Sunday's Obituary - Emma Rethmeier Schwemm

Emma Rethmeier Schwemm
Born: Aug 18, 1872 - Schaumburg,Cook County, Illinois
Died: July 30, 1945 - Elgin, Kane County, Illinois

Mrs. Emma Schwemm, 73 of Dundee Road, died Monday afternoon at Sherman Hospital in Elgin from a skull fracture and other injuries sustained in an automobile accident Sunday afternoon on the Northwest Highway in Barrington, near Plagge Flowers. Services will be held this Thursday afternoon at 2:00 o'clock in the funeral home at 149 West Main Street. The Rev Dore N. Ester of Salem Evangelical church will officiate and burial will be in the Evergreen Cemetery.

The accident causing her death occurred about 4:15 Sunday afternoon when a car driven south on the highway by Donald Alvin Tadder collided almost head-on with a car driven by F. C. Sternberg of Rt. 2, Barrington. Mrs. Schwemm was riding with Sternberg, who boards at the countryside home of her daughter, Mrs. Mary Buehler; and another passenger was her grandson, William Schwemm 12, also of Barrington

Earl W. Baade, Barrington chief of police claims Tadder fled from the scene of the accident and he signed a complaint against him. Chief Baade said Tadder went through a section of swamp land and made his way to Lake Zurich where he sought medical attention.

Chief Baade learned that he was in a Lake Zurich doctor's office and he returned him to Barrington, later turning Tadder over to Sgt. Don Barnes of the state police who brought the man to Sherman Hospital.


Others injured in the accident were brought to the hospital by ambulance. Mrs. Schwemm was in such severe shock that attending physicians did not believe she would live through the night. She rallied slightly, however, but suffered a relapse in the morning. Her death was due to shock; sever lacerations and possibly other injuries suffered in the collision. Because of her condition when she was admitted to the hospital, no effort was made to examine her for fractures.

Using Timelines to Understand Your Ancestor's Lives

My great grandfather, Fred Schwemm, was the oldest surviving son of Joseph and Julia Schwemm. When I first started my research I gathered up information on Fred, his parents, his grandparents George and Sophie Schwemm and his six siblings who survived to adulthood.

During this quest I found the guardianship papers that were drawn up when Joseph and Julia died leaving six minor children. I found marriage records for Fred and his siblings, the birth announcements for their children and eventually obituary and death records for all of them.

What I did not do until I talked to Ruth Schwemm Hardacre, my grandmother's first cousin, was look at all my 'research' as the story of Fred's life. When Ruth made the statement that Fred had 'stole' the farm from his siblings I knew I had to stop and understand Fred's life from his perspective. To do this, I put together a timeline so I could see the sequence of events.

Sometimes in our search for every record and every name we can forget to step back and put our ancestors lives in context to the time period they lived. Timelines can be an extremely helpful tool to do this.

Setting up a timeline is easy - find the first date you have, such as the birth date of an ancestor and then the date that ancestor died. From there start filling in significant family, state and regional events. It may also be helpful to check out an almanac or local newspaper.

If you need a resource for finding a timeline for a particular state check out e-Reference Desk @ http://www.e-referencedesk.com/resources/state-history-timeline/ or just click on the title of this article.

And, in case you are interested, Fred did not steal the farm from anyone but that is another blog posting!

Take Care,
Pattie
Everyday Genealogy Desk Calendar

The first picture is of Fred and Emma Rethmeier Schwemm my maternal great grandparents. The second picture is of my grandmother Florence and her sister-in-law Anna Pahlke.

Sunday's Obituary - Fred Rethmeier

Fred Rethmeier
Born - Nov 8, 1822 - Lippe, Detmold, Germany
Died - April 8, 1910 - Barrington, Cook County, Illinois

DuPage County Register (Wheaton, Bensenville, Itasca, Roselle edition), front page, on Friday, April 15, 1910. The column heading was "Striker Items"


Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rethmeier, of Minden, Neb., came to attend the funeral of his father and will spend some time visiting friends before returning to their home.

Mr. Rethmeier was born at Leppe, Detmouldt, Germany, Nov.8, 1822; married Dorothy Dellmeier, Mar. 28, 1854. They sailed for America, April 1 the same year. They lived two months with Mr. Becker, a blacksmith, who was a cousin of Mrs. Rethmeier, and the only relative they had living in America.

Mr. Rethmeier bought a 40-acre farm, now owned by Fred Geiskee, near Mr. Steinmeier's in Schaumburg, where they lived seven years. He sold this farm and bought an 80 acre farm in Barrington, where he lived until his death Thursday night, after a short illness of pneumonia.

He leaves a widow, aged 81 years December 30, one daughter, Mrs. Emma Swemm (Schwemm) of Barrington, two sons, Henry, of Minden, Neb. and John who has always lived on the farm with his parents, and five grandchildren.

In March 1876, they lost six children by diptheria; all were buried in Hoosier Grove cemetery.

Funeral services were conducted by Pastor Ellerbrake, Sunday. Interment at Hoosier Grove cemetery. Mr. Rethmeier was an industrious, hard-working man, and one of the oldest residents of Barrington.