My Trails into the Past

As I search my database for a person to fit this theme, I came across several who came to tragic deaths. Some by their own hand, some by accidental shootings, and some by accidents involving transportation. This story is about Joseph McFall (1836-1908) who met an untimely death on 6 January 1908, when he was run over by a Chicago, Elgin & Aurora train near the Seventeenth Avenue station in Maywood, a suburb north of Chicago, Illinois. [1]   The newspaper was rather graphic about the condition of his body; even the headline was sensational: “Cut to Pieces; Son Sees it.” That probably got everyone to read the article. [If you don't want to read the graphic description, skip the newspaper article.] It seems that the seventy-two-year-old had poor eyesight and perhaps didn’t see the fast-traveling train coming as he was crossing the tracks near the station. He was cut up pretty badly and because of the speed of the train, parts were flung far. What was most sad, was his son,...

Julia Ann Sievert was born 31 Oct 1854 in Joliet, Will Co, Illinois [1] , the second child of eleven known children of Vincent Sievert and Susana Raduntz.  Her parents came from Schneidemühl, Posen, Prussia [2] which today is in Poland. Riverview Cemetery, Hamilton, MT Julia married Johan Anton Hork in Joliet on 6 June 1872 [3] .  They had ten children, the youngest, William Cyril Hork, my grandfather. John was a tailor and the family moved often when he searched for work.  Finally the family settled in Hamilton, Ravalli County, Montana. [4]  John and Julia were separated and John died in Sheraton, Wyoming in 1906. Julia Ann (Sievert) Hork with granddaughter & daughter -in-law, Anne (Sullivan) Hork Julia continued living in Hamilton until her death 4 Aug 1928. [5]  I know she did some traveling as I have a photo of Julia holding my grandfather's first child in California.   Julia was buried in Riverview Cemetery in ...