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Curt Lore “Shoots Wells” With Nitroglycerine and Dynamite – 52 Ancestors #325

Roberta Estes

In the article, Outside the Pale: The Lore Family’s “Remarkable” Life Revealed Through the Newspaper, we discovered details about the life of Curt Lore, known as C. B. Lore, in Rushville, Indiana. One article stated that he lived in Greenburg, but the Greensburg newspaper was not available for that timeframe at Newspapers.com.

My wonderful cousin came to the rescue, providing information from another source that helps bridge the gap of that pesky missing 1890 census.

Curt Lore married Nora Kirsch in January of 1888 in Aurora, Indiana. Based on the fact that he drilled for gas in Aurora, Indiana and instead, accidentally tapped into a mineral water reserve that became the Blue Lick Well, I thought he lived in Aurora, at least for a while before he married Nora. The Blue Lick well was about a mile from the Kirsch House, the tavern/hotel that her parents owned.

But, as it turns out, Curt apparently was only visiting Aurora, according to a news article in the Greensburg, Indiana, newspaper.

Even more interesting is the fact that Curtis not only wasn’t living in Rushville, or Greensburg, but was a resident of Findlay, Ohio. Who knew?

This map of the gas fields might explain that situation.

Shotgun Wedding & Two Wives

Not only do we discover that Curt lived in Findlay, but we learn that he rode the 1:23 train from Greensburg to Aurora, with his well-driller crew, and was married at 4:30. I don’t know how long that train ride took, but he obviously wasn’t late. Nor, apparently, was there a lot of prep involved for the groom.😊

That journey is about 40 miles, so maybe an hour’s train ride.

I can’t help but wonder what Curt was thinking as the train whizzed along. As the scenery blurred, was he thinking about someone, someplace else, in the not-so-distant past?

Today, by digging in the “Lunatics, Alcoholics and Divorcees” book of records in the Warren County, Pennsylvania courthouse, we know that Curt was still legally married to his wife, Mary, in Pennsylvania. Maybe that was a legal technicality, or maybe not. Mary had filed for divorce in November of 1887, stating that he had deserted her and their four children and had been gone for more than a year. Not only that, he either left Mary 9 months pregnant and never came back, or with a newborn baby. There’s no question that he knew this because he was in the courthouse in Pennsylvania on November 17, 1887, when the divorce papers were “read to him,” according to the court records.

Ouch.

Pesky details anyway!

Did this bother Curt as he rode the train to marry Nora? Even a little bit?

Curt was technically a bigamist, because the divorce wasn’t granted until April 5, 1888, four months after he married Nora.

Complicating everything, Nora was pregnant by the time they married, and her Dad was a crack shot and probably mad as hell.

Angry father who was a national shooting champion or divorcing wife several states away.

Decisions, decisions.

Curt Lore may not have been risk-averse – but he also wasn’t crazy. We know which decision he made. He smiled, acted like everything was just fine, and got married at 4:30.

This is Curt’s wedding picture and one of only three we have of him. He certainly doesn’t look stressed. In fact, he looks quite happy.

Shooting Wells

Until I read the next article, I didn’t realize that well-drilling dealt with explosives. No wonder this was a high-risk occupation and attracted only those who weren’t afraid to take risks. Of course, like many things, if you survived, the potential rewards were significant. And if not…

Hoo boy. Curt “assumed the alleged temperature of a lime kiln.” What a description. I love that reporter! Just in case you’re wondering, that’s between 900 and 1000C.

Curt had a temper.

This isn’t the first time we’ll hear about Curt Lore getting hot behind the collar. Then again, that’s probably a survival mechanism in the oil fields. Those oil fields were populated with men full of testosterone. Couldn’t find work elsewhere – join the rough and rowdy oil crews. If you could survive, you were welcome in the world of wildcatters and roughnecks where every job was dangerous and some were extremely so.

Shelbyville 

Shelbyville is about 22 miles northwest of Greensburg.

Shooting Oil Wells

So, what is oil well shooting? According to Wikipedia, “oil well shooting is a method of increasing production of an oil well by removing obstructions to drilling, straightening crooked holes, preventing water penetration, and/or increasing the flow of oil.”

Prior to 1910, a “shell,” made of dynamite and a sheet metal casing was lowered into a well and detonated by a blasting cap with a fuse. Both dynamite and nitroglycerine were used to fracture the oil shale and increase productivity. Premature explosions which did more harm than good were common and of course, were often fatal. You can read technical details, here.

Striking gas was the precursor to gas lights for municipalities and eventually gas-heated homes in cities and towns near the gas fields. Everyplace was anxious to drill in the hope of finding this valuable resource.

The Library of Congress site has several photos of filling metal “shells” with nitroglycerine in preparation for shooting wells in Pennsylvania, here.

Discovering that Curt shot wells really gives me pause, especially since this dangerous technology was responsible for a great many deaths in the oil fields. The technology was patented after the Civil War and was employed widely in the Pennsylvania oil fields, including Warren County where Curt grew up.

Perhaps it was perceived that an orphan like Curt had little to lose and was expendable. No family to be devastated if he died. Perhaps Curt found this way to make a living with a career that few wanted. He obviously wasn’t careless, or I wouldn’t be here today.

Curt was a natural-born gambler, it seems. Good at what he did and self-assured. When you’re confident enough to deal with nitro and dynamite, some aggressive guy won’t bother you much.

I have a newfound respect for this man. Just the though of nitro plus dynamite gives me the shakes.

Family Life Begins

Rig For Sale

Ok, I’m flummoxed. Why was Curt selling his well drilling outfits? Maybe his bride thought his career choice was simply too dangerous. Maybe he had a close call. Perhaps fatherhood caused him to be somewhat more cautious. He may have sold his drilling equipment, but those skills served him well for his entire life.

Maybe Curt didn’t sell all of his rigs.

This 1885 photo of natural gas miners and their drill was taken near Kokomo, Indiana, part of the Trenton gas field that stretched beneath this part of both Ohio and Indiana.

The first well was drilled in 1886 and the natural gas boom began. At least now we know when and why Curt came to Indiana, and why he would have been in Findlay Ohio. 1886 dovetails with the fact that in 1887, Mary Lore, in her divorce filing stated that Curt had been gone a year.

The Blue Lick mineral water well that Curt stumbled across in Aurora was an accident and from a gas perspective, was a “dry hole.” The best thing to come of that accident was his marriage to Nora Kirsch and my grandmother, Edith.

This natural gas “flambeau” display took place in 1889 in Indiana, at which time it was believed that natural gas was unlimited, so gas was lit at the tops of vent pipes to call attention to the wells. Notice the crowd.

Pythias Lodge

The Greensburg paper carried the story about Curt’s induction into the Phythian Lodge, a fraternal organization.

His membership certificate would have looked like this one from 1890. The verbiage says:

Friendship, Charity, Benevolence. Knights of Pythias. Founded February 19th, 1864. The Order is founded upon naught but the purest and sincerest motives. Its aim is to alleviate the suffering of a brother, succor the unfortunate, zealously watch at the bedside of the sick, soothe the pillow of the dying, perform the last sad rights at the grave of a brother; offering consolation to the afflicted, and caring, with all a brother’s love, for the widow and orphan. Brotherly love and charity are the Pillars on which it rests; Friendship and Truth the bond and surety of its preservation. Peace on earth and goodwill toward men.

The Greensburg Lodge building wasn’t built until 1899, so Curt might have attended neighboring Rushville. This building was built in 1850 and purchased by the Lodge in 1889. After moving to Rushville, Curt assuredly attended meetings here.

Unfortunately, much of 1889 and 1890 in the Greensburg paper is silent.

1891

Breaking Up Housekeeping

In October of 1891, Edith would have been just over three years old and Curtis 6 months old.

The phrase “breaking up housekeeping” makes me wonder if their marriage was in trouble, and they subsequently patched things up. Did Nora find out about Mary and Curt’s four other children?

Being a single mother, or divorced, in that time and place carried an extreme stigma. Furthermore, as I accidentally discovered reading the Rushville newspapers from this timeframe, divorce laws were not universal. One could be divorced in one state, and other states not recognize the divorce. Furthermore, one party could petition the court to change their mind, causing the couple to become legally married again, without remarrying. In other words, someone could actually believe they were divorced when they weren’t.

Not to mention that the mere fact that divorce records were kept separately, in at least one state, in a book along with the “Alcoholics and Lunatics” says all we need to know about how divorce was viewed.

We hear nothing more about the Lore family until June of 1892 when C. B. Lore, then living in Rushville, filed a lawsuit in the courthouse.

The Rushville Chapter Begins

Nora and Curt had obviously settled in Rushville at this point where they would live the rest of their married life. They settled into a rented home and their life commenced among the horse-racing socialites.

Perhaps Curt was no longer drilling and shooting wells. We know he owned racehorses and established an ice plant at the location of the old woolen mill on the riverbanks, near the footbridge and the horse race track.

I suspect the “Race” in this postcard is the old mill race.

In the last part of our story, we left Curt and Nora Lore in December of 1900, just as Curt was publicly named in a horse racing scandal where he and several other men were nationally sanctioned for submitting falsified race sheets for “wins” in races that were never run.

Nora likely went home to her parents for a month or so at Christmas, and Curt might have been censured, but he doesn’t seem to have been chastened. Perhaps this year, he accompanied his wife to Aurora with Edith, now 12, Curtis, 9 and Mildred 8 months old.

I can only imagine the conversations that occurred between Curt and Nora. In light of this, maybe he didn’t visit Aurora with Nora after all. The new year came and went without the couple being mention in the newspaper at all. That in itself is unusual – because normally the fact that Nora plus whoever else visited Aurora is mentioned in the social columns.

Curt was probably regrouping, trying to figure out what to do next. Did he have a future in Rushville, or did he need to move on again?

1901

Lot 5 is the original mill site/icehouse property again. Curt had apparently lost this land in the 1890s, but now purchased it again. I wonder why, but the next article provides a clue.

Curt ha procured the contract for street sprinkling. While I can’t find a copyright-free photo, think of a wagon-sized barrel of water pulled by two horses where the driver rides on top of the barrel while a hose sprinkles the dirt streets to reduce the dust.

Curt wanted to pump water from this lot into his wagon. The ice plant he formerly owned occupied (at least part of) this lot and lot 152 next door, within sight of the old covered bridge crossing the river at Main Street.

I can hear the clip-clop of the horses hooves crossing this bridge, pulling carriages.

Curtis, then 10 years old, was the daughter of Curtis Benjamin Lore. She was obviously named for her father. So was his son from his first marriage, John Curtis Lore.

The old Presbyterian church, shown here about 1910, was attended by Nora and the girls. Although Curt was officially a member too, he didn’t seem active.

Mom and I visited this church about 1988.

It warms my heart to see Mom walking in the literal footsteps of her mother and grandmother.

Curt may have been publicly shamed, but that didn’t seem to damage his social standing. He was reported to be very personable and most everyone liked him.

The grip is an old-fashioned word for flu.

I’m guessing they didn’t want mud.

I’d love to know what this was about.

I wonder if this suit has to do with his rig being parked in the way, interfering with something that Gray and Alger were doing.

The grade school was the Graham School, shown here about 1910.

The Lore girls attended this school given that it was the only school in town.

Mom and I visited this building too, almost 80 years later. I wish we had gone back with my grandmother’s sister, Eloise, before she passed away. What stories she could have told.

I can’t help but think of Nora and Edith walking in and out of this very door, maybe holding hands. Perhaps Edith happily skipped.

Edith turned 13 in 1901. Perhaps too old to skip along or hold her mother’s hand.

1902

So it appears this suit is about land use and access to a coal shed. Of course, nothing of the original structures remains today.

These always make me laugh. Who was going to tell the newspaper that they had a miserable time for the social column?

Elopement

This is odd. Nora’s sister, Carrie, married in her sister’s home in Rushville instead of in Aurora at the Kirsch House. Given what I know is coming next, I’d bet dollars to donuts that Jacob Kirsch knew that Wymond was bad news.

Why did Carrie marry him? Carrie was 31 years old – no child bride.

I would take this elopement as proof positive that Carrie’s parents’ didn’t approve. Joseph Wymond and his family lived locally in Aurora, and the entire Kirsch family would have known that he was a “playboy.”

Every photo I’ve ever seen of Carrie shows her smiling and joyful. The one photo of Wymond, a decade older than Carrie and from a wealthy family shows an unsmiling man that looks “stiff.”

Carrie assuredly thought this was the beginning of happy-ever-after – but in reality – it was the beginning of a nightmare. He died 8 years later, of complications from syphilis after being institutionalized for 8 months. She died 24 years later, also institutionalized, after suffering terribly, of organ failure from the same disease.

I’m sure the entire Kirsch family rued this day, but no one more than Carrie herself.

Visiting and Entertaining

No Lore appears in Greenfield, or Greensburg, in the 1900 census.

I don’t know exactly what this case was about, but Alger owned land where gas wells were being drilled, so I suspect perhaps something in this vein.

These men seemed to be at almost constant odds for several years.

1903

In this aerial, it certainly looks like a street used to be located where the red arrows are pointing.

I can’t help but wonder why the request to vacate the street. Did they drill a well in this location?

Edith would have been a few months shy of 15.

This looks like “go big or stay home” time.

Note that Phil Wilk is the father of Edith Wilk, the eventual wife of Wendell Wilkie, an Indiana politician who unsuccessfully ran for president. Nora was friends with Edith and visited her during her husband’s political campaign in 1940. Edith worked for Wilke during his campaign.

I suspect that this may have been the occasion when this lovely summer hat photo was taken. It would have had to have been when Carrie, Lou, and Edith were together, along with someone taking the picture – likely Nora.

Those long skirts look miserably hot in July.

October 8, 1903 – Not noted in the paper, but Curt and Nora’s fourth daughter and last child, Eloise, joined the family.

This is interesting because there is a P. L. Lore who appears in Warren County, PA, where Curt was born, also involved in well-drilling, that I’ve never been able to identify.

What was wrong with my grandmother’s eyes? She would have been 15 years old. I sure wish I could ask my mother.

1904

I wonder if this is why they vacated Water Street and this is where the wells were drilled.

Where was Edith? She would have been old enough to stay at home. Perhaps she needed to rehearse for the upcoming play.

Miss Edith Lore in the part of Jessica, Shylock’s daughter, could not have played her part better.

Curt seems to have transitioned to businessman from oil driller.

1905

Who was Curt related to in Greensburg? Why couldn’t they just SAY???

I have no idea who Lillian is and she may not be related. I can find no link.

Edith would have been about 17.

Today, only one original house remains at this intersection and based on the house numbers, this appears to be the “large yellow house” where this party was held.

Sounds like that meeting got a bit heated!

Edith Lore, born in 1888, would have been a few months shy of 17. Pauline was the daughter of William and Ethel Covertson and was a few years younger than Edith, born in 1892. Pauline married Richard Wangelin in 1917 and lived in Goshen, Indiana, near Edith after she married for a few years, then in Indianapolis. I don’t know if those ladies kept in touch.

Eloise would have been about 18 months old at this time. She was the youngest and last child they would have.

Edith played the piano very well and it was her life-long love. I have vague memories of her sitting at the piano, playing, in the music room in Silver Lake, some 55 years later.

Clearly, Nora and Curt had a piano in the house. Her friend, Pauline, according to later newspaper accounts, played as well.

Mother or Eloise believed that Curt may have built or helped to build the church that stands today. I wonder if he installed gas lights or heat, perhaps.

At the meeting last night Councilman Smith refused to OK Mr. Lore’s bill of $315 as a partial payment for his work. Mr. Lore grew hot under the collar and said some very warm things. Mr. Lore objects to working and then being kept continually waiting for his money.

I can’t say as I blame him.

This isn’t the only time that Curt “grew hot under the collar and said some warm things.”  His temper caused him to wind up in the paper more than once. That’s not something that ever filtered down through the family, but then again, his daughters may not have known. Nora probably kept them pretty well insulated.

Curt Lore apparently belonged to the fraternal order of Eagles. An aerie is the name of their lodge. The Eagles started advocating for Mother’s Day in 1904 and in 1935, for Social Security. Founded in 1898, “the Fraternal Order of Eagles, an international non-profit organization, unites fraternally in the spirit of liberty, truth, justice, and equality, to make human life more desirable by lessening its ills, and by promoting peace, prosperity, gladness and hope.”

It’s fitting that the Eagles Lodge in Rushville now stands on the land Curt once owned, where ice company once stood.

Did Ida visit to celebrate her niece, Edith’s, 17th birthday on August 2nd? This dress appears to be from the same era as the white dresses of the other women in the earlier photo.

Lon Lore

Greensburg Standard newspaper – October 2, 1903

Curt’s brother was P. L. Lore? Is this Lon?

These entries are actually extremely interesting. Curt’s brother’s name, or nickname, was Lon as reported by Aunt Eloise, Curt’s daughter. It’s thought this might have been short for Alonzo but from the records I’ve found, there is no Alonzo in this family. The only place Alonzo is found is mistakenly on the grave marked A. D. Lore, as given by his death certificate and every census record we can find. A. D. Lore is not Alfonzo Lore.

One Alonzo Lore is born and lived near Philadelphia and is found with his parents, so clearly not this man.

However, there is an Alonzo Lore born about 1861, according to the Crawford County, Pennsylvania 1880 census. He was divorced by Mary getting divorced in Warren County, Pennsylvania in 1898, and then he disappears in the records entirely – until now – a decade later.

It’s possible that Alonzo is Curt’s youngest sibling, born the year after the 1860 census, and unaccounted for in 1870. There is a Mary Clark who died in 1909 who had two children, Hazel then married to Henry Haser, and one Henry Lore born in 1894. Somehow her husband at death, Fred Clark, was involved with P. L. Lore and oil drilling.

Apparently, Lon did live in Rushville, which leads me to wonder if he and Curt worked together.  Searching for other instances of Lon or Alonzo Lore in the Rushville paper came up empty-handed. Whoever Lon was, he reportedly “never came back” to visit Curt after Mildred and Eloise put a thumbtack on his chair and he sat on it.

Upon rising, rapidly, he reportedly announced that Curt’s girls were terrible, and departed. Eloise who was born in 1903 remembered this event and said she was maybe 4 or 5, so that would have been about 1908.

Are Lon Lore and P. L. Lore two different people?

Fun and Fairs

I bet Curt was probably distracted at the time and quite embarrassed by this. It made me laugh. There are so many serious events in his life – I enjoyed this light-hearted humor. I think I inherited this trait!

I’m dying to know why Curt had a stand at the fair. He clearly wasn’t advertising for municipal well-drilling business. And in the floral hall? His movies perhaps? Electricity? Phones? Plumbing?

The Rush County fairgrounds looked like this around 1907. Horses and buggies were the transportation of the day. But those poor horses would have gotten awfully hot with no trees for shelter.

Alas, with the fair over, it’s back to work.

Back to the Daily Routine

I have no clue who this might be, but he doesn’t seem to be related. I don’t find any similar name in the 1900 census.

Satan Visits the Masked Ball

I had to read this twice. I can just see these women in long skirts climbing the ladder and entering through the window. I’d wager there was a HUGE amount of laughter, and not one person had any dignity left by the time everyone managed to get inside.

Politics

Uh-oh, trouble in paradise.  Sounds like dealing with municipal government contracts and politics hasn’t changed much in 100+ years.

Is this man in some way related to Curt?  No absentee ballots then? There was a P. L. Lore in Pennsylvania, a relationship that I could never figure out. Of course, this could be entirely unrelated and P. L. Lore may be entirely unrelated to Curt.

However, the link between a P. L. Lore, well-drilling, Curt, Adin, Alonzo, the Clark family, and more in Warren County, PA is just too much coincidence. Somehow, these families are related. Most of the people simply disappear from the records. This seems to be a Lore family thing.

Never a Dull Moment

Jury duty – what fun!  Here’s the courthouse that Curt Lore knew up close and personal and where he sat as a juror.

I can’t help but wonder if Curt installed those utility poles.

Then, and now.

Arlington bridge, photo courtesy of the Indiana Historical Society BH photo #445954.

I wonder what Curt was doing to repair bridges. He seemed to be able to do literally just about anything.

Curt had terrible luck with horses it seemed. This is not the first horse that dropped dead. How terribly sad.

What kind of a relationship did C. B. Lore have with Clarence Carney? Why was his horse working there?

This makes me wonder why Curt wasn’t mentioned.

1906

On January 3, 1906, Barbara Mehlheimer Drechsel, Nora’s grandmother, died of cardiac arrhythmia after being ill for almost a year. She was buried on January 7th.

This is an interesting entry. I’m surprised that they didn’t stay in Aurora for Barbara’s funeral. She was Nora’s grandmother after all, and Nora would have wanted to be supportive of her mother, so I’m mystified by Nora’s return to Rushville on January 4th.

The paper entry mentions holidays, but this season would have been overshadowed by Barbara’s impending death.

Curtis, the second oldest daughter would have been couple months shy of 15.

This is interesting. Curt is a Republican, but earlier, someone was complaining that a Democratic council has been unfairly biased towards Curt. Curt’s father-in-law, Jacob Kirsch was a Democrat and served in that capacity in Aurora. Of course, the leanings and platforms of the parties were entirely different than they are today.

I bet those conversations were interesting, nonetheless. I wonder if the women left the room and made sure the granddaughters couldn’t hear.

The Websterian Literary Society appears to be a coeducational society with programs that included instrumental and vocal music, readings, declamations, and debates.

Carrie married Joseph Wymond in 1902 and he died of syphilis in 1910, so clearly by this time, she surely knew that he, and she, both had the disease. Was this when she came to talk things over with her sister? Nora must have been devastated, understanding that syphilis at that time was a sure, and slow, horrific death sentence.

Wymond’s family was quite wealthy and he was reportedly a riverboat gambler. Mom referred to him as a “dandy,” which, trust me, was not a term of endearment.

I’m glad Curt wasn’t harsh with these boys. Perhaps he remembered being desperately poor as a child.

This speaks to me personally about Curt Lore and how he treated children. These boys probably didn’t have a bicycle – given that it was ridden to death. Curt probably wanted to teach them a valuable lesson, but not damage them. Hopefully his charity, generosity, and gentle lesson served them well for the rest of their life. Curt was apparently a kind man.

I don’t know where, exactly, Edith learned to play the piano, but it was clearly as a child in Rushville. It would serve her well for her entire life in many ways. She played for church, friends and her daughter, my mother’s, dance recitals.

Apparently, if the students didn’t pass their exams, they didn’t graduate. Edith’s friends for the past dozen years would have been the other students in her graduating class. I wish there was a photograph of the graduating class.

The following photos were taken of Edith about this time and may have been taken for graduation.

On August 2, 1906 – Edith Lore turned 18. Officially an adult.

Unforeseen Changes

Edith graduated, and Curt became ill.

Very ill.

Gravely ill.

And he’s not the only one.

What will happen to Curt? To Edith? To Nora?

What about the rest of the family?

Life is changing rapidly and in unanticipated ways…that’s for sure.

There’s only one thing to say.

Typhoid

Tune in next week.

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