Flower in the River: A Family Tale Finally Told

Crowdsourcing the Past: The Eastland Tragedy and Collaborative Genealogy

• Natalie Zett • Season 2 • Episode 59

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Introduction:

  • Exploring the democratization of historical documentation through platforms like Reclaim the Records, WikiTree, GEDmatch, and Find a Grave.

Reclaim the Records:

  • Non-profit organization advocating for public access to historical documents.
  •  Using legal means to unlock previously hidden archival records.
  • Over 60 million records reclaimed so far.

WikiTree:

  • Collaborative genealogy platform where users contribute to a unified family tree.
  • Showcases the power of shared knowledge over traditional gatekeeping in family history.

GEDmatch:

  • Originally a hobbyist tool for genealogists to share DNA across different testing companies.
  • Has become instrumental in solving cold cases, demonstrating the impact of citizen scientists.

Find a Grave:

  • Began as a simple endeavor to catalog grave information.
  • Has grown into an indispensable resource for genealogists and family historians.
  •  Allows people to create virtual memorials and connect family links across generations.
  • Purchased by Ancestry in 2013.

Mary Helen Egan's Story:

  • Updated obituary from July 31st, 1915 Chicago Tribune reveals new information.
  • Connected to the Sindelar, Dolezal,  Marren and Wood families, who suffered significant losses in the Eastland disaster.
  •  Importance of accuracy and thorough research in piecing together historical narratives.

Using Find a Grave:

  • Step-by-step guide on updating Mary Helen Egan's profile with the new obituary information.
  • Importance of adding searchable text and connecting family members for better accessibility and SEO.

Conclusion:

  • The dangers of a "single story" in historical narratives, as warned by Chimananda Ngozi Adichie.
  • The Eastland disaster stories should be managed and communicated with the understanding that stereotypes, while not untrue, are incomplete.
  •  Encouraging listeners to continue their own journey of discovery.

Links:

Music:

Genealogy and Historical Documentation Empowerment

Natalie Zett

Hello , I'm Natalie Zett and welcome to Flower in the River . This podcast , inspired by my book of the same name , explores the 1915 Eastland disaster in Chicago and its enduring impact , particularly on my family's history . We'll explore the intertwining narratives of others impacted by this tragedy as well , and we'll dive into writing and genealogy and uncover the surprising supernatural elements that surface in family history research . Come along with me on this journey of discovery . Well , hello there and welcome to episode 59 of Flower in the River podcast . Today , we are going to explore a transformative movement where platforms like Reclaim the Records , wikitree , jetmatch and Find a Grave exemplify a rising zeitgeist . This is where ordinary people , empowered by technology and the internet , are taking the reins of historical documentation into their own hands . First of all , do you know Reclaim the Records ? If not , you might want to take a look at their website . They really do stand out as a nonprofit organization that advocates for public access to historical documents , using legal means to unlock archival records previously hidden from view . What they've done is they've taken on some of these institutions where hiding these records or limiting access to them makes no sense . This approach underscores a societal shift toward transparency and communal ownership of history , and I just checked their website this morning and they displayed prominently these words , quote we want our records back and we got them . More than 60 million records reclaimed so far , and they haven't been in business that long , so check them out , they are amazing . The second one on my list is Wikitree . Do you know that one ? They illuminate the power of collaborative genealogy , and this is a place where users around the world contribute to a unified family tree , showcasing how shared knowledge can eclipse traditional gatekeeping in family history tool , and I think it was invented by just one guy and let's just say it has evolved dramatically . Although it was supposed to allow genealogists who tested in different companies to share their DNA , it has become instrumental in solving cold cases . Yes , gedmatch has demonstrated how citizen scientists can go beyond genealogical research to impact broader societal issues . Of course , most of us use GEDmatch for our genealogy work , but it also has other uses as well , and what happens in the future remains to be seen .

Natalie Zett

Now let's get back to Find a Grave , because that's the one I really want to talk about , and Find a Grave also began as a simple endeavor to catalog grave information , but it , too , has grown into an indispensable resource for genealogists and family historians , allowing people to create virtual memorials and connect family links across generations , and I think it helps , too , that Ancestry bought them around 2013 , so they have that behind them as well . Now , all of these platforms that I just described have experienced a lot of growing pains . They've gone through a lot and they have , as the years have passed , significantly improved , largely due to the extensive involvement of their users , who provide essential checks and balances , and I have to say I was not keen on Find a Grave and these types of sites at first , because I was used to a fair amount of quality control . However , as time passed , increasingly I had concerns about this quality control stuff . Actually , it wasn't the quality at all I was concerned about . It was the control , some of the control that these organizations felt they had over certain information that really should be available , but it's not . Well , that concerns me , but thankfully , as you can see by these other organizations that have sprung up , I'm not the only person with this concern , and while it's clear that a few institutions might prioritize control over quality , others , like the Newberry , like the Chicago History Museum , like the Chicago Public Library and so many others , exemplify transparency and do an excellent job of making history accessible . As I step back and look at this from a distance , it seems that these initiatives are part of a broader democratization of history and genealogy . And there's more good news the shift toward collaborative and open source models isn't just confined to history and to genealogy . It extends to music , visual arts and writing and writing . Like many , many others at this point , I too am an independent participant in this empowering movement which encourages direct involvement across various fields .

Natalie Zett

Now I promised that I would talk about Find a Grave last week and explain how to use it , and I will do that , I promise . But first I got to tell you what happened last week . Because I'm still not sure how to interpret this , I titled this section Another Detour . Long-time listeners know that I'm all about sharing my weekly discoveries about the people and communities touched by the Eastland disaster . These episodes are like sketches and are not usually exhaustive research . I'm laying tracks for myself and anyone else drawn to the stories of the Eastland's people and , as I always say and will keep saying , I'm constantly adjusting course because new information is popping up faster than I can track . Not that I'm complaining , but the irony is , before all of this , I would usually take my sweet time with research , and my research pace was usually slower than molasses in January . Yet here I am diving in without a safety net because , frankly , many of these stories have waited long enough to be told .

Natalie Zett

So what happened last week ? Well , after publishing the latest episode , which featured two Eastland victims that would be Theodore Hollis , a Greek immigrant , and Mary Helen Egan , a 15-year-old schoolgirl new and crucial information surfaced . I had told you Mary's story , based on an obituary from the July 26 , 1915 edition of the Chicago Tribune , which only listed her immediate family . But then , a twist , a more detailed obituary from July 31 , 1915 popped up , which I had missed . This later obituary answered many of my questions and connected Mary to a group of people , including a family that gained prominence post-Eastland disaster and who are still talked about today . I have to confess that had I found this July 31st obituary earlier , mary's story might have been delayed , because I really haven't wanted to focus on people whose stories have been told many , many times . Ah , but here's something else I learned Even the stories of well-known families in the Eastland disaster have parts of their stories untold , so they need to be examined again as well , because new information is always becoming available as we speak , there's probably new records coming online . So how about this ? Let me read the updated obituary to you now , then explain the context and at the end of the podcast I will tell you how I added this information to Mary Helen Egan's profile on Find a Grave . On Find a Grave , this is Mary Helen Egan's updated obituary .

Natalie Zett

South Kilbourne Avenue was with a party of 12 friends , all but one of whom were drowned . She completed her sophomore year in the Austin High School in June . Those who went down with her were Mr and Mrs George Sindelar and their five children , miss Regina Doziel , mrs Sindelar's sister , mrs Tom Woods and her three-year-old son and a brother of Mr Woods , all of 4557 Jackson Boulevard . Miss Alice Woods , 16 years old , was the only survivor in the party . Miss Egan was the daughter of Redmond J Egan and Julia A , egan née Sweeney and the sister of Redmond J Jr , edward E , donald W and Julia E . The funeral was held Wednesday from the home to St Mel's Church where high mass was celebrated . Interment was in Calvary Cemetery .

Natalie Zett

Well , let's go with the easier stuff and work our way up . First of all , it tells us where Mary lived , and that would be 319 South Kilbourne and according to the Chicago Ancestors page , which is operated by the Newberry . By the way , it tells us that this is the West Garfield Park area and we know that she completed her sophomore year at Austin High School in Chicago . The Chicago Public Library has this info about Austin High School , quote the Austin neighborhood is seven miles west of Chicago's Loop community number 25 of Chicago's 77 official communities . It is on the western edge of the city , bordering Cicero , oak Park and Elmwood Park .

Natalie Zett

Austin was annexed into Chicago in 1889 . Austin High School has served Chicago's Austin community since the last quarter of the 19th century . Delos Bazell was Austin High School's first principal from 1876 to 1879 . During that time the school occupied one room of the North School on Ohio Street . In the late 1870s , austin High School's library consisted of some 700 books , which led to the hiring of the school's first librarian . From the Austin community's settlement's annexation to the city of Chicago in 1889 , the Austin High School's student population grew dramatically , from 400 students in 1900 to 2,298 in 1920 and 6,815 students in 1931 .

Natalie Zett

And I'll stop there only because the Eastland took place in 1915 , and I want to stay focused on that era and the fact that Mary went to Austin High School provided a clue for me . I have the feeling that , since there were other girls her age who were on the boat journey together here , they might have gone to the same high school . That remains to be seen . But we'll continue . I'm going to introduce you to the people in this article , even though you may have already heard of some of them . Here's an interesting thing these people are not only connected via the disaster , but they're also connected to each other somehow . They all knew one another

Family Histories and Find a Grave

Natalie Zett

, knew one another .

Natalie Zett

Let's take a closer look at the Sindelar and Doziel families . On July 24 , 1915 , all eight members of the combined Sindelar and Doziel families perished when the SS Eastland capsized in the Chicago River . This devastating loss marks the largest single-family casualty in the disaster . So both George Sindelar and Josephine Doziel Sindelar they're married to each other . They are at the heart of this family's story . They were both children of Czech immigrants and emblematic of the vibrant immigrant community in Chicago . At that time , george worked as a foreman at Western Electric . Interestingly , historical footnotes also reveal that George's uncle , albert Roch , once served as an alderman in Chicago Heights , adding a layer of local historical significance to their story .

Natalie Zett

Alongside the Sindelar and Doziel narrative , there were others like Mary Egan and the Wood family , who shared connections to this group , yet have scarcely been noted in historical accounts . In fact , regina Doziel , a pivotal figure because she was related to the Sindelar family via marriage , is sometimes overlooked entirely . Now , it's not uncommon in historical documentation where some narratives become focal points while others remain in the shadows . However , in our research into the Eastland disaster , we found that every individual story contributes to a fuller understanding of the event's impact . By exploring these lesser-known tales , I aim to provide a more comprehensive recounting of that fateful day . Ironically , had I not explored the history of a quote-unquote unknown person , that would be Mary Helen Egan . This unknown person was the one who cast a light over the Sindelar family again , so I think that's fascinating .

Natalie Zett

Now , catherine Marren Wood , who tragically died in the disaster and who was connected to this party , was married to George John Wood , a survivor . Despite this , she was erroneously referred to as Mrs Tom Woods in this obituary . Additionally , their three-year-old son , george John Jr , also perished in the disaster . Meanwhile , alice Wood , george's 15-year-old sister , survived , adding yet another layer to that family's narrative , survived , adding yet another layer to that family's narrative . And , furthermore , adding to the complexity , there's a mysterious mention of George Wood's brother , whose identity definitely needs further investigation . In terms of final resting places , the individuals from this intertwined group were laid to rest in various cemeteries , reflecting their diverse backgrounds and family connections . Mary Helen Egan was buried at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Evanston , while the Sindelar and Doziel families found their final resting place at Bohemian National Cemetery , and the Mar and Wood family members were interred at Mount Carmel Cemetery .

Natalie Zett

Each of these details not only adds depth to our understanding of the disaster's personal impacts , but it also highlights the importance of accuracy and thorough research in piecing together historical narratives . By correcting these errors and investigating the lesser known aspects , we ensure a more accurate historical record . All of these families need more detailed profiles , but that's something that I'll need to do in a future episode , because this one's going to take a little more time . So , as promised , I'm going to talk about the use case for Find a Grave and explain step-by-step how I was able to post Mary Helen Egan's updated obituary to Find a Grave . As I've been doing these Eastland Chronicles series , I have really fallen in love with this site . I should explain too . It's not the Find a Grave generic site . I mean , I like that as well , but there is a specific area in Find a Grave that is devoted to the Eastland victims . Familysearchorg has a pretty decent introduction to Find a Grave on its wiki , so let me read that to you now .

Natalie Zett

Find a Grave hosts the world's largest gravesite record collection , with over 226 million memorials in 564,000 cemeteries around the world , expanding daily . All information on Find a Grave can be viewed for free without registering . All information on Find a Grave can be viewed for free without registering . The memorials , headstone photos , GPS locations and everything else you'll find are contributed by the Find a Grave community , a network with millions of passionate volunteers whose mission is to find , document and record burial information memorializing those who have passed . Since 1995 , this site has provided tools to let people from all over the world work together , share information and build an online virtual cemetery experience for free , so that everyone can find information about their ancestors , family and friends . This is why I refer people to the Eastland Disaster Victims Memorial site on Find a Grave when they first start researching . It's a great starting point .

Natalie Zett

So let's do this thing . Let's update Mary Helen Egan's profile on Find a Grave . Fortunately , she already has a profile page with her photo the gravestone that is also on that profile . I'm not sure that is hers , but we'll deal with that later . Again , the site which is within Find a Grave is called Eastland Disaster Victims Virtual Cemetery and it was created by user Bert , and I want to say thank you , bert , and I will give everyone a link to this site in the show notes . So you go to the information page and you locate Mary Helen Egan's profile .

Natalie Zett

So I had Mary's obituary prepped and ready for upload . But let me tell you a little bit about the tools that I use and what I did is I used Snagit to get a screenshot of the obit and I noticed that it was still kind of blurry . So what I did was I put it into Photoshop kind of blurry . So what I did was I put it into Photoshop , which I think most people know , and I adjusted the contrast very slightly to make it easier to read . Then I saved this file to my desktop as a JPEG and I named it with Mary's name as well as the newspaper and date of the newspaper where I got this information . So it was ready to go .

Natalie Zett

Then , from Mary's profile on Find a Grave , there's a button that is called Add Photos . So I clicked on that button and the first thing it does is open a separate window . Then I drag the image of the obituary over to this page . It appears right away on the left-hand side . Then I added a caption which is the name of the file Mary Helen Egan's Obituary from Chicago Tribune , saturday , july 31st 1915 . And they have an option where you have to select a phototype . Your choices are grave , person , family or other . I wasn't sure what to put in there , so I put other , then I saved it and right away it uploaded to her page .

Natalie Zett

Then I looked at the rest of the page and I realized we need to add some more information to her profile . For one thing , the rest of Mary's family was not showing on her profile , so I thought at least I want to get her parents in to her profile . So what I did again was open Mary's profile and I selected a different option that is called Suggest Edits . And I forgot to tell you that . One of the other things I did was to actually get the text from the obituary , and I did that with Snagit , by the way , and I copied and pasted the text into Mary's obituary information that is on this edit page . Why I did that ? If I just left Mary's page with the obituary , which is saved in JPEG format . If somebody searches for information about Mary , they won't be able to see the text because , well , it's hidden in the JPEG format . So what I wanted to do for the sake of accessibility as well as improving the SEO information for this site , is to also copy and paste the text into the edit screen for Mary , so , after I save it , the information's text will be available and it will be searchable and findable .

Natalie Zett

Now the other aspect to Mary is that we don't have her parents , and that's a little more of a challenge . While I was able to locate a profile page for Redmond , her father , I had some difficulty locating a profile page for her mother , so I need to do a little more research for that . But it's important , when you're working in Find a Grave and working between two profiles , to connect people to get the memorial ID . This is a unique ID that Find a Grave assigns to each profile . In this case , I copied Redmond's memorial ID into the edit page for Mary under Father and saved it , and then , voila . And then voila the information was saved . However , someone still on the find a grave side needed to review my edits and make sure they were okay before posting and I do appreciate that bit of control in the beginning and it didn't take long for it to be approved , most likely because I cited my source and had the original document for her and had the correct memorial ID for Redmond . So we need to do a little bit more work with Mary's profile , but she looks a heck of a lot better than she did , and now that I'm more confident dealing with this , what I will do is make a series of training videos for you to look at , to watch how I go through these , or you can take a stab at it yourself based on what I just shared with you .

Natalie Zett

How does that sound ? I want to conclude with these thoughts , thoughts . I sincerely hope that my family's story , as I told it in Flower in the River , serves as a launch pad for other people who are interested in the Eastland disaster . However , my family's story is just a launch pad , or a launching pad , and it's not a single story . What do I mean by that ?

Natalie Zett

In her seminal TED Talk , nigerian author Chimananda Ngozi Adichie warned against the dangers of quote a single story . She explains that it creates stereotypes , and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue , but that they are incomplete . I'll say that again because it's really kind of riveting . Adichie says that the problem with stereotypes's not that they are untrue , but they are incomplete , and furthermore , she says that they make one story become the only story . That is the cautionary part of doing this kind of work . So , needless to say , this concept is powerfully relevant when considering historical narratives , particularly how the story of the disaster and similar stories that have kind of fallen off the radar are managed and communicated

Dedication to the Eastland Disaster

Natalie Zett

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Natalie Zett

So keep that in mind as you continue on your own journey and I'll be back next week and we can continue this discussion . Take care and have a great week . Hey , that's it for this episode and thanks for coming along for the ride . Please subscribe or follow so you can keep up with all the episodes , and for more information please go to my website , that's wwwflowerintherivercom . I hope you'll consider buying my book , available as audiobook , ebook , paperback and hardcover , because I still owe people money and that's my running joke . But the one thing I'm serious about is that this podcast and my book are dedicated to the memory of all who experienced the Eastland disaster of 1915 . Goodbye for now .

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Natalie Zett

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