19 August 1896 – 24 July 1915 The Eastland, one of five chartered excursion boats meant to ferry employees, their families and friends from Chicago over to the Michigan City shore for the annual Western Electric Company picnic, keeled over into the Chicago River while still at dock, trapping hundreds inside its hull and leading […]
15 March 1880 – 25 October 1931 Anna Blau was born in Galicia which seems to now be in Spain OR is no longer called that as various census records put it in Poland and Austria (the early 1900s were exceptionally volatile for national borders so this actually comes up a lot). She seemed to […]
4 February 1895 – 12 August 1942 Every now and then, I come across census or death records that indicate a person was in Manteno, Illinois, and I’ve learned that almost always means something pretty bad if they had previously been living in Chicago as that was the home of the notorious Manteno State Mental […]
Alexander L. “Alex” Dupke 21 August 1893 – 24 July 1915 The Eastland, one of five chartered excursion boats meant to ferry employees, their families and friends from Chicago over to the Michigan City shore for the annual Western Electric Company picnic, keeled over into the Chicago River while still at dock, trapping hundreds inside […]
15 December 1893 – 24 July 1915 The Eastland, one of five chartered excursion boats meant to ferry employees, their families and friends from Chicago over to the Michigan City shore for the annual Western Electric Company picnic, keeled over into the Chicago River while still at dock, trapping hundreds inside its hull and leading […]
28 October 1900 – 16 August 1920 Violet was born on her mother’s 22nd birthday, and she would be her parents’ (Caroline “Carrie” Kepschull and Joseph “Jack Blank” Blankenstein) only child. Carrie has differing information on the public records about her place of birth, but she was either born in Illinois or immigrated as an […]
22 November 1896 – 15 July 1915 The Eastland, one of five chartered excursion boats meant to ferry employees, their families and friends from Chicago over to the Michigan City shore for the annual Western Electric Company picnic, keeled over into the Chicago River while still at dock, trapping hundreds inside its hull and leading […]
Edward “Eddie” Grimms 25 Mar 1892 — 24 Jul 1915 The Eastland, one of five chartered excursion boats meant to ferry employees, their families and friends from Chicago over to the Michigan City shore for the annual Western Electric Company picnic, keeled over into the Chicago River while still at dock, trapping hundreds inside its […]
Helena Pittelkow 5 September 1893 — 24 July 1915 Meta Zopke 25 April 1892 — 24 July 1915 Hedwig “Hattie” Zopke 5 April 1895 — 24 July 1915 Meta and Hedwig were sisters, and Helena was the little sister of their older brother William’s wife Minnie. All boarded the Eastland bound for the Western Electric […]
10 November 1895 – 24 July 1915 The Eastland, one of five chartered excursion boats meant to ferry employees, their families and friends from Chicago over to the Michigan City shore for the annual Western Electric Company picnic, keeled over into the Chicago River while still at dock, trapping hundreds inside its hull and leading […]