Lilligs in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7372854n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

Grandma Lavery's Aunt Regina, Uncle John, and Uncle Nick were all living in San Francisco at the time of this film. The three of them were all in the Great SF Earthquake that struck just a few days after this was filmed. Uncle John suffered a severe head injury from a falling timber in their building. Regina brought him back to Kansas City and he was institutionalized at the Sanitarium in Osawatomie where he later died in 1912.

If you watch the entire 60 Minutes feature you will see a short part of Market Street after the earthquake showing the devastation and every building virtually destroyed. Over 3,000 lost their lives and 300,000 were left homeless out of a total population of 410,000 at the time.

Lillig Family and Homestead

Close up detail of the phot0 above. Complete photo below.

Left to right: John, Katie (I think) Lillig Glorman, Regina, Anna or Helena Lillig, Peter Glorman, Mother Regina (Michels) Lillig, Kless, Nick, Joe Glorman, Matthew. Taken around 1900. I believe this is in Kansas City, Kansas. It appears the road was recently taken out to lower the grade.

Old Lillig Family Photo

This is a very old photo, perhaps from the very earliest days of photography. My grandmother gave it to me but she didn't know who the people were. The back is simply written "LILLIG FAMILY". The original is very faint and has no constrast so I have tried different techniques to try to enhance it. These are some of the results. The original scan is above. Feel free to try your hand at enhancing it. Single click on it twice slowly to get the full file then right click to save it. Let me know how you do.

I have struggled with this photograph over the years. At first I thought the subjects in it didn't fit the family structures of any Lillig family in my records and it seemed like a mystery that would never be solved. But now I think the youngest man, standing on the left, is Peter Lillig senior. It was later when I found death records that things started to make sense. He was the youngest of eight children but only four survived to adulthood. This is only speculation but I think this is as follows: standing, Peter, Nicolas, Mathias, and their father Georg, then seated is their mother, Margaretha and the only surviving sister, Maria.

There is still a problem with the dates that would make this photo date in the early 1840s. If that is truly the case there aren't many photographs older than this. The copy I have is of a later photographic process but it was common to copy old photographs in a newer technology just as we do today. The copy process would explain much of the 'noise' or blemishes. These are not dirt smudges or nicks in the copy but rather appear to be a result of the marks on the older original.

You mention the platform and that made me study it again. If the original photo was as old as I think there would have been no way to produce a good photo indoors. Flash would have come later. So if this was outdoors it would make sense that they would perhaps use an existing wood sidewalk, throw up a drape for a backdrop and use the sunlight to take a shorter exposure photo. I think you helped solve this. Don’t you think that looks like a 1800s sidewalk? You have to think this was outdoors, going against what we think of as a photo studio. A photographer probably went from town to town with his novelty rather than having a fixed studio in the city. Who knows? Maybe part of some travelling troupe?

I have colored the names of the parents and the children who survived here.

Descendants of Johann Georg Lillig

1 Johann Georg Lillig b: Abt. 1777 d: November 13, 1842 in Rimlingen, Saarland, Germany
. +Margaretha Georgen m: Abt. 1802
............. 2 Maria Joanna Lillig b: October 27, 1803 in Rimlingen, Saarland, Germany d: May 24, 1809 in Rimlingen, Saarland, Germany
............. 2 Anna Lillig b: October 21, 1806 in Rimlingen, Saarland, Germany d: December 18, 1806 in Rimlingen, Saarland, Germany
............. 2 Johann Lillig b: December 25, 1807 in Rimlingen, Saarland, Germany d: June 05, 1809 in Rimlingen, Saarland, Germany
............. 2 Nicolas Lillig b: March 27, 1810 in Rimlingen, Saarland, Germany
................ +Anna Maria Harig m: February 28, 1843 in Rimlingen, Saarland, Germany
............. 2 Mathias Lillig b: February 22, 1813 in Rimlingen, Saarland, Germany
................ +Maria Thiel m: February 19, 1849 in Rimlingen, Saarland, Germany
............. 2 Peter Lillig b: August 17, 1815 in Rimlingen, Saarland, Germany d: July 06, 1818 in Rimlingen, Saarland, Germany
............. 2 Maria Joanna Lillig b: December 21, 1818 in Rimlingen, Saarland, Germany
............. 2 Peter Lillig b: December 11, 1821 in Rimlingen, Saarland, Germany d: September 03, 1892 in Kansas City, Wyandotte, Kansas
................ +Regina Michels b: January 12, 1837 in Mitlosheim, Saarland, Germany m: August 27, 1857 in Rimlingen, Saarland, Germany d: February 08, 1907 in Kansas City, Wyandotte, Kansas

Guy and Regina (Lillig) Westfall homesteading

Sometime around 1914/1915 Guy and Regina (Lillig) Westfall left Kansas City and struck out to homestead in Brady, Montana. The following photographs were taken during their stay there and sent back to relatives back home. I cannot imagine how hard this life would have been.

I am not certain how long they lasted in Montana but they were back in Kansas at least by 1917 when their son, Vincent, was born.

These photos came out of an old photo album that Jim Davies (great grandson of Helena Lillig) rescued from his uncle's trash over twenty years ago. None of the photos were labeled but I had two photos from this series that Grandma Lavery had identified for me years ago. Unfortunately, there were no others that I could recognize from the rest of the album.

I have transcribed what Guy had written on the photos and where I have commentary it is in parentheses.

You may recall that I posted a studio photograph of Regina and her daughter, Marie, some time ago. Regina Westfall & baby Marie.






Mining for water, Brady, Mont.





Grispen's Homestead/shack in the making.

Marie in her evening dress suit.

Just returning from hauling water. This is the way we shoot the can out here. Want in on it?

Churning on the Dry Land Farm. The churn is a gallon Karo Syrup can.

(I have a second copy of this with a similar caption.)

"Darn the flies". I feel like I was sandbagged.

Prospects were good for water but we didn't get it.

We don't have autos out here, but we have Fords.

The Little Mistress of the Dry Land Farm and her Teddy Bear.

(A close up of Marie Westfall and her Teddy Bear. I think this may be a year later judging from the baby's size. See the photo below.)

Marie's first Xmas tree on the homestead. The tree is made of a Russian Thistle.

Unloading 8000 gallons of gasoline. Don't look like a railroad cashier here do I?

(Guy was originally from Lawrence, Kansas, so there may be some connection to this Mutual Oil and the Westfalls homesteading here.)

This is our neighbor's house. This is where we get water. This is not the typical Homesteader's shack. These people are from Unionville, Mo.

Sunday after Xmas. Looking east over the Westfall Ranch. Notice the dense forest.

(This is the other photo that I had a second copy of from Grandma Lavery.)

Our bungalow is practical. Won't you agree? (That is all I can make out.)

This is where I have my coal office. (Boorman Mercantile Co.)

Looking west down the main drag of Brady, Mont. The cross indicates where we put up the first night.

Our closest neighbors. Don't see much better bungalows in K.C.

The Westfalls in Kansas

Guy and Regina Westfall with their baby daughter, Marie. I assume these were taken just before they headed north to Montana.

Another Lillig Blog

I have started another blog for the Lillig/Pittrich branch of this one. So it will be of interest to many of you. It is set up much the same as this but requires a separate subscription if you want to get emails automatically whenever I get around to posting. Check it out.

Bill Lavery

Lillig Sisters

Regina on the left, born 1877, and Helena "Lena" on the right, born 1864. A very striking photo in my opinion. Taken mid 1890s I think.

Regina again on the left, and Anna on the right, born 1866. I would guess this is from the 1890s.