Sheboygan County, Wisconsin Genealogy & History
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This News Article was transcribed & contributed by Kay R.


Oakland Tribune - Oakland California - February 9, 1911

Three Persons Drown In Streetcar Accident

Trolley Topples Through Drawbridge Into River; Due to Defective Brakes


Sheboygan, Wis., Feb. 9 - Three persons drowned today when a local street car went through an open draw into the Sheboygan river.

The drowned:

Anna Mather, aged 30, music teacher of Sheboygan Falls.
Miss Olga Willomight, aged 18, hotel waitress.
Miss Van Owerkirk, Sheboygan Falls.

These were the only passengers inside the car when it toppled into the river.

Paul W. Etzold, a Milwaukee traveling man, who was standing on the platform escaped by jumping before the car went down.

Motorman George Theine and Conductor Frank Weber jumped from the car during its descent and clung to cakes of ice until rescued.

The accident is believed by the motorman to have been due to defective brakes.


Newark Advocate - Newark Ohio - October 2, 1912

Roehr Kills Wife's Family Then Suicides


Sheboygan, Wis., Oct. 28 - Alvin Roehr, aged 33 years, a young farmer of Plymouth, late yesterday shot and killed his father-in-law, Philip J. Ott, Mrs. Ott and Mrs. Ott's father, Fred Jaut, aged 80, when he was refused permission to see his wife, with whom he had not been living.

Mrs. Roehr and her baby escaped by hiding for three hours in the cellar of their home. The crime was witnessed by the four-year-old adopted son of Ott, who hid in bed, where he was found later.

Roehr's body was found this forenoon, hanging to a tree in the woods about a quarter of a mile from the scene of the tragedy. It is supposed that the assassin, fearing summary treatment at the hands of the posse seeking him, committed suicide.


The News - Frederick Maryland - December 1, 1912

Message From Lost Ship

Bottle Tells of Fate of 17 Drowned on Lake Michigan


Chicago, Dec. 14 - A bottle containing the last message from the schooner Rouse Simons, which, with her crew of seventeen, foundered in Lake Michigan a fortnight ago, was picked up on a beach near Sheboygan, Wis.

The message was written on a sheet torn from a log book and was signed by Captain Herman Schuenemann. It read:

"Everybody goodbye. I guess we are all through. The sea washed over deck load Thursday. During the night the small boat was washed overboard. Leaking bad. Engwald and Steb fell overboard Thursday. God help us."


Oxnard Courier - Oxnard, California - March 14, 1913

Finds Father After 20 Years

Happy Romance of Mrs. Elias Who Now Lives in City of Oxnard

Separated At Birth From Loved Parent

Wife of Trusted Employe of Oxnard Garage to be United Soon


Already happy in the possession of husband and five months' old baby boy, Mrs. Louise Elias, who lives at 1st and C streets, Oxnard, is now rejoicing in the prospect of visiting, in the near future, her father, from whom she had never heard until a few weeks ago. The story is a long one, more like a romance than real life. Mrs. Elias, who will not be twenty years of age until next June, was adopted by her grandmother at the time of her mother's death, immediately after Louise's birth. The grandmother, Mrs. Sarah E. Hunt, moved from Sheboygan, Wisconsin to Spokane, Washington. The bay(sic), Louise, was known after the adoption as Louise Hunt. Late Mrs. Hunt, the grandmother, died, and two years ago Louise Hunt came to Oxnard, where she married Bloss A. Elias, a young man now in the employ of the Oxnard Garage.

Wondered About Her Father

While Mrs. Elias occasionally wondered about her father, the distance separating them, and the passage of years, had all but erased him from her memory. But thoughts of his baby girl came to Captain James Wagner more and more frequently as the years went by. As he approached middle age, he became wealthy, and is now head of a steamboat line out of Chicago. He instituted inquiries regarding his daughter, Louise, going first to a cousin in Sheboygan, from whom he learned that she had gone to Spokane.

An aunt of Louise, with whom he communicated in Spokane, was able to give him his daughter's address, and more important still in locating her, the name of her husband. The result was the first of several letters, and a brisk correspondence is now being carried on between the reunited father and daughter. Plans are underway to visit to Chicago in the near future, on which Mr. Elias will accompany his wife and baby. Whether or not the father will be able to persuade them to remain in Chicago, will depend on their fondness for sunny California.

Mrs. Elias is a pretty, auburn haired young woman, and her big brown eyes lighted up with interest when telling the story of her father's search.


New Smyrna Daily News - New Smyrna Beach, Florida - September 18, 1914

No High Prices In State Of Wisconsin

E. N. Waldron Sends Quotations On Provisions In Sheboygan, Furnished By His Niece On Visit There.

(From The Daytona Gazette-News)


E. N. Waldron of this city, who is spending the summer with relatives at Nyack, N.Y., has mailed to this office a copy of the Nyack Journal of September 8th, containing the following marked item:

"Mrs. Minnie Stickney, who has been visiting her son, Ray, and wife, at Sheboygan, Wis., and is expected home on Tuesday, writes, among other things, of the prices of provisions: Potatoes sell at 60 cents a bushel; eggs, 20 cents per dozen; corn at 10 cents; white fish, 14 cents; sturgeon, 30 cents; leg of lamb, 18 cents; veal, 22 cents; cutlets, 22 cents; tenderloin steak, 20 cents; porterhouse, 22 cents."

Mr. Waldron writes: "I am sending paper with statement from my niece, who is visiting in Wisconsin, of prices prevailing there. How does this compare with the Florida market and who gets the profit?


Washington Post - Washington D.C. - November 14, 1915

Girl Shears Hair In Dream After Reading Of Another Doing So

Special to The Washington Post


Milwaukee, Wis., Nov. 12 - The family of Mrs. May Nass, gathered around the fireside here, read the story of how Miss Gertrude Grasse, of Sheboygan, cut off her hair while asleep. Thelma Nass, 14 years old, who herself had long golden hair, was particularly interested.

The morning following while the girl was preparing breakfast for her stepfather the loss of one of her braids was discovered.

A search was made. On the floor lay the hair, beside it a pair of manicure scissors. The girl had arisen in the night and shorn her hair as she had read the other girl had done.


Ft. Wayne News - Ft. Wayne, Indiana - April 5, 1916

The engagement of Miss Helwig Bratz to Mr. E. O. Kucher was made recently and the wedding, which will be a quiet one, will take place during the month of August, on account of the recent death of the bride's father. Miss Bratz came here from Sheboygan, Wis., to study nursing and graduated from the Lutheran hospital. At present she is the guest of Miss Ollie Kucher, of Maple terrace. Mr. Kucher, who is a brother of Mr. Herman Kucher, is foreman of piano tuners at the Packard Piano factory.


Lincoln Daily Star - Lincoln, Nebraska - June 3, 1917

Mrs. Walthers Story


The happiest little woman in Lincoln, and probably the proudest, has passed her eightieth mile stone. She is Mrs. C. W. Walthers, of 1332 G. street. A Hollander by birth, she came to this country with her mother, seventy years ago. Of that mother, who made the trip across the wide waters into an unknown land, deserting friends and relatives for the conquest of newer and greater things, she never tires of talking.

In Holland her mother had made an unqualified success through the operation of a mill, left to her by her husband, so when she decided to come to America, she had saved over $100,000 in gold. Banks in Holland then, were practically unknown, so she sewed her money up in leather belts, one for each of her fourteen children, strapped them about their waists, tied the household goods that she wished to carry up into fourteen bundles and started out. Each child carried $10,000 dollars.

In mid Atlantic, the wooden sailing vessel in which she had taken passage caught fire. The vessel was destroyed, but did that motherly soul lose heart? Not a bit of it. She gathered her brood about her, loaded them into a life boat and struck out on the open sea. They were picked up by a fisherman's smack and carried back to France. For four weeks they were detained before they could start again but that time got safely across. The family lived in Buffalo, N.Y., for a time but the mother was intent on conquest. Then she bought a farm near Sheboygan, Wis., and put her sons at work on it.

About ten years later Mrs. Walthers was married and then the Civil war broke out. She was afraid that she would lose her husband and about a year later when the call of his country became too strong and one afternoon he told her that he had enlisted. The bride was prostrated. "The tears," she said, "came as fast as the rain did yesterday." Three of her brothers enlisted at the same time and the mother's grief was uncontrollable, but what had happened could not be helped and the loved ones marched away to war.

Those four years of waiting for the end are indelibly stamped on her memory. Every day through summer and winter they watched for tidings of their loved ones. Every day in sunshine and storm, Mr.S Walthers walked to the town to bring the news of war to her mother.

An Indian Uprising

Through those four years the women worked constantly. They knitted socks. They made bandages and combed lint. They pickled potatoes by the barrelful. Pickled potatoes were a delicacy that the armies devoured. Once came a warning of an Indian uprising. The men were all away to the war so the women in the country packed up their children and their wealth and trudges in to the city. When the scare was over they trudged back again and took up their work where they had dropped it the day before.

Slowly the years dragged by while the women waited for their sons returning. The brave little Hollander, who had faced disaster, shipwreck and an unknown world, slowly declined under the burden that her heart could not bear. Every day the young bride trudged to the city for tidings of the war, for word from the sons and husband who did not return.

Finally came news of the fall of Vicksburg and the surrender of Lee. Then the mother's joy knew no bounds. She was to see her sons again. Four weeks later she died. Her boys had not come home yet.

Mrs. Walthers had served her sixteenth year as Chaplain of the Lincoln Women's Relief corps. Her proud record has been that for fifteen years her chair was never vacant. In the past winter she had been sick a great deal and was forced sometimes to relinquish her chair. It was one of the disappointments of her life.

If you go to visit her, she will not fail to show you the beautiful sword that her husband carried through the war. But her memory is getting dull and if she does some way forget it, ask to see it.


Sandusky Star Journal - Sandusky, Ohio - June 30, 1920

Additional Society News

Sandusky Man Married In Sheboygan


The Sheboygan Press of June 28 carries an interesting account of a wedding which will be of interest to the many friends of the groom in this city.

The account is as follows:

"There have been some very elaborate weddings this season in Sheboygan, but none so picturesque as that which took place Saturday evening, June 26, when Miss Rebecca von Kaas became the bride of Kenneth Kugel of Chicago Heights, Ill.

"The ceremony was performed at 6:30 o'clock on the east lawn at the home of Mr. and Mrs. A. D. Bemis, 305 Michigan ave., brother-in-law and sister of the bride. Promptly at the given hour the strains of Mendelssohn's wedding march played by Mrs. Carl Witte in the east room of the Witte home, the bridal party proceeded to two beautiful trees heavily laden with foliage, under which they took their place and were united in marriage by the Rev. Marvin R. Brandt of the First Congregational church.

"The bride and groom faced the lake and stood on a blanket of daisies, while at either side of them were tall wicker baskets of pink and white peonies forming a semi-circle enclosing the bridal party. It was an ideal evening and the guests beautifully gowned and the flowers made an attractive picture.

"The bride was lovely in a short white taffeta creation and she wore a short tulle veil with rose point lace. She carried a marvelous bouquet of Lord Cecil roses and Lilies of the Valley.

"Miss Gertrude Bemis, niece of the bride, was maid of honor and she wore a dainty frock of lavender organdie, a large drooping hat trimmed with lavender flowers and carried a handsome shower bouquet of pink roses. Carl Kugel, of Sandusky, the groom's cousin, was best man.

"After the ceremony light refreshments were served later. Mr. and Mrs. Kugel left for their wedding trip. The bride is a charming young lady who has spent most of her time in Sheboygan where she has always been popular in social circles. She was graduated from Sheboygan High school and from Stout Institute at Menominee. She possesses a lovely soprano voice and has been studying vocal in Chicago the past two years.

"The groom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Kugel of Sandusky and is a graduate of the University of Michigan. Her served his country during the world war for twenty-eight months. He was commissioned First Lieutenant and participated in both the Argonne and Château Thierry drives. Later he served with the army of occupation returning September, 1919. He is a mechanical engineer in Chicago.

"Mr. and Mrs. Kugel left for a motor trip to the northern woods where they will spend their honeymoon and on their return will be at home to their friends after Sept. 1 at 1441 Chicago Road, Chicago. The bride's going away suit was of blue tricotine with a black hat trimmed with pheasant breasts.

Among the guests at the wedding were Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Kugel, Miss Linnie Kugel of Cleveland and Miss Daisy Alice Kugel of Menominee, Wis.


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