Yorktown/Mt. Pleasant Historical Alliance and Museum

1919-1920 Sycamore School, District 4

Yorktown, Mt. Pleasant Township, Delaware County, Indiana

A four-room brick building was built in 1912 to replace the old frame building. The school operated from 18??-1912 and in the newer building from 1912-1935.

4th Grade

Edmund Harman, Carl Campbell, Ralph Brown, John Brubaker, Clyde Hensley, Wilma Kilgore, Verl Cole, Thelma Donovan, Cary Reed, Kenneth Partin, Albert Reed

3rd Grade

Arretta Reed, Joshua Jester, Mabel Harman, Elsworth Moore, Dorothy Myers, Paul Hiatt, Linnie Reed, Glenn Ewing, Harlan Jones, Hubbart Younts, Mary Shields, James Henshy

2nd Grade

Joshua Jester, Mabel Harman, Elsworth Moore, Dorothy Myers, Paul Hiatt, Linnie Reed, Glenn Ewing, Harlan Jones, Hubbart Younts, Mary Shields, James Henshy

1st Grade

Margaret Walker, Ralph Miller, Elnora Applegate, Evelyn Brown, Wayne Hiatt, Lucile Childs, Maude Shields, Arnold Hayden, Leona Walker, Thelma Ewing, Edna Kilgore Geraldin Hensley, Mabel Saunders, Frieda Childs, Chester Boram

Teacher, Laura Wood

P.J. Kautzman, Trustee



More information about these students at Ancestry.com. Search in the “Yorktown Family Trees” tree.

More Information Fourth Grade:

Edmund James Harman , b. 30 Jan 1910 Parents: John Westly Harman & Pearl Isabel Plummer Harman

Carl Edward Campbell, b. 24 Jul 1910 Parents: Jacob A Campbell & Mary Alma Priest Campbell

Marshall Ralph Brown b. 17 Nov 1910 Parents: Joseph “Homer” Brown & Rhoda May Young Brown

John Brubaker b.abt. 1908 Parents: Moses Dearmond Ross & Stena Arvil Cole (Adopted?)

Clyde Albert Hensley b. 14 Mar 1911, Parents: Charles C Hensley & Louise M. Gilbert Hensley

Joshua Howard Jester b. 21 Apr 1909, Parents: James Leroy Jester & Effie R Jones Jester

Wilma May Kilgore b. 6 Nov 1908, D. 1 Mar 1922 (burst appendix); Parents Carl Emmerson Kilgore & Nora Ellen Summers Kilgore

Vera V Cole b. 6 Jul 1907; Parents (likely) Thomas Obid “Obe” Cole and Susan Ella Robinson Cole

Thelma Donovan b. 7 Jul 1910; Parents:William Marion Donovan and Maude G (or C) Curtis Donovan

Cary Glendale Reed b. 7 Aug 1909; Parents: John Stephenson Reed and Mary Ann Haugh Reed

More Information Third Grade:

Aretta Reed

1920 Gone! Yorktown Boys Disappear

Cummins, Corwin and Staggs, Howard

Howard Staggs, Age 15
Corwin Cummings, Age 14

FROM OUR NEWSLETTER, “ONCE UPON A TIME”, JANUARY 2021.

While reading newspapers from 100 years ago, an intriguing headline caught my eye, “Yorktown Boys Disappear”. Originally, the only information that police had was that the boys were seen boarding a west-bound Interurban at a stop west of Yorktown. The article explained that on 1 October 1920, cards bearing the picture of two missing boys were mailed to cities throughout the state. The police asked for citizens to be on the lookout for the two teenage boys. The boys had been missing since September 25th. Parents were frantic!

The missing boys were Corwin Cummins (14), son of Rollins and Eva Andre Cummins, and his buddy, Howard Staggs (15), son of Perry and Verna Dunn StaggsSoon after the pair left, they were found to have run away from home. The boys sent dispatches to their parents giving their location. The first dispatch said that they were in Milwaukee and they were going to Utah. 

“We’ll be back in two years.” 

Apparently, the boys had no intention of returning home any time soon!

What happened to the two young men was found in the 2 November 1920, Muncie Star Press after they had been missing for over five weeks. The ending was a hoot. See the original clipping below, learn a little about their families, and what happened to them when they grew up.          ~Julie Musick Hillgrove 

Look for their biographies for more information. 

       

1920 Recruits at Great Lakes Naval Base in Chicago Not sure if the boys are in this picture, but it is what they would experience in 1920! It rather looks like school. Photo Navy History and Heritage Command

January 2021 Newsletter

Interactive, colorful, and informative. Open the link to the January 2021 Newsletter, “Once Upon a Time”.

 INDEX
*New Website and Newsletter
*100 YEARS AGO-Gone! Yorktown Boys Disappear  
*1837 New Mail Route Extension
*200 Years Ago-First Land Sales in Mt. Pleasant Township  
*Yorktown Woman’s Club  June Meeting  in  1920
*Fun Fact         
*By the Section-Early Land Purchases Section 1  
*Missing Boys Found /All Grown Up   
*1923 YHS Commencement Party  
*Membership/ Donate
*Anxious Basketball Players  
*Volunteer  
*YHS Students Create Township Tours      

Download the PDF below.

The Society Page Christmas 1920

The locals were off to visit family and family members came to visit. It was a holiday entertaining bonanza! It was very common to put visits between family and friends in the newspapers. My grandmother still did that even in the 1980’s because that was how people learned about each other before Facebook.

Mentioned are: Mrs. Oscar Sipe, Yorktown; Miss Martha Cox, Anderson; Mr. John Yingling; Mrs. John Metzcar, Yorktown; Mrs. Jess Smith, Muncie: Mrs. Hester Swift, Indianapolis; Mrs. Otto Cox and daughter Martha Cox, Anderson; Mrs. Fountain Fletcher, Anderson; Mrs. Leonard Hawthorne; Mr. Herbert Warfel, Yorktown; Mrs. George Parkinson, Yorktown; Mrs. Walter Staggs, Muncie; Rev. and Mrs. Henry Wood and son, Leland Wood, Yorktown; Mr. Edwin Overmire, Indianapolis; Mr. Lewis Clevenger, Yorktown. More on them below.

Muncie Evening Press 25 Dec 1920
  • Sipe, Oscar Jennings, son of Orville “Ora” Horton Sipe and Nora Sparks Sipe; wife is Lillian “Leota” Taylor Sipe, daughter of Harry Taylor and Myrtle May Fletcher Taylor. More HERE
  • Cox, Martha Marie (1900-1987), daughter of Otto Cox and Margaret E. Fletcher Cox. She later married Fred Kahler. Leota Taylor Sipe is her cousin.
  • Yingling, John M., Jr (1893-1954). He was the son of John Marshall Yingling and Jess L. Sutton Yingling. He moved his family to San Francisco, California sometime between the 1920 census and the birth of his son, Donald in 1924.
  • Metzcar, (John Mrs.) is Myrtle May Fletcher Metzcar. (1879-1962), daughter of Fountain Fletcher and Eliza J. Crawley Fletcher. Myrtle married John Metzcar in 1900. Biography HERE
  • Swift, (Jess Mrs.) is Charlotte R. Pence Swift, “Lottie” (1875-1930). Lottie was the daughter of David Pence and Catharine Conrad. Lottie and David were married in 1890. In 1935, five years after the death of Lottie, Jesse married Grace Rawls McIntire (1885-1970). She was the daughter of John R McIntire and Mary Emma Roules (or Rawls) McIntire. Grace was married 1) Joseph Watson Weeks who died in 1932. She married 2) Jesse Swift, son of Elijah William Swift and Rachel Alice Fisher Swift in 1935 and lost Jesse just four years later. She later married Arthur E. Bowman who outlived her. Grace died in 1970. No information on Mrs. Hester Swift. No so lucky in love was Lottie.
  • Cox, Otto (Mrs.) is Margaret Fletcher Cox (1877-1962). She was the daughter of Fountain Fletcher and Elizabeth Crawley Fletcher. She was the sister of Myrtle Fletcher Metzcar above. Myrtle married
  • Hawthorne, Leonard (Mrs.) is Peachie Younts Hawthorne (1900-1976). She was the daughter of Frank Younts and Mary Fergusan.
  • Warfel, Herbert Elmer (1903-1981) was the son of William Turner Warfel and Hester Ann Myers Warfel. He became a well-known zoologist working in Colorado, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Philippines, and Puerto Rico. He was a professor at Massachusetts State College. In 1947, he went on a three-year oceanographic expedition in the Philippines. He married Lucille Gladys Talbott in 1929. They are both buried in the Yorktown Cemetery.
  • Parkinson, George Washington (Mrs.) is Hattie Endora “Dora” May Parkinson, daughter of John and Ada May. She was born in Hoospton, Illinois in 1881 and married George Washington Parkinson (1879-1953) in 1899. George lived his whole life in Yorktown and raised 6 sons. George and Dora are buried in the Yorktown Cemetery.
  • Wood, Henry Reverend (1891-1977) and Edith Randall Wood (1894-1981) are named. They were married in 1915 and she was disowned by the Quaker Church as a result. Edith was the daughter of J. Freemont Randall and Rosella Day. They are from Hamilton County area. Rev. Henry Shirley Wood was born in Kentucky and was the son of William and Georgia Martin Wood. The couple were likely visiting Henry’s family in Kentucky. Leland Randall Wood had left Delaware County as a small boy. He had “Pete’s Shoe Shop” in New Palistine, Indiana.
  • Clevenger, Lewis David is spending time with his ex-wife’s sister, Margaret Fletcher Cox and her husband Otto Cox. (Also above). Arrel Fletcher divorced Lewis Cox and married George H. Sellers by this time. Putting such a thing in the paper would be an slap in the face to Arrel from either her own sister or her ex-husband. Ouch!
  • More information can be found on Ancestry.com on the “Yorktown Family Trees” or in the biographies tab on our web page.

Yorktown Baseball 1920

The Yorktown Baseball Team of 1920 had a very good season with 16 wins and 3 losses at the end of the season. The articles mention: Parkison, as shortstop: Barker, pitcher: McKibbean: Jones, pitcher.

Muncie Morning Star 4 Oct 1920
The Muncie Morning Star 5 Oct 1920
The Muncie Morning Star 9 Oct 1920
The Muncie Morning Star 11 Oct 1920