I ended a
previous post, about houses along the 6900 block of N. Ridge Avenue in Chicago, with the following image:
At this point in the clip from a 1927-28 home movie, my grandmother, Elizabeth Florence Massmann Pape (1902-2000), on the right, and a woman on the left who I think is her friend, Marian Udelhofen (1904-1939), had turned and started walking towards the camera. Note the two houses in the background.
I think the house on the left is the one picture below, 1962C Morse, which was built sometime in the 1890s.
The house on the right in the black-and-white image is, I believe, the same as the one pictured below, at 1962B Morse, also built in the 1890s (and apparently the first house built on this lot).
The house at the front of the lot, which has the "plain" 1962 W. Morse Avenue address, may be the newest of the three, although the tax assessor's records also indicate that it was built in the 1890s.
So what do the census records tell us? Click on the images to make them larger:
In 1900, living at 420 (later 1962) Morse are John (1866-1946) and Mary [Maria Brenner, 1873-1970] Udelhofen and children Barbara "Birdie" (born March 1895), Joseph (born July 1897), and Henry (born September 1899). John and Mary were both German immigrants, John arriving in 1887, and Mary in 1892; they were married about 1894.
Just down the street, at 432 (later 1952) Morse are Nicholas (1845-1913) and Katherine [Katrina Reck, 1851-1933] Udelhofen and children Robert (born December 1883), Gertrude (born May 1887), and John Joseph (born April 1890). Nicholas and Katherine married about 1881 and immigrated in 1883.
At 438 (later 1946) Morse are Jacob (1837-1907) and [Anna] Barbara [Nelles, 1848-1905] Udelhofen and their children Helena Stolze (born October 1870, a widow with one child), Joseph (born April 1872), Barbara (born February 1876), Jacob (born April 1880), Marie [Dena] (born August 1882), Peter (born February 1885), Gertrude (born June 1886), and Nicholas Charles (born October 1891), the only surviving child born in Illinois. Three other children had died before 1900. Jacob and Barbara married about 1865 and immigrated in 1889.
Marian's name is engraved on the same stone as Jacob Sr. and Barbara Sr., so she's definitely related to them. I'm thinking Jacob Sr. and Nicholas Sr. are brothers, and Marian's father John is the son of one of them - perhaps Jacob Sr. due to the location of Marian's
grave at nearby St. Henry's Cemetery (they are all in the same plot, 38-6).
On the 1910 Census: Edmund (born 1902) is a new addition to the John and Mary Udelhofen family at 1962 Morse. The family appears to be living in the middle of the three houses with this address (a house they own, just as they did in 1900), while the other two houses at this address are rented. If these other two houses existed in 1900, they apparently were vacant.
Oddly enough, their youngest child, Marian, is listed separately on a supplemental sheet, pictured below. No telling why she was not listed with the rest of her family.
In 1910, my grandmother Elizabeth and her parents and brother are
living at 1938 Morse. It must have been around this time that Elizabeth and Marian became friends.
Nicholas and Katherine Udelhofen are still down the street at 1952 Morse, only son John Joseph is still at home. Jacob and Barbara Udelhofen have died, but some of their children, single siblings Barbara, Peter, Gertrude, and Nicholas Charles, are still at 1946 Morse, along with niece Lillie Stolze, age 16, and nephew Frank Muno, age 7. Frank is the son of the siblings' sister Anna Maria Udelhofen (Mrs. Henry) Muno, 1874-1903, who must have been married by 1900.
On the 1920 Census, John and Mary Udelhofen are still in the main house at 1962 Morse, along with youngest children Edward and Marian. Oldest child Barbara has married John Mertes (born 1889) and they rent one of the other houses on the property, living with their three-year-old son John. The third house must be vacant at census time.
My grandmother
Elizabeth Massmann is living at 1833 Morse on this census.
Nicholas Udelhofen has also died, and sadly, his wife Kate is now a servant in her former home at 1952 Morse, now owned by someone who does not live there. Son Robert and his family (wife and two daughters) rent another part of the house.
Siblings Barbara and Peter Udelhofen still own and live at 1946 Morse along with sister Gertrude Blanke and her husband Fred, and their nephew Frank Muno.
On the 1930 Census, only Marian is left at home at 1962 Morse with her parents John and Mary, along with two lodgers. Sister Barbara's family, now including a second son and two daughters, rents the front house, and a single woman rents the far rear house.
Marian's good friend, the now-married Elizabeth Massmann Pape, lives just a few blocks away at 2093 W. Lunt Avenue.
The Udelhofen's son Joseph, his wife Mildred, daughter Virginia, and son Joseph Jr. live just a few blocks away - in the rear part of
7000 Ridge, the home of my great-grandparents Frederick Henry Massmann (1875-1948) and Elizabeth Camilla Dienes Massmann (1876-1946). Joseph is their chauffeur.
The situation has improved a little at 1952 Morse, with Katherine Udelhofen no longer a servant but renting with her widowed daughter Dena Clarke and granddaughter Dorothy Clarke. Son John Joseph, his wife and family rent the basement.
However, all the Udelhofens and their kin are gone from 1946 Morse.
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"United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9MB-RJ42?cc=2000219&wc=QZXT-V6L%3A790104501%2C791862901%2C802364101%2C802376001 : accessed 17 May 2018), Illinois > Cook > Chicago City, Chicago, Ward 50 > 103-3214 Chicago City Ward 50 (Tract 4 - part), Apartments at 1900-10 W Farwell Av, Apartments at 1900-12 W Pratt Av > image 10 of 32; citing Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012.
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On the 1940 Census, John and Mary Udelhofen still live in the main (B) home at 1962 Morse. Daughter Marian died in 1939 but single son Edmund is living with them again. Daughter Barbara Mertes and family are still in the front (A) house, which they rent. However, now the far rear house (C) is owned by John and Mary's son Joseph and his family. Joseph now manages a retail store.
All the Udelhofens are gone from 1952 Morse now too.
An article in part 3, page 4N of the July 10, 1949,
Chicago Tribune, "Learns Roses Do Not Grow in Florist Shop - Neighbors Laud Garden on North Side," talks about the garden of 54-year-old Mrs. John J. (Birdie) Mertes, mother of two sons and two daughters, at 1962 Morse. The article also states that husband John, age 60, is a salesman, and that there are two other houses on the property. Her mother (Mrs. John Udelhofen, pictured with Birdie in the article) and two brothers and their families also live in the houses.
© Amanda Pape - 2018 -
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