Part 1 of our saga focuses on R.E. Nutt’s commitment to the bridge dedicated as “Memorial.” You can find that piece HERE.
Part 2 focuses on the information we were able to find regarding his profession as an engineer, a “bridge builder.” Find that piece HERE.
Photo courtesy Pulaski County Public Library.
Mr. Nutt’s Upbringing
Per official documents, Russell Errett Nutt was born in Kewanna (Fulton County) on March 20, 1880. It appears he was born at the family homestead in Harrison Township, Pulaski County. The postal address of the homestead – today – is Kewanna. The house itself was on the southwest corner of 200 S and 500 E, close to the Fulton County line.
The Nutt property straddled County Road 200 South. John F. Nutt purchased the parcel on the northwest corner from William H. Croucher in 1876. The southwest corner was purchased from Sarah E. Mullins in 1881. In 1904, he deeded the land to his children, each having a 1/7 interest. John F. Nutt passed away in 1914. We have done no further property searches, but we know that the Williams family purchased the property in 1945. This photo was provided by Deb DeSchepper. It is what remained of the Nutt homestead as her father, Carl Williams, pulled it down in the late 1970s.
I’ve become fascinated with Mr. Nutt and his “opus,” (the Memorial Swinging Bridge). As one winds around these country roads on the southeast side of Pulaski County, this location is a mere 4.8 miles from my home, or 3.6 “as the crow flies.” Who knew?
He would have gone to Fairview School, located one quarter mile west and then a mile north of where he grew up.
His draft registration from 1918 – he would have been 38 years old – states he was of medium build, medium height, with dark hair and gray eyes.
His formal education was not mentioned in any obituary. In fact, the 1940 U.S. Census states Mr. Nutt’s education ended at grade eight. From John Weaver, formerly with the Indiana Department of Transportation, “In those days, ‘engineer’ was fairly loosely defined. Professional licensing was just getting established. He could have called himself an engineer because of his experience and training. Surveyors were able to operate in that fashion, with little formal training requirements, until 1980.”
His Adult Years
Per the U.S. Census, in 1900, at age 20, he lived with his parents, John F. and Charlotte Nutt, in Harrison Township, Pulaski County. He married Hilda Frain on December 18, 1900. To them was born one child, a son, Errett Frain Nutt. (You will hear more about him later.)
Mentioned in Part 2 of this saga, while discussing Mr. Nutt’s connection with the Winamac Bridge Company, the 1910 Census found the Nutt family living in Iowa, with a managing partner of the company and Hilda’s brother, John W. Frain.
The 1920 Census shows Russell, Hilda and Errett Nutt living in a home they owned at 307 North Market Street, Winamac. The addresses in that area are now 303 North Market Street (apartments) and 309 North Market Street (a vacant lot with, as I write, a house under construction).
At the time Mr. Nutt and his family lived on Market Street, his neighbor, two houses to the north, would have been Judge John G. Reidelbach. The Judge had purchased the home built by Dr. William Henry Thompson. By the 1940s, after both Mr. Nutt and Judge Reidelbach no longer lived there, the Thompson/Reidelbach house was converted into a hotel and became known as the Winamac Hotel. If you are familiar with Winamac and the Winamac Hotel, you have now correctly placed that residential block in your mind’s eye.
The next house to the north, across Madison Street from the first Thompson house, was built by Dr. George Warren Thompson. That house was later sold to a prominent attorney, L. A. Reidelbach.
One is left to wonder if the houses owned by the two Doctors Thompson (they were brothers) were intentionally purchased by two brothers Reidelbach. Perhaps that speculation should not be made here. I did not do research into the two families Reidelbach.
Back to the story at hand, that house is now owned by the John Simmermaker family and has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. St. Peter’s Catholic Church is across the street.
This all goes to say, making a short story long, that in the 1920s, Mr. Nutt lived in a high class neighborhood.
According to the Indiana State Board of Registration Annual Report and Register of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, by some time in 1923, the year Memorial was erected, Mr. Nutt moved to Kokomo.
At his death in 1941, he was buried in Kokomo.
Pulaski County Connections
It appears the Nutt family history with Pulaski County begins sometime before 1880. Apparently, his nuclear family – brothers and sisters – moved out of the area, although several individuals have mentioned having relatives that are Nutts from the Kewanna area in Fulton County. I’m trying not to laugh at that sentence.
We can tie Mr. Nutt’s family to the community through his wife, Hilda Frain Nutt.
John Frain was one of the original (white) settlers of Monroe Township and Winamac. Two of his sons will be mentioned: George, born on February 2, 1850, and Felix, whose story will be picked up below.
William Wentz was also an original (white) settler in Harrison Township. To him was born a daughter, Fianna, on March 25, 1855.
John’s son George married William’s daughter Fianna on Christmas day, 1872. Among their children was a daughter, Hilda Myrtle Frain.
Hilda Myrtle Frain married Russell Errett Nutt on December 18, 1900.
I referenced Felix Frain above. He was the grandfather of Max Frain, of Frain Mortuary, at the corner of Main and Riverside Streets. Max’s son (Dan) and grandson (Jon) still run the family business. The progeny of R. E. and Hilda Nutt are related to the family, whose business is just up the hill west of the bridge, the length of a town block. The Nutt progeny are also related to Howard Wentz, who owns Howard’s Marathon, just a hop further west and a skip a half block south.
Closing the Personal Saga
I will end the saga of Mr. Nutt. He is buried in Kokomo, having passed away at the age of 61 on June 17, 1941. Per the obituary, he was a “well-known local bridge contractor.” He “suffered a stroke of apoplexy about a year ago, from which he never fully recovered. He had been seriously ill for the past three weeks.” Along with his wife, Hilda, he was survived by a son, Errett, two grandchildren, three sisters (Mrs. George Roach of Warren, Mrs. Clarice South of East Chicago and Mrs. Lesta Boyle of Santa Barbara, California), and a brother (Hubert, of Ohio). Mr. Nutt “was a member of the Masonic lodge and was widely known in central and northern Indiana.”
A local relative, Jon Frain, has called to introduce himself and to invite the family to the 2023 celebration of Mr. Nutt’s Opus. (That’s what the author is calling it….)
Errett Frain Nutt
Errett, for all that we know, had nothing to do with Memorial. However, his history puts him just a bit closer to those of us who live in the community today. Many people reading this document will know some of the names, and will, perhaps, be related to them.
Errett Frain Nutt, the only child of R.E. and Hilda Nutt, died in 1995 at the age of 92. He was born and raised in Winamac and graduated from Winamac High School. Their family was enough removed from the town that his granddaughter, when contacted by Jon Frain, knew only that his middle initial was “F,” not that it stood for Frain, and not that she had relatives in the area. She knew nothing, either, of Memorial.
This photo, courtesy of Pulaski County Public Library, is his senior photo from the 1922 Totem.
To put Errett into perspective, he graduated in 1922. Memorial was built in May and June, 1923, and dedicated in July of 1923. It is possible the family had moved to Kokomo by that time, or that they moved shortly after.
As noted above, the family lived in the neighborhood of St. Peter’s Catholic Church. He played the saxophone in the high school band, participated in basketball and baseball, and was a staff member of both the Totem and the Informer. Some of his classmates were Mary Bond, Eunice Emmett, Bruce Day, Olive Fry, Margene Gay, Margaret Gilsinger, Cora Grafton, Delight Holdermann, Herbert Hoch, Eleanore Lange, Dorothy Cox, Miriam Keller and Mildred Weaver.
Should you happen to go to the Pulaski County Public Library and look at this issue of the Totem, you will find other names with which you might be familiar.
On a side note, Library staff looked at the Totems for 1923 and 1924. Memorial was such a HUGE deal for the town at that time, and nowhere is there mention or a picture of it.
From his obituary: Errett Frain Nutt was born in Winamac on April 19, 1903. On December 14, 1942, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, he married Marie L. Householder. He died on May 12, 1995, leaving his wife and two daughters, Marilyn Morgan, Kokomo and Marlene (Buddy James) Meeks, also of Kokomo. Several grandchildren survived him as well. Candace (Ron) Gaby, Jack (Monica) Morgan, Raymond (Terry) Christine, Carol (Mark) Hooker, and Mary Bilby, all of Kokomo, and David (Jan) Christine of Edmond, Oklahoma. Also surviving were 11 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. One granddaughter, Vickie Haynes, and one son-in-law, Jack L. Morgan, preceded him in death.
Wouldn’t it be great to have all of his living descendants at the July 4, 2023 celebration!
Additional Information and Credits
See the database of suspension bridges built in Indiana HERE.
CONTRIBUTING TO THE PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL HISTORY OF R. E. NUTT: Janet Onken, Pulaski County Genealogist; Jon Frain, Frain Mortuary; Jim Phillips, former resident of Pulaski County, who gathered relevant articles from the Winamac Republican and the Pulaski County Democrat; Russell E, Nutt Obituary from the Kokomo Tribune, June 17, 1941 and from a local paper; Errett Frain Nutt Obituary from the Kokomo Tribune, May 13, 1995; John Weaver (formerly) and Crystal Weaver (currently) with INDOT; Pulaski County Public Library; Deb DeSchepper.