My great-grandfather Gustave Robert MANGELS died on this day 44 years ago. Although I was 13 or 14 at the time, I had never met him. And as I was drafting this post, I started wondering how much my dad had known of his grandfather. Gustave and my great-grandmother Esther Ingeborg CLARIN divorced when my…
I ran across the ads below while reading the newspaper. The April 7, 1884 issue of the Chicago Daily News to be exact. (What? You thought I was reading today’s paper?) Notice the duplicated ad in the center of the column? “Mrs. Mueller, Doctress and Midwife.” This reminded me of a previous post where I shared that for…
Not all genealogical searches end with a happy dance. My 2nd great-grandfather died of pneumonia. The result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. We’ll never know what was going through Herman Mangels’ mind when he shot himself. But the testimony given during his inquest hearing certainly suggests a history of mental illness. Found lying on the ground bleeding,…
Is this “my” Frank Mangels? It is the only documentation I’ve uncovered that mentions the nickname Fred. And Catholic? Hmm. Frank’s stepfather, the man who raised Frank, was born in Germany and was very likely Lutheran. As genealogical luck would have it, six weeks before their wedding Frank and Lucy had considered eloping to scenic St Joseph…
The family story was Herman Mangels had a tendency to partake of alcoholic beverages. So much so that his wife threatened to lock him out of the house the next time he returned home inebriated. That next time happened on a cold January night. The family story went on to say that after spending a frigid…
Rosa Louise Mangels was born in Chicago, Cook, Illinois on this date in 1888. Many thanks to cousin Linda for sharing this photo of her father with his aunt Louise.
My 2nd great-grandfather attempted to take his own life January 7, 1912. Three days later Herman Mangels died in Dunning Hospital after succumbing to lobar pneumonia, the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Below is a transcription of the inquest record created after his death. “WITNESS SHEET Inquest upon the body of Herman Mangels. Held Jan 11th 1912…
According to family lore, Herman Mangels drank often and his wife was tired of his drunkenness. She was supposed to have told him that the next time he came home intoxicated, he would be sent outside to sleep on the porch. As fate would have it (the story continues), Herman’s banishment occurred during a cold Chicago…
Obtaining inquest records from Cook County requires persistence. On July 30th I requested my paternal 2nd great-grandfather’s 1912 inquest record in a letter that said; “To whom this may concern, I would like a copy of the inquest record regarding Herman Mangels, my 2nd great-grandfather. Enclosed please find a copy of Herman’s death certificate showing an…
Happy October birthday to the leaves on my family tree including my dad, who would have been 81 on October 25th; and to my grandson and my niece, my cousins Cynthia and Rosemary, and my grandaunt Lucy. Happy birthday to Anna, David and Frank – my first cousins once-removed, to James – my first cousin-twice removed, and to Kyle…
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