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Flash From The Past - 1957
Sunday, February 10, 1957
contributed by Cathe Ziereis
Meet the Man Called
State's Oldest Logger
Mike Zeries (Ziereis)
, 101 Got
Legislative Honor
Cake as Presents on
His Birthday
By Richard S. Davis
Oconto, Wis - Everybody, including members of the state legislature, believes that Mike Zeries (Ziereis) of this city is Wisconsin's oldest living lumberjack. He is, at any rate, a week older than 101 and the state is challenged to produce another logger of his maturity.
Zereis was visited the other day at the home of Mrs. George Freward in Oconto. She is a widow and an old friend who has taken him in as a boarder. The late Mr. Freward was a tavern keeper anf the old woodsman was a special sort of custoner. For many years when little was stirring in the Holt lumber camos, the old-timer would return to Oconto and divide his time between the Freward oasis and the home.
The reporter's call was timely because Senetor Reuben LaFave(Rep. oconto) had just put through a joint resolution at Madison setting forth the Ziereis record as logger, cook amd watchman. The good humored centenarian was saluted as a champion and he state officially joined in congratulating his on his 101st birthday.
Lost Glasses Not Replaced
All this to be sure, was lost on the little old man who waits for the final call of "Timber". He lost his glasses nine years ago and has found nothing to replace them. He is also very deaf and apparently never quite understood Mrs. Freward's explanation of the honor that had come to him.
Anyway, the old logger was born in Bavaria, Feb 2, 1956. He came to this country at the age of 38 and almost at once made Oconto his home. He got a job in the woods and from then on shuttled back and forth until his eyes began to fail and he could no longer serve even as a watchman.
"My husband took care of him quite a while" Mrs Freward said. He lives on social security and a small pension that pays for his personal needs, food and board. Any money left over out of that he can buy clothes. Mostly he needs pants and shoes.
Keeps Patching His Pants
"It' a funny thing, the way he keeps patching his pants. Like as not, they don't need it, but up there in the woods he used todo his own sewing and it's a habit with him. He puts on a patch, then rips if off and his pants weat out that way much faster tjan the should".
The woodsman threads his own needles and he has a clever little trick for doin it. He pulls the thread through beeswax until it is as stiff as buckram and then he can slip it through the eye of the needle which is , it happens, a darning needle.
The old timer has teeth, but he carries them in a pocket and when the meat on the tav=ble is tender enough, there is no problems, Mrs. Freward confides. The boarder has a good appetite, His breakfast for example, consists of a big bowl of cereal, a doughnut, bread - both taosted and untoasted - and coffee. He drinks tea at noon and with his supper. He is especially fond of vegetable soup.
Sleeps a Great Deal
"Mike sleeps a great deal" his landlady said. "He gets up in the morning - oh yes, he dresses himself - and has his breakfast. Then he sits in his chair by the window until lunch time. He takes a nap from 12:30 until 2:30 in the afternoon. He gets supper early and pretty soon after that goes to bed."Mrs Freward confesses that she has little idea of what the old man thinks about as he blinks at the outdoors through the south window whch is now his station. However, he was fully aware, she says, of his approaching birthday and looked forward to the visit of Father Earl Barcome, who came on the big day to give him Communion. Mike's rosary , Mrs. Freward added, is always in his shirt pocket.
Newspaper unknown
April 15, 1957
contributed by Richard LaBrosse
Joe Kuehls of Gillett Married Half-Century
GILLETT (PG) – Mr. and Mrs. Joe Kuehl recently observed their 50th wedding anniversary at their home here.
Mr. Kuehl, who enjoys good health at the age of 78, retired in 1942, after 36 years as a furniture dealer and funeral director here. His wife, who is 69, has been ill for several years and the business is operated by their son, Frank.
The couple was married in Gillett 50 years ago after he came here April 15, 1907, and purchased the furniture and undertaking business then operated by John Wranosky.
In the Early days he made all calls by horse and buggy and used a cutter in the winter. All furniture was delivered by horse and wagon and the old hearse was horse-drawn.
In 1920 the store was expanded to four times its original size and in 1925 the first “horseless carriage” was purchased to serve as a hearse.
Mr. Kuehl served from 1900 to 1917 on the Gillett Village Board and was community health officer for many years. He was one of the founders of the Gillett Baseball Club in 1914. The team started the first year $150 in debt. Gillett won 24 of 28 games that first season, bought new team uniforms and ended the season with money in the bank.
Was Cabinet Maker
Mr. Kuehl was born in Kewaunee Nov. 14, 1879, attended school there and learned the cabinet making trade from his father, Joachim Kuehl. When he was 20 he went to Chicago where he worked for two years as a carpenter and millwright and later he worked for six years in Indiana Harbor, Ind.
He keeps busy in retirement in his basement workshop and also is a hunter and fisherman.
Mrs. Kuehl is the former Hulda Foelker. She was born in Gillett Sept 1, 1889.
The Kuehls have five children, Mrs. George (Ethel) Hidde and Frank, both of Gillett; Mrs. Everett (Jeanette) Olson, Saragota, Fla.; Mrs. Vernon (Grace) Landin, Sheboygan, and Joe, Milwaukee. A daughter, Mrs. Helen Valentine, died in 1942.
There are 13
grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
July, 1957
Submitted by Richard La Brosse
Meta Wagner, 75, Victim Of Stabbing; Had Served As Justice of the Peace
OCONTO FALLS – County and state authorities were baffled today for suspects in the brutal murder here Thursday of Miss Meta Wagner, 75 year old Oconto Falls justice of the peace.
Miss Wagner’s cruelly mutilated body was found at 5 o’clock on Independence Day afternoon in a wooded area below the power dam on the Oconto River. She probably had been killed about an hour before.
The woman apparently
was the victim of a sexual maniac.
Most of her clothing
was torn off. The body bore eight deep stab wounds.
Slashes on her hands
indicated that, despite her age, she had put up a
terrific struggle.
A state-wide alert was sounded for two men and a gray two-door Chevrolet of about 1951 or 1952 mogel.
SEEN NEAR DAM
Two men were observed
speaking to Miss Wagner at 3:15 while she was
fishing near the dam
operated by the Wisconsin- Michigan Power Co.
Lawrence Junco, an
employee of the utility, witnessed the conversation
and noticed the car
parked nearby.
Miss Wagner’s body
was discovered by Leonard Pawelczyk; 1254 Willow St.
Green Bay .
Pawelczyk was fishing along the river with his wife and another couple from Green Bay, Leonard Kukla, Chicago Street, and Miss Corrine Decker, who boards with the Pawelczyk family.
Pawelczyk found a broken split bamboo fly rod on the bank about 200 feet below the dam. Investigating, he noticed spots of blood. He showed the rod to others in his party, but they surmised that it had been abandoned by some fisherman.
Not satisfied with so simple a solution, Pawelczyk said, he decided about 15 minutes later to search the brush. He soon found the body, only a few feet from where the fishing rod had been dropped and only about 30 or 40 feet from the road that leads to the power house.
Large Knife Used
The weapon used to inflict the facial and chest wounds was not found. Coroner Clarence McMahan declared the knife had to be a large one to produce the deep gashes.
Miss Wagner’s throat was cut. Other wounds were in the chest area.
Sheriff Harold Reed
said one of the men observed by Junco in
conversation with Miss
Wagner was described as about 45 years old, five
feet six inches tall,
and about 155 pounds. He was partially bald.
(The rest of this article
was missing)
October 3 1957
2 Survivors Recall Great Fire Vividly
 |
To the residents of Peshtigo, the 86th anniversary of the costliest fire in human life in history will pass almost unnoticed.
But a 92 year woman still remembers her mother telling her on that fateful night Oct. 8, 1871: "Wake up: The end of the world is coming."
No memorial services are scheduled for the 800 who perished (in the village of Peshtigo). Nature, it seems, wants the results of its brutality to be forgotten. Each year it makes the weeds grow taller in the Feshtigo fire cemetery. Each passing day makes the shabby little memorial deteriorate a little more.
But nature has not made a 93 year old man forget the vivid details of the day when balls of fire came down from the sky."
Survivors Never Forgot
Interviewed Friday, Mrs. Desrochers said: "Why, of course, I remember the Peshtigo fire." "There had been fires all along. The men had been fighting them. One night a terrible wind storm came; the sky got very red. Mother told father: 'Wake up the end of the world is coming.' You know, a lot of people perished because they though it was theend of the world. They got tired of fighting the fire and gave up.
Forgot Her Stockings
"On the way down the river, the boat caueht fire on top."
The Peshtigo Times
October 8, 1957
The Peshtigo Fire as told by Mrs. Amelia Desrochers, 92 and Wesley Duet, 93.
Mrs. Desrochers
was living at nearby Marinette and
Pike at Harmony Corners. Of Peshtigo’s
2,500 residents, few
know or seem to care much about the great fire which 86 years ago
tonight
snuffed out 800 lives (in Peshtigo Village) — the highest human
toll ever
taken by a forest fire. But two Mrs. Amelia Desrochers, 92
and Wesley
Duket, 93, know and care a lot because they were there. And
though
they were only five and six then, the eight interviening decades have
failed
to erase the indelible imprint which that horrible night in 1871 left
on
their minds—a night when “balls of fire”
rained down upon the village and
people thought the world was ending. For 800 of the residents
of
Peshtigo, it did end. Sitting by the window of her hospital
room
playing solitaire, Mrs. Desrochers handed the reporter a pad and pencil
to write out his questions—because she is deaf.
Both she and Duket
live at a convalescent home in Peshtigo. She is a tiny,
gray-haired
but well-preserved woman. “Why, of course, I
remember the Peshtigo
fire,” she exclaimed. “There had been
fires all along. The
men had been fighting them. But one night a terrible
windstorm came
up. The sky got very red. Mother said to father:
“Wake up!
The end of the world is coming.” “At that
time it was thought the
world would end by fire. Because of that many of the men
said; what’s
the use?” As soon as they got tired, they quit
fighting and perished.
“Mother got us up. I put on my shoes but forgot my
stockings.
When we ran out of the house, the wind was blowing the sand so hard
that
it pinched my limbs. People told us to go to the
river.” (The
river she referred to was the Menominee. She lived in
Marinette,
which though not destroyed was heavily damaged.)
“When we got to
the bridge, a man told us to get on a boat. It was a barge
with a
cabin. We sat down at the bottom of the boat. After
the boat
was full we went down the river. The boat caught fire and
many jumped
out and drowned. But, the fire was put out before we got to
Green
Bay. I remember looking out the window and telling my mother;
“Look,
it’s snowing fire out in the bay.”
“When the fire was over next day,
we came back. I remember passing a place where there were
many bodies
laid on blankets by the shore. Beside them was a little baby
crying.
I’ll never forget that.” None of her
family perished. Her father
had stayed in Marinette and hauled all the furniture to the
river.
But their house burned. “Remember the Peshtigo
fire? I should; I
had my ear burned in it,” replied Duket. Tall, thin
and bent with
age, Duket can’t hear or see well. The reporter had
to shout his
questions into his ear. “We lived near Harmony
Corners (several miles
from Peshtigo). When the balls of fire started coming down
that night,
my mother and father took us down to the spring. We lay down
on the
ground and they wrapped us with wet quilts. A ball of fire
hit the
house and it burned. But my sister saved the sewing machine
by wrapping
it up with blankets. “We had a team of oxen, one
stayed with us at
the spring; the other ran away and burned. We had a shed of
colts
and we could hear them thrashing as they burned. My brother
wanted
to open the door but my sister wouldn’t let him.
“Next morning my
mother and father were blind. (Only temporarily, though, he
explained).
I went to see our neighbor—Mrs. Reinhart. I liked
her very much.
I found her dead; it really got me. Part of her
shawl—a little corner
of it—had not burned and I kept it for many years.
I don’t know where
it is now.” Because of deafness, the two survivors
were unable to
exchange memories. Mrs. Desrochers remembered going to school
with
“the Duket boys.” But she did not
remember Wesley specifically.
Except for these two, and a few others, no one in Peshtigo knows too
much
about the great fire. A teacher recently asked her students
to write
a theme about it and many flocked to the town’s
newspaper — The Peshtigo
Times — to “find out about it.”
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