5 March 1897 – 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 […]
12 April 1879 – 27 October 1925 This is such an unusual little headstone, with just the name and then this little metal handle with her etiquette-book married name inscribed on it. I have no idea of the significance of the handle, if any, but it struck me as quite curious and interesting. Jessie was […]
1882 – 16 July 1909 Ordained 13 June 1908 James was a young man born to Irish immigrant parents who had just begun his life in holy service. I found clippings for two weddings that James performed, one for his cousin, but just one year and one month after his ordination, James died at his […]
24 December 1777 – 16 November 1850 Menagerist This headstone is very sweet and might make you think kindly of the person it immortalizes, but George Wombwell was no champion of animal welfare. Wombwell was a shoemaker from Essex who stumbled into exotic-animal-collecting when he bought two boa constrictors on the London docks and started […]
Carl Raths 28 Mar 1842 (Germany) – 16 Apr 1927 Augusta Staatz Raths 10 May 1856 – 6 Dec 1918 Frieda Aff 10 Sep 1876 – 15 Aug 1962 Charles Aff 11 Feb 1870 – 25 Dec 1945 Clara Schmidtke 8 Mar 1898 – 13 Feb 1950 William Schmidtke, Sr. 27 Feb 1897 – 13 […]
Lars Schmidt 1886 – 14 September 1890 Eddie Schmidt 28 April 1888 – 28 August 1890 Rudolph Schmidt 19 September 1891 – before 1900 Baby Schmidt 1890s This little headstone is quite famous, mentioned in guide books and identified on the Forest Home tourist handouts as a destination to visit. The two little brothers, Eddie […]
Elizabeth “Betty” Rakow 12 November 1906 – 24 July 1915 Maria Auguste Louise “Augusta” Schwahn Wiese 21 January 1850 – 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 […]
Inez Margretta “Zeni” Lenz Mueller 8 December 1911 – 8 August 1992 I don’t usually do more recent burials, but I was so charmed by this headstone I wanted to research it a bit. And also, even though it doesn’t seem long ago to me, Zeni did pass away almost thirty years ago! Zeni was […]
James C. Justin, Jr. 4 November 1894 – 24 July 1915 Emily Mary Manthey 15 October 1892 – 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 […]
11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001 #TowelDay was started 20 years ago (25 May 2001) to commemorate Adams’ death and honor his work, particularly The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Adams is buried in Highgate East, his headstone a simple gray tablet with a jaunty placard labeled 42 for those in-the-know to appreciate. Fans […]