Saturday, May 23, 2020

In Memory of PFC Emery J Whisler - World War I - DOW

Updated - 18 Oct 2020 - See section below with updates for this post.

Recently, I have been doing descendancy research on the family of my great-great-great grandparents, Peter and Sybilla (Garber) Ringenberg(er).  This involves documenting the details of each of their children and their descendants.  It was doing this research on their children's families  that I came upon the tragic story of their grandson, PFC Emery Whisler of Mackinaw and Rock Island, Illinois.  

 Peter and Sybilla (Garber) Ringenberg(er) lived in Elm Grove Township, Tazewell County, Illinois.  He was an immigrant to the US from Germany on 12 Sep 1838. (1)  Ten years later he married Sybilla Garber in Tazewell County, IL on 7 Feb 1848. (2)  They raised a family of six children on a small farm in Elm Grove Township, Tazewell County which included my great great grandmother, Catherine.

Their fifth child was Amelia who was born in Tazewell County on 29 Nov 1857. (3)  On 12 Jan 1890, she married John R Whisler in Minier, IL, also in Tazewell County. (4)  John seems to have been a Union solider in the US Civil War. (5) They made their home in Tazewell County and started a family of five children. (3)  John seems to have children from a previous marriage that were also part of his second family.

Their third child and first son together was Emery Joseph and was born in April 1898 in Illinois. (6)  He is enumerated on the 1900 and 1910 census records with his parents but then was not found in 1920, either with them or anyplace else in Illinois that I could find.  At first I did not think much of this scenario.  He was an adult now and I figured that he was someplace else living his own life.  That idea turned out to be very wrong.

According to Find A Grave, John Whisler dies in Danville, IL in 1915. (7) Not long after that, Amelia moved to Rock Island, Illinois where she had a daughter living.  Emery evidently moved with his mother.

But what did Emery do after this move?  I could not find him anywhere after this time period.  I looked for him on Find A Grave but did not find him there.  Then I did a search for his name in various newspaper sites for Rock Island and Tazewell County.  It was here that I found him again.

“Son Of Local Woman, Severely Wounded, Oct. 11,” Quad City Times (8)
See below for enlarged versions of the picture and article.
Oh my goodness.  Severely wounded.  This did not sound good at all.  The words of the article were bad enough to read and digest.  But the picture is what really got me.  Far to young to be involved in a war in Europe between countries and families who could not settle their differences peaceably.  Then I realized he was my family.  My first cousin 3x removed.  He was my great grandmother's (Katie (Saltonstall) Miars) first cousin.  I started to think about how I would feel if this were one of my first cousins instead of three generations removed from me and the tears started to flow.  This newspaper article was from 19 Jan 1919 saying he had been wounded in October 1918 (just a few weeks before the silly war was over!!).  His family must have been beside themselves with worry not hearing from him for several months.  Now they were told he was wounded without details about how he was or where he was.  Unimaginable to me.

I frantically started searching for the rest of the story.  What was Emery's fate?  Unfortunately, it was not what I wanted to find.

                   “Mackinaw,” obituary, The Pantagraph (Bloomington, Illinois) (9)
I can only imagine his family was stunned and devastated at this news.  The suffering they all went through from mid January to early February 1919 is unimaginable to me.  I kept looking at his picture from the newspaper and about the life he would never get to live.  I was also concerned then about his memory.  He had no children or family of his own to keep him alive.  Nobody who dies in service to his county should be forgotten.  It is important, I believe, to keep the memory alive of these young men who made the greatest sacrifice of all so that we might live mostly in peace and prosperity 100 years later.

I made one more attempt to find his place of burial and thankfully I then found a memorial page for him on Find A Grave. (10) His last name was misspelled which prevented me from finding him there before.  He's buried in his hometown of Mackinaw, Illinois where he spent his childhood growing up with his parents and siblings. 

When I am researching a person from my family tree I usually will google their name to see what might be found about them there.  I did this for Emery and to my surprise I found HUNDREDs of entries that included his name!  They seemed to be obituaries of other people and upon reading a few I realized something wonderful.  Mackinaw, IL named their American Legion Post after him.  It is the "Mackinaw American Legion Emery Whisler Post #607"!!No need to be concerned anymore about his memory.  His hometown of Mackinaw, IL is keeping his name and memory alive.  

 Thank you Emery for your service and great sacrifice from you first cousin, 3x removed.

PFC Emery Whisler - Rest in Peace.  

You can click this link and be taken to his memorial on Find A Grave and leave a flower for a brave young man who never made it home.



Update - On 18 Oct 2020, I received an email from Randall McClallen who found this blog post.  PFC Emery Whisler is his great-uncle.  He provided some additional details and corrections about my post that I want to share.  Thank you so much, Randall for this information!

"My grandmother, Jessie Amelia Whisler, was a daughter of Amelia  
Ringenberg Whisler.  She would have been a 1st cousin to Katie Miars.  I  
want to give some clarifications to her brother, Emery Joseph Whisler.   
Emery lived in Deer Creek, Il., at the time of his enlistment.  He worked  
as a Barber and was engaged to a woman by the name of Gladys Phillips.  He  
was injured during a battle but not too serious as he was able to write  
letters to his mother while in the hospital.  What killed him was infection  
as it was before antibiotics were discovered.  He is buried in the Mackinaw  
Cemetery, when you drive into the cemetery it is immediately to your right  
near the street.  I don't believe that Emery lived in Rock Island and his  
mother, Amelia lived with her daughter, Ida, on Taylor St. in Davenport,  
IA.  There was another son, Johnny, who did live with his mother off and on  
in Davenport but he died of pneumonia around 1928 in Peoria."  
Randall McClallen


Related Blog Posts -
Bibliography -
(1) "New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957", database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 Mar 2020), entry for “Peter Ringenberg,” arrived New York, 12 Sep 1838 aboard Atlantic; citing "Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897," microfilm publication M237, 1820-1897, roll 037, line 24, list number 555; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
(2) David C. Perkins, compiler, Tazewell County Illinois Marriage Records Index (Illinois, Pekin: Tazewell County Genealogical Society, 1982), p. 41, entry for “Ringenberg, Peter and C. B. Garber,” 23 Jan 1848, page 145 in Marriage Book A.  Page 145 is missing from microfilm on FamilySearch of this marriage book so the author has been unable to review it directly.
(3) “Whisler,” obituary, The Davenport Democrat and Leader (Iowa), 29 Jun 1931, p. 13, col. 2; digital image, Publisher Extra collection, Newspapers (http://www.newspapers.com : accessed May 2020).
(4) FamilySearch, digital images (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/120944?availability=Family%20History%20Library : accessed 23 Apr 2020), digital film no. 761636, image 609 of 718, Tazewell County, Illinois, marriage register, Book 2, p. 3, license no. 3196, John Whisler and Amelia Ringenberg, 12 Jan 1890.
(5) "Illinois, Databases of Illinois Veterans Index, 1775-1995 (Web),” database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Apr 2020), entry for John R Whisler, about 1846; citing “Illinois Civil War Muster and Descriptive Rolls Detail Report,” database, Illinois State Archives (https://www.ilsos.gov/isaveterans/civilMusterSearch.do).
(6) 1900 U.S. census, Tazewell County, Illinois, population schedule, Mackinaw, Enumeration District (ED) 0145, sheet 6-B (penned), p. 155-B (stamped), line 80, dwelling 158, family 158, Joseph E Whisler; digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 Jun 2014), citing National Archives microfilm publication T623, roll 347, FHL microfilm 1240347.
(7) Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 24 April 2020), memorial page for Corp John Raymond Whisler (Mar 1846–29 Jul 1915), memorial no. 53335114, cemetery marker in Mackinaw Township Cemetery, Mackinaw, Tazewell County, Illinois, USA; maintained by “Amelia Crombie-Christy,” contributor no. 46861625.  Authors note:  John may have been living in a residential home for Civil War veterans in Danville at the time of his death.
(8) “Son Of Local Woman, Severely Wounded, Oct. 11,” newspaper article, Quad City Times (Davenport, Iowa), 19 Jan 1919, p. 8, col. 4.
(9) “Mackinaw,” obituary, The Pantagraph (Bloomington, Illinois), 8 Feb 1919, p. 12, col. 3.
(10) Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 03 May 2020), memorial page for PFC Emery Joseph Whistler (unknown–11 Oct 1918), memorial no. 72998099, cemetery marker in Mackinaw Township Cemetery, Mackinaw, Tazewell County, Illinois, USA.

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