Category: Slagel

Document Detail: Death Certificate of Samuel Slegel

Posted on by spuddled

I’ve always thought of both sides of my family as essentially midwesterners who migrated to the “Intermountain West” in the 1940s, leaving the remainder of their families (and my ancestors) behind. Today’s post, my inaugural “Document Detail” entry, takes a closer look at how things are not always as they seem.

My maternal grandparents, Joseph Benjamin and Velma Marie (Swing) Hoffmann were both certainly midwesterners. Grandpa was born in Fairbury, Illinois, and Grandma in Francesville, Indiana. They married in Peoria, Illinois, in 1938, and moved to Idaho in 1940. Though Grandma’s parents later moved to Texas, the fact that their move took place after Grandma and Grandpa’s made it seem that Grandma and Grandpa were the trailblazers, the first to really leave their midwestern roots.

On Grandpa’s side, his parents and three of his grandparents are all buried in Fairbury. One outlier, his paternal grandmother, is buried in Cissna Park, Illinois. Again, all in line with my familial identity. My maternal relatives emigrated from France, Germany, or Switzerland, wound up in the midwest, and stayed until Grandma and Grandpa set off for the west so Grandpa could hunt and fish. At least that is the lore.

But if we backtrack, we find a different story. Grandpa’s mother, Emma Alice Slagel, as I’ve said, died and is buried in Fairbury. She was born there as well. Her mother, Mary Demler, was born in Baden, Germany, married Samuel Slagel in Fairbury in 1875, and was buried in Fairbury in 1928. Samuel Slagel was born in Wisconsin in 1849 (or possibly Iowa; sources differ), eventually moving to Fairbury before marrying Mary. His parents, Samuel John and Mary (Walty) Slegel, were born in Bern, Switzerland (Samuel between 1815-1816, and Mary between 1819-1820).1 Their first child was born in France, but the remaining 11 were born in the midwestern U.S. Mary died in Iowa, though I have yet to determine exactly when.

But Samuel John? He died in…Oregon. And his was not a mid-twentieth-century move. He was living in Dairy Creek, Washington County, Oregon, by 1880, as he was enumerated there with his married son John.2 In the 1887 Washington Territorial census, he was living in Klickitat (now part of Washington State, and about 120 miles east of Washington County, Oregon).3 I haven’t found him in the 1900 census yet, which at first led me to believe he died before 1900. But Ancestry.com’s Oregon Death Index provided a death date for him of 3 February 1905,4 and when I emailed the Oregon State Archives, they responded quickly with a copy of Samuel’s death certificate.

Since the entire premise of this theme is to focus on one document in detail, I’ll do that now (finally). Right off the top (literally), what stands out is that he passed away in the “Insane Asylum” in Salem, Oregon. A quick stroll through Wikipedia tells me that what is now called the Oregon State Hospital was founded in 1862, but the current building was constructed in 1883.5

The next thing that jumps out from Samuel’s death certificate is his name. Here he is listed as “John Schlegel, Sr.” He might, in fact, take the prize for the highest number of name variations in the numerous records in which he appears. In the “Alternate Name” field in my database, he shows up as: John Schlagle, John Schlagel, John Schlegal, John Slagle, Samuel John Slegel, John Schlegle, John Slagel, John Schlegel, and John Samuel Slegel.

Whatever his name was, he is listed as 88 years old at his death, and a widower born in Switzerland who had worked as a farmer. All of that seems pretty accurate, though I do wish someone had entered an actual birthdate for him! And next we get his date of death. Interestingly, it seems that the Oregon Death Index was inaccurate, and that he died on 13 February 1905 rather than 3 February. The doctor who signed the death certificate, W. D. McNary, notes that he had attended John from 31 January – 13 February, last saw him alive on the 13th, and that John died that day at 1 p.m.

Dr. McNary gave “senile exhaustion” as Samuel John’s cause of death. This vague term describes fatigue in older adults that could be caused by any number of factors so isn’t terribly helpful. What is interesting is that Samuel’s death certificate notes that he was only at the asylum for 14 days before his death, and before that his “former or usual residence” was Banks, Oregon (which is in Washington County). So his was not a long extended stay at the asylum. Which makes me wonder what happened to necessitate taking him there on 31 January. Then the final piece of information gleaned from the document is his place of death: the Asylum Cemetery. Samuel John would not have been buried here for long; after a vote by the Oregon Legislature in 1913, all the remains in this cemetery were disinterred and cremated, some being claimed by relatives and reinterred to location designated by the family members. I’m not sure if Samuel was one of these, or where his remains are now.6 But in spite of my preconceived notions, at least three of Samuel’s children would also live and die in Oregon. It’s just that my direct ancestor wasn’t one of these three, and it took another two generations for my branch to make the journey west.

A completely unrelated postscript: in doing a quick search for the Dr. W. D. McNary who treated Samuel John, I discovered that he had been born at Klickitat, Washington, but moved to Salem, Oregon, where he served on the state hospital staff. He died in 1943. But his son, Wilson Davis McNary, Jr., died in 1941 in San Mateo, California, shot to death by someone who accused him of “stealing his girl.”7 There are a whole slew of newspaper articles about that, but that’s too much of a digression even for me.

  1. 1850 Census (n.p: www.ancestry.com, n.d). ↩︎
  2. FamilyHistory Search and/or www.ancestry.com, 1880 Census. ↩︎
  3. Washington State Archives, “Washington, U.S., State and Territorial Censuses, 1857-1892,” censuses, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1018/ : accessed 25 March 2025), John Schlagel. ↩︎
  4. Ancestry, Oregon Death Index, 1903-1998. ↩︎
  5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_State_Hospital ↩︎
  6. https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2626933/asylum-cemetery ↩︎
  7. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/108775348/wilson_davis-mcnary ↩︎

R Is for…Roomer

Posted on by spuddled

One thing I’ve noticed in my genealogical investigations is that there were all sorts of variable household configurations. Whether it was the presence of grown children living at home with their parents before they married, or parents living with their grown (and married) children and their families, the occasional niece or nephew living in a household, possibly helping with farm work or childcare, there were any number of ways in which family life could be arranged.

Another type of living arrangement which I’ve seen in various census and other records is that of the “roomer.” Again, roomers might actually be family members, or they could be individuals living in a boarding house or something similar. I’ve decided to highlight a few of these arrangements uncovered in our family tree; as we shall see, sometimes our relative is the roomer living with others, and in some cases our relative is the one taking in those roomers.

First up is sixth cousin once removed, Paul Frank Bryan. A descendant of our Slatten/Sweeney line, he was born in 1903 in Oklahoma Territory. By 1930 Paul had married Gladys Virginia Bailey, and he and Gladys were living in Chicago. Paul was working as a welder for a bookbinding company, and Gladys as a “sample paster” for (I’m guessing the same) bookbinding company. Also in their household was 17-year-old Gilbert Petty, roomer, who worked as a laborer on car radiators. By 1940 Paul and Gladys had moved to Ligonier, Indiana, where they lived with their two young sons and no random roomer.1

Henry Langworthy Burdick, fifth cousin 4 times removed, was born in Rhode Island in December 1879 and at various times played both roomer and…roomee (?). In the 1900 census, Henry was enumerated with the family of Henry B. and Nancy H. Edwards at 8 Lessee Street in Amherst, Massachusetts. Henry was listed as a student and a “lodger” (close enough). Henry would graduate from Amherst College in 1903.2 In 1910, Henry and his wife Ethel were living with Henry’s parents in Westerly, Rhode Island; Henry was a lawyer.3 In 1920 Henry and Ethel were still living in the same house in Westerly (at 37 Elm Street), though Henry’s parents appear to have passed away in the intervening years. But with the couple were Elizabeth Burdick, 29 and listed as a servant, and a 29-year-old man named Guy with an illegible surname, a house carpenter listed as being a roomer in the household.4

Also born in 1879 was second cousin 4 times removed, Irvin S. Cain. In 1930 he was living in Bloomington, Illinois. In his household with Irvin at 619 W Olive were his wife, Grace; children Dorothy (20), Russell (17), Mary (14), Hazel (12), Darrel (9), John (5); as well as 5 roomers. Irvin was listed as a general laborer doing odd jobs and paying monthly rent of $25; Irvin’s wife, Grace, was explicitly described as the proprietor of a rooming house.5

In 1920 in Rockford, Illinois, fourth cousin 5 times removed, Sarah L. Chaney, was listed as a 70-year-old roomer in the household of Ella E. Wilbur. Ella was a 64-year-old dressmaker living at 402 N Fourth Street.6 In earlier years Sarah, who never married, had worked as a bookkeeper; in 1910 she was living on her own with no occupation but with her “own income.”7

Arthur R. Schlegel, first cousin 3 times removed, was born in Banks, Oregon, in 1877. In 1900, he was a farm laborer in the household of Charles and Mary Taylor, though he was listed as “servant” and not roomer.8 Ten years later he, like Henry Langworthy Burdick, was on the other side of the roomer situation. He was now living in Portland with his wife Henrietta Mae Hunter. Arthur was working as the foreman of a box factory, and in the household with him and Henrietta was a roomer named Austin Durdin, who worked in the box factory as well, as a laborer.9

There are a few even closer relations who played a roomer role. My great-great-grandfather, Anders Roberg, was widowed in 1919. By 1930 he was living in Newman Grove, Nebraska, a roomer in the household of Fred and Letta Brown. Fred was a dry goods merchant.10 Ten years later, still in Newman Grove and now listed as a “lodger,” Anders was living in the household of George and Maude Smith.11 Within our Montgomery branch, great-grandfather Charles William Montgomery was listed as a roomer in Fort Collins, Colorado, in 1920, working as a farm laborer.12 In 1930 Charles was working as a watchman at the G. W. Sugar Company and was a lodger in the household of Charles and Minnie Reingold. Charles Reingold was the proprietor of a junk store, which sounds amazing.13 Charles’s youngest child (and my paternal grandfather), Lawrence Theodore Montgomery, was a widower enumerated in Winner, South Dakota, in 1930. Grandpa was listed as the driver of an oil truck and the solitary inhabitant at a home on Second Street. However, the next household enumerated, on Third Street, consisted of a furniture repairman named Henry Krugman; his wife Bertha, a laundress; their six daughters; and Grandpa’s two daughters, aunts Flo and Irene. Listed as aged 2 4/12 and 4/12 respectively, both motherless girls were listed as roomers of the Krugmans. Grandpa would marry Grandma later that year, and by 1940 he had moved Grandma, Flo, Irene, and 5 more children to Scottsbluff, Nebraska.14 I imagine their household (which would eventually include a total of 12 children) was too crowded to allow for any roomers.

Irene, Lawrence, and Flo Montgomery
  1. 1930 census; www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  2. 1900 census; www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  3. 1910 Census (n.p: 1910, n.d). ↩︎
  4. 1920 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  5. 1930 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  6. 1920 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  7. 1910 Census (n.p: 1910, n.d). ↩︎
  8. 1900 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  9. 1910 Census (n.p: 1910, n.d). ↩︎
  10. 1930 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  11. Ancestry.com, 1940 Census. ↩︎
  12. 1920 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  13. 1930 census. www.ancestry.com ↩︎
  14. 1930 census, www.ancestry.com ↩︎

M Is for…Marriage Records

Posted on by spuddled

I’m going to trust the idiom about pictures and thousands of words and focus on the former for this blog post regarding marriage records. Here are the records I have (or of which I have copies) for the first few generations of my direct ancestors.

Generation 1:

26 August 1961
Caldwell, Canyon, Idaho
Theodore Richard Montgomery and Linda Jo Hoffmann
(parents)

Generation 2:

17 September 1930
Winner, Tripp, South Dakota
Lawrence Theodore Montgomery and Blanche Agnes Wilson
(paternal grandparents)
Not a marriage record, exactly, but an article from the Bloomington, Illinois Pantagraph (which makes me wonder…do I actually have the official document somewhere in all my piles?)
12 March 1938
Peoria, Peoria, Illinois
Joseph Benjamin Hoffmann
and Velma Marie Swing
(maternal grandparents)

Generation 3:

The marriage of paternal great-grandparents Charles William Montgomery and Laura Blanche Walker on 22 February 1883 in Richland County, Illinois appears in Ancestry.com’s Illinois, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1800-1940, but this database doesn’t include images, unfortunately. So moving along…

13 March 1907
Boone County, Nebraska
Carl Ozro Wilson and Sophie Christine Roberg
(paternal great-grandparents)
7 December 1902
Fairbury, Livingston, Illinois
Paul Hoffmann and Emma Alice Slagel
(maternal great-grandparents)

Another one that’s missing (why have I not written away for these??):
18 June 1913; Peoria, Peoria, Illinois; Albert Carl Swing and Lena Agnes Hunkler (maternal great-grandparents)

Generation 4:

25 December 1858
Hamilton County, Ohio
John Montgomery and Belinda Simmons
(paternal great-great-grandparents)
15 February 1857
Noble, Richland, Illinois
Marcus Walker and Mary Ann Conklin
(paternal great-great-grandparents)
Another not-quite-document, but an excerpt
31 August 1879
Brush Creek, Fayette, Iowa
Wellington David Wilson and Lucinda Blanche Davis
(paternal great-great-grandparents)
Another one that’s more of an excerpt…
3 December 1878
Rushford, Fillmore, Minnesota
Anders Mathis Roberg and Agnette Evensdatter Lien
(paternal great-great-grandparents)
17 January 1875
Renaucourt, France
Jacob Hoffmann and Christine Schmidt
(maternal great-great-grandparents)
30 November 1875
Fairbury, Livingston, Illinois
Samuel Slagel and Mary Demler
(maternal great-great-grandparents)
17 February 1884
Fairbury, Livingston, Illinois
Albert Carl Swing and Catherine Marie Hoffmann
(maternal great-great-grandparents)
14 December 1886
Peoria, Peoria, Illinois
George John Hunkler and Maria Elizabeth Rusch
(maternal great-great-grandparents)

These are not all the marriage records I have, though they do become more sparse from here on out. I would keep adding more here, but I figure this blog post is already 13,000 words long, so that will do for now.

There’s No Place Like Home: The Waglers in Kansas

There’s No Place Like Home: The Waglers in Kansas

Posted on by spuddled

One hundred twenty-three years ago today, Louie Theadore Wagler was born in Gridley, Kansas. He was a second cousin twice removed on my maternal side, being the great-grandson of Samuel John and Mary (Walty) Slegel. This surname appears with a variety of spellings; Samuel John and Mary’s son, Samuel Slagel, was my great-great-grandfather who lived and is buried in Fairbury, Illinois.

Samuel Slagel’s sister (and Samuel John Slegel’s daughter), Magdaline “Mattie” Slegel married Christian Wagler in Iowa, but by 1880 the family was living in Liberty, Coffey County, Kansas. Mattie died in Coffey County after giving birth to 11 children. Her widower remarried and eventually moved to Fairbury himself. Christian and Mattie’s third child, Alpheus Wagler married Luella VanArsdale in Coffee County, and on 4 February 1901 their first child, Louie, was born.

Louie first appears in the 1910 census (listed as “Lewie”), though at this time his family is living in Rock Island County, Illinois. The first four Wagler children had been born in Kansas, but the fifth was born in Iowa in 1909. The sixth was not born until 1918, and by then the family was back in Kansas, enumerated in Shell Rock Township, Greenwood County.

Three years later, on 17 May 1923, Louie married Erma Grace Cokeley in Burlington, Coffee County, Kansas. Emma was 2 years and 6 days younger than Louie. There are some mysteries surrounding this family (mysteries to me anyway since I’m piecing things together from online records). Louie’s first cousin, Alpha Wagler, and his wife Vera had several children, including Alvin Van Buren Wagler, born 3 March 1929 in Morton, Illinois; and Doris Eileen Wagler, born 21 March 1931, also in Morton. According to Find a Grave, Doris was adopted by Louie and Erma, though this source lists Louie as Alpha’s brother rather than cousin. In the 1930 census baby Alvin is still living with his birth parents, but in 1940 Louie, Erma, Alvin, and Doris are all enumerated together in Madison, Greenwood County, Kansas. In 1930 Louie’s occupation was listed as “truck driver, oil field,” and in 1940 as “general work, oil field.”

In February 1942 Louie Theadore Wagler appears in the World War II draft records. He indicates his place of residence as Kenbro, Kansas and his employer’s name as “Tyde-Water Oil Co.” of Tulsa, Oklahoma, though his actual place of business is Kenbro. In the description section, Louie is noted as being 5’10”, 163 pounds, with gray eyes, brown hair, and a light brown complexion. Five year’s later Louie’s adopted son Alvin also appears in draft registration records. Alvin is listed as a senior at Madison High School also doing part-time farm work for George Clopton. He is 5’9″, 150 pounds, with hazel eyes, brown hair, and a light complexion.

At this point Louie and Erma’s nest begins to empty. A year later a notice appeared in The Selma (California) Enterprise concerning the wedding of Ruth Faye Anderson to Alvin Wagler at the Westside Christian Church in San Francisco on 18 June 1948. The article goes on to state that Alvin was “attending the Navy school at Treasure Island, where he is specializing in electronics materiel.” In the 1950 census Alvin, Ruth, and their new baby Judith are living with her parents at 31 Loehr Street in San Francisco, a house that was built in 1944 according to real estate websites but still exists.

Meanwhile Louie, Erma, and Doris are still living in Kansas, now in Iuka, Pratt County. Louis is listed as 49 and an oil well pumper for Tidewater Oil. Doris is also employed, as a bookkeeper for Iuka State Bank. Because 19-year-old Doris is one of the 20% of individuals asked to provide additional details to the census enumerator, we know that she had completed the 12th grade, had worked 26 hours the previous week and had earned $650 the previous year (equivalent to roughly $8450 today).

Later that year Doris would marry as well, to Walter Albert Peterson at the First Methodist Church in Pratt, Kansas. The Hutchinson (Kansas) News describes Doris’s white crepe gown and nylon veil, blue rhinestone necklace and earrings, and bouquet of red carnations and fern tied with a yellow satin ribbon. The couple honeymooned at Kirkwood Lodge at Lake of the Ozarks.

Because U.S. census records are only released after 72 years have elapsed, fewer details are available for the Waglers after 1950. The Wichita Eagle of 15 March 1989 includes Erma’s obituary, noting her death the day before and that she was survived by Louie, Alvin, Doris, plus seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Louie would survive a further 7 years, dying on Halloween 1996 at the age of 95. A brief obituary in the Gilroy (California) Dispatch notes Alvin’s death on 29 October 2016, and Find a Grave, as mentioned before, includes a full memorial for Doris, who died in Junction City, Kansas, on 25 April 2019. She was survived by 4 sons, 2 grandchildren, 2 great-grandchildren, 3 great-great-grandchildren, and cats Kif and Spicy. Doris, Louie and Erma are all buried in the Iuka Cemetery. Louie’s Find a Grave memorial includes a photo of him from his work in the Kansas Oil Fields. Happy birthday, cousin.

Photo added to Find a Grave by Bertha Avery-Hood
Curious: Killed in a Wagon Factory

Curious: Killed in a Wagon Factory

Posted on by spuddled

For 2022, my goal is to post here weekly to share some of the interesting, tragic, and amusing stories I’ve discovered about ancestors and cousins on both sides of my family. In the past I’ve used both the 52 Ancestors prompts as well as the slew of prompts available at the Geneabloggers website, so we’ll see what will actually keep me blogging regularly this year.

Today’s post is inspired by this week’s 52 Ancestors prompt, “Curious.” I’ve always had a morbid streak (maybe it comes from growing up one alfalfa field away from a cemetery). I used to wander through said cemetery, jotting down tombstone inscriptions I found interesting. Usually “interesting” meant those where the deceased died at a young age, and, curious and wanting to learn more, I would drive down to the Caldwell Public Library (in Idaho at that time you could get a driver’s license at fourteen) and look up obituaries on microfilm. This same morbid curiosity continues now as part of my genealogical research. Thankfully there are now enough scanned newspapers available online that I am often able to find out how and why these ancestors and cousins met an untimely end, even when I am hundreds of miles away from a relevant public library.

One individual about whose death my curiosity was piqued was my second great-granduncle, Jacob “Jake” Slagel. The son of Samuel John Slegel (spellings of this surname are inconsistent) and his wife Mary Walty, and brother of my 2G-grandfather, Samuel Slagel, Jacob was born between 1850 and 1851 in Wisconsin. By 1856 Jacob’s parents had moved to Highland, Iowa; then by 1870 to Grove, Iowa. On October 7, 1877, in Livingston County, Illinois, where his brother Samuel had married two years before and would spend the rest of his life, Jacob married Katharina “Katie” Rapp. They would have a daughter Mary the following year, and a daughter Carrie two years after that. By that time the family was living in Morton, Illinois.

I knew Jacob had died young (though when I was 14, his age of 34 might not have made my list of “early deaths”), and scanned images of the Freeport [Illinois] Journal-Standard at Newspapers.com flesh out the story. Tragedy struck the Slagel family on 15 September1884 when Jacob and Katie had been married just shy of seven years. The newspaper article “Death in a Wagon Factory” tells us Jacob Slagel was an engineer manufacturing cider using a wagon factory’s steam machinery. The machinery’s boilers exploded violently, and then the remains of the factory caught fire and were completely destroyed. Jacob Slagel and “a boy named Briscler” died instantly, and two additional victims were thought to be buried in the building’s ashes. Several other individuals had suffered terrible injuries as well. The article states baldly that Jacob was to blame, as he allowed the boilers to run too low on water, then suddenly added cold water, “a mistake for which he paid with his life.”

I haven’t been able to identify the “boy named Briscler” any further, but one of the other severely-injured men was Christian Ackerman, who died three days later. According to the newspaper article, written while Mr. Ackerman’s life still hung in the balance, death most likely was a “merciful relief.” Even an article with this level of detail can’t satisfy all curiosity, however. Was Jacob supposed to be manufacturing cider in the factory and, if not, how serious was this infraction? What did happen to all the others injured in the incident, and to the families left behind by those who were killed? How did Katie cope with losing her husband and knowing that (apparently) he was responsible for his own death and those of several others?

I do know that nine years after Jacob’s death, Katie married William Voelpel, who had been born in Germany in 1842 (Katie had also been born in Germany). Katie died in 1910, and it appears that William Voelpel died in 1914. Both Katie and Jacob are buried in the Apostolic Christian Cemetery in Morton.

Wedding Wednesday – Estimable and Industrious

Posted on by agnette

 

Only Known Picture of Paul Hoffmann

Because of religious restrictions, there are no photographs commemorating the wedding of my great-grandparents, Paul and Emma (Slagel) Hoffman.  The picture above is the only known photograph that exists of Paul.  A handful of photos of Emma from later years do exist, but Paul died in 1933, which was a tragic blow for the family.

There is, however, an account of their wedding in a local newspaper (possibly the Fairbury Blade), which marks the occasion.

MARRIAGES

HOFFMAN-SLAGLE

Mr. Paul Hoffman and Miss Emma Slagle were united in marriage at the Amish church southeast of Fairbury, Sunday, December 7 [1902]. The ceremony was performed at 3 o’clock by Rev. Chris Garber in the presence of a large concourse of people. The bride is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Sam Slagle, of south of Fairbury, and is a most estimable young lady. The groom is a resident of Cisna [sic] Park and a brother of Mrs. J. G. Swing, of this city. He is an industrious and energetic young man. They will reside on a farm south of Fairbury and their friends join us in wishing them success and happiness during life. A number of Fairbury people were present at the wedding.

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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

Census Sunday – 1900: Where Was I?

Posted on by agnette

Carl Ozro with Siblings

Genealogy puts one in direct connection with times and places long gone. It can be interesting to look back and imagine oneself in a generation other than the current one.  Where would I have been in, say, 1900?

None of my grandparents were alive yet in 1900; Grandpa Montgomery would be born the following year. His parents, Charles William and Laura Maud (Walker) Montgomery, were living in Holdrege, Nebraska (Grandpa’s birthplace) that year, with their other six children: Myrtle, Mamie, Bessie, Alta, Walter, and John (Ward). Charles was working as a butcher and was 39 years old; Laura, 37.  The children were 16, 13, 11, 10, 2, and 7 months old. Charles and Laura had been married for 17 years.

Carl Wilson, father of Grandma Montgomery, turned 15 in 1900. In that year’s census he appears in Lincoln, Nebraska, a boarder and farm laborer in the home of Jonas and Maggie Misler (maybe…the handwriting is difficult to decipher).

It would be seven years before Carl would marry Sophie Roberg. Three years his senior, Sophie was also “working out” in 1900. She can be found in Shell Creek, Nebraska, a housekeeper in the household of Mons Knudson, a 43-year-old widower with six children between the ages of fourteen and two. His mother, 76 years old, lived in the household as well.

Paul Hoffmann, Grandpa Hoffmann’s father, was 22 years old in 1900, the eldest child still living at home on the farm in Fountain Creek, Illinois; he would marry two years later. Paul and his parents, Jacob (age 63) and Christine (age 50), are listed as having emigrated to America in 1883. Christine had given birth to 7 children, of whom 6 were still living. In addition to Paul, those still at home were Andrew, 16; Maggie, 11; Sammie, 8; and Louisa, 6. Paul and Andrew have “farm laborer” listed as their occupation; the other children were attending school.

Paul’s future wife, Emma Slagel, was 20 years old and living at home with her parents in Indian Grove Township, Livingston County, Illinois. Samuel Slagel, then 50, and Mary, 45, had been married for 24 years. Mary had given birth to 4 children, three still living (and all at home): Emma, along with brothers Daniel (22) and Joseph (18). Also living with them was Mary’s niece, Lena Demler, twelve years old.

In 1900, Grandma Hoffmann’s father was still using the old German spelling of his name. He appears as “Albert C Schwing,” in Ash Grove, Iroquois County, Illinois. Another farming family, his parents were Albert, Sr., age 40, and “Kathrine,” age 38. They had been married for 16 years, and Catherine had given birth to 10 children, all still living, and all still at home: Martha, 15; Charles, 14; Lena, 12; Albert C., 11; Soloma, 9; Joseph, 7; Katey, 6; Anna, 3; Harry, 2; and Paul, 3 months. A further three children would eventually be born to the family.

The final and youngest of these ancestors, Lena Hunkler, was seven years old and living in Washington, Illinois. Her parents, George J. (age 37) and Mary (age 40), had been married for 13 years, and George is listed as a farmer. All five children are at home: Bertha is 13 and listed as Berty (?). Matilda is 11; John G. is 8; “Lenie,” 7; and Hulda, 4. All but Hulda had attended school in the previous year.

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Surname Saturday – the Demlers of Baden and Fairbury

Posted on by agnette

Our Demler family came to Fairbury, Illinois, from Baden, Germany in 1864. Ancestry.com provides two possible meanings for this surname:

German: from an old personal name, Damo, a short form of a compound name formed with Old High German tac ‘day’.Perhaps an altered spelling of German Demmler, a southern nickname for a glutton, from an agent derivative of Middle High German demmen ‘to indulge oneself’, or a northern nickname from Middle Low German damelaer, demeler ‘prankster’, ‘flirt’. 

Why do I suddenly feel like visiting a buffet? Anyway…our branch begins with Johan Demler, born between 1815-1816 in Baden. His parentage is unknown; he married Catherine Marie Reser who was born in Baden between 1823 and 1824. Johan and Catherine had three children, all born in Baden: Wilhelm K., born November 15, 1847; August Frederick, born about 1849; and Mary (my great-great-grandmother), born January 17, 1855.

The family arrived on December 3, 1864, in New York City on the J.A. Stamler after a 34-day ocean voyage. Records from the Castle Garden Immigration Center list the following family members: Johan, age 48; Maria, age 40; Wilhelm, age 18; August, age 16; and Marie, age 11.

Around 1867 the family moved to Indian Grove Township in Livingston County, Illinois, and in November 1873 moved into Fairbury itself. In 1880 Johan (enumerated as “John”) appears in the home of his son Wilhelm (“William”) in Belle Prairie Township. Johan is listed as married, but Catherine’s whereabouts are unknown. He died about 1890, supposedly as the result of a horse accident, and was buried in the South Apostolic Christian Cemetery, though again I am not yet sure of the exact location.

Wilhelm married Anna Keller (born November 17, 1845 in Zurich, Switzerland) in Indian Grove township in 1878, and they had seven children: Emma Ida, William Henry, Louise Ann, Samuel Albert, Benjamin E., Ernest J., and Anna. August Frederick married Caroline Fankhouser (born February 26, 1860 in Ohio), and they had thirteen children: Emma Ida, Charles, George, Lena Helen, John, William, Henry E., Mary Wina, Tadry, Katie, August, Cora, and Josephine. From our own branch, Mary/Marie married Samuel Slagel (born November 30, 1849), and they had four children: Samuel, Daniel, Emma Alice (my great-grandmother), and Joseph J.

Now, about that buffet…

Tombstone Tuesday – A Plethora of Greats

Posted on by agnette

A few years back on one of our many genealogical field trips, Mom and I realized that she (and I) have seen all eight of her great-grandparents’ tombstones.  This is one definite advantage to having most of your relatives stay put in the same general vicinity after emigrating to America; all eight of these ancestors are laid to rest within a 150-mile radius, from Francesville, Indiana, to Washington, Illinois. Here they are in ahnentafel order:

Jacob Hoffmann
b. September 18, 1836 in Mackwiller, France
d. January 20, 1914 in Fairbury, Illinois
bur. Graceland Cemetery, Fairbury, Illinois

Christina (Schmidt) Hoffmann
b. March 30, 1850 in Butten, France
d. September 16, 1908 in Cissna Park, Illinois
bur. Cissna Park Cemetery, Cissna Park, Illinois

Samuel Slagel
b. November 30, 1849 in Wisconsin (?)
d. November 29, 1937 in Fairbury, Illinois
bur. Graceland Cemetery, Fairbury, Illinois

Mary/Maria (Demler) Slagel/Schlegel
b. January 17, 1855 in Baden, Germany
d. February 3, 1928 in Fairbury, Illinois
bur. Graceland Cemetery, Fairbury, Illinois

Albert Carl Swing
b. October 24, 1859 in Akron, Ohio
d. October 14, 1922 in Francesville, Indiana
Catherine (Hoffmann) Swing
b. February 2, 1862 in Remicourt, France
d. March 15, 1931 in Francesville, Indiana
Both bur. Roseland Cemetery, Francesville, Indiana

George John Hunkler b. September 20, 1862 in St. Gallen, Switzerland d. December 2, 1934 in Elmwood, Illinois Maria Elizabeth (Rusch) Hunkler b. December 25, 1859 in St. Gallen, Switzerland d. September 27, 1948 in El Paso, Illinois Both bur. Glendale Cemetery, Washington, Illinois

This means, of course, that I have visited the graves of 8 of my own great-great-grandparents.  My 8 paternal great-great-grandparents (and even my own 8 great-grandparents) are a little more widespread, but I’m making headway there as well.  Now  if only I could figure out where Lucinda Blanche (Davis) Wilson is buried…I might just have to plan another field trip.

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