BESSIE SPELL SHIRK

I am indebted to Amy Miller-Connell and Ann Miller-Neilsen of Indianapolis, Indiana for contributing this sketch written by their great grandmother. This story may not be used, reproduced, or published without the consent of AMY.

Mrs. Bessie Shirk was definite in her statement. "I like better than anything," she said, "to have Hallie (Mrs. Shirks' daughter, Mrs. Wilbur Lee) drive me around the country to see the old houses I visited when I was a girl. I like for her to stop the car and just let me look at the places."

Mrs. Shirk, who celebrated her 75th birthday not long ago, has been a devotee of Henry County history all of her life. Fortunately, she took up the hobby when she was young, while there were still people yet alive who had lived in the early years of settling this county. "I was always asking questions when she (sic) was young, plus her prodigious memory enables Mrs. Shirk to answer a lot of questions now. She also likes to talk about the earlier times with some of her contemporaries.

"Not long ago," she said, "I was talking to Clarence Smith about the names of various families who lived on Christian Ridge. That was the part of New Castle," she explained, "located east of the railroad tracks. It was almost a seperate town. When I asked Clarence if he knew someone over there he said that he didn't. "I got to go to Indianapolis more often than the Ridge, he replied."

Mrs. Shirk was born Bessie Spell the daughter of Allen and Mahala Spell on the Wilhoit farm located east of Mt. Summit on July 29, 1876. She attended New Castle high school and was graduated with the class of 1895. She was married January 4, 1899 to Charles Shirk. For the next 30 years or more, Mrs. Shirk devoted herself to her family. Then she turned with more fervor than ever to her hobby - the history of Henry County. She joined the Historical Society. For about the past ten years she has been financial secretary of the organization.

Mrs. Shirk is a descendant of a pioneer family which settled here in 1831. Her mother's family came during the Civil War. She still has a coverlet, dated 1855, which was made at the mill at Hillsboro from wool sheared from sheep by a grandmother and taken to the mill by her. Mrs. Shirk herself remembers when her father went to the swamps around Blue River to kill snakes. The river then spread over a wide area. In 1888, she recalled, the river was dredged and confined to a narrow channel. In those early days, the condition of what is now Ind. 3 was such that it could not be traveled only in the best of weather.

About those drives she loves to take, Mrs. Shirk said that some of her favorite spots are to the old Kerlin home, now the residence of Will Burcaw, located west of Springport. She also likes to see again the old Bill Riffner home west of Mt. Summit. She recalls the Mrs. Riffner, a belle before her marriage, later became an invalid. Her husband took care of her for years, and continued to live in the beautiful old mansion for 20 years after her death. It is now the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Everett Patterson. Then there is the Evans place, north of New Castle, with the old cemetary near by. It has been remodeled into the country home of the Pomeroy Sinnock family. In New Castle, Mrs. Shirk likes to look at the brick house at the corner of 18th and Indiana Ave. Her memories are pleasant. The house once was a farm home. Mrs. George Lowe, who lived there, always cut a bouquet of flowers whenever she came to call.

Mrs. Shirk had the time of her life when she and Mrs. Ross Lockridge, mother of Ross Lockridge Jr., the author of "Raintree County", visited many historical spots in this area. Mrs. Shirk had known Mrs. Lockridge since she was Elsie Shockley, the daughter of John and Emma Shockley, teachers, who boarded at the home of Mrs. Shirk's grandmother, Mrs. Sarah Dunbar.

With one exception - the Hoover home north of Sulphur Springs - Mrs. Shirk never calls at these houses she loves to see. She has not realized yet that the new owners would enjoy talking to her and learning the history of their old houses. "I don't know the people who live there now," she said, then added wistfully, "generations go aflying."

By Bessie Spell Shirk born Alberta Lee "Bessie" Spell on July 29, 1876 in Mt. Summit, Henry County, Indiana. She was daughter of Mahala Susan Dunbar and Allen Crandall Spell. She married Charles Rosco Shirk on January 4, 1899 in New Castle, Henry County, Indiana. Bessie died on March 24, 1952 in New Castle,Henry County, Indiana.