12 August 1925 – 8 January 1945 Private, 330 Infantry, 83rd Infantry Division World War II Charles (who I’m calling Charlie) was 2nd generation Illinois-born. His father Charles Sr. was the child of Czech and German immigrants; his mother Florence’s parents were Irish and German immigrants. Charlie seems to have been an only child, and […]
7 June 1917 – 3 December 2000 Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas but when she was only six weeks old, her parents moved to Chicago during the Great Migration. Brooks would call Chicago home for the rest of her life. She had one sibling, a brother a year younger. Her father had aspired […]
Corporal, Company A, 2nd Illinois Infantry, Spanish American War 8 September 1872 – 16 February 1914 This headstone is in Section C (near where Beulah Corley is buried) which I’ve learned since profiling Beulah was used for simple, time-limited term burials until just after World War II. The last burials you can find there date […]
Julius E. Heidenreich 17 May 1840 – 30 June 1927 Anna Margaretha Geisler Heidenreich 1839 – 7 December 1896 Johann Carl Heidenreich 1810 – 12 June 1889 Maria Elizabeth Heidenreich dates unknown Ida Margaretha Heidenreich 15 September 1868 – 28 October 1964 (possibly) Though I found a record that seems to indicate that Julius and […]
Forest Home (formerly German Waldheim) Cemetery Dedicated in 1893; Designated a US National Historic Landmark on and listed on the US National Register of Historic Places 18 February 1997 Every time I go to Forest Home, I photograph the monument. It’s beautiful and usually has some flowers or other remembrance left on its dais. If […]
Cecelia Tang 1930 – 2013 Cyril Chung Ying Tang 1930 – 2018 This isn’t exactly a mausoleum, but I’m not sure what else you would call it except for incredibly tranquil and beautiful. Mr. Tang died in 2018 and I believe that this must have just been finished as the landscaping isn’t completed yet. It […]
Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman 26 January 1892 (Atlanta, Texas) – 30 April 1926 (Jacksonville, Florida) Also known as “Queen Bess” Today is the 95th anniversary of Bessie Coleman’s death. Coleman was a trailblazing aviator who was the first Black woman and first Native-American to hold a pilot’s license and the first Black person and first Native-American […]
15 July 1891 – 25 October 1918 Louis Katzel was the second oldest and oldest surviving child of Franz and Berta (Wendt) Katzel, German immigrants who both arrived in 1881 but who did not marry each other until 1888. Louis grew up as a comfortable, middle-class American boy in Oak Park. His father worked as […]
Captain, Chicago Fire Deparment 26 January 1849 – 19 December 1903 This fantastic headstone is in the middle of its section – a tree stump hidden in a forest of headstones — and I didn’t spot it after all these years of visits until just this past week. At first glance, it looks like just […]
15 March 1909 – 4 March 1987 “Heroine in the Struggle” Born in New Orleans to a stalwart and vocal union man, Woods performed her first protest at the age of ten when she refused to sing the national anthem after she realized she and her siblings were forbidden to play in the park they […]