***Written by Lee Bailleu. Lee is a board member for the Kewanee Historical Society. Marianne Culver is the Museum Curator. The duo, along with Jon Looney, produce a tri-weekly video podcast “KewaneeMemoryLane” on YouTube. The Kewanee Historical Society Museum is open Thursday and Saturday through October from 1-4 p.m.
A couple weeks ago, a woman dropped off a shadow box at the museum. Inside was a wedding photo, headpiece and veil that was probably worn by the woman in the photo. It was a lot worse for wear. The frame was cracked and breaking off, and the wood had obviously discolored the paper inside.
All she could tell us was that she was told it was one of the Bauer Girls. I said, “OK, I know who that is.” When I first came to Kewanee, my father-in-law mentioned doing carpentry work for the “Bauer Girls” on South Tremont Street.
After getting a new shadow box and mounting the photo and other paraphernalia inside, I set to the task of figuring out who the couple was.
I know that there were sisters that lived in the house at 609 South Tremont. On Ancestry, I found the 1920 census that listed William and Mary Bauer having three daughters Lillian, Ruth, and Marie. Because I knew where they later lived, I was able to look in the Kewanee city directories we have in the reference area and see that in the 40s it was owned by Vearl and Marie Pask.
Marianne Culver, my sidekick and museum curator, suggested that since we know how old Marie Bauer is from the census, let’s look at the KHS yearbooks, also on a museum shelf, to see if the photos match. We found her as a senior in 1927 and it was obviously her in this photo!
From there, we were able to find out their wedding date. Vearl was quite a bit older than Marie. Marie was 27 when she got married, Vearl was 41. Splendid! We can confidently put a tag on the newly displayed photo with her wedding headpiece.
Then Marianne says, “Wait, I found an article that listed Vearl and Marie Pask trying to adopt a child named Josie Strum in 1924.”
How can that be? Everything shows that Marie and Vearl did not get married until 1937. Who is this child? What is going on? Is the date wrong somewhere?
Dig, dig, dig. LIGHTBULB. Mr. Pask had been married before, to a different Marie — Marie Billips.
It turns out that Josie’s mother had died shortly after childbirth from complications. We are sure Josie‘s father was distraught and now had a baby and no wife.
Further searching found that Josie’s mother was the sister of Marie. Newly married Vearl Pask and Marie Billips were trying to legally adopt her niece.
The adoption must not have been settled because Josie was later adopted by James and Beulah Horner. Josie grew up in Kewanee, had a family, and passed away in 1992. We found a lot of documentation on her and her family.
By 1930, we find Vearl Pask divorced, and living with his sister, who was also divorced, and her family.
In 1937, Vearl Pask and Marie Bauer were wed and moved to South Tremont Street. Her two older, single, sisters moved in with them. Vearl passed away in 1968 at the age of 71. The three “Bauer Girls” lived together until Marie‘s death in 1983 at the age of 74. Lillian Bauer passed in 1987 and Ruth passed in 1993.
As Marianne and I discuss all we had found, we realize we have all this information that has nothing to do with anything. All we were looking for were the names of the people in the photo! But we love the hunt, finding tidbits of the lives of past Kewaneeans, and sharing it.
Marianne and I are always on the hunt for something to share and although we hope you enjoy what we present, we will continue to do it for the fun of it.
We finally called it quits a little after 4 p.m. We had to close up the museum and go home to our families.
But, I just wanted you all to know what happens when you give us a picture.
