Davenporters of Note: Norma M. Wiese

Posted on March 15, 2010 by SCblogger

Once upon the 1880s, in a beautiful brick Italian Villa at 709 Brown Street, lived William and Minnie Wiese, who were known for their love of travel, music, and community.   Their daughter Edna was born in 1887 with another, Norma, following in 1889.  It was discovered when the girls were young that they were musically gifted and their parents encouraged their talents.  

As early as 1904, Norma is reported in the September 26th  Tri-City Star newspaper as performing for a Visiting Nurses’ Association afternoon tea.  Later, she  attended the Kenwood Institute and Chicago Musical College, both respected institutions.

Mr. Wiese was part of the Independent Baking Company in Davenport; a highly successful business that allowed him to indulge his desire to educate and inspire his adult children through more than just the traditional education system.  He also used travel to introduce them to new music and cultures.  In 1921 the entire family traveled to Switzerland, France, the British Isles, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Norway, and Denmark, an exhausting, exhilarating trip!  Norma’s passport application* lists the reason for the trip as study and visit.   

Oddly enough, the application also states that Norma did not have an existing birth certificate.  It appears that the doctor who delivered Norma in Davenport, Iowa on January 27, 1889 forgot to submit the record to the Scott County Clerk.  Norma’s father, plus another family member in New York, had to vouch for her birth location and citizenship.** 

Other trips followed.  In 1924, the family was welcomed home after a three month visit to Great Britain.  Another family outing was to the Isle of Pines off Cuba (now called the Isle of Youth).  The last record we found for overseas travel was a trip Norma took in 1953 on the Queen Mary.  While we did not find her itinerary, we do know she sailed home from the port of Cherbourg, France. 

When not traveling the world, Norma lived in Davenport with her parents.  Edna moved to New York City in the late 1920s and by 1928 married businessman Henry Mills.  Norma remained at home, caring for her aging parents and continuing to be very active in organizations such as the Music Students’ Club, Etude club, and the Tri-City Musical Association.  She was also the first president elected for the State Federation of Music Clubs.

Norma M. Wiese passed away on November 14, 1958, in the house on Brown Street in which she had lived alone since the deaths of her parents.  She had never married nor had children.  But her will revealed a wonderful surprise for cultural arts supporters in Davenport.  Besides bequests to family and friends, Norma left a large portion of her estate to the City of Davenport to be used for public, educational purposes with encouragement to support musical arts.  After probate, the amount was $300,000.

Norma Wiese wished the children of Davenport to learn about fine arts and music; something that had filled her own life with pleasure since childhood.  She also asked, if possible, to name the building “The Wiese Fine Arts Building” after her family and their recognition to the arts in Davenport.

Miss Wiese’s dream was realized fourteen years later when the City of Davenport worked with what was then known as the Davenport Art Gallery (now known as the Figge Art Museum) to build an addition onto the Municipal Art Gallery, which was located at 1737 12th Street.  The addition, which included an auditorium and space for children and adults  to learn about the arts, was dedicated on May 20, 1972.

Times have changed.  In 2005, the Figge Art Museum moved to a new location in downtown Davenport.  The Davenport Parks and Recreation office and the City of Davenport Community Services Division have been using the Wiese Fine Arts Building ever since.

But it appears Norma’s dream is about to be realized in a new way. 

The Putnam Museum and City of Davenport are working to sell the property to the Davenport Community School District.  The school district would like to turn the Wiese wing into an early education center.  It seems an idea Norma, and the Wiese family, would have supported.

Miss Norma Wiese, Iowa President, Federation of Musical Clubs. The Davenport Democrat and Leader 61, no. 98 (February 13, 1916): 10

(posted by Amy D.)   

___

*Found in the AncestryLibrary databases available at all Davenport Library locations.

** We did check our local Scott County birth records, and no, Norma’s birth certificate does not appear to be on record.

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Beginning Genealogy Workshop!

Posted on March 9, 2010 by SCblogger

Genealogy is very popular on TV this month.

NBC is offering Who Do You Think You Are?, which features celebrities researching their family history and their family’s connections to historical events.   And  PBS just wrapped up its four-episode run of Faces of America, which explores the family histories of 12 celebrities through genealogy and the latest tools in genetics.

Have these shows made you curious about your own family history?  Or were you interested before, but aren’t sure how to start your research?

If so, please consider registering for our Beginning Genealogy Workshop this Saturday, March 13 from 8:30-4:00 at the Main Street Library.  The workshop will be presented by our own Amy Groskopf, manager of the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center, and Donna McNamara, former director of the Family History Center.

Topics for the workshop include an introduction to genealogy, record keeping, census records and newspapers. You will also learn more about the Family History Center, Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society (SCIGS) and the many resources available at the Special Collections Center. Attendees will receive a Beginning Genealogy packet.

The workshop fee is $10, which is a bargain for an all-day learning experience!   For more details, or to reserve a spot, please call us at 563-326-7902.

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Equality through Education: Phebe W. Sudlow*

Posted on March 4, 2010 by SCblogger

Phebe W. Sudlow often appears of lists of ‘firsts’ for the positions she held throughout her career as an educator.  Most, if not all of these related to her gender: Ms. Sudlow was the first female school superintendent in Iowa (and possibly the United States), the first female school principal in Iowa (and again, perhaps nationally), the first female president of the Iowa State Teachers Association, the University of Iowa’s first female professor.

There is no doubting Ms. Sudlow’s effect on education.  But what is often overlooked is her lifelong belief that men and women deserved equal pay for equal positions and experience.

In 1859, when Ms. Sudlow was appointed assistant principal of two schools in Scott County, her yearly salary was $350 (roughly $8257.98 in 2009 dollars), which was less than a man would have earned in the same position.  When she was promoted to principal of both schools, her annual salary rose to $400—again, not quite as much as a male principal might have expected.

Ms. Sudlow fought with the Davenport board of education against gender-based salaries, and although her arguments fell on deaf ears at first, they eventually agreed to pay all teachers, whether male or female, on the same scale, setting a precedent that had an impact not only on Davenport but on other Iowa school systems as well.

She didn’t stop there. 

When Ms. Sudlow joined the Iowa State Teachers Association, women members weren’t required to pay dues.  On the surface, this seemed fair—women didn’t have full membership privileges anyway.  But Ms. Sudlow reasoned that if everyone paid dues, then everyone could legitimately expect the same rights and privileges from the organization. 

In 1862, she joined a committee that eventually convinced the Association to offer all dues-paying members equal status.    Fifteen years later, when she was elected president of the organization, she said in her opening speech:  “I cannot understand why equal attainment, equal culture, and equal strength of purpose and will should not have equal influence whether in man or woman.”

In 1874, Ms. Sudlow was unanimously chosen by the Davenport board of education to be the new Superintendent of Davenport Schools . . .  and offered a salary somewhat less than her male predecessor had earned.  Ms. Sudlow stated her opinion in no uncertain terms: “Gentlemen, if you are cutting the salary because of my experience, I have nothing to say; but if you are doing this because I am a woman, I’ll have nothing more to do with it.”  

They immediately agreed to hire her at the greater salary.

The University of Iowa cut to the chase when offering Ms. Sudlow a professorship of English in 1878.  Despite her lack of official academic credits, she was given an annual salary and rank equal to the other professors—all male, of course—in the department. 

 Phebe Sudlow wasn’t the first woman to fight for gender equality, but her string of ‘firsts’ certainly opened doors for other women — and helped them earn a more equitable salary once they walked through . . . or, at least, in Iowa.

Photograph published in A History of Davenport’s Schools by Mary A. Baker.

___

*Yes, we spelled her name correctly.

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Defective, Dependant, and Delinquent

Posted on February 22, 2010 by SCblogger

AncestryLibrary, the library version of the popular subscription database Ancestry.com, posts new resources almost daily. On February 7, 2010 one of the special supplemental census schedules for 1880 was posted – the Defective, Dependent and Delinquent Classes.

One of the sections in the 1880 census entitled “Health” asked if there were members of the household who were blind, deaf, dumb, crippled, maimed, idiotic, insane, bedridden, or otherwise disabled. What many people don’t realize is that if the census taker enumerated an individual who fell into one of these classifications, they then were required to go to one of the seven special schedules set aside for these categories and ask additional, probing questions, eliciting data from the individual or his/her caretaker, in addition to what he had already enumerated on the regular population schedule. Special schedules were also included for paupers and prisoners.

Although the state of Iowa has not yet been indexed on AncestryLibrary, you can easily browse the pages for Davenport or any other city and state. These sheets can provide a considerable amount of anecdotal information for the family historian.

So if you have someone in 1880 with a mark in columns 15 through 20 or someone who is listed in a poorhouse or prison, it could be well worth your time to take a look at these special DDD schedules. Next time you are in Special Collections be sure to give this a look!

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“Comic” Valentines

Posted on February 14, 2010 by SCblogger

St. Valentine’s Day is a day to show your feelings of love and friendship. Children and grown-ups send nice, sweet valentines that can brighten up someone’s day. Roses are Red, Violets are Blue…

But valentines were not always nice and sweet. “Comic” valentines were filled with hateful insults. The sender got a thrill from seeing their target devastated by what was written in these fake valentines. These seemed to be pretty popular in the late 19th Century, according to newspaper reports.

The Davenport Gazette printed an example of a “comic” valentine that was sent to the editor of the newspaper in 1865.  It had a picture that represented a printer in the act of “locking” a “form”, and was accompanied by a poem that read:

“Of all the professions, military and civil,

The only one you’re fit for is plain to be seen;

You look so very much like the spirit of evil,

That the Devil call you printer from the very first, I ween.

So pick away at metal, peg away at chases

And after awhile you and Satan may change places.”

Ouch! That one might not seem too harsh, considering the recipient, but that’s the only one that was fit to print. I can’t image the mean things people were sending to each other back then.

The popularity of Valentine’s Day had a lot of ups and down in the late 19th Century. In the 1860s, the holiday was mostly ignored by the grown-ups and left to the children.  It picked up in popularity again in 1870, when 3,000 valentines were mailed in Davenport. But in 1875 only about 800 valentines were mailed. Davenport was a “Carrier City”, so valentines needed to have a two cent stamp or they would end up in the dead letter office. Rock Island had no carriers, so the cost to mail valentines was one cent. By 1890, the genuine valentines had almost but disappeared, while the “comic” valentines were still being condemned by the papers.

Around the turn of the 20th Century, Valentine’s Day started to become what it is now. Harned & Von Maur advertised novelties in Valentines ranging in prices up to $1.50. By 1910 postal cards had become the norm and the “comic” valentines had almost but disappeared.

There was nothing funny about those hurtful valentines. Let’s hope we don’t see resurgence in this despicable practice in our lifetimes. I would much rather eat chocolates.

Continue reading →

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The Importance of Primary Resources

Posted on February 12, 2010 by SCblogger

One of our readers, former Davenporter Brendan Wolfe, wrote to share an interesting story about the only known newspaper interview with Bix Beiderbecke, which was published in the Davenport Democrat on February 10, 1929.

Bix Beiderbecke is always interesting, at least to us—and certainly to Mr. Wolfe, who is writing a book on our favorite native jazz musician—but the interview itself is intriguing.  Not only because it’s the only one, but because it may have been plagiarized.

Mr. Wolfe has written a blog post of his own about this, and as we wouldn’t want to be accused of plagiarism ourselves, please read the original here.  We’ll wait.

We would like to point out that this sort of thing is precisely why primary resources are so important, and why it is essential for researchers to trace information to its origin point, as Mr. Wolfe is doing.  

 Things are not always what they seem, even in primary resources like early newspapers—some reporters, hoping to attract readers, may have (ahem)  ‘jazzed up’ their articles a tad.

We’d also like to thank Mr. Wolfe and invite all of our readers to share any fascinating historical stories of local interest—supported by primary sources, of course!

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The 911 of 1889

Posted on February 1, 2010 by SCblogger

On the afternoon of February 8, 1889, the alarm at telephone patrol box number 3 at Front Street between Main and Brady Streets was sounded by an officer on patrol.  It was the first alarm sounded on the week-old system that could be looked upon as a the nineteenth century’s version of 911. 

The Democrat-Gazette reported that same evening on the front page that within four minutes of the call, the police chief, the patrol driver, and two policemen arrived at the scene in the new patrol wagon purchased to go along with the system.  Upon arrival, the officers assisted in the arrest of a reportedly unruly and argumentative gentleman.  The speed of arrival was in part due to the talented horses purchased to pull the patrol wagon.  Driver Sherman Perry had trained the two horses to quickly move on their own into harnessing position upon hearing the alarm sound in the patrol barn.  This, according to the article, allowed the horses to be hooked up and ready within 90 seconds.

As early as July of 1888,  the Davenport City Council began working on implementing the new system.  The Police Committee  purchased the equipment in October for a cost of $45 per phone box.  An additional box was purchased the following month.   The committee also negotiated pricing with the phone company and found locations for all boxes.  A new patrol rig and two horses, as mentioned above, were then purchased.  A phone/alarm was also added to the stable area so the patrol driver (and apparently the horses) would hear the call sound. 

The call boxes were most likely of heavy cast iron and would have been mounted on a stand-alone pole or attached to an existing structure.  Keys were carried by officers on patrol.  If the officer needed assistance he inserted the key into the front of the box.  The door opened and the officer picked up a hand telephone, cranked the handle once and waited for the station to answer.  Other keys were given to local (and obviously trusted) citizens who lived near the boxes.  They were to assist individuals in need with the phone if a patrol officer was not available. The names of these individuals were printed in the newspaper along with the article.  Since help could be needed day or night, it makes one wonder if anyone thought twice before agreeing to be a citizen key holder!

Beside the eleven box locations and the names and addresses of the citizen key holders, the newspaper article also covered proper phone usage during an emergency call.  Pointers included standing with your mouth six to ten inches from the mouthpiece while speaking in an ordinary voice (no shouting please) and remembering to hang up the phone after use so the battery did not die.

What were the intrepid citizen key holders to report?  The list included disturbances, suspicious characters, tramps, nuisances, defective sidewalks, and fires.  I think we can see one item in particular that our present-day 911 operators wouldn’t appreciate being called about!

On a side note, there is at least one old patrol box still known to exist from the city of Davenport.  Kept by a local historical society, it unfortunately does not have a key.  Until it is opened, the date of the device cannot be ascertained.  If it ever is opened, maybe we will be able to get some pictures of the inside and add a Part II to this blog article!

(posted by Amy D.)

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Meet Frank McElroy

Posted on January 25, 2010 by SCblogger

Davenport has had its share of inventors and entrepreneurs over the years. 

Some, like Alexander F. Victor, with his 16mm film projector and eventual 80 patents, were a great success, revolutionizing their particular industry.

Some . . . were not.

The Davenport and Democrat for January 27, 1924, ran a quarter-page add that trumpeted Frank McElroy and his marvelous invention: 

 

An automatic shoe shine for a penny?  We simply had to investigate.

Frank McElroy (husband of Alberta) first appears in the Davenport city directories in 1924, living at 210 west 4th Street. He is listed as the vice president of the Automatic Shoe Shine Company.

The president of the company, which is listed at 901 ½ Ripley Street, is given as C. J. Ruymann.  The secretary-treasurer is Katherine McElroy* and the manager is A. W. Kuehnel.

How could it miss?

Well, we don’t know that it did, exactly, but there are certain signs that all did not go well:

In 1925, Mr. Kuehnel is gone, both from the company listings and the city.

In 1926, Frank’s wife, Alberta, has disappeared.  Frank is living at the company address.

By 1927, Miss McElroy is still secretary- treasurer, but has resumed her old job with the Moline school system.  

In 1928, Mr. Ruymann no longer lists the Automatic Shoe Shine Company in his personal directory entry, although he is still listed under the company entry.

By the next year, both the company and Frank are gone.  they say that most new businesses dn’t last five years–Automatic Shoe Shine was one shy of that goal.

Our local resources don’t indicate whether Frank McElroy and his marvelous machines moved to another city and fulfilled their potential . . . or even if Frank was reunited with Alberta .  We’d certainly like to think so–those machines were pretty cool!

Regardless, we do hope that he never gave up his dreams.

***

* It might be interesting to note here that Claus J. Ruymann is also listed as a lawyer, as the president of the Security Saving Company, The Security Realty Co, and as the vice-president of the Davenport Housing Corp.  in other words, he had money to invest.   Katherine McElroy, who was listed in previous years as a physical training instructor at the Moline Public Schools, lived in the same apartment building as Mr. Ruymann and his wife, Ida.  Coincidence . . .  or networking?

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Our “Special” Visitors for 2009

Posted on January 18, 2010 by SCblogger

This year, genealogists and history researchers came from all over the country to the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center, to use our wonderful resources.

They came from far away to fill in the blank branches of their Family Trees. They found copies of birth, marriage and death records of their Scott County, Iowa ancestors. They came to do research on the Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home, Colonel George Davenport and Bix Beiderbecke. They looked at newspaper articles on microfilm, online databases we subscribe to and our photograph collection. Their searches were made easier by the many indices that have been prepared by our volunteers from the Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society.

How far did they travel?

Our farthest Northern visitors came from Stanwood, Washington. That is 2,077 miles or 32 hours away!

From the South came visitors from Grapevine, Texas. That is 953 miles or 14 hours and 50 minutes away!

 Atlanta, Georgia is the home of our Easernmost visitors. About 811 miles or 12 hours and 34 minutes away!

From out West, and from the furthest distance, came patrons from Redwood City, California. A whopping 2,336 miles or 37 hours away!

Check out this map with all of our visitors for the year 2009, as recorded in our Guest Book:

We thank our guest for visiting us this past year. We hope to see you again soon! And if you came in to visit but did not sign our guest book, let us know in the comments, so we can add you to our map!

Are you planning to visit us this year? We look forward to helping you!

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Come to our Open House Putti Party!

Posted on January 14, 2010 by SCblogger

As our loyal readers know, in 1905, W.C. Putnam generously donated to our library a reproduction of a frieze designed by Donatello in the 1400s.

The frieze, which hung in the library’s auditorium for decades, was removed when the original Carnegie building was razed in 1966.  The frieze lived in the Blackhawk Hotel until last year, when it finally returned to us and was installed in our Special Collections Center.

In order to celebrate the homecoming of our thirty-two dancing cherubs (also known, in Italy, as putti), we would like to invite everyone to an open house in our Special Collections Center at the Main Street Library on Thursday, January 21, from 5-7pm. 

Mayor Gluba will begin the festivities with a talk about the significance of the frieze and there will be a running photo presentation showing how this twenty-four foot piece of art was moved, cleaned, and reassembled.   Light refreshments will also be served. 

However, we have been sternly advised that we will not be creating a living representation of the frieze and dancing the conga through our stacks.

But won’t you please join us anyway?

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