52 Ancestors – Week 29 Challenge

    

This week I am writing about my personal experience when this country met the challenge of putting a man on the moon. It was fifty years ago yesterday! Although it’s not about an ancestor, I am an ancestor to my descendants.

My husband and I got up early that morning, we had things to do and places to go. Friends had invited us to attend the Air Show in Sandwich, Illinois that afternoon and we needed to get our children ready to spend the afternoon with a babysitter. Once everyone was ready, we said goodbye to the kids and headed off to Sandwich to meet our friends Bob and Judy at their brother-in-law’s house in Sandwich. He was the editor of the local paper and got us free tickets.

We got to Sandwich about noon and met our friends. It was common at that time and place to offer guests a “Grand Tour” of the house. We saw a beautiful Victorian house that was well updated and furnished. The special surprise was in the kitchen where we first witnessed the miracle of the microwave over. Imagine it could heat a hot dog in less than a minute and warm the hot fudge without melting the ice cream! That was only the first amazing experience of the day.

It was a hazy Summer Sunday and the Air Show was scheduled to begin I believe at 1 PM. In addition to airplanes doing stunts and seeing sky divers perform, the featured attraction was Bob Hope! We got there early so we could have a front row (or close to that) seat. We had a huge blue and white blanket that we spread out on the ground and settled down to wait for Bob Hope to appear. We were also to see Ginny Tiu and her sisters do their singing act.

We waited and waited in the Summer heat. Ginny Tiu and her sisters performed for us and we waited some more. Finally, the audience heard the announcement that Bob Hope would not appear until the astronauts had safely landed on the moon. The audience was disappointed, but nobody left. I think it was about four o’clock when Bob Hope appeared and was greeted with loud cheers because we knew that the astronauts were safe, and we could all enjoy the show.

It was a great show!  A wonderful ending to a great day. But it wasn’t really the end of the day, since when we got home again we stayed up late to take pictures of the walk on the moon off out television screen!

Men on the moon! 20 July 1969  photo taken by Dave Peterson 20 July 1969 from television screen.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 26 “Legend”

It has long been a legend in the Connery family of Chicago that our patriarch Michael, commonly known as M J once lead the St Patrick’s Day Parade down State Street on a white horse.

M J Connery circa 1920?

In an effort to confirm this legend, I did some research on both the history of the parade and my grandfather M J.

What is now the parade in downtown Chicago began on in the Southtown area of Chicago as early as 1843 with seven hundred seventy five marchers who first marched to St Mary’s church for Mass and then marched on to the Saloon Building at Clark and Randolph. [i] According to the article the Saloon Building became the first City Hall in Chicago.

The parade was held in Southtown from it’s beginning in 1843 until 1901 with the exception of 1897 when it was cancelled due to the increase in both poverty and homelessness because of the severe weather.[ii] After 1901 there were no more parades until they were reinstated in 1956 by Mayor Richard J Daly.

In 1898 Grand Marshall Bob Monahan led the parade on a prancing horse.[iii]

Searching the Chicago newspapers for M J Connery in the years between 1890 and 1910, the time he lived in Southtown, shows that M J was active in the community and ran for election as alderman in the 13^th ward [iv]1893, 1894[v] and 1898[vi]. At this time, it is not known if M J was ever elected but being on the ballot three times, shows a strong commitment to his community.

About 1910 M J and his family moved to the West Town neighborhood of Chicago and his allegiance changed to the Garfield Park neighborhood.

My conclusion is that M J never did ride that white horse down State Street. I think the references to Bob Monahan on his horse were mixed into the stories of life in Southtown when my aunts and uncles were children. Unfortunately, it would seem that the legend is really a myth, however I am open to additional proof.

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[i] Lindberg, Richard, How Chicago Got It’s Green Back, Chicago Magazine a 22^nd Century Media Publication, 15 June 2016, online image, accessed 2 July 2019.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Chicago Eagle, 11 March 1893, page 1, image 1; Chronicling America, https://chroniclingamerica.gov, imagea online, accessed 2 July 2019.

[v] Chicago Eagle, 0  March 1894, page 4, image 4; Chronicling America, https://chroniclingamerica.gov, imagea online, accessed 2 July 2019.

[vi]   Chicago Eagle, 26 Feb 1898, page 4, image 4; Chronicling America, https://chroniclingamerica.gov, imagea online, accessed 2 July 2019.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 25 “Earliest”

My earliest direct line ancestor to arrive in the United States was my great-great-grandfather, Georg Burbach.

St Anthony Church, Oberselters, Hessen Nassau, Germany
google images

Georg was the third child and first son born to Hubert Burbach and Catherine Schaaf on 3 August 1825 in the village of Oberselters, Hessen Nassau, Germany. He was baptized in St Anthony Catholic Church on 7 August 1825.[1]

Shortly after his father’s death in 1845[2], George left Oberselters, a village his ancestors had lived in since the 1700s. The village was a farming area and Georg had no land of his own. He traveled to the neighboring village of Villmar which was about 13 km north of Oberselters.[3] Villmar is larger than Oberselters and Georg hoped to find work there.

He did find work in the cereal fields of Villmar where he met and married Catherine Caspari on 29 April 1848 in Sts Peter and Paul Church.[4] The young couple settled in the village and began to raise a family. Their first child, Adam was born 5 Sep 1849,[5] followed by Hermann born 11 Mar 1852[6] and Johan born 15 Apr 1854.[7] As the family grew the economy declined due to several years of crop failures. Times looked bleak for the young family. And then Adam died 6 Dec 1854. After his burial at Sts Peter and Paul Church[8], Georg and Catherine decided to follow others from the area and travel to the United States. Catherine’s parents were dead as were Georg’s parents, but Catherine had an aunt and uncle who had traveled to the United States and settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to farm the land.

In 1856 Georg Burbach left Villmar[9] with Catherine and their two sons, Hermann and Johan. They were going to join friends and family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

After arriving in Wisconsin in July of 1856, according to naturalization records, the family settled in the city of Milwaukee rather than looking for land to farm.

 The 1860 census shows Georg to be working as a laborer, in 1863 Georg is listed as a drover.[10] This was at the beginning of the Milwaukee meat processing era, during the time of Patrick Cudahy and Phillip Armor. Perhaps Georg knew and worked for one or the other.

Although there is reason to suspect that Georg and Catherine had other children, none survived to be recorded in the 1860 or 1870 census returns. There are Burbach babies buried in Calvary Cemetery but there is no indication of their parents and there was an unrelated Burbach family living in Milwaukee at the time.

As time marched on, Georg’s sons grew and learned the skills they would need to become successful butchers. The Burbach Bros Butcher shop was open on Walnut Street by the time of the 1880[11] census and was employed there as a butcher until his death 20 July 1897.[12] He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[13]

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[1]: Kirchenbuchduplikat 1818 - 1874, Dupilcate Church Book Baptisms 1820-1840: 7 Aug 1825 George son of Huburtus Burbach and Catheruine Schaaf, St Anthony Catholic Church.

[2] Kirchenbuchduplikat 1818 - 1874, Dupilcate Church Book 1818-1874: 9 Aug 1845, St Anthony Catholic Church.

[3] Google maps

[4]  Villmar Catholic Church, "Kirchenbuch 1632 -1884," page 45.

[5]St s Peter and Paul Church Villmar, Hessen-Nassau, Prussia, Kirchenbuch 1632 - 1884, 1272247, Birth and death of Adam Burbach.

[6] Sts Peter and Paul Church Villmar, Hessen-Nassau, Prussia, Kirchenbuch 1632 - 1884, 1632-1884, Baptism of Hermann Burbach.

[7] Sts Peter and Paul Church Villmar, Hessen-Nassau, Prussia, Kirchenbuch 1632 - 1884, Birth and Baptism of Johan Burbach.

[8]  Sts Peter and Paul Church Villmar, Hessen-Nassau, Prussia, Kirchenbuch 1632 - 1884, Birth and death of Adam Burbach.

[9] : "Die Auswanderung aus dem Herzogtum Nassau 1806-1866," immigration of Georg Burbach and family page 141.

[10] Milwaukee City Directory, 1863 p 38, occupation of George Burbach

[11] 1880 US census, Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, population, Milwaukee, ED ED 130, Page 69 B, , Hermann Burbach.

[12] Wisconsin Death Records 1867-1907, FamilySearch.org, database p 465 death and occupation of George Burbach.

[13] ibid

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 24 “Dear Diary”

I have never kept a diary and I don’t believe I have any ancestors who did but I do have a copy of the desk diary that my mother kept in 1974. Mom was widowed in 1959 with nine children under 18. In 1971 she moved from Elmhurst, Illinois to Pompano Beach, Florida to be close to her sister Kathleen and brothers Tom and Jack who had retired to Ft Lauderdale. At the time there were three children still living with her, Peggy, Alice and Donald. Mom lived in Florida until her death in 1977 at the age of sixty. Shortly after moving to Florida, mom developed cancer and by 1974 was no longer able to teach full time.

These are the entries from her desk calendar for January 1974

Tuesday, January 1

            Alice’s bday – 19 years old

We are having dinner at Peg & Mike’s; SMC [her sister Sister Marie Camilla], A.K., Mary, Al, Don and me. Tris (Mike’s brother) of course. The apt is very nice they have beautiful bedroom furniture.

Saturday, January 5

            Budget for 2/75

            (other than checks)

            4.25       gas and milk

            100        gro.

            150        mail

            135        church

         1099        gro

[decimal points omitted but I believe these amounts represent dollars and cents]

Monday, January 14

            Rain fell all day today – 4” or so in vacant fields flooded and many streets

Didn’t drain off. So it was with Mc ab Rd when I tried to get to St Coleman’s for CCD. I had a terrible time and was lucky a good angel pulled me out.

Tuesday, January 15

Not feeling strong I hesitated about H.C.H. [Holy Cross Hospital] work but am  glad I tried it. It was not too tiring. Dr. George took me off Alkare for 2

more weeks.

Wednesday, January 16

            Alice joined the choir by her own request. It will be good for her, I think. She                is also thinking about Confirmation.                  

Thursday, January 17

Don took the car today so I am grounded. Hilda had us (Kay and I) for waffles. Tomorrow Don buys Mike Wilde’s car a “67 Cutlass for cash. Pretty good at saving!

Friday, January 18

Alice took me to Diane’s for lunch after grocery shopping. Sitting in front of T.V. at 11:00 when T.B.K. S. [my brother Tom, his wife Beate, their son Kurt, and Beate’s mother Susi]come! Don moves to liv fl [living room floor] to make room. He admires Tom and enjoys Beate. Alice makes banana bread which we forget to serve. Tom has no beard Kurt is v. friendly!

Saturday, January 19

M V [my sister Mary Virginia] and I shop at Fields but she doesn’t like what they have.

Sunday, January 20

Mass at 11:00 – Ir is a good experience to attend a “straight” Mass with choir. The kids went swimming at Boca bridge. Susi and Mary and I spent a quiet afternoon. The swimmers were back early.

Monday, January 21

CCD was a staff meeting. We are going to have 3 classes and 2 teachers for each class. Relaxed atmosphere, more free range rap[?]. In the AM Suzy & I went to the shore for shells We took Kurt.

Wednesday, January 23

T&R[my uncle Tom and his wife Ruth] took us T.B.K.S. to lunch at 2100 then we walked or sat on the beach till I left to do tutoring. The young ones went out to mini golf.

Thursday, January 24

Suzi and I took Kurt to the beach “shelling”. He is so sweet and trusting – his eyes say so much. At noon we went to HCH to have lunch with Ingabor and Mary. Susi and Beate enjoyed. At 3:00  we all drove up to WPB [West Palm Beach] for a Rst Bf [roast beef] dinner at St Raymond with SMC.

Friday, January 25

Tom and Beate left for Orlando We decided not to go – I am too tired and it’s quite expensive. So Susi and I went to Creighton’s . She liked v. much.

Saturday, January 26

The travelers get back form Orlando about 8:00. Had a grand time. We took things easy.

Sunday, January 27

Went to A.K.[her sister Kathy] for a nice dinner – she really can cook up a good meal.

Monday, January 28

Tom, Beate, Kurt, Susi Mary left and it was a lonely morning. Alice tried to cheer me up. We went to Inveraray for lunch with Isabel. The phone was ringing when we got in – a tutoring job 3^rd gr Louise. T.G. and Dorothy Hajjar.

Tuesday, January 29

Call from the Learning Tree – tutoring. Will look into it. I’m so thankful to have these jobs pop up. Hospital made me lonely for my sweet Mary. Peg came in the AM so cheerful – so is Alice.

Wednesday, January 30

Louise is a very sweet dark-eyed child. She is rather slow in reading but definitely able. We both have rapport.

                                   Thus, ends the month of January 1974.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 20 Two Cousins in the Civil War (reprinted from 2013)

My husband's Ferguson ancestors were a family of soldiers. They can be found in every war since the Revolution serving their country. This is one of the stories I have found.

Parson's Battery Position
photo - Wikipedia

On 12 April 1861, the day of the first battle of the Civil War,brothers William Fergason and Jeremiah Ferguson were farmers in the small community of Willow Hill in Jasper County in southern Illinois.  The crops typical of the area included buckwheat, Indian corn, oats, wheat, potatoes, and apples.  There were also a few cows, pigs, and chickens in addition to horses used for plowing and transportation.  Soon their concerns about the price of seed or too much or too little rain would turn to worries about the was as each man watched his oldest son go off to war.

Jeremiah was the first to wave good-bye to his son George W as he enlisted on 14 Aug 1862 in Granville, IL.  He was twenty years old and 5 ft 9 3/4 in tall.  He was assigned as a private to Company E of the 123 Il  US Infantry and mustered into the unit on 6 Sep 1862.  His unit was sent to Louisville, Ky then on to join the the 3 brigade of the 10th division of the Army of Ohio under the command of General Buell.  After chasing General Bragg's army into Kentucky they became involved in the Battle of Perryville.  This battle became known as the bloodiest battle of the Civil War with casualties in excess of 7,677 from both sides.

On the Union side 894 soldiers died.  George W Ferguson was killed in action on 8 Oct 1862 at Perryville, KY.  It had been less than two months since he had enlisted.

 

The Battle of Perryville
photo - Wikipedia

On a cold winter day William A Ferguson, son of William and nephew of Jeremiah joined the Union forces.  7 Feb 1865 Captain Scott enlisted William for 1 year at Olney, Illinois.  He was a Private assigned to Company B 155 IL US Infantry.  William joined the army with Oliver Allison another 18 year old farmer from Willow Hill.  They moved to Louisville, KY and then to their mission to guard the block houses of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad from Nashville to Duck River.  They were mustered out on 4 Sep 1865 at Murfreesboro, TN by Captain Wilson.  William returned to Willow Hill to marry and continue farming.

Cousins George and William Ferguson shared many things, but both did not return from war.  They shared grandparents, occupations, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  They even both had grey eyes.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 19 “Nurture”

google images

Nurturing is “the process of caring for and encouraging the growth or development of someone or something.”[i]

Nurturers not only provide food, clothing and shelter, they also instill the values that are important to them. Things like respect for themselves and others, willingness to serve the community, patriotism, love of knowledge and the love of God.

Among my ancestors, the women were the primary nurturers. This is probably true of most families, and I say primary because the men were also nurturers to a degree.

My grandparents and grandparents instilled the love of God in us by being role models in the practice of religion.

My maternal grandparents nurtured their children with a love and respect for education by sacrificing to provide a good education to all of their children. All of their children finished high school and most of them attended some college. This was in the early 1900s when it was not common to attend school for so long. In fact, I was very surprised to find in the 1940 US Federal Census that both of my grandparents had finished high school before leaving Ireland for the United States.[ii]

Volunteering was another quality that was modeled in our lives, again by showing and doing not by preaching. We quietly observed as our mother, a busy mother of nine, found time to serve as a youth leader, and later she volunteered to hand bead sweaters for a charitable group to raffle in a fund-raising project. As a result, most of my siblings have volunteered in their community as room parents, youth leaders, teachers, hospice workers, and community leaders. I feel that this is an important aspect of life and one that is easily passed down in a family. Children imitate what their parents do.

As time passes, I watch with pride as each generation passes these values down to the next generation. This, I believe is how our civilization will survive.

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[i] google

[ii] Year: 1940; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: T627_982; Page: 9B; lines 57 and 58, Enumeration District: 103-1927; ancestry.com, images online, accessed 11 May 2019,  https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2442/M-T0627-00982-00637/144292794?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/112758812/person/3201042

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 18 “Road Trip”

Every year our family took a road trip. Every year to the same place. Every year to “Aunt Kathy’s Cottage”. It was such a special place that it was always capitalized when we spoke of it.

Our time was always the last two weeks of August. In a time before time-shares, we had a specific slot of time to use “Aunt Kathy’s Cottage”.

Lady Jane cottage owned by Aunt Kathy

First a little background about “Aunt Kathy’s Cottage”. At some time during the 1930’s my Uncle Jack purchased a small cottage on the Indiana shore of Lake Michigan. It was in a little community where the houses lining the beach road were known by name rather than street numbers. Names like “White Waves” and “Swiss Chalet” or family names since the houses stayed in the same family for generations. Uncle Jack named his cottage after his wife Jane, calling it the “Lazy Jane”. Aunt Jane was not amused! The cottage was quickly renamed the “Lady Jane” and soon Uncle Jack sold it to his sister Kathleen.

Kathleen never married but she kept the cottage for the use of other family members. Each of her siblings and their families had their assigned time slot and the cottage was rented out for the month of July in order to cover the taxes and other maintenance costs.

Ready to leave for Long Beach

So each summer about the fifteenth of August, mom would begin packing for the annual road trip to Long Beach, Indiana. In the late 1940s and early 1950s the trip from Elmhurst, Illinois to Long Beach, Indiana tool about four hours. It was a time before expressways and toll roads. Dad would load the white canvas laundry bags that held our clothes. Sometimes there were three of the huge white bags to stuff in the trunk, it depended on how many of us there were at the time. In the beginning three or four children, later all nine children would pile into the pale-yellow station wagon. Provided there were no flat tires, traffic jams, or weather delays, we would arrive at the cottage about four hours later, hot and thirsty. As soon as we were released from the car, off would come shoes and socks and down the steps we would race onto the sand and then to the cool lake waters.

The next two weeks would be spent barefoot and on the beach! The routine was breakfast, beach, lunch, rest time from 1 to 3 (to keep us out of the hot sun and it was also a time when polio was a major concern), back to the beach, dinner, beach till dusk and then read, board games or card playing until bedtime, There was no television or telephone at the cottage. It was an idyllic time. Because we went at the same time every year and there were other families that did the same, we had friendships to renew.

At Long Beach circa 1957

Mom and dad didn’t get a vacation though! Barefeet and beachtime meant there was always sandy floors to be swept even though we rinsed our feet at the back door. The kitchen stove was a gas stove that required that each burner be lit with a match each time it was used. The toaster was one that toasted 2 slices but only one side at a time, so you needed to manually turn the pieces before they burned. There was no washing machine or dryer so when it was time to do laundry, mom would pack up the laundry bags and dad would drive her into Michigan City to the laundro-mat. While mom did the laundry, we would go to the local dairy for a milkshake. Dad always worked on repairs and maintenance such as painting or replacing the outside stairway or re-carpeting the inside stairs. They truly sacrificed to provide us with summers to remember!

Labor Day weekend we would pack the car back up and do a final sweep out of the cottage before the long ride home. The day after Labor Day, we would go back to school, thus ending another summer adventure.