Links to the Past

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 Jackie we added about 150 surnames to Forest Hill Cemetery #84

Surnames include

Abrams, Addy, Akgulian, Allen, Althaus, Amble, Baewer, Bak, Barrington, Basterash, Bayer, Behr, Berry, Bettac, Biadasz, Bleier, Borchardt, Brace, Brandt, Brashewitz, Brodhagen, Bruske, Bundalo, Burns, Carl, Carlson, Carr, Christianson, Clark, (more…)

Gary has been busy transcribing and I put almost 1000 names online from the German Newspapers, 1887 and 1888.

The surnames are as follows:

Ackenhausen, Ahlsvede, Ahrens, Albert, AleriaElis, Alexander, Allerding, Altenburg, Amsberg, Anderson, Andreas, Anger, Arndt, Arnold, Aschermann, Augr, Babille, Backhaus, Baffe, Bahnemann, Baldauf, Ball, Bangert, Barkow, Bartel, Bartels, Bartelt, (more…)

Gary sent in more names extracted from the Banner und Volksfreund, one of the Milwaukee German Newspapers Years 1855-1857

Names include:

Acker, Balbach, Baur, Bechtel, Bellack, Benn, Berlandt, Best, Beyer, Blatz, Boeser, Boldt, Bronen, Busack, Diederichsen, Dilg, Frankfurth, Fuldner, Gaitzich, Gaudlitz, Gipfel, Haertel, Heiselmann, Herzberg, Holtzuber, Kefelau
Kefelau, Klumb, Koepmann, Kopf, Krug, Kurz, Liginger, Longitzlen, Luening, Meyer, Moeller, Orban, Pfeil Dreis, Rasser, Rausch, Rosche, Ross, Rupp, Schenkberg, Schoeffler, Schofer, Schramm, Schultz, Steinmueller, Stoll Roebl, Tebel, Weise, Wendre, Wendte, Wright, Zimmermann

Obituary for Herman Stauss added to Forest Home (fireman in the fire saved 16 lives)

George Wells Biography in the marriage section.

A few additional articles on the Newhall House section.