First Results
As so often, the most fascinating pieces of information turn up by chance ... When investigating the boundaries of wards 15 & 16 of the 1910 census enumeration districts in Chicago I discovered that W.Chicago Avenue is very close to the"C.&N.W. R.R" (Milwaukee Division). This is the Chicago and North Western Railroad depot. It turns out that this was a pioneering and successful railroad with an enormous network spanning some 7,702.76 Miles in 1910 - I found a map and a detailed historical account of its development, including a bankruptcy in 1936 on account of the great depression. Robert can not have been affected by this if he gave away money two years later and retired. But the most remarkable discovery are the historical photographs and postcards collected by the Chicago & Northwestern Historical Society. Set these on "slideshow" and you are taken back to the world Robert lived in. It is as is he is giving us a guided tour of "his" railroad!!
This is definitely where I will focus next - There are card records of personnel who were able to retire under the railroad sponsored pension plan between 1909 & 1940 as well as seniority records ... and I am rather hoping his name will turn up there.
Another area of activities has been the search for census records. There is an exact match in the 1910 census in Milwaukee. In the draft registration of 1917/18 he appears as Robert Bernhard Ludde, living in Cook. No matches are found in the 1920 census or in the land purchase index of Illinois. A certain Robert Luddie appears in the 1930 census living in Cook, I have no information regarding the 1940 census. No newspaper entries have turned up at the time of his death in 1944.
Finally, I was able to obtain the "Coroner's Certificate of Death" above in record time thanks to some really fast work by the Illinois Department of Public Health. Here is what it tells us:
He was unmarried, still living in Cook on West Chicago Avenue and died of Chronic Myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle with similar symptoms to a heart attack. He is described as a retired "old aged person". Apart from his age at the time of death - 67 - and Germany as his land of origin most entries are "unknown". This suggests that neither the coroner nor any friends he may have had searched for an identity document. His burial at "Wunders" cemetery is confirmed, as is the fact that he had lived at this address for some 10 years at the time of his death.
This is definitely where I will focus next - There are card records of personnel who were able to retire under the railroad sponsored pension plan between 1909 & 1940 as well as seniority records ... and I am rather hoping his name will turn up there.
Another area of activities has been the search for census records. There is an exact match in the 1910 census in Milwaukee. In the draft registration of 1917/18 he appears as Robert Bernhard Ludde, living in Cook. No matches are found in the 1920 census or in the land purchase index of Illinois. A certain Robert Luddie appears in the 1930 census living in Cook, I have no information regarding the 1940 census. No newspaper entries have turned up at the time of his death in 1944.
Finally, I was able to obtain the "Coroner's Certificate of Death" above in record time thanks to some really fast work by the Illinois Department of Public Health. Here is what it tells us:
He was unmarried, still living in Cook on West Chicago Avenue and died of Chronic Myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle with similar symptoms to a heart attack. He is described as a retired "old aged person". Apart from his age at the time of death - 67 - and Germany as his land of origin most entries are "unknown". This suggests that neither the coroner nor any friends he may have had searched for an identity document. His burial at "Wunders" cemetery is confirmed, as is the fact that he had lived at this address for some 10 years at the time of his death.
posted by PhotoExplorer at 3:33 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home