The Marriage of Francois (Frank) Loescher and Rose Nufer

It is not often in our modern world that we can go back in time to the places and locations of our ancestors.  But with my second great grandparents, Francois (Frank) and Rose Nufer Loescher that is actually possible.  I have written about this couple and their children several times before (see below for links to previous posts).  But how, when and where did their life together begin?

Frank Loescher came to the US from Alsace, France sometime around 1873 based on information from the 1900 United States Census and a record of his naturalization. (1)  It is not known at this time when he made his way to Peoria, Illinois or if that was his original destination when he left his home in Reichstett, France.  But, he appears in the 1877 Peoria City Directory for the first time. (2) 

Transcription - “Loescher Frank, yard man Peoria House, bds same”.

Figure 1 - 1877 Peoria City Directory Entry for Frank Loescher

I infer from this entry that in 1877 he was working as a “yard man” for the Peoria House.  It was a popular and large hotel and boarding house in downtown Peoria at the corner of Hamilton and North Adams.  This entry also indicates he was living there as well.  Then in 1879 he is found working as a brewer and living in another boarding house.  (3)  The Farmers Hotel was at the corner of Bridge Street and Water Street.

Transcription – “Loescher Francois, brewer, 709 N. Water; bds Farmers Hotel.”

Figure 2 - 1879 Peoria City Directory for Francois Loescher

By this time he certainly would have been integrated into the large German immigrant community in Peoria in what is now the South side of town.  Likely he would have been attending the church frequented by the community, St Joseph’s Catholic Church at the corner of Spencer and Prairie Streets (today it is on Richard Pryer Way).

Rose Nufer’s birth place and date of birth are still in question.  But my hypothesis at this time is that she was born in 1859 in Groveland Township, Illinois.  In 1870 we find her and her family living in Peoria’s 6^th Ward. (4)  Rose’s parents, Martin and Maria Nufer were well acquainted with Peoria and during this time period they were living at “Madison bluff side 1 below Pecan”….just a few blocks from St Joseph’s Church.

St Joseph’s Church is in the heart of what was the large Germany immigrant community in Peoria.  This seems to be the likely common denominator for how Frank and Rose met.  See the church's website for the history of this church and pictures from the restored interior.  This church community and building from 1879 still stands and is open and active today!

By late 1879 this young couple (he was 31 and she was 20) was applying for a marriage license with the Peoria County Clerk (5).  I wonder what the conversation was within her family about the age difference.  I think it is unlikely that the two families had any connection from their old country.  I strongly suspect that the Nufer’s did not know Frank or any of his family before they both made their homes in Peoria.  What concerns if any did this present for Martin and Maria?

The marriage took place on 2 November 1879 at St Joseph’s and was performed by Father Bernard Baak.  He was a longtime priest at the church.  I have found his name on many other marriage licenses and baptismal records for this family.  The actual church building where this wedding took place was built in early 1879 so Frank and Rose would have been one of the first couples married there.  Witnesses to the marriage are both from the Nufer family testifying to the fact that Frank was a recent immigrant and had no family in the area.  Frank and Rose both signed the marriage license so they must have been literate.  It’s a wonderful thing to me to find a document that has the actual signatures of my ancestors; especially for those that I never knew.

I would encourage anybody in the Loescher family or others in the Peoria area to visit St Joseph’s Church there.  It is a beautiful church and many of the items around the alter (including mosaics, hand carved wood alter) and the pews are original.  Go stand in the place where your ancestors stood over 135 years ago!

Figure 3 - Marriage License - Frank Loascher and Rosa Nufer 

Figure 4 - Marriage License Application - Frank Loascher and Rosa Nufer

Copyright ©2016 – Diane Minor – All Rights Reserved.

Links to related posts -

The Death of Frank Loescher

The Loescher Saloon

Frank A Loescher - The Oldest and Only Son

Rose Nufer Loescher - The Mystery of Her Birth

Francois (Frank) Loescher - Family In America?

The French Connection - Rose Loescher's Letter To France

St Joseph Catholic Church - Peoria, Illinois Website

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(1)  1900 U.S. census, Peoria County, Illinois, population schedule, Kickapoo, Enumeration District (ED) 0078, sheet 12-A, line 37, dwelling 231, family 232, Frank Loascher; digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 Jun 2014), citing National Archives microfilm publication T623, roll 333, FHL microfilm 1240333.

"U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1992 (Indexed in World Archives Project)," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 Sep 2014), entry for Frank Loescher, date of naturalization 26 Oct 1880; citing "National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Soundex Index to Naturalization Petitions for the United States District and Circuit Courts, Northern District of Illinois and Immigration and Naturalization Service District 9, 1840-1950 (M1285); Microfilm Serial M1285, roll 36," 2010.

(2)  Ebert & Clark, compiler, Hawley’s City and County Directory of Peoria County 1877:   (Hannibal, Missouri:  Ebert & Clark, Publisher, 1877), 228, entry for "Frank Loescher"; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 Oct 2014).

(3)  O. E. Root, compiler, Root’s City Directory 1879:   (Peoria, Illinois:  O. E. Root, Publisher, 1877), 203, entry for "Francois Loescher"; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 Feb 2015).

(4) 1870 U.S. census, Peoria County, Illinois, population schedule, Peoria Ward 6, p. 109, line 21, dwelling 765, family 765, Martin Nufer; digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 May 2014), citing National Archives microfilm publication M593, roll M593_267, image 506, FHL 545766.

(5) Peoria County, Illinois, marriage certificate, Frank Loescher and Rosa Nufer, date of marriage 2 Nov 1879, Peoria County Clerk, Peoria.

The French Connection – Rose Loescher’s Letter to Alsace France

As I have written about in previous posts (see below for links), my great great grandfather Francois (Frank) Loescher was born in Alsace France on 2 Oct 1848. (1). He came to the Peoria, Illinois area about 1871 where he began to work in various breweries, distilleries and saloons.  In the spring of 1886 after marrying Rose Nufer and having their first three children, Frank moved his family to Kickapoo, Illinois which is about 15 miles away.

There his family grew and eventually there were 8 children, a family home, several small businesses and no doubt a very busy life.  Frank passed away on 1 May 1902 after a fall down the stairs at his home leaving his young family heart broken and devastated. (2)  After his death, Rose was able to keep up all of the family businesses (including the saloon!).  She earned a reputation around the area as being a formidable woman who did not tolerate any monkey business from her children, grandchildren and the patrons in her saloon.

She must have learned about her husband’s family in Alsace over their twenty two years of marriage together.  There must have been letters back and forth between the Loeschers of Kickapoo and Frank’s family in Reichstett, France.  But what about after his passing?  Did the communication between the families continue? 

As always…there is a story about this!

Back in the fall of 1980 a letter arrived at the post office in Edwards, Illinois. (Edwards is the post office for Kickapoo which is unincorporated.)  It was addressed to the descendants of Rose Loescher, Edwards, Illinois and it was from Strasbourg France.  By 1980 Rose had been dead for 42 years.  Rural areas being what they are and everybody knowing most everybody else, the Edwards post office employees were able to identify a surviving daughter of Rose that still lived in Kickapoo.  The letter was delivered along with all of the rest of the mail of the day. 

That’s right…a letter from France with a minimal address and to the name of a woman deceased for 42 years found its way to a small rural post office and then to the daughter of the addressee.  Amazing.  What excitement there was as news of this traveled around the family and the town.

But, in opening up the letter it was all in French so that would have been the first issue to be confronted.  I do not know if a translation was included in the letter or if my cousins had to get it translated first.  Once they had a translation they read a letter of introduction from a Loescher cousin from Alsace who had come across a letter from Rose Loescher to Joseph Hoeschstetter.  It was dated February 1921.  Joseph was the deceased grandfather of this new French cousin and would have been the nephew of Rose’s deceased husband Frank.  Evidently, this letter was in response to one that Joseph had sent Rose after World War I had ended and mail service resumed across the Atlantic and Western Europe.

Our French cousin wanted to find out if she still had any Loescher cousins and to let them know about this letter that she had found.  (I am withholding her name to protect her privacy as she is still living).  What an amazing find!  First by our French cousin to find the letter in her father’s papers but also to have it shared it back to the US family and then for it to find its way to the right family.

The letter from Rose to her Loescher nephew is in German.  But I do not know if Rose wrote it herself in her own hand.  I also do not know who did the translation and which side of the ocean it was done.  Rose was born in Peoria, Illinois and was first generation with parents from Bavaria.  Was her knowledge of the Germany language strong enough to write this?  I do not know. 

The letter from Rose to Joseph is a small window into the world of my great great grandmother in the early 1920’s rural Midwest.  She comments on the state of life in the US and the start of Prohibition and the impact of this on her saloon.  She indicates that she was concerned about Joseph and his family and hoped they had come through the war ok.  We also get information about the new church in Kickapoo.  She is referring to the current St Mary’s Church that was built in the early 1920’s.  Also Rose makes reference to the Lawrence Lescher family from Colchester, Illinois.  See my previous post about this likely connection to other Loescher family.

Of course all of this brings on more questions.  Did Joseph write back?  Were there any other exchange of letters between Rose and her deceased husband’s family?  What about the Colchester cousins?  Did they exchange letters?  We may not ever know the answers to these questions. 

So what about the French cousin from Strasbourg France that sent this extraordinary letter back in 1980?  She and her family still live in the suburbs of Strasbourg.  She has remained in touch with descendants of Francois and Rose Nufer Loescher in the United States.  In fact, two years ago on a trip to Germany and France that my family and I took we were able to get together and share a meal with her and her husband in Strasbourg.  It was a wonderful experience that none of us will ever forget.  A short time after we returned home from this trip she sent me the civil birth registration for my great great grandfather.  I was very touched and so excited that she would take the time and effort to get this for me.

My family’s French Connection.  It started with my great great grandfather coming to Peoria, Illinois.  It continued with letters his widow exchanged with his family over in Alsace.  It continues on today with the descendants  of Francois and Rose and Joseph.

If any other Loescher family can shed more light on this story I would be excited to hear about that!

Transcription of Translation - Letter from Rose Loescher to Joseph Hoeschstetter – (3)

My Dear Joseph,

I received your letter with joy. I often thought about

you during the war, and I am glad that you came through it

alive. Also I am happy to hear that your Grandmother is still

well.

My children are all married and are blessed with children

of their own. I am a grandmother of 26 little ones which bring

me lots of joy.

I am sorry about the loss of your parents, as well as the

loss of your brothers and other relatives during the war. You

probably had to go through a lot during this terrible war.

Hope it was the last one, but it does not look like that.

Your cousin Lorenz Loescher lives in Colchester Illinois,

he has a big family with 7 children, he is a gardner.

What disturbs me the most i9 your wifes accident.

In America things are not any better. Thank God I am

healthy and have enough for myself. The business is closed

since we can't sell alcohol anymore. All we can drink is water.

What comes next? Thats how you get fat. The American freedom

is gone. In this respect you are better off in the old country.

Thank God, the Elsasser are glad to be reunited with France.

Our Pastor is an Elsasser too, he was born in Rosheim.

We have built a new church and just finished it a month

ago. It is a beutiful building, it only cost about 250,000Marks.

I am sending you and your entire family and Werner and Ann

my best wishes. I will be very happy to hear from you again.

Good health and hope for the best.

Your loving Aunt,

Rose Loescher

Figure 1 - Loescher-Hoeschstetter Letter - Page 1 of 2

Figure 2 - Loescher-Hoeschstetter Letter - Page 2 of 2

Figure 3 - Translation of Rose Loescher Letter to Joseph Hoeschstetter

Links to related posts -

http://genea-origins.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-death-of-frank-loescher-kickapoo.html

http://genea-origins.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-loescher-saloon.html

http://genea-origins.blogspot.com/2016/08/frank-loescher-oldest-and-only-son.html

http://genea-origins.blogspot.com/2016/08/rose-loescher-mystery-of-her-birth.html

http://genea-origins.blogspot.com/2016/09/francois-frank-loescher-family-in.html

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(1)  Copy of Civil birth registration for “Loescher, Francois” from the Counsel General of Bas-Rhin.  This was obtained by a French cousin for the author in 2014.

(2) Peoria County, Illinois, death certificate no. not given (1 May 1902), Frank Loescher, Peoria County Clerk, Peoria.

(3) Rose Loescher, Kickapoo, Illinois to Joseph Hoechstetter, letter, Rose Loescher, Kickapoo, Illinois, to Joseph Hoechstetter, letter, 25 Feb 1921, first correspondence to her husband's family following World War I; Loescher Family files, Strasbourg France.

Copyright ©2016 – Diane Minor – All Rights Reserved.

Francois (Frank) Loescher – Family In America?

I have written before about Francois Loescher, my second great grandfather, who was born in Reichstett, Alsase  on 2 October 1848. (1)  His life and death in his new county was all to short for his wife, children and friends in Peoria and Kickapoo, Illinois.  But what about his journey to America?  Did he come alone or was he with a family member?  Well…you guessed it!  There is another family story that has been passed down to me.  

The Story –

In 1977 my great grandmother, Lucy Loescher Stenger, daughter of Francois, gave an oral history to the Peoria County Bicentennial Commission. (2)  In this interview she recalls her understanding of her father’s coming to America.

“My dad came from Alsace Lorraine, France.  He and a cousin came over together.  He came to Peoria but his cousin went to Colchester and it was years and years later that they met again – 25 years afterward.  It was through a fellow who was going through town.  He remembered this man in Colchester and he mentioned him to grandpa and grandpa recognized the name that was a cousin.  I remember that – it was after we moved to Kickapoo.” (2)

Other versions of this story I have heard say that the “fellow” mentioned in Lucy’s story was a peddler who would pass through Kickapoo periodically.  The next time the peddler was in Colchester he told the cousin about the Kickapoo Loescher family.  At some point the Colchester cousin and some of his family came to Kickapoo.  There was great rejoicing at this family reunion and it was the talk of Kickapoo for some time to come.

I have always enjoyed reunion stories and this one is no exception especially since it is one within my own ancestors.  How exciting to be reunited with family that you have lost track of and who knew you when you were young.  Imagine the excitement there must have been in both men’s families to introduce their wives and children to extended family members.

But is this story true?  Is there another Loescher family out there that I am related to?

The Search –

About ten years ago I started searching to see if I could find another Loescher family in Colchester, Illinois.  Colchester is a town in McDonough County in western Illinois.  I did some searches on Ancestry.com and initially came up empty.  But then I decided to search using alternative spellings for the last name.  Bingo!!  I found several people in a public member tree with the name of “Lescher”.   The head of that family tree was a “Lawrence Lescher” who died in McDonough County in 1929 and was born in 1848.  Wow…right place, right age but was this my “Colchester cousin”?

I sent a message to the tree owner and told them about this family story and that I was trying to find out if there was any possibility that this “Lawrence Lescher” could be related to me.  It was not very long after that the tree owner replied that “Lawrence Lescher” was an ancestor of hers.  She did not know much about him before he came to the US and really did not know when he came over or where he came from.  All she knew was about his life in Colchester once Lawrence settled there.  She was very interested in the story though and the possibility that we were related.  We agreed we would keep in touch and that both of us would continue to search for additional information that could positively tie our families together.

And Along Comes DNA –

About a year ago I decided it was time to take a DNA test to see what that could do for some of my research “brick walls”.  There was not a specific reason for testing other than to find new cousins along branches of my tree that are rather thin.  Fortunately, I was also able to convince both of my parents to test also.  I was hoping that this would be helpful in sorting out matches as to which side of the family I should look to find common ancestors.  Also, because they were one generation older than I was I might find more matches with their results than just me doing the testing alone.

Once I got all of the initial results from all of us, I had many more DNA matches than I was expecting.  Most were on my mom’s side and most of them I was able to identify as being on my maternal grandfather’s family.  But…there were a couple of matches that were particularly interesting to me.  There was no common ancestor in our family trees so that meant I had to really dig through the match’s trees to see if I could recognize any surnames.  And there it was…..Lescher!!  Sure enough these two very distant DNA matches were descendants of the Lawrence Lescher I had found some years ago.

I reached out to the person who was managing the DNA results for these two matches only to find out it was the same person I had been in touch with previously.  The matches were siblings of hers.  The amount of DNA we share is not large so it definitely means there are several generations between our common ancestors.

But the amount of shared DNA also means that it is more than just a coincidence.  It strengthens our hypothesis that the Colchester, Illinois Lescher family is in some way related to the Loescher family of Kickapoo, Illinois.

Next Steps –

Well…as is usually the case with family history and genealogy, more research is needed.  We need to figure out for sure how our families are (or if) they are related.  We need to determine if Lawrence and Francois came over together from Alsace to America.  We need to identify our common ancestor.  None of this will be easy or quick and some of the research will need to be done in Alsace.

Lessons Learned –

This situation has taught me several things.  Don’t ever give up on a brick wall or a trail that has gone cold.  Keep searching; keep looking; keep digging.  Secondly, the power of DNA to unlock and reignite the past is powerful.  It is a highly useful tool to us in conjunction with the well-defined research roadmap for traditional genealogy. 

Finally…Family stores and family lore are very important and need to be documented and researched just as any other genealogy research question.  Many times there is at least some degree of truth to them and in this case they could be vital to unlocking another part of my past and family tree.

Links To Related Posts - 

The Death of Frank Loescher - Kickapoo, Illinois
The Loescher Saloon - Kickapoo, Illinois
Frank A Loescher - The Oldest and Only Son
Rose Loescher - The Mystery of Her Birth

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(1) Copy of Civil birth registration for “Loescher, Francois” from the Counsel General of Bas-Rhin.  This was obtained by a French cousin for the author in 2014..

(2) Lucy Loescher Stenger, Peoria County, Illinois, interview by Peg Kronenberg for the Peoria County Bicentenial Commission, 31 May 1977; transcript of interview, tape 46, copy privately held by author, 2007.

Copyright ©2016 – Diane Minor – All Rights Reserved.

The Death of Frank Loescher – Kickapoo, Illinois

Family stories.  Many families have tales that are passed down from one generation to another.  As with any oral tradition though, the accuracy of these events is always in question.  Especially when the questioner (me) is a few generations removed from the actual event.  One such story passed down in my family is about the death of Frank Loescher.

Francois Loescher is my great great grandfather.  He was born in Alsace in October 1848 (1).  Sometime around 1870 or 1871 he left France which was at war with Germany and came to the United States.  I will write in a future post about his immigration.  He made his way to Peoria, Illinois and through city directories we can trace his path around town as he worked in one brewery or pub after another.  As part of his integration into the culture of his new home he began going by the name “Frank”.  In November 1879, he married Rosa Nufer at Joseph’s Church in Peoria. (2)  After their third child, Lucy, was born the family of five moved to Kickapoo, Illinois in the spring of 1886 and took up residence there.  Lucy Loescher is my maternal great grandmother.  From this point the family began to grow in size and also in property.  Frank acquired a number of blocks in the small town west of the Kickapoo-Edwards Road.  (See links below for other relevant posts about this family.) 

On this property Frank had a family home built that also housed what came to be known as “The Loescher Saloon”.  Today this house still stands on US Route 150 in Kickapoo.  Frank also ran a livery, ice house and a small farming operation.  They also offered overnight accommodations in their home above the saloon.  No doubt Frank and Rose were very busy with all of these businesses and their expanding family.  Eventually they were to have one son and seven daughters.

Figure 1- Francois (Frank) Loescher

The family story that has come down to me is that Frank died from a fall down the basement steps of his home.  He was not found for some time and eventually died. His death occurred on 1 May 1902 making him just 53 years old. (3)  His youngest child, Veronica, was only four and a half years old.  No doubt Rose and his children and people in town were all shocked by this turn of events.  His family must have been stunned as well as scared about how they were going to get along without the head of the house.

I realize now that in hearing this story several times growing up I added some assumptions to it.  Now I have tried to turn those “extra” parts of the story into questions to determine what is the truth and what is not.  The first assumption I made was that he must have tripped as he was going down steps.  But hadn’t he walked those same steps many times before?  Could this be accurate?  Another addition to the story I surmised was that he must have been found dead.  But was that really the case?  What other bits and pieces of the story were left out or lost in time?  Here we go….back in time!

I have been able to acquire several documents and newspaper articles about Frank’s injury and death which have been very helpful in putting a more robust story together.  First off was a search for a death certificate.  In 1902, birth and death certificates were not required by the state of Illinois.  So the records that do exist in Peoria County prior to 1916 when the state requirement went into effect are spotty at best.  But there is a county death certificate for him. (3)  It is signed by the county coroner who I believe was summoned to Kickapoo because of the fall down the stairs.  The death certificate says that there was an “injury right side of head.  Skull cracked.”  But what happened and when did the injury take place.  Newspaper articles would help with this.

A news article in the Brimfield (Illinois) News provides some information about the circumstances of the injury. (4)

“Frank Loescher, the saloon keeper at Kickapoo, met with a serious accident Saturday evening.  He in some way fell down a stair way and fractured his skull.  Physicians from Peoria were summoned and made him as comfortable as possible.  At last accounts he was resting well and it was thought he would recover.”

But recovery was not to be.  The next edition of the Brimfield (Illinois) News contains Frank’s obituary.

There are several articles from the Peoria (Illinois) Star about Frank and his fall. (5)

“Mr. Louscher fell down cellar and received a severe wound on his head.  Dr. Bradley assisted, by his father, Sunday, performed an operation and reports are favorable for his recovery.”

“Accidental Death.  At Kickapoo yesterday Coroner Harper held an inquest on the body of Frank Loescher, the saloonkeeper who died early yesterday morning from the effects of a fall down a stairway where his skull was fractured.  The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.

“FRANK LOESCHER DEAD.  Kickapoo Man, Whose Skull Was Fractured Passes Away.  Frank Loescher, Sr., who fell and fractured his skull at Kickapoo as stated in The Star yesterday, died this morning at 5 o’clock.  Night before last he fell while going into the cellar of his saloon and crushed his skull, not being found for an hour after the accident.  The deceased was 53 years old and had resided in Kickapoo for sixteen years.  Previous to that he was an employe of the old Huber brewery of this city.  He leaves a wife, one son and seven daughters.  The funeral will be held at the house Saturday morning at 9:30, thence to St. Mary’s church in Kickapoo and interment will be in St. Patrick’s cemetery.

Coroner Harper was notified of the death and drove out to Kickapoo this morning to hold an inquest.”

My first thought when reading these articles is for my great grandmother Lucy and her mother Rose.  What a horror it must have been to have all of the doctors and investigation officials hanging around the house.  Oh how I wish I had been able to talk to Lucy about this and get her thoughts before she died.  Also, the idea of surgery in 1902 would not have been pleasant.  The operation was performed at the family home which by today’s standards is just awful.  I guess it was thought that to move him to Peoria for a better treatment environment would have been fatal.

All of these details from the newspaper and death certificate put substance to the story of how Frank died.  But it does not really set out a good timeline of events because the way that these newspaper editions were published had several of these articles in the same edition….just on different pages.  Where could I get a better idea of a timeline of events?

I next went to the Peoria County Coroner’s office to see if I could get a copy of the Coroner’s inquest file.  The newspaper articles indicate the coroner came to town and held one.  But, sadly, to date I have not been able to get anybody at the Coroner’s office to help me with this.  They do not seem to be interested in looking to see if inquest files from 1902 actually still exist.  But periodically I keep asking.  Maybe one day I will find somebody at the office who will take this on.

This research was all done more than ten years ago and I was beginning to think that unless I could get the inquest file that I may have had all the information and documents there were on this subject.  But that thinking was thankfully wrong!

In 2015 I got Frank Loescher’s probate file. (6)  At the time I was more interested in finding out what the property was that Frank and Rose had at the time of Frank’s death.  (There is another family story about this that I will write about in a future post.)  When I was told by the Peoria County Circuit Clerk what the charge was to get a copy of the entire probate file I knew it was going to be large.  There are all of the normal items in the file including tax records and a property inventory that helped answer the questions for my original intention. 

But…….there is one small item that I initially overlooked because it was hard to read.  It’s a doctor bill from Frank’s accident and the treatment provided!  Not only has that but the invoice included a record of treatment that Frank received in the month’s prior to the accident and death.  Oh my gosh….a small little piece of paper that was an invoice for services rendered would reignite my research into building a timeline of events around my great great grandfather’s death!  To say I was excited when I realized what I had is an understatement.

Figure 2 - Doctor Bill from Frank Loescher Probate File

“May 26^th 1902

Mrs. Rosa Loescher

Kickapoo, Illinois

Dr. R. C. Bradley

1901

Dec 21   Med. Frank         75 [$0.75]

24           Extracting Tooth               50 [$0.50]

1902

Jan. 1     Med. Frank         75 [$0.75]

   28        Headach capsules            30 [$0.30]

Feb 19   Med. Frank         75 [$0.75]

Mch 1    Med. Frank         75 [$0.75]

9              “              “              75 [$0.75]

26           “     Frankie          50 [$0.50]

Apr 16   Horse Medicine                  1.00 [$1.00]

“ 26        2 Visits Franks      2.00 [$2.00]

“ 27        Assisting in Surg att         5.00 [$5.00)

“ 28        Visit       1.00        [$1.00]

                Extra Med           .75 [$0.75]

“ 29        3 Visits  3.00        [$3.00]

“ 30        “              3.00        [$3.00]

May 2    Med. Frankie     .30  [$0.30]

                                                21 10      [$21.10]

[Along Right Hand Side of document; written top to bottom]

May 27 ?? Cash                 $10.00

June 14 ?? Cash                                10.00

[In Center of document; written from top to bottom]

Paid in full

Oct. 21^st 1902

R. C. Bradley”

Who knew that doctors dispensed horse medicine??  Based on all of the information I have gathered to date, here is my timeline of events for the death of Frank Loescher.

Date	Event
Saturday, April 26, 1902	Frank Loescher falls down the stairs of his saloon.  He is not found for an hour.
Sunday, April 27, 1902	Surgery is performed on Frank Loescher for his skull fracture at his home in Kickapoo, Illinois.
Monday – Wednesday, April 28 – 30, 1902	Doctors monitor Frank’s condition at home.
Thursday, May 1, 1902 at 5 am	Frank Loescher dies at his home in Kickapoo, Illinois.

But, as is usually the case, I have new questions.   What caused the fall to occur in the first place?  I had originally thought he just tripped but after seeing this doctor bill I am not so sure.  There are several entries for headache and other medicine for Frank from January through March 1902.  What was this medicine and what was he being treated for?  Was there some condition he had that could have caused him to fall?  Could the medicine he was being given caused him to fall? 

More so than ever I want to get a copy of the Coroner’s Inquest file.  Likely his family and doctors would have testified and may have provided some insight into his health and the circumstances surrounding the fall.  So I have been able to confirm some parts of the family story but new questions have arisen.  Up Next – More Research!!

Links to related posts -

Frank A Loescher The Oldest and Only Son

The Loescher Saloon

Rose Loescher - The Mystery of Her Birth

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(1)  Copy of Civil birth registration for “Loescher, Francois” from the Counsel General of Bas-Rhin.  This was obtained by a French cousin for me in 2014.

(2)  Peoria County, Illinois, marriage certificate, Frank Loescher and Rosa Nufer, date of marriage 2 Nov 1879, Peoria County Clerk, Peoria.

(3)  Peoria County, Illinois, death certificate no. not given (1 May 1902), Frank Loescher, Peoria County Clerk, Peoria.

(4) "Frank Loescher," Brimfield (Illinois) News, 1 May 1902; microfilm, Brimfield Public Library.

(5)  "Kickapoo," Peoria (Illinois) Star, ca. late April 1902; microfilm, Peoria Public Library, 2005.  "Accidental Death," Peoria (Illinois) Star, May 1902; microfilm, Peoria Public Library, 2005.  "Frank Loescher Dead; Kickapoo Man, Whose Skull Was Fractured Passes Away," Peoria (Illinois) Star, 1 May 1902; microfilm, Peoria Public Library, 2005.

(6) Peoria County Circuit Court, Peoria County, Illinois, Probate Files, probate file no. 5941, Frank Loescher; Peoria County Circuit Clerk.

Copyright ©2016 – Diane Minor – All Rights Reserved. 

Joseph L Stenger – Kickapoo, Illinois

My great grandfather, Joseph L Stenger turned 138 on August 25, 2016. (1) I only have very faint memories of him as he died when I was just four years old.  My maternal grandmother would take me with her to visit him in the nursing home and I would share my candy with him.  Wonder if he remembers that too?

He was born in a farm just south of Kickapoo, Illinois to Frank and Anna Maria Schmitt Stenger. (1)  He was a first generation immigrant whose parents had both come to the United States from Germany separately as children.  Joe was their eighth of nine children and their youngest son.  He would have grown up with not just his siblings but many cousins as well.  The Stenger and Schmitt families in Kickapoo were prolific and he would have found his school and church filled with many close and extended family members.

Figure 1 - Joseph L Stenger - First Communion

Lucy Loescher would have moved to Kickapoo from Peoria, Illinois with her parents in 1886 when Joseph L was about seven years old.  She was an infant at the time of her arrival in town.  Lucy’s parents ran several businesses in the area.  They both would have attended church and school at St Mary’s in Kickapoo so they certainly knew each other and their families well. 

Joe and Lucy married at St Mary’s Church in Kickapoo on 23 May 1905. (2) This was a “double ring” ceremony as Lucy’s older sister Mame married Bernard “Ben” Heinz on the same day.  In many families, the youngest son would normally be looking for a job or farm to live on away from their parents.  The older sons in the family tended to take on their father’s farms.  But in the Frank Stenger family, the older boys made their homes away from Kickapoo.  The oldest son went to Mendota, Illinois and then two others (along with a sister and brother in law) moved to Platte County, Nebraska in the 1890’s.

Figure 2 - Left to Right - Lucy Loescher, Joseph L Stenger, Mame Loescher, Bernard "Ben" Heinz on their wedding day

Joe’s remaining local brother Henry and his wife Emma took over their father’s farm while Joe and Lucy made their home just down the lane.  Today this is on the north side of the Kickapoo-Edwards exit on Interstate 74 in Illinois.  Lucy had seven children and one still born infant – Frank, Monica, Mary, Clementine, Joseph S, Rose and Florence.  Joe and Lucy’s children would walk to school about a mile each way into Kickapoo along with their Henry Stenger cousins.  It must have been wonderful when the weather was nice but the winters would have been hard.

Joe was not yet middle age by the time that both of his parents had died.  He was 32 years old when his mother died in 1910 and 40 when his father passed in 1918.  But, his mother-in-law, Rose Nufer Loescher was still going strong!  She was a seemingly larger than life figure in Kickapoo and especially in the lives of her children and grandchildren.  (See the end of this article for links to related blog posts about the Loeschers.)  In 1927 Rose Loescher had a will drawn up for herself.  There is nothing unusual about that as she had quite a bit of property and personal effects that would need to be disposed of when she died.  What is unusual I think is who she named to manage her estate and be responsible for the probate process.  Rose had eight children.  Her oldest and only son, Frank A Loescher would have been the natural choice as her executor.  But she went down a different path.  Her will names two executors – her son Frank A and her son-in-law, Joseph L Stenger (3). 

This designation is interesting to me in a couple of ways.  First there is the issue of a mother publicly indicating in her will that her oldest and only son was likely not up to the task of settling his mother’s estate without help.  But given that she felt the need to provide some assistance to her son in the role of executor why did Rose select Joe Stenger?  She had six son-in-laws at the time she drafted her will.  (One son-in-law was deceased.)  Joe Stenger was not the son-in-law with the most money or property nor did he live the closest to Rose.  Maybe he got along the best with Frank A?  Maybe it was done because her son lived in Peoria and Joe was local?  Or, maybe Joe was the son-in-law she had the most trust in.  Isn’t that a highly valued trait when looking for an executor of your will?  Or maybe….it was all of these factors.

I asked my great aunt (daughter of Joe and Lucy) about why her father would have been named as executor in his mother-in-law’s will.  Aunt “F” was not surprised to hear about this.  She indicated that Joe and Lucy were both very close to Rose and that Rose relied on them and trusted them in many things.  When Rose passed in 1938 Joe would have spent many hours in court proceedings, managing the businesses Rose had at the time of her death (including a farm) and selling her property.  This would not have been easy given he had his own farm to tend to and family to feed.

What of Joe’s relationship with his own siblings especially after his parents had passed? His next oldest brother Henry lived very close by and the two families would have seen a good deal of each other as they went about working on their respective farms and through school and church.  The oldest Stenger brother, Jacob, made his life in Mendota, Illinois and would come to visit periodically.  But four of the Stenger siblings went to Nebraska at various times in the 1890’s and raised their families on the Great Plains. 

No doubt there was a great deal of correspondence that went back and forth between Kickapoo and the various Nebraska counties that the Stenger siblings settled in.  But we also know they visited.  We know that the Nebraska siblings and their children made trips back to Kickapoo and later on when automobile travel became common we see the Kickapoo family visiting in Nebraska also.  Yes….Joe and Lucy actually made it out of the state of Illinois to visit Stenger family in Nebraska.  My mom recalls that Joe and Lucy would have family gathers which included the Peoria County based siblings of Joe’s also.  The Svymbersky’s of Peoria and the Schlink’s and Volz’s no doubt were in attendance.

My mother remembers that her grandfather made wine.  I assume this is a skill that Joe would have learned growing up from him immigrant parents.  We can suppose that the knowledge for this must have come over with his parents from Germany.  On special occasions Joe would bring out his small tray of small classes with his latest batch of wine for his guests to sample.

In May 1955, Joe and Lucy celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary.  Mame and Ben Heinz were also both alive and a very large and multi-day celebration took place at Silver Lead just east of Kickapoo for this “double” anniversary party.  My mother recalls that there was a lot of preparation for this big event and that it was the talk of the family for some time to come.

Figure 3- Lucy and Joseph L Stenger - 50th Wedding Anniversary

Eventually, Joe and Lucy decided it was time to retire from the farm and move into Kickapoo.  They sold their farm as none of their children were interested in working it.  They moved to a very small house just down the street from the Loescher saloon (where Lucy grew up).  There was a kitchen, living room, two bedrooms and a small basement.  Although not very big that did not stop them from hosting family gatherings.  There was a long table in the basement for the men to eat and the kids would find spots where ever they could find room.  The women would eat in the kitchen and living room after everyone else had been tended to.

Their retirement years were no doubt lean (as their young family life had been) but they always seemed to get by.  In the early 1960’s Joe had a stroke and although Lucy tried to care for him at home it was just to much.  He spent his last few years in a nursing home in Peoria.  Joe died on 31 December 1966 and is buried in St Patrick’s Cemetery in Kickapoo just a few yards away from his parents and grandparents. (4)  He was a kind and gentle spirit that lives on today in his remaining daughters.  We recently had a family reunion in Kickapoo of the descendants of Joe and Lucy Loescher Stenger and it is obvious that Joe’s gentle spirit lives on in them as well.

Copyright ©2016 – Diane Minor – All Rights Reserved.

Related Posts - 

Frank A Loescher

The Loescher Saloon

Rose Loescher - The Mystery of Her Birth

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(1) Baptismal Register of St. Mary's Church, Kickapoo, Illinois, digital image, (Peora, Illinois:  Catholic Diocese of Peoria), 15 Sep 1878, "Lawrence Joseph Stenger".

(2) Peoria County, Illinois, marriage certificate, Joseph L Stenger and Lucy Loescher, 23 May 1905, Peoria County Clerk, Peoria.

(3) Peoria County Circuit Court, Peoria County, Illinois, probate file no. J788, Rose Loescher; Peoria County Circuit Clerk.

(4) Peoria County, Illinois, death certificate no. 93688 (31 Dec 1966), Joseph L Stenger, Peoria County Clerk, Peoria.