In Search of the Schulte Line, Part 5: The Clues in Evelyn's Notes

It's a pity my grandmother Evelyn didn't have pedigree charts and family group sheets to fill out. She would have been a great family historian. She hung onto old photos, clippings, memorial cards, and lots of old bits of paper on which she'd written notes to herself. I don't think she trusted her memory. In conversations, she often sampled her way through several first names before she hit upon the one that actually applied to the person she was addressing. She did her best to outwit the Alzheimer's that would creep up on her in her later years, and keeping notes was her best strategy.

In this post, we'll look at two of the records she created, both of which will help in our effort to discover and document the family ties of our immigrant ancestor, Joseph Meyer Schulte.

The first is Evelyn's list of deceased friends and relatives, shown below. Numbers 1-23 on the list, written in pencil, appear to have been the original list. The entries are not sequential, and the latest date in that portion of the list is 1963. Number 24, written in dark blue ink, was probably added in June 1964, as another list was started on the back of the paper in the same ink, noting the birth of a new family member about a week later. Numbers 25-28, in green ink, were probably added shortly after the death of Evelyn's husband, Rosmer P. Kerr, in 1969.

In the previous Schulte post, I listed some items needed to help further our work on Lizzie Hebert and her connection to the Schulte family, and Evelyn's list provides a clue for finding one of our needs, Lizzie Hebert's death certificate. Lizzie is number 13 in the list, and Evelyn noted that Lizzie's date of death was in 1963. Although not specific, this date is probably pretty accurate as far as it goes, being the latest date on the pencil portion of the list. We still hope to find Lizzie's grave with a date specific enough to send for the death certificate, and having this date will help to assure us we've found the right Lizzie Hebert in the event she's not buried with her husband Fred. And if we can't locate the grave, which is surely in Detroit, this approximate date may help us find a church record.

Evelyn Kerr's list of deceased friends and relatives
(click to enlarge)

In the transcription below, my corrections and clarifications appear in brackets.

1. Mr. Grosscup
2. Mrs. Grosscup
3. Allen Paarlburg [Allan Paarlberg]
4. Mr. Paarlburg
5. Clara Kerr - Mar 26, 1958
6. Milton Kerr - Arp 3, '61 [Apr 3, 1961]
7. Mamie Tracy - Feb 14, 58 [Feb 14, 1958]
8. Harold Tracy - 1957
9. Marselene [Marceline Koenig] - Aug 26, 1962
10. Rilla [Aucoin] - Dec 27, 1962
11. Arthur Meyer - Dec 1962
12. Mr. Fred Hebert
13. Mrs. Lizzie " [Hebert] - 1963
14. Harry Kurtz
15. Hugo Kurtz
16. Hugo Son [?]
17. Aunt Adda [Adda Isenberg Kerr 1869-1953]; Aunt Alice [Alice Kerr Howe 1869-1960]
18. Miss Talbert [sp? Talbot, Talbut, Tallent]
19. Warren Parker
20. Paul North
21. Mrs. Lewis
22. Mrs. O'Toole
23. Herman Stolzenfeldt
24. Jim Sandercott - June 8, 1964
25. Paul Koenig - Apr 19, 1966
26. Elmer Schulte - Died 1968, Born Aug 1894
27. Karl Parker - Feb 1, 1969, Born 1917 [died Jan 30, 1969, buried Feb 1, 1969]
28. R. P. Kerr - Feb 9, 1969, Born Sept 30, 1892
29. Hugo Prietz - 1967 [This entry was written on the back in green ink.]

The second resource we'll look at is an address book. The addresses for which no city or state is given were in Detroit, where Evelyn lived at the time she created this record. Most of the those entries have a circled number which was Evelyn's notation of the postal zone, e.g. Detroit 5, Mich. (Use of the 5-digit ZIP Code didn't begin until July 1963.)

I believe this record dates from early 1944, based on the page 2 address of her son-in-law, Karl Parker, who was then stationed at Camp Haan in California. Readers of this blog have already seen a Camp Haan letter from Karl dated February 1944. Two more addresses for Karl were added later to this book (see Images 11 & 12) when his unit relocated.

In Image 8, you'll see Evelyn's listing of Mrs. Fred Hebert at 13939 Rochelle in Detroit. This nicely ties up any doubt we might have had about whether Rosina Rorken, traveling companion of Maria Schulte Koenig, was actually the third of the Schulte sisters who were, according to Josephine Sandercott, nieces of Joseph Meyer Schulte. I had earlier assumed Rosina was going to stay with her son, Erich Roehrken. So much the better, for our purposes, that Rosina's stated destination, 13939 Rochelle, was the address of Lizzie Hebert. Surely these three, Rosina, Maria, and Lizzie, are the sisters Josephine spoke of. With this information, I am convinced that Joseph's niece Lizzie Schulte and Mrs. Fred Hebert are one and the same person.

Image 1
(click any image to enlarge)
Josephine Staniewicz, Mary Allen, Al Kallil, Mary Czarneski, Mary Slawek

Image 2
Mrs. Hazel Parker, Cpl. K.F. [Karl Franklin] Parker, Pvt. Harry Sandercock
PFC John T. Loftus, Pvt. Marvin S. Jackson, Mont Bowman

Image 3
Mary (Marion) Cromor, Margarette Chandler, Catherine Olshefski, Martha Hakkinen, Dorothy Crawford
Jennie Calamia, Agnes Witkowski, Pearl Wherrett, Alberta Cornelious, Grace Bright

Image 4
Viola Meyers, Julia Polka, Philliss Szzypinski, Dorothy Williams, Loretta Bennett
Irene Smith, Cecile Urkenik, Ione Lockwood, Merrel Bolyard, Martha Kapica

Image 5
Earline Ziegler, Dorine Davis, Miriam Kinney, Nona Jones, Lois Knight
Willie H. Rouels, Isabel Earley, Susie Arnold, Josephine Anderson, Adda Carpenter

Image 6
Mrs. E. Norling, Gladys-Elsie-(Butch), Hazel Murler, Ida Magneson, John Alef (Dad)
Emil Erickson, Leonard Chartier (Frenchy), Mrs. John Loftus, Mrs. L. Grosscup, Lilly Heaman

Image 7
Mrs. Wm. Ross - Irene, Mrs. John Lyons, Leo Lyons, Mrs. H.W. Gould, Mamie Tracey [Tracy]
Mrs. Jos. Prince, Mrs. Milton E. Kerr, Mrs. Harry Kurtz, Carl & Blanche Schulte,
Jos. Sandercott

Image 8
Lincoln Russell, Ted Schulte, Mrs. E. Oestman, Mrs. Jack O'Toole, Mickey McLean
Mrs. Elmer Schulte, Mrs. Fred Hebert, Mrs. E. McDonald, Mrs. L. Berg, Mrs. Wm. Bergman

Image 9
Mrs. Laniewski, Mrs. Roy Urbin, Mrs. Ralph Seeley, Mr. & Mrs. Wiess [Weiss?],
Mrs. Louis Berg
Zona Gaulden, Lula Osborne, Jennette Duke, Beatrice Darrow, Elsie Siebert

Image 10
Sarah Pittie, Pearl Wilsman, Minnie Grable, Eva Mae Jones, Verlie Bowling
Hettie Gibson, Mrs. Jessie Keatton, Mrs. Pearl Hurlbut, Marceline Koenig

Image 11
Mary Kerr, Helen Lanewski [Laniewski?], Mrs. Hazel Parker
Corp. Karl F. Parker, PFC John Loftus

Image 12
Johnny Philip [?] Morris, T/5 Karl F. Parker, Hello Sweetheart (Nancy Martin)

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Readers may have noticed that some of the listings above include phone numbers which, at that time, began with two letters. For a list of Detroit telephone exchanges and lots of other interesting Detroit trivia, visit Detroit Memories. Phone exchanges are listed in the sidebar a little more than halfway down the page. And you'll find a very informative telephone thread at Discuss Detroit.