Category: Fairbury

I Is for…Instruments

I Is for…Instruments

Posted on by spuddled

Today we’re taking a look at musical instruments in our family. The first is the violin that belonged to my great-grandfather, Albert Carl Swing. His daughter, my maternal grandmother, always talked of how her father purchased the violin with the first money he ever earned, shucking corn away from home. He was about 14, which means this purchase would have taken place around 1903. I’ve always liked to imagine that he ordered the violin from the Sears catalog, but I have no way of knowing this for sure.

When Grandma was a young girl living in Wing, Illinois, several families there got together and built a community center where they would hold Saturday night square dances. Albert was often the caller for these dances; Grandma would emphasize to us that he called, not sang, the dances. She said he called dances more often in these years than he played the violin, as he had lost the tip of his left middle finger reaching into some kind of motor and wasn’t able to play the violin as he had in his younger days.

Albert’s violin would get a lot of use by others in the family, however. Mom and Aunt Carla, anyway, were both in orchestra in school and learned on Albert’s violin. I also joined the school orchestra when I was in the fifth grade, and when I had grown enough to be able to handle a full-sized violin, I used the same one as well. At some point in all those years of orchestra and private violin lessons, I ended up naming the violin “Fred.” I don’t remember why anymore, but he’s been Fred to me ever since. Fred desperately needs a tune-up and probably a new bow; one of these days I’ll manage to get over to a music repair shop in Charlottesville. It’s the least I can do for Fred after 122 years.

The second family musical instrument is the guitar that belonged to my maternal grandfather, Joseph Hoffmann. I don’t have any origin stories of how Grandpa acquired his guitar, but I know that he played it as part of a band that performed locally in Illinois as well as on the radio (again, I assume locally; not quite Grand Ole Opry-level fame). There is even a formal portrait of the band and their instruments; Grandpa and his guitar are second from the left:

More recently, while poring over old newspapers at Newspapers.com, I found journalistic confirmation of the band’s existence. 1934 appears to have been a banner year for them; in February the Central Theatre of Fairbury, Illinois hosted radio personalities on stage, the new movie, “Bedside,” and 20 “home talent acts,” sponsored by local businesses. Among the local acts competing for $10 in cash prizes were Joe Hoffman, Dayton Alt, Raymond Alt, Mac Jarvis, and Carl Bollinger. Grandpa would have been 26.

The Fairbury (Illinois) Blade, 16 February 1934

Later that same year the Fairbury Sportsmen’s Club hosted the Dwight Club at a picnic. By this time Grandpa’s band had undergone some personnel change but acquired a name: the entertainment for this gathering was provided by the Fairbury Ramblers String Quartet, consisting of Grandpa and the Alt brothers from the earlier iteration, along with Cecil Phelps. According to the newspaper article, the Quartet “punctuated the program with the dulcet strains of their music.” They also accompanied a singer named Herb Hurt on two songs.

The Fairbury (Illinois) Blade, 10 August 1934

Grandpa’s guitar also had a second musical act, as Mom carefully packed and shipped it to my brother in Virginia when he decided to learn to play. He doesn’t play that particular instrument so much any longer, but it is probably no surprise that this guitar is now here in my house with me. Maybe I should try to learn to play the guitar. Or at least give Grandpa’s guitar a name.

One of Fairbury’s Highly-Esteemed Citizens: the Death of Samuel Demler

One of Fairbury’s Highly-Esteemed Citizens: the Death of Samuel Demler

Posted on by spuddled

Today we commemorate the death 83 years ago of Samuel Albert Demler, my first cousin three times removed. He was one of seven children of Wilhelm K. and Anna (Keller) Demler and was born 10 March 1881 in Fairbury, Illinois. My great-great-grandmother, Mary (Demler) Slagel, was his paternal aunt. “Sam Demler” appears in the 1900 census, living on Chestnut Street in Fairbury with his parents and 5 surviving siblings (the youngest, Anna, had died in 1889 at the age of two). Sam is listed as a Teamster.

Congregational records for Zion Lutheran Church in Peoria note that on 8 July 1906, 25-year-old Samuel A. Demler married 19-year-old Mary M. Mammen. Both were from Fairbury. By 1910 Samuel and Mary were living on Walnut Street in Fairbury with their children Anna L., aged 1 10/12, and a newborn son Sam A. Samuel’s occupation is listed as lumberman. On his World War I Draft Registration card, Samuel is described as tall with a medium build, brown hair, and brown eyes. His employer is listed as the lumber company at 106 South 1st Street in Fairbury. Information posted by Dale Maley on the “Fairbury, Illinois – Today, Long Ago and Somewhere in between” Facebook group includes photos and history of this lumber operation which began as Jesse Stevens’ lumber yard and was then bought by Alexander Lumber after Jesse’s death. A photo from the Facebook group shows Samuel Albert, his son and his daughter at the lumber yard, ca. 1935.

In 1920, still on West Walnut Street (and now with a house number, 308), Samuel is listed as manager of a lumber company, and two more children have been added to the family: Rose, 7; and Victor, 4. From Google Maps it appears this house no longer stands, though Fairbury residents are welcome to investigate and let me know for sure. It also appears that the house was located just across the street from the lumber yard where Samuel was employed. The Demler family still lived in that same house in 1930, paying $10 a month in rent. The census also confirmed that the family had a radio. Samuel continued as manager of the lumber company, and son Samuel A., Jr., was a yard man there as well. An additional child had been added to the family, son Dewey, 8 years old.

By 1940 only Dewey was still left at home with his parents. He had completed 3 years of high school and was still in school that year at age 18. The enumerator noted that Samuel had completed six years of school, and wife Mary four. Samuel continued as manager of the lumber yard, having earned $1620 the previous year (or possibly $1120; the handwriting is a bit difficult to decipher). This would be roughly equivalent to $25,000-$36,000 in 2024.

Less than a year after the 1940 census was taken, Samuel’s health declined. He had been ill for several months when, following a stroke, he died on 14 April 1941 at the Fairbury Hospital. He was buried at Fairbury’s Graceland Cemetery. Samuel’s obituary in The Pantagraph details not only his management of the Alexander Lumber Company but also his role as Fairbury fire chief for 35 years. The Fairbury Blade of 18 April provides even more color. It notes that Samuel had undergone an operation on 25 February and had been recovering but had a setback and was taken back to the hospital on 13 April, where he died the following day.

The Blade describes Samuel as follows: “Although of a quiet and retiring disposition, Mr. Demler was one of Fairbury’s well liked and highly esteemed citizens and took a keen interest in the affairs of the community.” It also notes how five of his employees at the lumber yard were able to move on to manage lumber yards of their own due to his leadership skills. Two of these employees were his sons Samuel and Victor. Though only 60 years old when he died, it seems Samuel Demler nonetheless succeeded in making a positive impact in the lives of his family and of the whole community in which he took a keen interest.

Samuel and Mary (Mammen) Demler Headstone, Graceland Cemetery
A Respite from Tragedy: The Long(ish) Life of Maria Asal

A Respite from Tragedy: The Long(ish) Life of Maria Asal

Posted on by spuddled

This week’s post brings a much-needed break from the tragic and gruesome stories we’ve uncovered of late. It’s still the anniversary of a death, but I don’t know any heartbreaking details this time around, and our subject lived to the age of 83. Unfortunately, I don’t know a lot of any kind of details other than birth, marriage, and death dates, so I’m going to give you those.

Maria Asal was my eighth great-grandmother. She was born 22 March 1646 in Neuenweg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, to Christian and Barbara (Sick) Asal. She married Hans Vollmer, who was born 29 November 1636 in Bürchau, Baden-Württemberg, and the couple had a daughter, Catharina Volmer (I’m not sure where the second “l” went) on 21 December 1681 in Bürchau. Additional details regarding Maria’s life are slim; her husband Hans died on 28 April 1717, and she died 295 years ago today, on 7 April 1729, both in Bürchau.

Their daughter Catharina married Johannes Bollschweiler, and they had a son named Mathias, who was born 30 August 1715 in Neuenweg. He married Maria Hassler, and they had a daughter named Catharina, born 28 November 1748 in Bürchau. This Catharina married Johann George Demler, and they had a son named Johannes Demler. He was born 24 November 1780 in Niedereggenen, Baden-Württemberg. On 1 September 1811, also in Niedereggenen, Johannes married Anna Maria Raz, and they had a son, Johan Demler. He was born 22 September 1816 in Niedereggenen and there he married Catherina Maria “Kate” Reser on 28 January 1845. This couple had three children: Wilhelm K., August Frederick, and Maria or Mary. Mary was born 17 January 1855 in Baden, and she, along with her brothers and parents, emigrated to America in December 1864. By 1867 or so the family was in Livingston County, Illinois. She would go on to marry Samuel Slagel, and their daughter Emma was my great-grandmother, marrying Paul Hoffmann, Sr., in 1902.

And to think I once believed I wouldn’t be able to trace my maternal side many generations back…

FamilySearch records:
Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1971
Sister Wives (Not Concurrent): Lydia Hoffmann Swing

Sister Wives (Not Concurrent): Lydia Hoffmann Swing

Posted on by spuddled

Today we commemorate the birthday of Lydia Hoffmann, born 25 February 1877 in Renaucourt, France. She was the second child of Jacob Hoffmann and his second wife, Christine Schmidt, making her the half-sister of my great-great-grandmother Catherine Hoffmann and the full sister of my great-grandfather, Paul Hoffmann. Catherine’s granddaughter, Velma, married Paul’s son, Joseph, and those were my maternal grandparents. Yes, I know. I’m my own grandpa.

But back to Lydia. The Archives du Bas-Rhin include her civil birth record, naming her as “Liti Hoffmann.” In 1883, when Lydia was 6, Jacob Hoffmann and (most) of his family moved from France to Fairbury, Illinois. Of particular importance to Lydia’s story was another traveler in the group, her half-sister Eugenie “Jennie” Hoffmann, born in 1865. She was the 7th child of Jacob and his first wife Anna Mayer.

Litie Hoffmann Birth Record

There aren’t many records available concerning Lydia’s girlhood. Her older full sister, Louise, died a year and a half after the family’s emigration, which must have been a sad loss to everyone. One assumes Lydia attended school and moved along with her parents from Fairbury to Strawn to Forrest to Fountain Creek.

Many of Lydia’s siblings and half-siblings married and started families of their own. One of these was the aforementioned “Jennie,” who married Joseph Gilbert Swing on 14 February 1890. Joseph was a widower when Jennie married him; he had married Anna Schaeppi in February 1886, and the two had two children, Walter and Anna. Joseph’s wife Anna died at age 26 in June 1888. After Joseph and Jennie’s 1890 marriage, they had four children of their own.

The 1900 census enumerates the Joseph Swing family on Elm Street in Fairbury: Joe Swing, born August 1861 in Germany, a hardware clerk; “Euginie,” his wife, born May 1865 in France; and five children, all born in Illinois: son Walter, born February 1886; son Joseph, born September 1892; daughter Mary, born January 1893; son Willie, born August 1897; and son Jacob, born April 1899.

I have yet to find the younger Anna Swing or Lydia Hoffmann in the 1900 census. And on 12 June, only a week after the census taker recorded Joseph and Jennie’s details, 35-year-old Jennie died. Her obituary notes that she died at home after only a few days’ illness.

“The deceased was a loving and affectionate wife and mother, a kind neighbor and a true friend.  The blow falls heavily upon the bereaved husband and motherless children and they have the sympathy of the entire community.”

Eugenie (Hoffmann) Swing Gravestone
Graceland Cemetery, Fairbury, Illinois

At a distance of nearly 125 years, I’m not sure of the details of what happened next, but the outcome is not uncommon. Perhaps Lydia had been helping Joseph raise his motherless children? A little over a year after Jennie’s death, on 1 September 1901, Joseph and Lydia were married in Iroquois County, Illinois. He was 16 years her senior. Their marriage would last for the next 47 years and produce 11 children. The first, born in 1902 was named Eugenie and called Jennie, just like Lydia’s sister and Joseph’s second wife. This Jennie was followed by Elizabeth, born 1903; Harvey, born 1904; Christine, born 1907; Phillip, born 1908; Gilbert, born 1911; Carolyn, born 1913; Edna, born 1914; Inez, born 1916; Jesse, born 1917; and Ruth, born 1920. Phillip, Edna, and Ruth died young, but the others lived well into their golden years.

Joseph and Lydia were enumerated in Fairbury in the 1910 census; in Prairie City, Indiana, in 1920; in Starke County, Indiana, in 1930; and again in Prairie City in 1940. On 29 July 1948 Joseph died in La Crosse, Indiana at age 86. Lydia was enumerated in the 1950 census in La Crosse living with her “son” Walter (really her stepson, Joseph’s eldest child). Confusingly for the casual reader, Lydia’s “son” was 63 to her 73. Lydia lived another 7 years, dying of a myocardial infarction at age 80 on 21 September 1957 in Valparaiso, Indiana. Joseph and Lydia are buried together in Oak Grove Cemetery in La Crosse.

Lydia’s obituary mentions those loved ones who predeceased her, including her two daughters and a son, then lists her survivors as 7 sons and 7 daughters as well as 20 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. No mention is made of the fact that of the 14 surviving children, six were not her own biological children. One gets the feeling that perhaps in Litie’s mind there was no difference.

Joseph and Lydia (Hoffmann) Swing
Find a Grave Memorial

Invite to Dinner: the Brother Older than Lee

Posted on by agnette

Grandpa “riding the rails”

Joseph Benjamin Hoffmann was the eldest son and third child (of 10) of Paul and Emma (Slagel) Hoffmann and was born 22 August 1907 in Fairbury, Illinois. Paul’s parents were Jacob Hoffmann and his second wife, Christina Schmidt. Grandpa and his father didn’t always see eye to eye on things, so Grandpa left home fairly young and spent time living in Chicago, among other places.

Meanwhile, Velma Marie Swing had been born 19 February 1917 in Francesville, Indiana. Her father, Albert Carl Swing, was the son of Catherine Marie Hoffmann, daughter of Jacob Hoffmann and his first wife, Annette Meyer. In 1921 Grandma’s family moved to Wing, Illinois, about 11 miles from Fairbury, then to Forrest, only 6 miles from Fairbury. It’s not surprising that the Hoffmann and Swing families were somewhat familiar with each other; Grandma’s grandmother and Grandpa’s father were half-brother and -sister. Apparently Grandma wasn’t thoroughly familiar, however, or she wasn’t all that interested in tracing the tangled web of relatives, as we shall see.

In 1933 Paul Hoffmann, patriarch of the Hoffmann clan, was killed when a train struck the car he was driving. You can read more about that tragedy in this earlier post. His death left his widow responsible for a farm, animals, machinery, and with several of the younger children still to care for: Sam was 16; Paul 13; Ralph 10; and Clyde 7. It appears that Paul, Sr., may not have been the best money manager, and there was fear that Emma might lose the farm and her income. As a result, Grandpa left his work in Chicago to return home and help his mother save the farm.

Sometime after this was the eventful gathering of the Hoffmanns and Swings. Grandma, then around 16 or 17 but already a high school graduate, saw, across the room, a dark-haired man not quite 10 years older than she. She was struck by his good looks but was sure it was no Hoffmann relative – after all, wasn’t Lee, born in 1912, the eldest son? She whispered to her mother to ask who he was…and learned that he was, in fact, a cousin she hadn’t known she had – a Hoffmann brother older than Lee.

Velma Swing

And the rest is history, more or less. Apparently as the attraction between Joe and Velma grew, and it seemed likely they might marry some day, the two mothers, Emma and Lena, discussed the family connection. Were they too closely related to be encouraged to marry? But they eventually decided that a half first cousin once removed relationship was not one that elicited too much concern. And, as Grandma would delight in adding at the end of the story, “All our children turned out to be very smart!”

 

Sunday’s Obituary – A Grandma by Any Other Name

Posted on by agnette

Lena and Albert Swing

Last night Mom and I were discussing family names, and how when she was a child she was grateful that she hadn’t been named after either of her grandmothers because she found their names very old-fashioned.

Lena Agnes Hunkler was born 22 December 1892 in Washington, Illinois (hit by the recent devastating tornado). At 20 years of age she married Albert Carl Swing, and they had three children. After living mainly in Illinois and Indiana, they eventually moved to Texas for Lena’s health. Lena died in Harlingen, Texas, on 13 June 1964 and was buried in Restlawn Cemetery in LaFeria. Apparently this newspaper needed to hire a new editor.

Mrs. Lena Swing

Forrest (PNS)–Mrs. Lena Swing, 71, died at 5 a.m. Saturday in Harlingen, Tex.

The Cox Funeral Home is in charge of services, which will be at 2 p.m. Monday in Harlingen. She was the former Lena Hunkler, and was born Dec. 22, 1892, in Washington, Ill. She married Albert Swing June 18, 1913, in Washington. Surviving are her husband; one son, Roy, Harlingen; two daughters, Mrs. Marilyn DuRuary [sic], Harlingen, and Mrs. Thelma Hoffman [sic], Boise, Idaho [sic]; two sisters, Hilda of Missouri [sic], and Bertha of Texas, and a brother, John Hunkler, who lives near Peoria. She and her husband operated the Swing Transfer Co. in Forrest. They left here 18 years ago to move to Texas.

Emma Alice Slagel was born 5 March 1880 in Fairbury, Illinois. She married Paul Hoffmann on 7 December 1902 in Fairbury, and she gave birth to 10 children. Paul died in a tragic railroad accident four days after their youngest child, Clyde’s, seventh birthday. Emma remained in Fairbury, dying on Christmas Day 1961. She is buried in Fairbury’s Graceland Cemetery.

Services for Emma Hoffman Thursday

Mrs. Emma Hoffman, 81, died at her home, 505 S Fourth, at 11:45 a.m. Monday. She had been ill three years.

Her funeral will be at the Cook Funeral Home at 2 p.m. Thursday, Rev. Peter Schaffer officiating. Burial will be in Graceland Cemetery.

Visitation begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the funeral home.

She was born in Fairbury, March 5, 1880, the daughter of Sam and Mary Demler Slagel. She was married to Paul Hoffman in 1902. He passed away in 1933. She lived on a farm south of Fairbury until moving to town in 1943.

Surviving are three daughters, Mrs. Marie Kilgus, Fairbury; Mrs. Alice Himelick, Kokomo, Ind.; Miss Leona Hoffman, at home; five sons, Joe, Caldwell, Idaho; Sam, Paul, Clyde and Ralph, all of Fairbury; one brother, Dan Slagel, Fairbury; 36 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, a son and a daughter.

She was a member of the Apostolic Church Fairbury.

The family suggests that any tangible expressions of sympathy be in the form of donations to the Cancer Society.

I actually like both “Lena” and “Emma,” but then I tend to like the old-fashioned names best.  Well, usually.  My own grandmothers take the cake in the old-fashioned name department, even if Blanche and Velma were the sweetest grandmas ever.

Blanche Wilson Confirmation Photo, 1926

Velma Swing Graduation Photo, 1933

Funeral Card Friday – Burial Arrangements for Paul Hoffmann

Posted on by agnette

So I’ve defined “funeral card” pretty loosely today – this is the receipt for the funeral arrangements for my great-grandfather, Paul Hoffmann, eighty years ago this week (and reblogged on Sunday). Peter Schaeffer, a fellow church member riding in the first car when Paul Hoffmann drove into the path of an oncoming train in Bucyrus, Ohio, seems to have made the necessary arrangements to have the bodies returned to Fairbury for burial.

Interestingly, Wise Funeral Home is still in operation in Bucyrus and has been since 1845. According to the online Inflation Calculator, the $125 paid to Wise in 1933 is equivalent to $2187.50 today. It is difficult to make comparisons with Wise’s current price list, since I’m not sure what would constitute “crepe cloth casket full trimmed; outside box and personal service.”

I’ve uploaded images of newspaper accounts of the train accident from the Bucyrus News-Journal on my vital statistics page. These accounts can never capture the sorrow that befell the family, however, when 55-year-old Paul was killed so unexpectedly.

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Sunday’s Obituary – Marie Hoffmann Bauer

Posted on by agnette

Marie Hoffmann was the ninth child of Jacob Hoffmann and his first wife, Annette Meyer. She was born in Renaucourt, France on February 11, 1870. At age 13 she made the trip from France to America, and on her 22nd birthday she married George Bauer in Pontiac, Illinois. She and George had a family of nine children: Alline E., Ernest E., Elmer Ernest (who lived only 7 months), Charles George, Edna, Esther Matilda, Leona, Harry William, and Arthur E. The first three children were born in Gridley in McLean County; the remaining children were born in Cissna Park. In 1922 George and Marie moved to 324 W Garfield in Cissna Park; George died on August 25, 1924 at age 61. Marie and her two youngest sons continued to live in the house on Garfield, and it was there that she died (also at age 61) on May 24, 1933. She was buried four days later in the Cissna Park Apostolic Christian Cemetery.

MRS. MARY BAUER

DIED SUDDENLY

AT HOME HERE LATE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON

HAD BEEN IN GOOD HEALTH ALL DAY

“DEATH NATURAL CAUSES UNKNOWN” STATES CORONER

Mrs. Mary Bauer, 63, fell to the floor in the basement of her home Wednesday afternoon probably stricken with a heart attack, died within a few minutes. She was discovered by her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Mattie (Harry) Bauer, who immediately summoned her own mother, Anna Beer, and sister, Miss Lucille (next door neighbors) and Dr. W. R. Roberts. Although Mrs. Bauer drew a few breaths after being found, life had flickered away before the doctor arrived.

At Coroner W. C. Hotaling’s inquiry that evening testimony was heard that the deceased had been in usual good health that day. She had spent the day canning pineapples. At about 5:05 P.M. she went to the basement to refuel the boiler that was furnishing the hot water for the canning, her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Mattie Bauer, following her to the basement. Mrs. Bauer was in the third room (furthest from the stairs) the daughter-in-law in the second, when she heard the older woman breathing heavily in the other room. Going there she saw her lying on the floor. Mattie immediately called her mother, Mrs. Anna Beer, who lives next door, saw that the doctor was called, and returned to the stricken woman, saw her breathe her last. Dr. Roberts, who arrived within a few minutes, testified to the coroner that night as follows:

“On May 24, 1933, at about 5:15 P.M. I was called to the resident of Mrs. Geo. Bauer, on arrival found her dead, features livid, no heart beat or respiration. I have known the deceased and her family intimately for thirty years. Mrs. Bauer was in good health so far as known. In my opinion, from appearances, death was due to natural causes, either cardiac infarct or cerebal hemmorhage [sic]….”

Mary Bauer, daughter of Jacob and Lizzie Witterich [sic] Hoffman, was born in Alsace Lorraine, February 11, 1870 and died in Cissna Park, Illinois, May 24, 1933, at the age of 63 years, 3 months and 13 days.

The family of Jacob Hoffman lived in the old country until 1883 prior to which time the mother died, and when Mary was 14 years old, emigrated to America where they settled in Fairbury, Illinois. Here, Mary continued her schooling, grew to womanhood, met and married, at Pontiac, on her birthday in 1892, George Bauer. They set up housekeeping in the Fairbury neighboorhood on a farm, and lived there until 1896. In that year Mr. Bauer purchased the farm west of here, known now as the Bauer homestead, and moved onto it. Here the couple raised their family of nine children, lived for over a quarter of a century. In 1922 they moved to town, retired.

In 1924, on the 25th of August, Mr. Bauer died.

The deceased was a long time member of the Apostolic Christian church.
Surviving are eight children, four boys, four girls, who are: Mrs. John Otto (Alline) of southeast of here; Mrs. Sam Yergler (Edna); Mrs. Fred Knapp, Jr. (Leona); Mrs. Wm. Yergler, Jr., (Esther), and Ernest, Charles, Harry and Arthur, all of this locality. Surviving also are twenty-nine grand children and the following brothers and sisters: John Hoffman of France; Joe of Roanoke; Mrs. Phillip Yost (Lena) of Fairbury; Mrs. Sam Stoller, (Carrie) of Peoria; and by the following half-brothers and sisters: Paul Hoffman of Fairbury; Andy and Sam of this vicinity; Mrs. Joe Swing (Lydia) of San Pierre, Indiana; Mrs. Jeff Springer (Maggie) of Danvers, Illinois; Mrs. Orville Farney (Lucia) of south of here. Four other brothers and sisters and one son, Elmer, preceded her in death.

Funeral services will be held on Sunday afternoon leaving the house at 1:00 and later at the Country Apostolic Christian church, where the services proper will be held. Interment will be in the church cemetery.

Sympathy Saturday – Annette Meyer Hoffmann

Posted on by agnette

Annette Meyer, my great-great-great-grandmother, was born December 13, 1827 in Grostenquin, France. According to her death record, it appears that her mother was named Barbe and was unmarried at the time of Annette’s birth. Annette was Jacob Hoffmann’s first wife and the mother of ten children: Lisa, Anna, John, Catherine Marie (my great-great-grandmother), Magdalena, Sophie, Eugenie B., Caroline E., Marie, and Joseph. Jacob and Annette’s children were born between 1853 and 1872. Two years after the birth of her last child, Annette died on June 26, 1874 in Renaucourt, France at age 46.

Additional details regarding Annette’s life can be found in the “green pamphlet,” which for years represented the totality of my knowledge of our Hoffmann ancestry prior to their arrival in America. This pamphlet was written by Annette’s youngest son, Joseph, in 1952. Joseph describes how his father joined the Apostolic Christian Church in 1855 at age 19, then two years later married Annette. It wasn’t until acquiring copies of the original death records that I learned Annette’s name was officially Anna (thanks again go out to Cousin Daniel!). Joseph further explains that the family lived in Romacourt (apparently “Remicourt“) until 1869, while Jacob worked as a farm hand. The family then moved farther south to Renaucourt, where Jacob intended to lease a farm of his own. As Joseph states in his history of the family, “In June of 1874 father had a very hard blow for mother passed away, leaving him with a large family of children.”

After Anna’s death Jacob remarried, but his plans to stay and farm were unsuccessful after the harsh winter of 1879-1880. Between the weather conditions and an epidemic among his stock, Jacob could no longer afford to stay, and the family decided they would move to America. As has been detailed here in other posts, the majority of the family arrived in Philadelphia on May 16, 1883 and left that same night for Fairbury, Illinois, where Jacob would eventually die and be buried, thousands of miles from his first wife’s resting place.

Wednesday’s Child – Swing Children

Posted on by agnette

 

Today’s “Wednesday’s Children” were the offspring of my great-great-granduncle, Joseph Gilbert Swing and his third wife, my great-grandaunt, Lydia (Hoffmann) Swing. Born August 10, 1861 in Akron, Ohio, he was the youngest child of Karl and Saloma (Bollinger) Schwing. His older brother Albert Carl was my great-great-grandfather. About 1877 he moved with his parents to Livingston County, Illinois. As we have seen, he married Annie Schippee about 1885-1886 and had two children, Walter and Anna. Annie died June 19, 1888, and Joseph married Eugenie Hoffmann (sister of my great-great-grandmother Catherine) on February 23, 1890. Joseph and Eugenie had four children: Joseph John, Mary S., William J. and Jacob G. Eugenie died June 12, 1900 at age 35. Joseph then married Eugenie’s half-sister, Lydia (sister of my great-grandfather Paul) on September 1, 1901.

Joseph and Lydia had a total of eleven children: Eugenie C., Elizabeth S., Harvey A., Christine A., Phillip L., Gilbert L., Caroline L., Edna May, Marjory, Jessie Edward, and Ruth Evelyn. Around 1913-14 the family moved from Fairbury, Illinois, to Stillwell, Indiana. It is at Oak Grove Cemetery in La Crosse, Indiana, that three of the eleven children lie buried.

Joseph and Lydia lost two of their children within little more than two months; Edna May died first, on May 17, 1916, one day after her second birthday, and Phillip on July 24, 1916 at age 8. Five years later, on March 13, 1921, the youngest child, Ruth Evelyn, also died. Joseph himself died July 29, 1949 at age 87; Lydia lived another eight years, dying September 21, 1957.