Flower in the River: A Family Tale Finally Told

From Web to River: Tracing Eastland's Digital Footprints

August 10, 2024 • Natalie Zett • Season 2 • Episode 74

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Welcome back to Flower in the River podcast! In episode 74, we're uncovering more hidden gems from the Eastland disaster, including a deep dive into one of the very first websites dedicated to this tragic event. Get ready for stories you won’t find anywhere else!

Key Points:

  • Explored personal time capsules, including Aunt Pearl's notes about our family's connection to the Eastland disaster
  • Discussed the importance of an early Eastland disaster website and its impact on research
  • Highlighted the significance of proper source citations in historical research, referencing Elizabeth Shown Mills' work
  • Introduced valuable research resources: Google Books and FamilySearch.org's Books section
  • Shared the story of Michael Kennedy, a Chicago policeman and first responder to the Eastland disaster
  • Recounted the harrowing survival tale of siblings Lena and Karl Roseland

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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. Hey, this is Natalie, and welcome back to Flower in the River podcast. You came back, thank you. I know last week's episode was really a tough one, but you got through and there are some brand new listeners and subscribers to this podcast, so I thank you for your commitment to my telling of the history of the Eastland disaster all of it, not just the cherry-picked parts. I mean, I would rather just talk about the heroes and people like this, but there are the other ones. There are the other ones. Fortunately, this week this is episode 74, we have more of the stories that are typical of the ones that I have previously shared. They are, for the most part, unknown, but they are people who survived, people who helped as well as I want to pay tribute to people who have gone before me and did a most excellent job of capturing the information about the Eastland disaster. So let's just jump right in. I've got some new resources for you. But first I want to introduce you to a couple of people living ones and talk about their contributions to the Eastland disaster and to genealogy and history, and the standards that need to be maintained in order to do a good job with history like this that is at once powerful and yet fragile.

Natalie Zett:

Over the past few weeks I've been diving into a lot of personal time capsules mostly notebooks and photographs that have been sitting inside a couple of cardboard boxes for way too long. Honestly, I forgot about a lot of them until we were doing some cleaning out, and that was where I found my Aunt Pearl's many, many notes and letters to me, and I've been just going through them and trying to absorb them and organize them, because she had a lot more history than just the family history where she shared the information about our connection to the Eastland disaster and our deep Chicago roots. But the rest of this also has been like stepping back in time to that point in my life where I first learned about the Eastland disaster, and that was when the internet, the World Wide Web was brand new maybe not brand new, but very new and there wasn't a ton of information out there. But there was this one website, the story of which I've shared with you previously, but I want to focus in on that because it was a very important part of my journey. It was so important that when I created my fictional character, zara Vrabel, I had her follow the same steps that I followed, and the finding of that website was the thing that ignited Zara's journey in a way that even the information that she received from her family history document couldn't do. It was one thing to read about it in a document, it was another thing to actually see it on a screen, and this was new at that point. So it was multisensory not just multimedia, but multisensory and it was also the connective tissue. So what I found in my box of stuff was that I printed out a number of pages from that old website. I wish I could remember the exact look of that first website that eventually evolved into the Eastland Memorial Society I think that was its last name, and sadly this is now defunct who, interestingly enough, had no direct family connection to the disaster, but she liked collecting photos of ships. Back in the 90s, when I was trying to piece everything together, stumbling across her website was a game changer, and it also helped me begin to grasp the magnitude and the personal impact of the Eastland, though that would take a long, long time. This initial website that Mary created was like a textbook, but a really engaging one. You could easily navigate through it, grasp the big picture and follow the timeline. She shared an impressive collection of postcards, had some eye-catching pie charts and other graphics that broke down the passengers by gender, age and immigration origins, and she was incredibly interactive with her visitors. Her guest book was buzzing with activity from the early 2000s until around 2006. This week, I managed to track down quite a few of those pages on the Wayback Machine, which is this fantastic online archive that preserves old websites. If you don't know about it, and I came across something that Mary wrote that I have to share with you.

Natalie Zett:

I believe that the Eastland disaster should be remembered, if only because so many lives were lost and so many families affected. Although the maritime lessons learned through the disaster are obsolete, the Eastland's true legacy is that it showed that the unexpected can occur even when all conditions indicate otherwise. No one would have ever suspected that a ship preparing to depart for a festive occasion on a warm July day would just tip over, drowning hundreds. Yet the original situation before the disaster and the dire results set up a dichotomy that make the entire event seem almost surreal to anyone who tries to picture the events in his or her mind. Neither the victims of the disaster nor the rescuers who saved lives that day should ever be forgotten by American history. Also, mary did an incredible job of source citations, so when I found these old pages from her internet site, I could actually find the original documents that she referenced.

Natalie Zett:

And speaking of source citations, about three weeks ago I attended another seminar given by Elizabeth Schoen Mills. I've talked about Elizabeth in the past and I will continue talking about her because I'm not sure everyone has gotten the memo about what she's about. So Elizabeth Schoen Mills is a legend in the worlds of genealogy and history. If you've spent any time in these fields, you have likely encountered and been influenced by her work, particularly her book Evidence Explained, which is essentially the Bible for genealogists and historians. So Mills emphasizes that proper source citation isn't just a formality. It's the foundation of credible research and without it we're left with a collection of disconnected facts that lack the context needed to build a true understanding of history. Now let's loop back to Mary's website. One of the standout features of that site was its commitment to citing sources. Every fact, every tidbit of information was backed up with a reference, and that let me trace the data back to its origins. So that's exactly what Elizabeth Schoenmills would champion a transparent trail of evidence that ensures the research is solid, reliable and, above all, honest, and it's frustrating when modern efforts don't adhere to these same standards. It's not just about being thorough. No, it's about respect, and respect for the truth, for the stories being told and for the people who live them.

Natalie Zett:

Elizabeth Schoen Mills fortunately for all of us is still alive, still teaching. Whenever I'm in a seminar with her, it's one of those things where I start off all enthusiastic and it's like I've got this, I've read evidence explained, I'm doing all this, and by the time the seminar seminars ended, it's like, oh dear, I have a long ways to go. And that's the hallmark of a really good teacher. This is not somebody that's going to give anybody an A in the class. I don't think. Not that she's teaching academically at this point, but she has extremely high standards, and when you're with her, you realize your own shortcomings and you realize what you have yet to accomplish in terms of your own research. If you're doing this sort of thing, and certainly when I finish with her, it's like oh boy, got some work to do here, but that's okay.

Natalie Zett:

No one should consider themselves an expert or an authority without going through this very painstaking process of documenting where you got this information from. Elizabeth Schoen Mills always says that the absence of proper sourcing diminishes the credibility of the work. I'll say that again the absence of proper sourcing diminishes the credibility of the work and it makes it difficult for others to build upon or to trust as a reliable account. And, unfortunately, when you see something that is obviously taken from someplace else but you don't know where it came from, it's really easy to discount the whole story, and we shouldn't do that. We should always, if we're doing this type of work, either on our own or formally through some sort of organization, we better make sure that it is as accurate as can be, and we also know that there might be another piece of information that comes along that discredits everything we've done so far. But that's part of it.

Natalie Zett:

But I also don't want to present Elizabeth Schoen Mills as this strict, stern schoolmaster type of person. She's more than that Simply stated. She has very high standards and she wants the rest of us to embrace those standards as well. It's a good thing. But she's not just focused on the mechanics, the nuts and bolts of genealogy in history. In a recent interview with Jeff Rasmussen of Family Tree Webinars, where she hosts her monthly sessions, she touched on a range of important topics, including plagiarism. That's a topic that deserves its own episode and I'll do that at some point in the future because it's really interesting and I think everybody in that webinar, including myself, we just felt like whoa, our heads were exploding, but in the best possible way. But for now, let me share a gem from that interview where Elizabeth Schoen Mills shared some timeless advice.

Natalie Zett:

The advice I give to brand new genealogists would be pretty much the same that I would give to many seasoned genealogists, because I see the same issues at both ends of the spectrum. I would say to let your work be guided by skepticism and soul. Skepticism is critical. In everything that we do, skepticism is essential. With everything we find, we have to ask ourselves why should I believe this? What's the evidence that supports this assertion that someone has made? We have to know how to distinguish between good sources and bad sources, and good information and bad information. An ancestor is not a name and a set of dates and a chart. Every ancestor was a living, breathing human being, with a heart and soul, they had hopes, they had dreams, they had successes and failures, and they had frustrations and they had joys. And if our pursuit of genealogy is going to have any meaning whatsoever, we must get to know each ancestor as a living, breathing human being and get to know their hearts and their souls. In that spirit of Elizabeth Schoen Mills, let's continue.

Natalie Zett:

Well, a lot has changed since the late 1990s, early 2000s, when the first Eastland Memorial website was created. The good news about the Eastland disaster is that there is a wealth of information out there, digitized, just waiting for us to find, and today I'm going to talk about a couple of the less obvious places where you can find information about the Eastland disaster or all kinds of things. Whatever you're researching. A couple of valuable sources of information are Google Books and FamilySearchorg, both of which have been instrumental in my efforts, and since both of them are updated regularly, you need to check them regularly if you're looking for information. Most people know about Google Books, but if not, I'll put a link in the show notes and, furthermore, I'll put a link to one of Lisa Louise Cook's presentations about Google Books, because she's who I learned from, and within Google Books you can find not just old books, but newspapers and magazines. Again, I found stuff there about the Eastland disaster that I've never seen anyplace else, and I've documented and shared much of that in these podcasts as well as on my website.

Natalie Zett:

You might not be as acquainted with FamilySearchorg or specifically their book area, so just this week I found some incredible new information there. So FamilySearchorg, if you don't know it, it is one of the best resources for any genealogist and, as mentioned, they're always adding new records and sections, so you need to check them regularly. Familysearchorg is a free site. I said that free site. All you have to do is create a login and you're in, and it is operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, the LDS Church, or, as they used to be called, the Mormons. So what is the books area on FamilySearchorg? The books section on FamilySearchorg is an awesome digital library.

Natalie Zett:

I was blown away by what I found this week, and it houses thousands of genealogical and historical publications that you're not likely to find anyplace else. These aren't just books. They include family histories, detailed accounts and genealogies of specific families, often written by family members and historians. Local histories, histories of towns, counties and regions, providing context and backgrounds to the places where your ancestors lived, and genealogical records, transcriptions of records like wills, land deeds and church registers that are crucial for family history research or for history research. And just this week I found information about people associated with the Eastland disaster that I've never heard of before.

Natalie Zett:

I would like to introduce you to the Kennedy family. Some members of this family took the time to create a booklet about the entire history of their family, from Ireland to immigration to current times. I want to read their opening letter to their cousins From March 2009,. They wrote Dear Cousins, this family history resulted from a desire to pass on the knowledge we had of our great-aunts and uncles. They were the Ten Kennedys of Dune, the children of Bridget Carroll and Matthew Kennedy of Dune County, limerick, ireland.

Natalie Zett:

Nothing is known of their early lives. Their mother served as a midwife. Their father, a carpenter, taught this trade to his sons. As the years passed, seven of the children survived into adulthood. Eventually, four boys and two girls made the decision to immigrate to America. One by one, they left Dune forever. We can only surmise that economic issues prompted them to leave for America. We do not know why they chose to settle in Troy, new York. Perhaps other family members had come to New York in earlier years. Then, at the turn of the century, five of the Kennedys moved west to Chicago, illinois. Again, we do not know what motivated them to change location. Okay, you heard Chicago Illinois, here we go. They close this note by saying enjoy our stories and be proud of all who left Ireland to face unknown hardships in hope of a better life. We hope each family member will keep in touch with relatives and continue to honor and preserve the traditions and values of our ancestors. So we're going to focus in on one of the children of this family, michael Kennedy, who made his way to Chicago. Here are the notes from Michael Kennedy's biography.

Natalie Zett:

After arriving in America, michael Joseph Kennedy married Joanna Marie Howard, a woman who had left Ireland due to a health condition which was believed to be heart-related. The couple had four children, three boys and a girl. Michael was a somewhat stern father and was very protective of his children. As an example, though, john Erickson's school was across the street from the Kennedy home, michael insisted on taking his daughter's hand and personally escorting her to kindergarten each day. Back in Ireland, michael was a carpenter by trade, and the skills he learned there would come in handy in America. He built two or three homes on Harrison Street just east of Sacramento Avenue of Sacramento Avenue. At some point, michael made the transition from carpenter to Chicago policeman. In fact, he was one of the first responders to the Eastland disaster on July 24, 1915.

Natalie Zett:

The SS Eastland was a passenger ship based in Chicago and used for tours On the Chicago River. Near Clark Street, the ship was loaded with employees from Western Electric Company. As the ship was leaving the dock, many of the passengers rushed to one side to wave goodbye to their friends on shore, causing the ship to turn on its side. At least 844 passengers and crew members were killed. Michael was quite disturbed by the vast number of lives lost before his eyes. Up until his own death in 1935, he expressed a reluctance to ever speak of what he had witnessed on that fateful day. Speak of what he had witnessed on that fateful day.

Natalie Zett:

That's the conclusion of the piece that this family wrote about Michael, but I also want to add his obituary. He died in 1935. Here it is Bernard Cornelius Francis and Mrs Mary Constantine, brother of Margaret Kennedy, native of Dune County, limerick, ireland. Funeral Friday, april 26, at 9.30 am, from residence 2931 Harrison Street to Our Lady of Sorrows Church burial, mount Carmel.

Natalie Zett:

Member of the PBA and Holy Name Society. Pba is probably Policeman Brotherhood Association or something similar, and, as you can hear, there's some things that they got about the disaster details incorrect. But what I'm focusing in on is Michael. Michael already had he had protection hardwired into him. He's walking his little girl to kindergarten across the street making sure she got there safely. So his transition from carpenter to police officer makes perfectly good sense to me. And then further, that he would be one of the first people to respond to the disaster makes sense to me. And then further, that he would be one of the first people to respond to the disaster makes sense to me as well.

Natalie Zett:

In the late 1990s I did an article about the Citizen Police Academy for the St Paul Police Department and I attended. I think it was about 12 weeks. So each week I would go there and it was an incredible experience to in a sense, get the training of a police officer without having to become a police officer, because, wow, that takes a very special person. But one of the things that was said in the class the chief of police at that point said you can generally tell who the cops are in a crowd because when an emergency is happening, whether a shooting or something else is happening, the cops in the crowd, whether they're plainclothes or not, will generally run toward the source of the problem, not away from it. So there is something amazing about these people, and that's all we have about Michael Kennedy, but we would never know about him were it not for the fact that the descendants of this family took the time to create this document and, furthermore, that they went the extra mile and published it to FamilySearchorg. The extra mile and published it to FamilySearchorg. They give you instructions on how to publish your family histories and other documents there, and I will put the links to that area in the show notes and give it a try If you have anything that you would like to have shared either currently or down the line. It's a great gift to people.

Natalie Zett:

For our next story, it's a story of a brother and a sister, and it is one that I found on Google Books under the Newspapers section. It was distributed via the United Press. The date it was distributed via the United Press the date July 26, 1915. Please be aware that this witness provides a very graphic account of what she saw and what happened to her Girl Caught in Hull. Tells of ship's dive. Miss Lena Roseland, an Eastland survivor, told a thrilling story of being taken from amidst a score of corpses under one of the ship's big plates that was cut out with electromagnetic drills by the rescuers. She was recovering today from her experience.

Natalie Zett:

My brother, carl, and I were standing near the rail on a lower deck when the Eastland tipped over. The girl said I lost Carl as a boat carried me down until I felt the muddy bottom. I can swim and knew how to hold my breath. Then I began to rise, touched victim's body At last. I felt air against my face but could see nothing. And then I felt things bobbing all around me. As I touched the slippery side of the wall that was about me, my hand struck something soft. I had not recovered fully my senses and held on to it. Then, suddenly, the horrible realization of what it was came over me. It was a body. I screamed and felt myself fainting. But then I caught hold of a projection. I screamed again and heard an answering shout. I could not believe my ears. It was my brother's voice. He told me to be brave and he had come in the stateroom next to me, heard the rescuers.

Natalie Zett:

I was brave for a time and then I thought I would lose my mind. Several bodies, all of them women or little children, would keep knocking against me, however much I tried to climb higher. Then I heard the hammering and cutting as the men worked to cut away the plates. As a piece came away, a little light filtered through and as I started a prayer of thankfulness, it was choked in my throat, for light fell on the upturned staring faces about me. Then I partly lost consciousness. At last they saw me. I fell back in the water with just sufficient consciousness and strength to remember to float on my back. I could see men finally break through the plate. Then they began taking out bodies. I tried to call them, for as each corpse was lifted out, someone would say, yes, I'm afraid they're all dead. Then at last they saw me and pulled me out. Brother Carl was there urging them on. As I was pulled out, carl had been taken out minutes before. Carl had been taken out minutes before. So siblings Lena Roseland and Carl Roseland continued living together in Chicago. Carl worked as a toolmaker for Western Electric and that's probably why they were on the boat and Lena worked as a dressmaker.

Natalie Zett:

No-transcript. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of either Lena or Carl not yet. Give it some time, perhaps there are some other relatives that have information or photos that they would be willing to share. I'm so grateful to have found this. Well, it's not just an eyewitness account. Lena was nearly a victim of the Eastland disaster and to have her be so articulate and to me she was very calm. I don't know what it was like for either Lena or Carl to live with this for the rest of their lives, but she did give us an account and it is a good thing to have for historical purposes, to not just comment about what somebody might have gone through, but to hear in their own words what this was like. As a journalist, this is a gift, so I'm really grateful to have found this and, as hard as it is to listen to, this is what it was like for these people, but that's what I have for this week.

Natalie Zett:

I'm looking forward to sharing some of these smaller pieces that I found on the Family Search book section because, again, I've not seen them any place else and I don't want them to get lost in the big morass of all this information that is available. I will continue to keep sharing it with you and even if it's not shared in the podcast, please take a look at my website. I had to divide some of this stuff up because it's getting out of control in terms of the amount of information that I have, but I just added an Eastland People and Places section on my website so I can include these people and places that may not fit into a podcast, at least right away, but I do want them to be documented and I want them to have their story told. And if you're looking for more information about the people who perished on the Eastland, I want to refer you again to Find a Grave. Every time I look at that Eastland Memorial section that was created by Burt, I see that more information, more source citations are being added, so this is becoming a very rich resource. For the most part, they have added photos for just about everyone and even if they don't have personal photos. They have photos of the headstones.

Natalie Zett:

So thanks for taking care of all of that all of you. It really does take a village. So next week we'll have more stories for you and in the meantime, take care and take a look at your family history and see what you can continue documenting. And take a look at your family history and see what you can continue documenting. And take a look at FamilySearchorg and see if you want to maybe upload that information to their collection for future reference. 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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