Ever wish you could go back in time say 51 years ago and ask you grandparents something? Well I think I found my "Wayback" machine. (For those you who don't get the reference, it refers to a cartoon series that aired when we were growing up called "Peapody & Sherman" . I found a 10 page report I did for a history class assignment my freshman year at Loyola University when I was 18 back in 19771.
The assignment was to write your family genealogy. What a find! If I actually had a "Wayback" machine and went back to 1971, how would I explain how I found these 10 yellowed typewritten sheets 51 years in the future then "scanned" them using "OCR" (Optical Character Recognition) into electronic form where it was "spell-checked" and then uploaded them to the "internet" and viewed by all instantaneously? Mind boggling, but that's what has become of those 10 sheets or paper.
It's interesting to see the assumptions I made back then, and the questions I didn't ask. But here is my version of reality after talking to Clara Sheber and Florence Vokoun as well as my parents in 1971.
GENEALOGY
My mother, Myrtle Lilly, was the eldest of seven children born to Clara Sheber (maiden name Rominski) and John Sheber. The other children in the family were named John, Jr. (died in early childhood), Thomas, Daniel, Irene, James and Kenneth. These are my uncles and aunts. They are all alive today, including my grandmother. My grandfather was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1897 and died in 1950 of a heart attack, which he suffered while on a trip to Indiana to look over a farm on which he and his wife Clara planned to retire in their later years. Of course I never knew him personally, but he has left us a legacy of several lovely pictures which he painted. He made his living as a commercial artist, mainly retouching photographs with an airbrush. Part of the time he worked for advertising companies, and part of the time he was self-employed. It was feast or famine in the art business, and the lucrative times helped cover the lean times. In his early life, John Sheber was also an accomplished violinist, until the Army deprived him of time to practice.
His artistic talents were passed down to his sons and daughters in that two of the sons, Dan and Jim, have trades in drafting, and Ken is an architect. My aunt Irene, who is also my godmother, is also an artist - she paints, sculptures and does ceramics, both for pleasure and profit. I have several of her works in my dorm room now7.
Before he was married, my maternal grandfather went to war where he encountered an epidemic on board the boat to France in World War I. His first assignment on arrival was to bury the dead. His next was to go to the front to fight the Germans. However, before he reached the heavy fighting, the Armistice was signed. He then stayed on in Germany for two years after the war as a prison guard.
As my grandfather died before I was born, I don't know much about his family - only what his wife, Clara, has told me. He came from a family of eight children. His father, my great grandfather, was a handyman in a woodworking factory, where he lost several fingers in accidents. He came, with his parents, to the U.S. from Germany around 1875. It is said that one. of his brothers was a professional violinist, who played in concert for the Kaiser, nothing is known about great great grandmother, except that she also came to the U.S. with her family from Germany and met her husband here.
My maternal grandmother, Clara Sheber, was born in 1900 in Chicago. She was the second to the last child out of 16 (only 9 survived, however, and there were several sets of twins). Her parents spoke German in the home, but also know English. Her older brothers and sisters spoke English, however, but also knew; German. She originally learned English when small, but acquired German mainly through the church and school, where classes were conducted wholly in German. They lived in a German neighborhood in Chicago, where she attended school for 10 years, including 2 years at the Josephenium Academy, where she was trained in such things as commercial skills and fine needle work.
She worked as a secretary during and after World War I. She was active in the social activities at the local settlement house, where she met her husband, John, while they were both in a play (she was the queen and he was the king). They were both sports-minded and frequently ice skated on the Humboldt Lagoon. They were married in October of 1926, and my mother was born in July, 19 27. My grandmother returned to work as a secretary 25 years later, to support her family after her husband died.
Early in their marriage Clara and John bought a modest frame home in Villa Park, Illinois where they lived for several years. My mother went to first grade at St. Alexander's school there, to which she had to walk over a mile each way. When the depression came, John had no work, except for periodic work on a WPA project, which paid for food for the family. He also farmed an empty lot in the neighborhood to help feed the family. Clara helped by selling home made pies in the neighborhood. However, they lost their home during this time, and moved back to Chicago. A year or two later they purchased a remodeled farm house on the northwest side of Chicago, where my mother spent most of her growing up years.
Clara Sheber's father was from West Prussia, what is now Eastern Germany. His name was Prank Rominski and he was a twin. He lived in a town called Konitz (translated it means "cows nest') where his father was the equivalent of a forest ranger. His parents never came to America, but sent him, at the age of 14, to the United States along, to find out what it was like, so he could write back and tell them if they should come over. He set out on the voyage with nothing except a lunch in his hand for the entire sea voyage. (There were no meals served on board). He was down in the hull of the ship for the entire journey, which must have been at least two weeks. On arrival in New York, he knew no English, but knowing he had a distant relative in Chicago he travelled here, where his family has stayed ever since. He wrote back to his home town and told his parents that America was great for the young, but not suitable for older people because the life was too hard. On his advice, his parents stayed in the small town of Konitz, and his brothers and sisters came to the U.S.
His first job here was for a dairy, delivering milk. At the age of 19, he and his twin brother entered a monastery of the Capucian Order to become monks, but after not too long Frank decided against monastery life and went into the field of watchmaking. (His brother stayed on in the religious life.) After several years he mastered the trade of watchmaking and eventually owned a jewelry store on Milwaukee Avenue. It was a two story brick building, and the family lived upstairs and behind the store, It was approximately at the time of the Chicago Fire, which he survived. At the age of 24 he married a German girl he met in America in a youth group at the local German Catholic Church. Her name was Matilda Grabowski. She was trained as a tailor in the small town of Neustadt, Germany. She moved to America with her entire family when she was 16. Her sea voyage was as traumatic as her future husband's had been. The family occupied a storage compartment in the hull of the boat, which midway in the voyage started to sink. They were locked in the compartment as the ship was sinking. They would be the last to get out, as the first class passengers were the first allowed to abandon ship. Luckily the "leak" was stopped by someone jumping overboard and repairing it at the cost of his own life. On arrival in New York they also came to Chicago.
She married Frank Rominski in 1380 and had 16 children, including several sets of twins. Only 9 survived, however, and 7 d died before their first birthday of what Great Grandma Matilda called 'summer complaint". I have no way of knowing exactly what this was, but the sanitary conditions were described to me in terms of the baby, bottles used at that time. They were flat things containing unpasteurized milk and had attached to it a two foot tube on which a nipple was attached. Nothing at that time was boiled or sterilized in any way. This is the most probable account of what led to these infant deaths.
The family purchased a large, pleasant summer home on Round Lake, Illinois, on a lovely, wooded acre, where the family spent many summers away from the city heat. Matilda lived to be 78 and Frank lived to be 84. Their later years were spent in the homes of their children, al for a time, and then Martha, their eldest daughter, who cared for them until death.
Stepping one generation back to my great great grandparents on my mother's side, Frank Rominski got his polish name from hisfather, who came from the part of Poland that was taken over by Germany. (He was given the title of "Von", making his name Von Rominski, as an honor for some service rendered). His mother came from Germany. Matilda Grabowski's father was a plasterer and both parents were apparently of German descent. The only one spoken of in the preceding generation was Frank Rominski's grandfather, who was referred to as "Opapa". He did not live in the town of Konitz, as did his son, but lived in the country, on a farm. Most of this information was received from Clara Sheber, my grandmother. Due to lack of any written material, this is as far back as I can go on this side of the family.*
My father, George P. Lilly II (footnote 1), was the only child of Florence M. Lilly (maiden name, Vokoun) and George P. Lilly I, an architect.
George P. Lilly I was an orphan who was adopted as a small boy by John Lilly. Therefore George took the last name of Lilly also. John Lilly was a painter employed in whitewashing. His wife's name was Adeline. They were not a wealthy family, but they did adopt another boy some years later. His name was William, and he was the ring bearer at my grandmother's wedding. 1. The legal name of my father is not George Lilly II, however, I will use the numerals for the sake of clarity to designate my grandfather, George P. Lilly, I, my father, George P. Lilly II, and my brother, George PI Lilly III in this paper. William married and had two sons, then he died. His wife remarried and the sons consequently changed their names and were lost track of. All on this side of the family were Catholic and American for as far back as I can trace.
My grandmother on this side of the family, Florence M. Lilly, is still alive today and my chief source of information. She was born on Sawyer Avenue in Chicago, where she attended St. Sylvester's parish church and school while she grew up. The neighborhood was of no particular ethnic variety. She had a total of 10 years education, the last two being a secretarial training school. After schooling she went to work as a statistician for Kellogg Company, where she worked for 44 years. She married George P. Lilly I in 1925. My dad was born in 1926. As an only child my dad grew up with several of his cousins. (His Aunt Loretta and Uncle John's children, George and Bertha) They lived in the upstairs(with my dad's grandparents) of a two flat building on Oakdale Avenue in Chicago, and the cousins lived downstairs.
My father's education consisted of 17 years. He attended grammar school at Our Lady of Mercy and St. Genevieve. My mother also attended St. Genevieve School and they met at a church sponsored affair when they were teen agers. They were also married at St. Genevieve Church, on July 14, 1951. My father attended De Paul Academy High School and De Paul University in pre-med, but later changed to Math. Afterwards he did graduate work, but was cut short of a masters degree by an attack of hepatitis. He is an actuary and owns his own company, by which he supports his eight children. He travels around the country in his job, with clients in 7 states. He sent all his children to parochial grammar school (me and two of my brothers have also attended parochial High School) These are the names and ages of the children in the family: George P., 19, Francis J, 18, John F., 17, Rosemary Joy, 15, Susan M., 13, Marybeth, LI, Barbara, 9, and Robert, G. 6. (The last 3 children were born by Caesarian Section).
My grandmother, Florence M, Lilly was one of three children in the family of Francis J. Vokoun and Bertha Martha Vanderbiest, my great grandparents. The two other children were James William (1901) and Loretta Julia (1903), my grandmother being the youngest (190b), Her sister, Loretta, is still alive, also.
My great grandfather, Francis J. Vokoun was born in Chicago on the very street where the Chicago fire started. He was employed as a neckwear cutter. His son James also took up this trade. His parents came from Bohemia, which is now the Czech part of Czechoslovakia. His father's name was also Francis J. ( after whom I am named). He came from a family of 9 boys and married Josephine (madden name unknown) and had four children in Bohemia of which one died in infancy. Nothing much is known of the "old country" or the sea voyage except they came directly to Chicago after arriving at New York. Neither my great grandfather nor any of his family was a practicing Catholic. Frank became Catholic when he married Bertha Vahder Biest. He died in 1953.
My great grandmother, Bertha Vender Biest, was born in Antwerp, Belgium. She and her family came to America when she was four years old. In America she took up the trade of bow-maker in the neckwear trade. It is through the trade that she met her husband, Francis J. Vokoun. Her mother was Anna Marie Bussu and came from North Brubent, France. She married Louis Vander Biest . After having; three children in Antwerp they came to America. My great grandmother talked of royal descendancy and a lost coat of arms involving her mother, Anna Marie Bussu. This has never been verified nor has the coat of arms ever been found. However, my grandmother, Florence M. Lilly docs have hemophilia tendencies. My great great grandparents had three children, Louis, Jr., who died at infancy in Belgium, William, who was a cigar maker and never married and Bertha, my great grandmother.
My great great grandfather, Louis VanderBiest, was born in Antwerp, Belgium and was a carpenter by trade. He specialized in circular staircases in the old country. While relatively young (approximately 20) he took a series of voyages- that took him from Antwerp to Shanghai, China and back again. On this voyage he kept a log which I have found and am having translated now. It was written in Flemish in a notebook which is falling apart now. It was written in Flemish in excellent penmanship and included several designs on the covers and in the text of the log. From what has been translated so far All I know is the names of the boats (sailboats) and the captains and destinations of the boats. He also describes some temples he visited while in China at around 1865.
After returning to Antwerp he married Anns Marie Bussu and went to America. On arrival in the U.S. he promptly went out west to the Klondike gold rush. After finding nothing he returned to Chicago where he worked as a carpenter for a railroad. While working there he invented a new railroad tie that is similar to the one being used today. He hired a lawyer to patent the invention and received the patent, which I have today. However, this lawyer talked him out of the invention's worth and Louis sold it to the lawyer for cheap. The lawyer in turn manufactured it and became a millionaire.
Nothing is known of the preceding generation before either Louis Vender Biest or Anna Marie Bussu. Perhaps somewhere along the line, one of them had a history assignment and wrote down something of their grandparents and maybe someday we'll find it and then we'll find out more about my ancestors.
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