Contributed to this site by Jodi McKinley
Ref: Michigan City News on 13 February 1928
Mrs. Anne Freeman Thomas was a Valentine Baby but has never grasped for riches. Gives Reminiscences of Early Michigan City History and wants to go aeroplaning with "Lindy" before she dies.
Interesting and suggestive are the pages of history recording events and happenings in the life of one of Michigan City’s oldest inhabitants, Mrs. Anna Freeman Thomas, who will on the morrow observe in a quiet manner the eighty-seventh anniversary of her birth.
This pioneer woman, residing at 117 West Second Street, will have with her her six children, the oldest of whom is 71 years old, and the youngest, 47. There were 11 children originally, but five have died. These with the grandmother will gather under the parental roof and will celebrate with this lovely old and spirited mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, her happiest of days. There will be a big birthday cake to commemorate the event, messages of congratulation, telegrams and flowers to again remind Grandma Thomas that she is just one year older, and is passing another milepost along life journey.
Notes Many Changes
In arts, sciences, industry and commerce she has seen vast changes and great advancement. She was born of eastern stock of that sturdy and hardy type who lived to be old. Her parents migrated west in a covered wagon, drawn by an ox team. She had an uncle who lived to be 90 years old, an aunt, 93; her grandfather 90; and her own father 91. Across the street from her is a sister, Mrs. Rebecca Freeman Heise, who on January 21 was 82 years old. The two sisters are the only surviving members of the original Freeman family, and have been life-long companions.
Grandmother Thomas has lost her schoolgirl complexion and her face is deeply wrinkled as 87 has a right to be. Two intelligent eyes beam upon the world and back of them are memories of happy, gladsome days when there was meal pone to bake, corn to be parched, apples to sizzle near the hearth and nutcracking bees to make folks merry in winter. Sandwiches were unheard of then; grocery sacks and cans; submarine cables linking the continents; there were no Lindberghs to fly the Atlantic; no jazz nor flappers, painted cheeks, lips or contortion dancing; slangy vocabularies, or such a thing as companionate marriage. This was beyond the wildest dream of imagination among the old settlers.
Times are Different
Evenings in those bygone days were spent about the fireside. Dad and ma were near to take part in the conversation; there was the family Bible -- a huge block of printed matter, which for this particular interview was hauled out of its place of honor and consulted for facts concerning births and deaths recorded there. People then, she said, amused themselves in the simplest way, and chief among ambitions was to "get married."
Mrs. Thomas was married when only a girl of 15 and 23 years ago her husband, Peter Thomas, a French Canadian, passed on. He had been an engineer on the Michigan Central and M… railroads for years, and was 75 years old when he died. Her father was a great hunter and a fisherman, and later directed his trade to that of a bricklayer, when customs even in that early period demanded an occupational change. She learned to rove and hunt and go with her father on lake trips to fish. She says she loves the water and never had happier moments than upon it. She hopes that as long as life is spared her, she will be able to look from her door out upon the lake. Its waters are just as beautiful and fascinating today as they have ever been and still afford rest and peaceful solitude.
Was Great Grain Center
Sweet are her recollections of the past. She delights in early reminiscences, when Michigan City flourished as a grain market; then as a grain port and later a lumber center. She visions her childhood home on Jernegan’s Hill, one of northern Indiana’s landmarks, and recalls that for miles on a fall day, crudely-built wagons lined the plank road, hauling with the aid of oxen, the loads of grain to the massive warehouses on the lakefront. The harbor, she said, even to its outer reaches, was a mass of sailing vessels, fishing crafts, sloops and barges, so prolific was the business more than three-quarters of a century ago. That was long before the railroad train or steam engine was known to the Midwest.
Folks walked in those days, and those who could afford it, rode. It was considered a mark of aristocracy and wealth to own a horse and carriage even 50 and 60 years back, but today, she states, everybody has an automobile and those who can’t afford to own one, go in debt and ride one anyway. The doctor years ago traveled on horseback and most of the time used his legs, but today, he speeds, and sometimes he reaches his destination in safety and sometimes fails.
Squaws Knelt to Pray
When a child of six, Grandma Thomas recalls the visit of two Indian squaws to Michigan City from Hasleytown. They walked the distance of 13 miles to this port on a cold November day to exchange a gathering of cranberries for ammunition and tobacco for their "good-for-nothing" husbands. They were caught in a blizzard and were given lodging in the Freeman home. The mother of the household objected, but Father Freeman ruled, and the squaws were given shelter until after the storm.
Unique in her description of those two squaws whose trappings were scant, and only moccasins protected their feet. Little Anne and Rebecca Freeman huddled together in their trundle bed under the big high-poster, peeped out at these women as they prepared for bed, and saw them kneel in prayer to worship the same God whom they had been taught to worship. Fear departed and peace reigned thereafter. The two guests were allowed to stay for two nights instead of one and were given provisions.
Two Dresses a Year
Mother Thomas smiles as she lets memory wander back to girlhood days, when two dresses a year was an abundance. She has often seen her father make the lead bullets which filled his gun, and relates many humorous incidents concerning the Indians who came to their home to beg for ashes with which to make hominy, and foodstuffs to appease the inner man. She has often seen her mother card and spin the wool which went into clothing for the family, and declared these garments to be works of art.
Mrs. Thomas finds much enjoyment in life, attends to the duties of her household, mingles with her friends, believes in women’s right to vote, and expresses that her chief ambition now is to go aeroplaning with a lad like "Lindy." She says to cultivate the spirit of happiness and contentment and years will be long and many. She gives as her recipe for longevity humble living, good food, plenty of sleep and exercise, and no worry.
Believes in Contentment
"I have always been content with what God gave me; I was never destined for riches, and I have never grieved for them. Happiness and contentment are the first requisites to the great span of years." These, she says, will defy life’s destroying forces and will help to make perfect the route over which the inhabitants of this glorious old world are traveling.