Kampe & Elsner Families lived in Frankfort, Will County, Illinois, from the mid 1800s+

                 

On 31 August 2016, the Illinois Genealogical Society held a Farm and Family night during the Federation of Genealogical Societies yearly conference. In order to honor my paternal heritage, I represented the Kampe and Elsner families. Frankfort, Will County, Illinois, holds many memories for the Kampe and Elsner families. Both families migrated from Germany in the middle 1800s. Both families raised their children on area farms. The Elsner farm was located west of Frankfort. Today if I drive south on Elsner Road  from Route 30, I would find representatives of most of the township founding families buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery on the left. Between the cemetery and the current post office, I may stop for bicycle or pedestrian traffic enjoying the Plank Road Trail, former railroad tracks. In 2014, we took several bike rides from Joliet east to Frankfort on this trail. The trail passes the location of the last Kampe farm. William Kampe lived at the west edge of town, north of the train track and east of Pleasant Hill Cemetery. William and Selma Elsner Kampe raised Henry Kampe, my dad, on this farm. Driving on past my stop down memory lane and the trail, I continue just a short distance and find on the right Brookridge Creek School which was built in the mid 1990s. This was built on the location of the Elsner farm.

John Elsner and his family arrived in Illinois during the summer of 1863. He purchased his farm from Levi Doty In 1865. The farm land estate transferred from John, 1814-1876, to Charles, 1852-1941, to George Wilhelm, 1884-1979, to Dorothy Elsner Porter, 1918-2016.  Dorothy and Mildred Schuler Kampe, my mom, enjoyed meeting for lunch once a week. A few times when in Illinois, we had the privilege of joining them. After my mom passed, we stayed in touch with Dorothy by phone and our occasional trips to Illinois. Dorothy allowed me to scan her scrapbook and family documents. A few of the farm memories Dorothy shared include:

• ·   She did no farm work; they had hired help for the care of the animals and gardening
• ·         No one except the farm workers were allowed near the milk cows; if upset, the cows would not give milk
• ·         The hired workers had their own quarters upstairs with a private back entrance; they shared meals with the family
• ·         The farm was listed as grain and dairy. The milk was sold to Hickory Creek Creamery Company which closed in 1895; subsequently the milk was collected by Bowmen Dairy of Chicago, Illinois
• ·         As the farm was west of Frankfort, they had electricity before the town people. The electric lines were installed from west, Joliet, to east, Frankfort
• ·         During the cold, snowy winters, Dorothy lived with family in town and attended school
• ·         During WWII, her brother, George, was drafted. No men were available to hire. Robert, her husband, and Dorothy returned home to help with the crops. This lack of help ended the “hands on” farming. The cows were sold. The family leased their land and farm equipment

Fred Kampe, 1826-1908, and his family arrived in the U.S. in 1854. They lived in Mason County then Frankfort, Will County. In 1878 his farm east of town consisted of 325 acres valued at $15,000 according to the Will County History by Woodruff. The farm was located on Sauk Trail Road. My direct line includes Fredrick Kampe, 1826-1908, John Kampe, 1857-1917,who lived on the family farm. By the 1910 census, John was living in town. In 1910, William Kampe, 1883-1960, was living on the family farm with his new bride, Selma Elsner. Next, William and Selma moved to the farm on Railroad Street. The exact date of their move is unknown at this time, but I have photos of Henry, 1916-1983, as a baby in the yard. Henry Kampe was my main source of information on their life:

• ·         William Kampe was the first person in the area to drive cattle into the Chicago Union Stock Yards by truck
• ·         Daily Henry would walk the cattle to and from what is now Van Horne Woods to graze. He collected many arrowheads during these trips circa mid 1920s

My farm memories from the late 1940s and early 1950s:

• ·         During corn harvesting, I rode in the horse drawn wagon from the field to the barn. I ate with the workers. Even as a young girl, I preferred outdoors with the animals to indoor cooking.  I held a three week old baby pig and could not understand why I couldn’t have a pet until my grandpa showed me the sow
• ·         William’s occupation was stock dealer; my grandpa was a great judge of horses and cattle. I wanted to learn to judge animals too. Every Thanksgiving weekend, we would go to Chicago to the 4-H stock show and horse show
• ·         Sundays and holidays included dinner at the farm. Easter always incorporated an outdoors colored egg hunt for the grandchildren
• ·         Since I loved animals so much, chickens included, when grandpa saw us drive down the lane, all the chickens were locked safely in their coup. I did raise two chickens, Snowball and Midnight; when they grew up they moved to the farm. I had to see them each week before I would eat dinner
• ·         I did play in the fields and the summer kitchen next to the barn

My connect ion, these were my paternal ancestors. Preparing for the Farm and Family program brought back great memories. too many memories for one article.

View my research trees on Ancestry and MyHeritage as Selma Blackmon or Roots_Digger