A few days ago, a patron donated to Mooresville Public Library's Indiana Room a framed membership certificate for 1904-1905 to the Young People's Reading Circle of Indiana (Y.P.R.C.). The certificate belonged to James Hill and was signed by Emma Torr, teacher. Who were these people?
James Hill's Y.P.R.C. membership certificate (1904-1905)
as it appeared framed and matted
(with decades-old dirt obscuring the glass)
(click images to enlarge)
James Hill's Y.P.R.C. membership certificate (1904-1905)
removed from its frame and digitally scanned
One of the first lessons in archival research is, if possible without damaging the artifact, to remove it from a frame to see what, if anything, is written on the back. We hit paydirt, as someone (probably James Hill himself) wrote his name (including middle initial) and hometown on the back of the certificate.
James F. Hill of Belle Union, Indiana
(written on the back of the Y.P.R.C. membership certificate)
Belle Union is located in Jefferson Township, Putnam County, Indiana, about 14.3 miles west of Monrovia (Morgan County, Indiana) along State Road 42. It was an unincorporated town, with a post office established in 1870 but discontinued in 1906. The village's name was taken from the Bell family who resided there and from the church they attended, Union Valley Baptist Church (Baker, 1995).
Belle Union in Putnam County, just west of Morgan County
(courtesy of Google Maps)
James Frank Hill (1895-1970) grew up in Belle Union, and when he was age nine and ten, his teacher was Emma Torr (married name, Pitchford) (1883-1971). Emma Mabel Pitchford (née Torr) was born and raised in Greencastle, Putnam County, Indiana, receiving her education from schools there. She taught in the Putnam County school system. In 1905 Emma married James Harley Pitchford (1879-1948). Emma died in Urbana, Illinois, in 1971. The 1910 U.S. census shows Emma and James Pitchford living in Marion Township, Putnam County, Indiana. The 1920, 1930, and 1940 U.S. censuses show the Pitchfords living in Greencastle, Indiana. James Pitchford's 1942 WW II draft registration card lists their address as 425 North Chauncey, West Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, Indiana. James Pitchford worked for the Hoover Vacuum Company through the Lafayette Carpet and Rug Shop. In 1945, the couple had moved to Linden, Madison Township, Montgomery County, Indiana, where Emma continued to reside following her husband's death in 1948. Emma was a member of the Linden-Kirkpatrick United Methodist Church and also belonged to the Greencastle Order of the Eastern Star for over half a century.
Emma Mabel Torr marriage record (1905)
Emma (Torr) Pitchford's Obituary
(Lafayette [Indiana] Journal & Courier, Friday, August 6, 1971, p. 6)
James Harley Pitchford's WWII draft registration card (1942)
James Frank Hill (1895-1970) was a nine- and ten-year-old student when he received his Young People's Reading Circle of Indiana (Y.P.R.C.) certificate in 1904-1905. Apparently, he did not complete the four-year membership, which would have entitled him to a diploma from the Putnam County School Superintendent.
Y.P.R.C. members were expected to read a series of approved books that were perceived by the Indiana State Teachers Association to be of wholesome value. According to the pamphlet entitled Concerning the History and Management of the Teachers' and Young People's Reading Circles of Indiana (1904-1905):
We regard the subject one of the highest importance. To place the general reading of the half million of children of the public schools under competent guidance and control, even to a limited extent, would, in our judgment, be productive of most beneficial results. To substitute for the trashy and often vicious reading matter which finds its way into the hands of children and youth a grade of literature at once sound in its contents, chaste in its language and imagery, and pure in its moral tone, is an end which may properly command the best and most earnest efforts of this Association, and of the teachers of Indiana. To your committee the enterprise proposed seems a means for accomplishing, in a measure, this highly desirable end.
The selected books were typical of the variety the Association sought to promote, as excerpts (below) from their pamphlet indicate. These were the books that James F. Hill would have been reading while participating in the program.
(Below) Y.P.R.C. reading lists for third, fourth and fifth grade students
(during the 1904-1905 academic years)
The Y.P.R.C. was quite active in Putnam and Morgan Counties during 1904-1905, according to the pamphlet (see below).
The 1900 and 1910 U.S. censuses show that James F. Hill lived with his widowed mother, Mary E. Hill (born 1863), in Belle Union. In 1918, James entered the armed forces and served in France. At the time, he was, according to his World War I draft registration card, living at 153 North Marion Street in Martinsville, Morgan County, Indiana, and was employed by the Martinsville Auto Company.
World War I draft registration card
James F. Hill (1918)
A letter James Hill wrote home to his mother appeared in the Martinsville Daily Reporter, February 24, 1919, page one:
James F. Hill's late 1918 letter to his mother, Mary E. Hill
Following
World War I, James worked as a truck driver for Standard Oil Company.
He subsequently entered the poultry business, as shown on his 1942 draft
registration (below), from which he retired many years later. James' World
War II draft registration card indicated that he then lived at Rural
Route #3, Martinsville, working for the Hatchery and Poultry Farm
there.
James F. Hill's WW II draft registration card (1942)
The 1920 U.S. census shows James living with his mother in Martinsville. The 1930 and 1940 U.S. censuses showed James still living in Martinsville but, now, married (in 1924) to Estelle C. Hill (née Clore) (1894-1989). James and Estelle were living at 1441 South Ohio Street in Martinsville at the time of James' death. The couple are buried together in the Greenlawn section of New South Park Cemetery in Martinsville.
Burial marker for James F. & Estelle C. Hill
James F. Hill funeral announcement
(Martinsville Daily Reporter, Tuesday, March 3, 1970, p. 1)
James tragically died in a vehicular accident on Saturday, February 28, 1970 in Kentucky. His sister-in-law was also killed and his wife injured. The newspaper article stated that James and his parents, James and Mary Hurst Hill, had moved to Martinsville in 1903, but this is contradicted by the 1904-05 Y.P.R.C. certificate, which would suggest that he was attending Putnam County schools then. Also,
the 1900 & 1910 U.S. censuses clearly state that James and his
mother were living in Putnam County at the time. Further, the 1900 U.S.
census listed James' mother Mary as a widow, and no male parent was
shown as residing with them in the 1910 census, either. James must have
moved to Martinsville sometime after 1910 but before 1918, given the address shown on his 1918 draft registration.
Martinsville Daily Reporter, Monday, March 2, 1970, pp. 1, 9
Using the Y.P.R.C. membership certificate as our starting point, and searching the resources available in the Mooresville Public Library Indiana Room, we were able to unlock James F. Hill's and Emma Torr Pitchford's personal histories, at least to some extent. It's amazing what stories one may find from an ordinary, everyday document found among lost or forgotten belongings.
OTHER SOURCES:
Ancestry Library Edition (online), various documents.
Baker, Ronald L. (1995). From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 63-64.
Concerning the History and Management of the Teachers' and Young People's Reading Circles of Indiana (1904-1905) (digitized copy available here).
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