These words detail the Immigrant Ancestors and Families of Larry and Lorraine Bodinet Paha. Obviously, then, these words also detail the Immigrant Ancestors and Families of their children and, in part, the story of Larry’s brother Joseph and sister Rosemary, and Lorraine’s sister Anne Mae and brother Edward. And, in part, their children. And so on and so on and so on. These ancestors left Europe between 1833 and 1890. There were many reasons why they emigrated. Many will be explored in the essays ahead. As for central Europe and Germany: social, religious, economic, military service, personal freedoms, and wars were the more significant ones. Opportunity in America and letters home from America had a significant impact on moving people west. I've called these works - 'Living the Dream' which is very appropriate, carrying over even to today's immigrants and our own individual lives. Enjoy!!
Anna's parents were Michael and Anna Auerhahn Utz. They married in Germany and had seven children: Michael, Anna, Charles, John, George, Mildred and William.
Anna was born in 1894 on Chicago's south side, in Saint Augustine Parish. She completed grammar school before entering the work force. She grew up in the 'back of the yards' and worked as a young woman for the Western Electric Company. One Saturday summer morning in 1915, Anna was attending a company sponsored day trip across Lake Michigan from Chicago to Saint Joseph for an afternoon picnic. As the large group of around 2500 employees boarded the Laker, SS Eastland, tied up in the Chicago River, the ship became unstable and rolled onto her side. Anna was trapped between decks at the time, she was fortunate to be able to climb upward and escape through a porthole. That morning, over 800 passengers perished as the ship lay on her side in shallow water, a number exceeding actual passenger deaths on the Titanic three years earlier. Anna died at age 69 in 1963 and is buried in Saint Mary's Cemetery in Evergreen Park, Illinois.
Michael and Anna Utz came to America from Germany arriving in New York on July 5th, 1890, aboard the ship Aller. Michael is 30, listed as a farmer, Anna is 29. They came to Chicago's Southside and started to raise their family. Michael died very young after William's birth and is buried in Saint Mary's Cemetery in Evergreen Park, Illinois. Mary lived on relying on Michael and Anna t help raise their family. She remarries Charles Wanamaker. She dies in 1920 and is buried in Saint Mary's Cemetery in Evergreen Park, Illinois. This is an unmarked grave. They are an Immigrant Family.
Peter's parents were Ambrose and Mary Kaspar Bodinet. They married in 1891 in St Augustine Church and had eight children, five of whom live to adulthood: John, Peter, John, Nicholas, Anna, Barbara, Edward and Gertrude. Peter was born in 1893 on Chicago's south side in Saint Augustine Parish. His elder brother John dies very young, and Peter becomes eldest. He grows up in the 'back of the yards', receiving a very limited education through fifth grade, prior to entering the work force in the stockyards. He served in the infantry in WWI, returned home and married Anna. In the 20's, he purchased and operated Pete's Hardware Store on 59th Street, and lived with his family in an apartment above the store. But, as the Depression came home in 1929, he lost the store and site, and moved with his family to the 5400 block of South Laflin. Peter died at age 53 in 1947 and is buried in Saint Mary's Cemetery in Evergreen Park, Illinois.
Mary Kasper, born in 1872 in Sellersbach, Saarland, Germany, was the daughter of Mathias and Barbara Meier Kasper. She is an Immigrant Ancestor. She immigrated to America in 1889, following her sister, Mary, who arrived a few years earlier, and who married Ambrose's older brother John. She married Ambrose shortly after arriving in 1891. Mary died in 1932 at age 59 and is buried in Saint Mary's Cemetery in Evergreen Park, Illinois.
Ambrose Bodinet, born in 1865 in Dillingen, Saarland, Germany, was the second eldest son of John and Maria Stoehr Bodinet. He is an Immigrant Ancestor. He immigrated to America in 1882, arriving four years after his older brother, John. The Saarland, located in southwestern Germany, borders against Alsace-Lorraine, a land area in contention for control between the French and German governments. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, France relinquished control of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany as a buffer zone. As the Prussian Chancellor Bismarck consolidated German territories into the Second Reich in 1871, John and Ambrose emigrated at age 17, possibly to avoid military duty. Ambrose followed his brother John to Chicago's back of the yards neighborhood, around 5200 South Laflin. He worked in the stockyards. He and Mary lived the remainder of their lives in Saint Augustine Parish, and after Mary died, Ambrose eventually moved in with his son, Nicholas and family. Ambrose died in 1949 at age 83 and is buried in Saint Mary's Cemetery in Evergreen Park, Illinois.
John, born in 1889, was the youngest Paha to immigrate to America. Not yet aged one, he traveled with his sister Anna, who was five, and parents Josef and Mary Gill Paha, and arrived in America in 1890. They left Bohemia (Czech Republic) and the growing turmoil within the Hapsburg Monarchy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire for the opportunity and freedoms of America. They are an Immigrant Family. They came to Chicago's Southside, and Josef worked as a baker. They lived around 39th and Wells for a number of years belonging to Saint George's Parish and eventually move to the 5400 block of South Laflin. Mother Mary died in 1919 at age 65 and Josef died 15 years later at age 77. They are buried in Saint Mary's Cemetery in Evergreen Park, Illinois.
Ida's parents were Charles
and Margaret Kestel Rash. They married in 1890 in Cook County and have
five children: Mary, Ida (twin sisters), Clara,
Anthony, and Angela.
Ida was born in 1891 in Chicago in Saint George's
Parish around 39th and Wells. They eventually resided on the 5400 block of
South Laflin. After marrying John, they also lived
on the 5400 block of South Laflin. John
worked
in the stockyards and then as an electrician. He was known as a good
bowler. John died in 1951 at age 61 and Ida
died 23 years later at age 82. She lived the last few years of her life with her
twin sister Mary in a suburb south of Chicago. They are buried in Saint Mary's
Cemetery in Evergreen Park, Illinois. They share a common gravestone with Josef
and Mary Gill Paha.
Margaret's parents were George and Barbara Vetter Kestel. They married before 1856 in Bavaria, Germany, and have eight children: John, Margaret, Michael, George, Mary, Andrew, Catherine and Joseph. George and Barbara came to America in 1857 aboard the sailing ship Young Sam, and arrived in New York City on July 1st. Along with their son, John, they immigrated from Kronach, in northern Bavaria. They initially settled in Joliet, then bought farmland two miles north of the city of Manhattan. They are an Immigrant Family. George's half brother, Michael Fuch Kestel and his wife, Ursula, join them the following year. The two brothers successfully farmed this land for many years. George died in 1897, Barbara lived until 1917. They are both buried in St John the Baptist, Joliet, Will County, Illinois.
Maggie, as she was known, is the first Kestel born in America. She was born Will County in 1865, around the city of Joliet. In the late 1880s, she may have come to Chicago for employment as a young single woman.
Charles Rash was born in 1865, in Mount Sterling, Illinois about 20 miles south of Macomb. His parents were David and Margaret Crummy Rash who married in 1860. They have seven children: Frank, Charles, Ida, Mary Ellen, Fred, Edward and Anna.
Charles grew up on the farm in Mount Sterling and around 1887, he left for employment in Chicago. He met and married Margaret. He worked as a maintenance engineer for a number of years. They move around the south side between Saint George and Saint Augustine Parish, eventually settling on the 5400 block of south Laflin. Margaret passes away in 1927, Charles a year later, they are buried in Saint Mary's Cemetery in Evergreen Park, Illinois.
Margaret Crummy was born in 1842 in County Armagh, Ireland. Her parents were Bernard and Mary O'Callahan Crummy. They married in 1837 in Ireland and have eleven children, of which the four oldest were born in Ireland. They are: Catherine, Daniel, Margaret, Mary, Anna, Bridget, Bernard, Elizabeth, Ellen, Franklin and Sarah. They are an Immigrant Family.
Margaret arrives in Mount Sterling, Brown County Illinois in 1852 at age 10, and marries David Rash in 1860. It is an odd pairing for that time, German and Irish, and the only Irish ancestry for Larry and Lorraine's children.
Bernard and Mary O'Callahan Crummy are born in Belfast, County Down and Newry, County Armagh, Ireland respectively in the years 1820 and 1822. They came to America in 1848, probably as a result of the Potato Famine of Ireland, and initially settled in Georgetown of Scott County, Kentucky. Around 1852, they come to Mount Sterling, Illinois and farm seven miles north of the city. In the early 1870s, they move to Gibson City, in Ford County Illinois and operate a boarding house for the three railroads which go through the city. Bernard dies around 1896 and Mary lives on to around 1902, they are both buried in the catholic cemetery in Gibson City.
David Rash, born in 1832, immigrated with his sister, two older half brothers, one half sister, and parents, Joseph and Barbara Grass Resch in 1833 from the area of Fulda, Hesse Cassel, German Confederation, and arrived in the Port of Baltimore. David is the youngest of the oldest family of immigrants in our family. They are an Immigrant Family. Joseph, born around 1783, was married twice in Germany. Children of his first spouse were: Philip, Teresa and Leborius. Barbara, born in 1795, mothered five children: Catherine, David, Joseph, Elizabeth and Anna. From Baltimore, they moved on to Zanesville, Ohio and purchased land to farm. In 1853, Joseph, Barbara and her children move on west to Brown County, Illinois and purchase 240 acres of land 4 miles north of Mount Sterling. The travel by wagon, and the rigorous trip is difficult for Joseph, he dies in 1856 at age 73. Barbara continues on with the help of David and Joseph. She dies in 1867. David takes over the farm with Margaret. They farm in Mount Sterling until near the end of the century, David dies in 1905, and Margaret lives on until 1916. The family is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery in Mount Sterling.
So that's it. In one page, I've given a rough accounting of our immigrant ancestors, but what they did when they arrived is the real story of America. These ancestors lived in just a few counties: Muskingum of Ohio, Scott of Kentucky, Brown, Will and Cook of Illinois. As time marched on, these people migrated to the city, more specifically, the Back of the Yards on Chicago's South Side. Saint Augustine Parish was a central influence on these families after 1890. But those words are written on other pages. Enjoy!!
The Table of Contents can be reached with this link.