Links to the Past

Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune (Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin)

1934 August 13
R.H. Polzin Loses Life at Bathing Beach

R.H. Polzin, 52, owner of the Polzin Calendar & Novelty company of Milwaukee and a former resident of Nekoosa, lost his life while swimming in Lucas lake, near West Bend, Saturday afternoon. Death was at first attributed to drowning, but it was discovered upon examination of the body that there was no water in the lungs, Mr. Polzin’s false teeth having become lodged in his throat choking him to death.

Mr. Polzin dove into about seven feet of water from a spring board 20 feet from shore. He came up and sank. A woman called for help, and within five minutes his body was recovered by bathers. A West Bend rescue squad worked for 40 minutes in a futile effort to resuscitate him.

Funeral services will be held at 2 o’clock Tuesday afternoon at the Seerick funeral home in Milwaukee, with burial in a Milwaukee cemetery beside his wife, who preceded him in death 16 years ago.

Mr. Polzin, who was born February 16, 1882, in Winona, Minn., is survived by his father and stepmother, Mr. and Mrs. William Polzin of Nekoosa; two daughters, June and Fae of Milwaukee; seven brothers, William A. and Fred of Milwaukee, Leo of Moss Bank, Saskatchewan, Canada, Louis if Slinger, Ferdinand, Henry and Otto of Nekoosa, and three sisters, Mrs. Ida Kepstein, Newark, N.J., Mrs. Amanda Kasper and Mrs. Martin Fogel, both of Milwaukee.

Mr. Polzin resided with his parents in Nekoosa during his boyhood.

Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune (Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin)

1932 October 27
Milwaukee Authorities Seek Vandals who Removed Casket

Milwaukee Oct. 27 (AP) Vandals who stole a coffin containing the mummified body of an infant from a small blockstone mausoleum in an old buring ground on the edge of the city were sought by authorities here today.

Found on Street

The body, found on a street here early yesterday, is that of Carl Edward Kruse, who died and was buried in 1914 at the age of three onths. Identification was made at the county morgue last night by the father, Alfred F. Kruse, a druggist.

Entry into the crumbling mausoleum was gained by breaking the heavy crossbars of the door. The small casket had been carried about eight miles from its resting place. Five other caskets in the tomb were untouched.

Puzzled Officials

With only the inscription “Our Darling” on the nameplate as a guide, authorities were puzzling over the identity of the infant when Deputy Sheriff’s Eugene Netz and George Hanlon recalled they had investigated the desecration of a sepulcher in the town of Milwaukee cemetery about a year ago.

The deputies found the mausoleum had been entered again. From Harvey Grober, former sexton, they learned that Kruse had provided for reinterring the bodies on the occasion of the complaint ayear ago. Kruse was called by Undersheriff Joseph Klein and identified the casket.

The Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin)

1932 May 7

Body Missing From Milwaukee Cemetery

Milwaukee (AP) Police aid was asked today in an effort to find the body of George Kurtz, pioneer Milwaukeean buried 24 years ago in Union cemetery. Relatives who visited the grave site found evidence of a recent burial. At their insistence the body of a woman was taken from the grave and buried elsewhere but there was no indication of what had become of Kurtz’ body.

The Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) 1908 June 19
Mrs. Martha Himmelstein, aged forty-five, died in a Milwaukee Cemetery as the result of heat prostration.

Warren Evening Mirror (Warren, Pennsylvania) 1908 March 25
Never without his Coffin

Traveler Always Instructs Pursers to Prevent His Burial at Sea

Max Gibbs of Milwaukee, who frequently goes to Europe on business not unconnected with mortuary things, got back to New York the other day with his coffin, which he always carried with him. He gives instructions to the pursers not to have him buried at sea. Otherwise he would not be able to squeeze himself into the coffin, which is sixteen inches long. His puzzle question to those that have not heard it is how is he going to get himself in the coffin.

If you give it up, he will tell you that his body will be cremated first. The coffin is metallic and is lined with plush, on which there is a little American flag. Max in condensed form will be wrapped in this flag before they nail his coffin down and put him away in a Milwaukee cemetery.

I thought I would start a strange and unusual section, depicting strange and unusual burials, deaths, requests etc.

First one is Mrs. Melms.

Lima News (Lima, Ohio) 1899 December 14
Mail Bag used as Hearse

Ashes of a Milwaukee Woman are sent home from Germany by Way of the Mails.

So far as known, for the first time the United States mails have been used as a hearse. There was received at the post office at Milwaukee, the other day, a box which came from Heidelberg, Germany, and which contained the ashes of Mrs. Maria Melms, wife of the former Milwaukee brewer Charles T. Melms.

This box was about 13 inches long and seven inches wide and deep, was of wood and metal lined. It was addressed to Fred Strassau, superintendent of the William Becker Leather company, who was a son-in-law of Mrs. Melms.

This strange funeral procession only costs 86 cents for carriage. There was 50 cents worth of postage stamps pasted on the box and 36 more was charged at Milwaukee for overweight. The box was marked “Menschen asche,” human ashes, and “of no value.”

After the customs officials had ascertained that the box contained nothing dutiable it ws turned over to Undertaker Schweitzer, and will be placed without ceremony in the Melms family vault, the funeral having occurred in Germany.

Mrs. Melms was one of the oldest residents of Milwaukee. She came to Milwaukee in 1838, and resided here until a year ago. She went to Weisbaden, Germany, on account of failing health, being accompanied by her daughter Bertha. It was her last request that the remains be placed besides those of her husband in the Milwaukee cemetery, and after they were cremated at Heidelberg the ashes were forwarded in this strange fashion.

Gary sent a few more photos this past weekend.

Surnames include, Goelz, Rebholz, Schultz, Madunich, and Britz.  I added them to Sacred Heart of Jesus photo gallery.

Gary is looking for someone researching the Britz family.  He is hoping to be able to identify some of the family photos he has.

I found a very interesting book on the topic of the Province of St. Joseph of the Capuchin order in the United States. I won’t go into the history of the Catholic church so long story short, this is the group that started St. Francis Seminary in St. Francis.

They also started the Mission of Holy Cross church, which I had not realized was built to “guard the souls” at Calvary cemetery. Bishop Henni realized that as the parishes got larger, the priests had less and less time to tend to the souls of the dead. Therefore they built a church across from the Calvary Cemetery entrance to help care for those souls.

I also added the history of St. Elizabeth Hospice and Parish.

In reading the book I came across this excerpt:

Father Bonaventure, an ear witness, states that every night the community was frightened by a strange novice around the furnace, a loud hammering and hissing and howling as of dogs; the Brothers watched, but could not detect the cause of the disturbance; two novices left the place, terrified; Mr. A. Flatten, the carpenter who lived in the community, beheld his door opening one evening while in bed; a man entered his room, approached his bed, walked over him, and disappeared. Such and similar annoyances occurred every night for six months. Father bona venture, thinking that evil spirits were haunting the place, questions them, but receives no answer; Father Francis, who had turned in the meantime, exorcises the houses, to no avail. The hill had formerly been used as a burying-ground for Indians, and later on for the whites (a golgotha in the true sense of the word); the remains had been removed, but some were not found at the time; and up to this day human bones are often disinterred when a grave is dug or a foundation for a building is excavated. Father Francis then ordered during the coming month all holy Masses, prayers, and god works be offered up for the repose of the souls of those who were buried there; at the end of the month quiet was again restored. We refrain from passing any judgement on these events and merely state that, whatever their cause, they have never been explained. (date of incident 1857-1859, written in 1907)

Links are as follows:
Province of St. Joseph of Capuchin order in the United States
St. Elizabeth Parish and Hospice
St. Francis Seminary
Holy Cross Catholic Church

Added gravestone photos submitted by Connie to Prairie Home Photo Gallery.  Surname Guderyon. Thanks Connie.

I also updated Prairie home cemetery better identifying the surnames that have photos in the photo gallery.  If the name has a photo I am putting a tombstone icon next to the surname.  If you click on that icon, you go immediately to the cemetery.  Look for the icon

Thanks to Barb we have 120 photos of Milwaukee Physicians online in the photo Gallery.  The photos were extracted from the book and she transcribed all the years of service and placed it as a caption on each photo.

Thanks a bunch Barb!