Flower in the River: A Family Tale Finally Told

Erased by a Typo — Meet the Man Who Saved Lives and Legacies

• Natalie Zett • Season 4 • Episode 130

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In this episode, I return to Dwight Boyer’s "True Tales of the Great Lakes" and discuss two forgotten heroes of the 1915 Eastland disaster—one remembered correctly, the other erased for more than a century by a newspaper typo that turned my fact-check into a full-blown genealogical detective story.

The Mystery Begins

While researching Boyer's account of the disaster, I encountered two names that appeared nowhere else in most modern Eastland documentation: N.W. LeVally,  and J.H. “Rista,”  who reportedly saved 40 lives. Both men had crucial roles in the rescue efforts, yet their stories seemed to vanish as time passed.

Norman LeVally: The Yale Man

My search for LeVally led me through Yale Alumni records and Chicago Tribune obituaries, revealing a successful businessperson who worked for the Oxweld Acetylene Company for nearly two decades. But his connection to one of Chicago's greatest tragedies was missing from his biographical record.

The Case of the Missing Hero

J.H. Rista proved elusive--putting it mildly. Though credited with saving 40 lives and defying Captain Pedersen’s orders to halt rescue efforts, he seemed to exist only in a single 1915 newspaper account, Boyer's book and the Chicagology website. Searches across multiple genealogical databases turned up nothing.

Breaking the Code

The breakthrough came in the November 1915 proceedings of the International Order of Odd Fellows. Where the account of Brother J.H. Ripstra and his heroic actions during the Eastland disaster was mentioned. 

The Real John Henri Ripstra

John Henri Ripstra wasn’t just a hero of the Eastland disaster. He became a nationally recognized sculptor, numismatist, and Lincoln scholar. He founded the Lincoln Group of Chicago in 1931, led the American Numismatic Association as president, and was later inducted into its Hall of Fame. His art and scholarship helped shape how we remember Abraham Lincoln.

Yet because of one misspelling, none of his extensive biographies seem to link him to the day he helped save lives during the Eastland Disaster.

The Larger Truth

This episode exposes an ongoing and troubling pattern: the lives of so many tied to the Eastland are too often overlooked—sometimes erased by something as simple as a typo.

Resources:

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. Hey, this is Natalie, and welcome to episode 130 of Flower in the River podcast. I hope you're doing well. So today we're going to return to Dwight Boyer's book True Tales of the Great Lakes, and we'll be returning to his chapter on the Eastland disaster, and we are going to do a deeper dive into the lives of a couple of people that, once you meet them, you will be amazed that their identities and their biographies have been missing for over 110 years. I realize that's not that uncommon with the Eastland disaster, but every time I run into something like this, I can't help but be part amazed and part horrified that this happens. But we're here to restore these biographies and give these folks their rightful place in this piece of history. So we'll be jumping right into the middle of this chapter to focus in on the lives of these people. So let's pick up where the ship has just capsized and people are rushing to help. Reading from Dwight Boyer's book True Tales of the Great Lakes, specifically the chapter who speaks for the little feller.

Natalie Zett:

Among those who quickly responded to the emergency was NW LaVallee, manager of the Oxweld Acetylene Company, who brought as many men as he could muster and all the supplies they could carry. Rescuers on the exposed side of the ship pointed to places where they could hear shouting and hammering from those still trapped inside. One of the cutting torch men was J H Rista, who had scarcely begun his work when he was rudely shoved aside by Captain Pettersen and ordered to stop. Rista heatedly refused and it took rough talk by several of the workers to keep the captain and first mate, del Fisher, from further interfering with the rescue work. Quote after I got rid of Pettersen, rista later told Newsman we took 40 people still alive out of that hole. He had tried to stop me from cutting. And then the article goes on and discusses other stories, and I'll stop there because I want to talk about two of the people who are mentioned in this article NW LaVallee, manager of the Oxweld Acetylene Company and JH Rista. And now I'd like to share the original source that most likely Dwight Boyer used when he was writing his chapter, and this is from the Chicago Tribune, july 25, 1915, one day after the Eastland disaster Headline Try to stop.

Natalie Zett:

Rescuers. Captain Petterson, del Fisher, his first mate and a dozen of the crew were still lingering among the rescuers on the hull as the torch operators set to work. Petterson rushed to halt them here. Stop that, he cried. My orders are to save lives, not to be careful of the boat. Retorted one of the operators. Later, 15 of Pedersen's crew were arrested for interfering with the work of the electricians and torchmen. The captain's action led NW LaVallee, manager of the Oxweld Acetylene Company, in charge of the work of piercing the hull to lodge a complaint against him.

Natalie Zett:

Headline 40 brought through hole. Jh Rista, chairman of the Odd Fellows League and Relief Board, was another who told of interference by Captain Pettersen. Quote I was using a torch on the hull when Pettersen rushed up and ordered me to stop, he said. I told him to go to a place where it is hotter than any torch flame. After I got rid of Pedersen, we dragged 40 people through the hole he had tried to stop me from making. And that's the end of the section about JH Rista and that's a little more colorful than what Dwight Boyer shared with us, but we get an idea of who this man was.

Natalie Zett:

What I do after locating these people of the Eastland, when they don't have biographies and they generally don't I go looking for them and, as you've learned, sometimes it's straightforward and relatively easy. And then there are the other times where it takes a lot more work and a lot of different techniques to locate these people. In this case, lavallee was easy to find and I'll tell you about him. The first thing I located is actually an article from the Yale Alumni Weekly. He was a Yale guy. This is from 1934, weekly. He was a Yale guy. This is from 1934, and it's a listing for an obituary.

Natalie Zett:

Norman Wicklow LaVallee, class of 1901, died on April 2nd in Asheville, north Carolina, after a three-month illness. Lavallee was the Chicago sales representative for the Oxweld Acetylene Company for nearly 20 years after leaving college and was subsequently general manager of the Galland-Hemming Manufacturing Company in Milwaukee. In 1927, he was connected with LaVallee and Simpton in Memphis, tennessee, and unfortunately this is where Google Books cut off the article. I can't see the whole document, but luckily I was able to find his death notice his obituary. This obituary is from the Chicago Tribune, april 5th 1934. April 5, 1934.

Natalie Zett:

Funeral Services Today for Norman W LaVallee. Funeral Services will be held today for Norman W LaVallee, 54 years old, a former member of the Chicago Board of Trade, who died Monday at his home in Asheville, north Carolina. His father, john R Lavallee, was a pioneer member of the Board of Trade here For many years. Norman was a member of the board until he went to Asheville two years ago to engage in the insurance business. He is survived by his widow, ella, and a daughter, eugenie. The services will be held at a chapel at 4141 Cottage Grove Avenue. Internment will be at Graceland Cemetery.

Natalie Zett:

I'll continue to research Norman because I was unable to find more information about him, but I have the feeling there is more information out there and at least now we have a bit of a biography for him. And, as I do with the other people I locate, I will add information to his biography as I find it. Let's move on to the second person mentioned in that article, jh Rista. The name is spelled in the article R-I-S-T-A. We don't know a lot about him from that article, but we know enough to start digging. The article tells us he was the chairman of the Odd Fellows League and Relief Board. Yes, that's a real thing and it exists today. I've talked about fraternal organizations in other episodes and I'll link those. But the Oddfellows were and still are a fraternal organization and we even have a lodge in Minneapolis-St Paul. They've always been involved in outreach and service work and the name might sound dated but it certainly makes them stand out right. But back to JH Rista. According to this article, he used a torch in the hall to try to rescue people, and rescue people he did. The article credits him with saving 40 lives. Here's where it gets challenging. Lives, here's where it gets challenging.

Natalie Zett:

When I went looking for him in other records or articles about the Eastland, starting with 1915 forward. I only found him in a few places, and that would be first, of course, the original article from July 25, 1915, in the Chicago Tribune. The second was Dwight Boyer's book published in 1971. And the third was another book and I'll talk about that later. It was written by someone who borrowed heavily from Boyer without really giving him credit. You can tell when the phrasing is almost word for word. Once we reach the 21st century, neither the name La Valle or Rista shows up in any Eastland books, other documentation or websites, except one, the Chicagoology website, which does a fantastic job with Chicago history, and they included the original article on their page. So thank you, chicagoology, for preserving that thread.

Natalie Zett:

So I did what any genealogist worth their salt would do, any genealogist's work their salt would do, and I'll take you through the process step by step, and I always want to take you under the hood of these types of things and be very transparent as much as possible. I wanted to find out more about who this JH Rista person was. I did a surname search on various genealogical websites, such as Family Search, ancestry, myheritage there are others as well and I couldn't find anything that would even come close to this person. During this time and given the pattern I've already seen with the misspellings or transcription problems that took place in some of the articles about the Eastland back then again not casting any shade because those people were working very quickly and for the most part they did an incredible job, but misspellings they happened. Remember what happened a couple weeks ago with Mike Javenko, as he was called, and his real name was Gianvenko, and I was able to track down his history. So I had to do the same thing with JH Rista. So I looked at that name and I queried on similar names and did the wildcard searches and nothing. So that was my first sweep through.

Natalie Zett:

I thought this will be easy, back to square one, so I returned the original for context. There's a major clue in there, right up front. A major clue in there right up front JH Rista was the chairman of the Odd Fellows League and Relief Board. Unfortunately they didn't give an address for him, but this is huge. I figured that any fraternal organization would probably have some kind of documentation, meeting notes, convention notes, because I've seen this previously. So I was able to find the International Organization of Odd Fellows.

Natalie Zett:

Proceedings forward slash journals, illinois, 1915. And this is from the Journal of Proceedings, page numbers 366 to 367. The date is Thursday, november 18, 1915, so just a few months after the Eastland disaster, headline Document Number 121, 31st Report by Brother Andrew G Anderson of no 8812, to the Grand Lodge of the State of Illinois, ioof International Order of Odd Fellows. Your Committee on State of the Order would respectfully report as follows of the order would respectfully report as follows we have carefully examined that part of the Grand Master's report entitled Eastland Boat Disaster and the communications appearing and following, and commend the Grand Master for his prompt attention to this calamity that especially distressed so many families of our order and are pleased to compliment the Grand Master and the special committee appointed by him for their thorough investigation and prompt action in the relief of the distressed. It is another demonstration of the workings of the order. The heroic part taken by Brother JH Ripstra, that's R-I-P-S-T-R-A that's our guy and Brother Fred Fellows, in aiding in the rescue of imprisoned persons from the hold of the, deserves and should have special mention. Their presence of mind, their prompt action and heroic efforts entitled them to a vote of commendation of this grand lodge and we humbly suggest that such a vote he tendered to them and a copy of the report of this committee sent to them, signed by the committee, which was adopted, goes on. But that's the end of that most important citation, because it identifies JH Rista as JH Ripstra.

Natalie Zett:

And it also showed me how I was going down the wrong path by looking for RIS instead of RIP. But how would I know that I wouldn't necessarily? There's somebody else mentioned too, brother Fred Fellows, who also does not appear anywhere in any Eastland documentation. So Fred also was helping with rescue and or recovery. So I'll do more research on him as well. But that was my breakthrough. It wasn't the easiest thing, but it wasn't overwhelmingly difficult either. So we have his name, j H Ripstra. And wait until you hear what I found out about Mr Ripstra. He has a number of family trees because he was quite prominent and that is an understatement. But none of the family trees, none of the documentation in any of his records which are very thorough, by the way, on the public-facing trees mentions his involvement with the Eastland disaster because of this name snafu. And no one thought to connect the dots until now, until now. So let me introduce you to John Henry or Henri Ripstra. Mostly he's referred to as Henry or Henri, but he's also referred to as John or John Henry.

Natalie Zett:

John Henry Ripstra was born February 18, 1881, in Grand Rapids, michigan, and he died May 4, 1961, in Chicago. So John Henry's grandparents immigrated from the Netherlands to the United States in 1855 and eventually settled in Grand Rapids, michigan, which had a lot of Dutch immigrants. And John Henry's father was a cigar box maker. And John Henry married Anna Marie Delnay in 1902 in Grand Rapids and by 1908, they had moved to Chicago where he was working as a steel engraver, according to the 1910 census. So in 1915, we know that John Henry was called upon by Norm LaVallee Norman LaVallee of the Oxweld Acetylene Company to assist with the Eastland disaster, and I can't assume he was working for this company. What I've seen is that a lot of people with certain skills would contract their services out to all kinds of companies. This might have been what happened here, but this needs more research, duly noted. And of course the newspaper misprinted his name.

Natalie Zett:

But John Henry moved on and his 1917-1918 draft card has additional information about him. He was working for himself, self-employed, as a dye sinker in or for special machinery. That's what it says on the card. He was married to Anna. He described himself as having medium height, stout, with blue eyes and gray hair, and he was 37 years old at that time. But he has a distinguishing characteristic. But he has a distinguishing characteristic he was missing the little finger on his left hand and I can't help but wonder if, under the stress of what he was doing during the Eastland disaster, if he lost his finger while he was doing his rescue work. I don't know, and at the time too, he was living about five miles west of the disaster site, so it would have been relatively easy for him to get there. By 1920, john Henry and Anna are still living in the same house on Gladys Avenue in Chicago, and by then he has two children, a boy and a girl, and I do believe there was another boy that came after 1920. And he's still working as a dye sinker and still seems to be self-employed.

Natalie Zett:

What's a dye sinker? This was a highly skilled metal worker who specialized in engraving or cutting designs into steel dyes, or cutting designs into steel dyes. Those dyes were then used to stamp or strike coins, metals, tokens or embossed patterns into metal. And if you think of it this way, the dye is the tool with the engraved design and the dye sinking is the process of creating that engraved design. The die sinking is the process of creating that engraved design and the die sinker that would be John Henry is the artisan who painstakingly carves or machines those designs into hard steel. I hope that makes sense. You're going to see now how he used that skill Fast forward.

Natalie Zett:

In the October 21st 1927 issue of the Illinois State Journal he was mentioned in an article entitled Lincoln Tomb Visitors in Springfield, illinois. Springfield is about 200 miles from Chicago Headline Lincoln Tomb Visitors, and we're referring, of course, to President Abraham Lincoln. President, abraham Lincoln. There were 320 callers yesterday at Lincoln's tomb, and it goes on to give a lot of names of people who traveled from all over the country to be at Lincoln's tomb, and it includes this paragraph John Henry Ripstra, sculptor Chicago, was a caller. He has a Lincoln collection that is making him famous both at home and abroad. He has several addresses on Lincoln he modeled the Memorial Lincoln Medallion issued by the Chicago Numismatic Society. Issued by the Chicago Numismatic Society, 50 were issued to people who have done something outstanding in the Lincoln cause. Four or five of these tokens have been bestowed upon Springfield enthusiasts. Sculptor Ripstra never comes to Springfield without calling on Jacob Thompson at the tomb or the Centennial Association Lincoln Collectors.

Natalie Zett:

That's the end of the portion of this article about John Henry Ripstra. So the piece said he was a sculptor from Chicago who had become well known for his Lincoln collection, which was a series of artworks, medallions and tokens related to Abraham Lincoln. I'm sure he still kept his day job, but he also did this work and his work had both artistic and commemorative purposes and it was tied up with the Lincoln Legacy movement of the 1920s, which in some ways is still going strong. I did a search for Ripstra on eBay and I found one of those medallions selling for $59. No, I didn't buy it, but I found it. And I also found that the American Numismatic Association Gold Medal Award was given to John Henry Ripstra, who was the past president of the association, and then they were sold on iCollector for $1,000. They were sold on iCollector for $1,000.

Natalie Zett:

John Henry Ripstra didn't vanish after that terrible day on the river. He defied Pedersen, he rescued at least 40 people and he went on, and one of the big things that he did was reshape how we think of Abraham Lincoln. In 1931, he founded the Lincoln Group of Chicago, and that was a gathering of scholars, judges, doctors, lawyers and collectors people from every walk of professional life who all shared a passion for Lincoln. I need to interrupt myself for a second here to let listeners know particularly listeners from outside of the United States that the state of Illinois is known as the land of Lincoln, not because he was born in Illinois, he was born in Kentucky. But around 1830, he moved with his family to Illinois and that was where he worked in different political professions, different professions, and ultimately well, he became the 16th president of the United States. Also, he is buried in Springfield, illinois, ripstra's steady hand.

Natalie Zett:

The group wasn't just a club, it became a force. They dug deep into Lincoln's life, invited national experts to speak and they turned their meetings into a hub of ideas. So John Henry Ripstra was a historian as well. He knew how fragile history was and he wanted to make sure that all the work of this Lincoln Group of Chicago didn't fade into thin air, and in 1945, he published a book called the Lincoln Group Papers, and inside were 12 essays written by some of the best Lincoln scholars of the day, covering everything from the Lincoln-Douglas debates to Lincoln's friendships, his finances and even the international dimensions of his presidency. What I don't know is, did they cover some of the more controversial and painful decisions that Lincoln made while he was president, decisions that Lincoln made while he was president? Ripstra, like so many of us now, didn't believe that history should just sit in dusty archives, that it should be shared, preserved and passed along. He made sure the voices of that Lincoln circle were captured so future generations like us could keep learning from them. And his book was respected nationally and the Lincoln Memorial University even honored Ripstra with a diploma of recognition for his efforts to promote both the lives of Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln.

Natalie Zett:

So this is just a very superficial exploration of John Henry Ripstra's engagement with the Lincoln legacy. So here's the through line. In 1915, ripstra shows up under the wrong name in a moment of crisis, helping in ways that were lost because of a typo, because no one thought to follow up and get his biography. What I have found with the Eastland disaster is that the people who were the true heroes, like Ripstra and there have been many others that I covered throughout this podcast they seldom bring up what they did. If they do, they talk about it briefly later in life but seldom publicly. As opposed to Arthur Loeb, who made all these false claims about doing rescue work when he really was robbing corpses down at the riverfront that day and he was arrested and acquitted, but he went on to basically be one of the most amazing con artists that I've ever read about. The darker side of tragedies is they will attract people like Arthur Loeb and the ones that actually do the real work and do rescue work or do a lot of the other work. They seldom lead with ego, they lead with service. And speaking of leading with service, here's a tribute to John Henry Ripstra after his death on the Coins Weekly website J Henry Ripstra 1881-1961.

Natalie Zett:

J Henry Ripstra was present at the meeting held in February 1917 to reorganize the ANA Branch no 1, which had been moribund since its president died in 1914. In Morabund, since its president died in 1914. Since membership in this club was restricted to ANA members and there were other Chicago collectors who wished to join but were not ANA members. It was reorganized again two years later to form the Chicago Coin Club. Mr Ripstra received charter member number nine when membership numbers were awarded to those who joined in February and March 1919, and he remained a member the rest of his life. From 1933 to 1936, he served as president of the club and later as director. He was a speaker at club meetings many times.

Natalie Zett:

Mr Ripstra was active in the American Numismatic Association, also serving on the board of governors for six years and then president August 26,1937 to October 5, 1939,. He was elected to the ANA Numismatic Hall of Fame in 1978. In January 1939, he was appointed Honorary Chairman of the first meeting of what became the Central States Numismatic Society. While ANA president he was instrumental in the formation of the Iowa Numismatic Association. A tool and die maker, mr Ripstra was also a highly talented medallic artist and die engraver. Before the Chicago Coin Club was formed he prepared the dies and struck the medals for the Chicago Numismatic Society from 1908 through 1914 and produced dies for many other medals and numismatic badges. A collector of Lincoln memorabilia, he was the founder and executive secretary of the Lincoln Group of Chicago, of which Illinois Governor Henry Horner was chairman Ripstra's Lincoln portrait die for medals for the Lincoln Group was reused to strike medals for the 1965 Central States Convention.

Natalie Zett:

Many tributes poured in after his death. In the numismatic scrapbook for June 1961, numismatics scrapbook for June 1961, lee Hewitt, hall of Fame no 6, wrote quote With the passing of J Henry Ripstra, organized numismatics has lost one of its most colorful personalities. It was our privilege to know Henry for 35 years. With the possible exception of Doug Ferguson, he was the best extemporaneous speaker and presiding officer that we have known in numismatic circles. He had an endless repertoire of stories about important numismatists of the early 20th century, such as Virgil Brand, william F Dunham and Henry Chapman. End quote. Ana past president V Leon Belt wrote whatever honor I may have attained in both the American and Iowa numismatic associations was largely due to his assistance, encouragement and support. End of quote. Wrote Harold R Klein, ana treasurer. I have always enjoyed his warm personality as well as his sound counseling.

Natalie Zett:

What is a numismatist? It's a mouthful for one thing, but what it means? It's a person who studies or collects currency, coins, tokens and metals, and probably more things as well. This is an overview of this man's life and I'm very sorry that his contributions to the Eastland disaster were lost and now it's so important to make sure that we restore this history. And as I continue to find these quote-unquote long-lost people of the Eastland disaster, they're not really lost. They're there waiting for us. Of the Eastland disaster, they're not really lost. They're there waiting for us.

Natalie Zett:

As we continue to find these people, it reshapes how we think about the disaster. It's not a number, it's not one or two or four families. It's so many people and they need to be returned to their rightful place. They were families, they were victims, they were survivors, they were helpers, like John Henry Ripstra and Fred Fellows and so many others, and even those who damaged the history of the Eastland disaster by pretending to be what they weren't. Arthur Loeb, I'm talking to you. They all need to be accounted for, because the actual history of the Eastland disaster, I think, has barely been scratched and we continue to discover so many people who have shaped its history and yet who have been left out of the modern tellings of its history.

Natalie Zett:

John Henry Ripstra seemed like a very unusual person and I think those who came in contact with him were influenced by him. He was a person of service, he was a die-sinker, a sculptor, a cultural leader and the man who would go on and found the Lincoln Group of Chicago. And in 1915, during the Eastland disaster, he stepped into a role of responsibility and leadership that was lost because of a simple typo. Last but not least is his obituary from the Chicago Tribune, may 6, 1961. 1961. J Henry Ripstra, beloved husband of Anna M, fond father of Earl F H Irving and Ethel May, also survived by six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, by six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, fond brother of Frank Services, saturday 2 pm at Nielsen's Funeral Home, 3301 West Fullerton Avenue, intermit, acacia Park. Odd Fellow Services. Fellow Services, friday 8 pm under the auspices of Northwest Community Lodge no 7-IOOF. Masonic Services, saturday 2 pm under the auspices of Ben-Hur Lodge no 818, AF&AM. Please omit flowers.

Natalie Zett:

So I hope you enjoyed this overview of this man's life and it is a special joy to reconnect JH Ripstra to the Eastland, and it's also important to keep in mind that the history of the Eastland needs some work.

Natalie Zett:

The majority of the stories that I cover in this podcast are stories similar to this. Names that don't even make it into the 21st century, names that don't even make it into the 21st century retellings of the many, many stories that make up the Eastland disaster, the people of the Eastland disaster. So I hope you enjoyed getting to meet Norman LaVallee and JH Ripstra, and next week, of course, I'll have more stories for you. In the meantime, take care of yourselves and take care of each other, and I will talk to you next week, 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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