19 August 1896 – 24 July 1915 The Eastland, one of five chartered excursion boats meant to ferry employees, their families and friends from Chicago over to the Michigan City shore for the annual Western Electric Company picnic, keeled over into the Chicago River while still at dock, trapping hundreds inside its hull and leading […]
4 February 1895 – 12 August 1942 Every now and then, I come across census or death records that indicate a person was in Manteno, Illinois, and I’ve learned that almost always means something pretty bad if they had previously been living in Chicago as that was the home of the notorious Manteno State Mental […]
19 September 1841 – 18 February 1928 Hattie was born in Ohio but met and married her husband Samuel Klump Martin — a successful lumber executive — in Wisconsin. Two years after their marriage, they moved to Chicago where their five children were born: Elmer, Wilton, Marion, Samuel, and Walter. In 1896, Samuel passed away. […]
Rose Netsky Berger 15 September 1898 – 15 January 1925 Rose was born in Russia, probably close to Poland (or what was then the German Empire). Her family immigrated to the US in 1904 where her father worked as a tailor. She was the oldest daughter of 8 children who survived to adulthood (of 12 […]
Alexander L. “Alex” Dupke 21 August 1893 – 24 July 1915 The Eastland, one of five chartered excursion boats meant to ferry employees, their families and friends from Chicago over to the Michigan City shore for the annual Western Electric Company picnic, keeled over into the Chicago River while still at dock, trapping hundreds inside […]
Julia Barbara Budilovsky Machova 17 May 1877 – 2 August 1904 Lillian “Lily” Budilovsky 13 January 1902 – 10 March 1923 Julia was the oldest child of 9 born to Vaclav and Johanna Budilovsky. By 1900, one of the children had died, but the other 8 were all living with their parents, and 23-year-old Julia […]
William Boldenweck 9 August 1851 – 21 August 1922 Adelheid Gesine Samme Boldenweck 4 July 1852 – 17 Augugust 1912 William Boldenweck was president of the Chicago Sanitary Board during the building of the Chicago Drainage Canal — the construction of which famously reversed the course of the Chicago River. He married Chicago-born Adelheid Samme […]
15 December 1893 – 24 July 1915 The Eastland, one of five chartered excursion boats meant to ferry employees, their families and friends from Chicago over to the Michigan City shore for the annual Western Electric Company picnic, keeled over into the Chicago River while still at dock, trapping hundreds inside its hull and leading […]
28 October 1900 – 16 August 1920 Violet was born on her mother’s 22nd birthday, and she would be her parents’ (Caroline “Carrie” Kepschull and Joseph “Jack Blank” Blankenstein) only child. Carrie has differing information on the public records about her place of birth, but she was either born in Illinois or immigrated as an […]
Eliza E. “Mother George” (Hamilton) George 20 Oct 1808 – 9 May 1865 Eliza was born in Bridport, Vermont and was the second wife of Woodbridge Cottle George, a man almost 20 years her senior. The couple started their lives together in New York where their three children were born (Eliza, Sterling, and Maria). Eliza […]