In the box of glass negatives from photographs taken by Joseph DeKorn there is an image that I wonder about. It seems to be an elaborate headstone for a man named Louis Van Wyck. Placed on top of the headstone is a cornet. The inscription reads, in part, “Last cornet solo played in Y.P.L. meeting June 18, 1911.”
His birth and death dates are also engraved on the headstone. He died the day after the cornet solo, on June 19, 1911. He was 17 years old–not a man, but a boy!
A photograph leans against the marblebase. He looks young and blond. The stone is further engraved with images and a poem.
Although I have his dates, I can’t find Louis through Ancestry’s search function–or Find-a-Grave either. So I turned to Genealogy Bank where I found one article about his memorial service.
Read it here: Louis Van Wyck memorial service. Note that the passage about the funeral is at the VERY END of this article.
I didn’t know what Y.P.L. on the headstone meant, but after reading about the Salvation Army hosting Louis’ memorial service, I looked it up online. It seems to mean Young People’s League. Now I have to admit I don’t know much of anything about the Salvation Army except that it is a Christian denomination and a charity, I sometimes donate furniture or clothing to them, and they (or volunteers like my family and friends) ring bells at Christmas outside shopping malls. I think Sarah in the musical Guys and Dolls belongs to a fictional representation of the Salvation Army.
That is kind of fitting because I just read up a bit and discovered that music has been important to the Salvation Army from the beginning. How fitting this headstone was, then, for poor Louis. But how did he die at such a young age? And how was he connected with Joseph DeKorn or my family? He would have been about 12 years younger than Joseph.
And why can’t I find him in documents in my initial search?
The Family Kalamazoo 
Have you considered that there may be transcription errors when the data was entered to Ancestry’s database? Do as many wild card searches as possible and try varying the way the name is spelled.
EmilyAnn, I had, but wasn’t sure how far to take it and if you see below, it turns out there you are correct–there were errors and discrepancies in how the name was reported!!
The link for the memorial service is not working for me.
Did you get it to work? It’s that the “obit” is at the very end of the article.
Young People’s League. Here’s a link to YPL in Santa Monica, CA. Maybe the league was widespread in the old days, or maybe it was only in Santa Monica. http://www1.usw.salvationarmy.org/usw/www_usw_santamonica.nsf/vw-sublinks/fcbde556d300edda8825714f005cfc72
No, I think the YPL was widespread through The Salvation Army. Interesting that your article says it’s about learning how to have safe relationships. Somehow I think the mission has changed over the years . . . .
The link is for a news article about restoring the canteen?? You haven’t found him on either the 1900 or 1910 census, I assume—have you found other van Wycks? Could he have been living elsewhere? That is a bit odd…
Amy, see below, pastsmith did some amazing work on Louis! The obit is at the very end of the canteen article. Very odd article all the way around!
Have you searched the death certificates on the Seeking Michigan website? http://seekingmichigan.org/discover/death-records-1897-1920
Deborah, I did try it and couldn’t find anything, but if you see below, pastsmith put more elbow grease into this search than I did–and WOW!!!
Wow, that’s the shortest obit/memorial I’ve ever seen: less than 10 words. Wish it said where he died as I just took genealogylady’s suggestion and searched those death records. Nothing for his name: “Louis Van Wyck”. Second search with “Louis” as first name, and year of death “1911” produced 138 results but nothing that looks like VanWyck. So then I kept 1992 as death year and added ” Van * ” under Last Name. Still nothing that looks like VanWyck. Love their search engine as it allows so many various entries to search.
There’s 3 other possibilities: 1) Louis is spelled differently on death certificate. 2) Year of death is wrong (but it looks like tombstone was made & picture taken shortly after his death). 3) He died out of State.
What a mystery! Makes sense though — perhaps both families were in the same church, or perhaps same neighborhood since they’re both Dutch names.
YIPPEE!! I figured it out!! After re-reading, and proofreading this post, I happened to notice I put a space between Van and the *. I took it out, and lo and behold, a “Towes VanWyck” shows up in the 4 search results. AND his date of death matches your Louis: 19 Jun 1911.
Looking closely at the first name on the certificate, I believe it is Louis, not Towes as transcribed. He was born in Holland, and was 17 yrs, 7 mths, and 3 das. old when he died. The informant looks like Louis VanWyck, although that’s a little muddled. Farther down there’s a signature of informant and that’s definitely Louis. It’s his father.
So it tells how he died, where he died, and what time he was last seen. Also that someone acted as coroner to fill out the certificate. And was buried at Riverside. Odd he doesn’t show up in Find-A-Grave with such a big tombstone–we know it didn’t sink or get covered up. Have you checked Billion Graves?
Here’s the link!
http://seekingmichigan.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p129401coll7/id/374095/rec/3
PS. Searched Find-A-Grave, and his memorial # is 25880732.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=25880732
His father, Louis (d. 1928), and his mother, Rachel (d. 1935) are also buried there and those names match what’s on his death certificate. However, the photo for his marker doesn’t match your photo!
Brings up all sorts of questions: What was the weather like on June 19, 1911? Was it really hot? Did a storm come up quickly? What day was his concert? What day of the week did he die? There are no other VanWycks in Riverside, at least with that transcribed spelling–wonder did he have siblings? I certainly hope this wasn’t their only child….very sad.
But all that still doesn’t resolve the question as to why you have a glass negative of his memorial. Check censuses pages before and after your relatives. Maybe you’ll find they were neighbors. Or perhaps check if they immigrated from Holland together?
…………………………….
OK, I admit I love a good genealogy mystery. Checked censuses, and here’s why you can’t find him: He’s listed as “Jr.” in the 1910 census at Ancestry, THAT’S IT! Look for Rachel VanWyck in Kalamazoo in 1910, and you’ll find the family. Louis isn’t their only child, but was their only son. He had an older sister, Mary, age 21, and a younger sister, Kate, age 4. According to this census, they immigrated from Holland around 1904. They lived at 913 Boerman Ave in Kalamazoo, which is the same residence listed on the Death Cert.
I am jealous of your tenacity!
Me too!!!
You are amazing! I have to go now, but I will write later. Amazing!
So Louis, Jr. had two gravestones?
This mystery confounds me!!! How is it possible?!
I am glad pastsmith had the time to do all the alternative spellings! My first couple of searches were unsuccessful, and then I had to get back to my day job!
LOL, tell me about it! What a fabulous job on it!!!
Random story: I got a vintage Salvation Army coat from a thrift store, and it had an old-ish letter, written in German that had gone through a hole in the pocket and settled into the lining.
What an exciting find! I was surprised to learn that they have The Salvation Army in the Netherlands. I didn’t realize it was around the world, but I guess it is!
Wow! First, kudos to pastsmith for amazing sleuthing! And second, that is one very buried obit. You’d think that somewhere the paper would have referred to his death more thoroughly rather than just a mention in a tiny item like that. Very strange! So was he a neighbor of your family?
Amy, I’m sorry that I didn’t read this. You posted your comment a few days before my father passed away, and I never noticed this. I am not yet sure how louis was connected with my family, but I suspect he was a neighbor. Notice below, the comment from Joel. He has more info about Louis.
I cannot guess why someone so young would die, did not have a chance to read other’s comments, need to get going and eat my dinner, Luanne.
So sad about his cornet solo and then death. I am sad he was only in America coming from Holland for seven years. Hope he enjoyed this country. This was an intriguing post with such a fantastic headstone with the cornet on top of it.
Robin, I’m sorry that I missed this comment, but I see it was a few days before my father passed away. Notice that someone posted just below about the death of young Louis Van Wyck. Interesting info!
YPL stands for Young People’s Legion. As a child I was a member of the YPL. It was a group in The Salvation Army for 12-30 year olds. It was a Christian fellowship group and we had junior worship meetings. It sounds like LVW Jr played a cornet solo that Sunday, 6/18/1911 and drowned the next day. There are pictures of him today in The Salvation Army, Kalamazoo Citadel Band room. More than 20 years ago I had possession of historic documents from his relatives published by The Salvation Army Chicago which told of his untimely death, or as we say in The Salvation Army, his “promotion to Glory.”
Joel, this is amazing information. How sad that he died at such a young age. How lovely that his pictures are still up, though. Did you happen to notice that the photo of Louis’ headstone that I have is not the same as that apparently at the cemetery today? Any thoughts on that?
LVW’s sister is Mary A (VanWyck) Fortune, 1888-1976, Find a grave #25812816, Riverside Cemetery, Kalamazoo. Her husband gave the books which archived “The Young Soldier” publication of The Salvation Army to my mother-in-law, shortly after Mary’s promotion to Glory in 1976. They came into my possession in the 1980’s. I have since forwarded them on to The Salvation Army Central Territory’s Museum and Archives in Hoffman Estates, IL.
As for LVW’s two headstones; I am more familiar with the one with the cornet on it. I don’t recall where I’ve seen it before. But I knew it before I saw it in your web site. Perhaps it was in this archive book I had, or in local S.A. archive photos. I would like to see the larger headstone. I’ve also seen the more plain headstone before your web site, I have no explanation for two headstones. The photo of Louis himself is the photo I’ve seen published and in the local S.A. archives, as well as others that are of that era.
I need to correct my earlier post. His photo is not currently posted in our Kalamazoo S.A. Band room. I checked today, and The picture of the 1907 Salvation Army Boys Band does not include him.
Wonderful information. Thank you so much! The headstone with the cornet on it is a photograph that I happen to know is over 100 years old because it was in the glass negatives that belonged to my great-great-uncle Joseph DeKorn. So I don’t know why that “plainer” headstone is what appears to be at Riverside Cemetery today. That is really a mystery.
I came across the actual Band Commission for Louis VanWyke Jr.(Wyck is misspelled on the document) in our local SA archives from 1909. I have a picture of it but don’t know how to present it here. It has renewal comments written on it, renewing it until 1910, 1911, and 1912. Also, on the certificate is printed the name of the current General; William Booth. After Booth’s death in 1912 all subsequent SA documents say, “William Booth, Founder”, and would also list the current General.
I also have other anecdotal information regarding Louis’s sister, Mary A. Fortune, from my wife. In the 1960-70’s Mary and Neil Fortune lived next door to my wife’s parents, Richard and Shirley Aukes on Bacon Road in Portage, MI. The Aukes’s and Mary were members of The Salvation Army of Kalamazoo, like Louis VW. Neil helped Richard build a garage. Later after Richard’s death in 1968 and Mary’s death in 1976, Neil gave Shirley Mary’s cedar hope chest. The hope chest was given to my wife, who in turn has given it to our daughter Betsy. Besides the hope chest, Shirley received the books chronicling Louis’s premature death.
Are you related to Chris Aukes? I went to school with him in junior high, Portage Central. Write to me at luannecastle[at]gmail[dot]com, and you can attach it. I’ll put it in a blog post or maybe on this very post. What a special heirloom!!! I love this story. I think the information you are providing belongs in the post or in a new post. Send me what information you have and want put up and maybe I will put up a new post and put the info all together. Yes?
I am Chris’s brother-in-law. I’ll have to get my wife to refresh the Mary Fortune memories for me, so I can post them here. Chris is the Bandmaster of the Kalamazoo Citadel Band.