Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Pop: Man on the Street

Whenever I see this photo of Pop, I think of the term “Man on the Street”. Which got me to thinking, what does that even mean, and where did it come from?

Man on the street generally refers to journalism. When a journalist asks an ordinary, average person they pass by for their opinion on news, politics, or their perspective. It’s used to represent public opinion or to reflect the perspective of everyday citizens. This form of journalism emerged in the early 1800’s in the United Kingdom, when newspapers began seeking the opinions of ordinary citizens as a shift away from non-elite viewpoints.

Photo courtesy of Ruth Jorden Higgins

Here we have our Pop, Frank J Burd, a mild-mannered citizen walking down the street. It could be a street anywhere in any city. Showing a snapshot of a certain date and time. But how did he come to get this photo?

From the age of the camera, street photography also came to be. Street portraits are taken by a photographer and then offered for sale to the subject. The photographers would either give you a receipt to get your photo at a later date or sell the images to newspapers or magazines. These photos were called “walking photos,” and the photographers would use a small portable camera to snap pictures of people walking by.

I feel the photographer got a part of Pop’s jauntiness and attitude. Just walking down the street, smoking my cigarette, going about my business. With my fedora, printed tie and newspaper, he’s a man about town. I’ve tried to find out where this photo might have been taken, but I haven’t had any luck identifying the background. So even though we don’t know where or when this photo was taken, I sure am glad Pop had it and now I get to share it with you.

He walked the morning – silver street,

Hands grasped paper, a quiet pace.

A shutter blinked – a soft, quick beat –

and caught the gaze from his face.

He didn’t pose or turn his head,

just kept moving, calm and slow.

But in that fram, the world instead

found something tender in his glow.

A moment, small, a life complete –

A story paused on passing feet.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

With Pop

I find myself wishing I knew then what I know now. This photo was taken in 1972 so I would have been six, Mark would have been five, and Pop (Frank Burd) would have been 81 years old. It was taken at his house in Peoria. I liked to visit him at his home. It was a neat house, and Pop was always doing things. He always had mints for us and would give us quarters or fifty-cent pieces. Those coins always went into my piggy bank, and I am treasuring them today.

This brings me back to what I wish I knew then and now. I would tell myself to talk to him. I would ask Frank about his childhood and his Uncle, the doctor. About his choice to move to Chicago and the issues he faced being of German heritage. About him and Anna. About his faith. About baseball. About dealing cards and why he smoked a cigar. And probably many more questions.

This month Pop would have celebrated his 133rd birthday! WOW! We were so lucky and blessed to have had him for as long as we did. I hope that I can share my memories of him with my children and great-grandchildren so our future generations will always remember our Pop.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Birth of a Pastime

Today while many of the nation is preparing for the Super Bowl showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, I found myself what it must have been like to have been born when football was in it’s infancy. Walter Camp is credited with altering the rules of rugby and coming up with what we today call Football. I’ve never attended a rugby match or learned the rules of play for that sport but can see the similarities between the two sports. 

The sport of American football itself was relatively new when Frank and Leo were born to Peter and Emma Bourscheidt. Frank was born November 25, 1891 and Leo on January 14, 1894. Football had seen the first intercollegiate football game played just 20 years perviously when Princeton played Rutgers. By the 1880’s most athletic clubs had a football team. Competition was fiercce and each team wanted to win. In 1892 the first players were openly paid to play in games making professional football. 

There are only two charter teams from 1920 when the American Professional Football league was made. The Arizona Cardinals, which when founded had been called the Chicago Cardinals and then the St. Louis Cardinals along with the Chicago Bears, which when founded were called the Decatur Stanley’s are the two charter members still in existence. The Green Bay Packers were founded in 1919, but did not begin play until 1921. 

While I can’t imagine our Frank playing football, I know it would have been an amazing thing to be there as these teams and the sport began. While football has changed over the 104 years it’s been around, it sure can be fun to watch. Hope you all have a Happy Super Bowl Sunday. 

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Happy Super Day!

This week has been hard! Come join me as we talk about some of the challenges I faced this week. The HUGE rabbit hole I went down when looking for ancestors and I’m also going to discuss some more free websites for you to use when looking for ancestors. 

If you haven’t subscribed yet I’d love for you to do so. This way you’ll never miss a post! 

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

The Whole Picture

Frank Burd, Ann Burd, Peter Bourscheidt, Katie Bourscheidt, Oscar Bourscheidt, Emilie Betty Bourscheidt

To conclude our tour of 11 S Parkside Avenue, Chicago, Illinois I bring to you a wonderful photograph of the Bourscheidt’s and the Burd’s. 

For some reason I like looking at photos of Frank and Ann pre-Jean, either together or taken separately.  Here we have a lovely photo of them side by side. Frank in his suit with his starched collar.  And Ann with her simple but dainty and light-weight blouse.  In my opinion though it’s her skirt that catches my eye.  Such a simple A-line skirt, but with those buttons outlining the pockets your eye is drawn to the middle of her body and it has a slimming effect.  

Next we have Peter in his matching suit, waistcoat and pants.  I just love his bowtie.  In all the photos I’ve seen of Peter he seems almost larger then life to me and I imagine he was an extremely boisterous and charismatic individual.  And his moustache! Why I bet in person it was just mesmerizing. Holding her own next to him is his wife Katie.  She married Peter several years after Frank and Oscar’s mother Emma died which I’m sure came with challenges.  Her dress is so light in the photo that it leads one to believe that it was white.  At that time white for any age woman during a warm month was appropriate.  

Finally we have Franks older brother Oscar Bourscheidt and his wife, Emilie who later in life went by Betty.  Oscar looks equally handsome in his high starched collar, waistcoat, jacket and pants.  Betty like Ann has a a simple light-weight blouse and A-line skirt.  You can’t tell as much detail on them in this photograph, but I bet there was much.  She and Ann seems to be looking at the photographer while everyone else seems to be looking elsewhere.  

While there is no date on this photograph the fact that Cousin Jean has named Frank and Ann to both be Burd, leads me to believe this is photograph was taken after their wedding which was July 26, 1916.  From this angle you can see the entrance to the apartment behind them, a big door paned with glass, common to that time frame in architecture.  And while we no longer have Frank, Ann, Peter, Katie, Oscar or Betty with us, I think it would be fun to recreate this photo somehow using Bourscheidt descendants.  Anyone want to meet me in Chicago to take a photo? 

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Bourscheidt Men

Oscar Bourscheidt, Peter Bourscheidt, Frank Burd

I just love this photograph.  Here we have the Bourscheidt men. And even though I think that this photo was taken after Frank and Anna got married, July 26, 1916, I like to think of our Frank as still being a Bourscheidt.  I’ve never really questioned why he was adamant about changing his name.  I know that he would have mail go missing in Chicago as many did not like those of German descent in Chicago.  But I now wonder if guilt from Leo’s death could have truly driven his desire to change his name?  Frank changed his name in 1916 and since Anna never changed hers from Bourscheidt to Burd, I’m inclined to think that his name change was completed before they were married. 

Here we have Oscar, eldest of Peters son’s with Emma and Frank the middle born in front of the apartment building that I believe Frank and Anna resided in, 11 S Parkside Ave, Chicago.  I love how dressed up all three of them are on this nice sunny day.  I hope that they were getting ready do something fun.  Oscar a dashing man, gentle in both his speech and manner, husband of Betty (Amelia), who looks a bit hot in this photo with his hat tipped back allowing his father to take him by the arm.  And patriarch of the Bourscheidt Clan, Peter.  In most photos I’ve seen him in he has this look, head tilted just a smidge, with a smile on his face.  I wonder what kind of hat he’s holding in his hand?  And our handsome Frank with hands in pockets looking as if he’s speaking to the group.  I love how you can see his watch fob there by the pocket of his pants.  

While they are three very different men in character and mannerisms, they are Bourscheidt men all the same.  Happy Father’s day Peter, Oscar and Frank!  

Photograph is courtesy of Cousin Jean Bourscheidt. 

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Emma Bourscheidt January 19, 1894

I have always wondered about Emma.  Probably more then I’ve wondered about others in our family.  Emma Schaefer was born March 11, 1863.  I’m not sure where she was born, but she and her parents lived in Peoria.  On November 15, 1885 at 22 years of age, she married Peter Bourscheidt in Peoria, Illinois.  And after 9 years of marriage and three sons, she died on January 19, 1894 at the age of 30 from complications of child birth and is buried in Peoria.  The newspaper reports that it is a very sad bereavement,  it to me sad doesn’t even begin to describe what Peter and his boys were experiencing.  

I like to imagine that Emma was swept away by the dashing and foreign Peter.  A person who had lived an exciting life serving in the German Army, then lived in Paris training to be a furrier and finally traveled to America to visit his brother and decided to make a life in America for himself.  And to give him the gift of three boys perhaps was an even bigger honor.  

Oscar was the oldest and was born in 1888.  Then came Frank born in 1891.  And finally Leo in 1894.   When she died, Oscar was 5 and Frank was 3.  How they must have missed her.  And how lost Peter might have been for now he had two young sons and an infant to care for. and a wife to mourn, who I hope was the love of his life.   But life brings all sorts of people into our lives and love in different ways.  

Peoria Journal Star

Jean took me once to where Emma was laid to rest.  She is in a lovely little part of the Saint Joseph’s Cemetery tucked into the back she lies between her parents, Charles who died in 1901 and Josephine who died in 1904.  Then on the other side of Josephine is her oldest son Oscar and his wife Emilie.  And behind her is her youngest, Leo.  

I hope some day to learn more about Emma Schaefer Boursheidt, especially more about her parents and where they were from.  But until that day comes, I will think fondly of the short time she had with her family and the impact she had on their lives.