Four-dimensional Chicago
1890 Chicago Blue Book, originally uploaded by Hawk3ye.
I just read an amazing blog post by John Tolva about tracing his ancestors arrival in Chicago from Italy.
The blog reminded me that I had found an address for Jim’s ancestors at 259 Hermitage Avenue in Chicago, an address that no longer exists. Suddenly I have the resources to find out if that address might have been renumbered or to view what the map of that neighborhood looked like in 1890.
As for my own Chicago ancestors… When I chose to move to Chicago 12 years ago it was because I had grown to love the place during many weekend train trips throughout high school and college. My family, however, all lived in Kankakee & Iroquois counties in Illinois, with other relatives spread across Colorado & points west. As I’ve lived here though I have found that I do have roots in Chicago: My great-great-grandparents, Nikolaus Posing and Mary Virginia Bensler, left Luxembourg as young people on the same ship in 1882, and after a few years on the east coast, were reunited up in Chicago. They were married in Rogers Park (or “South Evanston” as it reads on the certificate) on September 19, 1887, and still lived there in 1890. By 1900 they had relocated to Kankakee County.
I think it’s about time to track down those Bruckers and Posings in Chicago history and stand for a time where they did.
I didn’t know that about the Posings. That would be really cool if you could visit the addresses!
Some good background info about the settlement of Rogers Park in the late 19th century by Luxembourg immigrants can be found in 2 books by Neal Samors entitled “A History of Rogers Park and Westridge” and “Neighborhoods Within Neighborhoods”. It’s great stuff if you ‘re a local history enthusiast.