Joe Egan, Jr. in front of Carmen's Grocery Store, Wabash Avenue in Lafayette, IN Joseph Egan, Jr.,was six years old when his father was tragically killed in a train accident in 1901.  The son of an Irish immigrant, he was forced to navigate life without a father for most of his life.  The loss of his father forced the Irish family into poverty.   Many unemployed workers found relief through a federal program, known as the Works Project Administration (WPA), during the Great Depression years.   Joseph Egan, Jr., found relief through this program and went to work building the golf course at Purdue University. While riding on the back of a truck in 1939, he lost his footing and fell, breaking his neck in the process.  Egan died six days later at St. Elizabeth Hospital, leaving a widow and three children.  One of those children was this writer's grandmother, Lorraine Egan Hanthorn.  She was twenty years old and a mother to two small child...

 This story from the November 5, 1901, edition of The Call (Lafayette, Indiana) is personal, because it involves the tragic death of my 3x great-grandfather, Joseph Denis Egan.  Grandpa Joe immigrated from Limerick Ireland in 1872 after his own parents died under tragic circumstances.  This particular train accident occurred at the train depot in Fowler, Indiana.  Whenever I travel through that area, I think of how the death of Joseph Egan, Sr. changed the course of history for my local Irish family.

 The Weekly Journal (Lafayette, Indiana) - Fri, Apr 24, 1863 Conductor Rides Hand Car to Lafayette to Get Rescue Train  The train due from New Albany at this city on Saturday evening at 9 P.M., did not arrive until Sunday morning in consequence of an accident at Cherry Grove, five miles north of Crawfordsville. The switch at that place had been so arranged, whether by accident or design is not known, as to run the train off the track. The train was nearly two hours behind time, the night very dark and a frightful storm raging at the time, and but for the fact that the engineer was unable with the green wood he happened to have to make as fast time as he desired, we should have had to record a dreadful accident. As it was no person was hurt. The locomotive and tender ran off the track and were turned over in the mud and a portion of the track torn up. The passengers were compelled to remain all night in the cars while the conductor went to LaFayette in a hand car, got another t...

 Here's an interesting story from The Weekly Journal (Lafayette, Indiana) dated June 28, 1872.  It features prominent citizens and the tale of ghosts of a large white wolf, an immense green-eyed frog and an over-grown Indian chief, in full fighting paint and costume frequently seen near the area of Peter's Mill Bridge. Tall tales have been told over the years about ghosts of Native Americans from that area seeking revenge. Could it have originated from this story? The Weekly Journal (Lafayette, Indiana) - Fri, June 28, 1872 A Night in the Haunted House     Tecumseh For several days past there has been considerable excitement kicked up in the reported discovery of a ghost or two in an unoccupied house not far from the residence of Thomas Coleman, Esq., just north-east of the city.  Rumor hath it that the ghosts of a large white wolf, an immense green-eyed frog and an over-grown Indian chief, in full fighting paint and costume, have frequently been seen, which ...

Intense Excitement in the East End of the City Over an Alleged Apparition Supposed to be the Disembodied Spirit of Jacob Archibald    From the  Journal and Courier  (Lafayette, Indiana) - Monday June 7, 1886   There is no little excitement in the vicinity of Sixteenth and Hartford Street crossing, and large crowds congregate there nightly to gaze at the "Haunted House," from 9 o'clock until midnight, which is the time his Ghostship is supposed to walk and to listen with blanched faces and hair standing on end to the blood curdling stories told by those who claim the honor of seeing the ghost and whose veracity is undoubted by the terrified listeners.       The reporter joined the throng last night to get the share of the horror and took his place among the awed bystanders. After several preliminary alarms occasioned by the small boy's circus son, "Here he Comes," a light was seen in one of the windows. At first it was dim and rather uncertain...

  The last words of Jennie L. Dugan were poignantly expressed in recently discovered poetry written by  Rebecca Gordon Ball in the form of historic sheet music.   The poetry was put to music by Composer Chandler Robbins and published by Oliver Ditson & Company after the death of Jennie Dugan in 1860.   A copy of the sheet music was found among the Ball artifacts in the historic Lafayette home that was built in 1869 for Cyrus and Rebecca Ball.   The iconic house has remained in the family since that time and is currently occupied by a direct descendant and member of the General de Lafayette Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.   Jennie Dugan, a 22-year-old woman from Delphi, Indiana, was tragically killed in 1860 when her dress caught fire as she was carrying a lampstand while bidding her parents good night.   Her father was severely burned in attempting to rescue his only child.   It was a devastating blow to Joseph and Miranda ...