These boys were prowling the mean streets of Salem, Ohio, around 1917 when this image was made. Three of them are known, Joe McSweeney, Chas Lowry, and his brother Eddie Lowry. The man on the right is unknown, with the inscription reading something similar to Ode. McSweeney was Chas and Eddie’s brother-in-law and their sister Anastasia’s husband.
Source: Joe – Chas- Eddie – Ode [?], photograph, taken in Salem, Ohio, around 1917; digital image, photocopy of original, scanned in 2015 by Joseph Lowry; privately held by Mary Lowry, [address for private use], Canton, Ohio; Four men wearing 1910’s era clothing standing with their hands in their pockets; Provenance is Mary Pepperney Lowry to Charles Lowry to Mary Lowry.
On a snowy Sunday, November 13, 1910, in Dayton, Ohio, John Puhl walked into the National Soldier’s Home. Essentially an early Veterans Affairs hospital, the home provided not just medical care but also short and long-term lodging to veterans, most of the Civil War. As the National Park Service describes, “Requirements for admission were that soldiers had been honorably discharged from military service and that they had contracted their disabilities during the war. Men admitted themselves to the home voluntarily and could request a discharge. The homes were run in a military fashion: men wore uniforms and were assigned to companies; bugles and cannons signaled daily schedules. The homes provided schools, churches, hospitals, and gardens thought to be therapeutic for the veterans.”
It’s likely that John signed in that Sunday for medical care. His wife Emma was still living in Pittsburgh, so it’s doubtful he initially intended to live there for the rest of his life, although he could have if he wished. The intake form states Emma lived at 2621 Linwood Avenue in Pittsburgh (until 1907 the independent city of Allegheny) in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood, at the time an enclave of German, Irish, Italian, and Polish families primarily living in single-family homes. The form fails to capture that they lived with eight others in the home of their daughter Ida and son-in-law (and Major League baseball player) Augustus Dundon, their three children, and Ida’s siblings Harry, Bertha, and Grace. John was a molder in an iron foundry, a typical job in Pittsburgh’s booming steel and iron industry.
John’s intake form states that he was 5 foot, 5 inches and had “effective hearing and vision, old injury to left hip with about 1/2 inch shortening of the leg accordingly, G.S.W left shoulder, cardiac hypertrophy, arteriosclerosis, dermal condition good.” While most of those ailments are representatives of the diet and medical condition of most men his age, the G.S.W. – gunshot wound – could represent a Civil War injury and the needed disability to be seen for care in the National Soldier’s Home.
John stayed in Dayton for seven months, checking himself out on June 25, 1910. According to available records, he did not return to Dayton for further treatment. He died in Pittsburgh in 1916.
Editor’s Note: John Puhl is the older brother of Margaret Puhl Pepperney (1849 – 1923). Margaret is the wife of Frank Pepperney (1847 – 1927) and mother of George P. Pepperney (1871 – 1962).
Sources
1910 U.S. census, Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, population schedule, tract X4, enumeration district (ED) 629, sheet 1B, dwelling 17, family 18, household of August Dondon; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 Feb 2024); FHL microfilm 1375321, citing NARA publication T624, roll 1308.
“Pennsylvania, U.S., Veterans Burial Cards, 1777-2012,” digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 3 Feb 2024), entry for John Puhl; citing Pennsylvania Veterans Burial Cards, 1929-1990, Series 1, Folder No. 393, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Register of Members, Entries 33000-34499, to the National Soldier’s Home at Dayton, Ohio, John Puhl, 34178, image 613 of 786; U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938; Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
“Weather Forecast,” Dayton Daily Herald, 12 Nov 1910, pg 1, masthead; digital image, (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 3 Feb 2024), Newspapers.com.
The 1910 Census record for Michael Lowry, Jr. and his family shows a family that was busy with school while the father worked in the coal mine. My great great grandfather Michael was 45 years old in 1910, working at least part time in the mine. He was out of work for 20 weeks in the preceeding year, but we don’t know is that was due to the unreliable work availability or perhaps a strike action that kept the men out of the mines. Mike’s wife, Annie, kept the home with six children. The oldest girls, Margaret and Anastasia, no doubt helped tend to the little ones. Otherwise, the family was busy with schoolwork. The five oldest were all in school, while the youngest, 4-year old Helen, was still at home.
State: Ohio
County: Columbiana
Township: Salem
Name of Incorporated Place: Leetonia
Ward of the City: North Precinct
Enumerated by me on the 16th of April
Thomas P. Samson, Enumerator
Lowrey, Michael, head, male, white, 45 years old, 1st marriage, married 20 years. Born in Ohio. Father born in Ireland. Mother born in Ireland. Speaks English. Works as a coal miner. Is not out of work; out of work 20 weeks in 1909. Can read: Yes. Can write: Yes. Owns the home, but has a mortgage.
” Annie, wife, female, white, 40 years old, 1st marriage, married 20 years. 6 children born, 6 still living. Born in Germany. Father born in Germany. Mother born in Germany. Speaks English. Not employed. Can read: Yes. Can write: Yes.
” Margaret, daughter, female, white, 18 years old, single. Born in Ohio. Father born in Ohio. Mother born in Germany. Speaks English. Not employed. Can read: Yes. Can write: Yes. Attended school anytime since September 1, 1909: Yes.
” Anastatia, daughter, female, white, 16 years old, single. Born in Pennsylvania. Father born in Ohio. Mother born in Germany. Speaks English. Not employed. Can read: Yes. Can write: Yes. Attended school anytime since September 1, 1909: Yes.
” Edward, son, male, white, 13 years old. Born in Ohio. Father born in Ohio. Mother born in Germany. Speaks English. Not employed. Can read: Yes. Can write: Yes. Attended school anytime since September 1, 1909: Yes.
” Charles, son, male, white, 11 years old. Born in Ohio. Father born in Ohio. Mother born in Germany. Speaks English. Not employed. Can read: Yes. Can write: Yes. Attended school anytime since September 1, 1909: Yes.
” Raymond, son, male, white, 8 years old. Born in Ohio. Father born in Ohio. Mother born in Germany. Speaks English. Not employed. Can read: Yes. Can write: Yes. Attended school anytime since September 1, 1909: Yes.
” Helen, daughter, female, white, 4 years old. Born in Ohio. Father born in Ohio. Mother born in Germany. Speaks English. Not employed. Can read: No. Can write: No. Attended school anytime since September 1, 1909: No.
Source:
1910 U.S. Federal Census, Columbiana County, Salem, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 50 sheet 3B, dwelling 87, family 84, household of Michael Lowry; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 Feb 2022), FHL microfilm 1375175, citing NARA publication T624_1162.
If the saying that “war is hell” is true, then the Battle of the Somme in World War I was the perfect example of this hell. On the first day of the battle, 1 July 1916, there were 57,000 casualties, and the battle would drag on until 18 November 1916. Within a week, the battle was at a standstill with Germans, French and British forces grinding it out in a maze of trench warfare.
It was at the end of the first week that the Monmouthshire Regiment was thrown into action as a pioneer regiment, which meant that they were to create the trenches and defensive positions used by the fighting force. Monmouthshire, Wales was a mining region, and the engineering skills of the miners-turned-soldiers made them well suited for the task. In this regiment was ThomasFoy, a 37-year old sergeant who had been called to serve.
Thomas was the brother of my great great grandmother, Bridget Foy Groucutt. While Bridget and several siblings immigrated to the United States, Thomas remained in England. On 5 June 1915, with the war well underway, he embarked to France with the 3rd Battalion, Monmouthshire Regiment.
They found themselves at the Somme in July 1916 under withering artillery fire. On 7 July 1916, on the front lines, Sergeant Foy found himself just a few feet from his company’s commanding officer, Captain J. Merton Jones, who wrote in the casualty report:
I believe [ThomasFoy] was killed as I saw a shell (believed to be a 5.9) pitch, as it appeared to me in the night, full upon him. I was about 2 to 3 yards from him and a minute previously had been [?] to him. Sever others pitched in the same spot afterwards and then getting away the wounded, I could not find Foy then, nor afterwards, neither did any man or stretcher-bearer help him to any Dressing Station. I therefore believe he was killed.
My third-great-uncle ThomasFoy was killed at the Battle of the Somme on 7 July 1916, one of over 95,000 British soldiers to die on this French battlefield. He is buried at the Mill Road Cemetery in Thiepval, France.
Source:
“British Army WWI Service Records, 1914-1920,” images, Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/image/510132225 : accessed 13 Nov 2016), record for ThomasFoy, 3rd Monmouthshire Regiment, page 325; National Archives of the UK, London, England.
The amazing thing about genealogy is that sometimes a record that seems so minor to your larger family history can lead to connections across multiple families and fill so many blanks. Such is the case of the Rabe family of Topeka, Kansas.
Late in the night, when I tend to lose focus on my research, I bounce from ancestor to ancestor, adding records to my family tree as I stumble upon them. One record collection I was aware of but hadn’t searched in sometime was the “United States, Obituaries, American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1899-2012″ collection on Familysearch.org. As my Porubsky and Schulmeister ancestors are Volga Germans, I did a simple surname search for Porubsky. In the process, I located the obituary of Catherine Porubsky (Reeb).
In reading the names in this record, I instantly recognized Porubsky and Schwerdt. Reeb sounded familar, but my Topeka relatives were Rabes, not Reebs. Catherine Rabe was in my family tree, married to Matthew Porubsky, but she lacked parents in my database. In fact, I had three Rabes in my tree and they all lacked parents.
Catherine E. Rabe was married to Matthew G. Porubsky
Elizabeth B. Rabe was married to Joseph A. Schulmeister
Joseph Rabe was married to Caroline Schulmeister
The three Rabes lived in Topeka and were born within 15 years of each other. The original obituary named a sister Pauline, but no other siblings. Could they be related? I set to find out! I knew she was born in 1901 to John and Catherine, who were born in Russia. From other record sources, I also knew that Elizabeth was born in 1889 and Joseph in 1887. I located a Rabe family in the 1910 United States Census. The details I previously had confirmed from later census and marriage records fit well with this 1910 record.
The three Rabes in my family tree were siblings, and each had married into the family of my ancestors, making them my 3rd great aunts and uncles.
State: Kansas
County: Kearny
Township: Lakin
Name of Incorporated Place:
Ward of the City:
Enumerated by me on the 2nd of May
Henry H. Cochran, Enumerator
Rabe, John, head, male, white, 45 years old, 1st marriage, married 25 years. Born in Russ German. Father born in Russ German. Mother born in Russ German. Immigrated in 1900. Has applied for citizenship and has his first papers (Pa.). Speaks German. Works as a tenant farmer working on his own account (meaning, not an employee or employer). Is not out of work; out of work 0 weeks in prior year. Can read: No. Can write: No. Rents the farm, which is found on Agriculture Schedule 81.1
” Katie, wife, female, white, 45 years old, 1st marriage, married 25 years. 12 children born, 9 still living. Born in Russ German. Father born in Russ German. Mother born in Russ German. Immigrated in 1900. Speaks German. Not employed. Can read: No. Can write: No.
” Joe, son, male, white, 22 years old, single. Born in Russ German. Father born in Russ German. Mother born in Russ German. Immigrated in 1900. Speaks German. Employed as a laborer in the beet fields. Can read: Yes. Can write: Yes.
” Anna, daughter, female, white, 17 years old, single. Born in Russ German. Father born in Russ German. Mother born in Russ German. Immigrated in 1900. Speaks German. Employed as a laborer in the beet fields. Can read: Yes. Can write: Yes. Attended school anytime since September 1, 1909: Yes.
” Frank, son, male, white, 11 years old, single. Born in Russ German. Father born in Russ German. Mother born in Russ German. Immigrated in 1900. Speaks German. Employed as a laborer in the beet fields. Can read: No. Can write: No. Attended school anytime since September 1, 1909: Yes.
” Elizabeth, daughter, female, white, 10 years old, single. Born in Russ German. Father born in Russ German. Mother born in Russ German. Immigrated in 1900. Speaks German. Employed as a laborer in the beet fields. Can read: No. Can write: No. Attended school anytime since September 1, 1909: Yes.
” Katie, daughter, female, white, 8 years old, single. Born in Kansas. Father born in Russ German. Mother born in Russ German. Not employed. Attended school anytime since September 1, 1909: Yes.
” Jacob, son, male, white, 6 years old, single. Born in Colorado. Father born in Russ German. Mother born in Russ German. Not employed. Attended school anytime since September 1, 1909: No.
” Mary, daughter, female, white, 4 years old, single. Born in Colorado. Father born in Russ German. Mother born in Russ German. Not employed.
” Pauline, daughter, female, white, 2 years old, single. Born in Kansas. Father born in Russ German. Mother born in Russ German. Not employed.
Source:
1. “Catherine Porubsky,” The Topeka Capital Journal, 22 Sep 1992, pg 3D; “United States, Obituaries, American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 1899-2012,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-42560-12683-35?cc=2367299 : 14 August 2015), 100415107 > image 7336 of 8998; American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Lincoln.
2. 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Kearny County, Lakin, population schedule, enumeration district (ED) 83, sheet 9A, dwelling 199, family 200, household of John Rabe; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 August 2016), FHL microfilm 1374454, citing NARA publication T624_441.
You would be hard pressed to find 337 Rebecca Street in Pittsburgh today. It simply doesn’t exist, but it did exist in 1910 and that is where my 3rd great grandparents Martin and Elizabeth Witt made their home. Rebecca Street in the North Shore neighborhood is today known as Reedsdale Street, but now it is just a series of short segments cut by Highway Route 65 and Heinz Field, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
79-year-old Martin, born in Germany, was a grocer while 70-year-old Elizabeth kept the house. She was born in Pennsylvania to German parents. Martin and Elizabeth celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary the year prior, as the census sheet indicates they had been married for 51 years. Elizabeth gave birth to 13 children, 8 of whom were still alive in 1910.
State: Pennsylvania County: Allegheny Township: Name of Incorporated Place: Pittsburgh Ward of the City: North Precinct Enumerated by me on the 21st of April Joseph H. Borton, Enumerator
Witt, Martin, head, male, white, 79 years old, 1st marriage, married 51 years. Born in Germany. Father born in Germany. Mother born in Germany. Immigrated in 1831. Naturalized citizen. Speaks English. Employed as a clerk in a grocery. Is not out of work; out of work 10 weeks in prior year. Can read: Yes. Can write: Yes.
” Elizabeth, wife, female, white, 70 years old, 1st marriage, married 51 years. 13 children born, 8 still living. Born in Pennsylvania. Father born in Germany. Mother born in Germany. Not employed. Can read: Yes. Can write: Yes.
Source: 1910 U.S. Federal Census, Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, population schedule, Enumeration District 398, Sheet 10, Dwelling 337,. Martin Witt; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 Jun 2015): FHL microfilm: 1375315. National Archives microfilm publication Roll T624_1302.
If the saying that “war is hell” is true, then the Battle of the Somme in World War I was the perfect example of this hell. On the first day of the battle, 1 July 1916, there were 57,000 casualties, and the battle would drag on until 18 November 1916. Within a week, the battle was at a standstill with Germans, French and British forces grinding it out in a maze of trench warfare.
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