State by State Research : Alaska

Last week I mentioned the Family Tree Magazine  listing of state archive websites for genealogy and historical research.  The state of Alaska is one of their entries, and I'd like to review it for you.

The Alaska Division of Libraries, Archives and Museums, found at www.lam.alaska.gov , is just what one needs when researching historical Alaska.  Databases include newspapers, naturalization and probate records, in addition to a gold rush pioneer index.

How many glaciers are in Alaska?  I don't know for sure, but there is a section in the Alaska State Library tab that shows the location of each glacier, it's common name and it's elevation .  The Library also mentions the newspapers that are featured in full-text, most of which are pre 1923.

Alaska free clip art is also a feature of this library.  Much too many topics to mention here.

In the Genealogy section of this site is Finding Your Gold Rush Relatives.   Links to repositories, societies, resources, books, cemeteries, etc. are plentiful.  Your could sit all day and still never cover every one of these.

Alaska and Yukon Vital Records are in PDF form, and volumes cover 1898 through 1936.

The digital archives include collections of the State Library and the various campuses of the University of Alaska, in addition to several museums.

Researchers can be employed if you don't have the time to do it yourself.  Just ask.

Although I don't have any family members who lived in Alaska, this is a site that I'd like to revisit simply because the history of Alaska is just so different from  the other 49 states.  I hope that you, too, will take some time to see what this site has to offer.

State By State Research : Alabama

I want to tell you how wonderfully the writers of Family Tree Magazine fill their pages with such useful information.  For those of us who need that extra help with researching the archives of individual states, they have published a listing of websites that can be the portals to helping you with your historical and genealogical research.  I am going to review each of their picks by state.

Let's start with Alabama.

The Alabama Department of Archives and History  archives.state.al.us

This site has a search feature to look for names in the Civil War service cards.  It also has a search feature for the 1867 voter registrations.

Interested in microfilmed newspapers?  Well, they are listed in the catalogs, and some are available through interlibrary loan.

There are also links to find church records, local and county records and maps.

The Alabama History Timeline is quite fascinating.  It has quips of what was in the vicinity of Alabama going back to 10,000-7,000 BC.,,featuring information on Russell Cave in Jackson County which is a fine example of prehistoric geology.  Going forward, several Spanish explorers made their mark in the area, and the development of the Native American Creek Nation, along with other tribes formed from the earlier Mississippian peoples. There is information on schools, cities, forts, legislature, et. al.  Truly a go to spot for Alabama history.

Multi Media is not lacking on this website.  You Tube videos are abundant and cover a wide range of subjects.

This is certainly a website that I will bookmark, and I hope you do, too.

The Last Will and Testament of Gottfried Hechtner : Does Eliza Get Snubbed?

Last year I was researching a line in my husband's family tree, The Hechtner Family.  With today's technology, I was able to make a digital copy of the last will of Gottfried Hechtner.  He is the 3rd great grandfather of my husband.

Gottfried was born about the year 1800 in Prussia.  He came to America in the springtime of 1854, with his wife, Mary, and 6 children.  He made his home in Bureau County, Illinois.

Elizabeth Hechtner, fifth child of Gottfried and Mary, married Gottlieb Hessler in Bureau County on May 31, 1860.  Mr. Hessler was a boot and shoe cobbler by trade.  Elizabeth (Eliza on many documents) and Gottlieb became my husband's 2nd great grandparents.  They lived comfortable enough to be listed on several Illinois County Tax Enumeration Lists (1870 and 1880).

Eliza had siblings : Frederick, Mary, Henrietta, Sophia and John.  Their mother, Mary (Kittendorf) Hechtner, passed away in 1862.  Gottfried moved into the home of his son, John Hechtner, in 1861, and lived there until his death.

At the age of 72, Gottfried filed his Last Will and Testament in Bureau County, Illinois. It was dated and filed on May 20. 1872.  He died in June of 1873.

Here is a digital copy of the hand-written will :

State of Illinois, County of Bureau, Illinois State Archives, accessed 2012 5 May.

As I reviewed the document, there appears to be somewhat of a mystery.  Every child, except Eliza Hessler, was to receive one hundred dollars.  Eliza was to receive five dollars.  Why?

Son, John Hechtner, was also to receive whatever worldly goods and belongings were left, due to his kindness in furnishing his father a home in his later years.  

So let's look at what the lives of Eliza and her siblings were like about 1870.  Eliza and her husband, Gottlieb Hessler were living in Sterling, Whiteside County, in Illinois.  As stated before, this couple had an income where they were listed on tax lists, instituted to help pay for the Civil War, which was very costly to the nation.  They had 2 daughters in 1870, Eliza and Emma.

Frederick, oldest of the Hechtner siblings, was living in Muscatine County, Iowa in 1870. He and his wife, Sophia, had 5 children.  He was a farmer and two farm hands were living with the family. According to the US Census data, his land was worth $800 and personal property total estimate was $2000.  He was a Civil War veteran.

Mary, oldest daughter of Godfried, was living in Bureau County, Illinois, with her husband, August Schultz, and their two chilcren, John and Henrietta.  August was a farmer, and his personal property estimate was about $450.  Not doing as well as her brother, Frederick, Mary was still closeby her father's residence.

John, second son of Godfried, was living in Bureau County, Illinois, with his wife, Elizabeth, and their 4 children :  Mary, Emily, John and Eliza.  John was a farmer, and his land was valued at $9,600, with a personal property estimate of $2500.  He seems to be doing quite well for a man of his age. His farm was located 5 miles Northwest of Princeton, IL.

Daughter, Henrietta, was living with her husband, Francis Frank in Bureau County, IL with their three children, according to the 1865 Illinois State Census.  No value of land or personal property was listed on this census.  Francis was a boot and shoe cobbler who worked alongside his brother-in-law, Gottlieb Hessler in Whiteside County, IL in 1860.  His real estate was estimated at $1500 and personal property valued at $500. Gottleib's personal property was worth only $25 in 1860.

Something happens to dissolve the marriage of Henrietta and Francis, as she remarries in 1872 in Rock Island County, Illinois, to Frederick Worth. In 1873, they were living in Iowa for the birth of their son. The Iowa census does make note that Frederick had been out of work for 4 months, due to a physical ailment.  

Sophia, youngest daughter, was married to Frederick Deadrick in 1861 in Bureau County, Illinois.  By 1870, they were living in Iowa. Frederick became a farmer in Poweshiek County, Iowa, with a land value of $2000, and personal property value of $500. They had four children at that time.  

So, with these financial comparisons between the Hechtner siblings, I guess that Eliza and her husband, Gottlieb Hessler were doing a bit better than the others.  Although her brother, John, cared for his father in the latter years of his life, he did have a greater value of property than the rest of the siblings. Eliza and Gottlieb had moved to Otoe, Nebraska before the turn of the century.  Their daughter, Eliza Hessler had married Henry Reif in 1885, son of Georg and Fredricka Reif of Stephenson County, Illinois.  Henry became a baker, and by 1890 they were living in Nebraska.  Eliza and Gottlieb Hessler probably moved that same year with their daughter, son in law and new granddaughter, Hazel Reif.  They lived out the last years of their lives there in Nebraska, Eliza passing away in 1908 and Gottlieb passing away in 1907.  

My guesses as to why Eliza inherited 5 dollars in contrast to the 100 dollars to each of her siblings :

Godfried Hechtner maybe felt that Eliza was well taken care of with Gottlieb's Shoe and Boot business, OR

God forbid....there was a falling out between Eliza/Gottleib and her father for some reason.  Remember that the first husband of Henrietta Hecktner, Francis Frank, was in business with Gottlieb in Sterling, Illinois, in the cobbler trade.  And then there was another marriage for Henrietta, without a reasonable explanation of what happened to Mr. Frank.  Henrietta had those children to take care of.  There could have been something that put a wedge between father and daughter that left hard feelings.  Who knows?  

My next step : browse newspapers, business papers, other records to see what may have occurred in the Frank family that caused a split.  Let's hope there is not a dark side to this story.

All data listed in this article was retrieved from www.ancestry.com  ,  www.familysearch.org , http://cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/databases/home.html  , www.mocavo.com

Obituaries

In the latest issue of Family Tree Magazine, the featured "workbook" article focused on Obituaries, written by Shannon Combs-Bennett. She did such a good job on this article that I decided to highlight some of her tips and tricks here in my blog.

Be aware that there are several types of remembrances that could be found in print.  Shannon mentions:
 
Obituary : an editorial  article written about a deceased person

Death Notice : a short announcement on the death of a person

Card of Thanks : a family announcement to thank those who offered support during grief

Shannon goes on to give a history of obituaries.  She notes that they date as far back as the 1600s. Alternative resources of information about a death include those mentioned above, and in addition, death certificates, cemetery records, funeral home records, church newsletters and club or society articles about the deceased.

Resources used to find obituaries are revealed as online indexes (which can be found through search engines such as Google), digitized and microfilmed newspapers, cemetery websites, etc.

A list of items that may be found in obituaries :

Names of the deceased
Age
birth and death dates and locations
names of spouses and children, other family members
funeral, church and cemetery arrangements

A worksheet to use when extracting information from any of the above resources is published with the article.  This can be very useful to help organize your information.

There is much more included in this article. In my opinion, Shannon has written a very good and helpful article full of ideas to help anyone in their quest to uncover information about a deceased family member.

Check out Family Tree Magazine familytreemagazine.com  A subscription to this magazine, both in print and online issues, will prove to be a very good value.

Lucy Page Gaston 1860-1924 : Her Anti-Tobacco Campaign

How many of you readers smoke cigars and cigarettes? I am sure that you have been made aware of the health risks of such habits.  There is substantial medical evidence of such.   You might think that during the years before the building of the Panama Canal through the years following World War I there were not many persons who knew of such health risks regarding the use of these products.  Maybe you haven't heard of Lucy Page Gaston.

www.jewishworldreview.com

Lucy Gaston was born in Ohio in 1860.  She grew up to become a teacher after attending Illinois State University. It was reported in several publications that she participated in smashing several saloons in the early 1880s.  She joined the Christian Woman's Temperance Union, along with her mother, Henrietta Page Gaston.   During the 1890s, she held the position of managing editor of the newspaper, The Harvey Citizen.  This allowed her to proclaim her beliefs for all to read.  She even had a paper called The Boy, where she published articles about behavior that was brought on by tobacco use.

She spent more that twenty-five years campaigning against the use of tobacco, in addition to prohibition and woman suffrage.  Lucy organized the National Anti-Cigarette League.  She lobbied before state legislatures and even the Chicago city council.  She also appeared before the National Congress in Washington, D.C., trying to convince legislators that it was their job to outlaw the use of tobacco.  She even wrote a letter to President Warren G. Harding.  He was an avid smoker, and she felt that he was setting a bad example by his habit of tobacco use.

Lucy did become successful in pushing through a law in Illinois that prohibited minors from being able to obtain and smoke cigarettes.  Chief of Police McWeeney deputized Lucy, which enabled her to enforce this law.  She personally arrested a handful of 16 year old boys when she saw them smoking.  Lucy termed the cigarette as a "Coffin Nail".  In 1907, Lucy was instrumental with the law put forth by the Chicago City Council where it was deemed illegal to make, sell or give away cigarettes in the State of Illinois. The law was challenged and defeated on a technicality, otherwise those choosing to disregard the rule would have been fined $100 and jailed for up to 30 days.

Lucy and her family lived in Marshall County, Illinois during her formative years.  She attended and graduated from Lacon High School, and was the valedictorian at her commencement exercises.

Add caption

Lacon School 1877 Commencement brochure, paperchase-LucyPageGaston

Lucy taught at a few schools in the Richland Township area of Marshall County, Illinois, after receiving her teaching certificate, the first schools being the Strawn School and the Monahan School.  She and her family were well respected local figures and members of the First Presbyterian Church of Henry, Illinois.

map of the location of the first schools where Miss Gaston taught from 1876-1879, paperchase-LucyPageGaston

Miss Gaston met with her largest opposition when sending boxes of cigarettes to soldiers during World War I became a well received gesture of troop support.  Nevertheless, she continued her anti tobacco campaigns through personal appearances and literature.

page 1 Lucy Page Gaston obit August 28, 1924 Lacon Home Journal, paperchase-LucyPageGaston

Miss Gaston was buried in the Lacon Cemetery. Lucy died of cancer of the throat, in addition to injuries sustained in a street car accident months before, while being cared for in the Hinsdale sanitarium, in Hinsdale, Illinois on August 20, 1924.  Her obituary is written in the Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Vol. XVII, No. 3 editorials October 1924.

In Your Backyard

by david dellinger

Lacon,, IL January 2011

Lucy Page Gaston campaigned as a candidate for the presidency of the United States in 1920.  Obviously her campaign was not successful, as she was not elected.  However, she had a good platform : "Clean morals, clean food and fearless law enforcement."  She filed in the primary of South Dakota, but dropped out of the race before the election.  She could not support Warren G. Harding because he was an avid smoker, even stating that he had a smoker's face which was unbecoming to her.  She attended the convention of the Prohibition Party, and supported the candidate William Jennings Bryan.

Further information about Lucy P. Gaston can be found in the following publications, as taken from www.sites.google.com/site/LucyPageGaston/Genisis-of-Research

Cigarette Wars, The Triumph of the “Little White Slaver” by Cassandra Tate

For Your own Good by Jacob Sullum

Thank You For Not Smoking by Gordon Dillow

The Little White Slaver in Kansas by R. Alton Lee

The Smoking Gun by Robert Loerzel

Lost Cause by Frances Warfield

Women Building Chicago 1790-1990 by Schultz & Hast

Readin’ and Ritin’ and Rithmetic Through The Years; Education in Marshall County, Illinois

by B.K. Doxhelmer

Ancestral Hometown Cousins : They Share Your Ancestral History

I belong to a group of persons that share my ancestral history....the Termini-Imerese genealogy research group.

Around 2003, I received an email message from a cousin that I had never met before that time.  The message explained that they had seen a post that I placed on a genealogy website, asking if anyone had information about the history of my family.  It invited me to view a website that focused on the ancestry and civil records of my ancestral hometown.

www.termini-imerese.org was started by a distant cousin.  They had begun to transcribe civil records which had been photographed by the Latter Day Saints and placed on microfilm to save for all posterity.  The LDS does this for almost every state, county, town, village and church where they are allowed to photograph records.  Their family history library in Salt Lake City holds filmed and published records of all kinds.  The best part is that these can be viewed for free at www.familysearch.org.

Since that day in 2003, I have been able to take my family history search back to the 1700s.  But, most importantly, I have met so many persons that share my ancestry.  Our families connect back to the town of Termini-Imerese, in the Palermo province on the island of Sicily.  We are all cousins to varying degrees.  We are family.

Every year this growing group of relatives meet in a venue hosted by one of more of the club members.  We share our newly found records, compare our family trees, find family connections to each other and share a few meals.  Most places have an area where Italian immigrants had established themselves.  We visit their businesses and restaurants.  We visit their libraries and museums.  We connect with the community and the people.  It's just four days of meeting and greeting.  And, it's our time of reaffirming our friendships  and family connections.

I want to encourage everyone to learn about your family before you leave this earth.  It is a very humbling task.  You will learn about the people who paved the way for you to live your life.  They worked, suffered, loved, lived and died.  Their stories become a part of you.  Imagine yourself living in the past.  Would you have made the same decisions that they did?  Would you have been able to navigate the uncertainty in their lives?  As you learn about these ancestors, you will formulate their stories.  It's not fiction.  It's real.

Share your stories with your family members.  They will be listening to every word, just as if you were reading them a storybook.  Somehow, it makes a person stand up straighter and have some pride in who they are.  Ancestors have a way of doing that to you.

The Civil War Pension Papers of Owen Young of Schuyler County

Several months ago, I wrote about Gilmer Young, who died in the Battle of Wilson's Creek in Missouri during the Civil War.  Recently, I stumbled upon the pension papers of his brother, Owen Young, who also served his country during the Civil War.  Unfortunately, Owen, like his brother Gilmer, did not return home alive.  He passed away in a military hospital camp in Brownsville, Texas.

Owen's  pension packet consists of about 34 pages. There are some very good pieces of information about Owen and his family in this packet.  www.Fold3.com has many pension packets digitized on their website.

What can you find in a pension packet?  Well, for one thing, if a soldier was married, there would be some proof of that marriage in the packet contents.  Here's the certificate of marriage for Owen and his wife, Mandana Blodget, along with a certification from the Clerk of the County, which was officiated by Peter Vance, J.P. of Schuyler County :

certification of  marriage for Owen Young WC122477 Page 11 Civil War Widows Pensions at Fold3.com

State of Illinois Marriage Certificate included in the pension packet for Owen Young, Fold3.com

There is a statement from the commanding officer of Owen Young's unit, Company K, 28th Illinois Volunteers.  It was written at the Army offices in St. Louis, Missouri, stating the circumstances of Private Young's illness and death.  Apparently he suffered from Flux and Typhoid, which was hindered by his home sickness.....being hospitalized in the military hospital in Texas where he eventually passed away....

Page 21 Owen Young, Civil War Widows Pension File, Fold3.com

There is also a short note from the Surgeon General that testifies that Owen Young, of the Illinois Volunteers,  passed away on the 29th of August, 1865 in Brownsville, Texas, of Flux and Typhoid.

War Department, Surgeon General, Owen Young Civil War Pension File, page 8, Fold3.com

additional note from the Adjutant General's Office, Washington, D.C., 1866, states that Owen died on Sept. 1.

Paging further into the packet contents, I find notes about the only surviving heirs to Owen Young...two children.  What happened to his wife, Mandana?  She passed away in1866, less than a year after her husband, Owen, left this earth.  So sad.  So, what happens to the children?  Well, apparently their grandfather, Harvey Blodget (father of Mandana) assumed responsibility for the tots.  He was appointed the guardian for the children.  Read on to see what papers had to be filed for these children to receive some monetary assistance from their father's military pension....

Declaration of Minor Children for Pension, filed by Harvey Blodget, Owen Young Civil War Pension file, page 5

Now this is even more interesting....note that Harvey states that Owen died in August of 1865, which has already been established, and further states that his wife is no longer living....but added in the lines "again married George Whitehead in March 1866" and she died on the 17th of June, 1866.  She probably never received a widow's pension....maybe she applied, but instead was remarried.  How sad that she died only months after being married to Mr. Whitehead.  

A statement from Dr. Benjamin Walton accounts  for his assistance with the birth of her children, Lovina and Thomas B. Young, and that he is aware of the death of Owen, and the appointment of Harvey Blodget as the guardian of the children.

The children are identified as being the only legitimate offspring of Owen, and their vital information is stated as follows : Lovina Young,  born on the 13th day of March 1858, and Thomas B. Young, born on the 24th day of October 1860, Harvey also concurs that the parents of these children were married on the 3rd of April 1857 in Schuyler County, by Peter Vance, JP.  He also replied that he did not aid or abet the rebellion of the United States.  Two witnesses, John Phelps and Hiram Geer, signed off on the document as being "intimate acquaintances for the last ten years"  of Owen Young, the deceased soldier, and know of no other children belonging to him.

Claim for Minor Pension, Owen Young Civil War Pension File, page 3, Fold3.com

I am not sure why Quincy is hand written at the top of the page, but perhaps that was the closest Army Pension office at the time.  Nevertheless, the children were approved for support from their father's pension.  Lovina Young and Thomas B. Young were to receive Two Dollars per month, until they each reach the age of 16 years.  Lovina's benefit will last her until March 12 of 1874.  Thomas B. will collect his benefit until October 23 of 1876.  The above document restates all of the evidence previously submitted to support the claim for pension assistance.  Harvey Blodget will be issued the usual Eight Dollars per month, covering Sept. 2, 1865 until October 23, 1876, as was the common widow's claim amount, and the children's pension would also be paid out to Harvey, commencing July 23, 1866,  so that he may look after his grandchildren until their 16th birthdays.  

Well, there you  have it.  Quite a story, sad as it is.  A father goes to war, gets ill while in  the service of his country, and dies.  His widow, left with two children ages 7 years and 5 years, remarries just 6 months later, and then she dies three months after that.  Her two school-aged children are taken in by their grandfather.  He applies for the pension benefits of his son-in-law to support the children.  Pension benefits only last until the 16th birthday of each child.  Hopefully they lived happily with their grandfather.  And, hopefully, they heard of their father's bravery and sacrifice during the Civil War, which took the lives of so many husbands and fathers.  

I think I will do a bit more research, and find out what Lovina and Thomas did with their lives.  

Meanwhile, if you have any family members that were participants in the Civil War, I hope that I have inspired you to look into their service and pension files.  Discover the family stories that aren't told in vital records alone. 

The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster in Illinois

Dedication of the Cherry Mine Monument

I have been reading a book by Karen Tintori entitled Trapped, The 1909 Cherry Mine Disaster.  Love it.

Karen tells the story of a tragic event in the fall of 1909.  Four hundred and eighty men went into the mine as was their usual jobs. Recent immigrants filled the employee roles....some from Italy, Germany, Sweden, etc.  But one afternoon a small fire began up top at one of the openings, and later burned out of control.  More than half of the mine workers would be burned to death or buried alive.

Officials had a very hard time containing the flames, and they had to cover the mine openings in hopes of smothering the flames down below.  When finally opened various attempts to save the lives of those that they hoped were still alive were made.  So many bodies were recovered, including the carcasses of the donkeys used to pull cart loads of coal on underground tracks.

Twenty men were finally rescued, against all odds.  They survived by sheer will, a few drops of water that came trickling down the shaft walls, and chewing on the leather of their shoes.

This was one of the worst coal mine disasters in United States history. Since this event, workers compensation laws were changed, as well as child labor practices in the coal business.

Karen used diaries, letters and hand-written accounts of people with firsthand knowledge of the terrible event to describe, in detail, the lives of those who lived through this horrific event.

Why did she write this story?  Her grandfather survived the Cherry Mine disaster.  She has a very personal tie to the event.  I am sure that her grandfather looks down on her with great pride and admiration.

If you are looking for a good historical read, I highly recommend this book.  Good job, Karen.

bringing the surviving men to the surface

historical marker for the Cherry Mine Disaster

The Iroquois Theatre Tragedy of 1903 : Over 600 Victims Perish

Can you imagine holding tickets to a well advertised theatre production in 1903 in Chicago....So many people did expect to see a wonderful program.  The theatre was advertised as being FIRE PROOF.  They even installed an asbestos curtain on the stage to keep the audience from harm in the event there was a fire on stage during a production.

Mr. Blue Beard was billed at the Iroquois Theatre starting the week of December 28, 1903.  Children were out of school for the holiday season.  Families made plans to gallop about town during the winter season to visit the various  family friendly venues in Chicago.  Most of the tickets for the matinee scheduled on December 30, 1903 were  purchased by women and children.  It promised to be an exciting outing.  After all, the theatre had only been open for 5 weeks prior.  What could go wrong?

The horrific scenes that ensued after a fire spread throughout the theatre were etched in the minds of the police and firefighters.  It is said that the fire was started by a spark of a faulty spot light in the stage during the production.  But, that was not confirmed by every fire inspection report.

How could such an ordinary looking spotlight cause the death of over 600 persons?  Impossible?

Newspapers across the nation reported on the horrible news of the massive carnage.  Lists of those who lost their lives were published, as well as those who were not expected to live after their injuries proved to be too much for them to survive.

There are so many graves of the lost from this tragedy strewn across the Chicago area and suburbs.  The Bartlett family lost three of their family members on that fateful day.  They are laid to rest in the Bronswood Cemetery in Oak Brook, Illinois.

In the aftermath of this theatre fire, the fire departments across the nation began to review the building fire codes that were in place. As a result, most of the large city building fire codes were upgraded substantially.  Lessons were learned, and hopes were high that extreme numbers of persons will not lose their lives in tragedies such as this ever again.

Names of the identified victims of the Iroquois Theatre fire can be found at : www.eastlandmemorial.org/iroquois  

Find A Grave has a virtual cemetery which lists 150 memorials of some of the victims, which can be viewed at http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=vcsr&GSvcid=387875

Newspapers across the nation filed their reports of the horrific story.  Search for their stories on Chronicling America at www.chroniclingamerica.org

Murder - Suicide of 1919 in a sleepy Chicago suburb

In a local cemetery, there stands a monument dedicated to the memory of a family.  All four of those persons interred there were taken from this earth on the same day....April 15, 1919.  The Marwitz family, of Hinsdale, were murdered by the head of the family.  He then took his own life. No given names or dates are etched on the stone.  Nothing to give the identity of those laid to rest in this plot.   Here stands the monument in this quiet, peaceful burial ground of Bronswood Cemetery :

Marwitz family monument, Bronswood Cemetery, Oak Brook, Illinois, Section I, photo taken by S. Reif 2009

After searching the burial log for Bronswood Cemetery, found at the Oak Brook Historical Society's website www.oakbrookhistory.com, I find the names of the four individuals laid to rest here :

     William J., Clara K., Marguerite and Kenneth

On April, 16, 1919, newspapers across  the nation printed the horrific news of this tragedy.  The Chicago Daily Tribune posted the story in their issue, with images of the slain family :

16 April 1919 Chicago Daily Tribune

The article written by the reporter, tells of the sad story.  A wife and two children were shot by the head of the household, William Marwitz.  One can only imagine the shock felt by the relatives and friends of the Marwitz family.

16 April 1919, Chicago Daily Tribune

William Marwitz, assistant postmaster, killed his two children, his wife and then himself.  He learned that his wife, ill from a botched dental surgery, had a limited time to live.  Thinking that he could not raise his children without the help of his wife, he decided that they all should leave this earth together, and spare himself and his children the burden of living life without Clara, his wife.  

continuation of article 16 April 1919

With the illness of his wife, and mounting financial problems, William Marwitz became depressed.  It appears that he was burning his candle at both ends.  Things must have seemed hopeless.  

continuation of 16 April 1919 article

The Chicago Daily Tribune article continues on....telling of the events which lead  to the end of life for Mrs. Marwitz and her two small children.  Clearly, William Marwitz was suffering from mental issues and stresses of his life.  Miss Lehmann, a relative of Mrs. Marwitz, was staying at the home as a household aide.  She witnessed the mental state of William as he carried out the demise of his family and himself.

last article piece, 16 April 1919 Chicago Daily Tribune

After killing his family, Mr. Marwitz telephoned his mother to tell what he had done, and added that he would join his family by his own hand.  He hung up the telephone and then took his own life.

The Chicago Daily Tribune had reported the most complete article about the incident.  Many other papers received the news and published their own shortened versions of the story.  Elkhart, Indiana...Tampa, Florida...Trenton, New Jersey... Sheboygan, Wisconsin...Bridgeport, Connecticut...Logansport and Connorsville, Indiana...Kansas City, Kansas...Twin Falls, Idaho...Butte, Montana...Harrisburg, Pennsylvania...and the list goes on as the story reaches the cities across the nation.  

The headline for each of the articles in the various newspapers were very similar.  Most printed something on the lines of : 

By far the worst headline that I have found regarding this tragic story simply read :

CLEANED UP THE WHOLE FAMILY...which I found in a small Indiana newspaper.....so heartless.

Newspaper articles regarding this news incident were found at the following websites:

Genealogybank  www.genealogybank.com

Newspaper Archive  www.newspaperarchive.com

Newspapers  www.newspapers.com

Chronicling America  www.chroniclingamerica.org

Using Linkpendium to Reach Your Research Goals

Linkpendium (www.linkpendium.com)  is one of those websites that clusters many links of research sources. It will help to find information to plug those holes of missing information in your family trees.

At first look, the Linkpendium home page appears to be very generic.  You might even be a bit skeptical, as there are no flashy designs or exotic colors in its design.  Don't let that fool you.  Look on...  It boldly states that it covers over 10 million genealogy links.  Is that enough for you? Or, do you need more?

Every state in the United States has it's own link, with sub-links that take you even farther into your research.  There are statewide links, county links and even some city/town links.  Further on, you'll see links to Church records, Cemeteries, Bible records, Newspapers, Directories, Court Records, etc.  The list is quite extensive.  

I will tell you that it does NOT contain every research link that you could ever need. There is a note at the end of most compiled link pages....Please, add your favorite Website(s) to this page!
yes, you can add a link to the list!!! How neat is that?  A collaborative effort!  

Linkpendium Logo

Researching in European records?  No problem if your interests include the United Kingdom and Ireland.  There are over 10 thousand links to resources in England, Ireland, The Isle of Man, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, etc.  Once again there are specific links for each parish and county, and also for directories, vital, church, court and institution records.  

Lastly there are links to Surnames, worldwide.  I took the leap...and looked up the link to my maiden name : Bognar.....very Hungarian.  There I find many links regarding the surname : findagrave, wikitree, Rootsweb message boards, gazetteers, maps and newspapers.  Wow.  I will have to do some clicking on some of these to see what has been posted by others on the boards and trees, and also find out the distribution of the family name.  It appears there are mentions of the name in their lists of Indiana, Illinois and Ohio newspapers, too.  

1918 St. Louis City Directory, Bognar listings
found from the link to www.Fold3.com

As with the other pages, on the bottom you can click and add a link for a surname database.  If you have a website that is dedicated to your family/family name, don't hesitate to add it to the surname list of links.  It just might steer someone to your family site and you could make a connection to a cousin with additional information that you can't get anywhere else.  

Have I convinced you to visit Linkpendium?  Try it out, and pass on the goodies that you might collect.

Browsing in an Old Gazeteer of Northern Illinois Counties

Recently I came across a digital copy of the 1855-56 Gazetter and Directory for the Northern Counties of Illinois.  Have you ever browsed through one of these resources?  It's a great source to find out Who's Who in history of "east pudunk", meaning those old towns and villages.  It also has advertisements of the businesses of the areas that are referenced.  It's almost like an early type of Yellow Pages.  You can find out who the local politicians were, the post office locations and postmaster identities.  Some even have maps showing the locality of government buildings, schools, and the like. Where can you find old gazetteers?  Internet Archive www.archive.org, Mocavo www.mocavo.com, and Google www.google.com are just a few of the online sources.  Libraries that have local history reference sections should have some gazetteers and local directories.

Here's the title page of the Gazetteer that I was happy to peruse: 

Since I live in DuPage County, I wanted to find out who the "Movers and Shakers" were in this locale.

The DuPage County entry as printed:

Notice the location of  the county, that it's origins were a part of Cook County, and that it was organized in 1838.  I was not aware that the first settlers were from Ohio, thinking that they were from a little farther east, like New York or Vermont.  It does mention the German emigrants that came through Pennsylvania, which I did know.  

The description of  the land reads like a real estate advertisement.  Wood land, prairie and fertile soil...who wouldn't want to move here?  Then I stopped dead in my tracks.  The County Seat was located in Naperville????? Oh, yes, there is a nasty history about that.  The County Seat is now in Wheaton.  And, after the Civil War, there were some disputes about relocating the seat. I found the following excerpts from Wikipedia, which we all know is the honest truth (NOT!!!)  Read on...

In 1857, the Illinois state legislature authorized an election to be held to decide the question of whether the DuPage county seat should remain in Naperville or be moved to the more centrally located Wheaton, which was on the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad. Naperville won the election by a vote of 1,542 to 762. Hostility between the two towns continued for the next decade and another election was held in 1867, in which Wheaton narrowly won by a vote of 1,686 to 1,635. At a cost of $20,000, the City of Wheaton quickly built a courthouse to house a courtroom, county offices, and a county jail. The building was dedicated on July 4, 1868.^[10]

However, animosity between the two towns continued, and in 1868, as records were moved from the old Naperville courthouse to the new one in Wheaton, Naperville refused to turn over the remaining county records, prompting a band of Civil War veterans from Wheaton to conduct what came to be known as the "Midnight Raid" on the Naperville courthouse. As Wheatonites fled back on Wheaton-Naperville Road, Napervillians were able to secure some of the last remaining records, which were then taken to the Cook CountyRecorder in Chicago for safekeeping. During this time, Naperville was mounting a lawsuit against Wheaton accusing election judges of leaving their posts for lunch during the vote when duplicate ballot stuffing allegedly occurred. As the courts deliberated the fate of the county seat, the records were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Shortly thereafter, Wheaton was officially proclaimed the county seat.^[11]

.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheaton,_Ill.

I live in the eastern half of DuPage County, and I wanted to browse the text to see what information was written about this general area.  I found three entries:

        The first is a nice description of Cottage Hill, which is present day Elmhurst, Illinois.

Gee, they make it sound like a respite place from the bustling city of Chicago.  Further historical information, again from Wikipedia.....

 a native of Ohio named Gerry Bates established a community on a tract of "treeless land" in 1842.^[4]

The following year, Hill Cottage Tavern opened where St. Charles Road and Cottage Hill Avenue presently intersect. In 1845, the community was officially named Cottage Hill when a post office was established. Four years later the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad was given right-of-way through Cottage Hill giving farmers easier access to Chicago.^[4] The community changed its name to Elmhurst in 1869.  

wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmhurst,_Illinois

The Township of York is still alive and well here in eastern DuPage County.  Apparently it was organized and fully staffed back in 1855-56, too.  Here's the posting, although small, for York...

 It mentions the name of Gerry Bates, once again, but this time as the post-master of Babcock Grove.  Having lived in another town just west of here, I know that Lombard, IL used to be called Babcock Grove.  And, the famous Graue Mill, located in my village of Oak Brook, is mentioned with the owners name....Frederick Gray.  Members of the Graue family changed the spelling of their last name so that newcomers would not have a problem pronouncing it.  Horace Grant was the owner of a General Store in the area of Fullersburg, which is a historic area along the Salt Creek bounded by current day Hinsdale and Oak Brook. Supposedly, Mr. Grant was a cousin of General Grant.

Lastly, I found the descriptive information for Downers Grove, which is still a strong community today.

Once again, consulting Wikipedia, I find what has been contributed to this site regarding the history of Downers Grove :

Downers Grove was founded in 1832 by Pierce Downer, a religious evangelist from New York. Its other early settlers included the Blodgett, Curtiss, and Carpenter families. The original settlers were mostly migrants from the Northeastern United States and Northern Europe. The first schoolhouse was built in 1844

Wikipedia .org/wiki/Downers Grove

There were no advertisements for the businesses in these three areas. However, larger, densely populated towns like Rockford, Naperville, Wheaton, etc. had many advertisements printed in this gazetteer.  It fun to browse through those and see what kind a businesses were necessary to keep the communities functioning.  

So, when you want to find out who was running the show in some of these old towns and villages , consult an old gazetteer.  They have been around for a long time, and can still provide some bits of information that your I Phone won't give you.  Go "old school" in your research.  It's fun.