The Great Peshtigo Fire - Reporting the Unimaginable Part 2

Tonight I'm continuing to blog about the Great Peshtigo Fire.  The article I'm transcribing is a bit long so, as I mentioned in yesterday's post, I'm breaking it up for easier reading.  Tonight's portion of the news article (taken from the Green Bay [Wis.] Advocate and reprinted in the New York Times) is the account of what happened by G. J. Tisdale.  The NYT also includes information as to the situation in other cities/regions of Wisconsin.  Rosiere, where my husband's ancestors were is briefly mentioned toward the end as a town of previously having 180 houses now with only 5 left. 

The account of Mr. Tisdale is well worth reading.  I know much of this can be difficult to read, but I promise a miraculous end to my series of posts!  Stay tuned.

New York Times, 17OCT1871, pg4

"...G. J. TISDALE makes the following statement in regard to the calamity at Peshtigo:

'During the day - sabbath - the air was filled with smoke, which grew dense toward evening, and it was noticed that the air, which was quite chilly during the day, grew quite warm, and hot puffs were quite frequent in the evening.  About 8 1/2 o'clock at night we could see there was a heavy fire to the south-west of the town, and a dull roaring sound, like that of a heavy wind, came up from that quarter.  At 9 o'clock the wind was blowing very fresh, and by 9 1/2 a perfect gale.  The roar of the approaching tornado grew more terrible at 10.  When the fire struck the town it seemed to swallow up and literally drown everything.  The fire came on swifter than a race-horse, and within twenty minutes of the time it struck the outskirts of the town, everything was in flames.  What followed beggars all description.  About the time the fire reached the Peshtigo House, I ran out at the east door, and as I stepped on the platform the wind caught me and hurled me some distance on my head and shoulders and blew me on my face several times on going to the river.  Then came a fierce, devouring, pitiless rain of fire and sand, so hot as to ignite everything it touched.  I ran into the water, prostrated myself, and put my face in the water, and threw water over my back and head.  The heat was so intense that I could keep my head out of water but a few seconds at a time for the space of nearly an hour.  Saw logs in the river caught fire and burned.  A cow came to me and rubbed her neck against me and bawled piteously.  I heard men, women, and children crying for help, but was utterly powerless to help any one.  What was my experience was the experience of others.  Within three hours of the time the fire struck the town the site of Peshtigo was literally a sand desert, dotted over with smoking ruins.  Not a hen-coop or even a dry-goods box was left.  Through the sugar-bush the case seems to be even worse than in the town, as the chances for escape were much less than near the river.  I estimate the loss of life to be at least 300 in the town and sugar-bush.  Great numbers were drowned in the river.  Cattle and horses were burned in the stalls.  The Peshtigo Company's barn burned with over fifty horses in the stable.  A great many women and children and men were burned in the streets, and in places so far from any thing combustible that it would seem impossible they should burn.  They were burned to a crisp.  Whole families, heads of families, children, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, were burned, and remnants of families were running hither and thither, wildly calling and looking for their relatives after the fire.'

Peshtigo had nearly 2,000 inhabitants.  The village was mainly owned by the Pestigo Company, of which Wm. B. Ogden, of Chicago, is President and chief owner, and THOMAS H. BEEBE, also of Chicago, general manager.  W. . ELLIS is the resident manager at Peshtigo.  It was the chief point of the company for its large operations on that river, and there were concentrated all the offices, stores and general head-quarters.  It is about seven miles from the harbor at the mouth, with which it is connected by a railroad.  It is also on the highway from Green Bay to Escanaba, between Oconto and Menominee,  and is to be a station on the Northern Extension of the Chicago and North-western Railway.  Among the main features of the place was the extensive pail and tub factory, one of the largest and most complete in the United States, and quite new, having been running less than a year.

There was also an extensive mill for the manufacture of sash, doors, blinds, and a variety of wood-work.  The company also had a large hotel and boarding-house, and a great number of dwelling houses - one of which, the residence of the local manager, was as complete as all the modern improvements could make it.  There were also the company's shops, for the building of cars, logging sleds, and all the implements required by this great lumbering concern.

LATER.

We are informed that the exact number of houses in Rosiere was 180, of which there are but five left.  In addition to the names of the dead first reported, we get the name of GABRIELLE MANFORT.  The villages of Rosiere and Messiere form the town of Lincoln.  Both are burned.  At last accounts twenty-one persons were missing.  Among the dwellings burned at Dyckesville are those of PAUL FONTAINE, PIERRE LIGOT and JOSEPH TONNARD.

At the burning of SCOFIELD'S mill, town of Brussels, and settlement, nine lives were lost - six men and three women.  HAULOTT'S mill, in the town of Humboldt, was burned on Sudnay.

A letter from Forestville, Door County, says that a settlement of six families, on the west side of the town of Brussels, was burned Sunday evening.  But one family escaped.  They at one time gave up for lost.  All the buildings were burned, and thus far thirty-four dead bodies have been found and buried.  A large amount of stock was burned.  The Kewaunee Enterprise brings news of additional destruction in the towns of Ahnepee, Pierce, Kewaunee, Casco and Carlton.

A telegram from Green Bay, Oct. 12, says:

The northern steamer is just in.  Three hundred and twenty-five bodies had been found and buried at Peshtigo up to last night.  The river will be dragged today, and it is thought 100 more bodies will [sic] be found.  Between sixty and seventy dead bodies were brought into Oconto last night.  The loss of life on the east shore - in Door and Kewaunee Counties - is appalling as the terrible news comes in.  Those left are houseless and almost naked.

ROBINSON & BROTHER..."

The Great Peshtigo Fire - Reporting the Unimaginable Part 1

The New York Times republished information from the Green Bay Advocate on the Peshtigo Fire as well as other fires in the area.  The fires and the absolute devastation made national (and international) news.  This article was extremely long.  For sanity's sake I will be posting it in three parts.  Even doing so the final part will still be incredibly long.  It is still a very interesting read, but not  for the light hearted.

"In Wisconsin.

Particulars of the Burning of Williamsonville and Peshtigo - Frightful Number of Deaths.

From the Green Bay (Wis.) Advocate

By GUILLAUME DELALUZERNE, from Uniontown, we learn that the entire settlement at WILLIAMSON BROTHERS' mill, five miles from the shore of Little Sturgeon Bay, was burned on Sunday night.  The proprietor, JOHN WILLIAMSON, with his wife and two children - his entire family - are burned to death, and about fifty-three other persons in the same settlement perished.  Scarcely a soul is left to tell the tale.

There were twelve families about the mill and fifty-two men in and about the mill.  Of all these people, but two were saved uninjured, and ten injured persons still living were found, and were sent on Monday by the tug Ozaukee to Big Sturgeon Bay for medical treatment.  Every other individual in the settlement is dead.  Mr. GARDNER sent twenty-five men to chop through the woods to this settlement, our correspondent being one of the number.  They found the remains of six persons in one house, and piled the partly charred remains of fifty-five bodies of men, women and children.  Twenty-nine human bodies lay on a spot about ten feet square [sic] - some with arms and legs burned off, and all with clothing gone.  A few rods [?roads?] off were others, and a man and child were found dead in a well.  They found fifty-five dead bodies, and think the total number must be from sixty to seventy.

PESHTIGO

The south-easterly gale of Sunday evening reached the proportions of a hurricane at Peshtigo.  The woods, which had been alive with slowly-running fires for weeks, were suddenly burned with a whirlwind of fire, and, without any warning, great sheets of flames were carried into the village.  Those who escaped describe the scene as awful in the extreme.  No attempt could be made to arrest its progress, and the inhabitants ran terror-stricken and screaming into the river, where they plunged headlong, and sought, by dashing water over themselves, to keep off the fire which filled the air.  Every building but one - an unfinished dwelling - is reported burned.  The great pail factory - one of the monuments of enterprise in this region - the extensive lumber mill and door, sash and blind factory, many expensive dwellings, and scores of smaller houses, tenements, shops, barns, &c., were swept away.

Few names can yet be obtained of those who are probably lost.  We get those of JOHN E. BEEBE, wife and two children.  Mr. BEEBE was a clerk and book-keeper in the Peshtigo Company's store.  W. F. THOMPSON, clerk in the same store, wife and mother; D. McGREGOR, conductor on the Peshtigo Railroad, and sister; JAMES MELLEN, foreman of machine-shops, two daughters; MICHAEL CREAMER'S wife and child; Mrs. DANIEL HUNT and one or two children.  One family, consisting of father, mother and three children, were found dead together within thirty feet of the river.  Large numbers are reported to have been burned in the Peshtigo Company's boarding-house.  CHARLES WOODWARD, who kept the Peshtigo House, estimates the loss of life at nearly 400.  The loss in the 'Sugar Bush' was much worse than in the village.  They had no means of escape, while at the village the people saved themselves in the river.

The Sugar Bush was a thrifty farming settlement seven or eight miles long by four or five miles wide, and contained about 300 families.  It was estimated by competent judges on Tuesday that eight-tenths of its inhabitants were dead.  But about eight buildings were left.  Twenty teams went up there on Tuesday to bury the dead, and up to 4 P. M. Tuesday they had reported the following dead in the Sugar Bush:

L. H. HILL, wife and boy, and forty-two bodies picked up in front of their house;  T. KELLY and one child, (wife and two children saved;) daughter, twelve years old, of FRED BARTEL'S; four families of NEWBERRYS, all gone but one boy; JOHN CHURCH, wife and two grown children; wife and five children of CHAS. LEMBK, JOHN SMITH, wife and five children; JOHN ALSWEIGER, wife and six children; CHAS. LAWRENCE, wife and three children; N. MAY, wife and two children; wife of PETER LEECH, and two hired men; father, mother, wife and child of WM. PENRY; CHAS. CHAPMAN, wife and one child; HENRY HAYS, wife and two children; JOHN PRATT, wife and four children; widow AYMER and two grown-up boys.  Mr. WOODWARD gives us the following addition to the list of dead in Peshtigo village:  JOHN TANNER, wife and two children; eldest daughter of P. J. MARSHAL; A. A. PRATT, wife and one child; wife and five children of DONALD McDONALD."

Peshtigo - The Worst Fire in American History

Peshtigo Fire by Mel Kishner

 "Peshtigo Fire" was used with kind permission from the Wisconsin Historical Society.  Thank you!

This post is to commemorate the Great Peshtigo Fire which occurred the evening of October 8th, 1871...140 years ago.

If you ask someone to name the worst fire in American history.  The fire that took the most lives (approximately 2,500).  The fire that occurred on this date 140 years ago, you would most likely be told that it's the Great Chicago Fire.  While the Great Chicago Fire did occur on this date 140 years ago, it was not the only fire to rage...and it was not the worst...

So if Peshtigo killed more people than the Chicago Fire why isn't it more famous?  Well, if you live in Wisconsin, no doubt this is a part of your state history classes and you do know about it.  If you live almost anywhere else...well, it's likely you've never even heard of Peshtigo.  That's really the reason most people haven't heard of the Peshtigo Fire...Chicago is a big city.  Famous before and after the fire.  Not because of the fire.

So while people were beginning to turn their attention to Chicago, a small city (and large region) to the north suffered an unbelievable fate.  Something truly terrifying.  A tornado of fire.  A wall of fire.  So fierce, fast, and unforgiving that there was no time to think of possessions.  You had to grab your family and run if you had any chance of surviving.

Why is the Peshtigo Fire important enough for me to blog about today?  More than today.  I will be blogging all week about the fire.  Sharing articles about the fire.  Transcribing names of the deceased.  The fire is important to me because my husband's great grandmother, Florence Cayemberg nee Villers, and her parents, Martin Joseph and Octavia Villers nee Waguener suffered in the fire...survived the fire. 

Not inPeshtigo itself (although family lore did place them there for many years, but her obituary tells otherwise), but in another town.  The town of Rosiere, WI.  The Peshtigo Fire was the name given to the entire wave and series of fires that swept through the region that night.  It eventually was named for Peshtigo as that was the city most devastated.

I've blogged before about this fire.  It is a significant part of my family's history.  Had Florence not been saved by the actions of a brave young boy when she was separated from her parents, my husband would not be here.  My children would not be here. 

Below is an article from a Pennsylvania newspaper (The Waynesboro Village Record) reporting on the Peshtigo Fire.  It is very detailed.  Perhaps even disturbing to some, but well worth reading.

The Waynesboro Village Record, 26OCT1871, pg1

"Destruction of Peshtigo

A correspondent, writing from Menasha, Wis., on the 11th inst., describes the destruction of Peshtigo:

The village was situated on Peshtigo river, seven miles from Green Bay.  It was a nice little town of about 2,000 inhabitants, quite regularly laid out; had fine hotels, stores, churches, schools, &c., besides the large factory owned by the Peshtigo Manufacturing Company, a sash, door and blind factory, also owned by the same company, who owned nearly every building in the town.  The factory was devoted to the manufacture of pails, tubs, broom handles, &c., and gave employment to about 700 hands in the different branches.

The town is nearly surrounded by pine forests, the suburban portion being built 'among the pines.'  The inhabitants have for the past ten days been fighting fire in the woods, trying to save the town, and had settled down into a feeling of comparative security, since the woods on all sides have been more or less burned over.

On Sunday night they were awakened from this feeling of security by a noise like distant thunder, which increased in volume until the crash of falling trees and the roar of the wind and fire could be plainly heard.  Soon after a tornado burst upon the town, unroofing a number of buildings, and quickly followed by a solid sheet of flame, extending the whole length of the village and far beyond each way.

In an instant the whole exposed side of the place was in flames.  Men, women and children rushed into the street, and surrounded by fire on all sides, were soon either smothered or burned to death.  In the less exposed portions the people fled to the river, and, in jumping in, many were drowned.  Some saved their lives by keeping their bodies well under water, and once in a while putting their heads under as the heat became [sic] insufferable.  Others took refuge in wells and cisterns, and were saved.  Quite a large portion of the inhabitants ran to a field to the leeward of the fire, and by lying on the ground were saved, although some of these were badly burned.  There is but one house left standing, and that is isolated, and lately built, of green lumber.  As near as can at present be ascertained, two hundred and fifty lives have been lost, mostly women and children.  Although a good many men have perished, there are seventy-five who are badly burned, many of whom will die, and nearly all are more or less burned.  The destruction has been so complete that the streets cannot be traces, all being covered with sand, which was swept in great clouds by the tornado.  In some instances bodies have been found completely covered by sand.

I could fill columns with heart rending incidents of this conflagration, but will only give a few as illustrative of the rest.  In on instance a man took his family and fled to the bridge spanning the river.  The bridge was soon on fire, and the poor unfortunate family were nearly roasted alive, and then jumped into the river and were drowned.  A woman, on seeing the fire approaching, put her little girl, a child of six years, in a well, which was nearly dry, and ran to the river herself for security.  The woman was saved, and, as soon as she could, found out the locality, and her joy was so great at finding the little one alive and well that she swooned, and on recovering clasped her child in her arms, and ran off crying for joy.

Too few, alas, were so fortunate.  In many cases whole families have perished.  In other cases men have lost their families, they being, at the time of the fire, working to save the factories.  In other places men perished in their endeavoring [sic] to save their families.  In one case to which my attention was called, a little boy of seven years is the only surviving member a numerous family.  As soon as the fire had sufficiently subsided, all that were able went to the relief of the sufferers.

Blackened, charred corpses were lying in every direction, with their clothing, as a general think, nearly or quite burned off.  Many dead bodies were found in the river, and many more have since been recovered.  A number have died from their bruises, while others are crippled or fearfully disfigured.  The most imaginative mind cannot begin to realize this fearful calamity, much less my poor pen to describe it.  The shrieks and groans of the dying, and of those who had lost near and dear friends; the ghastly aspect of the blackened corpses; the shocking appearance of many who badly burned and almost destitute of clothing, were running they knew not where; others int he last agonies of death, made a picture too horrid for contemplation.  The sufferers have all been taken to Green Bay and other towns, where they will be kindly cared for, as hospitality is one of the marked traits of the West.  The loss to the Peshtigo Company, who owned the factories and most of the town, besides large pine lands, is estimated at three million dollars, besides the loss of their extensive warehouses in Chicago.

Meunekaunee, a town of seven or eight hundred inhabitants, is all destroyed but three houses.  Fortunately no lives were lost here.  Marinette is also nearly all destroyed.  Business in this section is partially suspended.  All the saw mills and factories at Oshkosh, Fon du Lac, and other neighboring towns are stopped by an order of the authorities."

As with most disasters, the true numbers of lives lost was not known.  Was under estimated.  Because many people were burned so completely and remains could not be identified, even today we do not know with 100% certainty the number of dead from this tragedy.

Photo Friday - Step by Step to my Photo Repair

Original Photo

Repaired and Cropped Photo

Often when I post photos that I've repaired I get asked what software I use and how I did it, so I finally decided to do a post showing what I did.  This was a relatively basic repair so I figured it was a good place to start.  I'm sure that there are people out there with much more experience than I have in photo repair.  I'm self-taught and the tricks I've learned have suited me well so far.

Not every step is covered, but the most important parts are.  You'll have to play with your software's opacity levels and the various sizes of brushes to use with the cloning tool, but I imagine that most programs are relatively similar.  For this photo repair I used Microsoft Office Picture Manager to adjust the contrast and then Serif Photo Plus X2 for the rest of the repair.  It was a cheap and well rated photo editing software that I purchased through Amazon.com.

I don't know who the people are in this photo (maybe my family can help me out here when they read this post), but I've been told that my aunt was the artist that drew on the photo!  It wasn't a difficult repair, but if you're new to using photo-editing software there may be one or two swear words that escape your mouth as you go through your learning curve (at least there was for me when I first started!)

I opened the photo in Microsoft Office Picture Manager and adjusted the contrast to 10 then to 20.  Adjusting the contrast usually works well in grayscale photos, but you'll want to increase the percentage of contrast slowly so if you go too far and don't like the results, you can bring it down a little.

Contrast increased to 10%

Contrast increased to 20%

You can notice the big change in the scribbles in the sky of the photo.  The contrast removed much of it, without removing detail from the rest of the photo.

You then should familiarize yourself as to what the controls for your software's cloning tool and zoom look like.  This is what the Serif's look like:

After selecting the cloning tool the brush and opacity box automatically appeared at the top of the screen

I then zoomed in on the area I wanted to work on first.  In this case it was the sky.  Since this is a black & white photo the sky came across as white so this was a fairly easy fix with the cloning tool (set at 100% opacity in this case and I used a fairly large brush).  For my software I moved the brush circle to an area I wanted to clone, held down the Shift key, and left-clicked my mouse (you won't notice anything when you do this).  Then I moved to the area I wanted to replace with what I just copied and left-clicked my mouse.

NOTE: When cloning it does not simply copy that small area you clicked on.  It anchors the cloning to that specific area in relation to the next place you click.  So as you move the clone brush down the area you are painting over, both areas move together.  This means that if you aren't careful you may copy something that doesn't match: 

The circle is where I am cloning to and the "+" is where I am copying from.

As you can see in the example above, I've accidentally copied part of the building as I tried to repair the sky.  It's an easy fix.  You just click the undo button.

Eventually (and relatively painlessly) the sky was fixed and I moved on to areas on the bride's dress and white spots on the groom's suit.

The sky fixed

When repairing the groom's suit I used 100% opacity.  It's fairly dark so I really didn't need to be concerned with blending.  For the bride's gown, I used an opacity between 60-70% depending on what looks best.  The undo command is your friend as you figure it out.  I also used a fairly small sized brush so I could work in the much smaller area.

Remember that you don't need to click and drag while cloning.  When doing small repairs just left-click a little at a time.  You may need to experiment as to which areas are the best to "copy" or "clone" from.  You want something that is close in color/texture to the area you are repairing.  The opacity tool allows for better blending.  When I repaired the bride's gown, had I selected an opacity of 100% it would have copied the area exactly and it would have looked awful.  Copying at 60% opacity allowed the crayon/pencil area to be repaired with the copied area but it only matched the color at 60% of the original so the change looked much nicer.  For my lack of communication skills, allow me to show the difference:

100% opacity

60% opacity

At 100% you can actually see a circle where I clicked to repair the area.  With 60% you can see the repair, but only because the flaw to the left and right remain.  In the finished product it is barely noticeable.  If I had repaired the entire area at 100% opacity the result would have been a completely discolored (and brighter) line.  The point of a repair isn't to change the essence of the picture, but to remove the flaws.

I finally completed all the repairs that I wanted and saved the image.  I then went back to Microsoft Office's Picture Manager and cropped the picture to remove the white at the right side of the picture.

After cropping

Before cropping

NOTE:  Always remember to save the project you are working on under a different name so that if you don't like the results you can start over with the original.  If you just save your work, the original will be gone and the undo button won't work after a "save".

Photo repair takes a little patience, but once you get the hang of it, I promise that it does get quicker!

Wordless Wednesday - What the Heck, Grandpa?

Edward Brown Sr (2nd from right in back)

I have no idea why my grandpa is dressed like this and wearing a miner's hat with these gentlemen.  We are descended from a long line of miners, but my grandfather was a teacher and vice-principal at Grebey Junior High School in Hazleton, PA.  Were they actually in a coal mine?  I don't know all the fraternal groups my grandfather was in, but most (I believe) were Catholic or education associated.  I could be wrong.

Any ideas?

UPDATE:
My mother just emailed me after I posted and told me it was a teacher in-service to either a coal mine or a meat packing plant.  The headlamps lead her to believe coal mine, but the white jackets made her think it could be meat packing.

Tombstone Tuesday - Theresa Boegel

St. Kilian Cemetery, Fond du Lac County, WI

Theresa Boegel was the daughter of William and Katherine Boegel nee Melzer.  She was born on October 8, 1888 and died July 4, 1949.  She was the youngest of eight known children and never married.  Her siblings included:

William Jr (married to Mary Zwaska)
Maria (unknown if ever married)
Katherine (Mrs. Joseph Bonlender)
John (married to Bertha Rosbeck and is my husband's great grandfather)
Peter Aloysius (married to Elise Marten)
Raymond (married to Catherine Schrauth)
Mary (Mrs. Gebhardt Strabel)

Since Theresa never married and has no children to pass on her legacy, I will remember you today and always in our family history. Second great aunt to my husband.  Third great aunt to my children.  Your memory lives on.

Amanuensis Monday - Filling in Rosbeck Information One Name at a Time

It was so difficult to get a post up this evening.  The weekend was long and not very relaxing, although the Packers won, so that made me happy!  My oldest and the hubby were out camping with the Cub Scouts and the youngest and I did lots of running around, but we had some great snuggle time last night, staying up late and watching movies.  Of course, I paid for it this morning and it was all I could do to cheer on the Packers.  My mind was just too tired.  I attempted to transcribe an obituary only to realize that I had actually posted it a few months ago!  I thought I was going to be turning in without getting anything posted when I got my second wind.

Transcribing the obituary on Herman Rosbeck wasn't earth-shattering in any way, but it did give me information that I was missing from my family tree.  I now had a date for his death, and his wife's....and their marriage.  So while the transcription didn't give me any spectacular "Ah-ha!" moment, it did give me useful information.  Information that I can post online and maybe find someone researching my Rosbecks.  Information that I apparently had, but just hadn't gone through to enter it into my tree.  So even when I don't have time because of PTAing, Cub Scouting, and the various things that happen in our daily lives, I do realize that just getting something up on my blog helps me do a little with something I love so much.  So until I can give more time, I will tackle it (in this instance each Rosbeck) one name at a time.

"Herman J. Rosbeck

Herman J. Rosbeck, 81, Knowles, died Tuesday at Clearview Hospital, Juneau, where he was a patient for three months.

Mr. Rosbeck was an employee [sic] at Western Lime & Cement Co. in Nasboro for 30 years.  He was an active and long-time member of the Knowles Fire Department.

He was born on July 2, 1889, at St. Kilian to George and Margaret Rosbeck.  He married Sophia Schraufnagel on April 13, 1915, in Le Roy.

Survivors include one daughter, Mrs. Victor Schraufnagel, Route 1, Brownsville; one brother, Martin Rosbeck, West Bend; six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.  He was preceded in death by his wife on June 23, 1969; three brothers, three sisters and one grandson.

Funeral services will be held at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at St. Andrew's Church, Le Roy, with the Rev. Anthony Gundrum as celebrant of the Mass.  Burial will be at St. Andrew's Cemetery.

Relative and friends may call after 3 p.m. today at Koepsell Funeral Home, Mayville."

Published in the Fond du Lac Commonwealth Reporter, Wednesday, 28APR1971, pg42