Dance Hall, McHenry Illinois

This might by my August Wenkel, since the area is the same, McHenry Illinois.  I never knew that August and Grace Wenkel had a dance hall, and that they had a license to serve alcohol.   Wonder where this dance hall was?  What was it called?

The McHenry Plaindealer (McHenry, Illinois) ·  Thu, Apr 26, 1934 ·  Page 11
downloaded February 2017 from Newspapers.com

The McHenry Plaindealer (McHenry, Illinois)
Apr 23, 1936 ·  Page 11
downloaded March 2017 from
Newspapers.com

I've done several searches for dance hall in McHenry Illinois with and without the name Wenkel in the search field.  I've found several German results, some in Texas, but none that I've been able to find.  If you know the whereabouts of this business, please let me know.  I'm sure I am not the only one curious.

August Ten Wenkel #Not My Wenkel

Death of Mrs August F. Wenkel, April 1914
Arlington Heights Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois)
Thu, Apr 8, 1954 ·  Page 25
downloaded February 2017 from
Newspapers.com

I don't know who this might be.  My information from Ancestry.com is that Sophia Rohrsen Wenkel died in 1948 in Standish Michigan.  MyHeritage.com shows a death date of February or August 1948.  

If this is your August F. Wenkel whose wife died in Arlington Heights Illinois in April of 1914, this clipping's for you!

Arlington Heights Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois)
Thu, Apr 8, 1954 ·  Page 25
downloaded March 2017 from
Newspapers.com

An unusual name, if this entry is correct.  August Ten Wenkel of Minneapolis Minnesota invented a concentrator of some kind.  Wonder what it concentrated?  Is there a way to find out?  Anyway, this is not a relative of my Wenkel Clan.

#NotMyWenkel

UPDATED to add --
my lawyer friend who looks at patents for a living searched this one for me.  She found the patent, and it looks like a separator for dirt or rocks.  His name is Ten Wenkel, and it sounds Dutch, similar to Corrie Ten Boom.  

Andrew Wenkel Part 6 1950-1979

Andrew Charles Wenkel

1951, age 51

In this decade, he experienced the death of father August Friederich Andreas Wenkel, 5 October 1951, Standish, Arenac, Michigan

1951 ANC10_benefits_pay

1969, age 69

In this decade his brother died, Fred Felix Wenkel, 21 March 1969, Standish, Arenac, Michigan

1972, age 72

In this decade, five siblings died as well as his own death.

• Death of sister Anna Wenkel, 16 May 1972, Montclair, Essex, New Jersey
• Death of brother August Paul Wenkel, 24 July 1973, Wauconda Lake, Illinois
• Death of sister Alvena Marie Wenkel, 30 October 1975, Asbury, Warren, New Jersey
• Death of sister Karolina Friederike Sophie Wenkel, 32 October 1975, Standish, Bay, Michigan
• Death of sister Frieda Caroline Wenkel, 17 November 1978, Glencoe, Cook, Illinois

Something I just noticed.  Anna died just a year before my grandfather August.  Alvena and Karolina died within a day of each other.

1979, age 79

Died, 28 August 1979, Glencoe, Cook, Illinois, buried Northbrook, Cook County, Illinois.  He died two months after I graduated from High School, but I never knew it.

Andrew F. Wenkel 1979 obituary

Wenkel

Andrew F. Wenkel, beloved husband of Emily L., fond brother of Dora Hohlfelder, Alvena Schnetzer, Celia Schinler, Bertha Barber and Sophia Hoder.  Funeral ... Interment at Sacred Heart Cemetery....

Andrew F. Wenkel gravestone
from FindaGrave Memorial# 25470133

He is buried in Sacred heart Cemetery, Northbrook, Cook County Illinois, Plot #12

Sacred Heart Cemetery
from FindaGrave

Mini Pedigree from Ancestry.com

Andrew Wenkel Part 5 1940-1949

As Promised, here is the 1940 Census

1940, age 40, Census

1 April 1940, New Trier, Cook, Illinois.

Andrew  and Emily Wenkel, 1940 Census

This couple moved again, this time to 334 South Avenue in New Trier IL.  They are both 40 years old, married, not attending school.  Andrew completed 8th grade while Emily completed the first two years of High School.  According to this census, they lived there five years previously in 1935.  However, the census a year earlier shows a Madison Avenue address.  What gives?  He is a paid worker as an auto mechanic and has never been unemployed.

Well, we have to understand how the census was taken.  If, when the enumerator came around, and they were both gone, they asked at the neighbors house.  Neighbors don't always know where you lived five years earlier.  That's the only explanation for the discrepancy.

1946 Family Reunion

Andrew and Emily Wenkel with Anna
photo by Christi Adams, used with permission

Andrew and Emily Logan Wenkel, Anna Wenkel
August and Sophia Rohrsen Wenkel
1946 Reunion, Standish Michigan

1948, age 48

Death of mother Sophia Rohrsen, 2 August 1948, Standish, Arenac, Michigan

Mini Pedigree from Ancestry.com

Andrew Wenkel Part 4 1930-1939

1930 Lucky Strike Cigarette Ad
Marshfield News-Herald, Marshfield WI
from Newspapers.com

1930 Census

I cannot for the life of me find any 1930 census.  So here is some clip art that Andrew would have seen.

1935 age 35 Residence

334 South Avenue, New Trier, Cook, Illinois according to the 1940 Census, which we will describe in the next post.  The home that is in that spot now was built in 2001 according to Zillow.  Do you have a photo of the house as it was when Andrew lived there?

1936 age 36, North American Heat Wave

Historical Insight from Ancestry.com
How did this affect their dairy farm?  Did they lose out on milk production?

Credit: Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Throughout the summer of 1936, the United States experienced one of the most devastating heatwaves in the nation’s history.

Before 1939, Married

He married sometime between the 1920 census and the 1939 directory which includes his wife Emily. He married Emily M. Logan who lived from 1896-1989, the child of Thomas Burke and Jessie Eleanor Davenport Logan.  She died in Chicago, and is buried in Northbrook, Cook County IL

1939, age 39, Residence

Evanston, North Shore, Illinois.  Here, again he is listed as Andrew F. Wenkel.  He is a mechanich in the Village of Glencoe, and lives at 486 Madison Avenue, Evanston IL.

Andrew and Emily Wenkel 1939 Directory, Evanston IL

Let's see if we can find this address on Google Maps.

This residence on standard maps view
Google Maps 2017

This residence in Street View
Google Maps 2017

It almost looks like they lived really near the train tracks, or under neath them?

Mini Pedigree from Ancestry.com

Andrew Wenkel Part 3 1920-1929

1920, age 20 Census

Gibson, Bay, Michigan

Andrew Wenkel in Gibson MI

He is 19 years old, living and working on the family farm with his parents in Gibson, Bay, Michigan. He and his sister Sophie are the only two children left on the farm.  It seems August owns the farm, rather than renting it.

1920s

Photos used with permission from Christi Adams.  I can see a bit of my grandfather August Wenkel (and his sons, my Uncle Laurence Wenkel, and Uncle Howard Wenkel) in this first photo.  Those are some large hands.

Andrew Wenkel at the Cloverleaf Hohlfelder Dairy
with Ellen, Glencoe Illinois

Andrew Wenkel at the Cloverleaf Hohlfelder Dairy
with children, Glencoe Illinois

These children are listed on Ancestry.com as Edwin H., Bud H., Eleanor, Ellen, Billy and Myrtle Ekelman.  I think that Edwin and Bud are Hohlfelder children, and the other four are the Ekelman's.

1925, age 25 Residence

Auto Mechanic living at 859 Vernon Avenue, Evanston, Illinois

Andrew Wenkel 1925 Directory

I looked at this address, and the house standing here now was built in 1995.  It is now part of Glencoe IL.  When I searched Evanston, I did find Vernon Avenue.  I did a streetview "walk" down the street and found 859 Vernon, it was across from a school (or it was replaced by the school) -- wait a minute -- it keeps sending me back to Glencoe!  I want to find Vernon Avenue in Evanston.   Never mind.

1925 Tri-State Tornado

Historical Insight from Ancestry.com

After the tornadoes dissipated, citizens began cleaning up the wreckage of their homes. It was not uncommon to find a table still in place in the kitchen with walls crumbled around it. March 18, 1925, Princeton, Indiana. Credit: Archive Farms/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

1927, age 27 Residence

Evanston, Illinois

Andrew F. Wenkel
1925 Evanston IL directory

Once again, he is an auto mechanic living at 859 Vernon Avenue, Evanston IL.  Look on the first column of the second page.  He is listed here as Andrew F. Wenkel.  Why?  Typographical error?  If you know, please let me know.  There is a possibility that I have two different Andrew Wenkel men.  I want to make sure.

Mini Pedigree from Ancestry.com

Alvena Marie Wenkel Schnetzer 1889-1975 part 7

Alvena Marie Wenkel Schnetzer 1889-1975

Part 7, 1960s, age 70-86

Mini Pedigree from Ancestry.com

1963 age 73

Alvena's Social security card first issued to her in New Jersey

1969 age 79

Death of brother Fred Felix in Standish MI

1972 age 83

Death of sister Anna Wenkel in Montclair NJ.  Did they live close to each other?

1973 age 84

 death of brother August Paul Wenkel in Wauconda IL -- I never knew of his siblings deaths so close to each other

1982 age 86 

I can usually find the burial site, but I've searched Ancestry.com, FindaGrave, both with the dates of birth and death to no avail.  Even searching for just her name both married and maiden yeilded no results.  Broadening the search to just the last name for this death date, and to just the first and last name with no dates was unsuccessful.  Putting just the last name of Schnetzer gave me three results, none of them any member of this family.

Finally, on BillionGraves.com, after inputting just the last name Schnetzer, I got many results.  I scrolled through three pages worth, with no relevant results.  The search on Ancestry is fruitless.  Nobody has any record of burial.  I've put out a question on the Wenkel Family group on Facebook, and I was told I should contact her son Norman's family.  I'll update when I get new information.  If I don't, then that itself is part of the story.

I've searched Legacy Obituaries with no results.

US Social Security Death Index has a different date of death than what I originally have.  Wonder where I got that information from?  The only information on her death is from the SSDI.

Alvena Schnetzer, SSAN 139-38-5271; last residence Asbury, Warren, New Jersey; born 18 April 1889; died July 1982.  Social Security cared was issued in 1963 in New Jersey

Source Information -- Ancestry.com, US Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 [database online].  Provo Utah, USA; Ancestry.com Operations Inc. 2011.  Original data -- Social Security Administration.  Social Security Death Index, Master File.  Social Security Administration.

1989

Son Norman John Schnetzer died, listing his parents

Norman John Schnetzer (N.J. Schnetzer) born 17 September 1928 at Glen Ridge East, New Jersey.  Died January 1989.  Parents John J. Schnetzer and Alvena M. Wenkel.  SSAN 142-22-0967.  In October 1944, his name was listed as Norman John Schetzer.  in 7 February 1989 his name was listed as N.J. Schnetzer.

Source Information -- Ancestry.com, US Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 [database online]. Provo Utah USA. Ancestry.com Operations 2015.  Original Data -- US Social Security Applications and Claims, 1936-2007

2016

Son Arnold lived in Asbury New Jersey and seems to be buried in Washington, New Jersey according to Ancestry's Cemetery and Funeral Home collection

_____________________________________________________________

Photo Detail of four sisters by Christi Adams https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/14582634/person/270992602/media/13520027-2967-4a1e-b47b-bdac29f00104?_phsrc=KGX236&usePUBJs=true

Photo detail of two sisters by Christi Adams https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/14582634/person/270992602/media/98af6fb9-337e-41e2-bb86-8166546b8951?_phsrc=KGX236&usePUBJs=true

Alvena Marie Wenkel Schnetzer 1889-1975 Part 2

Alvena Marie Wenkel Schnetzer 1889-1975

Part 2, age 20 to 27

Mini Pedigree from Ancestry.com

1910, age 21

1910 Gibson Township Michigan Census

Line 60, name is listed as Vena.  She lives with her parents August and Sophia Rohrsen Wenkel, her occupation is as Domestic doing General Housework.

1914 age 25

Her little brother William Carl Wenkel died at the age of 10.  He was the last sibling born, and he died young.

1914

Alvena Wenkel 1914 Directory Evanston IL

Alvena Wenkel is living in same address as sister Dora, both working as maids.  676 Greenwood Avenue, Evanston IL.  That address is replaced by a Bank of America and a parking lot today, according to a Google Maps search.

1917 age 27

 WWI starts, she was 27 years old, probably still living in Evanston Illinois.