CategoriesWeekly History

Weekly History: July 26th – August 1st

July 26th

1751 – Married – Pierre François QUINET & Thérèse DARD – Pierre and Thérèse are my 7th-great-grandparents on my father’s side. They were married in Menoux, Haute-Saône, France. I am related to them through their son Antoine QUINET, who was born in 1757.

1919 – Married – Arthur Frederick THIELKE & Madora Martha Louise LAST – Arthur and Madora are my great-grandparents on my mother’s side. They married marred in Port Washington, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin. They had four children, including my grandfather, LeRoy. Arthur passed away in 1964 and Madora remarried. She passed away in 1979. They are both buried at St. Paul’s Cemetery in Grafton, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin.

July 28th

1900 – Died – Henry STEARNS – Henry is my 3rd-great-grandfather on my father’s side. He was born 19 Apr 1835 in Württemberg, Germany. He married Margaret SCHUMACHER in 1862. He immigrated with his famiyl to Wisconsin in about 1873 where he lived until he passed away.

July 29th

1734 – Died – Genevieve PAILLARD – Genevieve is my 8th-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. She was born 10 Dec 1685 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She married Louis CHEVREFILS-BELISLE in 1705. She passed away in Montral, Quebec, Canada.

July 31st

1758 – Born – Mary Marguerite BOILLAGEON – Mary is my 6th-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. She was born at Laperade, Quebec, Canada. She married Charles Francois CLOUTIER in 1782.

1886 – Died – Jean-Baptiste LAURENT – Jean-Baptiste is my 3rd-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born 18 Jan 1825 in Biez, Chaumont-Gistoux, Wallon Brabant, Belgium. He married Olivine Marie ST. LOUIS on 7 Sep 1857 at Little Chute, Outagamie Co., Wisconsin. He passed away at Phlox, Langlade Co., Wisconsin and is buried at St. Joseph’s Catholic Cemetery in Norwood, Langlade Co., Wisconsin.

CategoriesWeekly History

Weekly History: May 31st – June 6th

June 1

1996 – Died – Irene (ZALEWSKI) LUTZENBERGER – Irene is my great-aunt, sister of my Grandpa Zalewski. She was born 17 Jul 1920 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I know I met her sometime in my life, but I really don’t remember ever meeting her. She is buried with her husband Ervin at Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee.

June 3

1704 – Died – Marie Anne (DELEUGRE) ST. LOUIS – Marie is my 8th-great-grandmother on my mother’s side. She was born 14 Jun 1665 in Chateau Richer, Montmorency, Quebec, Canada. She married Gilles Gadious ST. LOUIS. She passed away in Montreal, Ile de Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

1910 – Died – Paulina Henrietta (THOMPSON) FIRMENICH – Paulina is my 3rd-great-grandmother on my father’s side. She was born 5 May 1849 in Granville, Milwaukee Co., Wisconsin (which is now the Brown Deer area.) On 11 Apr 1867 she married Mathias FIRMENICH and together they had 13 children. She passed away at Morrison, Brown Co., Wisconsin and is buried with her husband at St. Agnes Cemetery in Ashland, Ashland Co., Wisconsin.

June 4

1891 – Married – Frank F BRAATZ & Margaret K STEARNS – Frank and Margaret are my great-great-grandparents on my father’s side. Frank was born 17 Apr 1867 in Germany and Margaret was born 30 Aug 1866, also in Germany. They married in Bear Creek, Outagamie Co., Wisconsin. Margaret passed away in 1943 at Ashland, Wisconsin and Frank followed 5 years later, also at Ashland. They are buried at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Ashland.

This is also my father’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad.

June 5

1926 – Died – Carl F H Last – Carl (also known as Charles in some records)  is my great-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. Carl was born 26 Sep 1851 in Doeringshagen, Pommerania. He married Augusta LUEDTKE on 25 Feb 1883 in Milwaukee and (amazingly) had 16 children. He passed away at his home in Port Washington, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin and is buried at Union Cemetery in Port Washington.

June 6

1974 – Died – Roman J TROKA – Roman is my great-great-uncle on my father’s side. He was born 1 Feb 1897 in Milwaukee, Wisconson to Joseph & Clara (SZULTA) TROKA. He is buried around the rest of the Troka family at Holy Cross Cemetery in Milwaukee.

Wow, doesn’t seem like a happy beginning on the month. A lot of deaths at the beginning of June. It’s a big change from May where we saw a lot of births.

CategoriesWeekly History

Weekly History: April 12 – 18

Sorry, I haven’t been posting recently. I had other things going on and I was also not doing much research. But, I will get back on the horse today. Happy Easter.

April 12

1923 – Married – Maurice CORRIGAN and Agnes BRAATZ. My great-grandparents were married in Iron Mountain, Dickinson Co., Michigan. Maurice and Agnes grew up somewhat near each other in Ashland, Wisconsin which is where they probably met.

April 14

1856 – Died – Jacobus Franciscus KREBBEKX. Jacobus is my 4th-great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He was born 1 Mar 1818 in Hoofdplaat, Zeeland, Netherlands. He married Maria Sophia SCHALLOIR in 1819.

April 15

1895 – Born – Frances Dorothy ZALEWSKI. Frances is my great-great-aunt on my father’s side. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She married Edwin G CYBELA in about 1916. She passed away on 18 Jul 1965 in Milwaukee.

April 17

1867 – Born – Frank F BRAATZ. Frank is my great-great-grandfather on my father’s side. He was born in Germany to Wilhelm & Marie BRAATZ. He married Margaret K STEARNS in 1891. He passed away on 10 Jul 1948 in Ashland, Ashland Co. Wisconsin and is buried there at Mt. Hope Cemetery.

April 18

1870 – Married – Peter MUHM and Ida SCHAVANDIE. Peter & Ida are my 3rd-great-grandparents on my mother’s side. They were married in Germantown, Washington Co., Wisconsin. Their third child is my great-great-grandmother, Minnie M MUHM.

1892 – Married – Thomas J CORRIGAN and Emma Jane FIRMENICH. Thomas & Emma are my great-great-grandparents on my father’s side. They were married in Sanborn, Ashland Co., Wisconsin. This was Thomas’ second marriage and Emma’s first. Their first child, Maurice CORRIGAN, is my great-grandfather.

1999 – Died – Richard Joseph ZALEWSKI. Richard is my grandfather. He was born 9 Dec 1921 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and married my grandmother, Mary Jane CORRIGAN, on 11 Oct 1947. He lived part of his life in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and then settled down in Cedarburg, Ozaukee Co., Wisconsin for the remainder of his life. His death was one of the reasons I got into genealogy and one of the reasons I wish I would’ve got into it sooner.

CategoriesFamily TreePersonalZalewski

Dusty Old Letters

When I bought my house in 2005, I ended up purchasing my grandparent’s house. My grandpa had passed away in 1999 and my grandma was moving into an assisted living apartment since she hurt herself in a little fall. I did get a very nice deal on the house. It’s perfect “starter” house, being the house that they bought new in 1955 and that my dad and his siblings grew up in.

When she moved, a bunch of boxes were left in the basement. Most of it was just things like blankets and pots and pans, things she doesn’t need right now. I found one box a few months back when I was taking inventory that I saw had funeral cards and old newspaper clippings in it. Today, I decided to just browse through them to see if there were any of my ancestors that I could use to squeeze out some more information.

I only found a few funeral cards on the top and they were probably of old friends, I assume, and not relatives. But, I did find a nice collection in the news clippings box. Most of the items were just random clippings of recent photos and articles from the newspapers. But, I did find a nice selection of old obituaries, though. A couple were straight from the newspapers and a few others were copies. The obituaries that I found were from Emma Jane (FIRMENICH) COOK (my gg-grandmother), George S COOK (Emma’s 3rd husband), Margaret (STEARNS) BRAATZ (my gg-grandmother), Frank F BRAATZ, Sr (her husband and my gg-grandfather), and Margaret (SCHUMACHER) STEARNS (her mother and my ggg-grandmother.) Most of the obituaries didn’t have any new info of note, but the big find was the last one. In my tree, all I had was “Margaret” listed and her death date. This obituary gave me her birth info and her surname, which is brand new to me. Plus, it listed all of her siblings and locations. I need to start looking for SCHUMACHER now, any tips?

Another treasure find in the box was some old letters written to my grandfather from his parents in 1941. It seems, from the address that he was in navy school in Pensacola, Florida. There are about 5-10 letters all written from March 31, 1941 to April 27, 1941. One weird note here is that my great-grandmother, his mother, Emily (TROKA) ZALEWSKI, passed away on May 1, 1941. In the later letters that I just quickly scanned through, there is no mention of being sick, etc. So, this points to her death being quite sudden as she was only 45 years old at the time. Maybe my grandfather saved these letters due to the fact that he was away in Florida when his mother died. There are no letters beyond the April 27th one. I am in the process of scanning them so I can read them and archive them. This is the only comunication from my great-grandmother that I’ve found. Then, I plan on taking this box over to my grandmother since I’m assuming she’ll want it.