Class Photos

While going through family photos, I asked my aunt how my grandparents met. She wasn’t sure, but I think the answer was found in the documents she has: they both graduated from Lincoln High (now Lincoln School for the Performing Arts) in 1940.

Fun fact: Lincoln High is the site of the very first Milwaukee High School and notable students included Al Jarreau and Oprah Winfrey.

MyHeritage.com has several yearbooks online and I was able to find Kay in the 1938 edition. The site offers a colorization option for added fun.

Kay is top center

Herb was in the same book, and it turns out he was a member of the track team.

He didn’t seem to enjoy having his picture taken, did he?

Herb was also in the 1936 yearbook, although Kay wasn’t (perhaps she transferred in?):

Herb is left center

Using records to reinforce family stories, part 2

As I mentioned in my last post, one of my most memorable genealogical finds is in regards to newspaper accounts that verified some old family stories that have been passed around the kitchen table for years. A lot of times these stories can sound pretty far-fetched or unlikely, or have been too vague to seem possible.  But when I start digging around in old newspaper accounts and searching for records on these family members who lived long ago, I’m sometimes surprised by what I find.

Wally Struck often told his grandchildren this story about a tragic drowning, and a psychic who helped find the lost soul buried deep in the Lannon quarry. He said that a boy was swimming there and drowned, but even though they sent divers down and dredged the lake, no one could find the body.  Then they sent to Milwaukee for a famous psychic, and he came to the small village of Lannon to help.  Grandpa mentioned that they called the man Doctor even though he wasn’t truly one, although he couldn’t remember the man’s last name.  He went on to tell us that when the “Doctor” came to the quarry, he pointed to one area of the lake and told the people they would find the body there, and that it hadn’t surfaced yet because it had been caught under a ledge.  According to his story, divers found the body exactly where the psychic had told them to look.

By chance one day I was scanning the old Waukesha Freeman newspaper, and found this article in an edition dated November 13, 1924:

“Mrs. Wilhelmina Busse, aged 69 years, who disappeared from the home of her daughter, Mrs. Herman Joecks, Lannon, on Nov. 5, was found dead on Sunday, in a quarry pond east of Lannon.  Mrs. Busse, who suffered from attacks of extreme nervousness, used to take long walks when the attacks came and it is believed that she took the wrong road when it became dark and by mistake walked the road leading to the quarry and accidentally was drowned.  The pond was dragged for three days before the body was recovered.  Dr. Roberts, Milwaukee, a spiritualist, was consulted.  He told the family the mother would be found in the quarry pond.  Sunday morning Dr. Roberts came to Lannon and told the searchers just where to locate her body.  It wasn’t long before the body was brought to the surface.  Coroner Lee was called and the remains were removed to this village.  Funeral services were held on Tuesday from the Herman Joecks residence in Lannon and thereafter in St. John’s Lutheran church.  Interment took place in Sunnyside cemetery.  The deceased is survived by one son, C.A. Busse, Sussex, two daughters, Mrs. Joecks, Lannon, and Mrs. Ryan, of Arizona.”

There are so many facts in this article that match Grandpa’s story, that it can’t possibly be coincidence.  The only real difference is the age and sex of the person who drowned, although this can be explained when you remember that Grandpa was only 9 years old when it happened and would understandably have forgotten some details.  But it is quite intriguing just how much information he DID remember.

What I also find very interesting is that it turns out that the drowned person, Wilhelmina Busse, was in fact related to the Struck family by marriage – Grandpa Struck’s aunt Ida had married into the Joecks family.  So this sad tale is interesting to our family on several levels.

Using records to reinforce family stories, part 1

One of my most memorable genealogical finds is in regards to newspaper accounts that verified some old family stories that have been passed around the kitchen table for years. My grandparents Wally & Esther Struck each had a story they loved to tell. Each story was later reinforced by a newspaper account I happened to stumble across during my family tree research. Finding the newsclippings was such a neat “a-ha!” moment, because they established a point of time and some relevant facts that only served to reinforce the tellings.

Esther’s story was about a cousin who was beheaded by a train. According to the story, which was passed down from her mother (Ida Krueger-Heling), the cousin was walking along the railroad tracks and, guessing he was either drunk or had fallen on the tracks, was hit by the train and killed instantly.   The part of the story that always fascinated us children was that she said because his head was crushed by the train, and the tradition in those days was to hold an open casket viewing in the front parlor, they replaced his missing head with a large ball of cotton.

Esther’s grandmother was a Moede, and it was while researching her family line that I came across this story from February 7, 1907:

“Paul Moede Killed: Head Severed From His Body By Railway Train”
    “Paul Moede’s body was found on the Central Railway track near the crossing of the Milwaukee Railway east of this city on Sunday, the head being entirely severed and lying some distance from the trunk.  He was an employe of the Central Ry. Co., and when last seen alive was at work on the track near the crossing.  The body was discovered by the crew of a freight train and Coroner Chas. E. Hill was at once notified.  He caused a jury to be summoned and an adjournment was taken to this Thursday when evidence will be taken and a verdict returned.  
The deceased was 29 years of age.”

Paul’s father, Carl F.W. Moede, was brother to Hulda Moede-Heling, Esther’s grandmother – thus, Paul was a first cousin to Esther’s mother Ida, who originally told her this story.  I don’t know that we’ll ever be able to prove that the family used a ball of cotton in place of his head at the funeral, but the evidence is certainly compelling.

Why does this find matter? It connects the family, both by identifying the subject of the family story as well as connecting future generations to the events that mattered in their ancestors’ lives. This story, as it has been passed down, captures attention because it is gruesome, and tragic, and at the same time holds a bit of dark humor in the image of the cottonball in the casket. Who doesn’t wonder how they would react if they attended a funeral such as this?

What is particularly tragic about this story is that Paul’s brother Herman had committed suicide less than 5 years before this.  Could it be that their mother, in her grief over losing two sons at such a young age, made the unusual decision to hold an open-casket funeral despite Paul’s missing head?

That, incidentally, corroborates another Heling family story, told by Grandma’s brother Rudy – he said he had been riding beside his father in a wagon after taking their crops to market, and while passing a cemetery he noticed a headstone set apart from the others and bearing the familiar family surname.  Rudy’s father explained that because Herman had taken his own life, he was not allowed to be buried in the same cemetery as his family.  He added that the family did not speak of him any longer.

Herman Moede’s lonely marker remains to this day in a small cemetery on the outskirts of Sussex, while the remainder of the Moede family are buried in Pilgrim’s Rest Cemetery in Pewaukee. His headstone contains his name and dates of birth and death, as well as the statement “Simply to thy cross I cling”.

Trick photography

Just a short, fun one today:

My great-great uncle William Krueger had this photo taken of himself pre- and post- shave shaking his own hand. From what I’ve read, trick photography like this was a popular idea since cameras were first invented. William was born in 1881, so I would estimate that this was taken right around the turn of the last century.

William seems like he would have been a fun guy to know.

Remembering our veterans

Much of what I remember from past Memorial Days is my father talking about the loss of his childhood friend, Paul “Butch” Vanderboom in Vietnam. Paul’s family moved away from the neighborhood when they were still quite young, but he never forgot his friend. To the end of his days, he treasured a rubbing he received from a Vietnam vet of Paul’s name on the memorial wall in Washington DC. I posted a photo of them together on the virtual Vietnam Veterans memorial wall last year. I’d like to think my dad would be pleased to know it’s there.

But for this Memorial Day, I want to talk about a veteran who made a difference in my own life.

My grandparents Herb & Kay Pfaff in 1945

Sadly, I don’t remember my grandpa Pfaff ever talking about his wartime experiences. I was told that he had served in World War II, and have two vague memories about it: one, that our extended family once went to the EAA airfield in Oshkosh to see some vintage B-52 bombers, and my grandfather said he flew in planes like them; and two, that sometime during my childhood, my family gifted my grandfather with a very cool leather bomber jacket that they said was similar to the one he wore during the war. I remember my grandfather was really affected by that gift.

One lesson I’ve learned again and again about family tree research is that you have to be creative in searching for information. I lamented to my husband today about how little I knew about my grandfather’s service to his country, and how frustrating the lack of information I had found online. Both Ancestry.com and the NARA database had nothing listed for Herbert Pfaff. A fire in the National Military Personnel Records Center in 1973 means the records of many servicemen are not readily available online.

One option is to fill out a request form for his official military personnel file, but I don’t know enough at this point for researchers to locate his file among the millions of records stored there. As I told my husband, the little I know is that he must have been in the Air Force because I have photos of him in uniform. My husband asked if I was even sure of that much, at which point I showed him the photos, and the little wing medals on his lapels.

This is where my husband pointed out that I do have some clues in those photos. He suggested I do some research on what all those pins on his uniform mean. Some googling brought up a very informative website: American Military Patches, Other Insignia and Decorations of World War Two by Dr. Howard G. Lanham.

One disclaimer: I know very little about this topic, and there is a strong possibility that some or all of the information I’ve gleaned is inaccurate. Until I can gain better information, I’m taking all this with a grain of salt (and you should too)!

The first thing I learned was that the Air Force was not its own division until after World War II. I’m going under the assumption that my grandpa served with the USAAF (United States Army Air Forces).  The easiest to identify from the website guide was the pin on his hat. It appears that there were different cap insignias for officers and enlisted men. Looking at reference photos, it appears that my grandfather was an officer! This was a surprise to me.

It’s always good to be cautious with assumptions, however. There is one other item that reinforces the idea that he was of officer rank – this photo to the right. I always assumed this was taken early in his enlistment, because he was not wearing the full dress uniform of later pictures. However, I found mention of the fact that officers were issued different shirts than enlisted men, particularly in that the cloth “tab” on the shoulder that buttons to the collar is unique to an officer’s shirt.

One other insignia pin provided more clues: the one on his left breast (top photo) appears to be a bombardier pin. Lack of detail in these old photos makes it hard to be certain, of course. Other patches and pins seem to denote that he was part of the general Armed Air Forces unit, and not a specific “sub-group”.

There are a few items I wasn’t able to properly I.D. – the rectangular bar pin in the photo to the right and a patch on his right sleeve in a later photo that was probably taken in Milwaukee circa 1945 (below left).

There’s one thing I do know: Herbert Pfaff married Katherine Baker in 1941, and started a family a few years later. I presume he was still actively in the service for at least a few years after their first child was born, based on other photographs I have with him in uniform holding her.

These photos have a few other small clues on the back of them. While they are unfortunately undated, the photo above right is noted as having been taken in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. There is also a code written in: C-42514. Unfortunately I have no idea if that is a reference to his service, or simply some sort of filing system for the Olan Mills photo studio that processed that image.

One photo taken of Herb & Kay with their first daughter was placed as Ardmore, Oklahoma. And yet another image of the couple is marked “Topeka, KS – April 1945”.

To the best of my knowledge, after the war ended my grandfather returned to his family’s bakery business, which he was involved in until 1965 when his father passed away. He then worked for Crestwood Bakery until his retirement. Herbert Pfaff passed away on December 28, 1994 at the age of 73.

It is admittedly frustrating to  know so little about such a significant time in my grandfather’s life… and indeed, a time that would likely have affected his entire family. I wonder about how hard it was for a young couple to start their lives during wartime, and how they both felt to be raising a family while living apart. Until I determine my grandfather’s dates and branch of service, I don’t know if I’ll have much more info about his experiences in the USAAF. But the little clues I’ve garnered today already make me feel closer to him, and honored to be a part of his family tree.

Grandpa Pfaff taking me on my first pony ride.

Notable events on this date

Since I mentioned Gust Johns in my last post, it seems fitting to note that May 19th will mark the 137th birthday of his sister Martha Johns-Bahlert. But there are a few other notable events from this week in May: the immigration of my great-grandfather Pfaff and my great-great grandfather Krueger.

According to family lore, Wilhelm Krüger (later William Krueger) came to America on May 18, 1872 after a two week crossing, and arrived in Wisconsin just six days later. Records also indicate his brother Carl (Charles) arrived at either the same time or within a year of William. Unfortunately the name Krueger is just too common in this region for me to be sure of the correct ship records at this point.

Family legend also says that William came from an area of Germany called Gluetsa. I haven’t found anything similar to this name in my searches, nor have I located the region for his wife Wilhelmina Stern (family lore says the Sterns originated in Gleritey, another non-existent place name).

However, I did locate this information at the Waukesha Historical Society in the “Pioneer Book”:

William Henry Krueger
Born 24 October 1849 in Germany
Mother: Anna
Married: Wilhelmina born 1852
Died: March 20 1937
Buried: German Evangelical Church (now the St. John United Church of Christ Cemetery in Merton, WI)

The Krueger-Stern families are definitely on my “to do” list for further research!

Turning to our other notable immigrant now… my great-grandfather, Peter Pfaff. His voyage occurred 40 years after William Krueger’s, and I often wonder how different their experiences were travelling to the new world.

Peter Pfaff emigrated from his home in Szakadat, Hungary on the ship Campanello, boarding in Rotterdam on May 2nd, 1912. He arrived at Ellis Island on May 17, 1912. He was just 17 years old.

The ship manifest describes him as having a fair complexion, brown hair and blue eyes, and standing at a height of 5 feet 2 inches. He was employed as a stonemason, and listed his final destination as New York, NY. His nearest relative listed is his father Georg Pfaff, who remained in Hungary.

The steamship Campanello (previously known as the Campania) was built in 1902 in Newcastle, England. Renamed the Flavia in 1916, it was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine off Northern Ireland on August 24, 1918.

Records shared with me by a distant Hungarian cousin indicate that the Pfaff family originated in the village of Tevel, in central Hungary on the west bank of the river Danube. Sometime between 1882 and 1887, Gyorgy (George) Pfaff moved his young family to the town of Szakadat, then in Hungary and now a part of Romania, where he worked as a shoemaker.

In 1910, George’s daughter Katalin (Katharina) traveled to America. Katalin Pfaff left her family’s home in Szakadat, Hungary on the ship Carpathia, boarding at the port of Fiume. She arrived at Ellis Island on May 11, 1910. She was just 19 years old, traveling alone to a strange new country.

The ship manifest describes her as standing 5 feet 6 inches tall, with a fair complexion, fair hair, and brown eyes. She listed her final destination as meeting her brother-in-law in New York (I’m not sure yet who this was).

She was followed by her brother Peter two years later. Relatives have continued to emigrate in the years since.

Julius Pfaff, who immigrated to America in 1950 after being sponsored by his uncle Peter (in order to work in the family bakery in Milwaukee), stated that his family was relocated to Germany after World War II. Julius and his family continue the tradition of operating a Pfaff family bakery in Illinois.

 

Discovering Mary’s Beginnings

Frank & Mary on their wedding day.

I’d now like to turn my attention to Frank Struck’s wife, Maria Anna Bloedel (also written as Blödel). Frank and Mary were married in Lannon, Wisconsin in April 1901, six years after Frank’s arrival in America. The local newspaper reported their marriage on April 18, 1901:

Mary traveled to America with her mother Elizabeth and three siblings (William, Carl and Barbara) when she was just five years old. Research shows that other members of the Bloedel family had already established roots in the Wisconsin community in earlier years, and it is believed that Elizabeth chose to join them after becoming widowed in Germany (some family notes list Mary’s father’s name as Maechel or Michael Bloedel).

I haven’t been successful at untangling all of the Bloedel family line at this point, but it does appear that many Bloedel family members had emigrated to the Lannon/Menomonee Falls area. There is one clue in researching this line that might help corroborate Mary’s birthplace: several Bloedel “cousins” had opened a blacksmith shop in Lannon. As you’ll see further in the post, I found someone else of the same surname emigrating to Wisconsin with the listed occupation of blacksmith.

THE FAMILY LEGEND

Our family recorded Mary’s birthplace as Dodgelsheim, Germany. As with the Struck family, I haven’t found evidence of such a place. But looking for similar place names in a German gazeteer led me to find a town called Dolgesheim in Germany. It seems very similar in name, but are we correct in assuming this is the right place?

THE CLUES

I start by again turning to the ship transcript. Unfortunately, this manifest for Mary and her family only lists that they were German born (we are rarely lucky enough to get a hometown recorded on these, as it was in the Struck family example).

Click on this image to view it at full size.

However, while searching to find Mary’s ship records, I came across a different manifest that lends us a small clue. Carl Bloedel arrived in America two years before Mary’s ship sailed. He lists his occupation as blacksmith, his intended destination as Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and his “starting point” as Dolgesheim.

Click on the image to view it larger.

Is this 100% verification of Mary’s birthplace? Unfortunately, no. As I said earlier, I’ve had difficulty tracking all of the Bloedel relatives sufficiently to be sure this Carl Bloedel is even a relative. But it remains our best guess at this point.

You’ll note that there is something scribbled in the far right-hand column on Mary’s ship manifest that is hard to decipher, but it appears to be “settler”; in studying the full page, I find that the word “citizen” and “settler” is written beside some names in that section.

FURTHER RESEARCH

One interesting thing to note in the ship manifests above is that Mary’s family is travelling with two other Bloedels who are of unknown relation. It’s also interesting that the C. Bloedel in her group is the same age as Carl Bloedel in the second manifest.

A bit about the ship that carried Mary to America: the Noordland was built for the Red Star Line’s Antwerp-New York route and launched in 1884. It held accomodations for 619 passengers, 500 of these in third-class (steerage), which is where Mary’s family was housed.

The Noordland

In 1886 the Noordland was disabled after colliding with the Cunard liner Servia in the North River because of thick snow and heavy mist. It resumed service in July 1888, two months before Mary’s trip. It was scrapped in 1908.

One other thing to note is the information I’ve found in German Genealogical Database, which lists a significant number of Bloedel persons living in Schornsheim, Germany. This might prove to be an important resource to pursue further as I research the Bloedel family line.

RESOURCES

I have bad news for my cousin: Dolgesheim is a good 8+ hour drive from Mietno, where our Struck ancestors originated.

Dolgesheim is in the Rhineland-Palatinate state of Germany, also known as the Rheinland-Pfalz or Rheinhessen region. This is wine country, and Dolgesheim looks to be a charming village with a rich history according to their city website (in German). Schornsheim is only about 8 miles NW of there, and worthy of some genealogical investigation as well.

As you can see from these posts, the story of Frank & Mary’s ancestral origins is one that holds much yet to be discovered.

Frank & Mary Struck on their 50th wedding aniversary in 1951

Happy birthday to…

George Hahn would be 93 years old today. George was my great uncle via marriage – he married Frances Struck in 1962, and settled in the Burlington area. His older brother Harvey had married Frances’ sister Esther seven years earlier.

George was the youngest son of John and Henrietta Hahn (both the children of German immigrants), and in 1930 his family was living in Milwaukee, where his father worked as a gardener for a private family.

Here’s a favorite photo of George, enjoying a soak in the hot tub with his in-laws on a trip to California.

From l-r: Margie Struck, Frances Struck (George’s wife), Esther & Wally Struck, and George Hahn.