A Man of Many Talents

Transcription: Mt. Sterling Sentinel, October 30, 1875.

Mr. T. H. Probert, our efficient jailer, dug from five acres of ground two thousand bushels of Irish potatoes, and he says there are about one hundred bushels more in the ground, which he intended to dig, which will make two thousand one hundred bushels. They are in the Irish cup, and the largest we ever saw. Mr. Probert says he can select seven hundred bushels of those potatoes that will weigh one pound to the potato. If any person has beat that in raising potatoes we want to hear from him.

After finding this article, I had a lot of questions:
1) Where did Thomas find time to plant five acres of Irish potatoes?

2) Does the fact that he grew Irish potatoes support the theory that Thomas is of Irish descent? My cousin, Barbara Kaiser Pharo, has an aunt who insists that the Proberts were Irish. I have some contradictory evidence that the Proberts were Welsh. This is a question we've yet to prove.

3) Who was this man? If anything has become apparent to me, it is that Thomas was not one-dimensional. Over his lifetime he pursued so many interests.

4) I also know that almost exactly a year later, Thomas would be dead. How did he have the stamina to grow potatoes in addition to all of his other responsibilities?

We are coming close to the end of our journey to better know our ancestor. I hope to finish up with a couple of more anecdotes about T. H. Probert. And can you believe it? After all of this research, I still have no idea what the "H" stands for.