Flower in the River: A Family Tale Finally Told

Receipts from the River—What the Departed Left Behind

• Natalie Zett • Season 3 • Episode 104

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Ever wonder what secrets lie buried in forgotten newspapers and dusty archives? For the victims and survivors of Chicago's deadliest disaster, their stories waited patiently for over a century to be rediscovered.

Genealogy isn't just about filling in branches on a family tree—it's about stories--connective tissue to the past. During this year's RootsTech conference, I've been reflecting on how the marriage of theory and practice has shaped my journey uncovering the forgotten narratives of the 1915 Eastland disaster. As Crista Cowan, the "Barefoot Genealogist," reminds us, meaningful research means going beyond dates and places to understand who our ancestors truly were as complete human beings.

The Eastland's victims—predominantly Eastern European and Southern Italian immigrants—left behind what I call "receipts": newspaper accounts, court testimonies, letters, and other documentary evidence of their existence. These receipts haven't vanished; they've simply been waiting for someone to find them. And now, a growing community of independent researchers is committed to ensuring these stories are finally told.

Take Anna Johnson, whose remarkable premonition aboard the Eastland saved not only her life but those of her sister and brother-in-law. Moving to the starboard side just before the ship capsized, they survived while 812 others perished. Anna's story, published in 1963 as her sister and brother-in-law celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, had been essentially forgotten until recovered through dedicated research.

This podcast has traveled to Europe, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, and beyond—proof that these century-old stories still resonate deeply across time and space. People connect with these narratives because they recognize universal human experiences: love, loss, intuition, resilience.

Ready to discover what receipts your own ancestors left behind? Join me on this journey of historical recovery and see how the past isn't as distant as it might seem. Subscribe to hear more untold stories from the Eastland disaster, and visit flowerintheriver.com to explore this history further.

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Natalie Zett:

Hello, I'm Natalie Zett and welcome to Flower in the River. 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. Hey, this is Natalie, and welcome to episode 104 of Flower in the River, and I hope you're doing well. So I've been doing some thinking, a lot of thinking, actually. Right now I'm in the middle of RootsTech and that is the world's largest genealogical conference, and I think at this moment there are over half a million people online. I'm taking it virtually and it's so exciting. It's a hard thing to explain, but people who love history, who love family history, who love genealogy, get so passionate about this. Besides learning, besides meeting new relatives I've got a couple to meet this time around besides studying with people that I know and also learning from people that I've never met before, it's also a time to reflect on what happened the previous year. It's about taking stock of everything I've discovered on this genealogy and history adventure. It is so fascinating, so challenging and sometimes a lot of what I discover can be disturbing, right? Besides RootsTech, I take tons of genealogy and family history classes and other classes throughout the year, not just because I love them I do love them but I also want to maintain my certification as a professional genealogist. But all that said, learning isn't just about collecting knowledge. That would be kind of boring. I think it's about theory and praxis. I know those are fancy words, but they actually represent something very simple. Theory is the idea, the concept, the blueprint. It's the knowledge you gain. It's the knowledge I gain from going to all these classes and seminars and webinars and this sort of thing. It's the framework that's built that can sustain this type of research and praxis. Practice, rather, it is putting that theory into action, the real world application of those ideas. It's where the rubber meets the road. Can you really solve these complicated problems with what you just learned? That's the thing. So it has to be kind of a back and forth. You have to replenish the well, but then you have to use what you've learned and exercise those muscles. That's part of learning as well. Those muscles that's part of learning as well.

Natalie Zett:

So over 10 years ago, when I first tested at AncestryDNA that's what got me interested in revisiting my own family tree I wasn't sure I would be able to discover anything new about my family and, yes, I was very wrong about that. So what happened is that it snowballed as I was getting interested in it and making additions to this family tree. I was sharing the information with my relatives. They got excited. They started giving me stuff, photos, stories, things like that that I could add to this thing, and it really is quite a nice tree, if I do say so myself.

Natalie Zett:

But it was never just about my family, because other friends, even other family members, wanted their family trees built out as well. So I started helping them. And then it just continued in terms of having to solve problems. People presented me with all kinds of problems and I ran into quite a few myself with my own family tree. So it was constantly problem solving, fixing my errors and things like that.

Natalie Zett:

But what I was doing and I didn't realize it was building a very solid foundation, and it's a foundation I'm committed to. This foundation has served me very well when I expanded and took on the daunting task of trying to restore the histories, the stories of all of these people who were involved with the Eastland disaster, because until I began doing deeper research into this area, I hadn't realized how much of it had been neglected. But not any longer. There are so many of us doing this type of work and I'm so appreciative of all of us independent researchers. Deep respect to all of you, all of us who have committed ourselves to making sure that the lives that were once lived are not lost forever, since November 2023, when I took this podcast into a different direction by researching and sharing stories of other people who were involved with the Eastland disaster People not just my family, but beyond my family. You can say that this is an example of taking the fan club and that would be friends, family associates and neighbors to a whole new level, and you may already know this, but the fan club is a research methodology that was created by Elizabeth Schoen Mills.

Natalie Zett:

This experience has been exciting, shocking. Shocking, meaning. I cannot believe the number of people and stories that have not been told. As I've often said, it's been over 100 years. I think they've waited long enough and it's been very important to me to be as committed to them as I am to my own family's history, and that's a daunting challenge, but it's not impossible. Also, I'm not alone in this because there are so many other independent researchers doing similar work to mine around the Eastland disaster, as well as other types of history that has been traditionally ignored. So we're not alone, and this is, I think, the age of the independent researcher. We have found, and I have particularly found with the Eastland disaster, that while a number of institutions have done a fantastic job of taking care of the overall history of the ship and they're in a position to do that because of the huge numbers of trained staff that they have Places like the Newberry Chicago Public Library, chicago History Museum, probably some others I'm forgetting about have taken on aspects of this, and that's awesome, but not every place has that same level of commitment or the ability to do this kind of deep work. What's important? To be aware of that as well. What does one do with all this research? I turn it into stories.

Natalie Zett:

Started off my career as a writer and journalist. What I have discovered in the last few years is the way people receive and consume information is very different now than it once was. Enter the podcast. I love writing. I love creating artwork. I loved my years in theater. I really did.

Natalie Zett:

However, a podcast is an entirely different animal altogether. A podcast can travel to places that one human being could never get to, no matter how long they lived. A podcast goes all over the world. I can tell you from my latest statistics this last week's episode has gone to various countries in Europe Australia, new Zealand, brazil and South Africa, of course, canada. Nothing from Mexico this week, but I usually get people from Mexico too, listening in, and it's astonishing to me that so many people from all over the world are interested in this history.

Natalie Zett:

And I think they're interested in this history not because of numbers or because of sensational stories, but because I share the stories of everyone that I can find who was involved with the Eastland disaster. Many times the stories are very ordinary, but they are stories that are relatable to a lot of people. A lot of us can see ourselves in the lives of those people, and those of us who are curators of history or genealogy, we let our subjects speak for themselves. I mean, if we have access to their own words about themselves and their lives, that's infinitely more interesting than our opinions about who they were, and I'll continue to study with and learn from the best people in this field. Speaking of one of the best people in this field of genealogy, I have a quote from the barefoot genealogist herself, Crista Cowan, and I really resonated with what she was saying, because what she was saying crystallizes my approach to uncovering the stories of the people of the Eastland disaster. I'm quoting Crista Cowan.

Natalie Zett:

This is not a race. She's talking about genealogy. Specifically, she was referring to doing your family tree, but it applies to other things besides your own family tree. We'll continue. It's about collecting family stories to get to know these people. It's about how deep you can go in knowing and understanding this person.

Natalie Zett:

Who were they? What kind of life did they live? What records were created that tell stories about them? How can I piece together all the records? I do have to understand who they were a little bit better. Who were their relatives? Not just their spouse and children, but all of their children? Did they have multiple spouses? What about their friends? Who were their parents and siblings? How old were they when they got married? If they got married, did they ever serve in the military? Were they an immigrant from one country to another? Did they suffer from some kind of illness, disease or disability? What did they do for a living? Did they have a consistent occupation that they trained into or did they do for a living? Did they have a consistent occupation that they trained into or did they jump jobs every few years? These are the kinds of questions she put out there and challenges she put out there. For all of us who do genealogy and, of course, I've extended that to my greater family, that would be the Eastland Disaster Family but the types of insightful challenges she puts out there demonstrates why she's so good at what she does.

Natalie Zett:

Again, that quote I just read was from one of Krista's YouTube presentations called Family Tree Building 101. And along with that, I want to say I have very good news when it comes to the people of the Eastland disaster. Yes, some of the history has been cared for, but not all of it. In fact, a lot of it has been missed for reasons we don't know. But here's today's day brightener in regards to this history the departed have receipts. I'll say that again the departed have receipts and, yes, I can prove it Every week.

Natalie Zett:

For the last 70 weeks or so that's seven zero weeks I've been locating these stories, most of which haven't been shared for over 100 years that are all about the various people who were involved in the Eastland disaster or who were affected by it. 70 more weeks no exaggeration of stories for you, but those people, those people of the Eastland none of them are alive in 2025. If they are, it's close to a miracle and we want to know about that, but they're not. However, as you've seen, they have incredible stories, different stories. They're from all walks of life, but I do think, because the majority of the people were, like my family, immigrants from Eastern Europe, from Southern Italy, places like that and of the working class, our people don't generally have as strong a voice as some have had in history. However, there are plenty of us standing up for our ancestors, and I think the time has come to realize that this part of history is no longer going to be held back or hidden. It's here for us and I think people are enjoying it. A couple of people contacted me via email and said that they are feeling similarly empowered about their own family history, and the guidance that I would give to them, or to anybody else, is don't let somebody else define your history. Try to make sure that you are participating in your own family's history and, in the case of the Eastland disaster, the greater family's history.

Natalie Zett:

But the departed of the Eastland disaster, they left behind plenty of receipts. Many of them and you're going to hear another story today left behind their own words. How many eyewitness accounts have I shared with you? I have lost count, but I can tell you this Most of these stories have not been told in recent years. In fact, probably the only time they were told was in the newspaper in which an article appeared, and that was it. But the bottom line is, their voices still exist, tucked away in newspapers, court documents, letters and survivor testimonies.

Natalie Zett:

The departed souls of the Eastland disaster. Physically, yes, they're gone, but they're not really gone, not in my book anyway. It was the way I was brought up. I was brought up to know, not believe, but to know that the departed always walk among us, and that's one childhood conviction that has never left me. As the years have progressed, I'm even more convinced that what my relatives told me was absolutely true. The departed well, they don't need us to lament that the Eastland disaster has been forgotten. I want to say, after a few years of doing research on all of these people, the history has not been forgotten.

Natalie Zett:

If we want the truth, we have to find the receipts. What am I talking about? What are receipts? I'm glad you asked, even if you didn't. I'm glad you asked, even if you didn't. You should know that receipts whether they are cuneiform tablets, papyri or the digital trails we leave behind today, they are records. They prove something happened, they proved somebody was here, and these types of things have been used for thousands of years for accountability proof and preservation. Thousands of years for accountability proof and preservation. How do I know this? How can I stand on this? As someone whose graduate studies focused on interpreting ancient manuscripts, I can tell you this People leave a lot behind.

Natalie Zett:

We've been able to locate things from thousands of years ago, and so researching people from 100 years ago, while early 20th century Chicago, is challenging to study, I have to say the foundation, based on the work that I did in graduate school, of studying ancient texts provided a really good foundation for me to do the type of work that I'm doing for the people of the disaster. We have to keep the following in mind we have to be willing to understand the people in their time. We have to know that one source of information is not adequate. We have to do exhaustive research, just as we have to do in modern genealogy and history, and we also have to get into the mindset of the people of the time. If you think it's challenging to get into the mindset of people who were alive in the early 20th century, going back a couple thousand years, in ancient Greece, ancient Egypt even which I also studied a bit and I love that that's even more challenging. It's so tempting to bring our sensibilities and what we think is so modern into that world, but it doesn't work. What I learned back then, and what I've seen come to fruition, is we have to let people speak from their time as much as possible. We bring their voices back, Think of it like this. Their lives, their experiences and their stories, those all created the receipts that we are seeing now. So these records are there, easily obtainable, by the way, and people who are researching the people of the Eastland are finding this as well.

Natalie Zett:

And how do I see my role in this? Well, I'm a family member, but I'm also caring for the other lives, the other people whose stories have been lost until now, and there are quite a few of us doing this. But I'm also here to deliver the invoices. Deliver the invoices. I'm making sure these debts, the debts of memory, of acknowledgement of truth, are finally paid, and so many others are doing this as well, and I thank you.

Natalie Zett:

This will be a shorter podcast than usual because it is RootsTech, but I have a story for you, another story that has not been shared, to my knowledge, for probably since the time it was published. But just remember, the departed have left receipts. Nothing's lost forever, whether it's 2,000 years ago or 110 years ago ago. So I want to share yet another article that kind of got lost. These people are mentioned in some of the Eastland disaster history, but there's no details about them. So I'm going to read to you from the Daily Herald Chicago, december 26, 1963. It's got a couple of headlines. The first one is a happy premonition and the headline isn't quite right, but it says survivors of sea disaster. The Chicago River is not a sea, by the way. To mark 50th anniversary. The article was written by Beth Weir. And here we go.

Natalie Zett:

It was July 24th 1915. The Eastland, docked in the Chicago River, just west of the Clark Street Bridge, was loading passengers for an all-day outing on Lake Michigan, bringing with them all the comforts of home, blankets, games, luggage and picnic baskets brimming with an array of delicacies to make the trip a memorable one. It was early in the morning, but already too late for hundreds of the picnickers who favored the ship's starboard side. To Anna Johnson, floor lady with Western Electric, there was an empty note in the melody of gay laughter which echoed the river's banks. Her uneasiness mounted with the continuous stream of passengers. She felt the ship listing and expressed her fears to her sister and brother-in-law, amy and Henry Peterson, who accompanied her that day for the excursion around the lake. The trio on the port side finally moved to the side of the ship facing south, after Miss Johnson urged them to trust in her feeling that something was going to happen and it was because of this premonition their lives were spared.

Natalie Zett:

At exactly 7.20 am, the 2,000-ton Eastland, overburdened with 2,500 fun-seekers, rolled over on its port side. Mass hysteria followed and in a split second the air was filled with cries of horror from men, women and children, trapped fore and aft, topside and below the. Petersons and Miss Johnson were safe for the moment above water level on the high side of the ship. Aghast at the horrifying scene around them, they tried time and time again to aid in the rescue of their fellow passengers, but when several attempts to remove small children from portholes faded, they abandoned all efforts. The Eastland disaster took the lives of 812. The Eastland disaster took the lives of 812. Most of the victims who reached the water could have been saved, mrs Peterson tells, if it weren't for the injuries caused from the heavy cartons thrown into the river by would-be rescuers in nearby warehouses. Even after rescue operations were over, curiosity seekers swarmed to the scene of the disaster. But for the Petersons and Miss Johnson, who were saved by climbing over the deck and later picked up by a tugboat, the memory of the ill-fated pleasure trip couldn't be forgotten quickly enough. Anguished cries of help, faces of young and old distorted with pain, remained with them for months. Years afterward, mrs Peterson met her husband at a hayrack party in River Grove. She was 16, he 17. Both residents of Chicago and of Norwegian ancestry, they remained in the city following their wedding in 1913, where Mr Peterson, now retired, worked for Union Grove Creamery for 31 years and later for the Borden Company. Eight months after the Eastland tragedy, they became parents of their only child, the late Iona Richard of Wooddale. Two and a half years ago, following the death of their daughter, the couple made their home with their son-in-law, raymond, and two grandchildren, sarah and David, who is now a student at Northwestern University. Because they were survivors, not victims, of the Eastland, they lived on to fulfill a rich and rewarding life together as husband and wife, and, with the memory of the summer of 1915 far removed, their thoughts now are centered on their forthcoming golden anniversary celebration On December 31st. The pair, who attribute their happy married life to quote, considering each other's needs first, will mark their 50th anniversary with family members, friends and neighbors. They and their adopted family will host a party in the Richard home on Central Avenue, wooddale, from 7 pm to midnight. And that's the end of this article. Wasn't that interesting? It was very short, but how poignant. And here we have yet another survivor's story that really hasn't been told before. What I love about these firsthand accounts is how they give us a real window into what people actually saw and experienced that day. This one lines up with many other stories I've come across over the years, but what really stands out to me is how these survivors moved forward with their lives afterward. Something I've noticed in my research and in sharing these stories with you is that when survivors reach a certain age, say 50, 60, 70 years or older, they often feel the need to talk about what happened with the Eastland. These experiences truly never left them. One thing I want to highlight is the premonition that Katherine Johnson had. She had a deep, unsettling feeling that something was wrong. Where that feeling came from, I don't know, but she wasn't alone. Many people reported similar premonitions about the Eastland disaster. Some listened to that inner voice and stayed off the boat. Others, despite their unease, went ahead and tragically lost their lives. These kinds of warnings seem to appear time and time again around major disasters. Why do some people sense what's coming? Why do some ignore it? I don't have answers to that. Nobody does but in this case Catherine's intuition made all the difference. She was the one who urged her sister Amy and brother-in-law Henry to move to safety, and that may be what saved them. After the disaster, catherine's life becomes harder to trace. The records just aren't very detailed. We know she lived with Henry and Amy until her death in 1946, at around 60 years old. Amy and Henry's daughter also passed away young, just 41 or so, leaving behind two children and a widower. We don't know why she died, but it's clear that this family faced its share of hardships. Still, they seem to have built a good life together despite everything. I think it also says a lot that Amy was willing to talk about the Eastland For that time period. That kind of openness suggests a certain emotional resilience, or something like that. Instead of keeping the trauma bottled up, she shared her story. Now, that approach doesn't work for everyone, but for some people it really does help everyone, but for some people it really does help. And that's all for today. Next week we'll be back to our usual schedule with a longer podcast, but I wanted to take the time to share at least one story with you this week. Now I'm headed back to RootsTech. I just wrapped up a session on using old newspapers for family research. Right up my alley right. It's incredible what you can find in those newspapers, such as stories like the one I just shared. With the right approach, you can piece together entire life stories. Rootstech also has great sessions on DNA analysis and making sense of census records. How's that for a title? And the best part for all of you, these webinars are free and will be available online for about a year, I think, and that would be from March 2025 to March 2026. So if you want to partake of the RootsTech conference without having to attend this weekend, I highly recommend checking out these webinars. They are worth it. Have a great week and I'll catch you next time. 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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