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

              

 

Family historian remove your blinders! set aside personal biases!

 

Family historian remove your blinders in order to chip away at the brick walls. How? Re-examine your documents. Set aside personal biases. Do not accept "No" for an answer. Ask again another day. Do not be fearful of asking questions. With 30+ years in genealogy, I find that I still need this reminder.

Learn the meaning of documents in the time they were written. What were the laws at that time? What was the culture? Many new historians read the military pension application card as "Invalid." The Merriam Webster dictionary offers two meanings. The researcher may grab the first meaning, "being without foundation or force in fact, truth, or law" and move on to other records. In reality, the meaning is "suffering from disease or disability." Men did not apply for a military pension until absolutely necessary for family support.

Set aside your biases. Do not clump everyone in a category. The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) hosted a Farm and Family night in Springfield, Illinois on August 31, 2016. While working on a family display, I called my 93 year old relative several times. Being raised in a non-talking family, I assumed everyone would be closed mouth about their past. "Call anytime, I will be happy to answer your questions." The questions flowed, such as what was it like growing up? Answer: "Just like any other city girl... We had a dairy farm and were not allowed near the cows. We always had one hired man and during the summer more." The milk was sold to Bowman Dairy. The Elsner farm had electricity before the town of Frankfort. All the children graduated from college. The ladies did not work in the fields, until WWII. Every family farm life is unique. The John Kampe farm did have the variety of cows, horses, pigs and chickens. His son, William became a stockman. He was one of the first in Frankfort to drive a truck full of cattle to the stock yards on the south side of Chicago. Henry, William's son and my dad, would tell of herding the cattle to what is now Van Horne Woods. As a boy, he collected arrow heads.

Learn context and time for asking questions. Some of us were raised in the don't ask or don't tell time warp. My mom, born 1919 in Illinois, had to go out the back door when family came in the front door. Adults talk about adult topics and little ears are not welcome even in the other room. I was raised to sit in the back corner and be seen and not heard. This very strong message was played out when I went to watch my dad work. He was a court reporter. I had no idea of protocol; when the judge came in and the court worker said, "all rise" I just sank deeper in my chair. This was for everyone else, not me! Did I learn differently later. In each situation, your response may be different.

Ask questions. Keep asking questions. Keep the question time short, allow the person to tell you want they want to tell, but keep on topic. If our own preconceived ideas do not interfere, we will learn a good deal.