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Author: StevenShook1968
Surnames: Bailly, Schellinger, Hoffman
Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.indiana.counties...
Message Board Post:
Thanks for posting the interesting information concerning Isaac and Rhoda Schellinger. It
seems plausible that Isaac and Rhoda were buried in the dunes area, and may have possibly
arrived prior to the Joseph Bailly.
The image of the tombstone you provided in your message, however, raises some suspicions.
Fort Dearborn (Chicago) existed from 1803 till its destruction in 1812 by Pottawatomie
Indians. Fort Dearborn would have been the closest community to the dunes area at the time
of Isaac's death. The next closest community would have been Detroit. My knee-jerk
guess is that the tombstone had to have been created at Fort Dearborn or Detroit given it
high level of craftsmanship. It obviously was not created locally (unless Isaac was a
stone mason and created his own tombstone before he died!). The quality of craftsmanship
of the tombstone is considerably better than any of those located at the Bailly Homestead
burial mound. Also, I am unaware of any stone tombstones being erected for
soldiers/residents that died at Fort Dearborn during its rather short existence.
This could leave Detroit as a possible source for the tombstone. But old sources of
information concering travels along the Indiana shoreline lead me to believe that it is
unlikely that tombstone traveled from Detroit to the dunes prior to 1817 given its weight
and awkward size. For example, in the book "A Winter in the West by a New
Yorker" by Charles Fenno Hoffman, the author describes his travels in the area on
horseback in 1833. It is quite clear from his writing that at that time (1833), it was
still extremely difficult to make passage through the area due to swampy land and sand.
I'm left wondering if the tombstone was brought in much later and left at the ancient
Indian burial ground? There used to be a village called City West (platted in 1837) that
was located very near where the tombstone was found. It was to be a harbor port that would
compete directly with Chicago and Michigan City. It did not last long and eventually
burned to the ground (at least one building was torn down and re-erected in the town of
Chesterton prior to the village burning down). Could it have been a tombstone brought in
by someone residing in City West?
Regardless, you have a good mystery on your hands! It would make a great article in one of
the genealogy magazines....
Steve Shook
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