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