Happy Find Friday - Frank Ilg, Repair Shop

     The other day, I was helping my mom move some boxes in the basement when one fell over and spilled its contents. I was familiar with the box. It sat it my dad's downstairs office for years. It was filled above the top with newspapers that my dad had saved for whatever reason. I knew they were important, but to go through them, I would have to take all the newspapers home and dad was not wanting me to do that. So I let it go and never thought anything else about this box.

     Well when it tipped over the day I was helping my mom, I was surprised to see that underneath all the newspapers were tons of photos! A lot I had never seen before! I stopped right there and started looking through them. I asked mom about them and she didn't even know they were there. I picked the box up and noticed water damage to the bottom of the box. You see, my parents have a problem with water getting in their basement when it rains. Most of everything is now put up, but at some time, this box had gotten water damage. It was at that moment I decided this box was coming with me. Dad was not too pleased, but I told him I didn't want to lose any other photos. He is very protective of his stuff so I just reassured him that I would take good care of them. He knows I will; he just gets anxious.

     That evening after dinner I was taking my time doing a cursory examination just to put them into piles and get a sense of what I was looking at. As I said, there were a lot of pictures I had never seen before, but some I had at some point in my life. About halfway through the box, I came across this photo that just made me stare and gasp. It had a cardboard back and was faded pretty well. But I could make out the words on the top of the building: "Frank Ilg, Repair Shop". 

     Wait, what?! Frank Ilg Repair Shop? The photo had a picture of a boot next to the name to indicate it was a Boot Repair Shop. Oh my gosh! My 2nd great-grandfather, Frank Ilg, was a Shoemaker in 1900 [a], so this has to be THAT Frank Ilg! I had no clue he had his own business! What is even more special is what is in the doorway of the photo. 

     There were a man and four children standing in the doorway. I am going to assume the man is my 2nd great-grandfather, Frank Ilg. But which children are standing with him? My first thought was the four boys that survived until adulthood, but that wouldn't be right because the youngest, John, was born [b] after Frank had died in 1901 [c]. So John wasn't in the photo. And by the time my great-grandfather, Joseph was born in 1899, [a] there were only two children still living. So that means my great-grandfather is not in this picture as well. With the time period we are talking, about 1897-1900, during that time there were four children living until 1898: William, Frank, Otto, and Pauline. Frank and Pauline both died in 1898 [d] [e], and the ages they appeared to be seemed to match up with the ages of the children in the photos. So I am willing to bet that those four children were the ones I listed above.

     I was just blown away by this photo. I just sat and stared at it for a while. What a beautiful picture. Since I had found this photo, I have done a little bit of research. The address listed on the front and back of the photo shows it to be "8116 S. Minnesota Ave." I do have a city directory [f] that shows Frank had lived at that address in 1899. City directories are always about a year behind so it would have been in 1898, which matched up with the deaths of the children. I also learned that it is possible he took over the Boot business at that location from a Steffan Fitsch around 1897 [g]. I wonder if this was the grand opening photo. 

     It doesn't appear the business survived for very long, as I can not find any more listings for this business after the year 1899. In the 1900 census [a], Frank is still listed as a Shoemaker, but living at a different address. So I am unclear as to what happened. I believe Frank was working two jobs just to support his family because he had died while working as a laborer at the Provident Chemical Company in Carondelet [h]. I have not found any other proof or information about the business yet. I will be contacting the Carondelet Historical Society at some point to ask for some guidance. 

     Finding this photo brought so much joy to me during a bleak time. I have also found a few more photos of my great-grandfather Joseph and my 2nd great-grandma Pauline Ilg, Frank's wife. I wrote a series of blog posts about her life recently. If you haven't checked them out, please do. You will be amazed at how much she went through. Unfortunately, since I can't find anything more about the business, it's just one more struggle they went through apparently. I hope I'm able to find more, but I am just happy to find this little photo.

Oh boy, what will I find next??

Sources:

[a]: 1900 US Federal Census - Ancestry.com

[b]: John Ilg Baptism Record, St. Boniface Church, Carondelet, Missouri - SLCL

[c]: Frank Ilg, Missouri Death Record - Ancestry.com

[d]: Frank Joseph Ilg, Missouri Death Record - Ancestry.com

[e]: Pauline Caroline Ilg, Missouri Death Record - Ancestry.com

[f]: 1899 US City Directory - Ancestry.com

[g]: 1897 Barr and Widen Company's Credit Guide - UMSL Library

[h]: St. Louis Globe-Democrat Newspaper - Newspapers.com

Throwback Thursday - 2000 Graduation

     This year marks the 20th anniversary of the day I graduated from Eureka Senior High School in Eureka, Missouri. May 24, 2000, to be exact. My gosh, it's so hard to believe it's been 20 years. It doesn't feel like it's been that long. I am still in touch with some of my friends from school though we may not be as close as we used to be. We created so many memories during our years in high school. Even though there were many happy times, there were many rough times too, and I have to say, I was so glad to be done with high school. On the day of our graduation, I was wondering if I was going to cry knowing this chapter of my life was coming to an end. But the truth is, I didn't shed one tear. I was too happy to be done with all of this and ready to move on to the next stage of life. My senior year was a rough one for me for many personal reasons, so to put it all behind me was a relief.
     If there was one thing I miss the most, it would be Color Guard.

Guard was one of the only things that made high school worth it for me. It was my happiest time. I was on the Color Guard squad all four years of high school. For the first semester of my Senior year, I made was captain. It was like a dream come true. As happy as I was to have that honor, it wasn't what I thought it was going to be like. It proved to be too much stress for me, so when we had Winter Guard tryouts for the second semester, I didn't apply to be captain. I was content to just enjoy performing. That year was the first year Eureka High School had a dedicated

Winter Guard that actually competed. And that year, we took first place in our division at the State Competition. It was the best way to end my time with Guard and it sure was the start of something great that has continued on to this day. I still have my uniforms, shirts, and sweatsuits from all four years along with one of my flags. Yes, I still have a flag. Don't judge me haha! I've also saved some other remnants from Guard which I will share below.

     My favorite class from Senior Year was Photography. You can ask anyone, I was crazy with photos. I always had a camera taking photos. One thing a lot of my friends remember was my bedroom walls covered in all the photos I took. Covered like wallpaper, stapled to the wall. Yes stapled. So it only made sense to take a photography class to

learn more about how to operate a camera and develop my own photos. I still have the negatives from that class and copies of the photos I had turned in for grades. I loved the development process. Today, we live in a digital world where we get to see the photo we took immediately. When I was in school, that wasn't the case. You had to wait until the roll of film was developed to see if you got a good picture or not. The photo shared here is my most favorite. It was a little stream of water flowing into the larger creek. I was able to catch the reflection of the trees in the water.

     Unfortunately, with the pandemic still in full swing, the 20th reunion has been postponed. But I thought it was the perfect time to start to preserve what I do have from those years and reminisce while doing it. I guess this is where I'm glad my parents are hoarders. They kept EVERYTHING. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff I have come across. All from my years in school dating back to elementary school: Papers, stories, photos, report cards (oh dear!), and even some embarrassing things such as a letter I wrote to my crush that I never had the never to send. Oh, why mom?

     Something that will take some time will be digitizing all the shirts I acquired relating to my life in high school. I want to photograph each shirt & add them to a scrapbook of some kind. Then, I am considering taking those shirts and turning them into a T-shirt quilt. All they are doing is sitting in a box, so why not repurpose them and put them to good use. Hence why I want to photograph them first cause as time goes on, I know they will wear out.

     From graduation itself, I have saved my cap, my tassel, my diploma (Obviously lol), the program, invitation, a ticket to the ceremony, and of course photos. I have also kept a few things that were special to me from all four years of high school. I will share them also below. I also have a video from the day, but no clue where it is right now. Probably at my parents' house.

     At the time I graduated High School, I didn't think about keeping or preserving things from that time of my life, but I am glad my parents kept most of it safe. Being a family historian and genealogist has made me appreciate my high school memorabilia more than ever. Even though at the time I wanted nothing more than to move on with my life, it's still an important chapter that needs to be remembered.

Congrats Class of 2000!

Happy 20 years!