In 1904, Gene Stratton-Porter’s second book was called “Freckles” after the main character in the book. It would become one of her biggest sellers and Freckles one of her most beloved characters. It was her first book published by Doubleday, Page and Company.

In a May 30, 1911, speech that Gene gave to the advanced English class of Professor R. W. Brown, she stated, “All my characters were either real persons or composite persons, made up of characteristics selected from people of my acquaintance.” For her inspiration for Freckles she did not have to look farther than her home in Geneva.

Ray Boze was born Aug. 7, 1883, in Geneva. The son of David and Sarah (Campbell) Boze, he was fair, red-haired and freckled. Ray’s grandfather, Peter Boze, a native of Ohio, was the patriarch of the family who first settled on the north side of Geneva. According to his great-niece, Pam Wilson, Ray’s nickname was “Red” and his given name was Raul.

In the 1890s, Ray went to work as her stable boy. In 1935, Ray said that Gene was “extremely kind and thoughtful, but quite particular about the appearance of her home and stable and was especially concerned over the appearance of her carriage and beautiful white horse.” The horse had to be always well-groomed and it was his duty to see to it that the barn was as clean as anyone’s home. Ray told of how he lived in the carriage house and drove Gene around Limberlost land in spring, summer and fall.

The character Freckles used the conservatory door at the cabin when he visited the Birdwoman (Gene). One can imagine that she saw Ray use this door many times.

In a 1976 interview, Geneva native Mamie Hawbaker Schenbeck, 88, stated that Ray Boze, her one-time stable boy, was the inspiration for Freckles. According to Mamie, Ray had one good arm. Gene frequently came to the Hawbaker farm along the Wabash River to search for bird nests and photograph them. Mamie’s father, Daniel, is mentioned in “Friends in Feathers.” Mamie knew the Boze family, including Ray and his siblings.

Ray married Cordelia Geesy in 1909 in Winchester, Indiana. It is believed that he outlived Cordelia. On Jan. 31, 1920, he married Verne Parker and moved to Hanging Garden in Jasper County, Indiana, where he would remain the next 40 years.

His 1960 obituary told of Ray being the subject of the novel and of his association to the “celebrated authoress.” Like the character, Ray was a humble man and was buried under a simple headstone in Jasper County.

Writer’s note: Special thanks to the Jasper County (Indiana) Historical Society, Rensselaer (Indiana) Library, Berne (Indiana) Library, Sue Caldwell, Pam Wilson and the late David MacLean for their help with this article.

Terri Gorney of Fort Wayne is on the Friends of the Limberlost board of directors in Geneva. Contact her at [email protected]. The Limberlost site is open all year ’round.

By Willy De Smet

If you have been following FOL on Facebook, you may have noticed that I started photographing moths this year.

It’s been a quite amazing and surprising experience. Most people think of moths as drab brown and grey “butterflies” that fly at night. Not quite accurate. There is an astonishing variety in sizes, shapes and colors (including green, bright red and orange) and some moths fly during the day. In just a few weeks, I have photographed and identified over a hundred different species of moths. Not an evening goes by that I don’t see at least one (usually at least three or four) species I haven’t seen before. Some species I see every night. You have to check frequently though, because some don’t stay very long.

There is a lot of different behavior around the light; some just buzz by and hit the sheet or light (or me) a few times and fly off again; some move over the sheet and take a long time before they settle down, some appear to fall asleep - clamp down on the sheet and are hard to shake off, some take off again as soon as the beam of the flash light gets a little too close.

Some run away, some fly right at the camera (or in your face). They don’t just land on the sheet (front OR back), they will also settle on the ground or anything near, including you (especially if you’re wearing white!)  I had something fairly heavy land on my neck one night and - holding my camera in my right hand - brushed it off with my left hand. I didn’t have to grab my flashlight to see what is was,… stinkbug! The flashlight will help you find those that settle on the ground and nearby structures as well as help you see the colors of the moths. Moths can look quite differently by UV light than flashlight or daylight.

I soon realized that not only moths are attracted to the UV light; I see lots of beetles (including stag beetles and longhorn beetles), plant hoppers and leaf hoppers, may flies, mantid flies, katydids and so on. You will see insects that somewhat look like moths (caddis flies for instance) and some moths that don’t look like moths (like clearwings).

To identify the moths that you see, the new 2012 Peterson Field Guide to Moths of Northeastern North America (David Beadle and Seabrooke Leckie) is a great start. Is is much easier to use than the previous one by Charles Covell. The new Peterson shows the moths in their natural resting position (not specimens pinned in a collection with fully spread wings). In the back pages silhouettes/outlines are shown of the different groups/families. That is a great place to start. Sometimes this book is not enough. Even though this guide covers a lot of species and variations, not all species/variations you may encounter are in this book. That would be impossible for a field guide. Fortunately, besides digital photography, this is also the age of the Internet. Two website that I use often are BugGuide.net and the Moth Photographers Group.

Another book about moths than I enjoy a lot is “Discovering Moths – Nighttime Jewels in Your Own Backyard” by John Himmelman.  There are some nice photos in this book identifying the species, but it is not a field guide. There is a lot of information about the life cycle of moths, the different families, how to attract moths, collect, photograph, rear them; as well as a lot of very entertaining moth stories.

If you want to try this for yourself, you do not need much and it is not expensive at all.

What I use:

My set up is pretty simple.

I bought one of those energy-saving new light bulbs (about $5) - a UV light bulb because UV bulbs /blacklight attract moths better than regular light bulbs. I put it in a clamp-on “trouble light”. (This is basically a half round aluminum reflector with a lamp socket in the center and a spring loaded clamp.) If you have a desk lamp for instance, that will work too.

I clamp this to an old video camera tripod and then direct the light to a piece of white cotton cloth that I drape over a washing line. Cotton is preferable since it reflects UV light, synthetic material does not. Turn light on when it gets dark.

That’s it.

Be ready to be amazed!

Gene Stratton-Porter loved the frog vocalizations in spring. In an article*, Gene wrote, “The music of spring begins down in the marsh with the frogs.” The frogs are the earliest singers and can begin in February but in May they are in a full chorus which is an amazing sound. In “Friends in Feathers” a book that Gene wrote about her birding experiences in Geneva, she stated “….while all May was in each intoxicating breath of spring.” Gene was referring to the sounds of spring.

Gene would be happy to know that the eastern gray treefrogs that she mentioned in “Moths of the Limberlost” still call the Limberlost cabin home. They have been very vocal this year and could be heard at the cabin and all over Geneva from April until early August.

In northeastern Indiana, we have the possibility of hearing and seeing eleven species of frogs and toads. Of those eleven species, nine are known to make their home at Limberlost, they are: spring peepers, chorus frogs, eastern gray treefrogs, wood frog, American toad, American bullfrog, green frog, northern leopard frog and northern cricket frog. This is good news as it means that Limberlost has a healthy environment that will support the frogs. It is possible that with the continued habitat restoration that Limberlost could have the remaining two in our area, the Fowler’s toad and the pickerel frog.

March to August is when the frogs’ vocalization is at its height during breeding season for this area. The best time to listen is after sunset when the frog songs are at their loudest and called a full chorus.

In March 2011, I became certified by FrogWatch USA through the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo FrogWatch Chapter. At the end of my third year with FrogWatch in Allen County, I reported hearing northern cricket frogs along the Wabash River in Geneva in 2012 and 2013 to Kathy Terlizzi. Kathy is the Volunteer Manager at the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo. She asked if I would document the northern cricket frogs in 2014 as they have been in steep decline in this area of Indiana and other places.

Northern cricket frogs can be found in marshes, marshy ponds, and slow moving streams. New York’s population of this species has been in decline for more than eighty years. Currently, there is discussion about reintroducing them in four areas of the eastern part of the state.

On May 23, Randy Lehman and I, heard the northern cricket frog, the target frog, for the first time this year. There were several heard with overlapping calls. The next night, the northern cricket frogs and the eastern gray treefrogs were in full chorus. What a wonderful sound! By June 27, northern cricket frogs were heard in fourteen locations in Geneva; seven were in ponds and three were located on restored wetlands including the Limberlost Swamp Wetlands Preserve and Rainbow Bottom.

Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo Curator Mark Weldon was pleased to know that the northern cricket frogs are in Geneva. Mark shared my data with Alan Resetar, Herpetologist, at the Chicago Field Museum, who has an interest in the northern cricket frogs.  

This year, the survey was conducted for FrogWatch USA along the Wabash River at Rainbow Bottom on ground owned by the Friends of the Limberlost. Five species of frogs were recorded. Protecting a species such as the northern cricket frog is one reason why it is the Friends of the Limbrlost mission to retain and create habitat for wild creatures. When you donate to the Friends of the Limberlost’s Limberlost Swamp Remembered, you are helping restore and maintain these important ecosystems.

Why be a FrogWatch USA Citizen Scientist? You will learn more about wetlands and local amphibian diversity and help with collecting data on frogs and toads. It is a fun project to do with your children or grandchildren. For more information on FrogWatch USA, check out FrogWatch USA on facebook or contact [email protected] or Kathy Terlizzi at [email protected].

*The Indianapolis Star, 10 Aug 1923, p. 3.