"A family tree can wither if nobody tends its roots."

Jan1st2013

Antonio’s Cottage

by  Phyllis Zeck

 

Elieen (Turk), Margaret (Gan), Elvira (Snooks), Antonio

Elieen (Turk), Margaret (Gan), Elvira (Snooks), Antonio

Mary (aka Bear) has sent me several photographs that I’ve been anxious to share.  Bear’s grandmother was Elvira (Snooks) and her great grandparents were Antonio Del Principe and Margaret (aka Gan) Heenan.  Antonio and Margaret were married on Nov 12, 1919.  In 1928 Antonio built a summer cottage in Lake Villa, Illinois. Bear wrote to me that  “During the summer my husband and I go and stay in the summer cottage that Antonio built in 1928!  It is in Lake Villa.  It’s such an amazing piece of family history.”   

To make any of the photos larger, click on the photo and you’ll be brought to a new page.  Click on the photo again and the photo will be enlarged.  Click on the back arrow to return to the blog post.

Bear and her husband have been remodeling the cottage.  They are having a new roof put on and are restoring some beams.  They are also remodeling the bathroom which was not a part of the original structure.   

Antonio"s Cottage 1940

Antonio”s Cottage 1940

This photo was taken June 2, 1940.  The back of the photo says, “Roy + Snook + Aunt Turk + Bernard O’Donnel (Aunt Turk’s old Boyfriend.)  Jack Hoffman and Red Zinger. They liked Snook but Snook liked Roy.”  Elvira (Snook) married Roy Weber and they had four children: Antoinette, Gregory, Madeleine, and Margaret.  Some of Antonio’s brothers went to the cottage to help build it.  I don’t know if my grandfather Gilbert assisted in the building, but I suspect he did.  The brothers were always helping each other.  When my grandfather and father were building our house in Villa Park in the 1950’s, grandpa’s brothers were frequently there to lend a hand to grandpa and my father.

Margaret and Antonio 1940

Margaret and Antonio and Roy 1940

Bear wrote “Roy absolutely loved going to the cottage.  When my dad, Greg, was a kid they’d go up every weekend between Memorial Day and Labor Day.  He’d come home from work and Snook would have packed everything in paper bags by the door.  He’d load up the car and Blackie (their dog at the time) would hop in the car and would NOT leave for anything.  My dad said he’d growl and snarl if anyone would try to make him get out of the car because he knew it was time to go to the cottage.  He’d wait in the car as long as it took.   My dad said that he and Mad and Maggie would start to get anxious in the winter around Feb and they’d ask how many more weeks til we get to go to the cottage? So his mom would count down the weeks with them till Memorial Day weekend.” 

“Pa (Roy) continued to go to the cottage even after Snooks died.   They were very good friends with the couple that lived across the street from the cottage, Wallie and Mickie.  Mickie still lives there, and we see her quite often.  She is one of the most active 84 year olds I ever met!”  

Summer 1939

Summer 1936

Bear explains the photo to the right: “The girls are sitting on the roof of the south side of the cottage.  If you are looking at the cottage from the front, they are dangling their legs off the left side of the cottage. Snook is the third one from the left.  I always assumed Turk was in the photo, but I don’t recognize the other three. One might be Turk.  We just lost the big tree behind them in the photo.  There was a nasty storm last June.  Wyatt (my husband) and I were up there during the storm and it was scary!!  A near by big oak tree was split in half by lightening and the tree in the photo was knocked down by 70 mile an hour winds. We also lost the tree between Gan and Antonio in the other picture.  It was a sad day.”

Wow Bear! Thank you so much for sharing your stories and photographs.  Because of your generosity we are able to get a deeper understanding of our ancestors, which was one of my goals for starting this blog.  

 
 

Jul28th2012

Breaking Through The Brickwalls

by  Phyllis Zeck

Roy and Elvira Weber

There is a saying in the genealogy world when we have searched and searched for an item or a family member and can’t find what or who we are looking for; we have hit a brick wall.

This is what happened to me as I searched for any trace of Antonio Del Principe’s descendants.  Antonio was the oldest of the Del Principe brothers.  I am now in contact with the descendants of Giuseppe, Amelio, Serafino (John), Octavio, Paulo, and Francesco.  I just had to find the descendants of Antonio!

In May of 2011 I went to Chicago to visit my family and friends.  In between activities (when I was supposed to be relaxing), I drove my sister Lori crazy by dragging box after box out of the basement and went through them in an effort to find some of my “missing” relatives.  I was particularly driven to find a descendant of Antonio’s.  He had two daughters but I could find no trace of them.  My quest was to find Elvira and Eileen’s married names.  I looked through grandpa’s address books and through the obituaries grandpa had cut and saved.  I looked on the back of photographs for clues.  No luck!

Imagine my complete delight when one day in mid July I received an email from Mary, the granddaughter of Elvira!  Antonio had two daughters.  Elvira (Snookie) Antoinette was born in 1920 and Eileen (Turk) Lucille was born in 1921.  I thought Elvira had only one child but Mary informed me that Elvira and her husband Roy had four children: Margaret, Antoinette, Greg, and Madeleine.  Mary is the daughter of Greg.  Eileen married and had one son named Ron.

Mary and I have sent many emails flying back and forth and she has generously shared some stories and photos which I will share in future blog posts.  In the mean time, I hope you enjoy this beautiful photograph of Elvira and Roy Weber on their wedding day.