Amalie Petrich b. 1841 Pidda Posen

This week’s suggested topic for the 53 Ancestors Challenge was “Tough Woman.”  Amalie is a tough woman to research and find information about.  I think she also must have been a tough (strong) woman.  She was my Great-Great-Grandmother.

Anna Amalie Petrich was born 08 Jan 1841 in Pidda, Posen (Posen Province of Prussia) to Gottlieb Petrich and Wilhelmine Petrich.  She was called Amalie and was the second child (and second daughter) of nine children (seven girls), all born 18 to 24 months apart.  Amalie was baptized 7 Feb 1841 in Schokken [Skoki] in Posen Province.  Amalie’s youngest sibling was born three months after her father Gottlieb died.  Amalie was twelve years old at the time.

Amalie's Baptismal Record

She was married to Friedrich Wilhelm Primas on 3 May 1857 at the age of 16 years old.  Considering the circumstances, it is not surprising to see her married so young.  Friedrich was a miller, just like many others in his family.

Translation of the church record of the marriage: 

“Revier [Rejowiec] #6 (in 1857) - 3rd of May - [Pastor] Huber - Miller Friedrich Primas from Wiekowko near Witkowo, second son of the deceased miller from Nekla, Gottfried Primas, with virgin Amalie Petrich, second daughter of the deceased farmer from Pidda, Gottlieb Petrich
Both groom and bride under tutorship
He - 24 ys old, she 16 ys 4 mths old
Both Lutheran
With consent from court and mother”

Amalie had her first child - a son, Paul Primas (my great-grandfather), on 24 Oct 1860 in Orchowo, Mogilno, Posen.  He was baptized 28 Oct 1860 in the Lutheran church in Schidlowitz [Szydlowiec] near Orchowo.

Paul Primas Baptismal Record

Amalie’s second child was a daughter, Emilie (also found as Henriette Emilie) born in 1863. 

Friedrich and Amalie in Residence Register

Based on the Residence Register of Nekla for the years 1860 to 1875, Friedrich, Amalie’s husband died in 1865, making Amalie a widow by the time she was 24 years old.

The young widow married Wilhelm Stroech/Ströch, a miller, in 1866 or 1867.  According to the Nekla Residence Register listing, they moved to Nekla Hauland in October 1867.

Amalie married to Wilhelm Stroech

Amalie and her children moved between Nekla and Nekla Hauland several times over the years. Apparently Wilhelm Stroech had died, because we find Amalie married to Gottlieb Reiter a Gasthofbesitzer (Innkeeper), married in 1870 in Wylatkowo or in Nekla Hauland.  No records have been found for the marriage.

Amalie and Gottlieb Reiter family listing

While both Amalie and Gottlieb had children from prior marriages, they had at least 5 children together in the 20 or so years they were married.   According the residence Registers, the children of Gottlieb and Amalie were apparently born in Nekla.  Documentation shows Emil was born in April 1871, Eva in October 1872, Emma in December 1873, Ewald in June 1878 and Johanna in May 1880. 

Ewald Reiter birth record

There is also evidence in the Residence Registers to suggest that Amalie was married one other time, after Gottlieb Reiter died, to Gottlieb Schmidt in 1890 or 1891.

Amalie and Gottlieb Schmidt in Residence Register

In 1885, Amalie’s oldest son Paul Primas (my great-grandfather) married.  His first child (and most likely Amalie’s first grandchild) was born in 1886.  In April of 1887 Paul, his wife and child left for the US.  Amalie would never see her son Paul and his family again. 

According to a family tree found on MyHeritage.com, there is a Reiter family that appears to match Amalie’s family.   It suggests that Amalie and Gottlieb were married in 1870, that there were possibly more children than I have noted and that Gottlieb Reiter died in March 1884.  I will be treating these as hints for research.  On a different tree on MyHeritage, it suggests that Gottlieb Reiter might also have been known by the name of Johann, and that Amalie may have died in Dec 1916.  If that is true, she lived for 75 years.

There is a family story that there was a Reiter family that was sponsored by my grandfather Oscar Primas and his brothers to come to the US after WWII, maybe in the early 1950s.  I was not born yet, but the story was that they were related to the Primas family in some way.  No one I knew could tell me how.  There was a husband and wife with at least one child.  The story goes that the wife did not like it in the US and wanted to move back to Germany, so they did.  The Primas brothers were not happy because they had put time, effort and money into getting the family here, just to have them leave.  At least this information on Amalie gives me a reason to believe this Reiter family was related – Amalie’s Reiter children would be half-siblings to my great-grandfather Paul Primas.  This gives me some clues for seeking out more of the family.

Clarence Francis Brennan 1912 - 1912

Clarence Francis Brennan, first born of Stephen Francis Brennan and Anna Elizabeth Marcusen.  Born at home at 4242 Wilcox Street, Chicago, Illinois on 12 May 1912 at 4:20 AM.  Mother was attended by her mother Mrs. Berjetta Marcusen.

His father, Stephen, drove a Chicago street car, probably for the Chicago Railways Company, the precursor to the Chicago Surface Lines.  His mother Anna, worked with her mother in a laundry business out of their house.

Chicago Street Car form Chicagology

Clarence died 20 July 1912 at about 6:00 PM at 4242 Wilcox Street, Chicago, Illinois.  He was 2 Months 10 Days old.  Documented cause of death was “starvation due to pyloric stenosis” with a duration of 1 month.

According to the US National Library of Medicine, Pyloric stenosis is a narrowing of the pylorus, the opening from the stomach into the small intestine.  Pyloric stenosis occurs most often in infants younger than 6 months. It is more common in boys than in girls.  Symptoms usually start around 3 weeks of age with the primary symptom being forceful or projectile vomiting.  Other symptoms appear several weeks after birth and may include:  abdominal pain, burping, constant hunger, dehydration (gets worse as vomiting gets worse), and failure to gain weight or weight loss.  Today this problem is addressed through a surgical procedure. (Kaneshiro, 2013) 

Clarence Brennan lived and died on this street.  X is his house.

I can only imagine what the parents were going through.  This was their first child, a first-born son.  I have to believe they did everything they could, including calling on the doctor for help, to try and make their son healthy.

He was buried 22 July 1912 in either Concordia Cemetery or Glen Oak Cemetery.

Genealogy Do-Over, My Way: Rules of Engagement and Progress

Headng into Week Two, I have managed to avoid the “shiny objects” pretty well this week.  I also heard some great presentations on organization and time management at Virtual APG.

Here are My Rules of Engagement:

1.      I will set up a new tree as my “source of truth” using either RootsMagic or Legacy Family Tree.

a.      To start, I will enter only “bare bones” data (BMD) for no more than 5 generations back.

b.      I will add supporting media and documentation for each item added to the new tree at the time of adding it.

c.      I will use standard source citation formats to document in my tree.

d.      I will decide which software to use by the end of the 13 week do-over.

2.      I will set up a new file system on Dropbox for all my current electronic documents.

a.      I will use the “Lastname_Firstname_ date_document type” naming convention instead of my current one.

b.      Currently held items will be moved and renamed as they are added to the new tree.

3.      I will use a research log and the “to-do” list function in the new tree to track the items I want to follow up on or search for in the future.

4.      I will use the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” challenge as a method to expand the information I have on existing people or to add new people to my tree.

a.      I will focus on what documentation I already have and search for new information only for the Ancestor of the week.

5.      I will follow the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS). The GPS consists of five elements:

a.      A reasonably exhaustive search;

b.      Complete and accurate source citations;

c.      Analysis and correlation of the collected information;

d.      Resolution of any conflicting evidence;

e.      A soundly reasoned, coherently written conclusion.

I still have not committed to color-coding, but I will continue to evaluate doing this.

Progress: 

Reading through the Do-Over Facebook page for ideas and suggestions.  Investigated several web sites and blogs on organization and managing images/photos.  Learning a lot!

As a test, I have started saving some things to Evernote, particularly information which has one or more images and requires a translation or information.  Rather than keep the information in several files, they will be in one. 

I have set up my “skeleton tree” in both RootsMagic and Legacy to test which I like working with better.  I am focusing on my “52 Ancestors” targets to work with the trees and fill them in.

So far so good!

Marion Elizabeth Brennan 1917 - 2014

Marion 1989

Marion Elizabeth Brennan was born on 1 Oct 1917 in Chicago, Illinois as youngest child and the only daughter of Stephen Francis Brennan and Anna Elizabeth Marcusen. She had two older brothers: Clarence Francis, who died as an infant, and Charles Joseph.

About 1918:  Front Row:  Henry Hanson, Berjetta's nephew and Marion's Godfather; Charles Brennan (Marion's brother), Marion Brennan on her father's lap.

Back row:  Berjetta Hanson Marcusen (Marion's grandmother); Anna Elizabeth Marcusen Brennan (Marion's mother); Stephen Brennan (Marion's father).

     

 

Marion – c. 1923

She grew up in a two-flat at 4242 Wilcox Street in Chicago, Illinois as noted in the 1920, 1930 and 1940 US Census enumerations.  Her grandmother Berjetta owned the home and ran her laundry business out of the basement.  Marion helped with the business when she was old enough.  She also had a pet dog that she adored.

Marion and her dog

 

4242 Wilcox indicated by X in photo

4242 W Wilcox St, Chicago

She graduated from John Marshall High School in January 1936. 

High School Yearbook picture

    

  

She attended and graduated from Northern Illinois State Teachers College, now known as Northern Illinois University (NIU), on 17 June 1940. 

Schaeffer House Friends – c. 1939

Her first teaching position was in a one-room school in Brookfield, Illinois. Marion told us she took the trolley to get to the school.  After she married and moved to DeKalb, she taught third grade at Ellwood School in the DeKalb school system, teaching a total of 43 years.

Marion – c. 1940

Marion married Eli Enich, son of George and Yeka Enich, on 9 January 1943 in Chicago, Illinois. They did not have any children.  They lived in DeKalb all their married lives.  As newlyweds they lived with Eli’s parents. 

Eli and Marion Enich Wedding Picture - 1943

  

DeKalb City Directory - 1959

By 1959, Marion and Eli bought their own home at 129 Harrison Street in DeKalb.  I was told that they had NIU college students rooming with them for several years.   Marion’s mother Anna lived with Marion and Eli from the early 1960s when she sold the family home in Chicago until 1988 when she died. They moved back to Market Street after Eli’s parents died. They were living there in 1978 when I first met them.

25th Wedding Anniversary

After Eli died in 2002, Marion continued living in their home on Market Street until she moved to Green Bay in 2007, first to an independent living community and then to an assisted living residence.   When I asked her about the timing of her move, she told me she was waiting for her 20+ year old cat to die, so she would not have to move him and upset him.  Finally she had no choice and the cat went with her.   The cat lived for a few more years with her in Green Bay and to the best of her knowledge was 27 years old when he died.

1160 Market St, DeKalb IL

Marion Brennan Enich passed away peacefully in her sleep October 23, 2014 at the age of 97 years and 22 days old. Funeral services were held Monday, October 27, 2014 at 2:00PM in the Ronan-Moore-Finch Funeral Home in DeKalb, Illinois.

Here are some things I learned about Marion over the years I knew her.  She loved her brother Charlie and her cats.  She read the Chicago Tribune every day until she was 96 – it was delivered to her in the retirement community.  She kept in correspondence with her college classmates for many years.  She kept her favorite doll from when she was 6 years old – it is now in my care.  She saved and shared many very old photos of her mother’s family.  Some are old tintypes!

We shared an interest in genealogy.  She was distressed because she never found her Brennan grandparents.  She searched for years trying to find her father’s family.  The story was that the Catholic Brennan family disowned Stephen when he married a Lutheran.  Marion told me she thought her grandparents were Michael and Annie Brennan who came from Ireland and ended up in Chicago, but she had no documentation.  Marion believed that her father Stephen was born in Chicago as he reported in the 1910 and 1920 US Census, but was unable to obtain a birth certificate.  According to the Cook County Clerk’s Office “it burned up in the Fire.”  She was told he had “several brothers and sisters” but the only one she ever met was her father’s sister Mary Brennan a few times as a child.  Her Aunt Mary worked (and lived) in a convent on the North side of Chicago, but was not a nun. Marion couldn’t remember the name of the convent.  It would have been in the early to mid-1930s.  We were able to get a DNA sample from Marion before she died.  We are hoping it leads us to finding her Brennan family.

Genealogy Do-Over, My Way

I have been watching with interest the genealogical challenges for 2015.  Thomas MacEntee’s “Genealogy Do-Over” and Amy Johnson Crow’s (she blogs at No Story Too Small) “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2015 Edition."

As part of the prep work for the Genealogy Do-Over, I have been comparing my current method of organization to others being suggested.  I have been using document oriented organization (file folders for Birth, Death, Marriage, Census, etc.) but I am considering moving to surname oriented with the document description at the end of the file name.  

My current view:

Diana Ritchie’s example from the Genealogy Do-Over Facebook group:

I am thinking about combining the challenges as a way to clean up my family tree.  I have been collecting many scans, pictures and other items but have not been linking them consistently to my tree.   In addition, my primary genealogy software The Master Genealogist is no longer supported.   I am evaluating RootsMagic and Legacy Family Tree to see which one I will move my tree to for the future.  I would like to create a tree that is my “source of truth” and that is not linked to shared tree on Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, etc.   In my new tree, I will only add people and facts that are supported by documentation and citations.   

The Do-Over is scheduled to last 13 weeks.  52 Ancestors for the year.   I making my plan and I am ready for the Do-Over!

Sixty Minutes to Better Genealogy!

     I will be at the Newberry Library today for Day 2 of Sixty Minutes to Better Genealogy! These focused, sixty-minute sessions are designed to help illuminate important topics for your genealogical project and help push you through a particular question in your research.  This is my fourth year presenting for the Newberry’s summer series. 

     I will be presenting: What’s New on the Internet, Ancestry Primer, Fold3 and FamilySearch and RootsMagic.  It appears that there will be a full house as well as a full day! 

Villa Park Vittles

I found this old cookbook Villa Park Vittles (from 1948-1949) in my grandmother’s things.  Her name, Merle K. Bollenbach, is written in pencil on the inside front cover.  I read through the book, indexed it, scanned all the pages and then donated the book and computer files to the Villa Park Historical Society.

The cookbook is the creation of the American Home and Education Class of the Villa Park Woman's Club, Mrs. C. Scott Parnham, Chairman, dated 1948-1949.  The title page also lists all the Officers of the Woman’s Club at the time.  I recognized a number of the names as friends of my parents and grandparents.

I was most interested in the names and the ingredients of the recipes.  One stand out was Sugarless Dessert submitted by Mary West on page 37.  Coincidentally this lady was a member of my church, so I recognized the name.  It is true there is no refined white sugar in the recipe; however it calls for 30 marshmallows!  It includes chocolate, whole milk and whipping cream and sounds yummy, just do not be fooled by the name!  The book also has a number of versions of Tuna Casserole and molded salads (not all with Jell-O). 

Villa Park is celebrating its 100th birthday (anniversary?) as an incorporated village this year.  Maybe someone will want to try some recipes in honor of the occasion.

Contributors to the Villa Park Vittles Cookbook

Name

Anderson, Sally

Ashford, Pauline

Ashton, Maryon

Beckstrom, Claire

Benthin, Irene

Bentz, Betty

Betz, Lillian

Bond, Virginia L.

Burhen, Marion

Butts, Mrs. R. K.

Clark, Synneva

Conlin, Mrs. H. M.

Cormier, Mrs. H. H.

Cornelius, Ruth

Cortesi, Mrs. L. R.

Custard, Marion

Dammann, Virginia

Denzler, Mrs. Frank

Doty, Cornelia

Douglas, Mrs. W.

Dresser, Marguerite G.

Dykema, Marion

Elsasser, Ruth

Enzweiler, Marge

Featherstone, Helen

Filewicz, Frances

Gee, Dottie

Gibson, Adrienne

Gilbert, Mrs. Eva M.

Goerlitz, Mrs. David

Goodman, Ruth

Graf, Agnes

Grubb, Mrs. Edwin W.

Gutzmer, Mrs. E. R.

Hamel, Frances

Hart, Virginia Callahan

Hass, Edna M.

Herzog, Gertrude

Holloway, Dorothy

Hook, Virginia

Huston, Candce E.

Jans, Mrs W. C.

Kane, Fleada

Keel, Mrs. Earl

Kessel, Dorothy

Kirchner, Alice

Knapp, Mathilda

Legler, Mae

Leonard, June

Lipton, Mrs. Edwin C.

Little, Mrs. R. E.

McArthur, Catherine M.

McFarland, Blanche

McGowan, Alyce

McKee, Mrs. Robert M.

McNamara, Leah

Mellete, Emma

Mellete, Frances

Mitchell, Mrs. A.

Modjeska, Selma

Moore, Alyce

Morlock, Mrs. Hazel

Mudd, Marina

Nabers, Mrs. Bernard

Nagel, Beth R.

Nelson, Mrs. Robert

Neville, Doris

Olliver, Mrs. L.

Parnham, Henrietta

Pohlmann, Ida E.

Rankin, Margaret

Rink, Dorothy M.

Ronske, Mrs. John

Ross, Mildred

Schroeder, Marge

Sears, Grace

Smith, Harriette

Smith, Jane

Smith, Mrs. Minor B.

Snyder, Mrs. R. B.

Sorensen, Mrs. A. J.

Stoltz, Lorene

Timreck, Eleanor S.

Towne, Mrs. C. H.

Tweedle, Gertrude

Urban, Mrs. Hugh

Vangsness, Jane

West, Mary

Wilson, Charlotte

Wilson, Claudine

Winans, Myrtle

Wisner, Rhea

Wright, Mrs. D. F.