Here Lies Theresa ... I Think

N1/2 35, Section B Lutheran Cemetary, Sheboygan, WI

If you want to do any kind of family history work, you will have to visit a cemetery or two -  or 20. I've been to a few myself - 3 in Zion, 4 in Kenosha, a couple in Sheboygan, Montello and Mecan, New Ulm, Bismarck, Decorah, Boston, Prescott, Toronto, Scotland, England, just to name a few. In spite of what some might think, this is not at all depressing, morbid, or creepy. They are usually very beautiful places (except in England), well kept, quiet and peaceful. Back in the day when I worked for the Benton Township Highway Department and spent my day driving my roadside mowing Ford tractor around the outskirts of Zion, I would occasionally take my lunch break at Mt. Olivet. I would eat my sandwich and cookie and chat with Gramma and Grampa Dolan. (You see, I've had this problem for a number of years now!)

Gravestones can be interesting and they tell stories - if  you look and listen. I haven't seen too many like this, but try "googling" tombstone epitaphs and have some fun. Some of my favorites:

"Here lies good old Fred - a great big rock fell on his head."

"I'm dead and I approve this message."

"She finally shut up."

"He loved bacon."

"I told you I was sick." and then.."

"Na, Na, Na, Na, Hey, Hey, Goodbye." (Probably a White Sox fan.)

And then there's Theresa. She would be my Great Aunt. My Gramma Haubrich had 4 siblings who lived: I've told you about Uncle Gust. There was another brother, Fred, and two sisters, Emma, and Bertha. But then I found out that there were two more - but  they did not survive into adulthood. The first born was Albert and I know little to nothing about  him (that's another story). 

And then there's Theresa. Her story won't take long to tell. Theresa Anna Kroll was born on October 2, 1883. She died on December 2, 1885 and was buried in the Lutheran Cemetery in Sheboygan, WI on December 5th. The newspaper briefly noted, "A 3-year old child of Fred Kroll died and was buried in the Lutheran cemetary, Rev. Wolbrecht officiating." The cause of death according to the cemetery entry was "inflammation of the bowels."

That's it.

Of course, I had to go looking for Theresa. The caretaker of the Lutheran cemetery (some of those guys do look scary, by the way) gave me the coordinates for the  grave. N1/2 35, Section B. The Lutheran cemetery is a smaller cemetery adjacent to the larger Wildwood Cemetary on a hill on the west side of Sheboygan. If you look closely to the south you can see the property where Great Grampa Kroll made a home and where my Gramma grew up. One can only imagine how clear it must have been and how easy it would have been to see that in 1885.

Well, I couldn't find Theresa. I went back to the scary (but helpful) caretaker. He looked in the book and then mumbled to me, "just past the young monument." Thanks a lot, but I still couldn't find Theresa. Then like Jonathan Winters looking for the treasure under the big "W" in the movie "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World" (sorry for the obscure '60s move reference), I saw it!I was standing right next to it. The "Jung" monument! Next to the Jung family monument!

The "Jung" Monument and Theresa's Plot

There's no headstone for Theresa Anna Kroll - wonder why. It could be that they just couldn't afford one. Who knows. So, it's just a cemetery coordinate and a grassy piece of cemetery real estate. But I finally found Theresa.

Gust

Gust (or is it Gus) Kroll

Would you believe it - I started this post a year ago. Yikes! What happened? I haven't written anything for a year. There are any number of reasons for that - not important. I just wasn't feelin' it, I guess But I think it's coming back. And just maybe you can thank my newest grandson for that.

August Dolan was born this past May. They call him Gus. I keep calling him Gust. Naturally that got me thinking about another Gust - Gustav Kroll - my great uncle on my mom's side. Then I remembered that I started to write about him last June. So my new Gust helped me dig out and finish this vignette about my old Gust. Got it?

This is one  of my  favorite pictures of my mom. There's a lot behind the picture - the where and when, and who. And although my fascination with the photo began with seeing my mom as a little girl, the airplane got my attention too. But in the end the  story became all about the (at one time) unknown man in the uniform. 

He's not unknown anymore. I remember mom seeing this picture and saying, "That's Gust." I thought she said "Gus" (I guess I struggle with those two names.) I had never heard of any "Gus" in the family. In typical Mom and Haubrich style, she blurted out louder and with her little laugh, "Gust - my Uncle Gust." 

Dah! It's one of the Kroll brothers, Gramma Haubrich's brother Gustav - from Sheboygan. But what's with the uniform and the airplane. I needed to look into this.

Look into it I did and what an interesting man I found! What I wouldn't give to sit down with him for a couple of hours. I would have more than a few questions, and I am sure he could tell some stories. I can't tell you everything I've learned about Gust. There's too much to tell for this format. That will have to wait for another time. But I can give you a bit of a preview.

Gustav Kroll was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin in 1877, and he did not fall far from the German tree of the Kroll family and the very German community that was Sheboygan. He was the oldest of the surviving five Kroll children. He attended the German school of the Ev. Luth. Dreiein Gemeinde (Trinity Lutheran Church). But by 1898, when was 21, he left Sheboygan and never came back (except to visit a couple of times.) 

The uniform? Gust became a career army man. He joined the army and served with the 2nd Wisconsin Infantry in the Spanish American War. He reenlisted in 1906 and kept re-upping until retirement in 1926 (He would have been almost 50.) He served with the 18th Infantry and was stationed at Fort Whipple in Yavapai, now Prescott, AZ in 1910 during the days of Poncho Villa. He was a cook in the 35th Infantry Machine Gun Company in WWI. In 1919 he was a cook at Fort Travis near San Antonio, Texas. The photo of the plane with my mom in the cockpit was at Brooks Field in San Antonio. It would seem that Gust found a home in the U.S. Army!

But that's not all he found. He also found a wife in San Antonio. In May of 1922 Gust married Josefa (Josephine) Resendez - a local gal of Mexican descent who also happened to be Roman Catholic. I can only imagine how all that played out with the German "rels" back in Sheboygan and Kenosha. But Josie seemed to fit in well with the Kroll/Haubrich clan.

Gust and Josie spent the rest of their lives in San Antonio. They made it back to Kenosha a couple of times. The Sheboygan Press, on May 8, 1919 reported, "Gustav Kroll, who is a cook at Camp Treves (should be Camp Travis), Texas, and has not been home for seventeen years, visited his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Kroll in this city. Saturday he left for Kenosha, after a two weeks stay, where he is visiting his sister. From Kenosha he will proceed to San Antonio, Texas." There was a family gathering in Kenosha again after 1922, and since Josie is in the pictures, this must have been the "introduce the Mexican Catholic wife to the family" visit. Obviously, my Grampa/Gramma Haubrich took my mom to San Antonio not long after that to visit them. Thus the picture of mom in the airplane. The Haubrichs made a return visit to the Krolls in 1948 just before Gust died. The widow Josie was also in Kenosha in 1955 for Grampa/Gramma's 50th wedding anniversary celebration at the Friedens fellowship hall.

Retired Staff Sergeant Gustav Kroll died March 10, 1949 in San Antonio and was laid to rest there on March 15, 1949 at San Houston National Cemetery. Josie joined him there 17 years later in June of 1966. The obituary reads, "Rosary will be recited in Alamo Chapels, June 2nd ... Blessing services on June 3 followed by  Requiem Mass which will be offered in St. John Berchmans Catholic Church" where she was a member.

There's so much more to tell, but for now ...  that's the skinny on Gust.