Flower in the River: A Family Tale Finally Told
"Flower in the River" podcast, inspired by my book of the same name, explores the 1915 Eastland Disaster in Chicago and its enduring impact, particularly on my family's history. We'll explore the intertwining narratives of others impacted by this tragedy as well, and we'll dive into writing and genealogy and uncover the surprising supernatural elements that surface in family history research. Come along with me on this journey of discovery.
Episodes
137 episodes
The Eastland Survivors and the Case of the Missing Bylines
Memory can vanish quietly—sometimes with a server shutdown. This week, we open the door to the Eastland disaster’s online past: from an early researcher’s dial-up “postcard pages” to an early Eastland website’s now-defunct archive. We ...
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Season 4
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Episode 136
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34:36
Excursion to Death — The Witness Who Finally Spoke
A tug’s line goes taut, a mandolin stops mid-note, and a sleek steamer rolls onto its side in six minutes. That’s the scene an eight-year-old John Griggs never forgot—and the memory he later captured in a gripping article, “Excursion to Death,”...
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Season 4
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Episode 135
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29:57
Visiting Every Grave - George Hilton’s Eastland Legacy
A century after his birth, George W. Hilton is still guiding our footsteps. This episode honors the transportation historian whose book Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic became the cornerstone of Eastland disaster research. After discove...
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Season 4
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Episode 134
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39:13
Buried by Omission: The Eastland Victim Who Disappeared
This week we take a deeper dive into the Claims and Libels files (In the Matter of the Petition of St. Joseph-Chicago Steamship Company, Owner of the Steamer Eastland, For Limitation of Liability) preserved in the National Archives Catalog. The...
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Season 4
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Episode 133
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34:08
True Tales from the Eastland: Admiral Rickover Remembers, Survivors Battle for Redress
Admiral Hyman Rickover—father of the nuclear navy and one of the most influential military figures of the 20th century—had a connection to the 1915 Eastland disaster that’s been virtually forgotten. As a 15-year-old Western Union messenger in C...
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Season 4
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Episode 132
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39:14
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Shoeless in Chicago: A Rusyn Teen Hero of the Eastland
At just 17 years old, Peter Hardy stood on a Chicago bridge in 1915, watching the Eastland fill with happy Western Electric employees on their way to a summer picnic. Moments later, the ship rolled onto its side, plunging more than 800 people t...
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Season 4
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Episode 131
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36:43
Erased by a Typo — Meet the Man Who Saved Lives and Legacies
In this episode, I return to Dwight Boyer’s "True Tales of the Great Lakes" and discuss two forgotten heroes of the 1915 Eastland disaster—one remembered correctly, the other erased for more than a century by a newspaper typo that turned my fac...
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Season 4
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Episode 130
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40:08
Honeymoon Interrupted: The Groom Says "I Do" to Disaster
Hidden stories have a way of finding the light. In this fascinating deep dive, we uncover two previously unknown documents that reshape our understanding of the 1915 Eastland disaster that claimed over 800 lives in the Chicago River.The...
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Season 4
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Episode 129
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25:50
The Sleepyhead Who Dodged Death - Another Untold Eastland Story
Three young engineers fresh out of Cornell University were running late to the Western Electric company picnic on July 24, 1915. One had overslept, making the trio miss their train and arrive at the Chicago River docks just as their coworkers w...
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Season 4
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Episode 128
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27:48
Lost in Translation: How a Name Hid a Hero
One shout could have saved lives. On the morning of the Eastland Disaster, a lone street peddler saw the danger before anyone else. His warning was met with laughter and scorn, and while his experience was recounted in the papers, it...
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Season 4
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Episode 127
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32:33
Who Speaks for Dwight Boyer? The Storyteller Who Remembered Them All
In this week’s episode, I continue reading from "Who Speaks for the Little Feller?"—Dwight Boyer’s unforgettable chapter in "True Tales of the Great Lakes" (1971), one of the earliest and most detailed accounts of the Eastland disaster. A metic...
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Season 4
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Episode 126
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45:25
Dwight Boyer: Forgotten Chronicler of the Eastland Disaster
What We’re Covering:Maritime journalist Dwight Boyer (1912–1977) published a detailed Eastland Disaster account in 1971—more than two decades before most major works on the subjectHis chapter in True Tales of the...
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Season 4
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Episode 125
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46:26
Inside the Eastland Morgue - Where Death Wasn't Silent
Released on July 24, 2025 – the 110th anniversary of the Eastland DisasterOn this pivotal anniversary, I’m sharing one of the most haunting firsthand accounts ever recorded about July 24, 1915—a story that doesn’t end when the s...
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Season 3
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Episode 124
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43:10
Late for Death: Stranger Things--Eastland Edition
What if being late saved your life?In this episode of Flower in the River, we follow the eerie ripple of that question through time.On the morning of July 24, 1915, Tom Milton and Willard Haynes were in Chicago whe...
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Season 3
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Episode 123
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25:38
Wired for Rescue: The Unsung Telephone Heroes of 1915
In this episode, we revisit the Bell Telephone News from August 1915 and the stories of extraordinary individuals who responded to the Eastland disaster with courage and quick thinking:Fred J. Lippert - Th...
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Season 3
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Episode 122
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32:25
She Took the Call. He Dove for the Lost. She Wrote Their Story.
In this week’s episode of Flower in the River, we unearth a powerful 1952 article written by author Olive Carruthers—an overlooked piece of Eastland Disaster history that should be widely known but has remained hidden for over 70 years...
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Season 3
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Episode 121
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45:21
One Saved Lives. One Survived Twice. One Drew the Truth: Recovered Stories of the Eastland
In this episode, I’m circling back to three stories I’ve covered before—but they’re too important to leave behind.First up: Floyd C. Smith, a hardworking Chicago salesman who was near the dock when the Eastland capsized. He assist...
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Season 3
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Episode 120
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35:29
Three Stories. One Disaster. A Century of Silence
In this special retrospective, I’m circling back to some of the most powerful stories I’ve uncovered in my Eastland research—stories that have been entirely absent from the popular historical accounts of the disaster.Meet James Gardne...
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Season 3
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Episode 119
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39:03
BONUS: The Night Nobody Came Knocking – A Father’s Day Story
This is a special bonus episode in honor of Father’s Day 2025.On an ordinary evening in 1960s Cleveland, an unexpected knock at the door changed the way I saw my father forever.This short, true story is a tribute to Robert ...
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6:37
Remember the Eastland… and Sell More Insurance!
In this episode, I explore an aspect of the Eastland Disaster that’s rarely investigated: the insurance industry’s response. It’s not as dry as it sounds!We take a deep look at The Insurance Post, an independent trade jour...
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Season 3
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Episode 118
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37:04
From Gettysburg Grit to Eastland Survival
In this episode, I share the compelling story of the Wagaman brothers from Pennsylvania, not far from Gettysburg. In 1915, both were aboard the Eastland when it capsized in the Chicago River—one as the ship’s chief cook, the other as a last-min...
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Season 3
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Episode 117
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35:15
Letters, Ledgers, and Lost Lives
It’s May 31st—an important date if, like me, you have roots in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. On this day in 1889, the South Fork Dam gave way, and a wall of water wiped out most of the city. Over 2,000 lives were lost. It was a manmade disaster—trag...
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Season 3
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Episode 116
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37:59
A Jeweler, a Woman Diver, a Candy Butcher: Eastland’s Unlikely Trio
The untold stories of the 1915 Eastland disaster continue to surface over a century later through forgotten newspaper accounts and overlooked connections. These rediscovered narratives reveal how this Chicago tragedy touched lives across Americ...
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Season 3
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Episode 115
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34:58
A Tsar, A Serial Killer (??), and a Cabinetmaker from Myjava
In today's episode, I take you on a journey through my unexpected DNA discoveries and how they've connected me to both famous and infamous historical figures. This discovery some new (but very old) Hungarian connections inspired me to research ...
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Season 3
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Episode 114
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43:26
Santa Fe Railway's Eastland Victims
A cemetery caretaker's steady act of tending graves becomes a powerful lesson in historical preservation and honoring forgotten lives. I'll share how this unassuming influence shaped my approach to uncovering and preserving stories of the peopl...
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Season 3
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Episode 113
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40:14
