Wedding day of John Willing and Elizabeth Thielen Willing.
My great grandmother, Elizabeth G. Thielen, was born on September 16, 1879 lived most of her life in one house located at 1828 LaSalle Street in Racine, Wisconsin. When she was young, her family made overnight trips by horse and buggy to Waterford visiting her maternal grandparents and family. During cold weather her father would place heated bricks under blankets at their feet to keep warm while making the journey. Before she married, Lizzie, as she was know, worked at Miller's Shoe Factory "which was downtown and walked each way in her long dresses and high-buttoned shoe".1
Interestingly, her father, Johan Thielen, was a shoemaker in Racine at the same time.
Racine Daily Journal, June 29, 1904
"There used to be a park with a bandstand and pavilion on the corner of Douglas Avenue and High Street, northwest, and that is where she met Papa".1
John Nicholas Willing and Lizzie were married on June 20, 1904 in a double wedding ceremony with her sister Gertrude and her husband, Edward Michna. A talented seamstress, Elizabeth made her own wedding gown and veil and throughout her life First Communion dresses and clothing for her children and bridesmaid dresses for 3 of their weddings. After the honeymoon, John and Lizzie made their home at 1828 Palica Avenue which was later renamed LaSalle Street.
Lizzie had six children, at home, with the help of a midwife Bernard, Hildegard, Marie (my grandmother), Raymond, Edmund and Genevieve. She was a hard worker and "her hands were busy day and night with some household task".1
Elizabeth with her daughters Marie, left and Hildegard, date unknown.
In the Willing house, meals were cooked on a large, black iron wood and coal-burning oven/stove and Lizzie baked bread, cookies and kuchens (German word for cake) once or twice a week. She also canned vegetables and fruit from their garden and were able to enjoy beans, tomatoes, pickles, beets, sauerkraut, various jams and jellies throughout the winter. When she worked in the garden, Mamma (as the children called her, wore a big straw hat, old cotton stockings over her arms and a cover-up apron. Since there was no running hot water, before doing the weekly wash, water had to be heated in a large copper tub and then separated into two wooden washtubs-one for washing the other for rinsing. Clothes were then put through a hand-turned wringer to squeeze out the excess water before being hung to dry outside or in the attic.
Elizabeth Thielen Willing, date unknown, but my guess would be her last birthday in September, 1970.
Elizabeth loved to play the piano and would play as "Papa" would played his violin. She was also a religious person saying prayers before and after meals and lighting a blessed candle when there was a storm or a family member was seriously ill and praying the rosary. After her children had left the home, she attended daily mass until she was no longer able. Elizabeth paid cash for everything and was fond of saying "if you see something you like, but don't really need it, don't buy it". She never drove a car or had a telephone until later in life. Genevieve recalls "there were a lot of things she didn't do, but the only thing I remember most that she did do was to always be home when I came home from school and that was at lunchtime too."1
My Great Grandma Willing sounds like a sensible, hard-working, stay-at-home mom. What's not to like about that?
1Gorski, Genevieve Thielen (Dunham), Personal Memoir papers, never published.