Monday's Mystery - Desperately Seeking a Date

My Great-Great Aunt Alice V. Barrett and her proud purchase of a car!

Hmmm, that might not have sounded quite right.  I'm seeking a date genealogically speaking.  I'm at a loss in trying to identify the car in the photo.  No, it's not critical to my research.  Call it a burning desire. So if you can help at all I'd be forever grateful!  You'll be a legend in my family history!  People will name their children after you!  OK, maybe that one was a bit of an exaggeration...

So what do I know about the picture and the lady behind the wheel...

-Her name is Alice Veronica Barrett.  She is one of two daughters born to Patrick and Bridget Barrett nee Farley.
-Alice was born on 06MAY1887 in Hazleton, PA
-The car was most likely purchased in NY, NJ, or PA since those are the possible matches I have for where Alice lived.
-I would assume that the picture was taken sometime around the time she purchased it, being proud of a purchase that not everyone had.

I originally thought that this was a Ford Model-T and posted the picture on Facebook requesting help from people that may know more about cars than I do (and that's pretty much everyone).  A friend of mine said that he too thought that it was a Model-T and dated it to 1927.  While I love my buddy for trying to help, the date and model don't necessarily sit right with me (although that doesn't make him wrong...it could just mean that I'm being difficult).  The biggest being that the tires weren't typical of the 1927 Model-T.  "Spokes" (for lack of a better term) were thinner and there were more of them in the pictures of the 1927 models I've seen.

So these are the aspects of the picture that I've been trying to match up with a specific make and model of car:

-The above mentioned tires.

-The "nose" of the car is relatively long, indicating that the motor was up front which was not always the case with early cars.

-The "vents" on the nose of the car are at an angle and there are several of them.

-The spare tire is on the back of the car and vertical (some spares were canted at a slight angle when on the back)

-It's a soft/rag-top.  From what I've read, fewer of these models were made as time went on and cars became more enclosed.

-The doors do not have a panel in between them.  If you check pictures of cars from this era you'll notice that very few cars have doors that are right next to each other.  There is a small panel in between the front and rear doors and the doors themselves are relatively small.  These are good full-size doors.

-Then I've got to take a look at the clothes that the ladies are wearing.  I'm rubbish at dating fashions as well, but I'm working on improving in that area.  From my novice experience. I would say that the hemlines are most likely too low for 1927 although I'm sure not everyone wore flapper-style dresses, I would still imagine that the overall hemline would be higher and the waistline lower than what is pictured here.

My best guess for the time period (and it is just a guess) would be sometime around 1917-1923.  That's mostly based on the tires of the car and my guess at the clothing, but I could be WAY off on that!

If you've got mad-skills or even just a guess on the time period based on the clothing or on the make and model of the car, I'd be forever grateful!

Sunday's Obituary - Theresa Rosbeck

"Mrs. Theresa Rosbeck (hand-dated Jan. 20 - 1981)

Mrs. Theresa Rosbeck, 83, of Menomonee Falls, a former resident of West Bend and St. Kilian, passed away at the Menomonee Falls Nursing Home where she had been a resident for six weeks.

Mrs. Rosbeck was born February 2, 1897, at Theresa Station, Dodge County, to the late Peter and Margaret Steinmetz Kiefer.  On May 8, 1923, she married Martin Rosbeck, who passed away on February 4, 1973.

She was a member of the St. Kilian Married Ladies Sodality, the American Legion Auxiliary, the VFW Auxiliary and was a Gold Star Mother.

Survivors include one daughter, Margaret (William) Brill of Menomonee Falls; two sons, Ralph (Delores) and Norbert (Sharon), both of West Bend; a daughter-in-law, Mrs. Audrey Rosbeck of Theresa; 26 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; two sisters-in-law, Mrs. Bella Kiefer of West Bend and Mrs. Helen Rosbeck of Mayville; other relatives and friends.  Three sons, two brothers and two sisters preceded her in death.

Visitation at Miller's Funeral Home, Kewaskum, will be after 4 p.m. Thursday, with a rosary vigil at 8 p.m.  Services Friday at 10 a.m. at St. Kilian Catholic Church, St. Kilian, with Fr. Joseph McDonald officiating.  Burial will be in the church cemetery.

Newspaper clippings were passed on to me by my mother-in-law, Dolores Cayemberg nee Kuehl.  They were collected by her mother, Leona Kuehl nee Boegel.  Unknown which Wisconsin paper they were clipped, but most likely from the Brown and/or Fond du Lac county areas.

Follow Friday - PaHR-Access & Enduring Legacy Genealogy

I woke up Monday morning and as I was checking my Facebook and watching my boys play MarioKart I noticed that I had an email on FB from PaHR-Access, a group I subscribed to on Facebook.  What exactly is PaHR-Access?  It stands for People for Better Pennsylvania Historical Records Access.  Their mission is to get Pennsylvania legislators to change the law so that people can access Death Records that are more than 50 years old.

Their following on Facebook isn't large, but it should be.  For anyone researching genealogy and/or family history this is important legislation.  If you don't have ancestors from Pennsylvania you might not think that this legislation is important to your research, but you could be wrong.  What if you're researching a collateral line to try to circumvent a brick wall and discover that the family member died in Pennsylvania (or any other state that's tightening vital record access)?  

It’s also just nice to help out other researchers gain access to the records they need.  We’d want the same done for us.  Writing to legislators that you didn’t help to elect is also not futile.  Letting them know the desire and importance of these records to people outside their state is not weightless.  After all, when you pay for a vital record the state gets that money.

Michael McCormick and his admins (Brendan Cole VanOrmer, John Haji Demos, and Norm Drasher),  on the FB page have been doing a wonderful job keeping their Facebook community up to date on what is going on regarding this important legislation.  One of the most recent posts links to Senator Robbins' letter to the other PA Senators regarding co-sponsoring this legislation.  You can see a copy of the actual letter by clicking the logo above and going to PaHR's FB page and their post or by clicking here.

Michael McCormick also has a blog that goes into wonderful detail about achieving open access to these records (and more).  Check out his "Enduring Legacy Genealogy" blog.  You will not be disappointed!

And last, but not least PaHR-Access has a website designed by Tim Gruber and Dale Berger that lists links to other states that have some vital records online.  Many links take you back to FamilySearch.org, but they will take you directly to that state.  The site also explains what records are available for each state, time period covered, whether they are full or partial, and if they are extracts.  It's an excellent source of information even if your family isn't from Pennsylvania.


So at the very least check out some of the links above.  If you're on Facebook checkout their page and join.  Even better, contact Pennsylvania legislators and let them know how important this legislation is!  Check out their "Info" tab on Facebook for an easy link to Pennsylvania legislators so you can drop them a note in support of Senate Bill 683!

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Cars

Saturn would always take your picture in front of your new car!

My first car was some kind of Subaru 4-door that my mom and step-dad got for me to learn to drive in.  Their cars were manual transmission and they thought it would be easier to learn to drive in an automatic.  They were most likely right!  I drove the car for several years until one winter I was driving home from college in Millersville, Pennsylvania to Greentown and the car broke down.  Dashboard lights going on and no power at all.  Luckily, I was able to coast over to the side of the road without incident.  It was cold and there was a nasty snow storm going on.

My poor baby after a flat tire

I was fortunate that my car chose to break down less than 1/4-mile from a State Police station.  I walked to the station and called for a ride then went back to my car.  The officers tried to get me to stay at the station, but I was a stubborn idiot of a young lady and I felt awkward sitting in a police station being talked to by these guys I didn't know for who knows how many hours until family arrived.  So I apparently would prefer to freeze my buns off in my car, packed full of "stuff" from my dorm room.  The police did stop by occasionally to check on my safety.  In retrospect I was very grateful for that.  Anything could have happened to me.  So as it turned out the problem was a minor one.  Fuel filter I think, but we didn't know that until my step-dad's son "took it off our hands" and fixed it. 

My next car was a "hand-me-down" from my step-dad.  He was getting a new Honda Accord, so he gave me his old one.  It was a manual transmission, but I had already learned to drive a stick (much more fun!).  I know how lucky I was to have had these cars given to me!  I also expect that they preferred not to drive me 3 hours each way to college and back with all that "stuff" college kids bring with them.  Not to mention that I was living in the Poconos with my mom and step-dad and NOTHING is within walking distance.  I had to drive 45 minutes each way to my summer job...NOT and exaggeration either!  I wouldn't have been able to have that job, had I not had a car to get to it!

I joined the Army and no longer had a car.  I got to my first duty station which was in San Antonio and was faced with an unpleasant reality.  My barracks were about 10 miles from the place I was working.  Seriously...lived on one base and worked on another.  Not convenient for a new Soldier with little money and no car.  I suppose you were supposed to mooch rides off other people.  I did that for a little while, but every once in awhile you'd end up on a swing shift where you weren't working with your regular coworkers.  So I bit the bullet and bought a car.  I consider this car to be my first car (no offense, Mom and Jim!) because it's the first car I bought with my own money.  It was a Saturn SC2.  I believe it was a 1999 give or take a year.

I loved the car.  I went to Saturn because they didn't haggle.  It was one price, take it or leave it and since I didn't have anyone with me to strike up a deal with any other car dealership, I took the no haggle route.  The car was a good one though.  It was greenish-blue, 2 doors with 2 bucket seats up front and 2 in the back.  I thought it was super cool because the seat belts would automatically engage when you shut the door and started the car up...well, you still had to buckle the lap belt, but I just thought it was so "spaceman"!

The car was rather low to the ground, when I was pregnant with my first son, it was a challenge getting in and out of.  My husband used to joke that he'd have to grease me up to get me out eventually!  We had it for about a year after Benjamin was born.  The back seats weren't the best for a baby seat since they were buckets, but we could accommodate the small snap-in, rear-facing seat we had.  When Ben got too big and we had to turn the seat around the car just didn't work for us anymore.  I was so sad selling it, but I would have been sadder selling my son! ;)

Wednesday's Child - Rudolph Boegel

"St. Kilian Boy Killed While Out Hunting (Dec 7, 1924 - hand-dated)

The home of Mr. and Mrs. John Boegel, a farmer residing about a mile and a half east of St. Kilian, was thrown into extreme sorrow, last Sunday night, December 7th, 1924, when their sixteen-year-old son Rudolph was almost instantly killed, while out hunting skunks in company with his brother Clarence, aged 19, Leonard Schmitt, aged 16, and Peter Dieringer, aged 15.  The latter three are neighbors of the deceased.  The accident happened at about 11 o'clock Sunday night, in the old M.E. church located on County Trunk F in the town of Ashford, the church has been deserted for about twenty years and is falling into ruin.  The four boys had torn up a section of the floor of the church when the dog which accompanied them ran across the gun which had been laid on the floor, and knocked it into the hole.  It was discharged by the fall, according to the story given out by the boys, and the full charge entered Rudolph's body just below the heart, and took an upward course toward his right shoulder, inflicting a wound about an inch in diameter and about seven inches long, killing him almost instantly.  Just how the gun could be discharged from the fall will probably remain a mystery, as the boys stated when questioned by Coroner Joseph E. Murray of Fond du Lac, who arrived on the scene at about 12:30 a.m. that the hammer had not been cocked.

Besides his grief stricken parents, deceased leaves to mourn his sudden and untimely death, two brothers Clarence and Roman, and one sister Leona, all at home.

Rudolph, who was born on March 31, 1909, was well liked by his companions, among whom he was a leader.  He was a bright and faithful young lad and very active.  His tragic death came as a great shock to his many friends, who join in extending heartfelt sympathy to the surviving relatives in this their hour of deep affliction.  The funeral was held on Wednesday morning at 10 o'clock with services in the St. Kilian Catholic church.  Rev. J. B. Reichel officiated.  Interment was made in the adjoining cemetery.

The pall bearers were:  Reinhold Ottmar and Raymond Bonlender, Roman Kuehl, Arnold and Roman Boegel.  Many relatives from Milwaukee, New Fane, Kewaskum, Theresa, LeRoy, Lomira, Ashford and Campbellsport attended the funeral."

NOTE: Under Pallbearers "Roman Kuehl" should be "Romand Kuehl".  He would later marry Rudolph's sister, Leona.

News clippings were passed on to me by my mother-in-law, Dolores Cayemberg nee Kuehl.  It is unknown, which newspaper the clipping was from, but it is most likely from a newspaper in Brown or Fond du Lac county.  The clippings were collected by her mother Leona Kuehl nee Boegel.)

Tuesday's Tall Tales! - On the run from the Czar

Tabor, Czechoslovakia at the end of the 19th century

My maiden name is Tabor.  From what I've encountered, this is said to be a Czech surname, but my Tabor ancestors aren't from the former Czechoslovakia, so why were they called "Tabor"?  Time for some tall tales, courtesy of my dad......

My great-grandpa, Adam Tabor, and his brother were on the run from the Russian Czar.  They were caught cutting down and selling trees that were the czar's so they fled to the United States.  They didn't take the direct route.  Apparently, they feared the czar's men would be able to catch them more easily if they took a direct route, so instead they traipsed around Europe for a bit and found themselves in a town named Tabor in what used to be Czechoslovakia ("B" on the map).

Now why did they pick this city's name for their own.  Well, I'm told that it was a rough, bad-ass town and they fancied the comparison with themselves, so Tabors they became.  My dad says that they eventually went through Germany and then on to England before heading over to the US and eventually settling down in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  Quite the journey.


View Larger Map


What are the nuggets of truth in this rather tall sounding tale?  It's hard to tell.  My great aunt, Lillian Ruminski nee Tabor, is the only surviving child of the above-mentioned Adam and his wife Jadwiga.  I've only had the privilege of sitting down with my Aunt Lillian once in the past 10 years.  My father was there and let's just say that he polluted the pool more than a little.  I asked him before driving to visit to please not answer questions for her.  The answers needed to be from her and unprompted or his tales and memories could influence her answers.  Sadly, my father rarely does anything he's asked, but I gotta love him.  Unfortunately, his need to interfere could mean that I'll never know the truth.  What Aunt Lillian did manage to tell me, was that her father didn't like to talk about his past.

Adam and Jadwiga are the couple on the left.

So now what I actually know about my great-grandfather...

Adam was born between 1874 and 1885 in Russia (this later became Lithuania in later censuses as borders changed, which is helpful at narrowing down his region since Russia is rather large!).  He arrived in America between 1884 and 1890 and became a citizen in 1896.  He married Jadwiga Paszkawicz on April 2, 1902.  They had four children, Aldona, Clarence (my grandpa), Adam Jr, and Lillian.  He passes away in 1958.  He ran a shop in Scranton and joined the Polish National Catholic Church because (according to Aunt Lillian) the majority of the people that patronized his store belonged to that church.

I've never been able to find that "brother" of his.  The only thing I have is a picture of Adam and Jadwiga with another couple and children.  I've been told that the other gentleman is his brother, but no name is given and really just hearsay. I haven't been able to find his passenger record or naturalization papers, but I'm working on it.

Should we disregard these tall tales that our colorful family members pass on?  No.  They could hold that little piece of truth that can break through a brick wall or two.  If nothing else they're entertaining when taken with a tablespoon of salt!

The Villers Saga - Guilty Verdict Article Found

The Bismarck Daily Tribune, 18JAN1898

So it didn't take too terribly long to find it once my internet stopped fighting me (it does that almost instantly when my husband gets on a plane to go on a business trip).  I imagine that it didn't come up in the Ancestry.com search because of the clarity of the article.  I knew from the other articles that he was sentenced during the January session so that narrowed my search down.  The last article I found before the sentencing was announced on him was on January 13th so I started on the 14th and found it on the 18th.

"Villers Guilty

Jury in the Trial of the Prisoner Villers at Jamestown Finds Him Guilty of Murder.

Punishment is Fixed by the Jury At Imprisonment in the Penitentiary for Life.

Stay of Proceedings is Granted Until February 1, When a New Trial Will be Asked.

Found Guilty.

The jury in the case of Martin J. Villers, on trial for the murder of August Tromer, today returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree and fixed his punishment at imprisonment for life.  A stay of proceedings was granted to February 1, and a new trial will probably be asked.

The trial of the case was completed yesterday afternoon, and the jury went out this morning after having heard the arguments of counsel.  The verdict in the case was not unexpected, as the circumstantial evidence against the man was strong, and his record probably told against him.  The case has been one of the most peculiar in the history of the state in that the prisoner was serving a sentence of ten years in the pen when the evidence of the murder of the man whom the jury decides to have been his victim, was discovered and he was then removed from the pen to be tried for the greater crime.  It was peculiar also that Villers was serving a sentence for a murderous assault on the wife of his victim when the body of her husband was discovered and he was put on trial for murder.

The trial of the Villers murder case was concluded in court at Jamestown yesterday afternoon, and the attorneys made their addresses to the jury.  The case has been tried rapidly, and little time has been wasted.  The Jamestown Alert says on the demeanor of the prisoner on the witness stand:

On the cross-examination Villers made a fine witness.  His answers were ready, sharp and crisp and often times he had to wait for Attorney Guthrie to conclude his question before he could ejaculate a denial.  Questions requiring a simple yes or no for an answer, either one of which would have compromised the witness, were answered promptly, but evasively and in such a manner as to throw from him an imputation of wrong doing.  Throughout the five hours he was on the witness stand the prisoner sat quietly in his chair and only once did he show great excitement.

When Attorney Guthrie asked the witness if he remembered the burning of a hog pen in this city the night of Nov. 5th, when Mr. Villers was here, also that he was seen by Mrs. Cooper standing in front of the engine house when the fire alarm was turned in, the prisoner straightened in his seat, became greatly excited, the blood rushed to his face and he grasped the arms of the chair a little harder.  When charged with the death of Peter Sterling, who is supposed to have worked for Mr. Villers that fall and with having thrown the body into Josiah Pierson's pig pen after having robbed the body of a large roll of money which Sterling was seen to have late that night and then set fire to the structure burning to body with the hogs, the witness kept his head, and only raising his voice a little emphatically denied all knowledge of the affair.  He said he did not know of the fire until the next morning, he didn't "know the man" and bracing himself seemed to defy the state to prove him guilty of the crime.

When asked where he had been for the last three years the witness stated, "I was in Valley City, here, at LaMoure and Bismarck and back again."  This made the audience laugh and the judge rapped for order.  The witness said he had been thirty-two months in Bismarck when he was "working for the warden of the state penitentiary."

I've got to say that after transcribing this article I'm stunned.  I didn't read it before transcribing.  I didn't really think that there would be anything new, but to accuse him of another murder during cross-examination.  I've heard nothing about the murder of Peter Sterling, although you can bet I'll be looking into it.  Was the prosecution just trying to throw him off?  Most certainly.  What gets me though is the fire regarding the disposal of the body of Josiah Pierson.  It's a similar m.o. to what he was found guilty of doing with Mrs. Tromer...but she lived.

Oh, well, all that's left is to transcribe the court documents.  They are (for the most part) more difficult to read, but you can be sure I'll be setting on them in the near future.  I was hoping to find something to tell me why Villers would have done something like this, if he did at all, but it just seems like the more I look, the more I find additional questions.  Gotta love family history...even if you don't love some of the things the people in it did!