Ready for a story about someone who SURVIVED The Eastland Disaster? Welcome to Episode 30 of Flower in the River Podcast! Pack your bags as we take a journey filled with courage, resilience, and the unyielding human spirit. We are happy to welcome our guest, Barb Decker Wachholz, who shares her family’s tragic yet inspirational tale of survival during the Eastland Disaster. She paints a vivid picture of her spirited “Grandma Bobbie,” a survivor of the disaster. She shares her family’s migration from Norway to Chicago, and the life that awaited them after the catastrophe.
As Barb unravels her family’s past, we delve into the lives of her great-grandparents and their occupations, paving the way for an intimate understanding of the life and times they lived in. We learn of Barb’s Uncle Olav’s daring rescue efforts during the disaster. A Western Electric employee, Olav rescued 27 people!
A tale of strength, disaster, and survival, the story of Barb’s grandmother Bobbie—treading water and looking for the sky through the portholes—will leave you with chills.
In the disaster's aftermath, it’s crucial to remember the lives affected. We close the episode discussing the importance of the Eastland Disaster Historical Society and their mission to keep the memories of the 844 lives lost alive. Join us for an episode brimming with family lore, courage, and a poignant reminder of the past. Prepare to be moved, enlightened, and humbly aware of the power of human spirit and resilience.
Catch our next episode as Barb dives into the origin story of the Eastland Disaster Historical Society—a genuine family endeavor!
Ready for a story about someone who SURVIVED The Eastland Disaster? Welcome to Episode 30 of Flower in the River Podcast! Pack your bags as we take a journey filled with courage, resilience, and the unyielding human spirit. We are happy to welcome our guest, Barb Decker Wachholz, who shares her family’s tragic yet inspirational tale of survival during the Eastland Disaster. She paints a vivid picture of her spirited “Grandma Bobbie,” a survivor of the disaster. She shares her family’s migration from Norway to Chicago, and the life that awaited them after the catastrophe.
As Barb unravels her family’s past, we delve into the lives of her great-grandparents and their occupations, paving the way for an intimate understanding of the life and times they lived in. We learn of Barb’s Uncle Olav’s daring rescue efforts during the disaster. A Western Electric employee, Olav rescued 27 people!
A tale of strength, disaster, and survival, the story of Barb’s grandmother Bobbie—treading water and looking for the sky through the portholes—will leave you with chills.
In the disaster's aftermath, it’s crucial to remember the lives affected. We close the episode discussing the importance of the Eastland Disaster Historical Society and their mission to keep the memories of the 844 lives lost alive. Join us for an episode brimming with family lore, courage, and a poignant reminder of the past. Prepare to be moved, enlightened, and humbly aware of the power of human spirit and resilience.
Catch our next episode as Barb dives into the origin story of the Eastland Disaster Historical Society—a genuine family endeavor!
Hey, this is Natalie, and before we officially open episode 30 of Flower in the River podcast, I have to give you a little bit of intro to this one. As I began doing this podcast, my greatest wish has always been if only I could interview someone who survived the Eastland disaster. I would, but short of doing a seance, that seemed impossible. That is until now. This podcast is an interview with Barb Decker-Wachholz, and anyone who is acquainted with the Eastland disaster knows the Wachholz name, because Barb Decker-Wachholz, her sister Susan Decker, her mother Jean Decker and Barb's husband Ted Wachholz founded the Eastland Disaster Historical Society in 1998. They've been at it ever since, but what Barb has for us today is as close as any of us are going to get to a firsthand account of what happened on the day of the Eastland Disaster the story of her Borghild , aka Bobbie, aka Grandma who survived the Eastland disaster and who lived to tell the story. And who told the story. You'll hear about this remarkable woman and how. I think is the one who is responsible for this, keeping the memory of the Eastland disaster alive, because, as you know, the Eastland disaster is still, after all this time, not well known. But thanks in no small part to 's storytelling abilities, she helped resurrect the Eastland disaster from the Chicago River. That said, before I open this particular episode, on the day that the Eastland capsized in the Chicago River, on July 24, 1915, 844 people died, and most of them died within a matter of minutes, if not well under an hour, because they suffocated, they were crushed, they drowned. It was a horrible, horrific experience, and many of the photos that you've seen they show some of that, but not all of that. However, thanks to Barb and thanks to her grandmother's storytelling, you'll feel like you were there and she is going to share some details of what happened during the Eastland disaster. I want to tell you that so you take care of yourself during this telling, and if that seems like it might be too much, then just catch me on another episode. But take care of yourself. Okay, here we go. Hey, this is Natalie Zett, and today I'm making good on the special treat that I promised to you last week.
Natalie Zett:
Back around 1998 and 1999, there was this palpable buzz in the air as the internet was finding its footing. I was handed a genealogical treasure from my mother's sister. Within its pages, I unearthed my family's deep connection to something called the Eastland disaster, a chapter I hadn't known before, and I came to know that there was nothing incidental about this. Coinciding with this personal revelation, another family with deep connections to the Eastland disaster was on their own journey. The Decker-Wachholz family wasn't just tracing their own ties to that fateful event, but they were also in the thick of establishing the Eastland Disaster Historical Society.
Natalie Zett:
The Eastland Disaster painted contrasting stories for both of our families. While my great aunt tragically lost her life, Barbara Decker-Wachholz's grandmother lived to narrate her tale to future generations. And now I have to say I'm beyond thrilled to introduce Barb, who will share not only her family's poignant chapter in the Eastland story but also the journey of the society's formation. Barb, welcome to the Flower in the River podcast. And I have to say, barb, I think I'd like to just start off with the story of your grandmother, Borghild Onsted, aka Bobbie Onsted, who miraculously survived the Eastland Disaster. Introducing Barb Decker-Wachholz.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
Oh, thank you, Natalie. It's a pleasure to be on this podcast with you. Thank you so much for inviting me. Well, I guess, if I just think way back when I was a young girl, my grandma, who was just such a wonderful, spirited woman from what I'm told, from the time she was a young girl up until the time she passed, when she was 90, she was just such a lovely, vivacious, fun-loving woman. And so when my sister and I were young and she was already widowed at that time my grandfather had passed away in 1965.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
We lived in the suburbs of Chicago and she lived in Chicago and she would come out all the time on Sunday afternoons and anyway, when we were young and it was time for bedtime, she would always come back and tell us stories. And of course, I'm sure when we were very young she'd sit there with story books and we would read with her. But then, as we got a little bit, just a little bit older, she used to tell us stories of when she was young and we just thought that they were so intriguing. And again, with her being such a cute, sweet, fun grandma, we would laugh at some of the stories she would tell because there were just some typical silly little things that would happen when she was young and we used to say Nana, tell us about when you were young. So she had all these different stories that she would tell us and we'd have her repeat them sometimes. And anyway, with these little stories she would tell us. She also then told us about this big ship that she had been on when she was 13 years old and from what I can recollect from way back when we first started to hear it, she, of course, in looking back, refrained from all the gory details. Of course she did, but she talked about the big ship that she had been on in the Chicago River with her mother, great-grandma and her little sister Solveig, and their uncle, uncle Olaf, who was the Western Electric employee. They went along as his guests. Anyway, we can get into more details later, I guess, about what exactly happened, but I remember her just saying to us that they were trapped between decks. The water never went over their heads, but they were trapped between decks and how she had to tread water and how she would hold on to things, whatever it was that they could find to hold on to while there was so much chaos going on.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
But she, at our young ages, always stressed how important it was that we learn how to swim. She said you girls absolutely have to know how to swim. And we did. We took swim lessons when we were young and we also spent the summers up in Lake Geneva, wisconsin. For those people in the Chicago area they know about Lake Geneva Williams Bay to be precise because she was going up there from the time she was a young married woman and my dad was a little boy and learned how to swim up there too. So she had learned how to swim when she was very young. They had very dear family friends of theirs who had a summer little summer cabin and to this day we honestly cannot remember if it was in Wisconsin or if it was in Michigan, but it really doesn't matter. But anyway it was my grandma's mother's dear friend and family who had this summer cabin and she learned how to swim up there, learned how to dive and the whole treading of the water. Everything that she needed to know to swim as a young girl is what helped save her life in the Eastland. And the son of the very dear family friend was a few years older than my grandma. His name was Ernie Carlson, and she always credited him with teaching her how to swim and she always said because of Ernie, that's why I survived in that ship, anyway. So we were very young again when we would hear the story of the big ship.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
And then, as we got older, as adult women and through the years, she used to be interviewed, now and then once a year, sometimes, wgn Radio, which was a big radio station in Chicago. There was a host of the show, wally Phillips, and every year on the anniversary he would mention it, which is wonderful, wonderful, as far as getting the word out. There are so many people that don't even know about the Eastland in Chicago. Anyway, my grandma would always listen to his show and I think he started talking about it and wondering if there were any survivors out there. So she picked up the phone and she called. And here she is, this delightful gal, I think at that time I think she was probably in her 60s maybe, and well, long story short. They had such a nice conversation on the air talking about this and they actually wound up. She would call in every year and they got to know each other and even my mom and dad took her to meet him in the city. One time they went out for lunch and he always looked forward to her call every year. But and then through the year she would be interviewed by other local Chicago television stations and radio newspapers and so, as I mentioned, she had refrained from a lot of the gory details.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
When we were young. It was when my sister and I were older, as grown women, we would be with her, sometimes with my parents, on these interviews and we would watch her when she was being interviewed. And now even probably one of the last ones, she was in her 80s and I remember she said to the gal interviewing her she said you know, and she closed her eyes just for a second and she said I can put myself back there, you know, as if it were today. And then she did talk about seeing, you know, the sight of bodies floating past her. You know again, she's a 13-year-old girl. And she said I remember seeing a man with his head split open. And I thought you know again, we didn't know that when we were young, but what she must have endured and saw, and then also her little sister, who was nine, seeing all of this and the whole it was probably it was so chaotic that we can't even imagine what that was like. We can try, right, we can try, we've seen movies, we see pictures of things, but we just still can't imagine what they went through. So to see her interviewed through those years and to see that she could close her eyes and relive it was always pretty amazing. And I don't want to jump ahead with some of your questions.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
But what's interesting is that the type of person she was and the outlook that she had on life and this disaster that she survived did not let it. It did not ruin her life. It did not stop her from loving the water. You know she loved to swim. She taught my father that was her son, my father how to swim. In turn then we learned how to swim. I can remember up in Lake Geneva or Williams Bay when I was really young, holding onto her neck so tight and she'd be bobbing with me in the water. I remember that and I remember her chuckling saying I've got you. It's okay, I've got you.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
But through the years, as she got older, you never would have known that she had experienced such trauma and she could talk about it through the years. There are a lot of people who never talked about it again. From that time forward, her sister Solvig, my sweet grand aunt, auntie Solvig was five years younger and a different personality you know, we're born with our personalities. And my grandma again, I think from day one, was just bubbly and outgoing, had a zest for life and Auntie Solvig was the sweetest, adorable, sweet, kind, very timid woman. She never talked about it. So her side of the family, her two sons, who were my dad's first cousins and then my second cousins, their kids, they said they learned more from Auntie Bobbie, who was my grandma. Borg killed, that Bobbie was her nickname. They learned more about it because Solvig never talked about it.
Natalie Zett:
Yeah. So Now I want to interrupt you just to put context to this wonderful story. I could just. I would say, Auntie Barb, just tell me some more stories. This is so good. I think you inherited the storytelling DNA from Bobbie. Tell me now their immigrants from Norway and given those names, I think people might have picked up on that. Now, Bobbie was born in Norway. When did they immigrate and did she speak Norwegian or did you grow up with the Norwegian customs or anything?
Barb Decker Wachholz:
like that. Oh, that's a great question. Well, they came over from Norway when she was three. They came over when she was just three. So she really I remember her saying she really didn't have any memory, real standout memories from Norway, of course, but yes, I'm sure they were speaking Norwegian when she and my grand aunt were growing up, but she spoke perfect English. I do remember through the years when we'd all be together once in a while there would be just some little little words. She would say little terms, you know. So I remember hearing those and my dad would even say those little even whether it was just saying thank you or this is very good or whatever. But I don't even know if she would have remembered how to speak fluent Norwegian. But yeah, so they came over when she was just three. And then Antisalvig was born here in Chicago.
Natalie Zett:
They were always in Chicago. When I looked at the map I was looking at your census, of course, just digging, you know, like to dig up the dead. They were living about five miles from where my family lived, which is they were a little farther north. Mine is mine. We're in what was little village, now West 23rd Street, so yeah, that's amazing, and I do have their address tucked away.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
I like to have some of these old addresses tucked away, and was the Logan Square area where she was? Yes, so I do remember her talking about that.
Natalie Zett:
What did the family do? How did they? Your uncle, olaf, was working for Western Electric. But what about her parents? I know her dad died fairly when she was pretty young, I think about 10. I think she was about yeah, like 1911, I think yeah.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
I look at my family tree.
Natalie Zett:
here I have the whole life here on my. That's right, and she was 10. Yeah, I do. So what did they do for a living? I mean, why did they come over? Do you know that backstory as to how they got here?
Barb Decker Wachholz:
Well, I wish now too, even in my older years, when I was even in my 20s and early 20s I was early 30s before she passed away that I would have asked more detailed questions. I remember, I know, that when they came over on the ship and came into New York Harbor, they obviously settled in Chicago and my great grandfather Akam wound up being a and I don't remember if he was a custom tailor in Norway. I wish I knew that. But he did wind up working for Hart Schaffner and Marx here in Chicago, which is still in existence. They made custom suits. So that's really neat to think that that company is still in existence. So he was a custom tailor and my great-grandmother, marian, I believe, was a stay-at-home mother, but then, after he passed away at only the age of 33, as I saw that no, I cannot, and she did.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
She had to go out to work. You know support the family and the things that they're a little vague to me, but I do remember that she, I believe she she was a cleaning lady, I believe, for a while, and then also, I think, in the evening sometimes she was. I remember something about her scrubbing floors in a bank in Chicago for extra money. And then when my grandmother was young she did not go to high school at that time, you know she had to get a job and work a little bit. But I even remember when she was young and would tell us a lot of these stories she talked about when she would babysit this little boy, bobby Blix, and you know that Blix's name now is familiar.
Natalie Zett:
Yes, I know yes.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
Thank you for sending that information. Sure, and his mother was a witness on one of those the naturalization, yeah the petition for naturalization.
Natalie Zett:
Yeah, that was so cool. So when I saw that, name.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
I thought, oh my gosh. So I remember her talking about how she would babysit the little boy Bobby Blix would walk him on the sidewalk, you know, on the stroller, and how she would get a few pennies for babysitting and she would put them in a jar, maybe in the kitchen, I'm not sure where, but she would put the few pennies. And I remember, even when we were young, we thought, wow, that's nothing, none of it. And she said, well, that was a long time ago, so a few pennies to help. And then I just don't recall what other little jobs she might have had at that time when she left school. I do know that and I may be jumping ahead here. I apologize, but in talking about my great-grandfather who died at such a young age, he, my grandma, nana Bobby, bobby, yeah, and in addition to the Eastland that came when she was she was just shy of her 14th birthday, so I'm still going to say she was 13.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
Prior to that, when she was young, she survived a few childhood illnesses that you know so many children contracted. They didn't, they didn't have the vaccines at that time. She did contract diphtheria. She also had scarlet fever, and I remember well. I guess the reason her father died was that and I don't remember which illness it was, but shortly before he had passed she contracted one of these, whether it was scarlet fever or diphtheria and at that time they would quarantine you in the home. So my great-grandma, her mother, was obviously in the house with Bobbie.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
I don't know the details about little Solveig, if she was in there too or if she went with a neighbor, but he was not even allowed in the house. So can you imagine, he's the father. And because they had a quarantine she said it was just. She remembers it being just a horrible feeling in addition to being sick. It was so hard because they would put something on the front door that signified that there was a, you know, an outbreak of whatever disease it was. So he could not come into the house and what he wound up doing is going down to the shop, as Bobby called it, down to the shop, and he wound up sleeping on one of the big boards. You know, you can imagine, in a tailor shop they've got the big board where they cut the material and it was wintertime and so he had to sleep down there and he evidently contracted. He wound up getting very sick, he got pneumonia and he wound up passing at 33, which I just cannot even imagine.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
So here's my great-grandmother, a young woman, and she's got two girls and loses her husband, the only breadwinner, and so just cannot even imagine. So, anyway, that was just incredibly sad to think 33. But after that, when she had to go out to work and I'm sure my grandmother at that time she was only 10, I'm sure she was still in school. From what I recall she only went through eighth grade, I believe. And then my great-grandmother did wind up remarrying who we always thought of as our great-grandfather, even though he was not blood Victor Jensen. And so my grandma was 17 when that happened and he was a wonderful, wonderful man and he lived a long life and I was probably 16, 17 when he passed away. So he was like our great-grandpa.
Natalie Zett:
Wow, and who was Uncle Olav? Was that your great-grandfather's brother?
Barb Decker Wachholz:
or eight, a great-grandmother's Okay, a great-grandmother Marianne's, actually half-brother, half-brother, okay, half-brother which we learned through the years. You know, I really want to dig into my genealogy. There are a lot of things that I just I so want to dig into. But I always thought it was her full brother. But we learned our daughter does a little genealogy and she's been learning a lot of this and that's a half-brother. So he worked for Western Electric. So he came over, also immigrated here as a single man in his 20s they all lived together at that time and so he got a job with Western Electric, which was a wonderful company to work for. And then when it came time for the big employee picnic on that fateful morning, you know, they went as his guests. He was a big, strong, handsome Norwegian man, you know also knew how to swim. This whole family knew how to swim, which is amazing.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
And amazingly Uncle Olav was credited with saving about, I think, 27 lives. My gosh Still trapped in that compartment. I mean it wasn't. When I think of the compartment, and again I wish my grandma was here so I could ask more detailed questions she called it a compartment, but it wasn't like a teeny little bedroom type size. I think it was a big area, but again between decks. So from her account, he was doing all he could do to make sure. He would make sure that our little family unit was okay, they were safe. Holding on to things, holding on to whatever, but he always made sure they were okay and at that time then, while keeping his eye on them, he was saving whoever he could, people who were going under. He would try to do whatever he could to save people and in the end there were many people who were awarded a corner star for their heroism. So he did receive one of those and we do not have that. I wish we had that.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
But anyway, uncle Olav, as far as a very how would I say this a traumatic type memory that my grandma had was during this saving process, if you will. He was again keeping an eye on our little family, making sure they were okay, and then he was pulling up a woman and in the meantime he looks over and he sees his sister. So that's my great grandma being pulled under and that's what people were doing. So many people did not know how to swim or tread water. There was so much panic, so people were pulling people under to pull themselves up. So he's trying to pull up one woman to help save her. He sees his sister being pulled under and I remember my grandma saying it was horrible for him because he had to let go of that woman in order to save his sister. So I just can't even imagine the horror.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
As far as knowing what happened to that woman, I don't know, it just seemed like maybe she didn't make it, but I just remember my grandma saying how horrible that was. And I do remember my grandma saying something about her mother, great grandma, that she did have a lot of bruising on her. I don't remember any other stories of bad injuries with my family. It's possible they all were a little bruised up from, but I don't remember any horrific things where they had to be hospitalized. But I remember something about great grandma being very bruised. So it could be it's just a fight for life and I do remember her saying that, and I'm going backwards a little bit, but I do remember my grandma saying that when they got onto the Eastland and it was packed to the hilt most likely overcrowded, overpacked, yeah, yeah and so many people wanted to go up to the top deck.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
That was fun and exciting, but there was no room. So they found seating on that middle deck area in a compartment where it wasn't open. On the sides there were the portholes you could walk up and down. You could probably find an open area down yonder, whatever. But anyway, and what my great grandmother had said and this is verbatim what my grandma had said was that she said I don't like the feel of this ship, there are too many people on board. And what's interesting is that, going back to Norway where my great grandmother was raised and lived until she moved here, her father was a commercial fisherman, so she had had experience on boats, big boats, and being out in the ocean, even though the steamer was bigger than these fishing boats. I'm sure she just she had a feel, but she knew. I think you know, and you get on there and you just you have an intuition that this doesn't feel right.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
And so many people were saying too that at the time that the ship was listing, it would list both ways while people were boarding. But I guess people were. Sometimes people were even going like ooh, nah, you know, kind of thinking, oh, this is just a standard type thing. Well, it's really not. But I remember my grandma saying that once they found seating on that middle deck they were on deck chairs, foldable wooden deck chairs, and they all had their picnic baskets, that people brought their fresh fruit and cookies and sandwiches for the big picnic that was to be ahead in Michigan City, indiana. And when the ship started to go she said our deck chairs slipped out from under us. And I mean at that point then it's just again. We can't even imagine that chaotic feeling, that fear.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
And then you know, as you've seen, pictures of the Eastland lying on its side in the river. Obviously it never sank, it never went below halfway, but obviously all that water was rushing in. But because of where they were, in that mid-deck area, the water thankfully never went above their heads. So all the people on the lower, lower deck, on the side you know where it went this way all those people just didn't have a chance and they said there were so many people who were just trampled and suffocated before they even drowned. Our family was fortunate that they were on the side, they were on where when it went over.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
I remember her saying you know treading water, she knew how to tread water and she'd hold on. But she said I kept looking up through the porthole and I could see the sky. And it's just that feeling of you know, you just wanna get through it, you wanna get through that. And we don't know exactly how long they were in that hold, but she said many, many hours. You know this was at 7.30 in the morning. Good morning, it's possible. We got the impression they weren't rescued till the afternoon, but and then eventually, yes, they were pulled through the portholes. Okay, yeah, through the portholes okay.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
Through the portholes, because that's the compartment they were in. There was no open railing and you know, when you look at that ship on its side and you'll see pictures, there's a tugboat that pulls up to the edge of the ship and you see tons of people still in there, nice outfits, not a drop of water on them. So many of those people had been on the upper deck where, when it went over, they could actually climb over the rail and then onto the side of the ship Onto the side of the ship.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
Okay, so, but anyway, you know, oftentimes we've said can you imagine if the ship had started to make its way out to Lake Michigan? You know it was still partially tied to the wharf when this happened, which is just so hard to believe. But had it gotten all the way down the river and out to the lake? Imagine if that had happened. It would have sunk and just like Michigan, right, but it's just hard to believe.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
You know that 844 people could perish just in a matter of minutes, right there in the Chicago River and the heart of the city between Clark and LaSalle. And you know, even nowadays when we're downtown whether it's for the commemoration every year or when we just go down for pleasure, you know when we're by the site there's so many people who walk by who have no idea. And luckily we do have a plaque up at the corner there on upper Whacker at LaSalle, and you know when we're walking around or we're there sometimes you do see people stop and read it. You know it talks about what happened on that day, but still amazes us that so many people don't know about it. They still don't know.
Barb Decker Wachholz:
Everybody knows about the Chicago fire, of course.
Natalie Zett:
Yeah, the gangsters, the St Valentine's day.. Yeah, that's that will be. I'm afraid that's gonna be a question that will never be answered, but there's a big transition between having the Eastland disaster in your history and then all of you getting together and creating the Eastland disaster historical society. I want to know how that came about. Hey, this is Natalie and we are not done by any stretch of the imagination, so please make sure to tune in next week where Barb and I will continue our conversation. This time, Barb will talk about how the Eastland disaster historical society came to be. Take care and have a great week and I'll catch you soon.