G is for Geisler

I found this wedding invitation back in 1984 when we were cleaning out Grandpa's (John Benert #3) house after his death. No one in the family knew who Mr and Mrs Joseph Geisler were. At the time I wasn't involved in genealogy but I'm not one to throw away something that had been saved for so long. So, into the file of neat stuff it went.

Fast forward about twenty years later. I was hot on the trail of anyone who could be remotely connected to OUR FAMILY. And I started searching for John Benert #2. He was a bit difficult. I had my handy dandy index of the 1880 census and I knew exactly where to find him. There was only one problem. The index linked to the wrong page. Every single index I found linked to the wrong page. But, the index said he was living with Mr and Mrs Joseph Geisler. Happy day. And I still didn't know who they were. So, I put him back into the "I'll look again another day" pile.

And then I discovered Internet Archives. And their census images. Using the indexed location I slogged through the pages and finally found him.  The brother-in-law of Joseph Geisler. Happy, happy day.

Mystery solved. Well, after a lot more digging it was. I discovered that Dora Geisler and John Benert # 3 were 1st cousins. Now John #3 was only 6 years old at the time of the wedding. I think it must have been John's mother, Margaret Bender Benert, that saved the invitation.

A few years ago, I "met" a Krikawa cousin on line. Her family had a copy of the wedding invitation as well. Small world.

F is for Frederick C Wilkowski (1852-1923)

Frederick C Wilkowski

Fred Wilkowski was the fourth child of Gottlieb and Louisa Doering Wilkowski and a great uncle. He was born in Prussia, now Poland, in the town of Mrotschen (Mrocza). When he was three years old, his parents emigrated to the United States and settled in Watertown, WI. 

He learned how to make cigars at the age of ten, probably at the Wiggenhorn factory. In 1882, he opened his own company, Wilkowski Brothers along with brother William Wilkowski. Later, a third brother, Louis, joined them as the travelling salesman. I suspect that Fred was not the easiest person to work with. By 1893 he had assumed full ownership of the factory and Louis was running a saloon in Watertown. William had moved to Chicago to work for another cigar manufacturer. 

Lid from a box of High Life cigars

Fred married Wilhelmina Schroeder and was the father of four children, Rose, Carl, Gertrude and Emma. He died in 1923 in Watertown and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Wilkowski plot in Oak Hill Cemetery. One of the last pictures I took in the good old film days.

E is for Sophia Etscheid (1861-1953)

Sophia was my great grandmother and "Little Carlie's mother, He was my "C" post.

Sophia was born in Reeseville, WI in 1861. It was a wild and wooly place back then. She lived in a log cabin during a time when Indians were still feared. When the Indians came to the cabin, the children were hidden along the rafters behind the family trunk and warned to be very quiet. In the wintertime, they (the children) followed fence posts going to and from school because the snow drifts were so high. Today, we would have just had a snow day.

 She only finished the 4th grade and by the time she was 19, she was working in Watertown, WI as a maid for the Joseph Bursinger family. She met Louis Wilkowski in Watertown and they married in 1887. Louis was employed as a cigarmaker in Oconomowoc and they moved to a little cottage by one of the lakes. Sophia often spoke about their first Christmas and Louis' surprise gift to her. He walked home in the snow with a platform rocker on his back. It was a wonderful gift for an expectant mother. They eventually had four children, 3 sons and a daughter.

Louis continued in the cigar trade until 1901 when he opened a saloon at 116 E Main St in Watertown. Sophia's life would seem to be perfect. In 1902, the family moved to 202 N 5th St where tragedy struck. Sophia's son, "Little Carlie" was killed while playing crack the whip in the school playground. It was very icy and he flew off the end of the whip and hit a fence. His sister Della carried him home and a doctor was called but he never regained consciousness. Six months later Louis had a heart attack and died. Sophie was left with 3 children to raise.

After Louis' death, Sophia had a very hard time. She would have received a death benefit from Louis' lodge, the Plattdeutscher Verein; one dollar from each member. I don't know how that converts to today's money but it must have been substantial since membership in 1907 was 334. Still, Sophia was forced to go to work. She worked at any job she could find. The 1910 census describes her as a private nurse. She also ran a boarding house, and practiced mid-wifery. She even picked and/or weeded farmers produce fields. She would leave food on the back of the stove for the children and work at whatever she could to support her family.

In 1920, she moved to Fond du Lac, WI and lived with her son Fred and his wife Tessie. Later that year, she moved to her daughter Della's home and remained with them until her death in 1953.

D is for Patrick Dorgan (1831-1907)

Patrick was my great-grandfather. he was born in 1831 on the Dingle peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland. He was the oldest of the five children of Owen Dorgan and Johanna Bowler and came to the United States in 1860. He settled in the Fond du Lac, Wisconsin area and soon married Mary Lumery, another County Kerry girl. Together they had 12 children. 

Patrick worked in the timber industry, in the saw mill and as a lumber cruiser. A lumber cruiser would cruise or walk the forest and estimate the timber yield from a stand of trees.

Not much else is known about him. He died in Fond du Lac at the age of 76. The photos below are representative of lumbering in the 19th century. 

This is my favorite. That jam goes for miles.

Freshets in the West--great jam of logs at Chippewa Falls boom, Wisconsin. This illustration appeared in Harper's Weekly in 1869 and is from the Library of Congress

A woodcut drawing also from the Library of Congress titled Logging in northern Wisconsin / drawn by T. de Thulstrup, Zimerman & Negri, se.

This is an undated postcard I purchased. Location unknown.

C is For "Little Carlie" Louis Wilkowski

"Little Carlie." I've always called him that. I'm not sure why, it must have come down in the family somehow. He was my great-uncle.

From what I can tell, he was a typical little boy, doing typical little boy things on the day he died. He was only 8 years old.

The newspaper said he was taken ill while playing during afternoon recess and guessed he suffered a "burst blood vessel in his brain." Years later, his sister Della told her daughter he was playing crack the whip and slipped on the ice in the schoolyard. She carried him home and he died a short time later.

From The Watertown (WI) Gazette, Dec 26, 1902

At 11 o'clock Thursday night of last week, Carl, the eleven year old son of Louis Wilkowski and wife died at the family home, 202 N 5th street. Thursday afternoon he attended No 8 school and at the afternoon recess while playing he was taken ill. His ten year old sister started home with him, and while on the way he was taken with convulsions, and was carried into their home by his mother, and a physician summoned, but all to no purpose. It is supposed that while he was playing at school he burst a blood vessel in his brain which caused his death. Sunday afternoon his remains were interred in Oak Hill Cemetery. He was a bright and promising boy and his sudden death is a great shock to his parents, who in their sadness have the sincere sympathy of all our citizens. In their sorrow they have the consolation of knowing that he has gone to his heavenly home, and has been relieved of this world's trials and tribulations.

Carlie is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Watertown, WI in the Louis Wilkowski family plot along with his parents and sister. Rest in peace, Uncle Carlie.

B is For Benert

B is For Benert

John Benert to be exact. 

Margaretha Bender Benert, John Louis Benert, & John Benert (#2)

Now, there were three John Benerts. I know a lot about John Louis Benert, # 3. He was my grandfather-in-law. A dear sweet man who told me I was his granddaughter the moment we met. John Louis was an elevator repairman in New York City. He married Marie Pribyl, raised two children and lived to the age of 94.

Marie Pribyl & John Louis Benert

I know a little about his father, John Benert, # 2. I have photos, information about his business, even a copy of his baptism at the age of 10. I know he was born in Virginia and lived most of his life in New York City. He married Margaretha Bender and worked as a milkman most of his life. He was also partners in the White House Cafe in Queens in 1916 and 1917. John Louis was their only child.

John Benert and Margaretha Bender

I know that the original John Benert, # 1, operated a tavern in New York City until at least 1859. 

What I don't know and will probably never figure out is why this first John Benert, a German immigrant with an apparently successful business, took himself and his family to Richmond, Virginia in time for John # 2 to be born in Virginia in June of 1866. 

And decided to disappear from the census. And every directory I've been able to put my hands on except one, the one published in 1869 in Richmond, VA. He died the next year in New York City and is buried in Lutheran Cemetery in Queens, NY. I suspect we could call him a carpetbagger but there must be a bigger paper trail somewhere wouldn't you think? 

Any suggestions?

Jumping into the A to Z Challenge at the last minute

I'm taking the easy way out on this challenge and will be writing about my "dead people."

First out of the box is my grandfather, Carl Albanus Ahlborg. Extra credit for two "As".

Carving a model of , I think, Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Superior.

Grandpa was a hard working Swedish carpenter and my only Ellis Island immigrant. He came to the United States in 1903 after his mother had died and settled in Duluth, MN where he met my grandmother.

He was a founding partner in the Union Sash and Door Company and was its president until his retirement. And he made wonderful child sized furniture for us to play with. 

We lived with him and Grandma for a year in 1951. My father was in the military in Germany and we couldn't join him yet. I have wonderful memories of that year. Breakfast with grandpa before anyone else was awake. Rhubarb pie made from the rhubarb growing by the back door. The park right across the street. Sitting on his lap and reading stories. The scary oxygen system he used at night. I think he must have developed emphysema from the sawdust. 

I didn't see him much after that year except on infrequent visits when my father was stationed nearby. But every year on my birthday he sent a savings bond and a kiss.

Love you Grandpa