I don't know much about the house. It was built in 1900. I did a search on Google and found someone that lived here. He was a big name in oil wells in our area, in 1886 he ran for luitenant Governor, but lost. The site I've found the most info about him just lists this as his residence, not when. He could have been the original owner. I've looked for more info online about him, but haven't found much. The article I found was written in 1918 while this was still his current residence. But I haven't found any other info about him or the house online. Haven't had the time to go search through the library either, plus I really don't know where to begin about the house. So that is all the history I know.
The last owners (before us) are both dead. Their adult son was the one selling the house. We know that neither one died in the house and they owned it for about 20 years. They bought the house after their children were grown and he had an electrical business he ran from the house. He had polio and for the last few years his bedroom was downstairs where our family room now is. His office was my husbands office and we think she had her room where my daughters room is, or that had been their bedroom before he got sick, or she used that as her room after he died. Most of this we know from neighbors and some mortician friends that remember their services. So between the last date of the Col (1918) and them (who bought the house around 1980) there is a good 60 year gap that we know nothing about.
The house had been vacant for 2 years before we bought it (July 2002). She had moved into a nursing home, yet all their belongings were still here until after she passed, then tehre was an auction. That was part of the reason it took so long for the house to sell becuase it was full of stuff. We only saw it empty, after the auction. But our realator told us and we know other people that looked at it before we did. When we first walked in we just knew it was the house for us. Even though it needed a lot of updating there was too many good features. Just with it being old I thought it would be haunted, especially becuase I knew the most recent owners were both dead. I was relieved to hear that neither died in the house though. I've always had a weird feeling and when taking pictures before we moved in I thought everything was dust. I had no idea what an orb was and didn't look further into things. I'd heard noises every now and then, but passed it off as kids.
Then in June of 2003 my dad visited us. He stayed in my husbands office. During this same time my husband cut down two old ash trees. Both of them were heavily damaged from an ice storm that had happened before we bought the house and were dying. It was after this that more things started happening. My son was being woken up by footsteps in his room when no one was there. I was hearing more noises and more feelings of being watched. I don't know if something with the trees or or my dad visit caused an increase or disturbed something.
We have done work to the house. Gutted the dining room and replaced the walls and nothing strange seemed to happen. I've been working on the bedrooms and haven't had much happen. But the pictures taken before staring the work and after finishing them are realy spotty (I still call them spots because I'm not convinced it's obs). When I finished my sons room I know it had been dusted a million times becuase I'd just refinished the floors and had gone over everything with a tack cloth. Yet the after pics are still full of spots. Before I started on the girls room there were tons of spots, though it had been empty for 2 weeks. While working I had some screws in a pile. Then they were gone, I looked all over for them, couldn't find them. So I said outloud 'I want my screws back' and I left the room. I came back a few minutes later and they were back. Other things have disappeared and reappeared after me saying outloud that I want the stuff back. But I do have 3 kids, so a lot of times I think it's them.
I've never done an EVP and frankly I'm worried I what I would hear on it. There have been many times at night I've heard people talking just for a few seconds. I passed it off on being the neighbors, until a week ago. It was about 2 am and I heard it. I thought it was them, then I realized it's 2am, it's freezing outside, all my windows are closed, all their windows are closed, there is no way I could be hearing them.
Okay that was really really long, sorry.
I have some pictures but most of them aren't that exciting. There are a few that seem to have a moving orb, and the smokey thing outside are about the most interesting ones I have. I'm sure some of it also is dust, but I do wonder about it all. And I think in some of the outside pics that I see a face looking out the windows, those are before we bought the house and it was vacant because we had just walked through with the realator and all of us had just left. Unfortunatly I had to resize them to put them on the site. Some of them I still have the full image of, others I resized long ago before knowing anything about orbs or anything like that.
My Photos[/URL]

Updating URL becuase I moved the pics to a new site.

[ January 08, 2004, 02:02 PM: Message edited by: Remo ]

Remo, I'm sorry no one has gotten to your post yet! My apologies. I've been so busy myself, I'm missing a lot of posts. I promise when I get a few moments (maybe later tonight), I'll read your post and look at your pics and respond. Right now, unfortunately, I have to run again!

Kell

I added a few new pics earlier today. The ones of just the Christmas tree were takne on Christmas Eve. I'd taken a few with nothing in them. Then said (outloud to the room) that if anyone wanted their pic taken to get in front of the tree. And then I got a few orbs after that.
A few also showed up while the kids were opening their presents on Christmas morning. So those pics have been added to the site. They are definantly not dust either.

Hi Remo,

Thanks for taking the time to type out so much about your new house. I'm curious as to who this man was (the possible original owner) - with a name, I may be able to find out more about him.

Well, the majority of the 'spotty' pics I'd say are dust orbs.... even some of the Christmas shots. However, the moving orb on your child's leg is interesting, as well as the previous one with the 'smoke' outside. Are you certain that is not a smudge on the camera lens? Did you happen to take any other pics in conjunction with that one and how did they turn out? It's important to rule out all logical explanations first.

With a new family moving in (yours), plus the remodeling/renovating - even cutting those trees down - could be what triggered the activity. They can also be attracted to children's energy. In a home that old, it never surprises me when there is reported activity.

Kell

Interesting story and pics, I would have to agree that most of the "spots" appear to be dust. Especially the room with hundreds of them. Was the heat on when this was taken? a movement in air flow in the house can stir up dust. Ceiling fans, anyone moving around, walking across carpet... dust and lint coming from clothing as they move. To Get a good pic of these rooms and if there are orbs there, you will need to show down the heat fan, and ceiling fans find a place in the room and stay still for several minutes before taking the pics.. then compare these shots with the previous. This would best be done with you there alone. I too would love to research the man who lived there in the 1900's if you would not mind sharing his name. Maybe between Kell and I we could find something more .. who knows.
Please try this method of taking pics in your home and please post the results, as I think we should be able to see a huge difference and possibly see a few positive orbs if there ae any.

When the first pics (the really dusty ones) were taken I didn't even know what an orb was. It wasn't until about a year later that I found out about orbs and started looking through old pics. I usually don't try to find orbs either and I'm taking pics for other reasons. But I have tried to make sure there is no fan, air or furnace running while I'm taking the pics. The pics of the Christmas tree were the first time I asked for anything to pose for the camera, and there was nothing running that would have blown any air. Last night I heard a noise from that same room and took a few pics and even turned the flash off. So I'm still trying to see how to do it the best and get accurate results. I did come up with a few odd things with no flash, but lightening made the pics grainy.

I've searched all over the net for the owner. I know his name was Samuel G Isett. He was born in PA, and moved to KS. From what I read he ran for Lt Governor for the democratic party, but lost. He was in the oil business. I ~think~ I finally found his date of death last night by looking online at listings of one of the large local cemetaries, it was like 1923 or 1928 (I can't remember). I can even give you the link where I first found him SG Isett[/URL]
My husband said the city building has info on him, but he just told me that last night and couldn't rememeber anything about him. I just always have a child in tow, so that can make things a little crazy when trying to read in a public place

Here's some information on S. G. Isett:

Transcribed from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and compiled by William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, copyright 1918


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S. G. Isett
COL. S. G. ISETT. In the history of the oil industry in Kansas there is no better known figure than Col. S. G. Isett, the man who made Chanute famous. He has been connected with the production and handling of oil since 1902, and has been identified with some of the most famous wells the country has known.

Colonel Isett has had an interesting and spectacular career, featured by incidents and experiences any one of which would have satisfied the ordinary individual's desire for adventure; but while he bears bodily scars as mementos of the thrilling times through which he has passed, his mental capacity remains unimpaired, and today, with faculties sharpened and fully developed, he maintains his position as a leading business man of Chanute, in the midst of the stern competition of the younger generation growing up about him.

Colonel Isett is descended from Green ancestors who operated as merchants on the high seas, and who drifted into England, France and Germany, from which last-named country they came to America prior to the Revolution, first settling in Connecticut, later going to Virginia, then to Pennsylvania. In the Old Dominion State, in 1814, was born James K. Isett, the father of the Colonel. He was reared in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, from whence he went to Huntingdon County, in the same state, and was there married. As a successful farmer, he was the owner of a large property, and also owned and operated an iron furnace. It is a peculiar fact that he should have died as a result of the Civil war, although not a participant, while his son, who fought in many battles, should have passed safely through. While visiting the battlefield of Gettysburg, he contracted blood-poisoning, from which he died at Marklesburg, Pennsylvania, in 1863. He was a republican. Mr. Isett married Elizabeth Garner, who was born in 1815 at Antietam, Maryland, and on whose grandfather's farm was fought the great battle of Antietam during the Civil war. She died at Marklesburg, Pennsylvania, in 1887. There were eleven children in the family, as follows: John, who died in infancy; Matthew G., who fought as a soldier of the Fifty-third Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and was killed at the battle of Gettysburg; Mary, who died in 1895, at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, as the wife of the late John Stedman, a mine superintendent; George W., who was a retired merchant and died at Marklesburg, Pennsylvania, in 1914, from the effects of an incurable wound received at the battle of Gettysburg, while fighting in the same regiment as his brother Matthew G.; J. M., who is a hardware merchant at Athol, Kansas; Luther, who died in infancy; S. G., of this notice, born in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, February 15, 1849; John A., who is a retired farmer of Marklesburg, Pennsylvania; B. F., who for many years was with the Pennsylvania Central Railroad as superintendent of the car shops and is now living retired at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania; H. H., who is in the employ of the United States Mint at Denver, Colorado; and Jennie, who died at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, as the wife of J. M. Lynn, who at the time of his death was a retired merchant and life insurance agent.

S. G. Isett attended the public schools of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, but the war came to interrupt his studies, and to take its toll from his youth. He was but fifteen years and twelve days old when he managed to induce the recruiting officer to accept him as a soldier of the Union, and November 27, 1863, he became a private in the Twenty-second Pennsylvania Cavalry, with which he served until October 27, 1865. With this organization he participated in a number of great engagements, including those at Winchester and Cedar Creek, and fought under such able commanders as Siegel, Hayes and Sheridan, being frequently on staff duty. He was seriously wounded at Fisher's Hill, where a piece of exploded shell struck his left ankle, disabling him for several months; again, at Winchester, September 19, 1864, he was wounded, receiving a sabre cut across the head and at Front Royal he was shot through the left wrist.

At the close of the war the brave young soldier returned to his Huntingdon county home, and was made superintendent and paymaster for R. J. Langdon, at Coal Run, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, positions which he held for two years. He was then transferred to Dunbar, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, and acted in the same capacities for that firm for one year, when he was made general manager for the Logan Coal Company, at Osceola, Pennsylvania. He was acting in this capacity during the period of the notorious Molly Maguires, a secret society which had been formed in 1877 in the mining districts of Pennsylvania, the members of which sought to effect their purpose by intimidation, carried in some cases to murder. Colonel Isett, always utterly fearless and courageous in face of all threats, seemed to have attracted the animosity of this order, and on one occasion ninety-three buckshot were fired through the window of the room in which he was sleeping, while on another occasion, while riding in a buggy with the president of the company, he was shot at twice. Several members of the Molly Maguires were later arrested, tried and executed, and the organization was broken up and scattered.

On March 21, 1879, Colonel Isett came to Kansas and at Humboldt entered the employ of Curdy & Heed, a firm with which he was connected for four years. In 1883 he located at Chanute, where he opened up a dry goods, shoe and clothing business, and conducted this for two years. Following this, in 1886 he was appointed assistant land commissioner, an appointment which carried with it a salary of $4,000 per annum, but this he declined, and took in preference a position with Huiskamp Brothers Company, shoe manufacturers of Keokuk, Iowa, for which firm he traveled until January 1, 1902. At that time he began to be an active factor in the oil business at Chanute and drilled the first independent oil well on the famous "Isett Eighty." Subsequently he negotiated a market with the Prairie Oil and Gas Company and put the first barrel of oil in the Standard's pipe line in the Mid-Continent field. Later he opened the famous Isett and Erwin Gas pool, 6 1/2 miles west of Chanute, in which were some of the largest wells ever discovered, running as high as 42,000,000 cubic feet per day. Colonel Isett also opened up the shallow oil pool at Longton and drilled one of the most remarkable freak wells ever opened in an oil field. Having taken up a large block of leases in 1914, he associated himself with Guffy & Gailey, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the first well drilled, at 1,500 feet struck the most remarkable oil well in history. This would flow a solid column of oil and sand from 250 to 300 feet through a 6 5/8 casing, and these flows would last from twenty minutes to one hour. It would sand up for a distance of eighty feet and then have to be drilled out, and would immediately begin to flow again until sanded up again, and this condition prevailed for thirty days, when the owners inserted a 5 3/16 perforated liner. After flowing for nine hours the well backed in behind the liner, closed the perforation and the well was lost. The company has drilled five other holes surrounding this one and all have come in dry.

Colonel Isett has been widely known in democratic politics. In 1886 he was the democratic candidate for lieutenant-governor, associated with Col. Tom Moonlight, candidate for governor, they being the first two candidates of the democratic party to make a campaign through the state. For three months they proclaimed a baptism "for a repentence of republican sins," but both were defeated. In 1890 Colonel Isett was democratic candidate for secretary of state; with ex-Governor Robinson and the Honored Dave Overmyer on the ticket. In 1890 he was appointed a colonel on the staff of Governor Leedy. Colonel Isett is a charter member of Vicksburg Post No. 72, Grand Army of the Republic, of Humboldt, Kansas. He owns much property in the surrounding territory adjoining Chanute, has his residence in the city, at No. 402 Forest Avenue, and has large oil interests at Longton, Kansas.

Colonel Isett was married in 1873, at Marklesburg, Pennsylvania to Miss Ellen C. Heilig, daughter of the late Rev. J. S. Heilig a minister of the Lutheran Church, and of their children, the following are living: Hal, who is general agent for the Farmers and Bankers Life Insurance Company of Wichita, Kansas, with headquarters at Parsons; Bessie, who resides with her parents; and Frank E., who resides at Longton, Kansas, and is associated with his father in various ventures in the oil business.


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Transcribed from volume 4, pages 2121-2122 of A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, written and compiled by William E. Connelley, Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, copyright 1918; originally transcribed October 1997, modified 2003 by Carolyn Ward.

[ December 28, 2003, 04:58 PM: Message edited by: Connie ]

Here are some more bits I picked up via my search at Ancestry.com. Not anything really important, just interesting. I think you've got a good deal on info on him already! I'd like to find his DOD though...


Civil War records:

Name:   Samuel G Isett ,  
Residence:   Blair County, Pennsylvania
Enlistment Date:   26 February 1864
Distinguished Service:   DISTINGUISHED SERVICE
State Served:   Pennsylvania
Unit Numbers:   2026 2026
Service Record:   Enlisted as a Private on 26 February 1864
Enlisted in Company K, 22nd Cavalry Regiment Pennsylvania on 26 February 1864.
Transferred Company K, 22nd Cavalry Regiment Pennsylvania on 01 February 1865
Transfered in Company G, 16th Infantry Regiment RC on 01 February 1865.
Discharged Company G, 16th Infantry Regiment RC on 27 October 1865
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Civil War Pension records:

Name: Samuel G. Isett
Widow: Ellen C. Isett
State Filed: Kansas
Date filed: 1879, June 7

There was a second date on here as well, the year 191? (couldn't read it - may be 1911 or 1917? I'll have to look at it again) and I'm thinking now that the second listing may have been filed after his death.
---

In the 1870 Census....

Head of household: Elizabeth (stands to reason since his father was killed in 1865)
Home worth $5000
Samuel's occupation: Miner
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In the 1880 Census....

Name:   Sam'l. G. ISET
Age:   34
Estimated birth year:   <1846>
Birthplace:   Pennsylvania
Occupation:   Clerks In Drygoods Store
Relation:   Self
Home in 1880:   Humboldt, Allen, Kansas
Marital status:   Married
Race:   White
Gender:   Male
Head of household:   Sam'l. G. ISET
Father's birthplace:   PA
Mother's birthplace:   PA

His wife and daughter, Bessie E., lived with him. Bessie was 2 at the time (est. birth year 1878).

[ December 29, 2003, 03:50 PM: Message edited by: KellKell ]

Thanks for the info. Does Ancestry.com have antyhing after 1900 (which is when this house was built). The only other thing I've found is the local cemeteray stuff. Which tells the lots and has a map to find them. Although personally I'm not to keen on going out to his gravesite, it just seems odd to me.
But the stuff isn't that explained. It has his name listed 8 times with the date of 1893 (which my guess is he was the plot owner and that was the year the plot was purchased). Then it has him listed to the right of those in 2 spots. 1 says 0 (I assume that is an unused plot) and the other says 1924 (probably his date of death). Ellen is also listed in 1933. Here's the site[/URL]
Also in the link in my other post Bessie still lived at home and that was in 1918, so she would have been 40 and still living with her parents.