Tombstone Tuesday: Hugo Aloysius Pape, 1879-1961

Grave of Hugo Aloysius Pape at St. Henry's Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois.  Photo courtesy Bill Thayer

 Hugo Aloysius Pape was the son of my great-grandfather John Pape's brother Anton and his first wife, Regina Elisabeth Allers.  Hugo was born in Bödefeld, Hochsauerlandkreis, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany, on  November 10, 1879. He and his parents emigrated from Bremen, Germany, on the Weser, arriving in Baltimore, Maryland, on April 5, 1883. The family settled in Evanston, Illinois. Hugo served as a private in Battery G of the Army's Fifth Regiment of Artillery in the Spanish-American War, and was later a commander of a Spanish-American War veterans group (per Evanston, 1924).

photo courtesy Jim Heckenbach

In the 1900 Census and 1901 Evanston City Directory, Hugo was living at 1131 Sherman Avenue with his stepmother Catherine.  He was a drug store clerk with George P. Mills.  In the 1902 Evanston City Directory, he was still living in the same place, but was now employed by Evanston Electric Illuminating Company.

Hugo married Josephine Didier on June 20, 1905 at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Evanston.  They had five children, Andrew, Helen (later Sister Mary Hugo and Sister Helen, who served from 1985 to 1996 at her home parish of St. Nicholas), Robert, Marion, and Katherine; and eleven grandchildren. Soon after his marriage, Hugo began a 45-year career as a locomotive engineer with the North Western Railway. He also served as an alderman with the City of Evanston in the late 1930s.

Hugo died on May 3, 1961, in Wilmette, Illinois, and was buried at St. Henry's Cemetery in Chicago.

I did find one newspaper article pertaining to Hugo's time as an alderman (this story was picked up on the wires):

Based on an article I found from 25 years earlier (at left), it looks like the Hugo Pape family had lots of problems with their various Michaels/Michels family neighbors, while living at 822 (and later, 1002, through at least 1942) Mulford in Evanston!

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.