Those Places / Treasure Chest Thursday: 1959 Houston Directory; Sam Houston Park

photo courtesy Bill R. Hill

This isn't really my treasure - my high school friend Bill posted this photo on Facebook.  He found this 1959 Houston directory among his mother's things after she passed away three and a half years ago - you can see names and numbers scribbled on the cover.  Of course Bill is now getting requests from his friends who grew up in Houston to look up their parents' old phone numbers.

In 1959, my parents, Fred & Gerrie Pape, were living with me and my sister Karen at 7913 Cedel Drive in the Spring Branch area of Houston.  Bill says our phone number listed in the book was HOmestead 8-6002.  The Homestead exchange definitely rings a bell with me.  I was age 7 when we moved away from this house to 8015 Sharpview in Houston, where I memorized our number: PRescott 4-5681, later PR4-5681, later 774-5681.

Of the cover photo, Bill notes that "the predominate building on the far left is City Hall; in the center is the Bank of the Southwest. Both these buildings are still standing but cannot be seen from this vantage point with all the construction since."  (Click on the photo to enlarge it.)  He originally thought the photo was taken looking east on Allen Parkway, just east of Waugh Drive.

However, the statue on the left in the photo caught my eye - it's not in the Allen Parkway / Waugh vicinity today, so I was wondering if it had been moved.  After a little research, I figured out that this is actually the Spirit of the Confederacy statue in Sam Houston Park.  

Souvenir Folder of Houston, Texas - Confederacy Monument in Sam Houston Park, Houston, Texas, [1912-1924], Historic Texas Postcards, Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries, accessed September 27, 2017, http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/p15195coll16/item/358/show/351.

The bronze statue on a pedestal of rough-hewn granite was sculpted by Italian immigrant Louis Amateis (who also did the Brownie statue at the Houston Zoo). It was dedicated in January 1908. A 1912 postcard shows it to be even higher above the road level then than it was on the cover of the 1959 directory.  It is still in the same spot, albeit lower (or perhaps earth has been mounded up around it), and more surrounded by trees, so it is hardly visible from this same vantage point, where Allen Parkway enters the downtown area just west of the park and splits into Lamar and Dallas streets.

 Spirit of the Confederacy, Sam Houston Park [6 January 2013, cropped] / Brian Reading - Own work / CC BY-SA 3.0

© Amanda Pape - 2017 - click here to e-mail me.

Tombstone Tuesday: Leonas and Ona Radauskas, St. Casimir Lithuanian Catholic Cemetery, Chicago

Here is the marker for the graves of Leonas "Leo" Radauskas (1889-1973) and his wife Ona "Anna" Tamošiūnaite Radauskas Marcinkus (1907-1988), at St. Casimir [Lithuanian] Catholic Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois:

photo by Christine Sheets Nutile via FindAGrave

The words "Ilsekis Ramybeje" at the bottom of the cross are Lithuanian for "Rest in Peace."  Here are photos of the engravings for Leonas and Ona at the base of the stone:

photo by Christine Sheets Nutile via FindAGrave

photo by Christine Sheets Nutile via FindAGrave

There are two other names engraved on the stone.  On the far right, it says "Agota Zakaras 1902-".  This was supposed to be for Leonas' sister Agota "Agnes" Radauskas Phillips Zaker (1902-1980), but she is buried in the same cemetery next to her second husband.  

The other name, on the far left, is "Justin Kiskunas 1892-1978."  He was buried in the plot on February 13, 1978, with "o.t. [one-time?] permit #161," according to the burial record available at FamilySearch.org.  That record shows only that his home address was Toronto, Canada.  Some Canadian records at Ancestry.com (not fully accessible to me, since I don't have a world membership there) indicate that he was living in Ontario province in 1972.  

My third cousin Osvaldas Guokas discovered a birth record for Justinas Kiškūnas that proves he is Ona's uncle, younger brother to Ona's mother, Agota Kiškūnaitė (born about 1875).  They were both children of Baltramiejus Kiškūnas and Ona Dzinkus Kiškūnienė.


© Amanda Pape - 2017 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Steponas Radauskas and Family, ABT 1943

This is a photograph from Lithuania in about 1943 of my first cousin twice removed Steponas Radauskas (1899-1944), his wife Bronislova "Bronė" Skačkauskaitė Radauskienė (1905-1961), his son Petras Radauskas (1937-2004), and his daughter Aldona Radauskaitė Zigmantavičienė (born 1934).  They also had a son Antanas, who was born about 1934 and died about 1935 (perhaps a twin to Aldona?).

Steponas Radauskas was born February 14, 1899, the tenth of the twelve children of Ignatijus Radauskas (ABT 1858-1913) and Agota Guokaitė Radauskienė (1861-1942, my great-grandfather Charles Guokas' sister) from the village Gikoniai in the Rozalimas parish.  He married Bronislava Skačkauskaitė January 29, 1929, in Šeduva, in the Radviliskis district municipality in Lithuania.

My third cousin Osvaldas Guokas tells the following story about Steponas.  During the Nazi occupation in World War II, Steponas Radauskas was a seniūnas - village elder. He was friendly with all in the village and always informed them when Nazis were coming for "contributions." One person from Gikoniai remembers that when Steponas warned them, this person quickly tried to catch a hen in the yard and hide. But the Nazi soldier came during this action. He remember that Steponas Radauskas said some words to the soldier in German, and there was no problem.

According to Osvaldas, Steponas Radauskas found a Russian grenade lost in the fields near the end of World War II.  He tried to detonate it in the nearby river Daugyvenė.  But something went wrong.  People from the nearby village of Gikoniai heard an explosion and when they found Steponas, he was dead from very serious injuries in the belly area.

Steponas, Brone, and Antanas are all buried in the Rozalimas cemetery.

The photo in this post came from the private album of Aldona Radauskaitė Zigmantavičienė, the daughter of Steponas Radauskas and the little girl in the photo above.   Thank you Aldona!  Thanks also to Osvaldas Guokas, who has been sharing all these photographs and information with me!

© Amanda Pape - 2017 - click here to e-mail me.

(Not-So-) Wordless Wednesday: Joseph Polianski Jr. and his Lithuanian Uncles, 1930

In 1930, my first cousin twice removed Anastasia (Anastazija) Radauskas Polianski (1892-1978) traveled back to Lithuania to visit members of her family of origin who were still living there.  She took her then-youngest son Joseph Anthony Polianski Jr. (1924-2002).  While there, the family members still in Lithuania had a portrait taken with their American daughter/sibling and her son.  Joseph also posed for this picture with his Lithuanian uncles.

Standing from the left are brothers Ignacijus Radauskas (Jr., born 1894), Steponas Radauskas (1899-1944), and Kazimieras Radauskas (born 1886). Sitting are Petras Palujanskas (ABT. 1891-1954), the husband of Virginija Radauskaitė and the brother of Anastazija Radauskaitė Polianski's husband Joseph Sr.; and Joseph Anthony Polianski Jr. (1924-2002) from America, son of Anastazija Radauskaitė Polianski.

The photo in this post came from the private album of Aldona Radauskaitė Zigmantavičienė, the daughter of Steponas Radauskas, a brother of Leo Radauskas.   Thank you Aldona!  Thanks also to Osvaldas Guokas, who has been sharing all these photographs and information with me!


© Amanda Pape - 2017 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Radauskas Family in Lithuania, 1930

In 1930, my first cousin twice removed Anastasia (Anastazija) Radauskas Polianski (1892-1978) traveled back to Lithuania to visit members of her family of origin who were still living there.  She took her then-youngest son Joseph Anthony Polianski Jr. (1924-2002).  While there, the family members still in Lithuania had this portrait taken with their American daughter/sibling and her son.

Back row from left: Petras Palujanskas (ABT 1891-1954), husband of Virginija Radauskaitė and brother of Anastasia's husband Joseph Polianski; Steponas Radauskas (1899-1944) and wife Bronė (Bronislova Skačkauskaitė Radauskienė, 1905-1961), daughter of Petras Skačkauskas; Bronė (Bronislova) Tamošiūnaite Radauskienė, wife of Ignacijus Radauskas (Jr.) and cousin to Bronė Skačkauskaitė Radauskienė; Ignacijus Radauskas (junior, b. 1894); Kazimieras Radauskas (b. 1886).

Front row from left: Adelė Palujanskaitė, daughter of Petras and Virginija Radauskaitė Palujanskas; Virginija Radauskaitė Palujanskienė (1896-1968), Joseph; Anastazija; Agota Guokaitė Radauskienė (1861-1942), mother of Virginija, Steponas, Ignacijus Jr., and Kazimieras, and Anastazija; and Teklė Savickaitė Radauskienė, wife of Kazimieras Radauskas.

I would have posted this picture sooner, but we were unsure of the identity of the little boy until recently (we thought he might have been Joseph's younger brother Edward, born in 1934).  My third cousin Mary Gina showed the picture to Joseph's widow, who confirmed it was him.  Mary Gina says, "I remember my mother telling me that her brother, Joseph, went to Lithuania when he was a child."  I also found the passenger list for Anastasia's and Joseph's return to New York City on August 20, 1930.

The photo in this post came from the private album of Aldona Radauskaitė Zigmantavičienė, the daughter of Steponas Radauskas, a brother of Leo Radauskas.   Thank you Aldona!  Thanks also to Osvaldas Guokas, who has been sharing all these photographs and information with me!

© Amanda Pape - 2017 - click here to e-mail me.

Friday's Faces from the Past: Old Photos at the Memorial Service

Wonderful old family photos and a newspaper clipping on display at the luncheon following the memorial service this past Sunday for my uncle Frank James "Bud" Streff Sr. (1925-2014) and aunt Elizabeth "Betty" Marie Pape Streff (1927-2017).  I really hope my Streff cousins digitize and share the photos on this board SOON!  I see lots of family stories here - besides Papes and Streffs of various generations, I see Hedgers, Dietzes, and Massmanns too! (Click on the photo to view a larger version.)


© Amanda Pape - 2017 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wednesday: Streff Memorial - Family Reunion

A memorial service this past Sunday for my uncle Frank James "Bud" Streff Sr. (1925-2014) and aunt Elizabeth "Betty" Marie Pape Streff (1927-2017) morphed into a fun family reunion.  The photo above was taken just before the luncheon after the memorial service at the cemetery, and includes family from Bud's side and Betty's side.


© Amanda Pape - 2017 - click here to e-mail me.

Matrilineal Monday: Happy 87th Birthday to My Aunt (tomorrow)

Jo Ann (now Sister Jean Marie) Guokas, dressed up perhaps for a high school dance in the mid-1940s.

© Amanda Pape - 2017 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Happy 63rd Anniversary to My Parents (tomorrow)

Frederick Henry Pape and Geraldine Margaret Guokas,

married September 11, 1954, in Houston, Texas

© Amanda Pape - 2017 - click here to e-mail me.

Fearless Females Addilee Harris and Lemore Stroud, 1960s

Today, September 9, is the 90th birthday of my first cousin twice removed Elise Lemore Thompson Stroud.  She is the oldest daughter of a younger sister (Euna Ann Shelton Thompson, 1905-1959) of my great-grandmother Addilee Tennessee Shelton Wolfe Odom Harris (1890-1977).

By 1935, Addilee and her third husband, Charles Burroughs Harris (1887-1959), had moved back to Louisiana from Texas.  Charles and Euna both died in 1959, within two weeks of each other, and Addilee and Lemora became close, as evidenced by this photograph, in an album owned by my first cousin twice removed Shirley Thompson, Lemora's youngest sister, which I got to see at a Shelton family reunion in June 2016.

The photo above is probably from sometime in the 1950s or 1960s.


© Amanda Pape - 2017 - click here to e-mail me.

Friday's Faces from the Past: 2093 W. Lunt, Chicago, Illinois, 1952-3 and 2017

I superimposed two photographs onto a present-day photograph of 2093 W. Lunt Avenue in Chicago's West Ridge / Rogers Park neighborhood, where my father Fred Pape's family lived from about 1927 to about 1955.  One photo, from around April 1952, is of my father, home on military leave, his brother-in-law Frank James "Bud" Streff Sr. (1925-2014), and family friend Bill Doyle.  The other photo, from about 1953, is of Dad's sister and Bud's wife, Elizabeth "Betty" Marie Pape Streff (1927-2017), and her two oldest daughters, Rosemary Jean Streff Grandusky (1949-2016) and Marianne.

Here's the view of the east front side of the house from August 9, 2017:

© Amanda Pape - 2017 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wednesday: 2547 Hastings, Evanston, Illinois, 1962 and 2017

I superimposed a photograph from March 1962 of my paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Florence Massmann Pape (1902-2000) on the front steps of hers and my paternal grandfather Paul Robert Pape's home at 2547 Hastings Avenue, Evanston, Illinois, onto a present-day photograph of that triplex home, where they lived from about 1956 until about a year after Paul's death in April 1971:

Here's a more wide-angle view of the home, still with Nana on the front step, showing the second floor:





And finally, here's the view of the home as it looked on August 7, 2017.  Other than being painted red and the storm door removed, the front door appears to be the same, and the house number is the original sailboat design (that also appears in a 1956 photo taken on these same front steps).

© Amanda Pape - 2017 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: 1043 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, Illinois, 1918 and 2017

I superimposed a photograph of my great-grandparents, John Pape (1851-1945) and Gertrude Kramer (or Cramer) Pape (1859-1919) along with three of their four sons, probably from December 1918, standing in front of their home at 1043 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, Illinois, onto a present-day photograph of that home, which John built in 1893:

From left to right, the sons, standing in front in uniform, are my grandfather Paul Robert Pape (1896-1970), his younger brother Walter Francis Pape (1900-1975) and his older brother Leo John "Lee" Pape (1893-1979). Walter is recorded as having enlisted in the Army on October 5, 1918, and released November 14 of that year.  Lee served in the Navy from July 19, 1917 to February 15, 1919.  I could not find a record, but it appears that Paul served in the Navy as well.

And here is the "present-day" photo in full, from August 10, 2017, almost 99 years after the black-and-white photo was taken, probably in December 1918.

© Amanda Pape - 2017 - click here to e-mail me.

Friday's Faces From the Past: 1043 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, Illinois: ABT 1905 and 2017

I superimposed a photograph from about 1905 of my great-grandmother, Gertrude Kramer (or Cramer) Pape (1859-1919) with her children and niece, on the front steps of their home at 1043 Sherman Avenue, Evanston, Illinois, onto a present-day photograph of that home, which my great-grandfather John Pape (1859-1945) built in 1893:





I think those in the top row are (from the left) Gertrude's daughter Martha Elisabeth Pape Bleidt (1890-1981, standing), niece Emma Genevieve Pape Childs (ABT 1885-ABT 1937, sitting), Gertrude, and daughter Rhea Maria Pape (1892-1977, standing).

Those in the bottom row are my grandfather Paul Robert Pape (1896-1970, standing), his younger brothers Walter Francis Pape (1900-1975) and Otto Richard "Dick" Pape (1898-1972, both sitting), his oldest sister Clara M. Pape (1889-1975, sitting), and his older brother Leo John "Lee" Pape (1893-1979, standing).  No idea about the dog.

And here is the "present-day" photo in full, from August 10, 2017, about 112-113 years after the sepia-toned photo was taken, probably in 1904 or 1905.

© Amanda Pape - 2017 - click here to e-mail me.