I am re-posting this old entry with updates to the Koppel ancestry and data about their house before and after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
Eckebrecht
31 Day Genealogy Challenge – Day 28: Oldest Photo of a Female Ancestor
Today I share an image of the immigrant Eckebrecht family. My third great grandparents Quirinus Eckebrecht and Marie Louise Koppel are seated. This photo was taken in Chicago sometime around 1873. This is the oldest image I have of any female ancestor. Marie Louise is seated in the middle. It is believed my second great grandfather Fritz Eckebrecht is second from the right in the back. This photograph likely dates to the time after he spent a year with the Comanche in Texas.
-cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net
31 Day Genealogy Challenge – Day 15: Share a Baby or Child Photo
Today I share a photo of my great grandmother Caroline Eckebrecht Leies. She appears to be around age 10, dating it to abouty 1886. I think her hair was dark, like her father’s – Fritz Eckebrecht. Her mother Katherina Schuttler was said to have had red hair.
-cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net
31 Day Genealogy Challenge – Day 13: Share a Land or Property Record
Today this challenge is a toughie. I do not possess any land or property records for anyone in my direct lines. I have transcribed descriptions of land transfers my French and German ancestors made in the early 1700s near Rodalben, Germany. They are not the actual records. In collateral lines I have land records, but not in my direct lines. So I am sharing a copier-made image of my immigrant second great grandfather Fritz Eckebrecht’s business card from the era he owned a butcher shop in Chicago. There is family speculation that this butcher shop property was owned with his brother Wilhelm and that is was built by Wilhelm, Fritz, and their father Quirinus Eckebrecht, who was mentioned on Day 10 of this challenge. I do not have the date of this business card. On the 1880 Census, Fritz’s occupation was listed as butcher.
Do you have any corrections, additions, or are we related? My email is cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net.
31 Day Genealogy Challenge – Day 10: Share a Population Schedule/Census Record
Today I share the 1870 census record of my immigrant third great grandparents Quirinus Eckebrecht and Marie Louise Koppel. They had been in America for 4 years and were living in Chicago at this time. This was the year before the Great Fire. Quirinus was working as a laborer. Note that on this record, that he and his wife and sons Charles, Henry, and Edward are all recorded as literate. We know this, as my second great grandfather, their son Fritz, kept a diary of his life, and that was likely started in his teenage years. Marie Louise’s father owned mill properties in her village. The census taker called their birthplace Saxony. It was Thuringia, Germany.
Do you have any additions, or comments? Are you too descended from Quirinus and Marie Louise? I would love to hear from you! Please email me – cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net.
12 Months of My Family Tree in Print – July
This month features a piece of ephemera from Bronx, New York, a marriage announcement from Wooster, Ohio, a grim reminder of the worst American air pollution disaster in history, and the announcement of the dissolution of a social club outside of Philadelphia.
The July 3, 1895 marriage of my great grandparents Alexander Leies and Caroline Eckebrecht was announced in the Wooster Daily Record during the second week of July in 1895. Unfortunately, I do not know the date this was printed in the publication. They were married in Canton, Ohio.
On July 14, 1977, my immigrant great uncle Albert’s name appeared in the legal section of the Delaware County Times. He was the Secretary of the American-Italian Social Club of Upper Chichester Township that was voluntarily dissolving.
We have a program saved from my immigrant great grandfather Carmen Ferraro. He was taking part in a “patriotic rally” to be held at O’Hara’s Hall in Bedford Park on July 23, 2917. This is the only surviving page of the program.
On July 31, 1970, our illustrious cousin once removed Dr. Antonio Ciocco was mentioned in the Connellsville Daily Courier on the anniversary of the release of a report regarding the worst air pollution tragedy in American history, the Donora Smog. Antonio and other members of the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health studied the causes of the tragedy. Clean air movements followed the tragedy, and eventually, the Clean Air Act of 1963 was enacted. Antonio was my great grandfather Carmen Ferraro’s nephew.
Sadly, the current administration has gutted the act and used the current pandemic and race war as a distraction to further weaken air pollution rules.
Do you have any questions, corrections, or additions? Are we related? Email me: cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net.
12 Months of My Family Tree in Print – March
This month the news features a death notice, military service, and a criminal matter.
My great grandmother Caroline Marie Eckebrecht Leies passed away on March 3, 1961 in Chicago. Her death notice appeared in The Chicago Tribune on March 5, 1961. Her children, and living siblings were listed. It related that she had 18 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren at the time of her death.
My great uncle Alberino appeared in The Chester County Times on March 7, 1963 because he was being sent to Fort Belvoir, Virginia for basic training with the Corps of Engineers of the United States Army. Please see the description and duration of his training in the below clipping.
On March 8 and 9, 1932, stories related to my great grandfather Carmen Ferraro appeared in The Chicago Tribune. His trial was scheduled to begin on March 8. On March 9, the Tribune reported that he pled guilty instead. The first clipping has some interesting conjecture. The second clipping explains the outcome and why he was scheduled for trial. Please contact me if you would like to see more clippings regarding this matter.
Sadly, I would like to report a family story that I have not yet confirmed. On March 14, 1919, Carmen’s sister Angela Maria Ferraro Valerioti passed away during the Spanish Flu epidemic in Queens, NY. I do not have an article to share regarding this. Can a cousin shed some light on this?
STAY SAFE COUSINS!
Do you have additions, corrections, or comments? Please email me at cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net.
12 Months of My Family Tree in Print – January
This year I am trying a different series – my family tree in print. Starting out with January news, I collected the following sampling of clips that mention events in the lives of my relatives and ancestors.
On January 8, 1974, there was a mention in The Chester County Times, that my great uncle Alberino Marcella was appointed building inspector for Lower Chichester Township. Alberino was born in Farindola, Italy in 1930 and was a United States Army Veteran.
On January 6, 1888, The Chicago Inter-Ocean court docket pages listed my second great grandfather Frederick (Fritz) Eckebrecht as a defendant on the Criminal Court docket 833 before Judge Horton. I tried to get the criminal file related to this matter and was informed it was destroyed. So I researched his co-defendants W.A. Westfall and William Hummel. W.A. Westfall was a saloonkeeper who was a party in a case where he was accused of violating the Dram Shop Act. Based on 1888 being around the time period I know that Fritz and my second great grandmother Katharina Schuttler were separated due to what family lore says was his physical assault on her, I suspect Fritz either owned part of a saloon that violated the Dram Shop Act, or that he was the drunk patron that was served by saloonkeeper W.A. Westfall. It could be something easily explained as a bar fight in which Fritz was involved. I couldn’t find anything on William Hummel. Good for my Granny for leaving him!
Finally, on January 22, 1906, former Peter Schuttler Wagon Company foreman Johann Schuttler’s death notice appeared in Chicago’s largest German language newspaper – Abenpost. It is below. Next to it is the English language death notice as it appeared in
The Chicago Tribune on January 23 and January 24, 1906. Unfortunately, no parents were listed, and he continues to be the biggest brick wall in my tree. (Click on the images to make them larger.)
Do you have edits, additions, comments, or corrections, please feel free to email me – cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net.
Next up – My family tree in print during the month of February.
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #42: Adventure ~ The Multi-Faceted Life of Fritz Eckebrecht ~
A few years before my Great Uncle John passed away, he memorialized the life and times of his grandfather Fritz Eckebrecht who was born in Germany, crossed the ocean in his teens, traversed the Post-War South picking crops, and spent time living among the Comanches in Texas before he settled in Chicago after the Great Fire of 1871. He is the one true adventurer of the family.
In honor of his adventures, and what is likely near the anniversary of the date Fritz rode a train north to make his way to Chicago to work as a carpenter after the Great Fire, I am re-blogging a previous post containing the story written by my Great Uncle Father John G. Leies.
I hope you enjoy reading about Fritz as much I did.
–cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #27: Independent
This week’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge is Independent. There are many in my tree that fall under this prompt.
My immigrant second great grandmothers Emilia Anna Bold Leies and Anne Marie Aloisia Heinzen strike me as two independent women of their time because they both made the trek to this country without the benefit of being accompanied by parents or a spouse. Emilia may have come with one or more of her brothers, however, Anne traveled alone. Emilia’s mother, Great Great Great Grandmother Elisabetha Scheid Bold is another. She came to the United States after the death of her husband in her old age to live out the rest of her days. Does that mean Emilia inherited her independent nature? I am positive her sister Anna did, because she came to New York City alone at age 15.
So does my great grandfather Cesidio, an immigrant who came to America alone to earn money for his family still behind in Italy.
My great grandfather Serafina must’ve been extremely self-sufficient and busy raising the children while Cesidio was in America.
Lastly, I also think of my immigrant second great grandfather Italian Army Captain Angelo Ferraro because he was there on September 20, 1870, when the Italians Captured Rome from foreign armies during the Italian War of Unification.
Happy Birthday to my great uncle, Father G. John Leies, born on today’s date 110 years ago! He started the hunt!
–cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net
Cinziarosa's Descendants (c) 