Mappy Monday: Chicago Nostalgia Trip

I just got back from a week-long visit to Chicago that included visits to all the sites in green (both pegs and diamonds) and orange.  Diamonds are museums or libraries; pegs are mostly houses, apartment buildings, or churches.  Green indicates an original building that I visited and/or photographed; orange means the original building is no longer there but I visited the site.  Blue indicates facilities I didn't get to visit this time that are still standing; red means I also didn't see it this visit but the original building is gone.  Purple pegs and yellow stars are other points of reference for this visit, not relevant to family history.

You can use the plus or minus in the lower left corner to enlarge or reduce the size of the map.  Click on a marker to read more about it - and maybe even see a photograph!  You can also click on the map and drag it around to better view different areas.

Markers are in Wilmette, Evanston, Rogers Park and West Ridge in far north Chicago, and Bridgeport and Marquette Park in the near south side of Chicago.  There are a number of other markers for places on the north side of Chicago that I was not able to visit on this trip; those will be for the future!

Watch this blog for future posts on these sites!



View Evanston and North Chicago, Illinois in a larger map


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

Wordless Wedding Wednesday: Another J. D. Toloff Photo

Martha Pape Bleidt on her wedding day, May 11, 1921
Photo by Joseph David (J. D.) Toloff (1888-1957), Evanston, Illinois

Jim Craig has an excellent blog post about Toloff, with more examples of his work.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Church Record Sunday: Walter Francis Pape Baptism, August 1900

Above are the pages for 1899-1900 from the baptismal registry of St. Philomena Catholic Church in Chicago that have the baptismal record for my paternal great uncle, Walter Francis Pape.  His record is second from the bottom of the page.

Below is an enlargement of Walter's record, with the information from the left page placed above the information from the right page to make it easier to read.

From the left on the top row are:

• the record number, from the beginning of the registry in August 1893, with the number for that year (1900) in parentheses.  Walter's was the 278th baptism overall and the 26th in 1900.
• Walter's baptismal name, Francis Walter*
• Walter's date of birth, August 2, 1900
• Walter's baptism date, August 12, 1900
• his father's name, John Pape

and on the second row, from the left:

• his mother's maiden name, Gertrude Cramer
• his godfather's name, Francis J. Senge**
• his godmother's name, Cath[erine] Wahle, and
• the name of the priest who performed the baptism, Rev. J. P. Schiffer***

*Walter was baptized Francis Walter, probably to honor his godfather, but was always called Walter and used F. as a middle initial.

**Francis "Frank" J. Senge was John Pape's business partner at this time, at nearby 883/885/889 Armitage Avenue in Chicago, in Senge & Pape dry goods merchants.  John briefly (some time between 1899 and 1904) rented out his home at 1043 Sherman Avenue in Evanston, and on the 1900 Census (shortly before Walter's birth), the family was renting at 1072 (now 1943) Lawndale Avenue in Chicago, close to the store and to St. Philomena.

***This signature was copied from the previous page in the registry, where it was legible.  According to page 96 of the 1909 Chicago Blue Book of Selected Names of Chicago and Suburban Towns: Containing the Names and Addresses of Prominent Residents, Schiffer was pastor of the parish in that year.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wedding Wednesday: Elizabeth Massmann Pape, September 3, 1924

Photo by Joseph David (J. D.) Toloff (1888-1957), Evanston, Illinois

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Church Record Sunday: Elizabeth Florence Massmann Baptism, January 1903

This is the entry in the baptism register for St. Benedict Catholic Church in Chicago, Illinois, for my paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Florence Massmann (1902-2000).  At that time, January 4, 1903, St. Benedict was a wooden church at the corner of Irving Park Road and Leavitt Street.  According to the 1901 Chicago city directory, Elizabeth's parents, Frederick Henry Massmann (1875-1948) and Elizabeth Camilla Dienes Massmann (1876-1946) were living just a couple blocks away at what was then 311 (now 2047 W.) Cuyler Avenue.  My great-great uncle George Herman Massmann (1877-1963) was godfather to his niece, who was born December 23, 1902.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wedding Wednesday: Martha Pape Bleidt, May 11, 1921

 Photo by Joseph David (J. D.) Toloff (1888-1957), Evanston, Illinois.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

(Not-So-) Wordless Wednesday: Pape Children, ABT 1894-1895

The four oldest children of John Pape (1851-1945) and Gertrude Kramer Pape (1859-1919) are identified at the bottom of the photograph.  From left:   Rhea Maria Pape (1892-1977), Clara M. Pape (1889-1975) holding Leo John "Lee" Pape (1893-1979), and Martha Elisabeth Pape Bleidt (1890-1981).  A note on the back of the photo says "1894-1895," so Clara would have been about age 5, Martha 4, Rhea 2, and Lee age 1.

The only one of these four that I haven't written much about in the past is Clara, so I will tell what I know here.  She was born August 12, 1889, in Evanston, Illinois, and baptized three days later at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Evanston.  She was named and baptized Clara Martha (hence the middle initial M.), but apparently rarely used her middle name, perhaps to avoid confusion with her younger sister Martha.  She was also confirmed at St. Nicholas on October 28, 1906.

Clara never married and lived with her family of origin through at least 1910.  On that U.S. Census, she is living at the family home at 1043 Sherman Avenue in Evanston, and is a stenographer for an insurance office.

By 1912, though, Clara is in Sioux City, Iowa, according to that city directory.  She is a stenographer at S C Brew Co., and boards at 1218 Douglas.  In 1914, Clara appears in the Mason City, Iowa, city directory, rooming at 314 Swasey with her younger sister Rhea.  Both are stenographers.  In 1915, the city directory shows Clara back in Sioux City, a stenographer for Davidson Bros. Co., boarding at 115 12th.

The 1920 and 1930 U.S. Censuses show Clara still in Sioux City, and city directories for intervening years as well as 1931 and 1932 place her there too, still working as a stenographer (and, by 1931, as a secretary) for Davidson Brothers department store, but living at various addresses.

Clara Pape and her nephew Jack Bleidt,
"San Francisco - Roof of 2905 Van Ness", February 11, 1956

In 1933, however, Clara can be found in the Des Moines, Iowa, city directory, listed as a private secretary to the State Auditor, and later (1940-1944) as a statistician in his office.  Clara continued to live in Des Moines through at least 1946.  Through 1941, she lived at 1338 Capitol Avenue, Apt. 6; from 1943 through 1946, she was sharing her home with niece Pat Pape. Clara may have left Des Moines after that, as she does not appear in the 1947 or 1949 Des Moines directories.  It will be interesting to see where she was when the 1950 U.S. Census is made available in April 2022.

Clara next appears in San Francisco, California, in its 1955 city directory, living at 2905 VanNess Avenue, Apt. 302.  She's also at this address in 1959 and is listed in the city directory as an employee at the Presidio.  By 1968, sister Rhea had joined her in San Francisco, after Rhea's only daughter Pat Pape Parks died in an automobile accident.  Clara appears again in the 1970 and 1974 San Francisco city directories, living at 935 Geary.

At age 85, though, Clara apparently went home to Illinois, and moved in with her younger widower brother Lee at his home in Wilmette.  She died there on November 25, 1975.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Surname Saturday: PAPE Cousin Bait - part 4

For the past three Saturdays, I have shared a letter written by my great aunt Martha Elisabeth Pape Bleidt (1890-1980), my paternal grandfather's older sister, in 1969.  She sent it to a distant cousin, Lawrence Pape, who'd found me through this blog.

Aunt Martha's letter started out "Grandfather Pape [Jacob Pape, and his wife Elisabeth Gierse] had 4 sons:  John - Joseph - Anton - Lawrence."

The first three parts of the letter talked about Joseph, Anton, and Lawrence (or Laurenz or Lorenz).  The last part is about the oldest son, John, who is my great-grandfather and Martha's father.

Transcription:  John Pape had three wives.  John Pape and his first wife had 2 daughters.  The mother and the two children passed away.  Then John went back to Germany and married Gertrude Kramer and came back to Evanston, Illinois.  They had 7 children.  Clara, Martha, Rhea, Leo, Paul, Dick, and Walter.  Clara, Rhea, Dick, and Walter are not married.  Leo married Gretchen Reis and she has passed away.  Paul is married to Betty Massmann and they have 5 children and 28 grandchildren.  I, Martha, was married to Charles Bleidt (who passed away 10 years ago) and we had 3 children.  Now I have 7 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren.  I hope this gives you the information you desire.  Martha Pape Bleidt (over) - My father's third wife was Henrietta Reimer (We called her Aunt Agnes).  She passed away in 1937.  My father passed away March 9 - 1945."

--

John (born Johannes) Pape was born October 25, 1851, in Bödefeld, Westphalia, Germany, and baptized in the Roman Catholic Church three days later.  He apparently served in the Kaiser's army sometime before emigrating to the United States about 1880 (according to three US Census records) or 1881 (according to the 1930 Census).  I have not yet found him on a passenger list, nor any definitive naturalization records - John Pape is a more common name than I thought.

I was aware of John's first wife from the probate for my Uncle Walt, who died intestate in late December, 1975.  The 1910 Census also indicates he had this first marriage, and the 1930 Census indicates he was 28 when it occurred, which would have been about 1879..  I don't know the name of this wife or the two daughters, nor when they died.  It's not clear from Aunt Martha's letter whether these deaths occurred before or after John came to America. [ETA - I now know the names, and that the deaths occurred in 1886 and 1887.  More on this in a future post.]

However, by 1882-1883, John is living in Evanston, Illinois, according to that city directory, working as a carpenter with a home on the west side of Sherman Avenue, south of Greenleaf.

According to Martha's letter, John went back to Germany and married his second wife, Gertrude Kramer (or Cramer, 1859-1919), around 1888.  They came back to Evanston and had seven children.

According to the 1890 Census and city directories, they lived at 1043 Sherman Avenue in Evanston through 1899.  John moved from being a carpenter to a partnership in Senge & Pape Dry Goods.  In 1900, the U.S. Census shows the family living at 1072 (now 1943) Lawndale Avenue on the north side of Chicago, and John is a dry goods merchant at nearby 889 (now 3060) Armitage (with Senge & Pape). The family's house at 1043 Sherman Avenue in Evanston was rented out.  By 1904, according to the Evanston city directory, the family is back at the Sherman Avenue address, where they remained through at least 1925 (according to a city directory).  Gertrude died there of liver cancer on August 20, 1919, according to her death certificate (Martha does not note her death in this letter).

On the 1930 Census, John is living with his third wife, Hedwige (not Henrietta) Agnes Burkhardt Reimer (1872-1937), at 1949 Lunt in Chicago, not far from his son Paul (at 2093 Lunt).  According to the 1940 Census, John is living in Chicago in 1935, and at 3648 N. Hoyne in Chicago in 1940 with his single sons Walter and Dick (and around the corner from daughter Martha Pape Bleidt at 2043 Waveland).  John died at this address of liver cancer on March 9, 1945.  John and Gertrude are buried at St. Henry's Cemetery in Chicago. 

Standing, from left:  Lee Pape, Walter Pape, unknown priest, Dick Pape
Seated, from left:  Paul Pape, Elizabeth Massmann Pape, Martha Pape Bleidt, Clara Pape

Rhea Pape

The picture above includes six of the seven Pape siblings, the children of John and Gertrude Kramer Pape.   Clara M. Pape (1889-1975), Martha Elisabeth Pape Bleidt (1890-1981),  Leo John "Lee" Pape (1893-1979), Paul Robert Pape (1896-1970), Otto Richard "Dick" Pape (1898-1972), and Walter Francis Pape (1900-1975).  Third child and daughter Rhea Maria Pape (1892-1977) is not in the picture above; perhaps she took it (it was provided by her granddaughter).  I've included a photo of Rhea at left that may have been from approximately the same time (this was also provided by her granddaughter).

At the time Martha wrote the letter in 1969 or early 1970, she had three children (a son, daughter, and older stepdaughter), seven grandchildren (two of these were step-grandchildren, and there was one more grandson born in 1973), and four great-grandchildren (at that point).  While she mentions brother Paul's five children and 28 grandchildren as of 1970, she forgets to mention Rhea's daughter Patricia Pape Hunter Parks (perhaps because Pat died in auto accident in 1967), and Pat's five daughters and two granddaughters at that point.

I've written about Martha, Rhea, Lee, and Paul and their spouses and children in previous posts - I will write about the single, childless ones - Clara, Dick, and Walter - in future posts.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Surname Saturday: PAPE Cousin Bait - part 3

Martha Elisabeth Pape, 26 years old, about 1916 or 1917.
Photo by J. D. Toloff, Evanston, Ill.

For the past two Saturdays, I have shared a letter written by my great aunt Martha Elisabeth Pape Bleidt (1890-1980), my paternal grandfather's older sister, in 1969.  She sent it to a distant cousin, Lawrence Pape, who'd found me through this blog.

I learned something interesting about Aunt Martha while having lunch with my dad last Saturday.  She was quite a singer in her younger days, but a tonsillectomy damaged her vocal cords and ruined a potential career.

Aunt Martha's letter started out "Grandfather Pape [Jacob Pape, and his wife Elisabeth Gierse] had 4 sons:
John - Joseph - Anton - Lawrence."

The first two parts of the letter talked about Joseph and Anton.  The next part is about Lawrence (or Laurenz, as it is spelled in Germany, or Lorenz, as he apparently spelled it after coming to America).

Lorenz was the youngest of the four sons, born October 30, 1862, in Bödefeld, Westphalia, Germany.  Sometime in or before 1889, he married his first wife, Maria Henrietta Kamp, who died sometime between 1896 and 1899.  As it says below, they had six children:

Transcription:  "Your grandfather Lawrence Pape had two wives.  Your grandfather and his first wife had six children.  Karl, Joseph, Ewald.  These are your uncles.  August - your father.  Marie and Nellie.  These are your aunts.  Your grandfather and his second wife had two children, Margaret (your Aunt) and Lawrence (your uncle who lives in Germany).  If you write to your Uncle Ewald who lives at 7440 - 4th Place Downey Cal. 90241 he would be able to tell you all about your father's family."

Karl James (1889-1958), Joseph John Anton (1891-1936), Maria/Mary [Mrs. Herman Walter] (1892-1977), August Peter (1893-1947), Ewald Theodore (1894-1976), and Petronella "Nellie" [Mrs. George Arendt] (1896-1930), were all born in Düsseldorf, Germany.

By 1899, Lorenz had married again, a Maria Brauman, and had two more children:  Lorenz Jr. (1899-1977), and Margaret "Grete" [Mrs. Louis Travaglini and Mrs. Arthur Hammes] (1901-1988), were also born in Düsseldorf.

Lorenz, Karl, and August arrived in Boston on May 27, 1913, aboard the Marquette out of Antwerp, Belgium.  Joseph, Maria, Ewald, and Nellie arrived later that year, on December 4, in New York, aboard the Friedrich Der Grosse.  They all went to stay with my great-grandfather, John Pape, at his home at 1043 Sherman Avenue in Evanston, Illinois.

The following year, the family is listed in the 1914 Evanston City Directory as living at 1622 Forest Avenue in Wilmette.  Lorenz, Karl, and August are all painters.  In June 1917, the family is still at this address, according to the World War I draft registration cards of Karl, Joseph, August (who all work for Lorenz) and Ewald (who works as a millman for Evanston Labor Co.).

Sometime between June 1917 and May 1919, Lorenz, Karl, Maria, Ewald, and Nellie moved to Wisconsin.  Joseph and August both married Chicago-area girls (in 1918 and 1919 respectively) and stayed in Wilmette, operating the painting/decorating business.

Maria married German immigrant Herman Walter (of Nekoosa as of 1917) on May 27, 1919, in Nekoosa, Wisconsin.  Lorenz is on the 1920 census in nearby Port Edwards, owning his own farm, with sons Karl and Ewald and daughter Petronella.  She married Illinois native George Arendt (who'd been in Wisconsin since at least 1910) in Nekoosa on May 18 of that year.  By December 11, 1920, Ewald is in Fort Logan, Colorado.   An article in the March 18, 1921, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune states, "Lawrence Pape was among the German Settlement residents who visited in Nekoosa on business Thursday."

However, by July 2, 1923, Lorenz and Karl are apparently back in Wilmette, Illinois, according to the passenger list for the arrival of his youngest daughter Grete from Germany that day.  Karl and Ewald both married Illinois girls later that year, but in Ewald's case, the marriage took place in Vancouver, Washington, and he moved to Portland, Oregon, shortly thereafter, where he had a successful architectural career. (Interestingly, half-brother Lorenz Jr, who stayed in Germany with his mother, was also an architect, in Solingen.)  Like his other brothers and father before him, Karl was a painter and decorator.

Daughter Nellie's July 28, 1930, obituary indicates Lorenz Sr. was living in Chicago, but I could not find him anywhere on the census that year.  He died March 23, 1932, following six weeks of illness with pneumonia, at the home of his daughter Mary in Nekoosa, Wisconsin, and is buried in Sacred Heart (Riverside) Cemetery there.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Surname Saturday: PAPE Cousin Bait - Part 2

Martha Elisabeth Pape, 26 years old, about 1916 or 1917.
Photo by J. D. Toloff, Evanston, Ill.

Last Saturday, I started to share a letter written by my great aunt Martha Elisabeth Pape Bleidt (1890-1980), my paternal grandfather's older sister, in 1969.  She sent it to a distant cousin, Lawrence Pape, who'd found me through this blog.

The letter stated that "Grandfather Pape [Jacob Pape, and his wife Elisabeth Gierse] had 4 sons:
John - Joseph - Anton - Lawrence."

Martha had said, "We know nothing of Joseph as he lived in Germany and my father never told us anything about him."

Since 1969, though, we learned a little about second son Joseph, who I wrote about last week.

The second part of  the letter talks about Anton Pape, the third son, who was born September 28, 1854, in Boedefeld, Westphalia, Germany, and who arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, on April 5, 1883, on the Weser out of Bremen, Germany.  He was traveling with his son Hugo Aloysius Pape, then age 3, and a 22-year-old woman listed as Regina Pape, who I assumed to be Hugo's mother.

I was a little surprised to find a marriage certificate dated a little over five weeks later, on May 13, 1883, for the marriage of Anton and Regina Elisabeth Allers, by Father A. J. Thiele, rector at St. Henry Catholic Church at Devon and Ridge in Rose Hill (now part of Chicago's Far North Side).  I just assumed they were married again for some sort of legal reasons in the United States.  Aunt Martha's letter clarified that mystery - but left some other puzzles unsolved:

Transcription:  "Anton Pape had three wives.  The first wife and Uncle Anton had a son - Hugo.  When Hugo was a very little boy, his mother died.  Uncle Anton married a sister of Hugo's mother which was his second wife.  Of this union a daughter was born named Emma.  After a few years Emma's mother died.  After a few years Uncle Anton married a third time.  Her name was Katherine Hoffman and this is the only Aunt we knew.  No children were born of this marriage."

The new piece of information for me here was that Anton had THREE wives, and that Hugo and his sister Emma Genevieve Pape Childs were actually half-siblings, and also cousins, as their mothers were sisters!

I feel this provides more evidence for my assumption that Regina is Emma's mother, although I have found no proof of that yet.  I think this letter does confirm that Katherine "Kate" Regina Hoffman (1860-1927), is NOT Emma's mother, but is the stepmother who actually raised Emma.

It looks like Emma was born somewhere between 1883 and 1886 (based on censuses, birth records for her children, and her marriage record).   I believe I have found a record for the death of Regina, on the Illinois Statewide Death Index, Pre – 1916.  This Regina died March 15, 1887, in Cook County, at age 25, meaning she was born around 1862, which is about right (based on the April 1883 Baltimore passenger list, and her marriage certificate with Anton Pape).   Since Regina died when Emma was age one to four years old (approximately), and Anton married Katherine a little over a year later (May 8, 1888, at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Evanston, Illinois), I think Katherine raised Emma and that is why Emma referred to her as her mother (and why Katherine was the only aunt that Martha, born in 1890, ever knew).

Aunt Martha went on to write, on page 2:

Transcription:  "Hugo and Emma were first cousins of your father.  Hugo was married to Josephine Didier.  Hugo had five children.  Hugo and his wife passed away about nine years ago.  Emma was married to August Childs.  They had 8 children.  Emma passed away in 1937.  I don't remember when August died."

The "your father" she refers to is Lawrence Pape's father, August Peter Pape.  The information for Hugo Pape (1879-1961), his wife Josephine Didier Pape (1880-1960), and their five children, match up.  Emma was married to August Solomon Childs (born 1882), and I did find records for seven children, although it appears only four lived to adulthood.  Emma's great-granddaughter told me Emma died in 1937 in Wisconsin, although I have no proof of that.  And unfortunately, no one seems to know when August died (although he was still alive in 1942).  Nor, for that matter, is there a date for Anton's death.  I believe he died about 1893, because at that point, Katherine is listed as a widow in the Evanston [Illinois] City Directory.

I'll post the third part of Aunt Martha's letter next Saturday.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Surname Saturday: PAPE Cousin Bait - Part 1

Martha Elisabeth Pape in 1912, at age 22

In early February 2013, I was contacted by a distant cousin, Lawrence Pape, who'd found me through this blog.  Lawrence sent a copy of a letter he'd received from my great aunt Martha Elisabeth Pape Bleidt (1890-1980), my paternal grandfather's older sister.  Let me tell you a little bit about Martha first.

Martha was born October 19, 1890, in Illinois, probably in Evanston, where she was baptized a week later at St. Nicholas Catholic Church.   She was the second child and second daughter of German immigrants John and Gertrude Kramer Pape.

Martha received her First Communion on May 29, 1904, at St. Nicholas, and was also married there, on May 11, 1921, to Charles Bleidt (1870-1959), a widower with one daughter.  Martha and Charles had one son and one daughter.

Martha was apparently a talented singer.  In the May 22, 1912, Lake Shore News, in "What People Are Doing in Evanston" (page 15, column 2) it says that for the eighth birthday of the Pentalpha Chapter, No. 53, O. F. S.*, "Miss Martha Pape opened the program with a number of vocal selections, rendered in a most pleasing and charming manner."

Martha was that family member that genealogists love, the one that kept the records and the photos and knew the stories.  So when Lawrence (whose father, August Peter Pape, died when Lawrence was only five) wrote her for information about the Pape family, here is what she had to say:

Transcription:  "The Pape Family
Grandfather Pape had 4 sons
John - Joseph - Anton - Lawrence
We know nothing of Joseph as he lived in Germany and my father never told us anything about him."

Based on other information in the letter, I have determined that Martha wrote this in 1969 (she refers to her husband Charles having died ten years earlier, and Charles died in 1959), or early 1970.  Martha's brother Paul Pape, my grandfather, was still alive when this letter was written, and he died in April 1970.

The "Grandfather Pape" she is referring to is Jacob Pape, my great-great-grandfather.

We do know a little about Joseph Pape now.  He was born April 10, 1859, in Boedefeld, Westphalia, Germany, the third son of Jacob Pape and his wife Elisabeth Gierse.   I have met one of his grandsons and four of his great-grandchildren.  How that came about will be explained in tomorrow's post.

This is just the first half of the first page of the letter.   I will share more pages on future Saturdays.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

*O.F.S. is probably supposed to be O.E.S., Order of the Eastern Star

Tombstone Tuesday: August Peter Pape and Frances A. Demuth Pape

August Peter Pape was born August 28, 1893, in Dusseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. He was the fourth of six children of Lorenz Pape (1862-1932) and Maria Henrietta Kamp Pape (who died in Germany between 1896 and 1899). He immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts on May 27, 1913, aboard the ship Marquette out of Antwerp, Belgium, along with his father and older brother Karl. They went to Evanston, Illinois, to join Lorenz's older brother John Pape. By 1917, he, his father, and siblings were living in Wilmette, Illinois. August married Rose Anna Alles on September 19, 1919, in Wilmette; they had a daughter and a son. He was naturalized on March 28, 1922. After the death of Rose in 1929, he married Frances A. Demuth on August 7, 1933; they had a daughter and a son. August was a self-employed painter/decorator. He died March 29, 1947, and is buried at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois.

photo courtesy Amy Windler

Frances A. Demuth Pape was born March 3, 1902, in Saarbrücken, Saarland, Germany. She arrived in New York, New York, on the ship Arabic out of Antwerp, Belgium, on June 25, 1928. She worked as a maid in Wilmette and Winnetka, Illinois, in 1929 and 1931. On August 7, 1933, she married widower August Peter Pape in Wilmette; they had one daughter and one son. In 1937 and 1939, she operated Frances' Day Nursery in Wilmette. She was also a hospice nurse in the mid-1940s.  She was naturalized on January 28, 1947. She died in September 1967, possibly in Seattle, Washington, and is buried next to her husband at All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois.

photo courtesy Amy Windler

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: "Christmas Cousins" Update

A little over a year ago, I first posted this picture in my blog, minus the annotations with the names.  I called it the "Christmas Cousins" picture, because it was obviously taken at Christmas time, and because it's of a bunch of Pape first cousins - the seven children of John and Gertrude Kramer Pape, my great-grandparents, and the six children of John's brother Lorenz (or Laurenz) and his first wife Maria Henrietta Kamp Pape.

Pape cousins at Christmas, probably sometime between 1913 and 1917 inclusive.
Original photo courtesy Mary Kay Schmidt; initial annotations courtesy Lawrence Pape.

Recently, I was contacted by yet another relative who found my blog, Lawrence Pape.  He is the youngest son of Lorenz's son August Peter Pape (1893-1947) and his second wife, Frances A. Demuth (1902-1967).  He sent me the image with the annotations for August and Joseph (and Lee), reversing my (and another cousin's) earlier guess that had August and Joseph the other way around.

I decided to go ahead and add annotations with the names of the other cousins.  As I said earlier, my dad and I are absolutely positive about Clara, Paul, Rhea, and Lee.  Cousin Mary Kay and her mom are absolutely positive about Nellie and Maria.  Martha is the only girl left, so we are pretty sure that is her in front, but its underexposure makes it hard to be sure.  We were kind of guessing on the rest of the guys based on their relative ages, so it's really helpful to have Lawrence's positive identification of his father.

Lawrence also sent a family tree with some additional information.  I've been spending my free time the last few days updating my family tree, and doing a little more research, in order to create a descendants chart for Jacob Pape, my great-great-grandfather and our ancestor in common, so I can send it out to these various cousins for review, corrections, and input.  So far there are 426 people in the chart (which includes spouses of Jacob's direct descendants, but no stepchildren), and I know that's not everybody!  (I also know of at least two more additions coming in the next two months, grandchildren of two of my first cousins.)

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Dad with Nieces, ABT 1953

This photo is of my dad, Frederick "Fred" Henry Pape, and his two oldest nieces, Rosemary and Marianne Streff, daughters of his older sister Elizabeth "Betty" Marie Pape Streff.  Nephew Frank "Bud" Streff Jr. is not in the picture, perhaps because he was too little to pose.  Based on the size of the girls,  I think this photo was taken in December 1953, when Dad brought my mother to meet her future in-laws.   It was taken in Chicago, either at Betty's home or (more likely) at the home of Betty and Fred's parents, Paul Robert and Elizabeth Florence Massmann Pape, at 2093 West Lunt Avenue.

© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Advent Calendar: Charity/Volunteer Work

It's the annual Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories!  I've participated the past three years (2009, 2010, and 2011), and rather than simply re-post, I'm going to link to the older posts, and - when applicable - post about something else that's somewhat related.

I'm still running a day behind, and hope to catch up later today.

The prompt for yesterday was: December 12 – Charitable/Volunteer Work
Did your family ever volunteer with a charity such as a soup kitchen, homeless or battered women’s shelter during the holidays? Or perhaps were your ancestors involved with church groups that assisted others during the holiday?

In past years, I've written about my paternal great-grandfather, Frederick Henry Massmann (1975-1948), and his investiture in the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great for his works and generosity in the Roman Catholic Church.  Today, I have some news articles about that event:

from The New World, 27 May 1932, page 3

from the Chicago Daily Tribune, 31 May 1932, page 8

Yet another article from The New World, a newspaper published by the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, from May 29, 1931 (page 1), shortly after Massmann had been named a "K.S.G." (Knight of St. Gregory), described him as follows:

"Frederick H. Massmann, prominent Catholic layman, is widely known in the work of the Chicago Holy Name Society and the Catholic Salvage Bureau.  Mr. Massmann is a member of the executive committee of the Holy Name Society and was recently elected president of the Archdiocesan Union [of parish Holy Name Societies].

His activities in the field of business and banking have made him a valuable personage in furtherance of the vast program of the Holy Name Society.  In addition to his work as first vice president of the National Tea Company, he is a director of the Central Trust Company of Illinois and a director of the Philip State Bank and Trust Company.  Mr. Massmann resides at Lunt and Ridge avenues."

The article at left from the May 31, 1932 Chicago Daily Tribune (with accompanying page 1 photo below) had this description of the ceremonies the previous day:

"During the benediction pronounced by Rt. Rev. Msgr. Thomas P. Bona, Eagle scouts bearing American flags were grouped about the altar.  More than 2.500 scouts, representing 200 troops of the entire archdiocese were present."  Massmann was also very active with the Boy Scouts in the Chicago area.

As for the Holy Name Technical School (now Lewis University), the establishment towards which Massmann contribured $5,000:  

"When completed the school will have 12 buildings on the 160 acre tract...It is expected that the first class will be organized during the summer.  Already several thousand applications for admission have been received.  From these about 500 worthy boys will be enrolled.  They will be housed, fed, clothed, and taught a trade.  The age limit for admission is 14 years.

The school will be maintained by the Holy Name society and by revenue from the Catholic Salvage bureau."

from the Chicago Daily Tribune, 31 May 1932, page 1

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

The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (ACCM) allows you to share your family’s holiday history 24 different ways during 24 days in December! Learn more at http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com.
 

(Not-So-) Wordless Wednesday: Gertrude and John Pape, ABT December 1918

This photograph (at left) of my great-grandparents, Gertrude Kramer Pape (1859-1919) and John Pape (1851-1945), was taken about 94 years ago, probably in October or November 1918, as they are dressed the same way they were in this picture (below) from the same time period:

Why do I think both pictures were taken in one of those two months?  Walter Pape (1900-1975), the son in the middle of the picture above, served in the Army only from October 5 through November 14, 1918.  The other two brothers are my grandfather Paul (left, 1896-1970) and Lee (right, 1893-1979); both served in the Navy in World War I.  Both photographs were taken in front of the Pape family home at 1043 Sherman Avenue in Evanston, Illinois, so snow was certainly possible then.  

[NOTE:  My cousin-in-law Cathy Dietz sent some information about snowfall in the Chicago area in 1918 and 1919.  There was no snow in October 1918, and only half an inch total in November 1918.  However, there was 8.8 inches in December 1918, and 1.8 inches in January 1919.  Daily snow depth was at least two inches for the last part of December 1918 and first part of January 1919.  I think the picture was probably taken during the Christmas holidays, perhaps while Lee (and perhaps Paul) were home on leave from the Navy.]

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

[Not-So-] Wordless Wednesday: Another Aunt Gret Watercolor

watercolor by Gretchen Reis Pape, 1939, photo courtesy Regina Szpak

My mom sent a letter to my cousin Regina, asking if they had any pictures by our Great Aunt Gretchen Reis Pape, who was an artist.  Mom thought that perhaps ones hanging in my grandparents' home might have passed down to Regina or her siblings, as our grandmother Elizabeth Massmann Pape lived with their family many years after our grandfather Paul Robert Pape Sr. died in 1970.

Regina posted this picture on Facebook, explaining, "I brought the letter that Aunt Gerrie sent me to [sister] Shelly's house to ask her or [sister] Ruth about it. They both remembered seeing some pictures that our Great Aunt Gret did. Shelly has this one hanging in her house. They aren't sure what happened to the others."  Our Aunt Betty, my dad's sister, says, "This isn't the one I had [hanging in her bedroom in the house on Lunt Avenue], but I do remember this one!"

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

Sentimental Sunday: Fire at St. Nicholas

from Chicago Daily Tribune, February 4, 1898

As noted in an earlier post, the original St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Evanston, Illinois, burned down February 3, 1898.  Construction began on a new church building in 1904, with completion in 1906.
Where did the parish meet in between?

Alan Kozlowski, who is involved with the parish's 125th anniversary this year, send me the article at left (and a more detailed article from the February 5, 1898, Evanston Index) as well as the picture below, as well as the following information from the parish's 50th anniversary book:

Temporary Accommodations 
Now again the flock was homeless. Again Mass was said in a hall, this time in Burden's store, on the north side of Main Street between Sherman and Custer. Father Biermann moved temporarily to a building owned by Mr. Risch, at 832 Custer Avenue. After a week school was reopened in Burden's store. 

Father Hugh P. Smyth of St. Mary's [Catholic Church, also in Evanston,] with the generous cooperation and sympathy that was characteristic of his entire life, at once offered Father Biermann the use of his church. One Mass was thereafter said at Burden's store, and one at St. Mary's.  

The New School 
Father Biermann's first thought after the fire was to restore school facilities. The first building to be erected after the fire was a four room school building with a basement hall. It was completed the year of the fire [1898] and the hall served as the church until 1905.

Above is a photo Alan Kozlowski sent of the school basement hall that served as the church from sometime after February 1898 to sometime in 1905. It looks like it is decorated for a special occasion - perhaps First Communion, or a wedding?

My great uncle Otto Richard "Dick" Pape may have been baptized in the hall picture above, as that event occurred on November 13, 1898.  Based on other church records, it's possible that some of his siblings had their First Communions or were confirmed in this building, and that their first cousin Hugo Pape was married in this hall.

Below is a photo sent by Jim Heckenbach (a descendant of the Didiers, a founding family of the parish).  It's a picture of students at St. Nicholas School in 1899, so this must be the new school/basement church hall referred to above, built in 1898.  I love some of the little details in this photo:  the potted plants on the windowsills, the USA flag with 46 stars, the boy in the top row blowing a horn, the row of boys with drums, the crooked sign, and the bicycles!  Perhaps the priest on the left is Father Biermann; the nun might be Sister Justine.

I don't recognize any of my Pape kin in this photograph.  It's possible the John Pape family had already moved to Chicago by this point (where they were definitely living in 1900, according to the Census and to youngest son Walter's baptismal record).


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

Sentimental Sunday: Aunt Gret the Artist

Gretchen Anna Reis and Lee John Pape with godson Jack Bleidt, May 17, 1936

I first wrote about my Great Aunt Gret (Margaret Anna "Gretchen" Reis Pape, 1886-1947) about two years ago, sharing one of my dad's childhood memories of her. 

About a year ago, my (new friend) "Awin" commented on another post on this blog, saying Aunt Gret "was a friend of my Grandmother, Amy Zender Windler of Ridgeville, Chicago. I have a painting Gretchen did in 1908 and gave to my grandmother. It is beautiful. I have always been looking for another of her paintings."

Then, about two weeks ago, I received an e-mail (via this blog) from someone who said Aunt Gret "was a wonderful water color artist. I have a painting of hers signed Gretchen Reis-Pape 1/11/40.  I think we also may have another painting. We bought them at an auction in Holly, Michigan, a few years ago. I have searched for years to get info on the artist."

Gretchen was born April 4, 1886, in Evanston, Illinois, the oldest of the seven children of Joseph A. Reis and Margaret Muno (who were both born in Illinois of German parents).  She's listed as an artist in various Evanston city directories from 1909 through 1933 (although she obviously continued painting after that).  She married my uncle Lee John Pape between 1925 and 1927, and they lived in Wilmette after that.  They had no children.  She died on April 20, 1947, and is buried at St Henry's Cemetery in Chicago.

When nephew Jack Bleidt was born on February 13, 1929, Gretchen and Lee became his godparents.  Gretchen made the clever card at right (noting that J.C.B., John Carl Bleidt, was born between Abe Lincoln and St. Valentine), which Jack's mother, Lee's sister Martha Elisabeth Pape Bleidt, saved in Jack's baby book.

Great Aunt Martha also saved the little watercolor drawing below, from the Easter greeting Aunt Gret sent her godson on March 29, 1929.

I asked my family if they had any of Aunt Gret's paintings.  My Aunt Betty said, "I had a painting of Aunt Gret's hanging in my bedroom on Lunt Ave.  I don't know what happened to it after they sold [2093 W.] Lunt Ave.  Now  wish I did.  As I recall it was of a girl holding a straw hat with the wind blowing her hair."

Recently, Awin was kind enough to send an image, at right, of the 1908 painting she has by Aunt Gret, back when she was Gretchen Reis.  You can see her signature in the lower right corner of the drawing.

In 2005, Awin noticed a note in her father's handwriting on the back of the painting that says, Your grandmother, Amy Windler, was a close friend of Gretchen Reis, who drew this picture. Gretchen was engaged to Mr. Sontag but he left her at the altar.”

Wow!  That could be a yet another story (two Sontags, Henry and Arby, were of the right age and were members, like Gretchen and her family, of St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Evanston).   This does help explain why Gretchen married Lee Pape so late in life (she was around 40) for that era.

Awin also sent me a link to a painting by Gretchen that she found on eBay.com about a year ago.  Here is what the seller wrote:

"Recently we were contacted by an upper end Antique & Asian Gallery in Chicago's Magnificent Mile. They asked if we would take some consignments, of course we jumped at the chance...Up for auction is a wonderful winter landscape painting, signed G. Pape  1904 [sic]. Attributed to Gretchen Anna Pape (1866 [sic]-1947) of Evanston, Illinois. She was an easel painter from the turn of the century. It depicts a winter forest landscape with the light of the full moon. It has a cabin barn with an open door and what looks like a blacksmith working at his anvil. This was restretched somewhere shortly after it was done. It measures approx. 42" x 28". We couldn't find a bio on Gretchen Pape."

Their (mis-)information appears to have come from page 2525 of the 1999 edition of Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975 : 400 Years of Artists in America, which has an entry for:

Gretchen Anna Pape (Mrs.), painter, b. 1866/ d. 1947, Evanston, IL.  Addresses : Wilmette, IL

Additionally, it's unlikely the painting below was done in 1904, as Gretchen was not Mrs. Pape at that point - unless she signed the painting after her marriage.

Awin and I are hoping to find more examples of Aunt Gret's work in the future.

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