Flower in the River: A Family Tale Finally Told

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In this episode, I share the compelling story of the Wagaman brothers from Pennsylvania, not far from Gettysburg. In 1915, both were aboard the Eastland when it capsized in the Chicago River—one as the ship’s chief cook, the other as a last-minute passenger who couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong that morning. And he was right.

What followed was a dramatic survival story involving floating wreckage, a heroic rescue, and a loss that still haunts. But their story didn’t end there: Bernard went on to become the very first mayor of Bradenton Beach, Florida. Louis stayed closer to home, deeply involved in his Pennsylvania community.

And yet, despite their extraordinary survival—and civic contributions—these brothers’ names don’t appear in Eastland history books…until now.

We also touch on:

• An Eastland Disaster family reaching out with powerful stories (and a pronunciation correction!)
• Why “findability” matters in family history 
• A forgotten Eastland hero who deserves to be remembered

Resources:

• From Factory Floor to Fighting Ring: Another Eastland Story
• Bonded in Tragedy: The Role of Fraternal Orders in the Eastland Disaster

Newspaper Sources for This Episode

• Gettysburg Times, July 28, 1915
• The Gazette (York, PA), August 28, 1915
• The Bradenton Herald, February 29, 1952
• New Oxford Item (New Oxford, PA), September 2, 1915

• Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/
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• YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTube
• Medium: Natalie Zett – Medium
• The opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opus
• Other music. Artlist

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It’s May 31st—an important date if, like me, you have roots in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. On this day in 1889, the South Fork Dam gave way, and a wall of water wiped out most of the city. Over 2,000 lives were lost. It was a manmade disaster—tragic, preventable, and all too familiar.

In this episode, I begin with the story of Maggie Irwin, a chambermaid who died in the Johnstown Flood at age 18. Her mother saved the letters Maggie sent home during her brief time working in a hotel—and because of those letters, we remember her today. She’s buried among the unnamed in Grandview Cemetery, but her words still speak.

From there, we fast-forward 26 years to another disaster—one that changed my own family’s trajectory: the Eastland. And this is where things get personal again.

You’ll hear about the Schultz and Kempa families—John, Veronica, and their baby Edward, all lost in the Eastland Disaster. What surfaced recently were fraternal insurance records—documents full of detail, legal battles, and emotional fallout that most histories skip over. These aren’t just forms; they’re grief, held in carbon copy.

This family—John, Veronica, and Edward Schultz—were the relatives of the late Rosemary Pietrzak. Rosemary was one of the very first people I connected with when I started this journey. She was kind, wise, and generous with her family history. She helped me understand not just the facts but the long shadow the Eastland cast over so many lives.

When I came across the Schultz family’s insurance file this year, I felt a responsibility—not just as a researcher, but as someone Rosemary trusted. I wanted to tell this story with care, because she deserved that. Her family deserved that.

She once said to me, “They may not have died on the Eastland, but they surely died of it.” That line stayed with me—and I repeat it often.

This episode is about what happens after disaster. The paperwork. The disputes. The forgotten stories. It’s about how we carry loss, and how even the most overlooked documents can bring dignity back to people who were nearly erased.

💛 For Maggie. For Rosemary. For all of them.

Resources

• Mike Brady (Oceanliner Designs), The HORRENDOUS Disaster of SS Eastland
• Natalie Zett (Flower in the River), Through the Flood, Her Words Remain: The Story of Maggie Irwin 
• The Eastland Disaster Documentary - Chicago Stories
• Familysearch.org/Labs
• Final Claim: Insurance Records Speak from Beyond the Grave

• Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/
• Substack: https://nataliezett.substack.com/
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• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/
• YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTube
• Medium: Natalie Zett – Medium
• The opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opus
• Other music. Artlist

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The untold stories of the 1915 Eastland disaster continue to surface over a century later through forgotten newspaper accounts and overlooked connections. These rediscovered narratives reveal how this Chicago tragedy touched lives across America in ways rarely documented.

FEATURED STORIES

• H.L. Bening, a West Virginia jeweler who witnessed the disaster while in Chicago on business, providing a powerful emotional account
• • The "candy butchers" who sold refreshments aboard the Eastland and survived to share their stories of the capsizing and rescue efforts 
• • "Little Elsie," a professional high diver who believed her brother died in the disaster, though research suggests this may have been mistaken

What I Learned

• The forgotten profession of "candy butchers" - traveling vendors who sold treats, souvenirs and newspapers on trains, in theaters, and aboard excursion boats
• How the golden age of women high divers represented women defying both gravity and societal expectations in the early 1900s
• Why these rediscovered accounts matter in understanding how history ripples outward beyond headlines

Resources

• First Ever Women's Diving Competition - Stockholm 1912 Olympics

Newspaper Citations 

• Washington Herald, August 8, 1915.
• Beckley Messenger (Beckley, West Virginia), August 3, 1915.
• Richmond Times-Dispatch, July 25, 1915.
• The Day Book (Chicago), August 14, 1915.

• Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/
• Substack: https://nataliezett.substack.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-z-87092b15/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/
• YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTube
• Medium: Natalie Zett – Medium
• The opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opus
• Other music. Artlist

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In today's episode, I take you on a journey through my unexpected DNA discoveries and how they've connected me to both famous and infamous historical figures. This discovery some new (but very old) Hungarian connections inspired me to research Hungarian immigrant victims of the Eastland Disaster, leading to some remarkable stories of transatlantic families.

My Family Background

• All four of my grandparents immigrated to the US from Eastern and Central Europe in the late 1800s/early 1900s

Unexpected Royal Connections

• DNA testing in 2016 revealed a surprising maternal haplogroup connection to Nicholas II Romanov, the last Tsar of Russia
• This connection was especially meaningful since my mother had always been fascinated by the Romanovs
• While this is a distant connection shared by millions, it created an emotional link to history

The Blood Countess Connection

• Recently discovered connections to Hungarian royalty through my father’s line—specifically, the Bathory family!

Hungarian Immigrants and the Eastland Disaster

• I profile the story of Paul Marton and his teenage son Paul Jr., who were labeled as Hungarian victims of the Eastland disaster
• The Marton family came from Myjava (now in Slovakia), a stronghold of Slovak Lutheranism
• The Marton family's story is a rare one: multiple immigration trips, and children baptized in both Chicago and Slovakia.

Reflections on Identity

• Eastern European identity is complex, with shifting borders, overlapping languages, and blended identities
• Many immigrants identified as Hungarian, Slovak, Austrian, or Rusyn depending on the time period
• These threads of connection to the past, whether to royalty or ordinary people, take on the meaning we give them

Links:

• For a thoughtful and well-researched take on Elizabeth Bathory, I recommend this episode from Reading the Past by historian Dr. Katrina Marchant :Tale of the “Blood Countess”: Elizabeth Bathory (YouTube)
• Encyclopedia of Chicago, "Slovaks" and Hungarians

• Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/
• Substack: https://nataliezett.substack.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-z-87092b15/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/
• YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTube
• Medium: Natalie Zett – Medium
• The opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opus
• Other music. Artlist

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A cemetery caretaker's steady act of tending graves becomes a powerful lesson in historical preservation and honoring forgotten lives. I'll share how this unassuming influence shaped my approach to uncovering and preserving stories of the people of the Eastland Disaster. This episode includes:

• The story of Mr. Schmidt, a German immigrant who tended church graves because, "I lost everyone over there."
• Continuing connections with Eastland disaster descendants seeking stories beyond names and dates
• Unexpected discovery of two Santa Fe Railway employees who perished on the Eastland
• Details about Charles Stehlik, a 24-year-old machinist who died two weeks before his wedding
• Information about Joe Hutchinson, a 20-year-old railway clerk whose brother, William, survived the disaster
• The importance of fraternal organizations like the Modern Woodmen of America and Knights of Columbus in providing support
• How individuals rather than institutions often preserve the most meaningful historical details
• The parallel between tending physical graves and preserving historical memory

Resources:

The Santa Fe Magazine (Google Books)

Chicago Tribune, April 16, 1909

The Inter Ocean, April 22, 1909 

Chicago Tribune, July 31, 1915

• Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/
• Substack: https://nataliezett.substack.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-z-87092b15/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/
• YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTube
• Medium: Natalie Zett – Medium
• The opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opus
• Other music. Artlist

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🛳️🎶 “Goodbye, Everybody…” That was the jaunty tune Benton Harbor residents remembered the Eastland playing from its calliope — long before the disaster.

🎙️ In Episode 112 of Flower in the River, we travel to Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, Michigan — twin port cities on Lake Michigan — to uncover their overlooked connection to the Eastland. A year before the tragedy, the ship raced across the lake in a friendly steamer rivalry, cheered on by local crowds. It was a different time, full of hope and hometown pride.

 Then came July 24, 1915. And everything changed.

 💬 This episode includes:

• Rare interviews with survivors and local witnesses
• Forgotten details from small-town newspaper archives
• The eerie legacy of “Goodbye, Everybody” — remembered years later as the song that once echoed from the Eastland’s decks
•  A city that cheered… and then mourned

Resources:

• The News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, Michigan), June 15, 1914
• The Herald-Palladium (Benton Harbor, Michigan), July 24, 1965
• “Good-Bye, Everybody,” Henry Burr, 1912. Library of Congress National Jukebox
• • Hilton, George W. Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic. Stanford University Press, 1995. See Chapter 3 for coverage of the St. Joseph–Chicago Steamship Company

• Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/
• Substack: https://nataliezett.substack.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-z-87092b15/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/
• YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTube
• Medium: Natalie Zett – Medium
• The opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opus
• Other music. Artlist

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Grief knows no borders. When Chicago's SS Eastland capsized in 1915, the tragedy didn't just devastate local families—it sent shockwaves all the way to Denmark, where anxious relatives waited for news that would forever change their lives.

This episode unveils the forgotten Danish dimension of the Eastland disaster through contemporary Danish newspaper accounts that captured both the personal heartbreak and systemic failures behind the tragedy. We meet Anna Clausen and her eight-year-old daughter Ella, Danish immigrants who perished when the ship rolled over, leaving behind a husband/father and young son. Through Danish journalists' eyes, we witness how their community mourned—with Valkyrie Society members as pallbearers and little girls in white standing beside Ella's casket.

The Danish perspective brings surprising depth to our understanding of the disaster. While Chicago officials worked to contain the narrative, Danish reporters asked pointed questions about safety, oversight, and accountability. "The American is certainly strong in a crisis," wrote one Danish journalist, "but he does not know how to prevent great disasters." This prescient observation feels as relevant today as it did over a century ago.

Beyond the tragedy itself, we explore how Danish immigrants built vibrant communities in Chicago, creating cultural organizations, churches, and networks that connected them both to their new home and to the country they left behind. Their story reminds us that immigrant histories are transnational histories, flowing back and forth across oceans rather than existing in isolation.

How about you? Have you discovered unexpected international connections in your family history research? 

Resources:

• Newspaper articles accessed via Mediestream, Royal Danish Library.
• Danish newspaper articles were translated using a combination of AI tools (ChatGPT, Google Translate) and historical handwriting recognition software (Transkribus), with final review and edits by the author.
• Encyclopedia of Chicago, “Danes” entry, Chicago History Museum.

• Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/
• Substack: https://nataliezett.substack.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-z-87092b15/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/
• YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTube
• Medium: Natalie Zett – Medium
• The opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opus
• Other music. Artlist

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Peter Alter—Chief Historian and Director of the Studs Terkel Center for Oral History at the Chicago History Museum—joins me for this episode, and what a conversation it turned out to be.

We nearly had to cancel. A massive Zoom outage hit just before we were set to record. But like all good historians and podcasters, we adapted. Zoom came back to life minutes before our scheduled time, and we hit record.

What followed was a rich, wide-ranging conversation about Chicago’s history, its immigrant communities, and the people who work behind the scenes to keep those stories alive. 

Here are some highlights from our talk:

🧦 The Red Socks Connection

Peter wears red socks to work every day in honor of Studs Terkel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and broadcaster. He shared a great story about helping Studs with a FedEx package back in 1999—and getting a signed note in return.

🏛️ Museum History

Founded in 1856, the Chicago History Museum (still officially the Chicago Historical Society) is one of the city’s oldest cultural institutions—so old, Abraham Lincoln was one of its honorary members.

🖥️ Explore From Anywhere

Peter highlighted several ways to explore Chicago’s past without leaving home:

🌐 Chicago History Museum

📚 Encyclopedia of Chicago 

🌍 Immigrant Communities & Shared Heritage

Peter’s knowledge of Serbian immigrant history in Chicago added real depth to the conversation. It reminded me of how rich and varied the city’s immigrant stories are—like those I’ve uncovered while researching the Polish Roman Catholic Union of America and other Polish fraternal organizations.

We also discovered a shared connection to Carpatho-Rusyn heritage. I’m part Carpatho-Rusyn, and I didn’t expect Peter to know so much about that background. I mean, there are only about 1.5 million of us in the world! We ended up swapping family stories—including one about my aunt’s husband’s father, who worked as Al Capone’s upholsterer. And yes… there were blindfolds and mysterious car rides.

• Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/
• Substack: https://nataliezett.substack.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-z-87092b15/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/
• YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTube
• Medium: Natalie Zett – Medium
• The opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opus
• Other music. Artlist

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When history speaks, it rarely does so in just one language.

In this episode of Flower in the River, I take you on a journey I never expected—deep into international newspaper archives that covered the 1915 Eastland disaster in Chicago. What started with the discovery of Polish-language coverage has now expanded to include a stunning find: a Norwegian-Danish newspaper called Skandinaven, published right in Chicago for the Scandinavian immigrant community.

Just four days after the disaster, Skandinaven published a nearly 7,000-word article—beating many of the major English-language papers with its depth and detail. Thanks to a mix of old-school research and new AI translation tools, I was able to dig through both language barriers and ornate Fraktur script to uncover scenes that had been buried for over a century.

Some of the most moving accounts come from the hospitals and the river’s edge: a trembling seven-year-old girl whispering, “My mother has drowned. She said goodbye to me.” Or Elmer Nelson, a steelworker (and grandfather of Eastland historian Dave Nelson), who defied orders, cut through the hull, and saved lives trapped below deck.

These aren’t just side notes—they’re core parts of the Eastland story that were lost in translation or never translated at all.

History, as I’ve come to learn, isn’t fixed. It’s living, vibrant, and often louder than we realize—especially when we’re willing to listen across languages and borders. I’ll be continuing this exploration in future episodes, diving into coverage from Hungary, Germany, and Swedish-American newspapers. Because if we’re going to tell the truth about history, we need to hear from everyone—especially the ones who’ve been left out.

Resource

Skandinaven – July 28, 1915 (National Library of Norway)

• Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/
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• YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTube
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• The opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opus
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A breakthrough discovery reveals how news of the 1915 Eastland disaster reached across the Atlantic to Poland, unearthing voices unheard for over a century. While exploring the Silesian Digital Library—an extraordinary archive of Polish publications spanning from 1892 to 2011—I discovered several newspapers from Silesia that covered Chicago's tragic shipwreck with remarkable detail and emotional connection.

The Gazeta Opolska from September 1915 painted a vivid picture of the disaster, accurately describing how Western Electric pressured workers to attend the company picnic, how safety regulations were ignored, and how the ship capsized "before people realized what was happening." Most striking was their focus on the Polish immigrant experience, noting how "over the Polish, Russian and Czech communities in Chicago, especially in the Hawthorne area, a dark cloud of death hung." Their reporting directly blamed corporate negligence, observing how "company officials enthusiastically rubbed their hands seeing such a large crowd of guests and a great profit" shortly before tragedy struck.

These Polish-language newspapers demonstrate how deeply connected immigrant communities remained to their homelands despite ocean distances. What we witness through these century-old pages is something more profound than mere reporting—it's the revelation of heart connections that transcend borders, where communities separated by thousands of miles still mourned together. The Kuryer Śląski reported "more than 120 Poles also drowned," while the Posel Ewangelicki described funeral scenes where "towers of Polish churches' bells tolled mournfully" and "cries wrenching themselves from thousands of chests shook the air."

This discovery challenges us to reconsider how immigrant communities maintained their identities and connections across vast distances in an era before instant communication. These newspapers, untouched for generations, open new windows into understanding the global impact of what has often been considered a localized Chicago tragedy. 

Resource

SILEISIAN DIGITAL LIBRARY

• Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/
• Substack: https://nataliezett.substack.com/
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• YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTube
• Medium: Natalie Zett – Medium
• The opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opus
• Other music. Artlist