The Hyphen Family Lineage

Note: "Harry" Tribolet

William Henry, known as "Harry" to friends and family, was a popular and well-known young man in Bluffton, Wells Cty, Indiana. After a brief period working as a Washington, D.C. correspondent for a Fort Wayne (Allen Cty, Indiana) newspaper, he founded the Bluffton Evening News with a friend. Six months later, he'd sold the paper to another publisher, but remained on as editor for nearly a decade before joining his father in real estate. Even after officially departing the news business, he remained a frequent fixture at the news offices, sometimes filling in on a volunteer basis as necessary, and was a commonly-known face in Bluffton business and social circles.

In 1909, after a few years' struggles with throat problems, he received a diagnosis of cancer which he kept secret from his family. Harry left his father a note, cash, and the deed to his home, and then went to the "play house" (a small structure behind the family home, named so as the children's favorite recreational spot) and committed suicide by inhaling large quantities of chloroform. His popularity, along with his connections to the news and business communities, made for large and frequent headlines and news articles about his death in the local papers, including the printing of his suicide note to his father.

The letter to his father read:

"Father;

This throat trouble of mine means cancer, and I guess it is about time to head it off. I will be at the play house.

If this matter of mine works, you get me lot 59 over in section B. Take me to Thoma's and don't worry the folks at the house.

The money in the envelope in my drawer I want you to take, and also the deed that is there. This I want you to keep as your own, whater is left after paying expenses. I want you to have and keep all of it.

W.H. Tribolet"

(As an interesting side note, the undertaker mentioned in his note - Thoma - was a local Bluffton business founded by his grandfather, Jacob Tribolet, who had worked for a time as a craftsman of furniture, cabinets, and caskets. Jacob was in business briefly in partnership with Henry Thoma before leaving to fight in the Civil War. Antique examples of his woodworking still abound in and around Bluffton to attest to his craftsmanship.)