Even though at times genealogical discoveries can seem to be full of the morbid or gloomy, it’s important to remember that our ancestors spent a lot of time living their regular lives. Old newspapers can provide a treasure trove of information about some of these happier incidents and give us a more holistic view of our ancestors’ lives.
This week I’m going to look for everyday, non-gloomy newspaper appearances of my great-grandmother, Emma (Slagel) Hoffmann. She would certainly have more than enough sadness that made it into newsprint as well (see Railroad Crossings for one example). Having said that, though this first incident didn’t result in any permanent injuries, it must have been frightening when it happened.
As the Fairbury (Illinois) Blade of 11 November 1921 tells us, Emma, two of her children, and her mother were riding in a Klondyke buggy pulled by a single horse. They were at a crossroads and saw the car of Emil Keller approaching. He had the right-of-way but the driver of the buggy (never technically identified in the article) felt they could make it across before he reached them. Apparently they were wrong, and the car struck the back of the buggy, which became disconnected from the shafts and overturned. Everyone in the buggy was “bruised and cut by flying glass,” and “the older child” received a bad cut on the forehead. A doctor treated the group, and all were reported to be “getting along all right.”1 One thing this article does not do is identify which of Emma’s two children were with her. Obviously it could not have been Clyde or Ralph, who had not yet been born. But there are still so many other options: Uncle Paul would have been 1; Sam, 4; Alice, 7; Lee, 9; Leona, 11; Joe (aka Grandpa), 14; Martha, 16; and Marie, 18. Though I’m not sure the Blade would have referred to Aunt Marie, anyway, as a “child.” Has anyone ever heard this story before and knows who was involved?
I seem to be disproving my own theory about peaceful everyday events abounding in the newspaper, as this next article I came across also involves horses and injuries, though it took place nearly 20 years before the previous incident. Again the story comes to us from The Fairbury Blade. This time Emma was sitting on the back seat of a wagon when the driver (definitely not Emma this time) got out to “hook up a tug” when the horses started to run. “The two Misses Slagel” were “thrown violently to the ground.” They were also treated by a doctor and were recovering.2 Again, I’m slightly baffled by the article, as I have no idea who the second Miss Slagel would have been. Emma was the only Miss Slagel in her family, having only brothers. Could it have been a cousin?
Emma herself would not be “Miss Slagel” much longer, as two months after the buggy incident she would marry my great-grandfather, Paul Hoffmann. An article noting that the couple had obtained a marriage license appeared in the 5 December 1902 Daily Leader of Pontiac, Illinois.3 They were married two days later.
And then there were all the visits; newspapers of the time seem to have spent a lot of their real estate noting visitors coming and going. These are just a few examples:
- 2 January 1942: Mr. and Mrs. Joe Hoffman of Boise (my grandparents) came for a visit to both Grandma’s parents and the now-widowed Emma4
- 4 July 1947: Emma, along with granddaughters Phyllis and Marlene, headed west for a visit of several months with family and friends in Caldwell, Idaho, and Portland, Oregon5
- 9 July 1948: Mrs. Joseph Hoffman and children (this was Grandma and, presumably, Mom, Uncle Jay, and Aunt Paula), arrived for a visit of several weeks, again with both Grandma’s parents and with Emma6
- 26 June 1952: Mrs. A. A. Himelick (Emma’s daughter Alice) and sons, Paul and Jimmy, were spending a few weeks with Emma, visiting from Kokomo, Indiana7
- 1 January 1953: The Himelick family was back, spending the holidays with Emma8
This does not include other happy mentions in the newspaper regarding weddings (though I suppose the marriage license is wedding-adjacent) and babies, which I didn’t include here, as births, weddings, and deaths are the bread and butter of genealogy. Today I was focused on the icing on the cake.
- The Fairbury [Illinois] Blade, 11 November 1921, pg. 1 ↩︎
- The Fairbury [Illinois] Blade, 24 October 1902, pg. 8 ↩︎
- The Daily Leader [Pontiac, Illinois], 5 December 1902, pg. 2 ↩︎
- The Fairbury [Illinois] Blade, 2 January 1942, pg. 5 ↩︎
- The Fairbury [Illinois] Blade, 4 July 1947, pg. 5 ↩︎
- The Fairbury [Illinois] Blade, 9 July 1948, pg. 5 ↩︎
- The Fairbury [Illinois] Blade, 26 June 1952, pg. 5 ↩︎
- The Fairbury [Illinois] Blade, 1 January 1953, pg. 5 ↩︎
