So frustrated. I have a who, Gertrude Beutel, I have a where Peoria, Illinois and I have an approximated time of the late 1880’s to early 1890’s, yet I have very limited records to learn about Gertrude. I’m also not sure who wrote Aunt Gertrude Beutel on the photo as i can find no records of her becomming an “aunt”.

So who was Gertrude Beutel? She was the youngest girl born in 1891 to William and Mary Beutel. She had two older sisters, Elizabeth, born April 18, 1885 and Flora, born March of 1889. The Beutel women are a complete mystery to me.

I started with the census records.

• 1900 – I found 9 year old Gertrude and her family living on Groveland Street in Tazwell, Illinois. Williams occupation on that census was listed as Farmer.
• 1910 – I found the Beutels all living in Richwoods Township on Maywood Street. Gertrude’s occupation is listed as Stenographer, WIlliams was listed as gardner and had a farm .
• 1920 – The family minus Elizabeth was on LInn Street in Peoria for this census. Williams occupation was listed as laborer. Flora’s occupation was that of nurse and Gertrude’s occupation was that of a stenographer at a machine factory.
• 1930 – In the census records Gertrude is listed as the head of household her occupation remains that of stenographer at a tool factory. William is listed as retired and Flora resides there and is listed as a nurse. They resided on Linn street.
• 1940 – I found Gertrude as head of the household with her mother Mary and sister Flora. She is 47 years old now and there is no occupation listed for her. No was listed as answer to the question did this person work the week of March 24-30? The answer was no. There is no occupation listed for any of the women.
• 1950 – while Gertrude and Flora should at least be on the 1950 census, I cannot locate them. I have located that Flora died in 1957 at the age of 68, but I can’t find any information about Gertrude’s or Elizabeth’s deaths. Which is where the frustration comes in.

This year I have found several of either my ancestors, or my husbands family members and while I can find information about them on census’ and city directories, that doesn’t give knowledge about who Gertrude or her sisters were.

I do love this photograph of Gertrude though. Such a simple photo but it tels a lot. My eyes are first drawn to her hands. She’s got her right hand clenched tight and her left one seems to be holding on to the trim of the chair or perhaps a pillow. I wish we could see her feet, but her dress is just a smaller version of a day dress an adult would wear at this time. I love the embroidery on the bottom of the skirt and bodice of the dress. With the pin tucks it makes it look fancy but it’s really a simple embelishment. It looks like a vine but it’s just a single stich which makes it genius! And her eyes they are so fair and blue. I’m unsure as to how they might have had her proped up in the chair. If she might have been seated on something or if someone was under that drape and holding on to her.

While we know more about Gertrude than we knew about the subject of last week’s post, it’s almost just as frustrating as we don’t know who she was or even some simple things about her life, such as when she died or where she is buried. While I wish I had more to share about Gertrude, I’ll keep looking for information. Someday, I will find out more about her and how happy that day will be when I can tell you the rest of her story.