52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 13 "Light a Candle"

Both my paternal and maternal grandparents lost their first child only two days after they were born. With this blog post, I am lighting two candles in memory of my aunt and uncle.

Paul Joseph Huigens

My Uncle Paul was born in 1914 in Knox County, Nebraska, most likely on his parent's farm in Logan Township. 

He is not forgotten.

Ardis Rosemary Ogden

My Aunt Ardis was born in 1930 in Sheridan County, Nebraska, most likely at her parent's home in Rushville. 

She is not forgotten.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 12 "Membership"

My great-grandfather Frank J. Kain (pamapa) was a member of the Knights of Columbus in Creighton, NE. I know this thanks to the book "Knights of Columbus - Nebraska State Council Proceedings, 1905-1926." This book has been transcribed and appears on the Nebraska GenWeb Resource Center site under "Religious Information" and "Catholic Church." As far as I can tell, this is the only place in the universe that you can find it. Neither Worldcat nor Family Search has any mention of it. This mystery book contains the proceedings for each annual Nebraska Knights of Columbus state council held in May between 1905 and 1926.

Francis J. Kain (1861-1930)

According to the book, the Creighton Council sent its first delegates in 1907. Frank Kain attended for the first time as a delegate from Creighton in 1913. He went that year with his brother-in-law J.J. (John) Kennedy, who was also attending for the first time. They had known each other since childhood, having grown up together on adjacent farms in Clinton County, Iowa. In the following year of 1914, J.J. went as a Creighton delegate but Frank did not. 

Frank then attended in 1915, 1916, 1918, and every year of 1920 through 1929. J.J. and he attended together as the Creighton delegates in 1915 and again in 1927. Frank was on the Committee on Resolutions in 1915 and was also an alternate to a member of the Supreme Council that year. In 1916, 1918, and 1920 he was on the Credentials Committee. In 1924 and 1925 the other delegate from Creighton was B.J. Huigens, brother of Frank's son-in-law Joe Huigens (my grandfather). 

The book only goes through 1926. However, I did find Creighton newspaper articles from 1927, 1928, and 1929 that show he attended those years. In the 1930 US Census, Frank and his wife are living with their son in Yankton, SD. Frank died in December 1930 so 1929 was his last state council. 

1927

1928

1929

Frank is listed as a Grand Knight (the highest elected leader of his council) in 1921 and 1924 and as a Past Grand Knight in 1925.

But his shining moment appears in the 1921 proceedings:

Among the meritorious activities of Nebraska Knighthood must be included the courageous effort of Grand Knight Frank J. Kain of Creighton, unanimously supported by the entire membership of Count Creighton Council, to enlist the Supreme Officers in [sic] behalf of suffering Ireland. The correspondence on this question has been printed and circulated by the Creighton Council, and it shows upon its face that this council, in the interchange of letters and arguments with the Supreme Advocate, had decidedly the best of the controversy. And it bore fruit, for no sooner had the last letter of Brother Kain been received at headquarters, than telegrams from the Supreme Knight were despatched [sic] all over the country calling upon the state officers to enter vigorously into the campaign for Irish relief, In my opinion, the thanks of this State Council should be expressed and recorded toward Brother Kain and his council for their determined and successful efforts on behalf of the heroic victims of the most heartless and damnable militarism that has ever yet cursed the earth.

Both of Frank's parents were Irish immigrants, so this must have been an issue close to his heart. In May of 1921, when this state council was held, the bloody Irish War of Independence, begun in 1919, was nearly at an end. "Brother Kain" may have even known of cousins back in Ireland who were involved. For him, this "courageous effort" was personal. Good on you, great-grandpa. Good on you.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 6 "Social Media"

 I need to get caught up with the 52 Ancestors prompts. I plan to do several this week until I can get caught up. We'll see how this goes.

Social media. I thought I'd share a few items from the social media of its day: Newspapers. When I found the on-line archives of the Creighton News from Creighton, Knox County, Nebraska, I spent several hours playing around in it. So much to look for between my Huigens, Kain, and Fitzler paternal ancestors who settled there, and some Kennedy relatives, too. Like most small town newspapers there was a lot of local news about the goings and comings of locals and visitors. 

One of the interesting things I found was several mentions of my dad, Joseph Huigens, Jr. Shortly before he was born, his parents moved their family from Know County to Sheridan County on the other side of state. Nevertheless, news of his birth on 12 February 1927 was published in Creighton for his parents' friends in the area.

Creighton News, 24 February 1927

In the news about visitors, I was able to track many of the times  that my dad went back to visit his many grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. 

Creighton News, 10 Jan 1929

My almost 2-year-old dad would have been among those "and children."

Creighton News, 16 October 1930

A few month later my dad, then 3 years old, went with his mother to visit her parents and then to visit her in-laws. That was the last time my grandmother would see her father, He died later that year in December.

Creighton News, 19 November 1931

My dad, now 4 years old would most likely have been the "and son," He was the only one of his brothers and sisters too young to have been in school at that time. 

Creighton News, 3 December 1931

The recovery of my grandmother's mother did not last long--she died five days after my dad and his mother returned home. I'm glad my grandmother got to spend some time with her mother before she passed. 

Creighton News, 8 February 1934

Here is news of a visit on a happier occasion. At almost 7 years old my dad finally gets a mention by name. 

These are all the Creighton News articles that mention my dad that I have found so far. It's fun to think of this little boy going across Nebraska to visit his grandparents and other relatives. I wish I had found these when my dad was still alive. I would have liked to know what he remembered about any of these trips. 

Joseph Anthony Huigens (1927-2013)

NE/SD Family History Road Trip (part 3)

Day 5, Wednesday, Oct. 23

Before leaving O'Neill, we stopped off at the quilt store so I could drop off the family history of our parents’ family that I had written in 2006 for my dad’s 80th birthday. My cousin Julie wasn't there yet, so I left it with one of her employees and my wife bought a pattern for a patchwork quilt skirt for our granddaughter. Then it was on to Creighton, NE.

We were early in arriving in Creighton so we drove around a little (very little since it’s so small) and saw the Catholic church, which is a newer construction than the building where my grandparents were baptized and married and where their kids (except for my dad) were baptized.

We went to the café and Pat arrived with her 86-year-old aunt, Flora Jean, who was married to my dad’s first cousin, Lawrence Mattern. Pat is my second cousin through one of my dad’s other Mattern cousins. Phyllis, one of my dad’s other cousins who still lives in Creighton, had business in Norfolk, NE that day so she was not able to join us. I learned that Mary Ann, another of my dad’s cousins with whom I had corresponded had passed away a couple of years ago.

Flora Jean knew our great-grandparents, John and Mary Huigens. She remembers them as very kind and warm people. I shared some of the documents and pictures I had brought about John and Mary’s life near Henry, IL and that of their parents. They told us how to find John and Mary’s old house in Creighton, but did not know where the farm was located. I had been unable to get the 1903 Knox County plat map I have to match up with Google maps and was counting on someone there being able to direct me. Pat and her husband own an appliance repair business and have a current plat map, so she took a copy of the old map with her to figure out who lives there now. Flora Jean also gave me a wonderful photocopy of a pair of large photos of John and Mary.

After we said good-by to Pat and Flora Jean, we drove by John and Mary's house. 

Julie knows the location of the house of our other great-grandparents, Frank and Margaret (Kennedy) Kain, but she couldn't figure out a good way to explain how to find it. She didn't know the address, just how to find it if she needed to.

Our next stop was St. Ludger's Cemetery. My brother and mother had been to Creighton three years ago and had sent me lots of photos of grave markers, but it was nice to be able to visit in person and pay my respects. My brother said it was strange seeing our rare name all over on tombstones. It did seem like every few feet Anne Marie and I were finding another Huigens grave marker. Not to mention Tharnishes and Matterns. We found the graves of both sets of great-grandparents who are buried there and that of a great-great-grandmother, Mary's mother.

Although we didn't find the Kain's house in town, I had, been able to find their farm in the 1903 plat map and had succeeded in locating it’s location on Google maps. We drove by the farm and I collected a small sample of dirt from it on our way out of town after visiting the cemetery. It felt good to be at the site where my Grandma Julia had been born. 

As we headed north to South Dakota, we passed through the little town of Bazille Mills, which my grandmother claimed as her birthplace.

Later that evening, we crossed over the Missouri River into South Dakota, land of my birth. OK, so I was born hundreds of miles from where we were, but still. We spent the night in Vermillion, home of the University of South Dakota, where several of my high school classmates had attended college. We stayed across from the street from the Dakota Dome, the schools stadium. I had been to USD a couple of times with the high school French Club to attend plays in French by Moliere and Ionesco. I probably also played there with the high school marching band. That was so long ago, I don’t remember everywhere that we played.

(to be continued)

Obit for Mrs. Helena Fitzler

Last night I was looking for Nebraska newspaper archives to see where I might be able to get access to news papers for Knox County or the town of Creighton. I came across the Nebraska's Newspapers site. This is a joint venture of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and the Nebraska State Historical Society. I clicked on the Browse link and a map of Nebraska appeared with seven cities indicated. One of them was Norfolk, which is near Creighton, so I clicked on it. They had digitized images of issues from 1899 to 1912. A quick check in ancestry.com showed me that my great-great-grandmother Anna Helena (Schmitt) Fitzler died on 20 May 1904. So, I went looking for the issue of the Norfolk Weekly News-Journal for that week. Lo and behold, in the upper left hand corner of page 2 for the issue of 27 May 1904 was the headline "North Nebraska Deaths" and there it was.

NORTH NEBRASKA DEATHS

---

"GRANDMA" FITZLER OF CREIGHT-
TON PASSES AWAY

---

.
.
.
    Creighton, Neb. May 21.-- Special
to The News:  Mrs. Helena Fitzler of
Creighton died here yesterday after-
noon at 3 o'clock of old age.  She was
seventy-two years old and was born 
in Germany.  She came to this coun-
try with her parents, locating in Hen-
ry, Ill.  After the death of her hus-
band, Mrs. Fitzler moved to Creighton
and has made this her home for the 
past twelve years.  She owned prop-
erty in Illinois and owned her home 
in Creighton.
    She leaves six daughters and one 
son, John Fitzler, who is unmarried, 
and who is employed in the store of
Loeble & Son, of Creighton.  Maggie
Rublow, Mary Higgons, Lizzie Bloom,
of Knox county;  Mr. and Mrs. Peter
John of Sheldon, Ia., Helen Boisbors
of Mendota, Ill, Kate Schubert of 
Manson, Ia., were all here at the bed-
side of Mrs. Fitzler when the end 
came.
    The funeral will be held Sunday af-
ternoon at 3 o'clock from the Catholic
church, Rev. Father Windols in
charge.
    Helena Fitzler was a good old lady
and will be greatly missed by the cit-
izens and people of Creighton.  She
was known universally as "Grandma" 
Fitzler and her kindly nature had
made for her friends in every corner
of Knox county.

 Lots of great information! First, a more accurate date for her husband's death. I had been assuming it was between his appearance in the 1880 US Census and the 1900 US Census when Helena was listed alone in Creighton. This narrows that range down to sometime around 1892, twelve years before Helena's death. Awesome! Second, I now have the married names of all her daughters, even though the spelling on some is horribly butchered (it's Richling, Boisdorf and Huigens). These are my Grandpa Joe's aunts on his mother's side. Wunderbar!

However, I don't believe she came to America with her parents. I have her a on passenger list for the Charles Cooper with her future sister-in-law. I'll check the list for other Schmitt's but I'll be surprised if I find any. On the other hand, they would have been the grandparents for these seven children. If one of the daughters was the informant for this article, they probably knew better than me. On the third hand, on her death certificate, Helena's parents are listed as "Mr. Smith" and "Mrs. Helena Schmitt." If they knew their grandparents, why didn't they know their grandfather's name?

Several questions answered and a new one raised.

1940 US Census Finds

I found my great-grandparents, John and Mary Huigens in Creighton, NE on ancestry.com:

While looking for them, I also found the families of their sons' BJ and Ed, my grandmother's uncle, John Kennedy, Jr. with his wife and kids, and my grandmother's sister Iona with her husband Fred Dostal. There are probably a lot more relatives in Creighton. They will have to wait until there's an index.

I then found my 13-year-old dad with his family in Sheridan Co., NE. The census taker spelled the name Higgins, but that's them all right. I'm surprised to see that my grandfather had completed 2 years of high school. That's unusual for a farm kid back then.

I'm still looking for my mom's first appearance in the US Census with her family on a farm near Pine Ridge in Shannon Co., SD. Only the NARA has the SD pages on-line but it is a slow hit-or-miss proposition on each page and there are 8 Enumeration Districts to choose from. It may take awhile, but I'll find her.

Census Sunday: 1940 US Census

I've identified the eleven ancestors that I want to look up on Tuesday.
2. Joseph A. Huigens, Jr
3. Shirley A, Ogden
4. Joseph A. Huigens
5. Julia Huigens
6. Emery J. Ogden
7. Esther L. Ogden
8. John Huigens
9. Mary Huigens
12. William F. Ogden
14. Gustaf A. Johnson
15. Rose Johnson

That's a lot of people. More than I thought I'd find. My dad's other grandparents died in the early 1930's. My mom's grandmother died in 1938.

Fortunately I can reduce this to five households.
1. Joseph A., Julia and Joseph A. Huigens
2. Emery J., Esther L. and Shirley A. Ogden
3. John and Mary Huigens
4. William F. Ogden
5. Gustaf A. and Rose Johnson

Next comes determining where they lived in 1940 and then the Enumeration District (ED). For four of these households, this is a piece of cake. They lived in the same place they did in 1930. So all I have to do is find the ED for 1930 and use Stephen Morse and Joel Weintraub's 1940 ED Finder to convert them. Here's the results.

1. Joe and Julia Huigens family in Sheridan CO., NE 1930: 81-27 1940: 81-7, 81-12, 81-18, 81-26
2. Emery and Esther Ogden family near Pine Ridge, Shannon Co., SD
3. John and Mary Huigens in Creighton, NE 1930: 54-6 1940: 54-6
4. William Ogden in Mission, SD 1930: 61-40 1940: 61-1, 61-26
5. Gust and Rose Johnson in Henning, MN 1930: 56-45 1940: 56-46

So that's a little more complicated than I thought. Only two are a direct one-for-one. Still it won't be too bad. These are rural, sparsely populated areas, so I won't have too many pages to look through. By reading the ED descriptions, I can make some educated guesses which EDs to start with.

According to my mom, her family was living on a dairy farm near Pine Ridge, SD when her sister Margie was born in Nov. 1940. That's not where they were in 1930, 1935 or 1945. There are only 8 EDs for Shannon Co., SD: 57-1 through 57-8. Again, these are areas with low populations so it won't take long to scan through them.

It looks like I'm all set for Tues. The harder part will be trying to find various generations of aunts, uncles and cousins. That's a whole other ballgame.

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy: Week 13 - Local Societies

Week 13. Local Societies: Local genealogical and historical societies are the lifeblood of genealogy. Members and volunteers give their time and money to preserve local history and promote family history. Tell us about a local society for which you are thankful.

I am most thankful for the Clinton Co.IA Historical Society. I've only visited there once, but I found Clinton and Lyons city directories that helped me place my Iowa Irish ancestors over the years. Plus they have a huge county map from 1865 that shows the location of the Kennedy and Kain farms in Hampshire Township. The one thing they have that I need to go back for is a book of wills that has a will for a John Kennedy. I'm hoping it's my John Kennedy and his brother-in-law of the same name.

The other historical society that is a must visit for me some day is in Creighton, NE.  I've corresponded with someone there, but have yet to get out there. They have photos and other information that covers the area where the two halves of my father's ancestry linked up. They also have the wedding dress of the bride of my grandmother's uncle, John Kennedy, Jr. I'll get there some day and spend a day or two absorbing information about and photos of my ancestors and relatives.

Wordless Wednesday: The Kains of Creighton #2

These are my grandmother's younger siblings. This picture was probably taken at the same time as last week's. In this one, left to right, are Iona Kain, Margaret Kain and Edmund Kain.

Wordless Wednesday: The Kains of Creighton NE #1

In the back is Richard Kain. The others, left to right, are Nora, Francis and Mary Julia Kain. Mary Julia is my grandmother; the others are my dad's aunts and uncles. The picture was most likely taken in Creighton, NE in about 1902. The rest of the children will appear next week.

Wordless Wednesday: The Huigens Siblings about 1912

This is the last photo I have of the entire Huigens family of Creighton, NE. I'd guess it was taken about 1912. The sons in the back row from left to right are Henry, Edward, Joseph and Bernard. The parents, John and Mary, are seated in the middle. I am unsure on who is who among the daughters. I'll have to track that info down. <sigh> Another item on an unending genealogy to-do list.

Tombstone Tuesday: Kains in Creighton, NE

This is the grave marker for my great-grandparents, my father's maternal grandparents. They died when he was still an infant. They are buried in St. Ludger Cemetery in Creighton, NE.

Looking for relatives in LofC Newspapers

Watching the Jerome Bettis article on WDYTYA tonight reminded me about the Library of Congress newspaper archive, Chronicling America. I went back tonight and searched for "Huigens" in Nebraska starting in 1884. I found four hits.

The first is from The Norfolk [NE] Weekly News-Journal, September 27, 1907, Page 3. It mentions my great-grandparents, John and Mary Huigens of Creighton, NE as visitors to Norfolk on the previous Sat. No idea who they would have been visiting.

The second is in a column called "Thursday Tidings" from the 19-Feb 1909 edition of the same paper. BJ Huigens would be my dad's uncle, Bernard Joseph (Barney) Huigens. He would have been about 25 years old.

Barney also shows up in the next item from the same paper 21-Apr-1911. It appears he won an election to the village board of Herrick, Gregory Co., SD as a "wet" candidate, meaning he opposed Prohibition.

The last item mentions a Huigens from Sioux Co., IA in the Omaha Daily Bee of 9-Jun-1890. The column title is "Iowa Items." I'm not sure how or if we are related to the Sioux Co. IA Huigenses. I've got a couple of census of records, but so far have not been able to tie them to the Creighton, NE line. I guess I'll have to search the newspapers for Huigens in Iowa. I'll let you know what I find.

Tombstone Tuesday: John and Mary Huigens

This week I'm posting a picture of the grave marker for my great-grandparents. John Huigens was born in Illinois during the Civil War and died after World War II. That's quite a span of history.

Mystery Monday: The death of Mary Huigens

Where did my great-grandmother, Mary (Fitzler) Huigens die in Feb. 1949? I 'm not really sure. I sent away for a Nebraska death certificate because she lived in Creighton, NE for all of her adult life and is buried there with my great-grandfather. To my surprise, no Nebraska death record was found. I've checked the South Dakota death records on ancestry.com that cover this time period and she's not there either. That seemed a possibility because Creighton is close to the SD border.

As far as I know, all of her children lived in NE at that time. All I have to go on is a vague rumor that she died in Iowa and some of my dad's cousins remember something about a problem getting her body back on the train because of the blizzard of 1949.

The next step is to include her in a big order of Iowa death records when I've got the time and the money.

Wordless Wednesday: Huigens Siblings 1950s

This is a picture of my Grandpa Joe with his brothers and sisters. It was probably taken some time after their parents had died in 1949. Probably some time in the 1950s and probably in Creighton, NE where they were born and grew up. The men in the back row are Bernard Huigens, Joseph Huigens, Henry Huigens and Edward Huigens. In the front row are Julia (Huigens) Tharnish, Anna Huigens, and then either Margaret (Huigens) King and Emily (Huigens) Mattern or vice versa. I cannot lay my hands on my notes as to who is who right now.