Family History

Colorado Road Trip – Day 2

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On to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Birthplace of my famous brother Thomas Davenport and also where Hank Aaron first started playing baseball for the Eau Claire Bears. Not sure which person is the most famous.

We started the day at the public library and dug up some good information. We have a copy of the birth announcement of Thomas. Along with that we got the address at the time of 136 1/2 Niagara Street. We also found an address in the city directory from 1954 for Frank and Gloria (Tom’s parents) on 2594 Birch Street.

A son, but no name yet.
Could have been taken from a paper today
Ted and I lived here, at 136 Niagara St., in 1953.
Ted and I lived here in 1954, but I am guessing it was not an Ace Hardware Store

Ted was born in Sacred Heart Hospital. The buildings that he was born in are now the Eau Claire Academy. There is still a Sacred Heart Hospital but it is in a different location and much larger and newer.

The former Sacred Heart Hospital
Now an Acadamy

Our father was in Eau Claire to finish his education at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. The campus appears to be growing and vibrant with most buildings that we could see probably new since he went to school there. The school is only a few blocks away from where he first lived on Niagara Street.

Map of the campus
UWEC
Adminstration Building

All in all, we had a great day in Eau Claire. Eau Claire is a beautiful city with lots of bike paths and walkways everywhere we went it seemed. I would recommend it as a place to visit (ahem, Ted??).

Fred and Victoria Schneble

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UPDATE: Added a fifth child, Phillip, born in 1875 but have no other information.

Agatha Schneble, Max Laskowski’s wife and grandmother of Mary, came from Dayton, Ohio. Her parents were Fred “Fredolin” John Schneble and Victoria Schwartz. They are buried in St. Patricks Cemetery in Bay City, Michigan.

Schneble Memorial – Picture taken April 2019

Fred was born January 1846 in Germany and arrived in the United States shortly after in 1849. The arrival date is based on information from a census and I have not found a passenger list for him yet.

He appears to have lived for most of his life in the Dayton, Ohio area until 1900 when he appears on the census in Gaylord, Michigan. He lived out his remaining years in Gaylord where he passed away on January 7th, 1908.

Fred and Victoria were married in 1870 in Ohio (presumably Dayton area).

Fred grave marker – picture taken April 2019

Victoria (maiden name Schwartz) was born in Dayton on November 6th, 1848. As mentioned above, she married Fred in 1870 and they moved to Gaylord some time before 1900.

Some time after Fred passed away, Victoria moved to Bay City and appears on the 1910 census with two of her daughters (Cecilia and Julia) living with Max and Agatha at 917 21st street. (Hmm, where I have heard of that address before…)

1910 census Bay City, MI

Her parents appear to be Max and Cecilia, who immigrated from Germany also. I have a request in to the Dayton Public Library for a copy of Cecilia’s obituary who passed away in 1903, if one exists. If this information is good, then Max and Cecilia Schwartz would be Mary’s 2nd great grandparents.

Victoria passed away February 13th, 1912 in Bay City, Michigan.

Victoria grave marker – picture taken April 2019

Fred and Victoria had five children I could find:

Phillip Jacob Schneble, born May 1 1875
Matilda P. Schneble, born September 1878
Agatha Cecilia Schneble, born 15 Sep 1880, died 9 Nov 1962
Cecilia A. Schneble, born Dec 1883
Julia A. Schneble, born Nov 1889

Max and Agatha (Schneble) Laskowski

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Max and Agatha (or Agnes) Laskowski are the parents of Louis Francis Laskowski and the grand parents of the Mary Laskowski clan (my wife). I have uncovered some good stuff on Max and have only a little on Agatha at this time.

Max and Agatha probably in front of their house on 21st Street in Bay City

For starters, I have found a birth registry record for Max as shown below. It appears he was born in an area called “Rathstube, WestPrussia, Prussia, Germany” on March 1, 1879. This information agrees as best it can with census records and the birth date noted in his obituary. Rathstube is now known today as Radostowo in Poland, a city about 80 miles east of Danzig (German), or Gandsk as it is known in Poland. I also have a passenger list that lists him at the age of 5 with his parents coming over in 1884. The children on that list as well as the parents name for the most part agree with the census information and the birth registry information, so my confidence level is high on this information.

Unfortunately, the 1890 census records in the United States were destroyed in a fire in January of 1921, so I do not have that record available. Notice that his middle name is shown as Franz, the same as his dads first name. Franz appears on the US information as Francis. I have also seen Max’s name appear as Max J Laskie on his Railroad Retirement board card and as Max J Laskowski in his obituary and Max John Laskowski on his WWI registration card.

Birth Registry information
1910 Census – Bay City
1900 Census – Bay City, Michigan Ave.
World War I registration for Max

Perhaps the most interesting information is a passenger list from the ship “Fulda” that arrived at Ellis Island on April 19, 1884. On that list are the following names (with ages): Frz Laskowski (46), Elise (41), Anna (20), Maria (18), Johann (15), Sophia (4??), Conrad (7), Helene (6) and Max (5). We know that Franz Laskowski married Elizabeth Nitkowski, so those names match up. I also have a list of names from a family reunion back in 1971 that for the most part agrees as follows (in descending order by date I presume from the family reunion doc): Anna (vs. Anna), Mary (vs. Maria), Josephine (maybe Sophia??), John (vs. Johann), Cora (vs??), Helen (vs. Helen), Max (vs. Max) and Barbara who was born later in 1884 in the United States. To me the match is too close not to be the correct one. On the census records it was noted they immigrated in 1884, which also agrees. Here are the passenger list documents and the family reunion document.

Maybe, at some point, I can get more information to corroborate. I am not sure yet about Cora and Conrad. It is possible the person recording the passenger list just made a mistake. If only I had the 1890 census record.

More updates on Agatha (Schneble, born in Dayton, Ohio), and also on the Stanchak side in the future.

Kosnik-Laskowski Family Reunion in summer of 1971
From the passenger list of the ship “Fulda” which arrived at Ellis Island on August 19, 1884 which sailed from Bremen Germany

Laskowski Genealogy – Step #1

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Time now to add some genealogy research about the Laskowski family line. This will be about Mary’s family which appears to almost exclusively trace back to Poland and Germany.

For starters I have a great wedding picture of Mary’s parents.

Anna Stanchak and Louis Francis Laskowski
Married August 9th, 1947 in Bay City, Michigan

Anna Stanchak (no middle name) was born November 9th, 1918 in Piney Fork, Pennsylvania and passed away on September 3, 2007 in Bay City. Piney Fork is now mostly just a memory located in South Park Township in Allegheny County a little south of Pittsburgh. Mary and I actually made a stop there but all we could find was a road named Piney Fork. Her father was Peter Daniel Stanchak (Stanczak?) born February 6, 1886 in Austria/Poland and her mother was Mildred (Millie or Mylana) Gabuza born January 6, 1888 in Austria/Poland.

Louis Francis Laskowski was born September 14, 1911 in Bay City and passed away on June 2, 1990. His father was Maximillian or Max J. Laskowski (still need the middle name) born March 1, 1879 in Poland. His mother was Agatha Cecilia Schneble born September 15, 1880 in Dayton, Ohio. More about them all in the future and their family tree as I can get verifiable information about them. Below are a couple more pictures of Mary’s parents.

  • Anna Stanchak
  • Louis Francis Laskowski

Mom (Gloria) photo album picture

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I am in the process now of scanning all the pictures that mom had in a photo album with the intention of putting them all on a memory stick for whoever in the family would like them. There are about 30 pages with 4-5 pictures per page, so I have a ways to go. The good news is, it is the winter months in Michigan, and I don’t ice fish, snowmobile or ski, so I have some time on my hands.

On page twelve today I scanned this picture which includes an adorable picture of me (cough!) along with various older people who are all related to me (including my mom who looks beautiful) and also a picture of Thomas (probably 1 year old). I would say this is the summer of 1954 or thereabouts.

Just a short post for now because I like the picture. Byron is Esther’s brother and Eva is his wife.

(as written on the back of photo)
Standing Left to Right
Bryon Magill – John Magill – Gloria in between them, Esther holding Thomas (Ted) Davenport – Eva Magill – Frank Davenport III in front

Hudson Dexter Mead I – Handmade Train

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The story, as I recollect as told by my Grandpa Hudson Dexter Mead II, is that the train set shown below was made by his dad for him as a child.  Grandpa was born in 1906 so this would have been made around 1910 or so.  From the looks of trains in the 1910’s that I could find versus trains in the 1870’s (which would have been in my great grandfathers childhood) I am not sure if it was made by my great grandfather (b. 1868) or my great-great grandfather John Groot Mead (b. 1838).

But my grandfather gave me this train to make sure it was passed on down through the family and I now have a place to actually put it up so others can see (of course, they would have to come visit me to see it!).  It included some train tracks which seemed to be missing a few sections so I made a couple more sections so the whole train can be set on the train tracks.

Below is a full length photo, then a front half and back half photo.  Following these pictures will be individual pictures of the cars:

Everything on the cars is hand made, even the wheels.  Some of the components are household items, like the crane car which uses an open face fishing reel for the bucket lift line and what looks like gears to turn the boom lift chain and to rotate the crane.  The engine has some light bulb fixtures and the brakes actually actuate.    Enjoy the pictures:

 

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George Thomas “Mickey” Davenport

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Uncle Mickey is my only living Aunt or Uncle.  And the one that I know the least about. But I have learned a bit through my research and chat with his daughter Kristine.  So here you go:

Uncle Mickey was born George Thomas Davenport on 10 February 1933 in White Bear Lake, Ramsey County, Minnesota.  He was the youngest of 6 six children and born 4 years after my father Frank.  He had four older sisters Olive, Lois, Barb and Marian.  His dad, our grandpa, died in 1945 when he was 12 years old so he would have probably lived with his mom Muriel, our grandma, in Minnesota.  There are some stories of him being in Bay City for a bit but at some point he moved to California, because:

He married Loretta Mae Stone in Butte County, California on 9 July 1952.  They have a son Robert Allen Davenport born 3 November, 1953 and a daughter Teresa “Terry” Lynn Davenport born 8 May 1957 in Salt Lake City, Utah.   Teresa passed away on 8 August 2003.  Kristine has confirmed this to me as good information, so lo and behold we have two more first cousins that we never knew about (or at least I never knew about).  Here are a couple of pictures I found of Uncle Mickey, one of which is a picture of him with Loretta.  And also a yearbook picture (top row, 4th from the right) with Loretta in it:

Uncle Mickey and Loretta
Tom & Lorry July 52 – Frank II brother and his first wife

Uncle Mickey
Uncle Tom “Mickey” & Sniffy

Chico High School yearbook - Loretta

I am not sure how long he lived in Salt Lake City, and I did not find a divorce record from Loretta, but I know that he married Juanita Lois Urbano about 1963 and she is the mother of Kristine.  Here is a yearbook picture of Juanita:

Juanita Yearbook

I have some somewhat conflicting information regarding his divorce from Juanita, but I have a marriage record between Uncle Mickey and Mary Lou Limon on 6 October 1979 (this is also confirmed by Kristine). I do not believe they are together anymore and I am unclear on any other information.

It would be fun some day to actually meet my first cousin Robert Allen.  And I do know that Teresa did marry a Paul Evans and they appear to have had two children born in the 1980’s.

I guess I need a road trip to California!

Olive Anne Davenport

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My Aunt Olive was the oldest sister of my father.  She was born 9 May 1920 to Frank (36) and Muriel (24) in Russell, Manitoba, Canada.  She would move with her family to North Dakota around 1922 and then to White Bear Lake, Minnesota around 1928, where our Grandpa Frank would minister at an Episcopal church called St. John in the Wilderness.  Our grandfather Frank passed away in 1945.  I have attached a PDF copy of portions of a history of that church with pages pertinent to our grandfather.

St Johns History with Frank only

From that history I discovered that Olive was first married to James Bernard Baine.  James had enlisted in 1941 and served in the U.S. Army Air Force during WWII.  Olive and James married 21 May 1943 in Jacksonville, Florida.  Staff Sgt. James was killed in action on 24 January 1944 (only 8 months after they were married) and was buried at the Cambridge American Cemetery (plot F, row 3, grave 77) in England.  He received the Air Medal and Purple Heart awards.  Olive was working as a defense worker according to the marriage certificate and still listed her residence as White Bear Lake, so I am not sure how the Florida thing figures in.

Olive and Blaine marriage certificate

Olive married Donald John McArdell 17 March 1945 and they had four children; John, Susan, William and Thomas all living and a part of my first cousin clan.  That first cousin clan is larger than I thought but more about Uncle Mickey and that subject on another post.  Olive passed away on 4 August 2002 and Don passed away 29 June 2003.

One last interesting fact about Olive and Don: Olive and Don are sixth cousins two times removed, according to a formula I found and the following information linking them both to a common ancestor:

8 Thomas Davenport 1681-1745
m. Catherine Woodworth 1673-1729		 ≡ Thomas Davenport 1681-1745
m Mary Pitman 1684-1740		 6
7 Oliver Davenport 1714-???? Gideon Davenport 1738-1810 5
6 John Davenport 1735-1809 John Davenport 1766-1822 4
5 Humphrey Davenport 1773-1859 Gideon Davenport 1803-1850 3
4 Oliver Davenport 1799-1870 Joseph Davenport 1831-1907 2
3 Paul Dudley Davenport 1823-1888 William E Davenport 1860-1938 1
2 Irene A Davenport 1845-1899 Frank H Davenport I 1884-1945
1 Minnie Emma Wilkins 1869-1913 Olive A Davenport 1920-2002
Raymond J McArdel 1896-1965
Donald J McArdel 1923-2003

For ref. here is the formula:

“There is a mathematical way to identify the degree of cousinship shared by two
individuals. In the description of each individual’s relationship to the most recent
common ancestor, each “great” or “grand” has a numerical value of 1. The
following examples demonstrate how this is applied.

Example: If person one’s great-great-great-grandfather is person two’s grandfather, then
person one’s “number” is 4 (great + great + great + grand = 4) and person two’s “number”
is 1 (grand = 1). The smaller of the two numbers is the degree of cousinship. The two
people in this example are first cousins. The difference between the two people’s
“numbers” is the degree of removal. In this case, the two people are thrice (4 — 1 = 3)
removed, making them first cousins three times removed. “