counties
The Kitchen in Jay, the Bedroom in
Delaware, and the Sitting Room
in Blackford County
Hartford City, Ind., Apr 28 During
the hearing in the Blackford circuit
court the latter part of last week of the
Lick Creek dredge case, some odd and
extremely humorous testimony was
given. Its oddity and the manner in
which it was given frequently caused the
attorneys and the presiding judge to
double-up with laughter. The witness
giving the testimony was Hiram Shatto.
He was called as a witness for the re-
monstrators to the ditch, the special
purpose of his testimony being to prove
that William and Jennie Shatto, broth-
er and sister, who formerly lived near
Dunkirk, were not residents of the coun-
ty prior to July 21, 1911, the time of
the filing of the dredge petition, and
therefore were not entitled to be count
ed on the petition.
On cross-examination he testified that
he wasn't sure in which county his
brother, William, formerly lived. His
home, he said, was located where the
boundary line between Blackford and
Jay counties touched the north boundary
line of Delaware county. The kitchen
of the home was in Jay county, the bed-
room in Delaware and the sitting room
in Blackford.
The witness testified that his brother
ate his meals in Jay county, but did
not always sleep in Delaware county.
William Shatto was a sufferer from as-
thma and sometimes he was unable to
sleep lying down. On these occasions
he generally slept in a chair in the sit-
ting room, which was located in Black-
ford county.
Had William Shatto been a resident
of the county the court would have had
a knotty problem to solve in determin-
ing which of the three counties was his
legal residence. But Shatto now lives
near Albany.
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