Connecting With the Past! 

 

Listen to this awesome story that reminds us all why we all love this sport! This story truly grasps the connection to history and sense of community that metal detecting brings us! 

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A couple of years ago, I was detecting on one of my permissions that is 3 or 4 adjacent lots, all of which had old houses on them in years past. I have found items going back to the Civil War period, such as 1863 patent date oil lamps and early Henry rimfire cartridges. On one particular day, I hit a repeatable 10 on my Equinox 800 and I decided to dig it. Much to my surprise, I found an old key fob with the name, "Arthur DeMik" and "Hammond Ind. RFD.1" on it. "RFD" stands for "Rural Free Delivery" and it was the early stages of our modern postal system, before street addresses were implemented. I found the fob in what is now the incorporated town of Munster, In. Through some research, I was able to determine that the north Munster area was unofficially considered to be south Hammond prior to Munster incorporating in 1907. I also found a picture of some of the DeMik family from around 1916 in front of the house that once stood there. I continued to do some research and I was able to find Arthur's daughter! Once I reached out to her and was able to verify that she was indeed Arthur's daughter, I let her know what I found and that I would like to send it to her if she'd like to have it, as it belonged to her father in his younger years. She was very excited and eagerly accepted my offer! I mailed her the fob and a book containing other local history, including the picture of her family in front of the residence, which she was born at and lived at briefly before her immediate family relocated. Finding the fob was interesting, but finding a lot of history around it and being able to give it to his daughter several decades later as a memento of her father was priceless!

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