March 18, 2022
A Spring Adventure

This Musing from Main began innocently enough as a Musing about the "New" picture we found of the "Old" Town Hall. What it turned into was an adventure through the past century on a beautiful (almost) spring day!

how it all began

We were all in the office one day about a month ago when our archivist, Leith Johnson, showed us a picture of the Old Town Hall. We had never seen this specific image before, and believe me, we have searched the online database many times for images of buildings that no longer exist, we would have seen this one before. Where had he found it?

 Original images of Town Hall and Union School provided by Richard and Robert Ident

an old scrapbook

We are always finding old treasures in the archives, and Leith had found another one. It was labeled a "scrapbook" but what it really was, was a "history" book, written in 1941, by the 5th graders of Miss Maskel's class at Union School.

The book is divided into two parts. In the first part, the students write about their lives, and in the second, they write about the town of South Windsor. Pictures taken by the students accompany several of the essays.  The picture of Town Hall and one of Union School were taken by Richard and Robert Ident to accompany their essays on Selectmen, Constables, and the Fire Department. 

But who are Robert and Richard Ident?

I looked back to the first section of the book, the section about the students themselves, to learn about Richard and Robert, who I assumed were brothers. School pictures included in the book confirmed that they were not only brothers, but twins! 

I then searched for the essay about their lives. It was written in a child's cursive by Richard, and talks about their family having eight members. It also talks about some of the animals on their farm including a cow, that he proudly states he named Betsy. It also includes a picture of their house. Now I am hooked, and I want to learn more.

 School picture of the Ident twins, Robert (below left) and Richard (below right) 5th grade, 1941.

 School pictures of Richard Ident (left) and Robert Ident (right), 5th grade, 1941.

More clues...

In his essay, Richard says that his father works for the town, and the picture of the house he included appears to have the date 1922 written on the bottom. A quick search of our online archival database, and I find two other pictures and a quote from Kathy Kelly's Oral History in 2013, "And the Idents lived where Carol lives..." The two pictures are Union School Class pictures, one from 1940 of possibly a sister, Jeanne Ident, and another from 1910, of Ella Ident. This is where I pick up the phone, and start calling the people who are much more versed in South Windsor town history than I am.

...and the hunt is on!

After consulting with several experts, I find myself driving up and down Old Main Street comparing the picture from 1922 to the houses still standing on the street today.

"No, it's not that one, no third floor windows." 

"Not that one, not enough windows on the main floor."

"Nope, that one's door is on the wrong side." 

I am about to give up. People are starting to look at me with weird expressions as I pass in front of their house for the fifth or sixth time. Bicyclists and I are playing leap frog and the joggers are hugging a little closer to the yards when I get close. Then I spot Elsie, enjoying the beautiful spring day in her front yard. I figure I've come this far, and I won't forgive myself if I don't take a minute to ask. I stop and show her the picture with the essay and yes, she did go to Union School with the Idents, and she doesn't remember their house being torn down. It could still be standing. Check in the Ident Road sub-division area, she suggests, perhaps the Gorski and Bancroft street areas, too.

With renewed hope, I tell myself this is it, and if I don't find it this time, at least I gave it the old college try. At the top of Ident Road, I spot a gentleman backing his boat into his driveway.

(Yes, I am now asking complete strangers if they recognize a house from a 1922 picture, provided by a 10 year old, found in a 1941 scrapbook, that may or may not still be standing!)

To my astonishment, the house looks familiar to him, and his wife walks me down the street to where they think it might be.  As I am standing in the front yard, the current owner comes out, takes a look at the picture and says, "Yes, this is the house." 

100 Years Later...

I am standing in roughly the same spot, taking roughly the same picture as someone else did, shortly after the house was built. Apparently, there was a driveway that originally ran in front of the house and connected with Main Street, so looking for a house along Main Street was not so crazy. 

Behind the house, was the farm, where the 25 chickens, the horse, and Betsy, the cow lived. The current owner recognized the cedar shake in the picture and said they had to add another porch post to bring it up to code.

Then she shared something special, and walked me a short way into the woods in front of the house. There carved into an ash tree that is barely standing, are the initials E I. Apparently, there was a date carved underneath that is illegible now. Are they Ella Ident's initials? I believe they are.

Thank You
to everyone who helped me along on this adventure.
 You brought 100 years of history alive!

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