Flower in the River: A Family Tale Finally Told

The Chicago Shoemaker and the Jersey Transplants: Eastland's Unexpected Ties

• Natalie Zett • Season 2 • Episode 75

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In this episode, the journey into the history of the Eastland Disaster continues, sharing new findings and uncovering untold stories of those affected by the tragedy. A unique two-part approach to research combines rigorous historical investigation with intuitive connections to the past. This episode features the compelling stories of the Remy and Tismer families, who suffered heartbreaking losses in the disaster. Correcting historical inaccuracies is crucial to honoring the memory of those who perished.

Key Points:

  • Research Approach: A methodical process of historical research is outlined, emphasizing the importance of persistence, cross-referencing sources, and constant questioning to uncover the truth about the Eastland Disaster and its victims.
  • Intuitive Connections: Growing up in a family with deep spiritual beliefs has shaped the way stories are found, often guided by intuition. The role of synchronicity in research is explored, showing how these connections bring the past to life.
  • The Remy Family: A long-standing historical inaccuracy regarding Florence and Ella Remy, who perished in the Eastland Disaster, is corrected. Contrary to earlier reports, Ella was Florence’s mother, not her sister, highlighting the significance of thorough research.
  • The Tismer Family: A deep dive into the Tismer family's story reveals the tragic loss of four children in the Eastland Disaster. An emotional 1915 newspaper article is read, capturing the family's grief and the early relief efforts that followed the disaster.
  • Correcting Historical Records: The importance of correcting historical inaccuracies is discussed, preserving the integrity of the stories of those who died in the disaster, as demonstrated with the Remy family’s story.
  • The Role of Single Researchers: Contributions of individual researchers and platforms like Find A Grave are highlighted, showing the impact of dedicated individuals in preserving history. Listeners are encouraged to explore their own family histories with diligence and respect.

Links:


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  • Wikimedia Commons
Natalie Zett:

Hello, I'm Natalie Zett and welcome to Flower in the River.

Natalie Zett:

This 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. Hello, this is Natalie, and welcome to Episode 75 of Flower in the River podcast. I hope you had a great week. So this week, as with every week, we are going to uncover some new findings about the people of the Eastland disaster and what's prompting this. Just this last week, somebody asked me how do you find so many stories about people involved with the Eastland disaster? The answer involves a two-part approach that combines rigorous research with a lot of intuitive connections to the past. I'll explain what I'm talking about, because I always like to demystify what I'm doing. There is magic, but this part is not more mechanistic approach that I take. It's the art and science of historical research Knowing exactly which websites to search, which archives to visit. That is crucial and it can make or break research efforts, and this forms the bedrock of my own investigation process. The real secret to uncovering these stories involves a combination of targeted searching with persistence, patience and personally, I have this stubborn refusal to believe that any story is truly lost to history. It was really frustration that gave birth to this Eastland Chronicles series. Here's what would happen I'd research a person involved with the Eastland disaster. I'd find their name, their date of birth, maybe a little bit more biographical information about them, such as where they were buried and then, of course, their date of death of July 24th 1915, and that was it. A lot of time there was no story about who they were. But remember this it is story that connects us to one another. So my goal has been to find a story about each one of these people, even if it's only a few sentences, and I have to say, so far so good. They really do want to be found.

Natalie Zett:

But here's a breakdown of this approach. My research process starts off as a simple online searching, as if that's simple, and it evolves into a more methodical process. So what I do is I create research plans and logs for each episode and for each person, and it seems like a lot of work and it is, but it is worth it in the long run because it saves time and reduces the possibility of errors. I keep searching and then I search again and some more. Here's the thing the digital landscape is constantly evolving, with new records or I should say, with very old records finally being digitized and then they become new records to us, and then there's new connections being made all the time. Also, if you listen to last week's episode, finding information such as the pages from retired websites, such as the very valuable Eastland Memorial Society website, was incredibly useful. I'm still making use of the information that they did at that point. So it's also looking at what other historians, genealogists and people who were just enthusiastic about this topic have done in the past.

Natalie Zett:

This is like panning for gold and you have to be willing to sift through a lot of sand, a lot of sand, and come back and sift through it again, because you never know when a glimmer of gold might catch your eye. I hope that part makes sense. The persistence doesn't end when an episode is released. Okay, I revisit the people and events that I've covered, doing another round of digging to see if anything new has emerged or to make corrections. Doing this type of historical research requires constant course correction. I'll say that a lot of times. Correction I'll say that a lot of times. And remember history isn't static and our understanding of it shouldn't be either. New information is being found all the time about supposed very static historical events.

Natalie Zett:

Finally, questioning everything is crucial. Last week I talked about the approach that preeminent genealogist Elizabeth Schoen Mills uses skepticism and soul. Even when using well-known sources for disaster research, I always question the findings. No single source is infallible. Just relying on a single source can make a fragile thing such as this history even more distorted. It just happens, and so it's up to us to keep infusing this with rigor, with questions and with saying prove it. You know, if you're saying something, then prove it, and that's the basis of genealogical and historical research. Part two of this I call it intuition and connection with the past.

Natalie Zett:

I really do love researching. I do. I love researching for its own sake, and that is the foundation of my work. However, there's another fascinating aspect to this process. Sometimes I think a lot of times, maybe most of the times, I don't find these stories, they find me, yeah.

Natalie Zett:

So growing up, I was surrounded by my Eastern European family who held deep-rooted beliefs in the spiritual world that was very real to them, and practices like fortune-telling, reading cards and conducting seances. That was common with my relatives, and this upbringing fostered in me a deep respect for the mysteries of the universe and an openness to the unexplainable. Again, no one is smart enough to actually know what goes on on the other side, and the reverence for the unseen and for the ancestors is not unique to my family or culture. Many cultures around the world hold their ancestors in high esteem, viewing them as an integral part of the living community. The Pixar film Coco beautifully illustrates this connection in Mexican culture, where Dia de las Muertos celebrates the lives of those who have passed on, and another important part to Coco is this If the person is no longer remembered, in a sense they cease to exist, and I think that's one of the things that is driving what I'm doing here as well. This connection to the past resonates deeply with the community of people tied to the Eastland disaster. As I've said many times, we too are a family bound by the shared experience of this tragedy. The memories and stories of those lost in the Eastland disaster continue to shape and guide us, creating a lasting bond that transcends time.

Natalie Zett:

Hank Z Jones. I've talked about him before. He's a well-known genealogist and actor and he has written extensively about the role of synchronicity in genealogy In his book Psychic Roots, serendipity and Intuition in Genealogy, jones explores the idea that genealogists often experience many serendipitous and intuitive moments, instances where they uncover vital information or connections seemingly by chance, but with a sense of deeper meaning or guidance. In my years of genealogical research, I've encountered way many coincidences and intersections that they go beyond chance. When you focus your will and your intuition on uncovering these stories, the universe or maybe the people themselves, I don't know they respond. It's as if the stories themselves are eager to be told, the people themselves. They want to be known and they reach out across time to make themselves known. If you're skeptical, that's actually really good. Skepticism is important, but give it a try, you will be surprised. This phenomena aligns with Carl Jung's concept of synchronicity those moments when seemingly unrelated events align in ways that feel significant. It meeting someone with an unexpected connection to your subject, or experiencing moments when the boundaries between past and present blur.

Natalie Zett:

I take a Swiss Army knife approach to creating each podcast episode from diving deep into research and crafting the narrative to handling the publishing, designing the collage, the graphics and selecting the music. Every element is considered and crafted by me, with a lot of help, I think, from those who have departed, truth be told. So let's get into this week's episode, because I have a couple of new families that I want to introduce you to, and I think you will be surprised to learn about them, as I was. Let's do it so. Just this past week, I was researching new Eastland disaster information and I found something on one of the sites that I hardly ever look at, to be honest. It's called the Digital Public Library of America, and I will be looking there more often in the future because of what I found.

Natalie Zett:

Let me tell you about what happened here. If you remember, a few episodes ago, I covered a number of people from New Jersey and New York who had just added them to the list of the people that I wanted to revisit, but apparently they moved to the front of the line this week in terms of except. One of the results was a photo of a little girl, and her name is Florence Remy, and I had seen that name many times. It's a familiar name to me because my brother-in-law's surname is also Remy, spelled the same way, and no, I don't think there's a relation, but you never know. So I saw this little girl and I went to the usual Eastland places to see if her photo had been posted elsewhere. No, it had not, so we'll take care of that. As I was looking at this, the girl was actually 19 years old when she died.

Natalie Zett:

Unfortunately, I don't have a young adult photo of her, and I looked on various websites to see if Florence had been profiled. As is often the case, there was very little information other than basics about her, and on one of the sites it said that Florence died with a sister whose name was Ella. I found an obit that seemed to corroborate that. It was from the July 31st 1915 Chicago Tribune, but I couldn't escape the feeling that something wasn't right about this. So I began looking at other old newspapers to see what they had to say about this, and Find a Grave actually had an updated and corrected obituary, and this newspaper article from that time said that Ella Remy was not Florence's sister but her mother. And yet in certain places they are still being incorrectly reported as siblings. No, Ella and Florence were mother and daughter, and again this goes back to what I just shared with you that if you look at just one source of information about the Eastland disaster, whether it's mine or just one other place, you should always check other resources to see if this can be corroborated.

Natalie Zett:

This is another one of Elizabeth Schoen-Mills' guidelines. She says you have to engage in exhaustive research when doing this type of work. Obviously, a couple of these sites did not do exhaustive research. If they had, they would have found the other obituaries and they would have gone to find a grave. And if they searched further, they would have found the death records in various locations such as FamilySearchorg, and this would have confirmed the relationship between these two women as mother and daughter. It's not skepticism for its own sake, but doing this type of work is out of respect for these people who died.

Natalie Zett:

Mistakes happen, of course, but much of this information is easily accessible and these types of errors should be corrected right away. And I realize with other cases and I have found them as well it's not as easy, but most of the time this information is found them as well. It's not as easy, but most of the time this information is hidden in plain sight. I'm going to read the incorrect obituary from the July 31st 1915 issue of the Chicago Tribune and I'm not criticizing them either, by the way. I mean, the night before everything was copacetic in Chicago and then the Eastland disaster happens and everybody has to scramble to do their jobs, whether it's rescue or report on this. So I'd have to say, for the most part, given the situation, given the fact it was 1915, they did an extraordinary job. However, errors happen. They just happen all the time when dealing with a mass casualty like this one.

Natalie Zett:

I'm going to read the incorrect obituary and then we will unpack it. Rimi, miss Ella, 27 years old, and her sister, miss Florence, 23 years old, 5041 West 23rd Street, were employees of the Western Electric Company. Their relatives are residents of Grover Hill, new Jersey, and the burial was held there last Friday. Well, they got a couple things right the names Ella Remy and Florence Remy. They also stated correctly that they were originally from New Jersey, but that was about it. Ella Remy couldn't have been 27 years old because she was in fact born in 1874. So that made her 41 years old. And as for Florence, she was born in 1896. So she was approximately in 1896. So she was approximately 19 or 20 years old. So this obituary was incorrect, but the correct version was cited earlier in the Jersey Journal, july 27th 1915. So obviously these publications were not able to communicate with one another. But I'm going to read the correct death notice for you, headline Mother and Daughter Die.

Natalie Zett:

Included in the list of Eastland dead are Miss Ella Remy and her daughter Florence, who formerly lived at Hudson Avenue, union Hill. Mr Remy is an employee of the Western Electric Company and when the main office of that concern was shifted to Chicago he was transferred to the Western City. Mr Remy and his 15-year-old son, arthur, were also on board the Eastland but managed to make their escape. Mr Remy said that his party was all together. When the Eastlands started to turn over In the rush of lunch baskets, camp chairs and loose deck fittings, he and his son were separated from the remainder of the party and swept overboard. Coming to the surface, they were seized by rescuers in nearby tugs and dragged ashore.

Natalie Zett:

Mrs Remy has three brothers living in North Hudson, that's New Jersey. They are George Goltz, william Goltz and Charles Goltz. The bodies of Mrs Remy and her daughter are being brought to Union Hill for burial for burial. So the obituary in the July 27, 1915 issue of the Jersey Journal is the correct obituary and on my website I do have the photo of Florence as a little girl. It's unfortunate that I don't have the photo of the young adult, but I also have a photo of her mother, ella. And here's a little bit more history about them.

Natalie Zett:

In the North Hudson News, november 11th 1913, that's just a couple of years before the Eastland disaster these newspapers would have their society columns. That was their version of social media. Okay, so they'd write about who was visiting, who was traveling, what was going on in the neighborhoods, who was having a party and this sort of thing. They wrote about a gathering of various people and I'm not going to read the entire article, just the conclusion, because it features the Remy family. Here it is. Mr and Mrs Remy are well-known socially in North Hudson. He is connected with a large electrical concern in New York and is to be transferred to its Chicago offices. So that's how the family ended up in Chicago. And in the previous episode that I did about New Jersey the New Jersey and New York folks ending up in Chicago there were a lot of transfers during that time, so that's what happened here.

Natalie Zett:

Last week I talked about this now-defunct website and organization called the Eastland Memorial Society. I found their pages, fortunately, on the Wayback Machine, which is an internet archive. One of the things that I downloaded that has been tremendously invaluable is the guest book. The website creator had a guest book where people could comment, and there was a lot of interactivity on this. I saw the name of one of the descendants of an Eastland family. I'd seen the surname previously, but I never knew the details behind this family's story. It was a family that lost four children in the Eastland disaster, and this was yet another curiosity to me, because I wondered why was the story of this family not shared, at least not shared any place that I could find it, and had this woman not posted on this guest book? I wouldn't have even thought to search for them, but I did, and it didn't take long at all to find them.

Natalie Zett:

On September 19th 1915, the Chicago Sunday Tribune had a headline First Eastland Check to Make Him a Merchant. Before I read the article, I need to give you some backstory, so you'll get the context for this and I'll explain who these people are. Well, actually, I'll let them speak for themselves. That's always the best right, and again, it is astonishing that this story, which made the front page news has not been seen any place else that I've been looking article. The reporter interviewed a German immigrant family and attempted to phonetically capture their accents in this text. Now, while that was a common practice at that time, it reflects a different era's approach to journalism. Today we recognize that this style can come across as insensitive or stereotypical, but my intention is to present the historical record as it was at that point, and I also want to be clear that such portrayals don't reflect our current understanding of respect and inclusivity.

Natalie Zett:

The other thing that happened to me personally as I was reading this article out loud my grandfather. He lived with our family from the time I can remember until his death at age nearly 90. And he was from Poland. But he was actually an ethnic German and he was fluent in Polish, german, russian and English and he could read Latin and he used to always tell me you know, I went to third grade and I know more than you do and he had a point. But the way he spoke and the phraseology and the way he could mess up words, it was delightful to my ears and no matter how many decades he was in the United States, he could never say T-H like the was always da or za and things like that. It was just endearing to me. So reading this article brought him back to life in a way. I'm going to read this article and introduce you to the Tismer family. That would be Julius Tismer, his wife Bertha, his son Otto, who are featured in this article. They also mention Martha Tismer, one of the other daughters, who was featured in the article but she was not at home at the time. And there are also other children mentioned in past tense. And here is the complete article Headline first Eastland check to make him a merchant.

Natalie Zett:

Cobblers longed for store nears but grief still remains. Gets $900 order. $170,000, represented in the face value of 540 separate checks was mailed out from Red Cross headquarters last night to the families of the Eastlands dead. This was the beginning of the distribution of $360,000, which generous Chicagoans contributed to relieve the financial burdens of the hundreds bereaved by the disaster. But there was one check number 627, drawn in the favor of Julius Tismer, which was not mailed with the rest. It was delivered in person by a special messenger of the Red Cross and was the first payment made out of the $360,000 fund. A Tribune reporter was present when the voucher reached its destination, a little cobbler's shop at 1722 West 13th Street.

Natalie Zett:

For Julius Tismer, the day's work is not confined to eight hours. Though his hands are crippled from rheumatism and the toil of years, he labors away at his cobbler's bench from early morning until late at night. There's a mortgage on the house and Bertha Tismer, julius' wife, is given much to crying. She says it's her nerves. Julius last, clamped between his knees, was wrestling with a half-soul in his shop at 1722 West 13th Street. It was just nine o'clock, and 12th Street, a block north, was thronged with Saturday night crowds.

Natalie Zett:

For all of Julius, though the crowds might have been in Germany, his old home, he had a job. He had driven a brass tack into the tough sole leather and poised his hammer for another. There was a step outside and the screen swung open to admit a caller, julius pauses. Perplexed. Julius looked up. He removed his pipe but did not speak up. He removed his pipe but did not speak.

Natalie Zett:

Good evening, said the visitor. I represent the Red Cross. I have a check for you for $900, your share of the Eastland Fund. Yeah sure, said Julius and waited. The officials of the Red Cross Society asked me to tell you. The visitor continued that if there is any money left in the fund. After the others have been taken care of, you may receive a little more. Yes, sure, said Julius and hammered in the tack Mechanically. He took the sealed envelope the Red Cross messenger handed him Carefully. He laid it on a piece of leather under his bench. He did not open it. He will seek advice.

Natalie Zett:

I take it Monday over to the factory superintendent across the street. Julius said he tell me if I want anything to come to him. He tell me what to do with it. Then you won't cash it right away. Cash it. I don't want to cash it now. I have no use for it. I put it away. But the visitor insisted what do you expect to do with it? Oh, and Julius stopped his work for a moment. Maybe later I start a store, a shoe store. Later I start a store, a shoe store. Maybe next spring, not now. Business is bad in winter. Yeah, then you're going into business. Yes, sure, julius responded. Maybe I do Me. Und Marta, she's my girl, she's 22. The only daughter I got now, marta, she helped me. You see, I get old, I can't work so hard. Yeah, yes, sure, the messenger agreed Between the one-story shop fronting on the street and the little low-ceiling cottage at the rear of the lot is a garden full of green growing things. A boardwalk leads from the shop to the house. A steep flight of steps leads to its only entrance. The basement is at ground level.

Natalie Zett:

Mrs Tismer was finishing the last of supper dishes when the messenger entered. She walked hesitatingly into the front room. Otto, 12 years old, had told her of the messenger's visit. Ach, wat is money? They never come, never. She leaned dejectedly against the door. Her eyes were sunken and dark. If only I could see them, she said. I think of them all the time. Be them, she said. I think of them all the time. If they would only come home. But they never come. They never come. The tears came and she wiped them away with her apron. There was Elizabeth and Ernest and Minnie and Robert. Robert, he was the baby, robert was fourteen, minnie, she was sixteen and Ernest was two years older. And Elizabeth, she was twenty-four. Ach, all gone. They never come home, no more.

Natalie Zett:

Otto moved silently about the rooms. He stopped beside the piano but did not touch it. She's been ill since. Only Marta and Otto. Marta, she ain't been well since Since. Then came a pause the sort that can't be interrupted. Do you play? Otto, was asked presently Me. No, they did. He said we don't play no more.

Natalie Zett:

The group moved toward the shop. Julius was shaving a square of leather. His wife and son came in the back way Together. They opened the envelope and found, as the messenger had said, a check for $900. Will it help a little? The messenger said yes, sure. Julius replied my fingers see Boy singers pass. Just then a crowd of youths passed singing. It's a long way to Tipperary. Yeah, ernest, he organized them boys. Julius said he was one of them. He got a singing club. They sing in our basement. When Ernest died they asked if they could still use it. I told them yes, that's where they're going now. Ernest was one of them. He could sing that boy going now. Ernest was one of them. He could sing that boy. Mrs Tismer rose wearily from her chair and went back to the home. Julius readjusted his pipe and returned to his work.

Natalie Zett:

That is the end of the article about this family. The rest is a commentary on what the mayor was doing and a discussion about the distribution of the money. I'll summarize that in a second. So shoemaking was a common profession among German immigrants in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century. This period saw a large influx of German immigrants who brought with them a strong tradition of craftsmanship, including shoemaking, which was a well-respected trade in Germany. In Chicago these immigrants found a burgeoning industrial city with a high demand for skilled labor, including shoemakers, and it was really tough work. As you can hear from Julia's description of what his life was like, he was pretty much disabled by the time he had reached middle age.

Natalie Zett:

So the rest of the article discusses the distribution of a relief fund following the Eastland disaster and the mayor of Chicago expresses gratitude for the swift and efficient handling of the relief efforts by the American Red Cross and associated committees. The relief size again totaled more than $375,000, which would be equivalent to several million dollars today. I have to say again for 1915, for Chicago, they did an excellent job with the distribution and using Julius's family for a photo opportunity actually was a very smart thing to do. And again, I'm shocked that I've never heard of this or seen this before, but glad I found it now. So other details about this.

Natalie Zett:

The fund was distributed based on need rather than compensation for loss. That's interesting, and the report emphasizes that no amount of money could truly compensate for the loss of loved ones, and the article provided a comprehensive breakdown of how much money was allocated to different categories of survivors and dependents. For example, $50 for every adult who died, $150 for every child under 18, a $500 death grant for each widow, with additional amounts based on the number and ages of children, special considerations for widows, orphans and other family situations. Interestingly enough, only small lump sums were given to injured persons, and boat crew members received up to $10 for a new working outfit. Interestingly, no gifts were made to rescuers or helpers. Now, that's what they're saying was distributed. Was it actually all distributed the same way? I'm not sure. That's another one of those things that needs to be pursued, but nonetheless, this article again tells us what happened after the Eastland disaster.

Natalie Zett:

Well, let's go through the family again, because it's a lot of names and a lot of people. So Julius Tismer was the dad. He immigrated to Chicago from Germany. He was born in 1860, and he died 1924 in Chicago. He was married to Bertha Hoffmeier in Chicago. He was married to Bertha Hoffmeyer, who was born in Germany in 1872, and she died in 1953.

Natalie Zett:

The oldest child was Elizabeth, who was born in 1891 and died in 1915 on the Eastland. The second child was Martha, born in 1893, who died in 1965. She married and had children and unfortunately she too lost a child who was fairly young. Ernest, who was born in 1897, also died on the Eastland. He was the oldest boy. Then there was Minnie, who was born in 1899 and who died on the Eastland, born in 1899 and who died on the Eastland. Then Otto, who was born in 1903 and died in 1971. Otto also married and had children, and his descendant is the person who signed the guest book for the Eastland Memorial Society. And Herbert, otherwise known as Robert, was born in 1900 and died in 1915 on the Eastland.

Natalie Zett:

The question is were all the children aboard the Eastland? That needs more investigation. I don't know and I think because Ernest was working for Western Electric, that's why some of the kids were there, but not sure about the others. So more research on this family is needed and I'm trying to locate this descendant. But because this guest book is really old, I could not locate this person yet. But I will try to track her down and see if she's still around and still interested in talking, because that would be a fascinating interview to do.

Natalie Zett:

One thing that's really extraordinary about being alive now is the access that we have to these types of records, where we literally do not have to leave the house to find them. We just have to have the will to find them. But it's not complete by any stretch of the imagination. However, as you can see by the gaping holes that I'm filling in in each podcast episode, that a lot of work remains to be done. But the other consolation I have with all of this is that the truth bubbles to the surface. It can't be contained forever. So the truth of these people's lives, it's there and it just takes somebody with the will for it to bring them forward. That's all. What's encouraging is that there are so many people who have gone before me who, single-handedly, have taken on an area that's been somewhat neglected and have loved it and built it up, and now it's available for everybody to use.

Natalie Zett:

And sometimes it's important to remember that it was just the idea of one person to make this happen, such as Stephen Morse, who, with his One Step Webpage Webpage it's called One Step Webpages by Stephen P Morse. This site contains tools for finding immigration records, census records, vital records, and for dealing with calendars, maps, foreign alphabets and numerous other applications. He is a legend, but again, he's just one person who did all this. When you say I'm just one person, what can I do? You can do something like Stephen has, but it just shows you what is possible when you have the will to do it, when you care enough to do it. And so I'll leave a link to his website too, because it's really just fascinating, as he is. So there's a lot of precedence set by single groups of people that do this. Even Find a Grave was just a crowdsourced type of thing. It still is.

Natalie Zett:

Is it 100% accurate? Nothing is 100% accurate, but they are doing such a fantastic job of upping the ante, of documenting sources, of getting names in there, that it is a very good place to go to when you're researching the Eastland. And thanks to Bert and there's another woman called Lydia too they both have contributed quite a bit to keeping this alive and well-documented, and I sincerely hope that the story that the Tismer family shared with you about what it was like just a few months after the Eastland disaster and after so much loss, I hope that gives you an insight as to why the Eastland, though it took place in 1915, it continued going forward to all generations afterward and it still has a lot of lessons for us, and why its history and why the stories of each individual should never be lost. So next week, you know, I'll have some more stories for you, but in the meantime, keep looking in your own family history, have a good week and stay curious and also skeptical. Okay, take care, talk to you next week.

Natalie Zett:

What do you say if we close with it's a Long Way to Tipperary and dedicate that to Ernest Tismer and his boy, basement singers and the Tismer family? It's a Long Way to Tipperary is an English music hall song, according to Wikipedia, and it was first performed in 1912, and it was written by Jack Judge and Henry Williams. Although the authorship of the song has long been disputed, it was recorded in 1914 by Irish tenor John McCormick and that's the version you'll hear. It was used as a marching song among soldiers in the First World War and is remembered as a song of that war. Welcome signs in the town of Tipperary, ireland, humorously declared You've come a long way in reference to the song. Here we go.

Speaker 2:

It's a long way to Tipperary. It's a long way to go. It's a long way to Tipperary to the sweetest girl I know. Goodbye, piccadilly, farewell, let us go. Farewell left of where. It's a long, long way to Tipperary, but my heart's right there. It's a long way to Tipperary. It's a long way to go. It's a long way to Tipperary To the sweetest girl I know.

Natalie Zett:

Hey, that's it for this episode and thanks for coming along for the ride. Please subscribe or follow so you can keep up with all the episodes, and for more information, please go to my website, that's wwwflowerintherivercom. I hope you'll consider buying my book, available as audiobook, ebook, paperback and hardcover, because I still owe people money and that's my running joke. But the one thing I'm serious about is that this podcast and my book are dedicated to the memory of all who experienced the Eastland disaster of 1915. Goodbye for now.

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