Post Card Courtship, SCHULER

      The SCHULER family arrived in Lockport, Illinois, about 1840 and remains there today. The I&M Canal, Illinois and Michigan Canal, plays a prominent part in their history. William John SCHULER, third generation, started walking with the mules and finished with a pilot’s license. The typical Sunday COUCH family dinner included fried chicken. How long had Will been invited to eat with the family? Elisha COUCH, Nettie’s grandfather, was a blacksmith. How many of the young lads were invited to Sunday dinner? In the early 1900s as he traveled down the canal, Will would somehow find himself in Seneca on Sunday and around meal time. The marriage of Will and Nettie took place 23 December 1908 at Seneca, LaSalle County, Illinois.

These post cards were Will’s “love Letters” to Nettie before their marriage:

Relationship to me, Selma, maternal grandparents: William John Schuler, 1871-1964, Lockport, Will County, Illinois, and Nettie Ethel Couch, 1884-1965, Seneca, LaSalle County, Illinois.

Sunday's Obituary - KILMER, May E. BENNETT (1881-1907)

KILMER, May E. BENNETT (1881-1907)


SENSATION AT SENECA

Sudden Death of Mrs. Roy Kilmer Starts Many Rumors

MURDER AND SUICIDE TALK

Coroner's Jury Render Verdict of Death from Natural Causes.

   Mrs. May Bennett Kilmer died very suddenly on Sunday, November 3, at Seneca. About 4 o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, her husband, Roy Kilmer, was also taken very ill and for some time it was thought he was going to die. These facts seemed to produce many queries in the minds of the Seneca people and all kinds of stories were started which included murder and suicide by poison. On Monday a coroner's jury after hearing the evidence, set the people's minds at rest by returning a verdict that death was produced by natural causes.
   The inquest developed the fact that Mrs. Kilmer's death was caused by the bursting of an abscess on the brain. A post-mortem examination was made which cleared away all ideas of murder or suicide.
   Mrs. Kilmer, nee May Bennett, was married about two weeks ago in Ottawa, her former home. She was in the twenty-seventh year of her age.
   From the stories told at the time of the woman's death it was gleaned that Kilmer had been engaged to another woman, who had gone east but returned to find that Kilmer had taken another woman for his wife. A breach of promise suit was threatened and it is stated that some action had been taken in that direction. All the parties came to Ottawa last Friday in connection with the matter.
   When these circumstances became known the sensational stories were started afloat and exaggerated as they were recounted to others.

"SENSATION AT SENECA," Ottawa Fair Dealer, 8 November 1907, page 1. accessed at LaSalle County Genealogical Guild, Ottawa, Illinois.

How to use Ancestry.com and their ‘suggested records’

Have you noticed the “suggested records” on the right side of the screen on Ancestry.com? Do you know how to use them? These suggestions can lead to new and fascinating discoveries or lead down the blind rabbit hole.  My example is the Schuler family of Lockport, Will County, Illinois. While researching for Genealogy: How to research family relationships from census records,part 4, the 1860 U.S. population schedule census index lists an Eliza  Shuler and Elizabeth Shuler. As a family historian, I want to place Eliza and Elizabeth in their correct family.

Next to the 1860 census index page for Eliza Shuler, the “suggested records” refer to the John Shuler family of Lockport, Illinois in 1850. Another suggestion refers to Elizabeth in the John Shuler family of Ottawa, Illinois in 1850. Can the family historian assume the suggestions are correct? Always search for more verification and documentation. These suggestions may be correct; these suggestions may be mixed up, these suggestions may be completely wrong.

Matching the 1860 and 1850 census indexes, reveals that the 1860 Eliza is the 1850 Elizabeth. Others in the same home in both censuses include John, Charles, and Mary. Family records identify Eufen in 1850 as Ann in 1860. The Schuler family has resided in Lockport, Illinois since 1840.

Who is Eliza Shuler, 17, servant to Stephen Douse? Could Elizabeth enumerated in the John Shuler home and Eliza the servant enumerated with Stephen Douse be the same person?  Is she working? What became of her after 1860? More research is needed to answer these questions.

Sunday's Obituary - Shuler, J. N. (1831-1902)

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Streator Daily Free Press. Streator, Illinois

VOL. XXII – NO. 6700 Saturday, October 11, 1902 pg 1

IN OTTAWA 66 YEARS

Ottawa’s Oldest Citizen Arrived on October 10, 1836.

  Many of the older citizens of Ottawa have been here for a long term of years, but none so long as our fellow townsman, Mr. J.N. Shuler. Sixty-six years ago today he came to Ottawa with his father’s family from near Harrisburg, Pa. They came by boat down the Ohio and up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers to LaSalle. From there the journey was by wagon to Ottawa. Says the Rep. Times.

  At the time of the arrival of Mr. Shuler the inhabitants of Ottawa were not very numerous. The houses on this side of the Illinois numbered only about a dozen and on the south side perhaps double that number. The business was all conducted on the south side, and at the time $18 was the price of a barrel of flour. On this side of the river the old barracks and log jail were situated at the site of the Fox River Hotel; the Mansion House – for years the leading hotel – was just being completed, and Mr. Shuler and his folks stopped there until the completion of their own home. The inhabitants all told numbered not more than 100.

  Even though many people feel that Ottawa has not developed nearly fast enough, there certainly have been many changes and much advancement during the period of Mr. Shuler’s citizenship.