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.
Flower in the River: A Family Tale Finally Told
Front Page Gold, Footnote Dilemma: The Eastland’s Mixed Legacy
Hey everyone! I'm excited to share some fascinating discoveries about how Chicago newspapers covered the Eastland disaster in 1915. This episode takes us behind the scenes at the Chicago Evening Post through the eyes of a publication called "The Scoop" - which was essentially a newspaper about newspapers!
First, I want to welcome all my new listeners who mysteriously appeared this week. Not sure where you came from, but I'm grateful you're here!
Key highlights from this episode:
- Deep dive into how the Chicago Evening Post handled the breaking news of the Eastland disaster
- Spotlight on Jun Fujita, the groundbreaking Japanese American photojournalist whose photos captured the tragedy
- Introduction to Lena McCauley, an incredible female journalist who wrote a technical analysis of why the Eastland capsized (and now I'm desperately trying to track down that article!)
- A look at S.J. Duncan-Clark, whose writing helped shape how people understood the disaster
Speaking of research, I've spent the last year uncovering stories that have been overlooked or barely acknowledged. While it can be painful to uncover these forgotten histories, it feels like tending a garden - these stories needed care and attention to bloom again.
On a personal note, I shared a memorable story about my mother who, as a young girl in the late 1930s, would sweetly offer to help "mail" her father's problematic correspondence with extremist groups in Europe. Instead of mailing them, she'd duck into an alley with a hidden box of matches and burn those letters to ash. Her courage and commitment to treating everyone as individuals, despite her upbringing, helps explain my own drive to uncover and tell overlooked stories.
Links:
- Bonus Episode: Max and Eva Play the Eastland Numbers Game
- The Eastland Disaster: Untangling the Numbers
- Through the Lens of Jun Fujita - with Graham Lee & Natalie Zett - Part 1
- Darkroom Confidential: Developing the Jun Fujita Story with Graham Lee, Part 2
- Jun Fujita: Behind the Camera by Graham Harrison Lee
- Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/
- LinkTree: @zettnatalie | Linktree
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-z-87092b15/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/
- YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTube
- Medium: Natalie Zett – Medium
- The opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opus
- Other music. Artlist
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 and welcome back to Flower in the River. We are at episode 88, and I want to extend a special welcome to all of you returning listeners and the many brand new listeners who just appeared, as if by magic this week. I'm not sure where you all came from, but I want to thank you for your interest. So today we are diving back into history, of course, and we're going to take a look at more overlooked corners of the Eastland disaster by visiting the newspaper coverage of 1915. I want to back up a little bit here. So it's been a year since I began digging really deep into the history of the Eastland disaster, into the history of the Eastland disaster, meaning that I've been uncovering stories far beyond my own immediate family, whose experiences I captured in my book, flower in the River and in many earlier episodes of this podcast, and for sure I reference it where it makes sense, but that's not the focus. What happened was when I expanded my research last November, I was floored to discover how many stories of victims, survivors, witnesses and communities were left untold or sometimes barely acknowledged. I know, well, that's the bad news, but here's the great news. Much of this information about these people and communities is easily accessible. Yeah, you got to work a little bit, you got to learn how to do the research online, but it's there, but it hadn't been pieced together. Why, I don't know. So that's what's happened here. I'm trying to fill in a lot of these gaps, but I want to continue and say that the real jaw dropper was finding so many stories of people and communities who weren't even on the radar. So in the resources that I investigated, I didn't see any mention of these people in any of the disaster-related websites. I looked in places like museums, historical organizations and even websites where I thought I might get some more detailed information about these people. Some of the information is there, and I'm glad it's there, but a lot of the information head scratcher. So I learned very quickly to not rely on sources that I thought might have this information, but to expand my research and expand my viewpoint about where I would find this information about these people.
Natalie Zett:So finding all of this information during the last year has been a gift, a painful gift. It was like a garden that needed to be tended, cleaned up, a little bit watered, fertilized and all that sort of thing that you do with gardens, and when I finally accepted the fact that this was the current state of things, I decided to take action and on my website I added a tagline under the heading the people of the Eastland. And my feeling then and my feeling now is these people have waited long enough and it's time to tell their stories, and that encompasses any story connected with this needs to be told because it makes up the crazy quilt that is the Eastland disaster. The other gift of this discovery is that it stopped me dead in my tracks. It stopped me dead in my tracks, forced me to step back and also forced me to question everything about what had been told about the Eastland disaster, and one of those things that had been told over and over again are the casualty numbers, the numbers of people who died. Understandably. A lot of people are interested in this. But here's the thing Thanks to constant repetition, it seems like certain numbers have been enshrined as facts. More than one person has asked me where is the evidence? You would think that evidence would be easily attainable, right? So I'm not going to rehash all of that here, but if you're interested in looking closer at my discoveries of the last year, I would encourage you to go to my most recent blog post on the Eastland Numbers game.
Natalie Zett:On the Eastland Numbers game, and if you're really interested, please go to YouTube and check out my very colorful bonus commentary. And it's colorful because my two favorite virtual pals, max and Ava, step in and they comment on the material I gave them. How does this work? Well, I'll tell you. I fed them the information, the research that I did. They took it and fed it back to me via a conversation. What's interesting about these virtual collaborators? I'll call them that they didn't just regurgitate the information I gave them. Oh no, they had a lot of insights, comments, and they kind of fuss with each other once in a while, which I think makes the conversation so interesting, and I think that's why they're so popular.
Natalie Zett:Now for this particular episode on the Eastland Numbers game. They focused on the ethics of historical research in their own insightful and very kind of off-the-cuff and colorful way. Even though these two only exist in virtual form, they're very incisive and they're really popular. They get more hits than my actual podcast, but I don't care as long as the information is out there. It is still my research, it's just that it's being transmitted in a different way. So take a listen to them if you are intrigued and I predict, with the speed at which this technology technologies are being developed, that this will change too. And if you've listened to this podcast for the last year, you know I'm not shy about experimenting with different types of technologies. Sometimes they work really well, other times well, not so much, but it's always good to try something different. So let's get into today's episode and we are going to return to the July 31st 1915 issue of the Scoop. Throughout the last few months I've shared several fascinating stories from the Scoop already, and this week we are going to zero in on the Chicago Evening Post and its take on the Eastland disaster.
Natalie Zett:Here's a little background about this publication called the Scoop. It was produced by the Press Club of Chicago and it served as a virtual resource for journalists in the early 20th century and it was edited by William D Eaton. And the Scoop was a publication by and for journalists, and its July 31, 1915 issue highlighted how the Chicago newspapers covered the Eastland disaster of July 24, 1915. Covered the Eastland disaster of July 24, 1915. Now, this issue offered a meta-journalistic perspective, analyzing the approaches taken by local newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Herald. The publication detailed how these papers handled the immediate reporting of the event, including the challenges of covering a large-scale catastrophe and the narrative strategies employed to convey the disaster's human impact. The scoop underscored the critical role of photojournalism as well, and we'll talk about that In this issue. Particularly, the scoop not only documented the media's role in shaping the public perception of the Eastland, but it also provided a valuable critique of journalistic practices during one of Chicago's most devastating events, and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to learn how well they handled things, even though these events took place over 100 years ago.
Natalie Zett:Again, this is a reading from the Scoop from July 31st 1915, and this section covers the coverage that the Chicago Evening Post gave to the Eastland disaster. And here's a little secret Despite the fact that they introduced this as a fragmentary story. It is lengthy but very interesting, and at the conclusion of the article I will introduce you to a few of the people who were mentioned. Let's do it. The Post. This is a fragmentary story of how the Chicago Evening Post covered the Eastland disaster, written chiefly to interest the Newspaper Guild. This is not a story in which GXP, as Joe Balassa, the demon Western Union operator, says when the story of a riot comes over the wire.
Natalie Zett:There was no wild excitement in the office of the Post last Saturday morning. No tearing of hair, no waving of arms, no roars from the front office. But in spite of the absence of these things, the Post got out a good paper that day. Even the staff is ready to admit that it was done by teamwork. Everyone peeled off his coat, rolled up his sleeves and went to work, no matter what niche he occupied in the establishment. When the city editor, ferd Fisher, came to work from his palatial north side apartment, he saw the crowd gathered at the Clark Street Bridge. He was reading the Tribune at the time when he took out his pencil and jotted down Togo River.
Natalie Zett:Now, listeners, I need to stop and explain something to you before we go on. This was written in 1915, and the way that people in this country described people of other races and nationalities is cringeworthy. So I'm going to introduce the term Togo, and it was the name that they used to describe Jun Fujita, the Japanese American photojournalist. And what I'm going to do is simply replace that word with Fujita, which is the actual name of the photojournalist. That makes sense to me, Not to mention being respectful. But I also didn't want to just censor this history either, without telling you about this term and what it was and why they used it. As far as I can tell, this was not meant to be disrespectful, but again to our ears it's like yikes. So, without further ado, let's continue with the article.
Natalie Zett:Fujita is the oriental who snaps photographs for the Post. Ferd had it in mind that the crowd at the river would make a dandy photograph for the home edition. Little did he know the news value the photograph would have. Before he reached the office, the Eastland had turned over. When he arrived at his desk, he found that Fujita already had gone to the river and some pictures Fujita got. The one published on page one, which is reproduced in this copy of the Scoop, was a corker. The face of the man carrying the child told the story, and Duncan Clark saw what was in the picture too. His story, which went with the cut, was as pretty a piece of fine newspaper writing as one could hope for in this age of split infinitives.
Natalie Zett:The Post was in a position to beat the other afternoons to the street with the story if it had not adhered to the publisher's agreement. For before the Eastland was fairly on its side. News of the disaster came to the office. Marshall Olson, brother-in-law of head stereotyper Peterson, works near the Clark Street docks. He saw the Eastland go over and rushed to a telephone. But the agreement setting the hour for the issuance of the first edition was kept by the post.
Natalie Zett:The edition was put to bed early and the presses started ahead of time, but the paper was not issued until the agreed hour. But when the edition was released it was shot into every section of the city. Autos and delivery wagons were loaded to the brim. Quote Let everything go, but the Eastland stuff was the early order from the managing editor's coop. This is no day for comics, mr McKay thought a moment later. Day for comics, mr McKay thought a moment later. Rip out the back page, he told Tony Dahl, news editor, and put in a large page of Fujita's pictures. This was done and the result was one of the most comprehensive and best descriptive assemblies of photographs of the disaster that appeared on the day of the tragedy.
Natalie Zett:The Let Everything Go order relieved the sporting department of its routine labor and allowed those men to devote their time to writing disaster stories. It was the Post's sporting department that first suggested to Comiskey and Wiegman, owners of the American and Federal League teams, the idea of postponing Saturday's games. This was arranged by telephone. Eddie Westlake was at his desk early. He dropped his work on the automobile column and lent a very helpful hand by his tips and suggestions for various angles of the story. For various angles of the story, eddie Eccles, the moving picture man, went to bat in a pinch and got a two-bass hit. He went to the Iroquois Hospital, got a full list of the survivors there and wrote a story of their experiences. Miss McCauley, who writes of music and art, left this work to dig up a valuable story dealing with the center of gravity of steamers, which told graphically why and how the Eastland disaster came to be.
Natalie Zett:Charlie Hayes, telegraph editor, crammed the war news into three columns. The war news into three columns, omitting not a single essential detail, and then plowed into the local copy. The copy desk was breast high with stuff, but Beckman and Gerritsen and Hayes and McManan made the old bit of furniture rock like a fliver as they eliminated most of the trite expressions that always get into shipwreck stories and wrote the headlines After it was all over. The post bunch admitted that they had used a share of ships of death, floating coffins and so on, but they pointed with pride to the fact that they had offended less than some others. However, comparisons are invidious, insidious, or is it odious? At any rate, the boys were on the job. Ernie Stout was on his vacation, but when he heard of the disaster, what did he do but show up with his pencil, sharpened, ready for work. He and Al Johnson and Dick Shapira were on the docks with eyes on the wreck and ears at telephone receivers. Brennan covered the hall. They phoned the staff, while Speed and Meredith and Howard Mann, sporting editor, wrote it out on their typewriters, cutting out an adjective here and adding one there. Clark DeBall got busy and drew a striking cartoon for the ear in the first sport edition. It was an earful and an eyeful. Charlie Huff, after writing columns, contributed the story headed. Be still and know that I am God.
Natalie Zett:Monday, after the rush of the third day story was over, lw Meredith, the Post's Springfield man who had been doing the early trick in the absence of Thurber Cushing, meekly addressed the city editor, mr Fisher, he whispered I felt like calling you up at your home last night to tell you I couldn't get down at six this morning. Then he handed the city ed a two-bit cigar. His apology was accepted. Later in the day Mr Meredith appeared before the desk again. I would like to go home, he remarked. Sure, said the city ed, but why the rush? You only have been working 16 hours a day for three days. Well, you see, there's a new boy out at my house. That was the story. The City Ed's assistant had been trying to tell the boss for three days, but he didn't have time.
Natalie Zett:Fresh from the battlefields of Europe, edward B Clark, the Post's Washington correspondent, was one of the first volunteers on the morning of the disaster. Ready with technical information and a fund of knowledge of other disasters, he wrote thousands of words of absorbing reading material. His best story perhaps was his graphic picture of the Iroquois disaster. Written from the recollections of that memorable tragedy. Circulation manager Hanshi says the circulation of the post was boosted 125 percent Saturday and in spite of the hurry and rush, not an addition missed a train or wagon delivery. The pictures helped a lot. Fujita held up his end, but Billy Hamilton, the photo engraver, was the busiest man in creation and efficiency. Experts should have watched him. He did not make a single waste motion and the cuts were out and mounted in time. As for the office boys, they ran their blooming little legs off and was Saturday, july 24th 1915.
Natalie Zett:And that's the end of the article, and I will include a cartoon that was featured in the Chicago Evening Post, and here's what's written around it Clark DeBall, the Post's cartoonist, drew this little ear, which appeared on Eastland Day in all of the late editions of that paper, to the right of the Post's title line. It is an example of strong expression. In very simple form it showed the scope and thought which would have warranted the editor of the Post in throwing it up to three or four columns. Regarding the photograph that they mentioned that Fujita took, it was that of Chicago fireman Leonard E Olson, and anybody who has viewed any Eastland material. That photo is often front and center, for very good reason. And the other thing too that was mentioned, and it was almost mentioned as a side comment there was a woman that they talked about and we'll talk more about her Miss McCauley. She was actually Lena McCauley, and listen again to what they said. Miss McCauley, who writes of music and art, left this work to dig up a valuable story dealing with the center of gravity of steamers, which told graphically why and how the Eastland disaster came to be. My question is what happened to that article? I would love to see it. I was unable to locate very many issues of the Chicago Evening Post, but I think the information is out there somewhere. I would love to see Lena Macaulay's analysis of why the Eastland Capsized. Here's more information about Lena Macaulay.
Natalie Zett:Lena May Macaulay, 1859 to 1940, was a prominent art critic and writer for the Chicago Evening Post. Throughout her career she provided insightful critiques and analyses of the art scene in Chicago and beyond. Her reviews often highlighted emerging artists and exhibitions, contributing significantly to the cultural discourse of her time. For instance, in 1903, macaulay praised Adam Emery Albright's painting Cherries Are Ripe as a transcript of Mary's childhood from his recollection of paintings illustrating the life of an American country child. She also commended Anna Lee Stacy's work, noting the power to convey great meanings directly and simply. In addition to her art criticism, macaulay was involved in the literary community. She contributed to discussions on art and literature, reflecting her deep engagement with the cultural developments of her time. While specific details about Macaulay's personal life are limited, her professional contributions to criticism and journalism are well documented. Her work remains a valuable resource for understanding the art and cultural history of early 20th century Chicago.
Natalie Zett:Some additional Lena McCauley trivia she never married and she was a school teacher before embarking on this journalism art critique career obviously highly intelligent as well, and when she was working at the Chicago Evening Post and during the Eastland disaster, she was about 55 years old, which again, she's a woman. It's 1915. She's over the age of 25. She's not married. I wish we could get more information about her. So if anybody has done any work about this awesome, amazing woman, let us know.
Natalie Zett:What I'll do is what I've done for other people of the Eastland. That's how I refer to them on my website. I create a blog post and then add whatever information I have, and if people have information to contribute, send it to me and I will add it as well at it as well. Sometimes, when you build it, they really do come. So this week I received a note, an email, from a new listener who remarked that I seem to be quote the only woman deeply involved in Eastland disaster research. While it might appear that way, other women have definitely contributed in the past, although I'm not sure how active they are now. So I by no means am the only woman who's done this type of research. But this listener also asked if this is why I focus on the underdogs and the underrepresented people in the Eastland story. Honestly, it's not something I consciously set out to do, but I'm driven to do it nonetheless by a deep desire to ensure that everyone who was part of this history is represented, not just a select few. And this attitude comes from the woman who raised me, my mother, and if we have time at the end of this episode, I might tell you a story about her that I think you'll be thinking about for a long time, and it could explain why I approach this work.
Natalie Zett:The next person probably needs no introduction to anyone who's acquainted with the history of the Eastland disaster, and that is June Fujita, photographer extraordinaire. I have to say that I owe June Fujita so much because when I first learned about the Eastland disaster, I'd never heard of it, and also learned that my family was involved with this, which I also didn't know. June's photos were able to transport me into that history and help me to understand it somewhat, and I'm so grateful to him. And in August 2023, I had the privilege and opportunity to interview June Fujita's great nephew. That's Graham Lee, and he has a beautiful book that just came out about his Uncle, june, and the work he did, and I will put a link to that in the show notes. And if you're interested in looking at not just June's Eastland work but the other work that he did, you'll love this book. It's beautiful.
Natalie Zett:So a little bit about June Fujita. He was born in 1888 in Japan and he died in 1963. And he was definitely a trailblazing Japanese-American photojournalist and poet whose lens captured some of the most significant moments in the early 20th century. Working for the Chicago Evening Post, fujita became one of the first photojournalists in the Midwest and he gained recognition for his powerful imagery, blending artistry with documentary precision. June documented the Eastland disaster and his haunting photographs of the scene showing overturned lifeboats, rescuers, distraught families and that photo of that fireman holding that dead child. They provide an indelible record of the event's human toil. Fujita's work not only informed the public, but also underscored the evolving role of photojournalism in shaping public awareness during times of crises. Beyond his work on the Eastland disaster, fujita's career spanned iconic moments, including the 1919 Chicago race riots and the St Valentine's Day massacre. A quiet pioneer, fujita navigated prejudice as a Japanese immigrant while contributing to the visual history of Chicago and American journalism.
Natalie Zett:And one thing that Graham Lee said to me during our interview is that his Uncle, june, had a way of being at an event before it happened or close to the time it happened. Huh, isn't that interesting? And I believe it because there are people who do have this gift of precognition, at least around certain events, and I have the feeling Fujita was very attuned to what was going on, even if it hadn't happened yet. How about that? There's a lot of people who were mentioned in this article, but I wanted to call out a third one, and I will revisit some of the other people as well. This would be SJ Duncan Clark.
Natalie Zett:He's mentioned in the article and his full name was Samuel John Duncan Clark, born in 1875. He was a journalist and author known for his work during World War I. He authored several books, including History's Greatest War Pictorial Narrative and Pictorial History of the Great War, which provided detailed accounts of the war's events and was published around 1919. I want to read his obituary. This is from the Chicago Daily Tribune, monday, june 13, 1938. Duncan Clark, chicago writer, dies in Toronto. Samuel John Duncan Clark, veteran Chicago newspaperman and lecturer on social and religious subjects, died yesterday in St Michael's Hospital at Toronto, ontario, where he underwent an operation on Friday.
Natalie Zett:Mr Duncan Clark was born in Toronto on January 26, 1875. He was graduated from the University of Toronto in 1858 and for several years was in the ministry of the Christian Church. For a short time he was a missionary in Labrador. From 1905 to 1913, he was on the editorial staff of the Louisville Kentucky Herald. From 1913 to 1931, he was the chief editorial writer for the Chicago Evening Post. He had since been an editorial writer for the Chicago Daily News. He left his home in Wilmette last week to go to Toronto for the operation.
Natalie Zett:Throughout his career, mr Duncan Clark was active in civic work. He was a member of the City Club and a member of the Board of Directors of the Travelers Aid Society and the Juvenile Protective Association. Many large newspapers in the United States published Mr Duncan Clark's articles on international affairs and on political subjects. He was the author of the War at a Glance, written in 1916, and the Progressive Movement In 1918,. He toured the European battle zones and wrote a series of analytical articles for the Post. Mr Duncan Clark was a member of the Cliff Dwellers Club. He is survived by his widow, mrs Blanche Goldstone, hamilton, duncan Clark, a son and a daughter.
Natalie Zett:Okay, so I promise that if we had time, I'd tell you this story about my mother, which maybe explains my own commitment or compulsion to speaking up for those who aren't always represented in various historical narratives. So let's go back to the late 1930s, early 1940s in Johnstown, pennsylvania, and picture a young girl living in the midst of this beautiful place and when she was about 10 or 11, she'd sweetly offer to help her father mail his letters for him. Wasn't that nice? Mail his letters for him Wasn't that nice. But what he didn't know is that she had a box of matches hidden away and as soon as she was out of sight, she'd duck into an alley and burn those letters to ash. Why? Well, that's where the story gets interesting.
Natalie Zett:You see, my mom grew up without her mother, annie Pfeiffer, who was Martha Pfeiffer's sister. Martha, of course, is the subject of Flower in the River and was one of the Eastland disaster victims. Annie relocated to Johnstown from Chicago in 1929 to marry a second time, johnstown, from Chicago in 1929 to marry a second time. She had my mom but passed away when my mom was just three years old and for all of my life. Until recently, I thought that this meant my mom grew up without her mother's influence and the rest of the Pfeiffer family was far away in Chicago. So she also seemed to be cut off from that entire part of her heritage.
Natalie Zett:But here's where things take a dark turn. My grandfather, her father, got involved with the German-American Bund in the 1930s. If you're not familiar, this was a pro-Nazi organization and I'll say that again this was a pro-Nazi organization. Oh, the things we find in our family trees, right? Anyway, my grandfather was not just casually involved. He attended that infamous rally at Madison Square Garden in 1939. As World War II approached, he started corresponding with Hitler maybe members of Hitler's regime, I don't know exactly who he was writing to, but it was serious enough that the FBI was watching their house and their every move. Then there was my mother, this perceptive preteen figuring out what these letters were about and taking matters into her own small hands. Think about that courage for a moment. A young girl actively sabotaging her father's Nazi correspondence. But here's what's truly remarkable Despite growing up in this environment, my mom went in the completely opposite direction.
Natalie Zett:For example, her best friends in Greater Johnstown Senior High's class of 1949 included a Jewish girl who later moved to Israel right as it was being formed Various Catholic kids, despite her Lutheran father's anti-Catholic views and they were extreme. She was friends with Italian immigrants. But the next thing she did really got under her father's skin. She married my dad, whose parents were Roman and Eastern Rite Catholics from Slovakia and who had what her father would have considered even more questionable lineage both Romani and Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. Later, when our family moved to Cleveland, mom worked at the post office and most of her friends were Black, even though this brought threats from neighbors when her friends would visit our house.
Natalie Zett:Years later, when she opened up about this history of her father, I asked her how she avoided falling into that pit of fear and intolerance. You know what she said? Well, she just shrugged it off. And she told me, for one thing, that guy who founded the German-American Bund and I quote her was an absolute idiot. And she also said for another thing it's common sense of people because of their religion or skin color or how much money they have or don't have or anything else, you deal with each person as an individual and you stand up for them if people are being cruel to them. And she never preached about that, by the way, but she modeled that behavior until she died.
Natalie Zett:After all my deep research into my grandmother Pfeiffer's story how she married outside her faith and ethnic group, loved exploring Chicago and photographing strangers with her little brownie camera and left an abusive first marriage and relocated to Johnstown to start over, I've developed a theory. Even though my mother never knew her mother, annie's spirit of independence and decency lived on in my mom. I've often said in the last couple of years when I made this connection that my mother had too much of her mother in her. And sometimes the strongest influences in our lives are not the ones we can see or touch, but the ones that run in our blood and shape our hearts. Or, as my dad used to always say, it's in the blood.
Natalie Zett:That's it for this week. Have a great week, take care of yourselves and stay in touch. Goodbye for now. 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.