For today’s Document Detail post, I’m taking a closer look at the death certificate of my great-great-grandmother, Maria Elizabeth (Rusch) Hunkler. Maria was born on Christmas Day 1859 in Saint Gallen, Switzerland. Her parents were Joseph Anton and Maria Elisabeth (Scheuermann) Rusch; she was the fourth of ten children born to them. In 1883 her future husband, George John Hunkler, emigrated from Saint Gallen to Washington, Illinois.1 In March 1885 George paid $19.78 for Maria to travel by train from Basel, Switzerland to Antwerp, then via the Red Star Line from Antwerp to New York or Philadelphia, then by train from New York or Philadelphia to Washington, Illinois.2 In December of the following year, George and Maria were married in Peoria.3
George and Maria were enumerated in 1900 in Washington;4 in 1910 in Crugar, Woodford County, Illinois;5 and in 1920-1930 in Elmwood, Peoria County, Illinois. The couple had five children: Bertha Elizabeth (1887-1986), Matilda “Tillie” (1888-1956), John George (1891-1986), Lena Agnes (my great-grandmother, 1892-1964), and Hulda Catherine (1896-1980). George John died 2 December 1934 in Elmwood at the age of 72.6 In 1940 Maria was enumerated at 246 Lilac Street in Elmwood.7
When she died 8 years later, her death certificate was issued by the State of Illinois Department of Public Health – Division of Vital Statistics. What information can be gleaned from this certificate?
Right off the bat we learn that Maria died in El Paso, Woodford County, Illinois, at the Dowell Nursing Home, and that she had only been there 9 days. Her “usual place of residence” is listed as Morton, Tazewell County, Illinois. Maria was a white female and the widow of George Hunkler. Her birthdate is listed (as expected) as 25 December 1859, and her birthplace as St. Gallen, Switzerland. She was 88 years, 9 months, and 2 days old at her death.
Her parents are listed with anglicized spellings as Joseph Ruch and Elizabeth Sherman. Both were said to have been born in unknown cities in Switzerland. The informant listed on Maria’s death certificate was her son, J. G. Hunkler (though that relationship detail is not provided); his address is given as Deer Creek, Illinois. The certificate tells us Maria was buried at Washington, Illinois, on 30 September 1948, and that the undertaker was R. W. Vincent of the Otto-Vincent Memorial Home in El Paso.
The medical portion of the certificate provides her date of death as 27 September 1948. The hour given is a little hard to read, but I think it says she died at 5:45 p.m. Her doctor, Robert P. Lykkebak of El Paso, stated he had attended Maria from September 18-27, 1948, and that he last saw her alive on the 27th. This date range and Dr. Lykkebak’s location in El Paso, suggests he was a physician in residence at the Dowell Nursing Home.
Dr. Lykkebak further stated Maria’s cause of death was acute cardiac failure, from which she had suffered for one month; she had also suffered from arteriosclerosis for 10 years and chronic myocarditis. Decubitus ulcers, from which she had suffered for three months, were also a contributing factor. Her death was not related to her occupation in any way (her usual occupation was listed earlier in the certificate as “at Home”), nor was there any operation or autopsy performed. Dr. Lykkebak signed the death certificate on 28 September 1948, the day after Maria’s death. It was officially filed that same day.8
Twenty years ago this summer, Mom and I visited Washington, Illinois and the grave of George and Maria in Washington Cemetery. John George and his wife Ruth are also buried there, one row away from his parents.
Last but not least, we actually have a photograph of Maria. It may not make up for my never having met her in person (I don’t even know if Mom ever met her in person), but at least it brings her to life a little bit more.
- 1900 Census. ↩︎
- Copy of passage ticket. ↩︎
- Various Illinois County collections, “Illinois, County Marriage Records, 1800-1940,” marriage indexes, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 August 2022), George Hunkler/Mary Rusch. ↩︎
- LDS File from Mrs. Bates. ↩︎
- 1910 Census (n.p: 1910, n.d). ↩︎
- FamilySearch Historical Records, Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947, FHL Film #1753854. ↩︎
- Ancestry.com, 1940 Census. ↩︎
- State of Illinois Department of Public Health, Death Certificate of Mary Hunkler (September 28, 1948). ↩︎
Maria’s ticket was good for one year, and on 14 December 1886 in Peoria, Illinois, Maria and George were married by Gottlieb Traub, a Lutheran pastor. By 1900 the Hunklers had five children; the family was enumerated in Washington, Illinois in June of that year:
