Tombstone Tuesday - Octavia Villers

Oh blog, how I've missed you!  Life was taking over and you've grown so neglected.  I will do my best to not let life take over, but to take over my life.  Now on to what I love doing....

I've posted Octavia Villers obituaries before, but I was never able to post her tombstone picture.  She's buried up in North Dakota and I've never been out there (and don't really see a trip in my near future).  Thank goodness for Find A Grave and their volunteers!  My request for a picture was filled about a month ago, and it is truly amazing that it was filled at all.

You see Octavia's obituary stated that she was buried in Saint James Church's cemetery.  I incorrectly assumed that this meant that she was buried in Saint James Cemetery.  Find A Grave does have a Saint James cemetery in Stutsman county, North Dakota.  The one (and only one) interment should have been an indicator that something was wrong, but noooooooo.  I just drove on and entered Octavia's information and created a memorial for her.  Then I submitted a request and waited....and waited...and waited.

My Find A Grave angel must have checked for memorials because for all intents and purposes if he was just photographing the tombstones in Calvary Cemetery in Jamestown (Stutsman county) and uploading them to Find A Grave he shouldn't have come across my memorial.  Someone was watching over me and he did and I got a correction submitted to me.  He had uploaded the picture and I was able to transfer the memorial over to the correct cemetery!

Looking at the tombstone it appears to be the funeral home's marker embedded in cement.  I don't know why she didn't have a more traditional tombstone.  Was this commonplace back in 1940?  I will be contacting the cemetery to find out and to seek answers for others questions.  Was her husband, Martin Joseph, buried in that cemetery?  He died in prison so perhaps not.  If they are buried together, does he have a marker?  Either way, I would like to see a more traditional marker put in place one day.  A genealogist can dream, right?

So why choose today to post Octavia's tombstone?  Well, this week is National Fire Prevention Week.  It takes place this week because the week of October 8th is when the Chicago Fire occurred...more importantly (and as stated in my previous post) the Peshtigo Fire occurred, which was much more destructive in the acreage burned and lives taken...and Octavia and her family managed to survive.  Not only did Octavia survive, but she lived for 69 years after the Peshtigo Fire!  Good for you, Octavia!

It's a great story, so if you haven't taken a peek just check out yesterday's post.  It's a repeat, but it'll be a post I always share on it's anniversary.  Had Octavia and her family not survived life for me would be completely different.  I would not have my wonderful husband and two beautiful boys.

A very special thanks to Mr BJ Brewer for not only taking the picture and emailing me the correction, but for kindly giving permission for me to use the photo in my blog.

Sunday's Obituary - Octavia Villers nee Wagner

I've actually got 2 wonderful obituaries for Octavia.  One was sent to me from a cousin that I met through the absolutely wonderful world of message boards (I love those darned boards so very much!).  The other I found during Scanfest last Sunday.

Yes, can you believe that I had the obituary published in Wisconsin for years and didn't know it.  That's why I'm forever grateful that I finally remembered to tune in and do a scan fest.  I knew I had lots to scan, but never seemed to get to it.  This find has certainly motivated me to get down to it and get it done!

So for you long-time readers of my blog (there are one or two of you out there)...you may recall the murder trial of Martin Joseph Villers that I posted on back at the end of 2010.  Well, Octavia was his wife.  She is my husband's great-great grandmother.  I'm posting both obituaries, because they are a bit different and they therefore give slightly different genealogical information.  It also makes for a pretty good comparison.

The Bismarck Tribune

The following is from the Bismarck Tribune, July 1940:

"OCTAVIA VILLERS, AGED CO. PIONEER, PASSED AWAY TODAY

Funeral Services Will Be Held At St. James Church Monday

Mrs. Octavia Villers, aged pioneer resident of Jamestown and Stutsman county, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Mary LaJoie, at 6:30 o'clock this morning.

Mrs. Villers came with her parents to the United States 84 years ago from her native land, Belgium, where she was born December 18, 1842.  The trip was made in a sailboat and took six weeks.  The family went to Rosiere, Wisconsin, near Green Bay.  It was 54 years ago when Mrs. Villers came to Stutsman county to Montpelier.  She came to Jamestown over 30 years ago and for nearly 20 years lived with her daughter, Mrs. Ella Naze and since that time has lived with Mrs. LaJoie.

Mrs. Villers was active until about two years ago.  She was a member of St. James Catholic church.  Surviving are three daughters, Mrs. LaJoie; Mrs. Eli Cayemberg, Pulaski, Wis.; Mrs. Agnes Tardiff, Duluth, Minn.; and a son, Louis Villers, Green Bay, Wisc.; 24 grandchildren; 36 great grandchildren and four great great grandchildren.  Mrs. Naze, a daughter, died several years ago.

Funeral services will be held at St. James Catholic church Monday morning at 9:00 o'clock.  The body is at the Daly Funeral Home.  The family requests that no flowers be sent.  The rosary will be said Sunday night at 8:00 o'clock at the funeral home."

The date is hand-written in as July 5th.  No year is given.  Octavia died in 1940 at the age of 97.  She missed her 98th birthday by 6 months. You can also note that her husband is not mentioned in her obituary at all. Not surprising I guess considering his crimes in the region. He is mentioned in the Wisconsin obituary below.

This obituary was taken from a local Wisconsin newspaper.  It's a clipping, so I'm not sure which one, but I'd be willing to bet it wasn't the Green Bay newspaper.  Perhaps Algoma's newspaper:

"Former Rosiere Woman Dies in North Dakota

Word has been received here of the death of Mrs. Octavia Mary Villers, 98, which occurred Friday morning at the home of her daughters, Mrs. Felix Lajoye, Jamestown, N.D.  She was a former resident of Rosiere.  

Unknown Wisconsin newspaper

Mrs. Eli Cayemberg and Walter Cayemberg, Pulaski; Henry and Wilfred Cayemberg, Manitowoc; Mrs. Russell Anderson, Green Bay, and Hubert Guillette, Anston, attended the services which were held this morning at St. James Catholic church with burial in the church cemetery at Jamestown. 

The deceased was born in Belgium Dec. 22, 1842, and came to America in 1854 with her parents Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Wagner, settling in Rosiere.  She married M. J. Villers in 1864 and lived in Algoma for 10 years before coming to North Dakota 54 years ago. 

Survivors are four children, (Florence) Mrs. Eli Cayemberg, Pulaski; (Mary) Mrs. Felix Lajoye, Jamestown; (Agnes) Mrs. Joseph Tardiff, Duluth, Minn.; and Louis Villers, Green Bay; 46 grandchildren and several great grandchildren.  A daughter, Mrs. Prosper Naze, died four years ago." 

No date on this one, but again, I know when she died.  I this obituary they state that she's 98 years old even though they listed her birth date.  Ah well...math!  It's a small point either way.

This last one is the one that I "found" last weekend, and I'm glad that I did.  I've been scanning obituaries that my husband's paternal grandmother collected and have been wondering how they are going to fit into our family tree, if they will at all.  This last obituary gives some pretty great information on her children.  And you know what?  I recognize some of the names.  Scoreboard!  Naturally, the search isn't over with just this obituary.  They are prone to errors.  After all, they aren't submitted by the deceased.  All second-hand information, which may or may not be accurate.  I mean look at the birth dates.  They were off.  Either by the person submitting the information or the person writing the story.   It does give me a great starting point to continue that research though!

100th COG - There's One in Every Family - Martin Joseph Villers

The Bismarck Daily Tribune 20NOV1897

I'd love to get my husband more interested in genealogy and family history.  He is interested to an extent...how could he not be married to a genealogy nut, but there are certain aspects of it that he doesn't like.  He's not so big on the paperwork...I'm the meticulous one of the pair.  He's an analyst (seriously, that's what he does) so he could be great at busting through brick walls!  Unfortunately, there are some walls that he would like to rebuild and that's just not how this works.  You can't rebuild a wall and pretend that someone didn't exist.  You can't brush history aside...even the unsavory bits.  That's where Martin Joseph Villers comes into play.

I was farting around on Ancestry a couple years ago (yes, that's the technical term).  Just typing surnames into their search engine.  Trying to see if anything would come up in newspapers.  When I typed in Villers I got a bit of a surprise...I found several newspaper articles on one Martin Joseph Villers.  The father to Florence, Mary Ann, Louis, Alta Ellen, and Agnes.  Husband of Octavia Villers nee Waguener.  And murderer of August Tromer and attempted murderer of his wife, Pauline Tromer.

So who was Martin Joseph Villers to my husband?  He's my husband's great great grandfather.  I can understand how we don't want to find bad people in our family tree (particularly our direct line), but the truth is there's going to be bad people in there.  It doesn't reflect on who we are.

I've been fascinated by this discovery and sometimes I think that my husband would prefer it if I would stop digging.  I've received penitentiary records from North Dakota, copied all the newspaper articles I could find, etc.  I don't want to glorify what he did, but I want to know why he did it.  He had been a policeman in a previous census!  Part of me hoped to find something that would lead me to believe he was innocent.  The evidence was so circumstantial in the papers.  I had dreams of being able to request a pardon or reversal for MJ Villers.  Yeah...not going to happen unless something new comes to light.

The articles are fascinating.  The terminology involved and what they seem to consider "proof" is amazing.  If you read all the articles it's evident that he was considered guilty from the get go.  From a historical point of view the case was a first for the state of North Dakota.  They were unsure of how to try him for the murder of August Tromer when he was already serving time for the attempted murder of Pauline Tromer (not a problem today, but back then they weren't sure what to do!).  He was also the first person from Stutsman County sent to the state prison for a life term.  Now granted, these aren't goals we aspire to, but it's all very interesting.

I don't know if I'll ever know why he did what he did.  Was he desperate for land?  Money?  Did he have a falling out with the Tromers?  Why did the Villers family move from Wisconsin to North Dakota to begin with?  How did the Tromer family fare as time passed?  One thing I do know is that there will be more Martin Josephs as I continue researching.  It's a statistical...and genealogical fact.