School Orientation for Pre-K Tutoring

We were told in our orientation that we would start the week of March 1. It was the second week in March and I still hadn't heard anything. So I emailed the principle of William Beckham Academy, and she told me to come in whenever I want, they are happy to get all the help they can. So I told her I'd come in next Wednesday (March 17).

I showed up at the school and went to the principal's office, and met the principal, Janet Glenn. She was really glad to see me there. Apparently, even at this time, she didn't have any information from the school district regarding how many volunteers she'd have, what they were trained in, these types of things. But she was anxious to put me to work! So she walked me down the hall to meet the teacher I would be working with, Mrs. Marshall. Mrs. Marshall? That was the name of my own kindergarten teacher! OK, it was a different Mrs. Marshall but it was Mrs. Marshall nevertheless. How is that for a coincidence, to volunteer at the same place I went to kindergarten, and then get assigned to Mrs. Marshall?

Mrs. Marshall was really glad to see me too. They have reading 3 reading groups and with me there, they can do 4 reading groups now. She has been a teacher for 16 years, lives in Novi, and could teach in Livonia if she wanted to. But she says the kids here need good teachers and need help more than the kids in Livonia. She is currently working on her doctorate at Madonna. She is definitely all smiles, and the kids all like her. So do I.

So now that I have been oriented to the school, I will go in next week to start my tutoring. I'll let you know how it goes!

William Beckham Academy

When I was a kid, I went to Goodale Elementary School for kindergarten (1966-1967). Today, the building is torn down, but on the same site is the William Beckham Academy, a Detroit Public School that serves pre-K through grade 5. Today I signed up to be a pre-K reading tutor there!

Detroit Public Schools had I believe the lowest test scores in the nation this last year (or at least really close to it). That created a sense of outrage and an urgent call to action. Robert Bobb, who is more or less running the Detroit Public Schools now, has put out a call for volunteers to help tutor pre-K students in reading. The idea is that research shows that if students can be at reading level at grade 3, there is hope for them. If students aren't at reading level by grade 3 there are all kinds of problems that stem from that. So his goal is to start with this year's pre-K class, and work with them and subsequent classes so that they will be up to reading level. That strategy makes a lot of sense in the long run, so long as you aren't already a K-12 student in the DPS. But with limited resources a start needs to be made somewhere.

I volunteered to be a reading tutor and attended the orientation today at Renaissance High School. A display there showed that there were 3,639 volunteers who signed up. On the radio yesterday, Robert Bobb said that 2,500 had already RSVP'd to the orientation session, and 1,500 had already completed paperwork to get fingerprinted and get a background check done. At the event today, he mentioned that 1,100 of the volunteers were from Detroit, the rest were from over 100 communities outside Detroit (including 2 volunteers from Windsor!). As I looked around the room today, it appeared that about 2/3 of the volunteers were Caucasian.

I looked on the DPS website and found they serve approximately 90,000 students. With 14 grades (pre-K, and K-12), that would be about 6430 students in each grade, assuming a uniform grade distribution (which probably wouldn't be the case with a high dropout rate in high school and there would be relatively few pre-K students). Nevertheless, for approximation purposes let's assume 6430 students in each grade. Reading tutors each tutor two students per week for 30 minutes each. So Robert Bobb would need about 3215 volunteer tutors (6430/2=3215) this year, assuming each volunteer passes a background check and actually shows up. So he should be doing pretty good this year with 3639 volunteers signed up. But he is going to have to get that many new tutors next year, for next year's pre-K class, even assuming all of this year's tutors return next year to continue with the same students through kindergarten. Ultimately, then, he is going to need about 16,075 volunteers each year to handle the full pre-K through grade 3 when this program is up to full speed. I wonder what his plan is to recruit and retain that many volunteers in the long run?

I signed up to tutor at the William Beckham Academy. Click on the photo for the map of this school's boundaries. I looked on the DPS website and found some statistics. This school does pre-K through grade 5. This school has received "Ed Yes!" grades of "A" for each of the last 8 school years, whatever that means. Their AYP Status is Phase 7, "did not make AYP" (this has something to do with No Child Left Behind?). Last school year, 54% of third graders scored at grade reading level on the MEAP test, 27% in writing, 51% in English Language Arts, and 62% in mathematics. There are 702 students enrolled this school year, 2 of them American Indian, 5 White, and 695 Black. 554 of the students are economically disadvantaged. There were no Type A offenses, 5 Type B offenses (2 vandalism, 3 fighting), and 1 Type V offense (battery of employee).

After we moved...

I know I have said this already, but I am just fascinated with the mass exodus from the old neighborhood. Everyone who lived there has such fond memories of the neighborhood, yet within about ten years, just about everyone had moved out. If it was such a great place, why didn't people just stay there? Well it is easy for me to say, I was ten years old when we moved, I saw only the good and none of the bad.

Some time ago, I ran into one of my former classmates from St. David's on one of the social networking sites. We exchanged several emails and she gave me her perspective. I have taken out a lot of the identifying information but this gives some insight into what happened after we moved:

So Goodale [public elementary school] was not very "good" by 1974. We had fights in my classroom almost everyday and the police patrolled the school all the time. I'm sure you're glad that you moved out when you did. I was relieved when we moved. My grandma stayed at the house for about another 10 years or so after we moved out. She didn't want to move. She kicked us out but we eventually made up with her and would go back and forth, helping her take care of the house. Eventually the elderly man next door got mugged outside his house and the black family's (that had moved in next door on the other side) son got stabbed in the vacant lot between our houses. They were a nice family. I don't know what happened but I think the teenage boy got into a fight. He was ok, though. My grandma still rode the bus to the store until she was about 90. We finally sold the house and she moved in an apartment with my mom.

We moved from the neighborhood in 1975. It had already started to go downhill before then. Another time we were coming home from church at night ([sister], my grandma and me) in December. My grandma tried to open the front door of our house and it swung open by itself. Someone had broken into our house. I had never been so scared in my life. It took the Detroit police over an hour to respond. We had Christmas presents upstairs that hadn't been touched but my mom's and my grandma's bedrooms were ransacked. They even missed a bunch of cash that my grandma had stashed. They took things of little value so it must have been amateurs. The neighboorhood continued to go downhill. We moved. I was glad because I would have had to have gone to Denby for high school. [Sister] went to Domican for 9th grade and I went to Goodale for 8th grade since my mom couldn't afford to send us both to private school anymore. 8th grade was the worst year of my life.

Grandparents Elope

For years, everyone thought my Grandma and Grandpa Bieke were married on March 30, 1940, at St. Catherine's Church in Detroit. And they were! But what nobody knew was that they were also married on September 4, 1939, in Auburn, Indiana! The young lovers had run off and eloped 6 months before their church wedding!

So apparently my Grandma was getting old and getting her affairs in order, and my Grandpa had already been gone for almost 20 years. My Grandma called all her children in to a meeting and with all seriousness told them that her and my Grandpa had run off to Indiana one night and eloped. The way my Mom tells the story, my grandparents were still in high school (they were high school sweethearts), although the records I have show that he was 20 and she was 19 years old at the time of elopement. In any event, they were still living with their parents when they eloped. As the story goes, on the way home from Indiana they got scared about what their parents would think and decided not to tell anyone. So they went back and continued to live with their respective parents, then got married in the church in Detroit 6 months later.

My Grandma felt bad about this whole affair because it wasn't a church wedding and she wanted to set the records straight in case anyone found out later about the previously unknown marriage. That is why she called the meeting of her children.

It turns out my Grandma was born in Scotland and was Protestant. Apparently, being Protestant, my great-grandfather didn't like Catholics. So that is the major reason they got scared and didn't tell anyone about eloping, they didn't want to set off her Old Man by finding out afterward his daughter had married a Catholic. They did end up getting this straightened out with the Old Man and my Grandma converted to Catholicism.

One thing is for sure. You could sure see the love my Grandpa had for my Grandma right up until the time he died in 1978. He just had that look in his eye! So this story doesn't really surprise me!

The Girl Next Door

Don't you just love hearing your grandparents tell stories? I do vaguely remember my grandmother telling me that her parents lived next door to each other before they got married. If so, my great-grandfather literally married the girl next door. One day, I decided to find out of this was true.

I found the proof in the 1893 R.L. Polk Detroit City Directory. Mary Elizabeth Dieffenbach was the daughter of Michael Henry Dieffenbach, who lived at 1301 St. Aubin in 1893. At the time, Mary was 19 years old. William J. Murphy, age 18, printer, and son of candymaker James C. Murphy, lived at 1305 St. Aubin in 1893, at the corner of St. Aubin & Hendries, and later married Mary Dieffenbach in 1902. James and Mary were my great-grandparents.

So, the story is true, after all! My great-grandfather did marry the girl next door!

Q.E.D.

Frank Bieke Army Records, 1861-1864

So my great-great-grandfather, Frank Bieke (army records list him as Frank Bicke), came over from Germany in 1857 and served in the Civil War. I ordered a copy of his army records from the National Archives. In addition to the three letters (above) there were also 16 muster roll records from his unit, the First Michigan Light Artillery, Battery A. The first is dated May 28, 1861, and follow on pretty much a quarterly basis. On the August 31, 1861 record, he is listed as a blacksmith, which coincides with his pre-war occupation (Johnston's 1861 Detroit City Directory lists him as a blacksmith at 396 Gratiot, which is what I believe is now the N.E. corner at Russell). He is listed as a blacksmith until July 30, 1862, and then is listed as a "Pvt" (Private), until the July/August 1863 muster rolls when he begins to be listed as a "Bugler." My grandpa used have a bugle in his basement that us kids would play with, and he told us this bugle was used in the Civil War at Chickamauga and Chattanooga, and these records are consistent with that. (What I wouldn't give for that bugle now!) Anyway, the muster rolls continue until they list him as "absent" in the Nov/Dec 1863 roll, with remarks: "Sick in hospital Chattanooga Tenn since Dec 11/63." Remaining muster rolls show him discharged with medical disability Feb 22/1864.

In the army file, there is a copy of his orders: "Detroit, Feb 20th, 1864. To Frank Bike Batt A/1st Michigan Artillery, Note A furlough from Chattanooga Tenn 30 days by authority of Maj. Gen. Thomas. Ordered to report to the Medical Officer at St. Mary's Hospital for examination."

Then there is a very interesting handwritten letter in his file: "Detroit, Michigan February 24, 1864. Col., I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note with the enclosures in the case of Frank Bike is to state, that I have made the certificates to conform to the requirements of __ of the ___ to which you have called my attention. This soldier not being an inmate of this hospital, and not under my charge I respectfully suggest for your consideration, that I am not the proper officer to complete the remaining part of the certificate. I will also remark that the man does not wish to be discharged, I made the certificate as a matter of duty when he presented himslef to me for examination. Very Respectfully, Your Obt Servant ____ Lieut, USA To Col J R Smith ___ ____ Detroit."

His discharge certificate (click to enlarge) says he was discharged because: "Necrosis of left clavical and general cathexia contracted in service. He is three fourths disabled and is unfit for the invalid corps."

So now all this begs the question: "How was he hurt?" Was he shot? Kicked by a horse? Fell off a horse drunk? Apparently he was injured some time after the big battles at Chickamauga. How can we ever find out?

Set-up

OK, it has been a while since my last blog, now I have a backlog of things to blog about. Besides, my Mom has been bugging me to blog some more.

When my Grandpa Goeddeke died, someone had made some copies of some of his papers and left them out for people to pick up at the funeral reception. Among these papers were copies of the original letters that my Grandpa and Grandma Goeddeke wrote to each other setting up a first meeting. Click on the images to enlarge them.

Friday the 16th [1932]

I take the liberty of addressing you

My dear Miss Murphy:

The pleasure is all mine but, where have you been all my life?

A name and this address was given to me in the course of a friendly conversation. After hearing of a few qualities, among many, of the owner of this name I found myself wanting to make the acquaintance of this interesting personality. No harm in that, is there? No? Then let’s “get going.” If you are one bit reluctant it may be well to name my two friends (and incidentally yours) to you! Helen and Bill [Vollmers -- Bill was a friend of Vince Goeddeke and Helen worked with Gertrude at Hudson's]. Gee, I knew you’d feel better if you heard their names. Well, here am I, hat in hand, and “Pleased to meetcha.” Now that we’ve met, when is the first opportunity to see you? Please hurry! Very impatient.
A skating party this Sunday, 18th, and would like to have you along (but this might not reach you ‘till Monday). We go every Sunday afternoon (and High mass every Sunday morning). Do make a favorable reply.
Meet you Wednesday afternoon when you leave the office? Since you suggest it, I am willing! Just imagine, how romantic! What time, which door, and how you’ll be dressed. Murphy would go good with green or vice versa.
Whatever else you do (for instance, wash your ears and powder your nose) answer this on paper immediately and send it post haste.
Hopefully Yours,
Vincent Goeddeke
2163 Antietam St.
P.S. I’ll say three Our Father’s + Hail Mary’s so my terms will be accepted.



Writing Room J.L. Hudson Co. Detroit
Monday 19th [1932]

Dear Mr. Goeddeke,

So you are real after all. You can imagine my surprise to hear from you today, when I came back from lunch. I suppose it’s a joke or a dare, but if your anything like your writing sounds, I’m willing to take a chance on meeting you. It seems sort of rushing things, but oh! What I’ve heard about you (not so bad).
As for meeting you Wednesday, why how could I? You’ll wear a green carnation or something to distinguish yourself I suppose, how else will I recognize you. Remember I haven’t the least idea, what you look like. I know your (big and blond) but that won’t get me far.
Sorry I missed out on the skating party, and Sunday my birthday too (believe it or not). Strange isn’t it?
If I don’t get cold feet before Wednesday, I’ll be there. Follow closely. Time 3:30. Door: Farmer St. near Grand River. Appearance: green coat trimmed in gray fur, black velvet hat, a dotted dress (black with tan dots!) and it’s a little long and shows below my coat. Think you’ll spot me when I appear? Oh, by the way I’m a brunette, although I suppose you knew that, but just to assure that I still am, and my hair is bobbed. That’s about the best I can do. Now that you’ve got the reply, say a few more “Our Father’s + Hail Mary’s” so you will know me. We’d need to recite the rosary in this case, it seems so impossible.
If the meeting fails to take place, we’ll hope for a proper “introduction” sometime soon, eh!
Honestly, this is about the most daring thing I’ve ever done in my life. At first I was going to ignore your letter completely, but your sense of humor attracted me. That’s something I didn’t know about you. I’ll say like you,
Hopefully Yours,
Gertrude Murphy.

Detroit in 1899

I know it has been a while since the last blog. I am sorry but I have been working 2 jobs and haven't had much time for blogging!

Dierk Stoetzel, a researcher who has studied emigration from Germany to the US (http://www.westphalia-emigration.de/), gave me a copy of an article when he visited Detroit last year. This article was published in the Meschede (Saurland, Germany) newspaper in 1899. It tells of a relative of my great-grandmother, who returned to Germany from a visit in Detroit. I finally had it translated (by someone named Bearinabox on the DetroitYes forums), and am posting the translation here. I think this article shows that Detroit was the envy of the world back in 1899.

An American Model City

J. Mues of Reiste, who visited the United States of America last summer, describes the city of Detroit, located on a spit of land between Lake Erie and Lake Huron, as first-rate. Although the city can count only 400,000 inhabitants, it possesses 359 hectares of public squares and parks. There are 376 kilometers of paved streets, approximately 2/3 of the distance from Berlin to Königsberg, in addition to 18 kilometers of boulevards. Naturally, there is a surplus of streetcar lines: the central city alone has 267 kilometers of "electric train" lines, as well as 118 kilometers of suburban lines. The entire streetcar network is worthy of admiration for its layout, which is unusually systematic. On each line, one can reach the center of the city in order to travel from there to another part of the periphery. The fares are unusually inexpensive, and transfers are allowed. The electric trains run at high speed without causing particularly large numbers of accidents, and are not bothered by conventional wagons like those in New York, since these are seldom seen here. As Detroit has over 10 kilometers of lake frontage, ship traffic, passenger as well as freight, is very heavy in the summer: many ships carrying copper and iron ore, as well as timber and stone building materials from the beaches of the upper lakes, as well as meat from the slaughterhouses of Chicago, pass through the city of Detroit. The city of Detroit has spent over 3 million marks on water lines; the pipes total 802 kilometers in length. Water shortages, like the ones that threatened the giant city of London last fall, are not a concern in Detroit, since over 182 million liters of water from the pipes are spent every day, and every resident of the city receives 450 liters of water daily. Although there are approximately 2000 factories in the city, such effective methods have been employed to suppress the smoke that there is almost no evidence in the city of the factories' activity. The fire department is extremely well-equipped and has few equals for a city its size, operating over 21 steam pumps, one pumping boat, six chemical fire extinguishers, and a personnel consisting of 417 career firefighters. When one also considers the exceptionally functioning canalization, which cost the city millions to construct, one can with a clear conscience issue the verdict that there is no city in America that outranks Detroit.

Reverse Discrimination?

When you talk to white folks in the suburbs about racism and hiring practices, you almost always hear people complain that blacks have a hiring advantage, not disadvantage, because of discrimination laws. Then these same people go on and on about how blacks just need to take more personal responsibility and they can get a good job and move out of Detroit if they want to.

I just read an article: "Are Emily and Greg more employable than Lakisha and Jamal? A field experiment on labor market discrimination" by Bertrand & Mullainathon, American Economic Review, September 2004. This study gathered thousands of resumes from the Chicago and Boston areas. Then they rated the resumes as high or low quality. Then they reversed the areas on the resumes, by changing Chicago schools and employers to comparable Boston schools and employers, etc. Then they assigned fictitious addresses to the resumes. The addresses varied by socio-economic status zip codes (resumes were randomly assigned residence zip codes of higher and lower status areas). Finally, the resumes were then randomly assigned white or black sounding names. Black sounding first names included names like Aisha, Ebony, Keisha, Darnell, Hakim, and Jamal. White sounding first names were names like Allison, Anne, Carrie, Brad, Brendan, and Geoffrey. Once these resumes were generated, they were sent out to actual job postings.

The results were amazing. Black-sounding name resumes needed an average of 15 resumes sent out to get a call back for an interview, while white-sounding name resumes needed only 10. If we can generalize these findings, then, this shows that whites have about a 50% advantage in getting a job interview, in a supposedly blind process. Does this finding de-bunk the reverse discrimination myth? I think so! In fact, this finding even held up with EOE employers and federal contractors!

Another interesting, and more troubling finding is that higher-quality white-sounding name resumes got 27% more callbacks than lower-quality white-sounding name resumes. But, higher-quality black name-sounding resumes got only 0.5% more callbacks than lower-quality black name-sounding resumes! Does this finding de-bunk the myth that blacks just need to take more personal responsibility and they will succeed? I think this demonstrates the economic despair that many blacks face.

Vincent Paul Goeddeke, 1902-1990

When my grandpa died, they found the following work history amongst his papers. I think it is interesting to follow the life of an autoworker pursuing the American Dream. Also, there was a newsletter article from his work, about him and his young family. Be sure to click on the newsletter article if you'd like to find out what life at 11768 Kilbourne was like back in 1947!

Entered St. Joseph’s School first grade when 6-1/4 years of age. Struggled through seven elementary years, passing every year with a perfect attendance record. Entered St. Joseph’s Commercial College, which covered three years. Because of an 85% or better average, was referred to prospective employer in April. Visited Fisher Body Corp. but did not like prospect of timekeepers job. Accepted employment at Detroit Shipbuilding Co. at foot of Orleans Street in Detroit on April 27, 1918 as secretary/stenographer to Chief Mechanical Engineer, Daniel Hoag. Employed in that capacity for twentytwo months and asked for transfer to Machine Shop to serve four year apprenticeship as Mechanic. Laid off in November of same year because of slack period. End of war foreseen.

At age 18 remained unemployed until August 1921, when enlisted in C.M.T.C. (Civilian Military Training Corps) to sample officers training, which expired in one month. Remained idle, at least unemployed, until April 1922, when employment reared it’s head for one month at A. Wegener Sons bottling company. Quit because of unfair labor practice. Employed at Detroit Stamping Co. as learning die making from July 1922 to March 1, 1923 to hire in at Packard Motor Co., Experimental Department as lathe hand. Remained until July 1923.

On one visit to Westphalia, Michigan and Droste farm with brother Joseph and family, did meet one John Feldpausch, Fowler farmer who offered me the opportunity to learn about farming life by working into the harvest and threshing season. Remained with them into September of 1923. Enjoyed that very much.

Hired in at Briggs Mfg. Co. as stock chaser in Trim sewing department in October 1923. Went camping and fishing at Van Ettan Lake near Oscoda, using my 1922 Ford Touring for transportation. Left Briggs in October 1925. Was offered opportunity and accepted, on probation, to manage Hardware store owned by Frank Scheele, which lasted from November 1925, through January 1926.

Hired in at Michigan Bell Telephone Co. as truck driver, (before teamsters) and continued at Graybar Electric, a subsidiary of Western Electric Co. and supplier of Mich. Bell, and then for Dick Keck, a contractor electrician to whom I delivered electrical material from Graybar until some time in 1927.

Hired in with City of Detroit, Sewer Division as laborer (and How!) and worked until May 1928. Hired in at Ford Motor Co. in May 1928 as Diemaker and continued there until August of 1932.

Met a girl in 1932 by the name of Gertrude Murphy. Remained unemployed from August 1932 to February 1934 when I hired in as diemaker with McCord Radiator Corp. until I entered the holy bonds of Matrimony on July 19, 1934 and spent two weeks of honeymooning in Chicago with friends, and at Portage Lake near Pinckney. Had enforced extension of honeymoon until called back in October 1934.

Sought employment elsewhere and was hired at Carboloy Co. in January of 1935 and remained until 1951 when a strike halted employment there, but found work for duration of strike with Active Tool and Die Co.

Hired in at Godin Tool and Die Co. in April 1952 to work on day shift. Strike in July 1953. While on strike at Godin, found work for the four weeks duration with Garland Mfg. Co., on auto dies. Back to work in July. During slack period in 1955, hired in at Ford Motor Co. as die repairman for a period of three months, and returned to Godin with few interruptions until May 1967 when the years dictated retirement from the rat race.

And we lived happily in retirement thereafter.

Recorded in 1976, the year of the U.S. Bicentennial.

Bieke Houses

The Burton Library has many years of the Detroit City Directories, going back to the early 1800's. These directories allow me me to piece together some information about the history of our family. So I am going to start with Frank A. Bieke, and move forward, ignoring other branches of the family for now.

1865 - No Bieke's listed.
1870-71 Frank A. listed as a Pedlar [sic] at 238 Maple. This is on Maple a few houses west of St. Aubin. There is also a Joseph Mette (Sophia Bieke's maiden name) who is at 230 Maple.
1876 Listed as a grocer at 494 Riopelle. This is at the Eastern Market on Riopelle between Adelaide (formerly Bronson) and Division.
1880 - Grocer at 489 Riopelle.
1882 - Grocer at the corner of Bronson & Riopelle.
1887 - Grocer at 498 Riopelle.
1891 -409 Elmwood. This is on Elmwood at the corner of Hendricks, on the Hunt side of Hendricks. The Eastern Market was moved to the current location in 1891, so I suspect he had to move to make way for the Eastern Market?
1892 - 210 Mack [This is at the corner of Mack & Meldrum, on the west side of Meldrum, south side of Mack]. This house is shared with Robert Ziegler.
1893 - Directory lists Frank A. Bieke died on January 27, 1893. Sophia is living at 210 Mack Ave.
1894 - Sophia Bieke, a grocer, is living at 622 Mack [apparently this is the same house, just renumbered; it is currently 6360 Mack Avenue, apparently a vacant lot at Meldrum & Mack], with a John Bruder.
1895 - Sophia is living at 622 Mack Ave., while son Frank J. is a block away at 727 Meldrum [Between Preston & Arndt streets, a couple houses from Arndt]. Interestingly, John H. Bieke, who nobody seems to know who he is [is he Augustin Bieke?] is living at 465 Meldrum, which is between St. Paul and Kercheval, near Mt. Elliott Cemetery.
1898 - Sophia is still at 622 Mack, with daughter Della, a dressmaker, and son Daniel M., a bookkeeper. I am assuming Della is Adolphine, who was born in 1881.
1899 - Sophia and family are now back at 238 Maple. Go figure. Elizabeth is a tailor and Daniel is a clerk. Frank J. moved to 619 Mack (currently 6453 Mack Avenue, a vacant lot), which appears to be right across the street from where Sophia and family just moved away from.
1901 - Sophia & family still at 238 Maple.
The 1910 census shows Sophia Bieke, widow, age 67, living at 238 Maple with four of her daughters. She had 11 kids and 7 are still surviving in 1910. She came to the US in 1865. She owns the house without a mortgage.
Sophia died in 1912.
1917 - Daniel M. is at 866 Field (3754 after the renumbering in 1921), and Frank J. is at 864 Field (3748 Field after the renumbering). Interestingly, Sophia's spinster daughters, Della, Elizabeth, and Josephine, are on the other side of Woodward at 77 Byron. Also, who the heck is Samuel Bieke?
1925-26 Sophia's daughters are now further west, at 13339 Freeland.
1941 Daniel A. & Norbert are at 9128 Holcomb, where their wives will remain until their return home from WWII? Then Daniel will move to Baldwin and then Wilshire Streets.

Bi-Lingualism, Part II

After my Mom saw my last post, she told me the story of my great-grandma, who she was very close to. My great-grandma was born in Poland, but never spoke Polish (or German) in the home. Nor did she allow her sisters to speak Polish in front of her kids, even though the sisters spoke Polish all the time in their own homes. My great-grandma wanted her kids to grow up being American, even though she was proud of her own Polish heritage. Her sister's kids (my grandpa's cousins) never amounted to much because they could only speak broken English like an immigrant, while my grandpa's family fared much better. At least that is the story.

This is OK, I suppose, that someone values economic security as a priority in their life, and the lives of their children. Some people put religion first, some people put money first, some people put education first, some people put happiness first. Who am I to judge someone else's values?

But I believe there is a negative consequence to not speaking a native language in the home - that culture is not passed on to the next generation. This became apparent to me this Spring, when I worked in New York City. I was walking through Central Park and came across this statue (photo attached) of King Jagiello. It turns out he was a Polish King who united the Polish and Lithuathian peoples, and defeated the Teutonic tribes in battle in 1410. I had no idea of this when I saw the statue. In fact, I realized that I didn't know one single thing about Polish history prior to WWII. I realized the only "culture" that my great-grandma passed on was the custom of putting nuts in kid's shoes on St. Nicholas' Day, and how to make homemade chicken-noodle soup the way my great-grandpa liked it. At least that is the only culture that was passed on to me (that I can attribute). I wonder, then, if my great-grandma spoke Polish at home, would I have known who King Jagiello was? Is there a little rhyme in Polish that parents recite for their children in Polish about King Jagiello? Something like "this little piggy went to the market...?" I don't know. But I do know that I don't know a thing about Polish history prior to WWII and frankly, that is a shame.

Bi-Lingualism

Today, being the 40th anniversary of the 1967 uprising in Detroit, I was going to blog about it. I reserve the right to blog about that later but my brother Ken insists that I blog about bi-lingualism.

We all hear these stories people tell about how their ancestors came to America and learned English. These same people argue that public schools should be taught in English only, voting ballots should be in English only, etc.

While researching family history I came across an interesting tidbit. Click on the 1900 census photo and look down at line 26. You'll see Frederick Mues, my great-grandmother's brother, living with my great-grandparents on Antietam Street. Look further to the right you'll see that he is 34 years old, a grave-digger by occupation, has lived in the US for 8 years, and does not speak English. The moral of this story: immigrants are people, too! Even if they don't speak English!

Further, I believe St. Joe's school used to teach classes in German, right up until the time my grandfather went there, circa 1900-1910.

Isn't it great to have data?

Grandpa, the Prophet

It wasn't until after WWII, when returning black veterans tried to buy homes in Detroit, that push came to shove and blacks were finally able to buy homes in historically white neighborhoods. Prior to this, there were covenants that when you bought a house, you would not be able to sell it to a black person. These coventants were upheld by the courts until after WWII. With historically black neighorhoods like Paradise Valley and Black Bottom area overpopulated, this change allowed black families to move into areas of Detroit that were historically white. And there was housing demand for blacks, too. Black neighborhoods were already overpopulated, people were moving up to Detroit from down South, and black neighborhoods were being torn down to build freeways and housing projects. These people all needed someplace to live.

Our neighborhood on Wilshire Street, even after the 1967 uprising, was still all-white. My Aunt Geneva says she read an article in one of the Detroit papers that described our neighborhood as "idyllic, lily-white." But this was not to be for very long.

One of the great things about our old neighborhood was that it was built before air conditioning became popular, so most of the houses had front porches. During the summer months, people would get home from work, have dinner, then sit on thier front porches with thier families. The houses were fairly close together, so neighbors would often yell over a couple houses away, speak directly with their next-door neighbors, or stop in an talk to thier neighbors when taking a walk around the block or something. Everybody seemed to know everybody that way.

One evening, when I was maybe 8 or 9 or 10, I was over at my Grandpa Bieke's front porch, and a neighbor came by an told him a black family just moved in on Longview Street, only 2 streets away from Wilshire. This created a lot of buzz that evening, my grandpa calling over to other neighbors, with several of them congregating on my Grandpa's front porch and steps. My Grandpa seemd to know alot about alot of things, an he spoke quite clearly with his prophesy: within a very short time the whole neighborhood would be all black and crime would increase. In essence, the end was near for the neighborhood. He said the thing to do was get out now, while you can.

I hate to say this, but his prophesy turned out to be correct.

It couldn't have been within a 5, maybe ten year period, that virtually all of the old neighbors moved out to the suburbs, and black families moved in.

What caused my grandpa to prophesize this sequence of events? I suppose for two reasons. First, he had several paint stores in the city, so he probably talked with a lot of customers about what was happening in the city. No doubt this change was happening in other parts of the city and his customers talked about it. Secondly, he probably saw firsthand how his old neighborhood (Field/Baldwin Streets) changed and figured it would happen on Wilshire, too. By the time our neighborhood had a black family in it, I suspect there had already been several neighborhoods in Detroit that had already undergone this change. I suspect these earlier changes probably occured more slowly than in our neighborhood, though. But by the time it got to our neighborhood a pattern had already been established, so it was easier for people to see the writing on the wall.

There was some incentive to be the first white to move out of a neighborhood, too. The first one out probably got full value for thier house, while the last people out probably got half the value of their house. I wonder how the Bologna's fared, after buying the the houses on either side of them to protect thier own home's value? Was that like throwing money away? Regardless, there was also the issue of suburban home prices. The longer you waited to get out, the more expensive the suburban houses would be because of higher demand. So, even if a person wasn't racist, it just made economic sense to move out in the first wave.

If we think about this some more, we might be able to classify people in one of four waves: early emigrants, mainstream emigrants, late emigrants, and those who stayed. My guess us the early emigrants probably left for the economic reasons as stated above. The mainstream leavers probably tolerated the neighborhood changing for a while, but saw the inevitability of the negative changes. The late leavers probably waited until they were victims of crime or saw their home values drop so low they felt they had no choice but to leave. The people who stayed probably couldn't leave, for whatever reason. Maybe some people figured they'd leave at the first job opportunity to get out of the city, maybe until the last of their kids got out of grade school, whatever. These are all my classifications, my own guesses, I don't have any data to support or refute this classification scheme.

I wonder about the characteristics about the black families that moved into the neighborhood? Maybe the first wave were people of relative means, moving into our neighborhood for them was like moving into the suburbs maybe? As property values decreased then, and more houses became vacant, people of lower means moved in? Again, I don't have any data to support or refute this idea.

It is clear though, that turnover in the neighborhood increased significantly after that.

Crime Statistics

I went to the Detroit Public Library last weekend, to gather data from the Detroit City Directories. These directories go back to the early 1800's, and list all the people in the city (children usually excluded), and also lists all the people who live on each street. My intent was to target several blocks, like Maple Street, Antietam Street, Field Street, Baldwin Street, Wilshire Street, and Kilbourne Street. For each target block I was planning to gather turnover data for each block from the beginning of time up through the 1970's. Then I could compare the earlier turnover to the turnover from the white flight of the 1970's. However, when I got to the library, I realized many individual years are missing from the library, and parts of some of the books are unusable. Then I called into question the validity of the directories, after seeing that my Dad was still listed in the 1974 directory, even though he had left town in 1971. So I decided against the turnover project. However, I did collect some interesting data which I hope to report on at a later time.

My Uncle Ken tells me there is one simple reason for everybody leaving Detroit in the 1970's - crime. He said the casualty rate among store owners on Mack Avenue was higher than troops in Vietnam, then he proceeded to rattle off a bunch of names of people who had been killed. He says he got tired of having to carry guns with him to/from work, and that type of thing. He says that race had nothing to do with it. I can personally think of several reasons to support, as well as to refute, his argument. But I really like having data, so I went to the internet to look for Detroit Crime Statistics.

This isn't my area of expertise, but I am interested in this subject. And I have been well-trained in statistics and research methods.

For starters, I found a site from the Wayne State University's Center for Urban Studies, and a report entitled: "Detroit Crime Barometer: May 2007." This report is very short and has several charts. Unlike most academic work, the author did not cite the sources of his data, which is a bit unusual. But I find it highly unlikely the data can't be trusted, coming from Wayne State. I have attached two of the charts to this posting. Click to enlarge.

One of these charts compares the murder rate to the unemployment rate, from 1970 to 2006. The other chart compares the robbery rate to the unemployment rate, from 1970 to 2005. We can see that on both charts, the trends track each other 'fairly' well. There is a notable exception to this tracking, during the crack epidemic. Apparently, during that time, there were many drug-related murders attributed to the characteristics of crack cocaine, rather than the usual socio-economic factors. Also, we can see that unlike the murder rate, the robbery rate tends to lag the unemployment rate. This finding suggests to me that there is a learning curve, or an apprenticeship, associated with robbers that is not there with murderers.

Correlation is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition to determine cause. A relation between X and Y can be because X causes Y, Y causes X, because the variable that causes X to vary also causes Y to vary, or is simply an empirical coincidence with no conceptual link. Even with the ability to establish temporal precedence, it is nearly impossible to determine "for sure" which variable causes the other. This analysis is further complicated because there is probably also a recursive effect: that even though unemployment may 'cause' crime, crime also probably 'causes' unemployment, with jobs moving to lower-crime areas. But let's ignore that for aspect for now.

One of the problems we have with this analysis is that we have population-level data to model crime. Ideally, we'd like to have individual-level data on a large sample of people, and then analyze the data with the dependent variable being whether or not the individual committed a crime or not. But this kind of study is very difficult and very expensive. And do you think people would respond honestly about their crimes? I don't think so.

I doubt that all crime is caused by unemployed people. The unemployment rate can cause economic insecurity for people who have a job, too, if they are worried about getting laid off, etc. So even if the measured group-level independent variable is the unemployment rate, the underlying conceptual variable is probably something like individual-level perceptions of economic insecurity, even if we aggregated it to the group level. But it is difficult to obtain data of economic insecurity perceptions, especially after the fact, so we use unemployment rate data instead.

Likewise, the measured crime rates probably vary somewhat, too. Some crime is unreported, for various reasons. Some murders may be misidentified as natural or accidental deaths. Aggressive law enforcement can cause an increase in the number of criminals behind bars, and this would affect the unemployment rate to crime relationship.

This analysis doesn't break down the types of robberies, or types of murders. Armed robberies of stores may have different antecedents than personal robberies, breaking and entering, etc. Likewise, drug deal murders likely differ from spousal murders, random shootings, etc. But it is likely the unemployment rate has some effect on these crimes.

We can't ignore the effect of heat, either. Like I said earlier, crime statistics is not my area of expertise. But you never hear about riots happening January! Prison riots, either. So I think if this data were broken down by month instead of year we might see an even stronger effect. Or to statistically adjust the crime rates to account for the effect of temperature. While we are at it, we should throw in population density and average age as well.

Oh, and let's not forget that Detroit neighborhoods differ significantly from one another. Some neighborhoods have much more crime than other neighborhoods. To do this right, we really should break these data down to neighborhood-level data.

We might also want to compare the unemployment rate to crime relationship of Detroit to other cities and communities, too.

Having said all that, it is pretty clear there is a relation between unemployment rate and crime, to show such a strong relation even with the likely errors in the data. If, as my Uncle Ken says, crime is what caused everyone to leave Detroit, what caused the spike in crime? Was it simply that black people moved into the neighborhood? Was it, like in my Uncle Dan's case, too many hillbillies moved into his neighborhood on Corbett? Or was it due to the increase in unemployment in the city, caused by automation in the factories and the moving of factories down South in pursuit of lower taxes/utilities/labor costs?

What do you think? Post a comment and let us all know!

Joseph "Sonny" Bieke, 1908-1927

I don't remember much of my great-grandma Bieke, she died when I was 8 years old at about the age of 85. She was born in Poland and we don't have any information about her birthdate, what town she came from, etc. I don't remember her saying much, mostly just observing and smiling. She used to hang out alot at my Grandpa Bieke's, across the street from us on Wilshire, and once or twice I remember going to her house on Field Street. She had a coffee can full of pennies and she would let us kids grab a whole handful whenever we came over, which wasn't very often.

My Mom has more stories about her, I'm sure. I do know that she taught my Mom how to make home-made chicken noodle soup. That is good stuff, too! Apparently, way back in the day, wives would have to learn how to cook like the groom's mother, with just the right spices and stuff. So my great-grandma had to learn from Sophia Bieke how my great-gradnfather Daniel Maternis Bieke liked his chicken noodle soup. Sophia probably learned how to cook in Germany, or at least from her first-generation parents. So whenever my Mom makes homemade chicken noodle soup now, she is spicing it like the way they did in Germany way back when. I asked my mom to make a video of her making this soup so I can learn to make the chicken noodle soup the way she makes it!

The one story my Mom tells is about how my great-grandma had a nervous breakdown and isolated herself for a year following the death of her oldest son, Sonny. My Mom wasn't around then, so I don't know how she would know this, but she does.

My grandpa Goeddeke used to hang around with a Joe Bieke, who was the grandson of the Joseph Bieke who immigrated with Frank and Augustin Bieke. Both grew up in the St. Joe's/Eastern Market area, and both had houses on Kilbourne Street as adults with children. In fact, Joe Bieke was the godparent of my Aunt Carol. Anyway, one day when I was a kid, on one of the trips to Belle Isle with my Goeddeke grandparents, my grandpa pointed out a tree on Belle Isle and said one of my relatives died in a car crash when his car hit that tree. He tried to explain how I was related but he couldn't explain it. But it was Sonny Bieke, my grandpa Bieke's brother. It makes sense now that Grandpa Goeddeke would know which tree it was. He was about 25 when it happened, and hanging around with Joe Bieke, probably thought it was him when he first heard of it. But he probably found out from Joe Bieke it was the Joseph Bieke from other branch of the family. And everyone in the city probably knew which tree it was, too.

There were a couple times I saw Sonny's grave, at Mount Olivet, which had a portrait photo encased and glued to the headstone.

Anyway, everyone in the family knew that Sonny Bieke died in a car crash on Belle Isle, but nobody ever showed any documentation. Further, nobody seemed to agree on where it happened. One day, I decided to find out.

I went to the Detroit Public Library and found the newspaper articles.

Detroit Times, March 1, 1927, front page:

"BELLE ISLE CRASH IS FATAL.
Two men are dead, one is in serious condition and another is held today on a charge of negligent homicide as result of traffic accidents.
Joseph Bieke, 19, of 3754 Field avenue, was killed instantly when he crashed into a tree on Belle Isle shortly after midnight.
Elmer Pokorny, 28, of 3734 Van Dyke avenue, nephew of Edward Pokorny, friend of the court, one four passengers with Bieke, was injured seriously. He was taken to Receiving Hospital.
William Johnson, 20, of 3530 Parker avenue, Paul Liss, 19, of 3641 Townsend avenue, and Donald Agens, 21, of 3523 Townsend avenue, the other three members of the party, were treated for bruises and cuts. Their injuries were minor. None could give a reason for the crash."

Detroit Free Press, March 1, 1927, front page:

"Crashes Into Tree
In the other accident, Joseph Bieke, 19 years old, 3754 Field avenue, was killed when the machine he was driving at the western end of Belle Isle crashed into a tree as he was turning onto the bridge approach. Elmer Pokorny, 19 years old, 3724 Van Dyke avenue, seated in the front seat with Bieke, probably was fatally injured. With three other boys riding in the rear seat of the machine he was taken to Receiving Hospital for treatment.
The other three, who [unreadable] are Paul Liss, 19, 3641 Townsend avenue, William Johnson, 20, 3530 Parker avenue, and Donlad Agens, 21, 3523 Townsend avenue."

Detroit News, March 1, 1927, Front Page:

"DRIVER KILLED ON BELLE ISLE

Unidentified Man Standing in Safety Zone Struck by Hit-and-Run Motorist.

An automobile driven by Joseph Bieke, 20 years old, 3754 Field avenue, skidded into a tree on the north shore of Belle Isle near the bridge early today. Bieke was killed instantly and four other youths who were riding in the car were injured.
According to police, Bieke failed to observe a turn in the road to the east of the bridge in time to change the course of his car. When he applied the brakes, the car skidded.
Elmer Pokorny, 3724 Van Dyke avenue, suffered a fracture of the skull and he is in the Receiving Hospital in a serious condition. The others, who suffered minor injuries, were treated at the hospital and went home. They were: Paul Liss, 19, of 2641 Townsend avenue; Donald Agens, 21, of 3522 Townsend avenue, and William Johnson, 20, of 3530 Parker avenue.
Bieke was the son of Daniel Bieke, 3754 Field avenue, a letter carrier and the father of 10 children. He had been employed by the Ainsworth Manufacturing Co."

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that 5 young men, cruising in a car after midnight on Belle Isle, were probably drinking or at least speeding, maybe racing, but in any case, up to no good. This is a clear example of how a carful of young men out for fun leads to no good. In this case, it cost at least one person his life, and the remainder of a lifetime of sorrow for his mother.

As I was browsing newspaper articles yesterday for the creamery story, I ran across another incident like this from May 1934. But in this case it was a couple of married couples, the husband of the driver died when the car hit a tree by the recreation fields and overturned.

I don't see how anybody can go over 20 MPH on Belle Isle unless they are up to no good.

I vaguely remember hearing or reading the Sonny Bieke car was a Buick. If so, I wonder if it was bought at Decker Buick, at 8740 Mack, which was fairly close to the Field Street house, and my grandpa later bought the building to use for his Erie Paint store?

Anyway, the moral of this story is don't drink and drive!

Solidarity House

My grandpa Goeddeke retired in May 1967, when I was almost 6 years old. All of a sudden he had time to spend with Grandma, with no kids at home and no job to go to. We lived a couple blocks away, so I would spend full days at grandma and grandpas during the summer quite often. One summer day, when I was like 6, 7, or maybe 8, they took me on a drive to spend the day at Belle Isle.

The trip started with grandma and grandpa arguing. Grandpa wanted to drive down Kercheval Street (why?), and Grandma wanted no part of that street. She wanted to take Gratiot and then Grand Boulevard. Looking back on it now, I can see three reasons for grandma's position. First, even back then Kercheval Street was already inhabited by people fairly low in socio-economic status. Second, she probably wanted to check out retirement homes on Grand Boulevard. They did end up taking good care of themselves in old age by going to an assisted-living facility later, so they may have already been scoping out their options then. Third, it was common for people to cite the names of the rich and famous people who lived on Grand Boulevard, when driving by. This is exactly what they did, too.

They also argued beforehand about visiting grandpa's friend (Walter Reuther) at Solidarity House. Grandma wanted no part of this either, I don't she appreciated the union as much as my grandpa did.

Anyway, after the argument, we got in the car and drove to Belle Isle, Gratiot to Grand Boulevard. Along the way, Grandpa would tell me the names of the streets, and who these streets were named after. He did this alot, but being so young I hardly paid any attention.

We got to Belle Isle, did the aquarium and the conservatory, then pulled out lawn chairs and sat on the beach for a while. Grandpa said he was going to take me to see his old friend at Solidarity House on the way home, and Grandma wanted no part of it. Grandpa pointed out to me on the far shore, Solidarity House, or the UAW headquarters building.

We pulled into the parking lot at Solidarity House, and parked near the west entrance to the building. Grandpa got out and went inside, and grandma stayed in the car with me. A few minutes later, Grandpa came back, saying the guard wouldn't let us in, and we drove back home.

Looking back on all this now, it kind of makes sense. Walter Reuther was a workmate of Grandpas at Ford. Grandpa worked there as a toolmaker from May 1928 to August 1932. Walter Reuther worked there as a toolmaker as well, first at Highland Park and then River Rouge complex, from April 1927 to September 1932. My Uncle Dave tells me my grandpa "revered" Walter Reuther, and used to eat lunch with him on the shop floor, before he became "the" Walter Reuther. Walter Reuther went on to become President of the United Auto Workers union, and one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people of the 20th century. So it kind of makes sense now, that Grandpa would want to stop by to see his old workmate, maybe express gratitude for all Reuther did to help secure his pension and all, and maybe show off his oldest grandchild. But it wasn't to be. The guard wouldn't let us in and grandpa never brought me back there again. Reuther then died in a plane crash in 1970, and they named I-696 after him.

I thought about this incident almost every day that I worked there, from August 2004 - July 2006. And I usually used the west entrance every day, too.

Updated Map

For a map of places I discuss in this blog, click here:

http://maps.yourgmap.com/v/i_bt_The_Old_Neighborhood_In_Detroit.html

You might want to click on one of the sites to the left, then click the "+" icon several times to zoom in. You might also wish to click the satellite or hybrid option.

Also, anytime you'd like a better view of any of the photos posted to the blog, simply click on the photo to enlarge.

Chickamauga

Because my parent's earliest Detroit ancestors moved to Detroit in 1857 and 1885, when I use the term "Old Neighborhood," I might be speaking of the St. Joe's/Eastern Market neighborhood, the Field/Baldwin/Mack neighborhood, or the Wilshire neighborhood. Today I am going to talk about part of the life of Frank Bieke, my great-great grandfather, who emigrated to the US in 1857, and lived at 238 Maple, near St. Joe's/Eastern Market.

Dierk Stoetzel, a historian from Germany, suggests that Augustin Bieke, one of the three Bieke brothers who came to the US together, might have went up North to work in the mines. We still don't know what happened to Augustin, but we do know some of what happened to Joseph and Frank Bieke. According to Civil War muster records, both mustered into the Union Army in the Spring of 1861. Joseph mustered into the First Michigan Infantry, Company "I." "Houghton" is listed as the county he was from, so I suspect he might have been working up North in the mines when the war broke out? That was before miners had unions, so I suspect fighting in an infantry unit might have been better than working in a non-union mine then. Regardless, Frank A. Bieke mustered into the First Michigan Light Artillery, Battery A, at Fort Wayne in Detroit on May 31, 1861. The records list him as being 21 years of age, 5'9", dark complexion, light hair, blue eyes, birthplace of Germany, residing in Wayne County, and a blacksmith by occupation.

Matt Switlik wrote his Masters Thesis at Wayne State about the First Michigan Light Artillery, Battery A, way back in 1975. This unit is also known as the "Coldwater Artillery" or the "Loomis Battery." This thesis is the most comprehensive record of the unit I can find. He also participates in the Civil War re-enactments of this unit. One of their next projects is going to be to restore an original First Michigan Light Artillery, Battery A cannon and limber in front of the Courthouse in Coldwater. Anyway, this unit started out in Coldwater before the war, and had a couple dozen members. Then the war broke out, they picked up a few more members from Coldwater, then went to Fort Wayne to train, where they picked up more members, including Frank Bieke. This unit was well-trained and equipped, as far as Civil War units go, and there were glowing reports in the newspapers about this unit.

The unit served quite well in many battles, including Rich Mountain, W.Va, Elkwater, W.Va, Green Briar, W.Va, Bowling Green, Ky, Perryville, Ky, Bridgeport, Al, Gunter's Landing, Al, Athens, Al, Whitesboro, Al, Stone River, Tn, Hoover's Gap, Tn, Chickamauga, Ga, Lookout Mountain, Tn, and Mission Ridge, Tn. Total Enrollment--311..... Killed in Action--11..... Died of Wounds--1..... Died of Disease--25.

I was on vacation last week in Tennessee, and stopped at the battlefield at Chickamauga. There are 1,400 monuments on this site to commemorate the men and units that fought there. This was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, with about a 30% casualty rate on both sides. So I asked at the visitor center, is there amonument for the First Michigan Artillery, Battery A? The man at the counter asked if I meant the Loomis Battery, and I responded affirmatively. I added that my great-great grandfather was part of that unit and served here. He asked if I was from Coldwater, and I told him no, I was from Detroit. Anyway, he knew exactly where the monument was, out of the 1,400. I asked him how he could possibly know where it was off the top of his head, and he said this unit was among the bravest and most gallant units in the fight. He showed me a cartoon drawn by Thomas Nest (the guy who drew the original Santa Claus) of the Loomis Battery's commander, Van Pelt, as he was being overrun by the rebels. Apparently this cartoon got a lot of mileage in it's day and "everybody" knew of the heroics of that unit because of it.

Apparently the Loomis Battery fought until 5 of the 6 guns were captured. Van Pelt was killed in action defending the guns and position, along with several others. I really can't do this unit justice in my blog - so I suggest that the interested reader find out more about this battle and this unit!

After this battle, the unit also served at Missionary Ridge and Chattanooga. The last confrontation with the enemy was in November 1863. On December 11, Frank Bieke went to the hospital. He was discharged with 3/4 disability in April 1864. Apparently he had necrosis in one of his shoulders. We don't know how or where he was injured, if he was injured in combat, fell off his horse drunk, had a blacksmithing accident, or whatever. It would seem that if he was a blacksmith prior to the war, he would have been a blacksmith in the unit, with all the horses that needed shoeing, etc. We do know he was a bugler when he was discharged. I suppose it is possible he was a blacksmith until he was injured, then became a bugler. It is also possible he was a bugler the whole time.

I wonder what part he played in the battle of Chickamauga? Was he a bugler, stationed next to Van Pelt, so he could signal commands to the unit? Was he next to Van Pelt when he fell?

Anyway, the rear of the monument says: "The Battery with its brigade advanced from Bird's Mill on the evening of the 18th, arriving at the intersection of the Lafayette and Chattanooga roads at daylight of the 19th, thence from several position to this. Here, after 64 rounds of cannister and shell had been fired, the enemy rushed upon the Battery in overwhelming numbers, compelling the infantry support to fall back. The men remained with the Battery until the enemy's bayonets were at their breasts. Five guns fell into the enemy's hands, one was got safely off the field, one gun was subsequently recaptured. Lieut. Van Pelt and five men were killed, six seriously wounded, and thirteen made prisoners. During the operations at Chattanooga, the Battery occupied a position on Cameron Hill."

Creamery

One of the oral stories in the Bieke family is about the creamery explosion in front of my great-grandparent's house at 3754 Field Street (866 Field Street prior to renumbering in 1921). As my Mom tells the story, there was a creamery in front of the great-grandparent's house, and it used to make a lot of noise. My great-grandma always liked a good fight, so she would complain about the noise. Then there was an explosion at the creamery, and it blew out the windows of my great-grandparent's house directly across the street. Then there was a newspaper article about it, with a photo on the front page of my great-grandmother and her youngest son Jack sitting on her lap. There are various explanations as to the cause of the explosion, ranging from it being a labor dispute to a deliberate act to rattle my great-grandmother. My uncle Ken says it was the Jersey Creamery. This is at this point all hearsay; I haven't seen any written documentation of this event, and there is currently a vacant lot directly across the street from 3754 Field (which is also torn now). Apparently my grandpa had the newspaper article about it, but when he moved from Wilshire Street to the suburbs in the 1970's this was lost along with other family memorabilia.

Well yesterday I was headed to the Detroit Arts Festival, and I stopped off at the Eastern Market for lunch (I always have a hard time deciding between a 1/2 slab of ribs or the 1 lb "Oh My God" burger). Yesterday I chose the 1/2 slab of ribs. Then it was off to the Detroit Arts Festival. As I was walking to the festival from my car, I decided to stop in the Detroit Public Library and see if there were old telephone books that might at least give the name of the creamery. That would put me at the top of my Mom's Golden Boy list for another month or so (my reign lasted about 12 months when I got the Sonny Bieke accident article). So I entered the library about 1 PM, and before I knew it, the library staff were coming around at 5:45 to tell people it was time to leave!

First of all, I blew it in a way, because I was assuming the explosion happened in the early 1920's, because I though my uncle Jack was only a couple years younger than my grandpa, who was born in August 1919. Well I know now that my Mom's Uncle Jack was born in August 1929, so the explosion probably happened in the early 1930's. That would explain why I wasn't able to find the name of the creamery in the City Directories!

Regardless, I was able to find out several things. First of all, there was in fact a creamery, and I have the map to prove it (click on the photo to enlarge). In the 1915 map there was a vacant lot where the creamery is in this map (which I think is the 1925 map?). I did check the City Directories from the early 1920's and wasn't able to find the name of the creamery under creameries or dairy products, so I suspect I was looking a few years too early (before the creamery was built?).

In the 1922-1923 City Directory, Daniel M. Bieke is listed as living at 3754 Field Street, while his brother Frank J. Bieke lived next door at 3748 Field.

In the 1922-1923 City Directory, Albert L. Sharpe is listed as living at 3747 Field Street, right next door to the creamery. His daughter Alice Sharpe is listed as working for Belle Isle E-S Creamery as a telephone operator. So I was thinking that maybe this creamery on Field Street was unnamed and doing contract work for the Belle Isle Creamery? But now I know I was simply looking ten years too early.

On an unrelated note, I checked out some of the earlier City Directories. In the 1870-1971 directory, Frank Bieke [my great-great grandfather] was listed as a pedlar residing at 238 Maple. His brother Joseph, a carpenter, is living at the s.e. corner of Orleans and James. I also checked the 1865-1866 directory. Both Bieke brothers were in the Civil War, so I didn't expect to see them in the 1865-1866 directory, because they probably haven't settled back from the war while the directory was being compiled. But I thought maybe I could find Augustin Bieke, the third Bieke brother who came from Germany that we don't know what happened to. Well, I found John Bicke, a laborer, who lived at the rear alley entrance of a place at 102 Napoleon. I have found both Frank and Jospeph Bieke with names spelled as Bieke, Bicke, and Bicker, so I suppose it is possible this person is a relative of Frank and Joseph. On the other hand, I also found in the 1865-1866 directory a John Bickle, a warehouseman at Barnes, Matthews, & Co, who lives at Napoleon near Hastings. Is that the same person? Would a guy named Augustin use John as his first name? Your guess is as good as mine.

Also, knowing that the neighborhood on Wilshire was built in the early 1920's, I checked the 1927-1928 City Directory, and found that Louis Lubeski lived at 12121 Wilshire.

Polar Bears

Sorry it has been a while since I blogged. I have been pretty busy lately! Besides, I got transferred from my job in the city last July 31 so I haven't been in the city nearly as much lately.

Way back in WWI, there was a group of soldiers, mostly from the Detroit area, who were sent to Russia to fight the Bolsheviks. This group, the 339 Infantry Regiment, was also known as the "Polar Bears." There is a plaque honoring this group at the Detroit Zoo by the polar bear exhibit, and also an exhibit at the Military History Museum in Frankenmuth.

My Dad's Uncle Louie (baptized as Ludwig Carolus Goeddeke) was a soldier in this unit that fought in Russia. The photo is of him in uniform in 1918.

In 1930, a group of 5 of these Polar Bears went back to Russia to recover the bodies of several of their fallen comrades. They brought many remains back and many of them are now buried at the White Chapel Memorial Cemetery in Troy, near the statue of a polar bear. Apparently a group of surviving members has been having a memorial service every year at this site since 1930, and now that the survivors are all gone now, their families are continuing this Memorial Day service.

I went there this morning for the service at 11 AM. My Uncle Mike was there too so we chatted a bit. I told him I found Louie's draft card on the internet (click on the photo to enlarge) and it says he was a "vegetable peddler" at a grocer at the corner of Maple & Riopelle streets in Detroit. My Uncle Mike says that one of his first jobs was at the Eastern Market, and while there at work ran into a guy who knew Uncle Louie. He said Uncle Louie was the kind of guy who would get into barroom brawls and take people on in wrestling and boxing. Then he said he remembers a picture of my great-grandparent's family, with a young Vincent (my Grandpa) and an Uncle Louie - a blurred Uncle Louie in the photo, leading my Uncle Mike to deduce that he was "tipsy" and drinking prior to posing for the photo. Some time ago I was talking with the wife of Louie's nephew Paul, Gloria, who said she thought Louie came back from the war shellshocked and that is what started him drinking, although I don't think she knew him before the war, so I think she was just repeating something she might have heard years ago. I do remember a story that one time Louie stopped by my Grandpa's house while he was gone, when he still had young children at home, and my Grandma, per my Grandpa's instructions, refused to open the door and proceeded to close all the drapes, too. I guess my Dad's Uncle Louie liked his liquor, and that caused him a relatively early death at about age 51 in 1950. I remember my Grandma mentioning one time there was only one car of people at his funeral. So I guess I think it is important to remember Louie, not only because of his military service, but because "there but for the grace of God go I...."

For more information about the Polar Bear Association please visit http://pbma.grobbel.org