Arthur Utpadel "Little Grandfather"

Arthur Robert Utpadel was our grandpa, Frank Utpadel's younger brother. He was born on November 19, 1916 and it is said his death in 1921 was the first traffic fatality in Wheeling, IL. 

When Arthur was 4 and Frank was 5, their parents had trouble keeping an eye on them. While Otto and Jennie worked, the boys would sneak away and go down to the train station in Wheeling to look at the trains. Drastic measures were taken to keep them safe and they tied ropes around the boys' waists and then to a tree in front of their building on Milwaukee Avenue.

On March 18, 1921 Arthur managed to untie his rope, while Frank could not. At about 3:45 pm Arthur went into the street and was struck by a car. 

Arthur was taken to St. Luke's Hospital at 1439 S. Michigan in Chicago and died 17 days later.

Cook County death certificate for Arthur Utpadel. Incorrect birthdate is listed.

The Daily Herald (Chicago, Illinois) 15 Apr 1921, Fri  • Page 5

Jennie

Jennie Smith - Photo given to me by her son, my grandfather, Frank Utpadel

Jean "Jennie" Smith was born in 1891 to James Smith, an immigrant from Ireland, and Ida Daugherty who was born in Kentucky.

In 1900 she lived at 904 W. 17th Street in Anderson, Indiana, a house her father rented by working as a day laborer. She lived with her parents, her younger brother Frank and her 3 older half sisters from her mother's first marriage to George White (May, Minnie and Emma). According to the census her mother, Ida, had given birth to 2 other children who died but there is no information as to when they were born or died.

Ida died some time within the next decade, probably around 1905. The older girls were married and Frank lived with their father in a boarding house. Jennie was first sent to live with her father's brother, Joe, at Loon Lake in Illinois By 1910 she was living with with her cousin, Mae (Buntin) Busch in Vernon Township in Lake County Illinois. Mae was the daughter of Jennie's father's sister Eliza. Jennie worked for them as a household servant.

Vernon Township is only about 6 miles from Wheeling, where the Utpadels lived and grew up and at some point Jennie met Otto Utpadel and married him on November 29, 1911.

Otto Utpadel and Jean Smith marriage certificate

Otto and Jennie lived in Wheeling the rest of their lives. Otto's obituary said they had 7 children. I have documentation verifying 6 of them and was told by my grandpa, their son Frank, that there was a boy born after his sister Lorraine, before he was. Their children were:
Lorraine Jean 1912-1998
Baby Boy who was born and died in about 1914 (unverified)
Frank Albert 1915-1996
Arthur Robert 1916-1921 
Richard Orville 1920-1969
Warren James 1922-2016
Baby Boy Stillborn on February 23, 1923

In April 1919, Jennie was appointed Postmistress of Wheeling.

The Daily Herald 

(Chicago, Illinois)

  11 Apr 1919, Fri  • Page 9

Otto was one of the census takers for the 1920 census in Wheeling. He recorded his family on January 21, 1920. He and Jennie lived with their kids Lorraine, Frank, and Arthur on a farm they owned, not rented. It lists Jennie's occupation as "None". Maybe she was no longer the postmistress because she was pregnant and would give birth to Richard the following month. Otto was a butcher who owned his own shop at the time, but according to newspaper ads, the following April he sold all his stock and leased the store to the Co-Operative Society of America.

On February 14, 1923 Dr. Edward Larsen started to care for Jennie when she contracted pneumonia. She was also pregnant again and a baby boy was stillborn on February 23. The following Friday the newspaper, which came out once a week, reported that Jennie had been very sick with pneumonia and other complications but was slightly improved. This improvement was short lived, however, as she died 6 days later on March 8, 1923.

Jean Smith Utpadel death certificate

It's really hard to read this copy of her death certificate that I ordered from Salt Lake City. It says the informant is Frank Forke, the undertaker. I'm not sure if he just signed in the wrong spot of if he really did provide details about her. Whoever did provide the information got her mother's name wrong though. The certificate says her mother was born in Ireland and her name was Jennie Cardlewood or Catherwood. It was actually her paternal GRANDMOTHER who was named Jennie Catherwood, not her mother.

Richard's son Jerry sent me this picture. He was told it is Jennie.

Harold Willcocks Education

In May 1927, our grandfather, Harold Willcocks, received this public school diploma.

Although he was 16 in May 1927 when this diploma was given, it is only for up through the 8th grade. In his audio tapes he said Washington school would skip him ahead a grade or two because he had gone to the Catholic schools in town and learned more at them He therefore was placed in the grade the befit his knowledge at Washington, so I would have thought that he would have gotten the diploma at a younger age than typical (around 14 or 15). I think between working on the farm and being in the orphanage he probably missed a lot of time in school and that's why he finished when he did. 

He would say he only went to the 8th grade and that his teacher was Mrs. Eves (Helen Eves). She was the teacher when his kids went to Washington school also.

On the 1940 census he indicated that he had completed to grade 8, whereas his wife had gone to school through grade 10, her 2nd year of high school (H2 below). His father (William Willcocks) and her mother (Elizabeth Coppens), who both lived with them at the time, had only been educated to the 4th grade.

William Willcocks in the Military

William J. Willcocks was our grandpa Harold Willcocks's father. He was born in Quebec, Canada and came to the US in 1898 when he was 18 or 20 (depending on which source for his birth date is accurate). According to the 1910 census he worked on the coal dock in Ashland, WI. Later he became a structural iron worker building bridges and had to travel to larger cities, such as Detroit, and stay there for weeks and months at a time.

But before all that he was in the armed forces.  On June 29, 1901 he joined the US army and was in the 19th Battery, Field Artillery stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas.  

He was given a handbook to guide him.

William Willcocks
19th Battery F.A.
Book No. 1

In the back of the book he kept a ledger of the clothing given to him and the cost of each item.

He made the rank of Corporal before he was honorably discharged with Excellent Character on July 28, 1904.

His Veterans Administration Identification Card says he was a vet of the Spanish American War. I know that war lasted for a few months in 1899 before William enlisted, but I don't know enough about military history to know why he was considered a vet of that war.

Harold Willcocks Video

On August 4, 1999, Harold Willcocks was interviewed on video by his daughters, Carol Utpadel and Sharon Sullivan. Copies of the VHS were given to family and friends.

Click HERE to watch or download Harold talking about his life. 

Harold in 1925, 15 years old

Plowing snow for the Town of Parkland in the 1940s

Ralph Utpadel

A couple months after Frank was appointed sheriff, he received a letter that just addressed to:

Sheriff Frank Utpadel 

Washburn, Wisconsin

There was no actual street address or zip code on the envelope.The return address said it was from a Ralph Utpadel in Menominee, WI. The letter read:

  
Mr. Utpadel,

  A few weeks ago we noticed your name in the St. Paul Pioneer Press and ever since have been wanting to write to you.
  It is the first time we have seen or heard of the name outside of our immediate family. There are a couple of our relatives in southern Minnesota, but other than that we know of none.
  Perhaps there are many by that name, but we just haven't heard of any.
  I wonder if people there have as hard a time pronouncing your name as they have where ever I've been.
  We have three boys and a girl so the name should be a bit more prominent later on.

Sincerely,
Ralph Utpadel.

Frank answered him with the following typed letter:

I did Ralph's family tree recently and didn't find an obvious connection, but I don't have much information past Frank's grandfather, Albert. Albert's father was Charles Friedrich Andreas "Andrew" Utpadel and Andrew's father was Johann Michael Utpadel, but I don't know any brothers of either of them and that's where the connection could be.

Interestingly, Ralph's grandmother was also a Krueger. His grandparents were married in Germany and came to the US around 1875. They first settled in Iowa then moved to Minnesota. Ralph's father moved his family to Wisconsin in the late 1920s.

Helper Suzy

I recently found this article and had never seen it before. It was in the Minneapolis Star on Mon, Apr 22, 1957 (and probably other papers too if it made it all the way over there).

History's Mysteries

Ange's real dad was named Amandus J Vandenberghe, or a spelling something close to that. He arrived in New York on April 27 1910 on a ship called the Kroonland. The passenger list spells his name "Amandus Van den Berghe".

Amandus is on Line 28

When Ange died, the Social Security Claims and Index listed her father as "Edmond Vandenberg". It wasn't unusual for immigrants to make their first names more American, thus Amandus became Edmond. It also is not unusual to find variant spellings of last names on various records.

On Ange's birth certificate it says her father's name was Ed. Van Derbergh, with an R instead of an N. These variances aren't much of a mystery, but records to tell us whatever became of him after Elizabeth divorced him and when he died do continue to elude me. We do actually know that he was down in the Chicago area, at least for a while. And there is a picture of him with Con who looks to be a young adult, so he visited. Con was 12 when they divorced.

Another mystery that her birth certificate uncovers is that it says she was the 4th child born to her mother Elizabeth (Grandma Coppens), but we only know of 2 older siblings.

When Elizabeth came over from Belgium in 1911, she brought her 9 year old daughter, Magdalene (looks like Helena on the passenger list) and her 6 year old son Cornelius (Uncle Con). 

Elizabeth and children are on lines 7-9

Although I haven't yet found a record of another child born before Ange, its possible another child was born, either here or in Belgium, who perhaps died as an infant or young child. Ange never mentioned another sibling to her own kids and maybe she never knew about them. Another possibility is that Ange's birth certificate is in error listing her as the 4th child when really she was the 3rd.

*UPDATE - SOLVED*

I found a birth record for another child, Alphonsus, who was born in 1903. Since he is not on the passenger list in 1911, I assume he died in childhood, but have not found a death record yet. 

There's more.

On the above passenger list, Ange's mother Elizabeth listed her father's name as Louis Vergauwen. He still lived in Zillebeek, which is a hamlet in Beveren, Belgium.  On the marriage certificate to Louis Coppens, her father is said to be Edward "Frehow". Maybe he went by Louis instead of Edward or vice versa or maybe one was a middle name. The "Frehow" is completely wrong though and my theory is that Elizabeth and Louis Coppens both had Belgian accents and the form was filled out by a clerk who wrote down the answers they told him. Maybe when Louis or Elizabeth answered "Vergauwen" it sounded like "Frehow". (You kind of have to use your imagination, but I can hear it. Ha! It's all I got.)

Side note: The above document (Louis and Elizabeth's marriage certificate) says that Louis's mother's name was Clementine Von Pomerich and that Elizabeth's mother's name is unknown. To me, this indicates that Louis was the one that went down to the courthouse for the certificate and just didn't know his new mother-in-law's name at the time. We know from Elizabeth's birth record and her marriage record to Vandenberge, that her mother's name was ALSO Clementine (Clementina DeBruyen).

The last mystery (for now) concerns Elizabeth's second husband, Louis Coppens.  Louis had also been married previously to a woman named Sylvia. They had 2 children, Edward born in 1896 and Mary born in 1898. I haven't found any death records for Sylvia, but she is not listed on the 1910 census so it is assumed that she died sometime before April 1910. Louis, Edward, Mary and a new person, a son named Frank ARE on that census. Frank was 8 months old when the census was taken in April 1910, meaning he was born around August 1909. I haven't found any birth or death record for him, and he is never mentioned again in any records or verbal accounts. 

*UPDATE - SOLVED*

I found baby Frank's death certificate that gives his birthdate as August 13, 1909 and his death date as July 8, 1910. The cause was malnutrition and he is buried in Norway, Michigan. I assume once his mother died, his father had a hard time feeding him. The baby was under a doctor's care since March of 1910, but he hadn't actually been seen since mid-June.

Sheriff

Have you ever seen a real telegram?

Grandpa Frank Utpadel was the deputy sheriff of Bayfield County. In February 1957, the governor of Wisconsin appointed him sheriff when the former sheriff, Joe DeMars, died. 

His term ran until January 1959. He campaigned to stay on but he was defeated.

In July of 1958, there were a couple of fugitives in Wisconsin and word on the street was that they were in the Presque Isle area. Grandpa enlisted the help of his wife, Alice, grabbed his machine gun, and the rest is history.

He said he received a certificate from J. Edgar Hoover but it hasn't been seen in years.

Blindness

Ange's First Communion shortly before going blind

During the summer when Angeline was 10 or 11, she was outside playing ball on a playground when her vision suddenly and drastically changed. She never went completely blind, but could only see shadows.

Her doctor determined this blindness was caused by congenital syphilis. Her mother, Elizabeth, had contracted syphilis from her philandering first husband, Amandus Vandenberghe, and she then passed it on to Ange when she was born. The doctor arranged for her to go to the Wisconsin School for the Blind in Janesville, but no one from her family could make the trip with her so she had to ride the train all alone. She arrived at the Janesville station very early in the morning, about 4 am, but no one from the school was there to meet her. She found a place to sit down and waited for someone to come get her. After several hours, someone at the depot asked her who she was and why she was there. She answered their questions and a taxi was called to take her to the school. When she got there, all the nuns or teachers were taking care of other kids and no one had time for her. All of this left Ange feeling very alone and abandoned.

The students at the school were taught Braille and their blindness was treated with arsenic. She stayed at the school for about 5 years and made life-long friends while she was there.

Ange (R) with friend from Wisconsin School for the Blind in Janesville, 1931

The arsenic treatment worked to restore her eyesight but later when she was in her 40’s she started to go deaf. She learned that this was due to her auditory nerves being damaged by the arsenic treatment for the blindness. She ended up with 90% hearing loss in one ear and 100% in the other and wore hearing aids for the rest of her life.

She told us that being deaf was worse than being blind because she could see everyone talking and laughing but since she couldn’t hear she wasn’t included and she often felt very left out.

Grandma Coppens' Funeral

L-R Jim, Carol, Grandma Coppens and Sharon

Elizabeth Vergauwen was Grandma Willcocks's (Ange's) mother and she died in 1949 of cancer. She lived with Harold and Ange and the kids for several years after her second husband, Louis Coppens died in 1935. The back half of the living room was divided into 2 bedrooms back then and she shared a bed with Sharon in the room on the left. 

Below is the bill from her funeral and survivor information. 

The 12 year length of residence refers to how long she lived at Harold and Ange's place. She had lived in Superior ever since emigrating from Belgium in April 1911. Her husband Louis Coppens died in 1935 and she moved in with Harold and Ange when they got married in 1937. 

Elizabeth's grave in St. Francis cemetery in Superior.

Grandpa Willcocks's Cassette Tapes

In 1998 Sharon and Carol gave their dad some blank cassette tapes to record himself telling stories. He'd sit at the kitchen table and talk about things he remembered. The stories aren't all chronological and each tape is 90 minutes long. The description after each one is what is written on the inside of the J card of the cassette. It looks like Sharon's writing but her and Carol's writing looks similar to my eye. 

When you click on the link(s) below you can either listen from there or download the file to your computer. The files are pretty large, between 120 and 130 mg.


Grandpa's tape 1 - Early Times on Farm

Grandpa's tape 2 - Trips; Fishing in Canada

Grandpa's tape 3 - Uncles and Aunts; Blood Type; Elevator Work.

Grandpa's tape 4 - Cats and Dogs; Sleeping at Home; Friends, Class Reunion, Eleanor Barabe; Last Day of 1998; Work as Stagehand, Plowing and Elevator; Movies and TV

Willcocks History

The link below is to a pdf document on the Willcocks history that I put together using information from Ancestry.com, personal knowledge and verbal accounts.

It goes back to our 4th great grandparents on the Willcocks side in Saltash, Cornwall, England.

This picture of Priscilla Mann, our 3rd great grandmother, is from a user on Ancestry.com and we just have to take their word for it that it is really her. :)

Willcocks History Document