Bleimes Family History
Chapter 5. George (3)
The third George in our line was the first to be born in this country,
arriving in Chicago 10 July 1860. Son of George (II) and Katharine “Kate”
Meyer Bleimes, he was their first child..
Nothing is known of his education or training; early occupations were
shown as bartender and wire-worker at wire fence factory when 19. However,
he acquired the skills of carpentry and cabinet making along the way and
became a pile-driver engineer for the M. C. RR, working at building trestles,
etc. in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.
Baptized in St. Michael’s Catholic Church, as were all the rest
of his family, he left the Church for unknown reasons, but since he married
a Protestant, that could be a factor. In later years he was a member of
the Methodist Episcopal Church of North Austin (Chicago). He is also known
to have been a member of the Masonic Lodge in 1905.
George’s father had died in 1874 and in 1881 his mother succumbed
also. All of George’s siblings were younger than he and the survivors
were minors at this point. Court actions ensued and guardianship of the
minors was jointly given to George and his uncle, Frederick Dreckmann,
with the latter providing a home for them.
About the same time, George was working for the railroad in the Winnebago, Illinois area and was courting Harriet Marshall of Juda, Wisconsin. Their first born, in 1882, was Lillian, in Pecatonica, Winnebago County, Illinois. Then followed, about every other year: Nettie, Olive, Kathryn, George and finally Harry. The last three were born in Chicago. It is suspected that George and Harriet were married in a church ceremony about 1881, but no record has been found. However, there is a record of their civil marriage in Milwaukee on 27 December 1887. |
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Their last child, Harry, was born 15 December 1893, just two days before Harriet died. Four years later George married Eliza May Shaw, also known as ‘Lyde’.
The 1900 census shows this Bleimes family living at 2238
Kinzie Street, 28th Ward, Chicago, Illinois, with the property being owned
and free of a mortgage. I find this notable that a 40-year-old tradesman
with a wife and his six children was that well off. Over the years George
invested in various securities, some of which were bonds of the North
Austin Church. I estimate the summation of his assets at the time of his
death to have been worth approximately $50,000 – quite a large sum
at that time.
Some time in the 1920’s he retired and acquired a home at 4103 Ninth
Street, Tampa, Florida. He and Lyde would spend winters there, shuttling
back and forth from Chicago. On the 26th of January 1930, he died in Tampa.
His remains was shipped back to Chicago and buried in his lot at Waldheim
(non-sectarian) Cemetery. His parents had a lot in St. Boniface Catholic
Cemetery which he had inherited, but I theorize that he did not wish to
use it because of the Church connection.
Naturally, Lyde inherited the estate. George had made and filed a will
leaving everything to her and further stating that after her death, the
residue would go to his children. This would appear to have been an ill-advised
move. I say that because, to the best of my knowledge, one cannot, nor
could not control disposition of assets beyond the life of the original
recipient. Regardless, when Lyde died in 1934, she left her assets to
her brother, Fred Shaw, and this action upset all of the Bleimes family
survivors. They brought suit against the disposition, but the Chicago
court ruled against them, and everything went to Mr. Shaw. There was much
rancor about this ruling, partly because the family saw Fred Shaw as an
unworthy and adversarial alcoholic loafer.
George and Harriet’s children: [George
Bleimes 3 Family Chart]
Lillian Rosebud married, in Chicago, Watson Davis originally of Jackson,
Ohio; had 13 children, 12 of whom survived to have families. She died
at 93 in Idaho. At 92 Aunt Lillian wrote me a long letter in which she
stated that her father was “not a Christian like all of us should
be”. She further said that her father “was never good to us
and we got so we couldn’t take it. So my sister next to me (Nettie)
moved out just 6 weeks before I got married at 22 years old.” Later
comments by Lillian’s daughter Florence also indicated that George’s
older girls did not get along with their step-mother.
Davis 50th Wedding Anniversary. 1955 Chicago
Nettie M. worked as a seamstress, then married school paymaster Robert Stewart, had one son, Robert Jr. and died at 28 of septicemia a week after the birth of her son in 1913.
Nettie Bleimes - Chicago 1905.
In the summer of 1976 we assembled all of the remaining Chicago cousins plus myself plus spouses, and had a party at Bob Stewart's home at 2139 78th Ave. in Elmwood Park. That was Bob, Florence Davis Hagman, George Watson and I. Mildred Ketzel Vorhauer then lived in Evanston, but she declined to come. We found one another to be quite socially agreeable and had a good time. I believe George Watson was the most pleased as his side of the family had been mostly ignored over the years.
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Olive Lucille "Ollie" married Paul Ketzel, a German immigrant, had a boy and a girl; died in Chicago in 1965. She was my father's favorite sister and he would visit her as often as possible. I remember going to their apartment in Evanston and playing with their son outside, even when it was bitter cold. Sometimes they put three sweaters on me which was never necessary in Columbus. In the 1920's they lived at 1828 Hood Ave. Ollie and Paul’s daughter Mildred married William Vorhauer and lived in north Chicago. They had a boy and a girl. |
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Kathryn Gertrude married Forrest Watson, a policeman, in 1923, Chicago. Had one son, George Bleimes Watson, named for my father, who was born in 1917. Kathryn's actions in these early times are not certain. She was not on close terms with the rest of the family.
1. In her brother Harry’s obituary, a Kathryn Rogers was listed,
which could indicate that she was or had been married to someone
by the name of Rogers before 1922. |
I only visited Aunt Kathryn one time – we were invited
to her 75th birthday celebration at her home in Michigan. My mother, my
wife and I attended and were treated well. She even gave me an upholstered
foot-stool that she said had been made by her father. Another impression
I got was that she liked to talk, while Forrest kept quiet - and just
grilled the hamburgers.
Forrest and Kathryn lived at 1521 E. 61st St. in the 1920’s.
George and Harriet Watson lived at 3744 W. Addison, Chicago in later years.
George Ryle. – has his separate chapter.
Harry Cook married Violet Hoffmann circa 1917, in Wisconsin.
He worked as a brakeman on the Omaha RR. With a companion, he sired one son and died of pneumonia in 1921 in St. James, Minnesota, before the son's birth. My father and grandfather went to St. James to accompany Harry's remains back to Chicago. My father told me that he had observed the mortician "draining the body" before shipping.
Two obituaries on Harry's death have surfaced, both listing the funeral attendees: The one from St. James lists Harry's companion, Elsie Anderson - the Chicago paper lists Harry's wife, Violet Hoffmann Bleimes. If they both did attend, it would seem to make for an uncomfortable gathering. (Only surmising.) In later years Elsie was bitter about "-being totally ignored by the Bleimes family". Harry and Elsie's son survived to build his own family, members of which number four generations today.
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When Sadie and I visited Violet at Friendship Village in Milwaukee in 1982, she said: "Harry died in 1922, my father died in 1926 and I have been alone ever since." She also told us that on 30 Aug 1915 she married Harry in Janesville, Wisconsin but no civil record has been found.
His 1917 WW I draft card shows him to be married at that time.