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.

Regina Westfall nee Lillig

A very early photo of Jean. If the 1895 date on the card is correct she would be 17 or 18 years old here. This is another one that came from the box Jim Davies rescued from oblivion and later identified by Cecilia Lavery.

Katie Bruderer nee Lillig

Kate Bruderer, undated. I have never come across any earlier photos of her.

Kless

A very nice cabinet card of Kless. Undated. Saved from the trash by Jim Davies.

Nick Lillig

And another one from Dave Lillig. That is Nick Lillig on the left. Dave thinks that is Matt on the right but I disagree. I will leave it to you.

What I would really like to know is what the occasion was for this photograph with the cigars and all. What were they celebrating? I would guess some sort of financial windfall.

Matthew Lillig

This is another photo from Dave Lillig's 1892 album. It is a cabinet card of Matthew George Lillig taken while he was still living in Kansas City. He became an attorney and traveled the west never settling down or getting married. Over the years he lived and worked in California, Oregon, Colorado, Illinois, and Nebraska. I have a business card of his from when he lived in Salida, Colorado. He was a member of the Masons Eagle Lodge in Minturn, Colorado, not far from Vail.

While staying at the Miller Hotel, a brothel in Omaha, Nebraska, he took suddenly ill and was sent to St. Joseph's Hospital there. He died a couple of days later on April 8, 1922 of acute gastritis at the age of forty-seven. His funeral was held at the Masonic Temple in Omaha after which he was cremated and his remains and effects were shipped to his brother, Nick, in Portland, Oregon where he was buried.

John Joseph Lillig

Dave Lillig of Portland, Oregon has been going through an old photo album dated 1892 and has sent me a few finds. This is one of John Lillig and I have never seen it before. He never married and as I mentioned in an earlier post was in San Francisco with his brother Nick and sister Regina when the devastating earthquake hit in 1906. A falling timber hit him in the head causing severe brain damage. A steel plate was put in his head and Regina brought him back to Kansas City by train and he was sent to live at the Osawatomie State Hospital in Kansas. He died there in early 1912 and was buried at the old St. Peter and Paul's Cemetery that was located in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

Anna Huebner

A very nice photograph of Anna Huebner nee Lillig. Undated.

Regina Westfall & baby Marie

This photograph was taken in Lawrence, Kansas around 1913. This is Regina Westfall nee Lillig and her newborn daughter, Marie. Sadly Marie died in the fall of 1919 in Kansas City, Kansas. At the time her brother, Vincent Westfall, was only two years old.

I have to say that this is the most beautiful photograph I have seen from this era. You might notice that other photographers from this time were posing their subjects very stiffly and looking straight ahead at the camera without any emotion. They made nice portraits but this has some action and tells a story of a young mother proudly admiring her new baby. The composition and exposure and contrast are all perfect as well. It is flawless.

Uncle Nick

Another nice photograph of Uncle Nick. Location, unknown and undated.

Lena and Karl Kopp

Lena and her second husband Karl Kopp. He was the brother of her first husband, Franz Kopp. This is from the 1920s.

I have a couple of options for the photo here.

Jim Davies adds: Karl Kopp, my great grandfather, was the night watchman and janitor at what is now the VFW building. When it opened for business that morning in 1929 Karl was found unconscious and severely injured at the bottom of the elevator shaft. He died the next day at St. Mary’s Hospital in KCMO, his son, Joe, said at the time there were several doctor’s offices in the building and the narcotics and money was stolen from each of them. It was thought by Karl’s family that burglars had thrown him down the shaft to silence him. Joe said that the police wouldn’t investigate it because Karl was an immigrant, from out-of-state and had no money.

Kate Bruderer

Katie Bruderer nee Lillig with one of her grandchildren I presume. Probably around 1917-1918.

Jim Davies is pretty sure this is Lena's house at 658 Reynolds in KCK. Jim also believes the baby is his uncle, Bob Geiss, one of Lena's grandchildren. Ironically, in the 1980s Bob was throwing out a box of old photos but Jim rescued them. However, Jim did not know the identities of many of them but he knew they were Lilligs. Jim and I connected some fifteen years later for the 1996 Lillig reunion and with the help of my grandmother, Cecilia Lavery (daughter of Kless), we were able to identify a good deal of them, including this one.

Peter John Lillig & Margaret Koch

Peter John Lillig and his wife, Margaret Koch Lillig. They lived and farmed in Marysville, Kansas. Peter was sent to America ahead of the rest of the family and initially stayed near Maryville, Missouri. Confusing isn't it?

I am not completely certain that the second photo is Margaret but they were taken at the same studio with the same backdrop and the chair prop.

Regina Lillig alternates

Here are some different versions of this photograph. I put these up in case someone else who is a little more skilled with Photoshop might want to play around with them. The top one is the untouched original.

Regina (Michels) Lillig

This is Regina (Michels) Lillig, the family's matriarch. This is probably from the late 1890s. Until this photograph surfaced we only had one or two grainy snapshots of her. The original of this is very faded with no contrast. This is what was known as a cabinet card. They were photographs mounted on heavy card stock with the studio's name and location printed at the bottom.

Jim Davies, great-grandson of Helena, is responsible for salvaging this important photograph. One of his uncles was clearing out a house and was going to throw away a box of photographs. Jim rescued them and years later we were able to identify some of them with the help of my grandmother, Cecilia Lavery. There was a lot of luck involved at every step. More photos from Jim's box will follow.

Nicholas Lillig

I just received these contributions from Dave Lillig in Oregon. Dave is a grandson of Nick. Nicholas R. Lillig, taken in front of his house 4214 N. Montana Ave, Portland, Oregon sometime in the late 1940's. He left Kansas City early on and was living in San Francisco with his sister Regina and brother John when the earthquake hit in 1906. Regina came back to Kansas City with John who was severely injured by a falling beam to the head. Nick moved on to Portland.

Here are some 1906 San Francisco Earthquake images.

These notes are from Dave Lillig:

Here's another photo. Only guessing, but this looks like it was taken around 1925.

from left to right as follows:

Richard Matthew Lillig [my dad probably age 14 or 15]

Robert Jefferson Lillig [my uncle Bob, probably age 11 or 12]

Mabel Elma Houston Lillig [my Grandmother in her 30's]

Everett Houston Lillig [my uncle Bud, probably age 8 or 9]

Nicholas Richard Lillig [my Grandfather, in his 50's]

Photo taken in front of the family house at 910 Montana Ave Portland, Oregon. It's still there but redesignated as 4214 N. Montana Ave.

Kless and a friend

Kless is on the right and we don't know who his friend is on the left. Here again the original tintype is almost black. I lightened it but left the blemishes. The circumstances surrounding this photograph will never be known but they are certainly dressed up for some occasion. I would put the date of this photograph around 1893 or so.

Kless Lillig

I believe this is the oldest photograph I have of Kless. Linda Leggio contributed this one to the archive. The original of this is a tintype a little more than two inches by four inches. It is so dark that it looks almost black and it took a bit of manipulation to get a decent exposure. He looks to be about twenty years old to me. That would date this at around 1888.

S/S Waesland

An undated photo of the Waesland but we know it was before 1902 as it sunk in a collision with another ship that year.

I recently found the passenger record for the Lillig family. They departed from Antwerp, Belgium aboard the S/S Waesland, part of the Red Star line. They arrived in New York October 13, 1881. From there they went to Philadelphia briefly where a parish priest arranged for passage to the Conception Abbey, Missouri. Before long they moved to Kansas City.

The entire family made this voyage together except for their oldest son, Peter. He had made the trip sometime earlier in the 1870s first staying at his Uncle Matthias Michels (Regina's brother) farm near Ravenwood in Nodaway County Missouri before moving on to Marysville, Kansas to settle for good. Mathias had immigrated sometime in the 1860s first to Indiana and eventually to Northwest Missouri.

The ship has quite a history itself. Originally named Russia it was built in Scotland in 1867 and outfitted for first class travel, purchased by Red Star in 1880, renamed Waesland and refitted for 1500 third class passengers. It was a steam powered propeller driven vessel, the sails were for backup should a propeller break.

This print is from 1867 and inexpensive reprints are available.

Rimlingen

These are some photos from my 2005 trip to Europe. One of our stops was Rimlingen which I had learned a few years earlier is where the Lillig family originated. It is in the Saarland region of Germany about halfway between Trier and Saarbrucken. We had rented a car in Strasbourg, France and finding our way about on our own. Quite an adventure when you don't speak the language, especially in villages of this size. The population of Rimlingen is just over 1000.

I am quite sure that I was the first one from our Lillig branch to return to the village since our family left for America in 1881. It seems appropriate for this to be my first post as this is where the family research begins and ends bringing it all full circle.

This sign welcomes you to the village. You can see our little car parked just beyond.

Here you can see how the village is nestled into these beautiful pine covered hills. Beyond the hills is picturesque farm land.
This is the church where the Lilligs were married and the children were all baptised. You can see the old original part on the left and the modern expansion on the right. Unfortunately I was there on a weekday and it was all locked up. Poor planning on my part. In fact, the whole town was deserted. I suspect they all commute to work in nearby Losheim which is only three miles away and has a population of 16,000.

See the links section below for more photos of Rimlingen and information on Losheim.