-----Original Message-----
From: Geraldine Hergott
Sent: Sep 20, 2011 5:25 PM
To: Roberta Buhle , Carolina Chang
Cc: Maro Noreen , D'Amato Amy
Subject: Re: King Sisters!

See questions below for my additions.

Gerry Hergott

---

From: Roberta Buhle <rbuhle@earthlink.net>
To: Carolina Chang <changcarolina@yahoo.com>
Cc: Hergott Gerry <ghergott@yahoo.com>; Maro Noreen <nmaro@naperville203.org>; D'Amato Amy <amydamato@mac.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 12:43 PM
Subject: Re: King Sisters!

Carol,
I'll start the ball rolling with answers starting with #4--off the top of my head. But I think you should hold off until this, Carol, until it gets vetted by both sisters. I'm not famous for my memory...HOWEVER, I'm also copying Amy D'Amato on this because she did some kind of family history a couple of years ago and maybe she can clarify some of this. Amy?
Love,
Sister Roberta

4. Your father's name Francis James King (all of a sudden, I'm blanking on middle name. Is this right?)
FROM GERRY: yes, Francis James King
FROM NOREEN His actual name was Francis James Aloysius James King

5. Your mother's name Dorothy Celia King--maiden name is Law.
FROM GERRY:  Mother had no middle name, but there was someone with bad credit named Dorothy King, so she added (I don't think legally -- through court docs) an R., Dorothy R. King. Noreen will be able to verify this with papers in the wooden box at her house, but I think Gramma Tootsie's middle initial was C.

6. Names of any other spouses/life partners of your parents, any other children by them (please specify) Rita Ribakowskas (sp?)

FROM GERRY:   Life spouse would be Lois Bailey the Bitch? Maybe Bitch is really her first name instead of Lois.

7. Your maternal grandmother Celia Schlagal (maiden name is Law)--not sure of middle name...She only went by Law, though...are we sure they were married?

FROM GERRY:  Wasn't maternal grandma "Tootsie" named Cecil, and then because she thought it was a man's name, she changed it to Celia?  And legally, too, I think. All correct as I remember.

FROM NOREEN They were not married. She was always Celia Law, although mother said there were questions as to whether her name was Celia, Cecil, or Cecila.

8. Your maternal grandfather Frank Schlagal (sp)
FROM GERRY:  (I think middle initial was "J")  Also, Frank "Schlegel" (possible other spelling -- Noreen, do you have his papers?)  We can get alot more from whatever is in that box.

9. Names of any other spouses/life partners of your maternal grandparents Grandmother never remarried. Frank Schlagal had lots of "liaisons" but not sure whether he married any of them. When he died, our mother got his whole estate and gave it to the mother(s) of some child(ren) he had but my father said, "...she didn't have to..." which suggests to me that he wasn't married to them.

FROM GERRY:   For sure, paternal grandparent, Frank Shlagel had one "male love child" who had a cleft palate.  At his death, mother paid off his debts and always sent money to mother of male child, who according to dad, was either nuts or an alcoholic.  Also, Frank Schlegel's mother was not considered mother material and was taken from his mother and raised by his grandmother, who owned a bar on Lake Street near downtown Chicago, and was, supposedly, the only bar that Mary Todd Lincoln went into.  Bar was later taken for unpaid back taxes. Frank Shlagal's mother used to come to the park and watch him on the swing because her rich mother-in-law wouldn't let her visit. Frank told our mother (Dorothy) that he remembers being held up to the window so his mother could see him from outside. I think she was very young.

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FROM NOREEN I remember that Frank, at the end of his life, had a common law relationship with Mae Schagel and that together they had a son, John who was younger than mother and had a cleft palate. 

10. Your paternal grandmother Josephine King--don't remember maiden name, but it was German, I think.
FROM GERRY:  Paternal grandparent was Josephine King (maiden name:  Hoppe).  Definitely German.  Wasn't it her father or brother who committed suicide with a rifle?  Definitely was a Hoppe. She had a relative (cousin? in-law) who used to love old coffee so she'd keep strong kind of stale coffee around for him. Our Dad said she never let him eat between meals but used to give her grandkids Hershey bars from the refrigerator whether we'd eaten or not.

11. Your paternal grandfather John King
FROM GERRY:  His sisters were Mae King and who was the sister that lived in Kenosha w/her husband over Church resale shop -- we'd go and visit her occasionally? Heck. Mae's sister's name is on the tip of my tongue. Like "Mae," it's a very old fashioned name. I see a "W" in my head. They used to live together on the southside and I used to take a bus there and fix their hair for them when I was in high school. That's when I discovered that Mae's auburn hair was a great die job (gray roots). I still have a doll with real human hair and a leather body that was bought for me at the resale shop. It was called The St. Vincent DePaul Resale Shop. Mae never married and my Dad said she used to be kind of wild as a teenager and young woman.

FROM NOREEN We called grandpa's other sister, Aunt Nell, I'm not sure if that was a shortened version of Eleanor. Amy researched the family, so maybe she would know. In her youth, Aunt Mae, must have been flat chested, because she told me stories of stuffing her bra, once with a balloon that exploded when she came too close to her date's tie stick pin, Another time, she filled it with feathers, which slowly came out and floated through the air. Her date was very confused as to where they were coming from. 

12. Names of any other spouses/life partners of your paternal grandparents No other spouses about which we know...
FROM GERRY:  Okay

13. Names of any great grandparents, as far as you can go, actually. I only remember that our mother's maternal grandmother was called Little Gramma (short--hey, is this why I got cheated out of height?). Her maternal grandfather was Law and came here from Scotland before he was 20. Met Little Gramma in a hotel (she was maid, I think) in NY and they eventually came to Chicago. He had a couple of years of college in Edinburgh before emigrating and was a kind of bookkeeper here. Our father's mother lived upstairs from him on Normal, along with our grandfather's (John King's) sister Mae and a "border". When John's mother died, they discovered she had secretly married the border who was living with her and Mae.
FROM GERRY:  I thought "little grandma" our great grandmother,  Yes, she was our great grandmother. She was our Mother's Grandmother. Met her husband in Canada, where most Europeans migrated to, as it was easier to get into US after a little while.  He had a fiance left in Scotland, His family was very wealthy in Ediburgh. His wife came from Glasgow, which is thought to be more of a blue-collar town. When I visited there, I couldn't understand a word they said. but got "little gramma" preggers and had to marry her.  His family was very unhappy about it, as she was peasant material, and he was a citified, college educated (U of Edinburgh) guy.  According to the relatives I met when I visited Edinburgh (his niece), he broke his mother's heart when he left. Went out for a pack of cigarettes and never came back. Only came home once and they said it was because he had an inheritance from his parents that could only be claimed in person. Hence, regarding their children, Ethel, Bessie, Cecil/Celia, James I thought there was a Bill here?,  His name was Bob. Henrietta, Agnes -- some were a bit peasantish (eg Ethel) and others rather sophisticated (eg Cecil/Celia). Henrietta was the first to graduate from grammar school.  Celia was a cashier for a touring circus or play or something and led the high life, that's why there's some question of whether our mother's mother actually married Frank Schlagal.  She was 18 when our mother, Dorothy, was born Noreen may help with this but I thought she was only 16 or 17 when she had Mom.  Celia was traveling and then treated for tuberculosis, so Dorothy was raised by her mother's sister, her aunt Bessie who was married to David Ewing, and they had 2 sons, Harry and James Ewing.  James died at about 21 yrs of an unexpected heart condition Died because of walking pneumonia.  Harry married Harriet (Congua) Ewing who had a daughter Joyce (legally changed to Jocelyn) Congua who married Blair Levy (legally changed to Blair Wasn't his name Allen Blair) and had a son, who lives in CAlifornia & is a record producer or something.  Blair died piloting his jet plane in WI at about 49 yrs.  Harry and Harriet Ewing died in a car crash on their way to visit Jocelyn in Eagle River, WI.

I know I said 3 generations, but if you can go past your grandparents (easily), then I'd like to have that information (whatever you have).  It'll just make your family tree that much more complete. I'll also try to do some King family history research to see if I can find anything on my own. My church has a huge family history database, so if I find something I'll let you know.

I'm going to attach a picture of a family tree I did fo r my father-in-law over 10 years ago.  It's a conservative version of what I want to do with your tree.  His only has the names of his 3-generation chart, a scripture that's close to him, and a small note from me.  What I'd like to do with yours is make it a sisters tree, and try and tell the unique story of the King sisters.

In case you didn't know, I'm in an MFA program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for Writing.  They very much encourage interdisciplinary work, so I want to tell a story, but through this visual piece. I don't expect your tree to look anything like I did for Doug's dad, but it's a reference for you to conceptualize my "vision."  This is my last class, and my last project, so I wanted to do something grand, so THANK YOU for participating.

So let's hit "reply all" to these emails to keep each sister in the loop and the discussion open.  I will email or call you each individually at one point to get some individual perspectives and thoughts, but for now, in the general info gathering period, let's do it together.

THIS IS GOING TO BE FUN! Family history is amazing and I hope this turns out as worthwhile for you as it will be for me.