A family's Memorial for Anna Heinl

 

 

 

Two death notices for Anna Heinl: one from a German language paper, it's reminiscent of Catholic funeral card Memorials. The other is from an English language 'daily', a helpful but perfunctory notice about funeral arrangements, and adequate for data collectors.

There was no separate obituary in either paper.

The information is similar, but not identical. One is clearly a family memorial to a loved one, published by the family.

Milwaukee's English or German language clippings? it's your choice.

Mrs. Catherine Dorothy Zach's death notice found in the Milwaukee Journal has been digitized into TOTAL illegibility, but legible on library microfilm. The notice provides information about the arrangements, but only makes limited mention of the family: her daughters are identified by their husbands' names.

The German language death notice is not only more comprehensive, but progressive too. It sets the scene for us: during her long illness she was provided with the Last Rights. It includes Mrs. Zach's maiden name (Golner); provides her daughters' given names separately from their husbands' names; names her daughter-in-law; and even references Mrs. Zach's siblings. It's a research and German-American cultural gem!

This is the family's paid death notice for Mrs. Zach; there was no separate obituary article written by the newspaper.

This difference between competing papers isn't always the case but it needs be understood by the family researcher looking through Milwaukee's German, English, or Polish language newspapers.

Mysterious bones found in 2024 explained by the "Milwaukee Herold" in April 1887 ...

"Where the Prospect and Maryland Avenues meet in Ward 1, a new school building under the direction of Contractor Danischefski is being built. It is not a flat surface, but a large, grassy place in which an infinite number of depressions can be seen; namely graves, which were once raised above the surface, but now have sunk down.
The site was used for more than twenty years as a burial ground, and funerals were held there in 1863. Twenty-five years ago, it was covered with gravestones and monuments.
Although a sanctified place, it was always neglected, as most of the bodies entrusted to the earth were those of "paupers"* and dying homeless, upon whom the tears of a loving mother had earlier fallen." [*The cemetery served the 2 orphanages across the street.]

Die Verlobung von Fräulein Nettie Lederer von hier ...

It's that time of year! Engagements and wedding announcements are just a small sample of what's found in Milwaukee's German-American press. A part of the genealogy community is obsessed with the social columns that might include engagement or wedding notices; yet they ignore wedding anniversary clippings (that requires more work!).

Spread between Milwaukee's multiple German language newspapers, reportage of nuptials is not as representative of the diverse German immigrant community as it is in smaller towns.

In 1893, while at art school in Philadelphia, Milwaukeean Nettie Lederer (daughter of Abraham and Dorett Lederer from Forchheim, Bavaria) was engaged to artist A. Stirling Calder. The couple married in 1895 in New York. Family or friends may have called in this news accounting for misspellings. Son Alexander Calder was the result of their marriage.

The art work one of at least one these now world famous Calders is found in a Milwaukee Art Museum collection, and around the world.

Hints of integration within Milwaukee's 19th c. German community ...

 

Miss Celia Kantorowitz and Mr. Samuel Shulskin were married at Tempel Beth Hamidrosh Hagodel on N. 5th Street, followed by a reception at the Deutschen Männervereins-Hall on N. 8th St. and W. State St.

Ein Ueberbleibsel aus Milwaukees Jugendzeit.

This folksy wood-craft summer house is a lost feature on the grounds of the Alexander Mitchell estate that fills the W. 900 block on Wisconsin Ave. The property became the Deutscher Club, then renamed the Wisconsin Club. This summer house photo is not found in any public collection that I've found, but you can see just a little bit of it in this 1870s illustration insert. The cruciform footprint of the structure is indicated on the Sanborn Fire Atlas map (1894). A windmill shows in the left hand side of the newspaper photo. There was a photo of the windmill in the mpl.org Digital Collection ... at least, until I brought these lost features up to them. But shortly after, the windmill photo was removed (?!?).

Keine Herren, keine Knechte - Gleiche Pflichten, gleiche Rechte! (Milwaukee, WI 1878)

No masters, no servants - same work, equal rights!

The concept of the "servant leader" was bandied around in the 1990s by an academic, and it continues to be talked about today.

https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/kwo/win05/departments/book3.htm