Unearthing Family History
In February of 2013 I got permission to detect a house in my hometown that I have been wanted to detect for awhile. I found many wheat cents, a silver Washington quarter and some artifacts. One of the neat things was an Ingle Systems token for a J. P. Bley, a little research gave me the following information.
John Peter Bley ordered and started using these tokens about 1912. The 1926 Hammond, Indiana city directory shows him in partnership with Nick Thillen in the grocery and meat business at 960 Indianapolis Blvd. in Hammond. The 1929 Hammond, Indiana city directory shows him by himself in the grocery business at 635 Hammond Blvd. which was noted to be served by the Whiting post office.
A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by the grandson of J. P. Bley inquiring what I knew about the token and his grandfather. I told him what I was able to find out and requested any information he may have on him. The following along with the two photos was his response.
Most of the information on John Peter Bley comes from his grandson Jack Bly who contacted me when he saw a posting on the Buckeye Treasure Hunters Forum.
Jackson Bly (my Grandmother dropped the "e" in Bley when they divorced). Jack sent other fascinating details about his Grandfather but the following are the most pertinent to the token
“I'm a bit of an amateur genealogist and have been doing my family history for about 30 years. Mostly on my Mother's side, back to the 1700s in the US. My father's side is something that I am working on now. I don't know a lot about the store/s that he had other than what my Grandmother told me. He left her (my Grandmother) in about 1930. Here's what I can tell you about him.”
John Peter Bley was born 3/28/1890 in Port Washington, Wisconsin. He enlisted in the army in 1918 and was married the same year. A year later, his wife and child died in childbirth. In 1920, he moved to the south side of Chicago, just a couple of miles from Whiting, Indiana and worked as a butcher (he went to butcher school in the army) in a store there. He eventually went into partnership in a store and eventually had his own store there in Whiting, Indiana. He met and married my Grandmother in 1921. She used to tell me stories of them having poker games in the back of the store that started Friday night and continued until Sunday morning. He left my Grandmother in about 1930, with three small children, my Dad being the oldest at about 7 years old. I met him in Wisconsin for the first time in about 1960. It was also the first time that my Father had seen him in 30 years. They reconciled and he passed away in 1968. They're both gone now.
One of the most fascinating thing about this hobby is that not only are we finding things we are exhuming family history as well. Jack had never known that such tokens existed and that it could reveal more information about his grandfather. The token is being sent to Jack as I feel it is a part of his family’s history.
Reply With Quote
Also a great gesture on your part to send that token to the family 
You dig a hole and never realize what course that target may take you on. That is the fun of metal detecting.
