Just over a year ago, in A Series of Disasters, I posted a newspaper clipping that I found tucked in with the family photos. This is the copy of the article:
The residence of George Paake at 1016 Trimble Avenue was burned this morning about 10:30 o’clock and a worthy family which has had a series of disasters, left without a home. The house which Mr. Paake was paying for in the Building and Loan Association was entirely ruined although most of the contents of the home were saved. Mr. Paake receives no insurance whatever and the little which had been accumulated by the family was lost.
The fire is only an incident in the history of the family. Mrs. Paake died a short time ago leaving five children, the oldest being fourteen years old. Since the mother’s death the little girl has had entire charge of the house and the four little children and has had all the responsibility of the family except the support which Mr. Paake gave as a laborer. Recently he has been unable to work and was ill this morning when the fire occurred.
The neighbors have taken in the little ones and are doing all that is possible to alleviate the sufferings of the family. Mrs. Carrier has been responsible for raising a sum of money to which the neighbors have liberally contributed.
At the end of this post I will re-post the newspaper clipping for documentation. I want to apologize for spelling the surname every which way, but at every turn the name is spelled differently. Family members changed the spelling, and different documents recorded it differently. Paak-Peek-Paake-Pake: they are all the same.
Eventually, I discovered that this man was George Joseph Paak, Sr., the brother of my great-great-grandmother Alice Paak DeKorn and that the fire occurred on Wednesday, September 3, 1902.
George’s wife Lucy Kliphouse passed away in 1900, leaving 5 young children in their father’s care. George (born Joost) was 50 at the time he was left a widower. At some point he had changed the surname to Pake.
The five children were Cora, the eldest mentioned in the article, Jennie, Theresa (also called Tracy), Fanny (also called Frances), and George Jr. Cora was born in 1888; Jennie (who later changed her name to Jane) in 1890; Theresa in 1893; Fannie in 1896, and George in 1898. George was only four when the fire occurred. Imagine Cora, at 14, taking care of the others–ages 12, 9, 6, and 4. What a burden on such a young girl. And when her mother died, she was only twelve and young George was two!
Since the time of that post, George’s grandson, Professor Edgar Lawrence, discovered this blog. He’s been able to fill in many of the missing pieces about this branch of my family. His mother was Theresa, the middle child. Here is a photo, taken at least a decade after the fire, showing all five Pake children.
###
Oh my goodness – how awful!!
Isn’t it sad how much they had to go through? But they came through and lived for many years. Jennie (Jane) lived to be 107!
What a terrible time for the family! Yet somehow, a few years later, the children look pretty good. It’s amazing and heartening.
Yes, WJ, as I said to Laura above, Jennie (Jane) lived to be 107. They had long and productive lives after all that early tragedy.
That is quite a difficult set of experiences. 107 – wow!
107–I keeping wondering if I want to live that long or not!
A few years ago I met a woman who was 106 and didn’t look a day over 80. She said it was way too long to live, the world had changed so drastically during her lifetime and she had buried everyone that she loved. She also mentioned it was too many wars and disasters for one person to witness. Sad. She has since passed. 107 is definitely too long for me. 🙂
That’s a really sobering thought.
What hardship for that family. Yet, it apparently strengthened them physically and spiritually! 🙂
Linda, that is what it looks like to me, too! People went through so much in those days.
What an awful story. It’s so hard to imagine how people, especially young children, recover from these traumas, but somehow they did.
Did Professor Lawrence confirm whether that photo was his grandfather George?
Amy, I will be sharing information about George in a future post. Stay tuned [she wrote cryptically ;)]. Yes, so many did recovery from such awful circumstances.
The photo of the children as young adults tells me that perhaps one of the reasons Cora endured through it all was her sense of humor. I see a twinkle in her eyes and a bigger smile than her siblings. Your story’s indicative of many of our ancestors, if we take the time to ferret it out. They are so much more than names and dates and places. We know that, but it’s good to be reminded about it again.
Jennie (Jane), you mean, right? She’s the one with the twinkle and the smile and she’s the one who lived to be 107! That should tell us something right there! So true: that they are so much more than names and dates and places. It’s the stories behind those “facts” that intrigue me so much!!
Wow, it’s amazing that she lived to 107. Jennie looks like she would have been a fun person to know. Hopefully she was in good health for most of those years.
[…] The Children After the Fire, 1902 […]
[…] The Children After the Fire, 1902 […]
[…] The Children After the Fire, 1902 […]
[…] The Children After the Fire, 1902 […]
[…] The Children After the Fire, 1902 […]
[…] The Children After the Fire, 1902 […]
[…] The Children After the Fire, 1902 […]
I am the great grandson of Frances Pake (Fannie). She lived to be 93 and full of life up to the very end. She was truly an inspiration especially knowing her rough start.
Oh how cool, Timothy. If you have more information you would like to share about her for the blog, please email me at luanne.castle[at]gmail[dot]com.