20 Years Ago - The Passing of Robert T Miars (1915-1999)

Today it has been twenty years since my grandfather, Robert T Miars passed away.  The anniversary comes up each year just before Thanksgiving and it takes me back to the months and weeks before he passed.  It takes me back to the visits and conversations I had with him during that time.  I remember the last time I saw him, just a few days before he died. I remember lots of things about that time but that is really not how I want o remember him now.

I would like to remember him when he was young and growing up.  When he was was healthy and happy and life was just beginning for him. Before he had a wife, children and a business to run.  Back to the days when he was just a kid.

Here is one of the earliest pictures of him that I have seen.  It is probably from about 1918 when he was two or three years old.  But where was it taken?  My grandfather was born on 5 Jun 1915 in Elm Grove Township, Tazewell County, Illinois. [1]  He was the youngest of nine children born to Frank and Katie (Saltonstall) Miars.  The farm he was born on had been in his family just a few years less than 100.  Is that where this picture was taken?

Robert T Miars, ca. 1918, location unknown.

Robert was not to live in Elm Grove for long.  Although all of his older siblings had been born and raised there, life was changing for his parents.  The Miars homestead was being sold just a few years after Grandpa was born and the whole family moved to a new farm in Jubilee Township, Peoria County, Illinois.  The big moved happened around 1917 or 1918.  Maybe this picture of him was taken at the new place.

Robert T Miars, about 1920, location unknown.

Here is another photo from his younger years.  This is probably from about 1920 and most likely was taken in Jubilee Township, Peoria County, Illinois.  Maybe it was for first day of school?  Whatever the occasion was he is dressed up and ready to go.  The property that his parents owned is now part of the Jubilee State Park.  I need to do more research to figure just which area of the park belonged to my great grandparents.

Robert T Miars school photo, ca. 1925.  He is at the far right on second row.

Grandpa would have attended the local school in Jubilee.  This class photo has him standing at the right end of the second row and next to his lifelong friend, Tom Flynn.  I need to go through his high school yearbook to see if I can identify any others from this photo.  Many of them would have gone to high school with Grandpa.  I am not for sure where this school was located.  It may have been the school that used to stand at what is now the entrance to the Park off of Route 150 (down the hill from the old dairy and rock garden).  More research needed on this point also.  He likely was the only one from his family that was in this school.  His next older brother Albert "Dutch" would have been high school age by the time this photo was likely taken around 1925.

Robert T Miars, senior class photo, Brimfield High School class of 1933

Finally, this is one of my favorite pictures of him from throughout his life.  It is his senior class picture and was likely taken in 1933 or 1932.  By now though, life is getting serious for Grandpa.  His father (Frank) died in 1932 the year before Grandpa's high school graduation from Brimfield High school. [2]  The farm in Jubilee is sold and he and his mother move into town.  Now he knows he needs to get a job.

But somewhere in this photo of him I see in his eyes the young man that is just starting out in life.  He seems to be looking forward to what life has to bring and to the family that he would be raising in Brimfield.  In this photo, all of that is yet to come.

So for today, this is how I will remember my Grandpa....twenty years after he passed.

Related Blog Posts -
Clara (Miars) Barker - 123rd Birthday
Mary (Miars) Best
Pearl (Walkington) Miars
Robert Miars and Bessie Purcell
Lulu Eicher - A Teacher's Teacher

Bibliography -
[1] Tazewell, Illinois, amended birth certificate, local file no. unknown, 1915 (issued 24 Sep 1940), Robert Thomas Miars, formerly "Miars"; Tazewell County Clerk, Pekin.
[2] Peoria County, Illinois, death certificate no. 14669  (3 Feb 1932), Frank Miars, Peoria County Clerk, Peoria.

Sunday's With Grandma Stenger

I found this picture recently among my grandmother's "stash of stuff" and it brought back a flood of memories about growing up and family.  Specifically, it reminds me of Sundays with my grandmothers.  The other noteworthy item about this photo is that it contains four generations of my maternal family line (lots of mitochondrial DNA here!).

This is a photo taken about 1973 or 1974 at the home of my maternal grandparents, Robert and Clementine (Stenger) Miars in Brimfield, Illinois. (I really didn't remember that my hair was ever that long in my youth but evidently it was!) Many times on Sundays we had our big meal at their house after church with pot roast or fried chicken on the menu.  Sometimes there were guests.  On those occasions there was nobody more special in attendance then Clem's mother (my great grandmother), Lucy (Loescher) Stenger.  Her husband, Joseph L Stenger, passed away in the mid 1960s. so my memories are really only of her.

Back Row L-R: Jana, Diane, Lucy (Loescher) Stenger, Clementine (Stenger) Miars.
Front Row L-R:  Michael, David, Jean
ca. 1973, Brimfield, Illinois

In this photo I think Lucy would have been in her mid to late 80s.  Always in my memories, she had white hair fashioned as it is in the photo.  I remember that for most of my school years at home we took every opportunity possible to see her and visit with her because of her advanced age.  That included having her come for Sunday dinner.  After all when somebody is about 88 years old how many more years could they have left?

Well...turns out more than decade!  My great grandmother, Lucy (Loescher) Stenger lived to be 100 years old and died in 1985 just days after achieving that milestone.  My grandmother, Clem Miars, would go on to live to be 103.  Amazing...simply amazing.

When Lucy was still living independently, in her own home, she would likely bring food to these dinners.  She was famous for so many delicious baked goods.  Included in this long list were her dinner rolls, coconut creme pies and cinnamon roles.  Sometimes, we would stop to visit her on Saturdays on our way to the grocery store and I remember very well the marvelous smells of all of this baking in her home.  So at our Sunday dinners not only did we get the benefit of Clem's wonderful meal but many times we had great additions from Lucy's kitchen also.

The location of this photo is the living room of Clem's house in Brimfield, IL.  My grandfather or dad would have likely taken the picture.  Another thought that I had when first looking at this photo was about the drapes.  I remember when Clem picked them out and had them installed.  It was a big deal for her to have custom made drapes and we were not to touch them.  Sticky fingers or dirty hands were not allowed anywhere near them.  They were a source of pride for her for years to come.  Also, everybody in the photo except for Lucy has nice smiles.  Well...maybe David's is a bit mischievous but there are no unhappy faces.  Our tummies and hearts were full of great food and fellowship.  We couldn't want for anything else (except maybe a nap!).

Why was this photo taken with Lucy on that particular visit?  Who knows.  But thankfully it was.  Four generations together.  Another Sunday with Grandmother Stenger.

Friends and Family or Family and Friends?

Which is it?  Friends and Family or Family and Friends?  Sometimes they are two distinct groups of people.  Sometimes one is greater or more important or in greater numbers than the other.  But sometimes in our family tree we have a line where the roles of family and friends are blurred.  Sometimes our family and friends are both.

For my maternal grandmother, Clementine (Stenger) Miars this is indeed the case.  She was born in August 1913 on the family farm in Kickapoo, Illinois.  Her immediate family was large with 7 children in all.  But it is her extended family that was very large.  One time I counted and she had over 90 first cousins.  As a point of reference...I have five.  That means both her parents had very large families.  It also means that her second and third cousins numbered in the hundreds.  Many of them lived in Kickapoo just like Clem.

She went to school with her extended family at St Mary's School in Kickappo.  Most of them would have also attended St Mary's Catholic Church with their families.  She grew up not just with her siblings but her extended family in close proximity.  Her siblings and many of her cousins and their families were to be lifelong friends as well.

I recently came across this photo from Clem's "stash of stuff" that I think illustrates this situation very well.

L-R:  Wilma (Schmitt) Johnson, Clementine (Stenger) Miars, Flossie (Gilles) O'Toole, Rose (Stenger) Inskeep, Mary (Stenger) Carman; ca. mid 1930s

L-R:  Wilma (Schmitt) Johnson, Clementine (Stenger) Miars, Flossie (Gilles) O'Toole, Rose (Stenger) Inskeep, Mary (Stenger) Carman

The five women in this photo that I think is from the mid 1930s were all raised together in Kickapoo and attended the same school and church.  Their families were connected by blood in multiple ways.  They played baseball together as kids and young adults.  They were friends and family and also family and friends.  Who's to say which bond was the stronger between them.  The reality is that it changed over the years.

Their family bonds are complex.  Clem, Rose and Mary were sisters.  Wilma was a both a second and third cousin to the Stenger siblings through her parents, Albert and Cecilia (Stenger) Schmitt and Clem's dad, Joseph L Stenger.  Cecilia (Stenger) Schmitt and Joseph L Stenger were 1st cousins.  Albert Schmitt and Joseph L Stenger were 2nd cousins.  (Does your brain hurt yet??)

Flossie (Gilles) O'Toole was a 2nd cousin of the Stenger siblings through their mothers.  To make matters more confusing both Flossie and the Stenger sisters had mothers with the name Lucy.  Flossie's mother is Lucy (Brutcher) Gilles and Clem, Rose and Mary's mother was Lucy (Loescher) Stenger.  The two Lucy's are first cousins.  Lucky for us though I do not think that Wilma and Flossie were related.

But just as importantly, these five young women pictured above were friends and had known each other all of their lives while growing up.  Yet even after they married some of these bonds of friendship were to continue.

Wilma, Flossie and Clem, all found themselves married and living in Brimfield, Illinois during the 1940s and 1950s.  It was not far from Kickapoo.  These three women had children who also went to the same schools and church together and had lots of social activities together.  Their lives continued more as friends and neighbors than anything during this time.  Each of them had a daughter that would be in the same class (1959) at Brimfield High School and would remain close as they married.  It has continued on into the third generation of these three women when some of their grandchildren found themselves in the same class at school and attending the same church in Brimfield in addition to social activities.

Wilma was the first to pass in 1964 as a young grandmother.  Mary Carman was gone in 1973.  Rose, Clem and Flossie lived to be old women into their 90s and beyond.  Clem and Flossie remained good friends and neighbors until Flossie passed in 2005.

I have said this before that Clem kept so much stuff.  At times it is overwhelming how much there is to sort through, identify and preserve.  But it is when I find these gems that I am so grateful that she did. What a blessing this is!  I had no idea growing up that some of my friends were also my cousins and that our grandmothers had been friends  in decades long past. This is truly a great gift to see this photo and reminisce about their lives growing up, as young mothers and now about the connections their grandchildren have made.

The Picture -
The picture above was cropped so that we could see the faces better of these five women.  But here is the uncropped version for more context.

Does anybody know where this was taken or the occasion? What about the guitar that Flossie (Gilles) O'Toole is holding?  Did she play?  Please let me know if you know any more details about this.

The reason I knew who all of the people were in the photo is that somebody had written on the back of the photo who everybody was (Thank you whoever you are!!!!).  Once I read the names and then looked at the faces in the photo again I recognized them all.  All five of them have daughters that today resemble their mothers which made it easier to confirm the names on the back.

Wilma (Schmitt) Johnson, Clementine (Stenger) Miars, Flossie (Gilles) O'Toole, Rose (Stenger) Inskeep, Mary (Stenger) Carman, photo, ca. mid 1930s, location unknown; digital image 2019, from the Clementine (Stenger) Miars collection, original privately held by Jana (Miars) Minor.

Ewald Pruschwitz (1814-1895) - Happy 205th Birthday and Happy Arrival Anniversary!

Ewald Pruschwitz is another of my 3rd great grandparents on my Minor line.  Today is his 205th birthday!  In pulling together the information for this post I realized it is also the anniversary of his arrival in the US as well. Two anniversaries on one day!

Relationship to me:  me > my dad > William Minor Sr > John R Minor (1880 - 1937) > Pauline (Pruschwitz) Minor (1856-1939) > Ewald Pruschwitz (1814-1895).

Ewald was born on 3 November 1814 in Ligenitz.  This village in southwest Poland is now called Legnica. [1]  In census records Ewald lists his birthplace as "Prussia". [2] At the time of his birth what we know today as Poland was part of Prussia. It was very exciting to figure this out because he is my only ancestor (so far) from eastern Europe.

At some point prior to 1850, he married Caroline Buffee in Prussia. [3] In 1855, Ewald, Caroline and their two children, Augusta and Wilhelm packed up their belongs and set out for America.  They boarded the ship D Kohlmann in Breman, Germany. [4] They arrived at the Port of New Orleans on 3 Nov 1855. [4]  Ewald was 41 years old on the day of his arrival into the New World.  How cool is that!

"New Orleans, Passenger Lists, 1813-1963" This family starts on row 122.

The passenger list record indicates they were headed to Illinois to settle. [4]  Did my ancestors have family or friends in central Illinois that they were coming to be close to?  History would tell us that is a likely supposition.  Many new immigrants came over with other families that they were going to settle with or they met up with family and friends from home that had already settled in a particular place.  There are other passengers on the ship's manifest going to Illinois so both of these ideas are possible.

From New Orleans the Ewald Pruschwitz family would take a boat up the Mississippi to St Louis, Missouri.  If their initial destination was Peoria, Illinois where they were living in 1860 [5] they may have taken a second boat up the Illinois River.

By 1860 Ewald and Caroline are settled in Peoria, Illinois with their family. [5]  My great-great grandmother, Pauline (Pruschwitz) Minor was born there on 15 or 16 May 1856; less than a year after their arrival in the US. [6]   By 1860 also it appears that their son, Wilhelm has died as he is not listed on the census for that year.

In the passenger list, Ewald lists his profession as "joiner". [4] Wikipedia defines this term as "an artisan and tradesperson who builds things by joining pieces of wood, particularly lighter and more ornamental work than that done by a carpenter, including furniture and the "fittings" of a house, ship, etc." [7]  He seems to have carried on this trade in Peoria because in the census records for 1860, 1870 and 1880 his occupation is listed as carpenter or cabinet maker. [8]  I wonder if he made cabinets for some of the big homes on the east and west bluffs?  What older buildings in town still have cabinetry items made by great-great-great grandfather?

Both census and city directories also indicate that Ewald and Caroline lived on Jefferson in Peoria from at least 1860 until Ewald's death in 1895.  Starting in 1875, the city directory identifies their specific address as 106 West Jefferson. [9]  This is just a couple of blocks up from the river.  Also, this address is just a few blocks from where my Nufer ancestors were living.  Did they know each other?

Ewald died on 24 Mar 1895 in Peoria. [10] Caroline lived on a few more years.  They are buried together in Springdale Cemetery in Peoria. [1]  They both lived long enough to see their two daughters married and their grandchildren all born.  I now realize that my great-grandfather, John Minor (1880-1937) would have known them both.  He was a teenager when his grandfather Ewald died and a young adult when his grandmother passed.

Entry for Ewald is on record 170 at the bottom.

This sketch was a good deal of fun to do.  It is so nice when our ancestors are found where they are supposed to be and doing what we expect them to be doing!  So it was with Ewald and Caroline.  They came to Peoria very soon after arriving in New Orleans and pretty much stayed in the same location until their deaths.  They left a number of records which made it easy to find and trace them.

Next step....see if they can be found in records over in Poland or Germany!

Related Blog Posts -
Francis Grant Minor (1852 - 1918)

Bibliography -
[1] For birthday see: Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 03 November 2019), memorial page for Ewald Pruschwitz (3 Nov 1814–24 Mar 1895), memorial no. 119510306, cemetery marker in Springdale Cemetery and Mausoleum, Peoria, Peoria County, Illinois, USA; maintained by "Stephen Cantrell," contributor no. 48212706. Also see: Peoria County, Illinois, death records register, database and images, book 2 (26 Jan 1889 - 1 Nov 1899), p. 38, Peoria County Clerk (http://www.peoriacounty.org/documentcenter/index/1858 : accessed 3 Nov 2019), entry for Ewald Pruschwitz, 24 Mar 1895, entry no. 170.  For birth location see: "New Orleans, Passenger Lists, 1813-1963," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com  : accessed 3 Nov 2019), entry for Edwald Pruschwitz, 3 Nov 1855, Port of New Orleans; citing "Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1820-1902," NARA, Washington, D.C., NAI no. 2824927, record group 85.
[2] 1860 U.S. census, Peoria County, Illinois, population schedule, Peoria Ward 2, p. 106 (penned), line 5, household 818, family 840, Ewald Pruscewitz; digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 Nov 2019), citing National Archives microfilm publication T653, roll M653_216,  FHL microfilm 803216.  Also see: 1870 U.S. census, Peoria County, Illinois, population schedule, Peoria Ward 1, p. 3 (penned), p. 228 (stamped), line 15, dwelling 18, family 18, Purshwitz Ewalt; digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 Nov 2019), citing National Archives microfilm publication M593, roll M593_267, FHL film 545766.
[3] This couple's oldest known child, Augusta (Pruschwitz) Schader's birth day is listed on a death index as 17 Jun 1850 in "Ligmitts, Germany".  Ewald and Caroline would likely have married prior to that year.  See "Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947," database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com : 14 Apr 2019), Augusta Schader, 19 Nov 1922; citing "Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916–1947," index, FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2010.
[4] "New Orleans, Passenger Lists, 1813-1963," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com  : accessed 3 Nov 2019), entry for Edwald Pruschwitz, 3 Nov 1855, Port of New Orleans; citing "Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1820-1902," NARA, Washington, D.C., NAI no. 2824927, record group 85.
[5] 1860 U.S. census, Peoria County, Illinois, population schedule, Peoria Ward 2, p. 106 (penned), line 5, household 818, family 840, Ewald Pruscewitz; digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 Nov 2019), citing National Archives microfilm publication T653, roll M653_216,  FHL microfilm 803216.
[6] Peoria County, Illinois, death certificate no. 30714 (27 Nov 1939), Pauline Minor, Peoria County Clerk, Peoria.  Also see for conflicting date: "Mrs. Pauline Minor," Brimfield (Illinos) News, 30 Nov 1939; microfilm, Brimfield Public Library, 2007.
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joiner
[8] See [5].  See also: 1870 U.S. census, Peoria County, Illinois, population schedule, Peoria Ward 1, p. 3 (penned), p. 228 (stamped), line 15, dwelling 18, family 18, Purshwitz Ewalt; digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 Nov 2019), citing National Archives microfilm publication M593, roll M593_267, FHL film 545766. Also: 1880 U.S. census, Peoria County, Illinois, population schedule, Peoria, Enumeration District (ED) 203, p. 10-D (penned), p. 28-C (stamped), line 42, dwelling 100, family 113, Awalt Brushwick [Ewalk Pruschwitz]; digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 Nov 2019), citing National Archives microfilm publication T9, roll 240.
[9] O. E. Root, compiler, Root’s Peoria City Directory 1875  (Peoria, Illinois:  O. E. Root, Publisher, 1875), p. 179, entry for "Pruschwitz Ewald"; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 Nov2019), "U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995," Illinois > Peoria > 1875 > Peoria,Illinois, City Directory, 1875.  See also: Franks Peoria Directory Co., compiler, Franks Peoria City Directory for 1892 (Peoria, Illinois:  Franks Peoria Directory Co., Publishers, 1892), p. 520, entry for "Pruschwitz Ewald G."; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 Nov 2019), " U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995," Illinois > Peoria > 1892 > Peoria,Illinois,City Directory, 1892.
[10] Peoria County, Illinois, death records register, database and images, book 2 (26 Jan 1889 - 1 Nov 1899), p. 38, Peoria County Clerk (http://www.peoriacounty.org/documentcenter/index/1858 : accessed 3 Nov 2019), entry for Ewald Pruschwitz, 24 Mar 1895, entry no. 170.