Flower in the River: A Family Tale Finally Told

Send us Fan MailOne surname search can reshape the entire landscape of history, and this week, it did just that. While tracing the path of Eastland disaster survivor Charles Borvansky (sometimes spelled Borovansky), I uncovered a 1940 Cicero Life newspaper article marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1915 tragedy. This is the sort of local reporting that rarely finds its way into the most retold versions, yet it brims with vivid, unforgettable details that bring the past startlingly close.I dove into the article’s retelling of how a joyful Western Electric Hawthorne Plant outing became a catastrophe on the Chicago River, and how the sorrow lingered in Cicero and Berwyn long after. What stands out most are the preserved voices of survivors. Charles Borvansky recalls the instant the Eastland began to tip and his scramble onto a raft. Frank Terdina offers his own account, including a moment of hesitation that seems surreal until you remember how shock can freeze time.From there, I step back to reflect on the responsibility of this work: sharing transcripts, marking timestamps, and keeping citations front and center so the Eastland disaster story stays rooted in its original sources. I trace the early threads of Charles’s biography, piecing together draft cards, naturalization forms, and death records, as well as insights from the obituaries of his wife, Margaret, and their daughter, Violet. Just as the story seems to settle, a late-breaking discovery swings open a new door into Charles’s world, along with a surprising slice of Chicago history that I’ll explore in depth next week.Subscribe or follow for more Eastland disaster research, share this episode with someone who enjoys family history, and if you’re liking the podcast, please leave a review and let me know which detail you'd like to dig into next.Resource:“25th Anniversary of Eastland Disaster,” Cicero Life (Cicero, Illinois), 24 July 1940, p. 1.Natalie Zett, “Eight Eastland Survivors—On the Record, Off the Radar,” Flower in the River Podcast, season 4, episode 162, released 15 April 2026.Additional Music:Additional transition music and sound effects sourced from Kevin MacLeod via Incompetech  (licensed under CC BY 4.0) and from PixabayBook 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailJust one missing name can change how people understand the Eastland disaster—a reminder that the story’s true impact lies in the details we can recover and connect. And we’ll get to that…After two descendants reached out to me searching for relatives lost in the 1915 Chicago River tragedy, I saw an opportunity to highlight a core problem: when people search for an Eastland person and find only a name on a list, the significance and humanity of the loss are diminished twice—first by the disaster and again by incomplete research. This is why I keep my work independent and push beyond the lists to piece together the full story.As a researcher, I continually confront the same issues: biographies lacking citations, photos out of context, and simplified retellings that ignore vital voices—from victims to witnesses. These gaps don’t just limit our understanding; they perpetuate inaccuracies like the death toll number. The discovery of Thomas Marren (Eastland Disaster Victim #845) exemplifies why challenging the repeated narrative is essential.You’ll hear how I traced Marren through unexpected sources, including U.S. District Court legal claims connected to the steamship company’s attempt to limit liability, and how a tip from Lisa Louise Cooke led me to Elephind, a search engine for digitized historic newspapers. That path uncovered an obscure 1915 article from the Catholic Columbian that not only mentioned Marren but also pointed to overlooked clergy who assisted at the scene, community grief, and young rescuers whose names all but vanished once a narrow, controlled version of the story took hold. Resources:“Sidelights of Eastland Tragedy in Chicago.” The Catholic Columbian (Columbus, Ohio), vol. 40, no. 31, July 30, 1915Lisa Louise Cooke. “Find Thousands of Newspaper Records with Elephind.” Genealogy Gems Podcast, November 3, 2025.Elephind. Historical newspaper search engine. Elephind. Accessed May 7.Additional Music:Additional music provided by Pixabay creators via Pixabay Music.Title Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailCelebrity culture was born not in Hollywood, but in the inky columns of newspapers, each inch building a new kind of fame. Society pages gave way to syndicated gossip that could rewrite a person’s fate before noon. I trace the rise of gossip columnists as they transformed into entertainment kingmakers, focusing on the trailblazer who set the standard: Louella Parsons. At her height, her name was as powerful as a studio head’s, and her blessing could make or break a career.We journey with Parsons from small-town Illinois to the bustling streets of Chicago and New York, where she is swept into William Randolph Hearst’s world, a place where publicity, privilege, and allegiance quickly intertwine. I unravel the infamous “yacht incident” and explore why its ripples endure—not just for the drama, but for what it reveals about which stories see daylight, which are hidden, and who ultimately bears the cost. For anyone fascinated by film history, old Hollywood, media ethics, or the origins of celebrity journalism, this is where the threads come together.Louella and the Eastland Disaster.Then the thread returns to the 1915 Eastland disaster in Chicago and the way its stories keep slipping out of view. A 1926 trade journal reveals Parsons once covered Eastland families directly, visiting small homes and collecting grief-filled personal histories, a side of her that complicates the “queen of gossip” persona. I added Louella’s connection to the Eastland Disaster to her bio on Wikipedia—a platform that also reminds us that citing sources is essential to preserving history.If this sparked something for you, subscribe or follow, share the episode with a friend who loves old Hollywood or Chicago history, and leave a review so more listeners can find the show.Resources:"The History of Gossip Columns "Shondaland “Louella Parsons.” WikipediaLouella Parsons Show, November 9, 1947. Internet Archive. Accessed April 29, 2026Women in Advertising and Journalism,” Editor & Publisher, August 14, 1926, page 34. Additional Music:Title Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailThe Eastland disaster struck Chicago in 1915, but the real tragedy unfolded in silence as the stories of its people faded, uncited and forgotten. I am gathering the scattered threads from 1935 newspaper interviews and tracing the digital footprints of four survivors. While today’s online summaries barely scratch the surface, a wealth of details lies hidden: firsthand quotes, obituaries, work records, and the subtle hints that let genealogy work its quiet magic, transforming names into living stories.We begin with Rose Smoller, whose journey after the Eastland emerges in decades of dedication at Western Electric and her leadership with the Telephone Pioneers of America. Next comes Ethel Stephenson, who recalls the disaster through the sharp lens of childhood, and whose later role as a business methods investigator at Western Electric reveals unexpected glimpses into the dawn of scientific management and the origins of modern systems work. These details breathe life into the past, reminding us that context is what keeps history from dissolving into a mere list of names.Frank Terdina’s story pulls us into the moment of survival, then propels us through a lifetime devoted to safety and civic duty, his obituary curiously silent about the Eastland. Jennie Turbov’s path, tangled with mismatched immigration records, shifting names, and a puzzling marriage timeline, proves that research thrives even when certainty slips away. The lesson is clear: Question Everything!If you feel drawn to Chicago history, the Eastland disaster, Western Electric, or the detective work of genealogy and archives, let this be your reminder: the records are still waiting, ready to be brought back into the light.Subscribe or follow. What’s the last family story you discovered that the official record almost missed?Resources:“The Eastland Disaster—20 Years Ago Next Wednesday: Survivors Recall the Deeds of Heroism,” by Joseph J. Dugan, Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois), July 21, 1935, p. 3.“Recount Harrowing Scenes: Twenty Years Ago Today-Horror of Eastland Disaster,” Berwyn Life (Berwyn, Illinois), July 24, 1935, p. 1Additional Music:License: Title Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailA faded, barely readable newspaper scan kept the Eastland Disaster survivor stories tucked away for decades, hiding them in plain sight. When a clearer copy finally surfaced, it was like prying open a sealed time capsule. We dive into two interviews from 1935, marking twenty years since the SS Eastland tragedy in Chicago. What leaps from the page is vivid and unfiltered: a heated argument at the gangplank, the sharpest screams, the moment the deck lurches, and the heart-stopping decisions that separate survival from loss.We immerse ourselves in the voices of Western Electric workers and passengers—Rose Smoller, Walter H. Flinn, Lisle (Lysle) Goyette, Ethel Stephenson, Jennie Turbov, William Kaunt, Frank Terdina, and Charles Borovansky. Their memories shrink the disaster to the scale of white-knuckled hands clutching rails, bodies squeezing through cabin windows, and floating debris that transforms into lifelines. The trauma lingers, echoing for decades as nightmares and a lasting fear of water. The Berwyn Life account adds unforgettable color: Terdina pausing at the edge, reluctant to ruin his new suit, only to be ensnared by ropes underwater as the Eastland crashes down.Then we pause to face a sobering truth about the Eastland Disaster’s history: so many names have faded from the digital record, or appear without stories or sources, making them nearly impossible to trace. We share what we’ve uncovered, what still slips through our fingers, and how this podcast is becoming a living archive for the Eastland’s forgotten voices. If the Eastland Disaster, Chicago history, survivor stories, or the craft of family storytelling resonate with you, subscribe, share this episode, and leave a review to help keep these memories alive.Resources:“The Eastland Disaster—20 Years Ago Next Wednesday: Survivors Recall the Deeds of Heroism,” by Joseph J. Dugan, Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois), July 21, 1935, p. 3.“Recount Harrowing Scenes: Twenty Years Ago Today-Horror of Eastland Disaster,” Berwyn Life (Berwyn, Illinois), July 24, 1935, p. 1Book 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailWe explore three gripping firsthand accounts from eyewitnesses to the Eastland disaster, shared with the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald on July 26, 1915 — just two days after the tragedy. These accounts appeared once in print and then vanished from public memory for over a century.One witness represented an early film company, another worked for a garment company, and the third was employed by a lumber, sash, and door dealer. Three people from very different worlds who happened to be in Chicago on that fateful morning.Their words paint scenes of frantic rescue, packed bridges, and tense moments on the riverbank — revealing how trauma ripples outward, touching even those who had "no friend or relative in the catastrophe." Some accounts are graphic, and we want to be upfront about that. Yet to truly preserve history, we share these raw, lived experiences.I also explore why the roster of names and stories continues to grow. Now at 176 and counting, these are voices that have slipped through the cracks of modern retellings — and restoring them matters for public memory, genealogy, and family history. When we welcome these forgotten witnesses back, the Eastland disaster transforms from a distant headline into a shared story of lives forever altered in a single Chicago morning.One witness's connection to the United Photo Plays Company opened an unexpected window into Chicago's thriving early film scene. We explore the city's remarkably active studios, the impact of World War I on American filmmaking, and a question that lingers: Could this connection mean there are hidden photos or footage of the Eastland disaster still waiting to be found?Resources:Encyclopedia of Chicago Encyclopedia Dubuque“Vivid Picture of Eastland Tragedy,” Dubuque Telegraph-Herald (Dubuque, Iowa), 26 July 1915.Additional Music:License: Title Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailHistory sometimes fades not from lack of evidence, but because the path connecting the pieces is broken. The Eastland disaster records are overflowing with accessible online material, yet large parts of this story have drifted out of modern retellings. I’ll share a research discovery that changed my entire plan for this week.I’ll take you inside the system I improvised to untangle the patterns that kept repeating before my eyes. Together, we’ll confront the problem of “thin” profiles that reduce real lives to mere names, and the Franken-article phenomenon, where pieces of biographical details are stitched together without verifiable sources. I’ll show how citations are not just technicalities, but the lifeblood of trust in history and genealogy. When citations vanish, so do the original voices behind every record, making it nearly impossible to advance the research. Then there’s the photo problem: images of Eastland victims and survivors circulate without credit, breeding mislabels and confusion.Then comes the most startling revelation: the people left out. By digging through sources like Chronicling America, FamilySearch, Google Books, and HathiTrust, so far, I have uncovered 158 witnesses, survivors, victims, journalists, photographers, and others who appear in original accounts but are missing from online platforms.This discovery raises a thorny question: how do we count the victims of major disasters—especially when the event took place over 100 years ago? At the very least, it should be a multidisciplinary conversation that includes historians specializing in labor, immigration, and maritime history, credentialed genealogists who know how to follow an evidentiary trail, and medical historians who understand trauma and delayed mortality.  This responsibility should not rest with a single individual or organization.  To illustrate this, I end with the story of Hancock Harmon, a first responder whose bravery was once celebrated, whose later illness was tied to the disaster, and whose name faded from history—until now.If you are interested in Chicago history, storytelling, and genealogy, tune in to this episode. Resources:Buried by Omission: The Eastland Victim Who DisappearedSurvived But Not Saved: The Lingering Legacy of the Eastland DisasterAdditional Music: Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailA single local magazine from over 100 years ago contains details of the Eastland disaster you can’t unhear—and yet, it is rarely referenced. The July 30, 1915 issue of Forest Leaves (Forest Park, Illinois) is a treasure trove.  It includes firsthand accounts from those who boarded the SS Eastland expecting a Western Electric picnic and instead found themselves trapped by a sudden roll, crushed by crowds, with broken railings and impossible rescue choices at the portholes. It left at least one woman black and blue all over. From these pages, we begin the work of transforming nameless survivors and cold statistics into living, breathing individuals. We listen to the voices of Martha Bross, Emma Bohles, Mary Klemp, Minnie and Anna Clausen, and Gertrude Utescher. Their stories unfold as we follow the threads of census records, immigration hints, naturalization forms, workplace connections, and sprawling family trees.Along the way, we confront the frustrations that haunt genealogists and historians: photos and stories drifting through the internet without a single citation, blurring the line between truth and myth. We notice, too, how a life-altering event can vanish from an obituary, as if it never happened at all.We also share a practical research tip for anyone doing family history research: FamilySearch.org’s full-text search. Because it looks beyond indexed fields in digitized documents, it can surface records you’d never find with a standard search.Resources:Forest Home Cemetery Virtual TourForest Leaves (Forest Park, Illinois), 30 July 1915, Vol. IX, no. 31; digital images, Google Books (https://books.google.com : accessed 26 March 2026)Additional Music:Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailUneven historiography (the history of history) rarely announces itself. It arrives as a confident paragraph with no citation, a quote stripped of its author, or a tidy summary that cannot be traced to the original record. What looks like settled history is often the residue of choices: what to compress, what to omit, whose account gets carried forward, and whose gets left behind. The record itself is not the issue. The problem is the hand that shapes it — the shortcut taken, the attribution dropped, the community written out in the name of a compressed story. And once those choices harden into repeated summaries, they stop looking like choices at all. They just look like facts.I call these plausible mashups “Franken records” (inspired by Crista Cowan’s “Franken-people” reference) because they stitch together real fragments into something new, persuasive, and often wrong. To honor victims, survivors, and rescuers, we have to rebuild the evidence chain, not just repeat what a platform page says.Speaking of Crista Cowan, I also share a lesson from her recent video: even experienced researchers miss details right in front of them. And sometimes new tools, like transcription features, reveal the blunders years later. That honesty models the mindset that keeps our research credible: question everything, re-read the document, and correct your tree or your narrative when the facts come calling.Next, I revisit a misleading impression about the churches affected by the Eastland disaster: that only two congregations lost members.  I name a much wider set of religious organizations that lost members at that time. I also explain how “narrative compression” can erase whole communities from the story. Then I walk through a real “de-franken” moment, using PERSI through the Allen County Public Library to find the original 1965 Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly article by Rev. Gothold G. Elbert and restore proper attribution. I also share the gripping account of Jack Billow, a 15-year-old deckhand whose courage on that river was real—and whose story nearly wasn't.Resources:Elbert, Gotthold G. “The Eastland Disaster.” Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly 38, no. 2 (July 1965): St. Louis, MO: Concordia Historical Institute.Billow, Jack J. “I Thought, ‘My God, The Eastland Is Lurching!’” Chicago Daily News, July 24, 1965, Panorama section, p. 55.Crista Cowan, “What’s New at Ancestry® | RootsTech 2026 | Ancestry®,” video, YouTube, posted by Ancestry,  (Mar 13, 2026).Extra music:  Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailA missing citation can erase a life twice: once from the pages of history, and again from the digital world.  Highlights: RootsTech 2026 recap: Actor and keynote presenter, Marlee Matlin, urged us to honor every life, ensure every story is searchable, and let every family tree reflect humanity’s full spectrum. Her words are simple, but their weight is profound.These words linger, much like the sting of a lost argument, especially when your daily work unfolds in the shadow of Chicago’s 1915 Eastland disaster, where records remain fractured and too many public profiles mistake speculation for fact.So what does good genealogical research really require? It means following the genealogical proof standard, using clear source citations, carefully evaluating evidence, and writing that does not just ask readers to simply “trust us.” We put these ideas to the test with the biggest problems in Eastland Disaster research: orphaned photos and biographies posted without sources, drifting online like ghosts who have forgotten their own names. Reverse image search can help with the photos. It can also reveal just how fast a face gets mislabeled, copied, and confidently recaptioned across a dozen different websites. Add AI-generated images that look disturbingly authentic, and the stakes get higher by the minute.At the center of it all is a case study: Tom Chakinis, Greek immigrant, Western Electric employee, Eastland survivor, and accidental victim of what I'm calling a "Franken record" — a nod to Frankenstein, and just as monstrous. This is a profile stitched together from mismatched parts. Paraphrasing, incomplete sourcing, no byline, and borrowed material that nobody thought to credit. It reads like a biography. It functions like a rumor. Even with good intentions, most of us who work in family history have created a Franken-person. Hopefully, we recognize it and apply the corrections.I tracked this “biography” back to the original source — a *Chicago Tribune* article from August 2, 1979 — and make the case for why restoring the original text, context, and byline isn't a courtesy. It's an obligation. And course correction? Well, that just goes with the territory! At its core, genealogical research is an act of respect—for the people we study, for the researchers before us, and for the families still searching for answers. The Eastland disaster took over 800 lives in minutes—and affected countless more. Each one deserves careful representation. Whether we are tracing a Greek immigrant through Chicago’s history or finding a Franken-record in our own work, the way forward is the same: cite our sources, name our sources, and make sure our research can be checked and continued by others. Every correction helps reclaim a story. Every citation connects us across time.Resources: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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailThis week, we pull back the curtain on the Eastland disaster’s historiography and bring two overlooked rescuers to the forefront: Great Lakes captains Walter and Emil Petroskey. The Petroskey brothers manned a lifeboat and saved lives when the steamer rolled in the Chicago River in 1915. Along the way, we share how a podcast milestone—7,500 downloads—became fuel to double down on careful genealogy, source citations, and the investigative steps that turn rumor into record.We walk through real research problems and the tools that solve them. A listener’s request led us to an Eastland victim’s profile with a vague citation and a photo with no clear source. Reverse image search returned multiple identities, none of which were correct. That detour becomes a masterclass in method: grounding claims in primary sources, reading obituaries and shipping registers closely, and using the genealogical proof standard to weigh evidence quality. For Eastland Disaster research, we return to the foundations laid long ago by George Hilton and the former Eastland Memorial Society. We explain why lists without notes can mislead, and show how independent researchers can rebuild trust by linking every assertion to its document.The Petroskey brothers’ story unfolds through contemporary newspapers, Coast Guard connections, and Great Lakes context—Kewaunee’s harbor culture, hard-won master’s licenses, and the industrial routes that tied Manistee, Milwaukee, and Chicago. Their rescue medals and long service should be part of every Eastland narrative, yet modern summaries never mention them. Restoring their place shows what happens when we move past recycled anecdotes and center on verifiable names, dates, ships, and places.If you’re tracing history or your own family line, you’ll find practical takeaways: how to evaluate unsourced claims, capture citations that travel, and use short-form video to share findings with a global audience. We close with an open door to Eastland families who need genealogical assistance and a nod to RootsTech for anyone eager to sharpen their research skills. Resources:TinEye (Reverse image search tool)Google Images (Reverse image search tool)Elizabeth Shown Mills. Evidence Explained: Historical Analysis, Citation & Source UsageChronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of CongressFind a Grave.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailA glossy company history can sparkle—and still leave a hole big enough to hide a tragedy. We open a 1981 Western Electric centennial magazine that celebrates a century of innovation yet steps neatly over 1915, the year the Eastland capsized by the Clark Street Bridge and more than 800 lives were lost, many from Western Electric's Hawthorne Works. That missing year isn’t just an editorial quirk; it’s a powerful example of narrative control, memory politics, and how brands shape the stories we inherit.From there, we shift to a name that deserves to be known: Captain James Jacob Wagner, a Great Lakes navigator who volunteered as a diver for three days and recovered 105 bodies. We trace Wagner’s path from a Dutch immigrant family to licensed master on Lake Michigan, a veteran with a reputation for hard work who showed up when it mattered most. Along the way, we unpack the social world that anchored him—Chicago’s Knights Templar and civic fraternal networks that helped immigrant communities build belonging and purpose.Together, we question the tidy myth that World War I overshadowed the Eastland story. Archival evidence shows robust coverage in U.S. and European papers, proving the problem wasn’t silence but selection. We talk about how to push past gatekeeping and restore what was cut: verifying sources, preserving rare images, and insisting on full, sourced complexity. If public history, company archives, genealogy, Great Lakes maritime history, or the Eastland disaster sounds compelling, then this conversation offers tools and names to carry forward.Resources:Western Electric. WE [employee magazine], Sept.–Oct. 1981. New York: Western Electric Co., Inc. Digitized by the Internet Archive.Capt. James Jacob Wagner” memorial, Find a Grave, accessed February 26, 2026.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailA single obituary opened a door to two of Chicago’s most haunting tragedies: the Iroquois Theatre Fire (1903) and the Eastland Disaster (1915). We trace the life of Charles C. Morgan, a Chicago Fire Department truckman who assisted with both tragedies. Along the way, we connect the Iroquois Theater fire and the Eastland disaster, explore what firefighters faced on the line, and surface the reforms that reshaped public safety — outward-opening doors, marked exits, stronger fire curtains, and real drills. These were hard-won lessons paid for in lives, and Morgan was there for both reckonings.I share the clips that established Morgan’s record: a smoke-filled hotel rescue, a glass-shattered hand, and the commendation that followed Eastland. Then we zoom out to the sources themselves. One early historical organization, the Eastland Memorial Society, built a meticulous online record linking these two events and preserving survivor testimony. That careful, credited work still informs how many understand Chicago disaster history. But after the Society closed, their work appeared elsewhere, often without attribution. When that happens, the source trail frays, and future researchers lose the ability to verify and build.This episode blends genealogy, local history, and archival ethics. We talk about why a truck company’s technical craft mattered in both fire and water, how an “absolutely fireproof” promise unraveled in minutes, and why footnotes are not fussy add-ons but the backbone of honest storytelling. Morgan’s path reminds us that courage is rarely a single act; it’s a practiced skill applied under pressure, time after time.Resources:The Tragedy of the Iroquois Theater Fire “Iroquois Theatre Fire,” Eastland Memorial Society website (archived via Internet Archive Wayback Machine), 1998–2003. Uenuma, Francine. “The Iroquois Theater Disaster Killed Hundreds and Changed Fire Safety Forever.” Smithsonian Magazine, June 12, 2018.Zett, Natalie. “The Iroquois Theatre Fire — As Originally Documented by the Eastland Memorial Society (1998–2001).” Flower in the River, February 19, 2026. Content derived from archived Eastland Memorial Society materials preserved via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailOur story opens with a puzzle: an independent researcher uncovers a sparse, single-source biography of an Eastland hero that reads more like a checklist than a life. They reach out to me and pose a challenge, “Surely, there is more to this person. Can you uncover it?”Challenge accepted. Soon, I found Bernard Napolski, our hero who saved more than 40 lives during the Eastland Disaster. A 1916 announcement of his engagement in a Chicago Polish-language newspaper offered many threads I used to weave a richer portrait of his life.The Setting: Bernard lived in the Crawford neighborhood near Western Electric’s Hawthorne Works. ChicagoAncestors.org further revealed that at least seventy-two Eastland victims lived within a mile of Bernard’s family’s home. This was a community that witnessed, grieved, and remembered together. As always, the truth is tangled. Some newspapers credit Bernard with saving 40 lives; others claim 200. Even the Eastland death toll itself drifts and changes with the years.Census records, sports clippings, and a 1955 service milestone help fill in the gaps. Bernard was first a teenager fibbing about his age to join Western Electric, and later a punch press supervisor, a fisherman spinning Florida tales, a proud father cheering at Northwestern games. What takes shape is both straightforward and hard-earned: a way to tell true stories about everyday people who achieved the remarkable, and a reminder that place, language, and shared memory are as vital as any headline. In the end, honest uncertainty does not weaken a story; it gives it strength.The work of research is never done—especially when the history in question stretches back more than a century. But when research gives way to marketing and branding, history doesn't just stall. It disappears.Resources:Dziennik Chicagoski, Volume 27, Number 130, 5 June 1916.Chronicling America Historic American Newspapers Chicago Ancestors.orgBook 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I bring to a close my journey through Edna, His Wife by Pulitzer Prize–winning author Margaret Ayer Barnes, a novel that paints a hauntingly intimate portrait of a family navigating life in the shadow of the 1915 Eastland Disaster.This final section steps past the catastrophe itself and into the tangled aftermath: the paperwork of loss, the quiet unraveling of marriages, and the daily rituals of mourning that linger long after the headlines fade.Through Edna’s sorrow, Barnes reveals how loss reshapes who we are, transforms our connections, and changes the very tempo of our lives.A mysterious letter from a figure in Edna’s past, with no return address, becomes a lifeline to her former self, a reminder that identity endures despite shifting circumstances. I also explore how memory, literature, and genealogy weave together, and why honoring history through careful research is so vital.I recount the thrill of finding an autographed copy of Barnes’ novel and reflect on the deep responsibility storytellers and genealogists share to preserve history with honesty, compassion, and devotion.Resources:“Miss Cornelia Otis Skinner Skillfully Presents ‘Edna His Wife,’” The Washington Daily News (Washington, D.C.), February 22, 1938, accessed via Chronicling America, Library of Congress.Edna His Wife, Broadway production, December 7, 1937–January 1938, Little Theatre, New York, Internet Broadway Database (IBDB).Margaret Ayer Barnes, Edna, His Wife: An American Idyll (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1935), accessed via Internet Archive.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailA single newspaper review from 1938 turned this story on its head.Digging through Chronicling America, I stumbled upon a mention of Cornelia Otis Skinner's one-woman show—a performance inspired by Margaret Ayer Barnes's novel Edna, His Wife—and it included a "sensational scene" set on the Eastland. That brief reference shatters the myth that Chicago's 1915 disaster simply faded from memory. It never vanished. It lingered in novels, on stage, in film, and in poems. I retrace that rediscovery, then plunge into vivid passages from Barnes's novel: morning chatter, a ringing phone, a name called out. The Chicago River teeming with people. A stranger thrusting a peach crate into a woman's arms. In the armory—now a morgue—the coroner pleading with a restless crowd to let grieving families pass. Headlines scrambling for blame. Two sisters selecting gloves, pews, and pallbearers.These scenes press close because they ring true: the sound of shock, the way loss rearranges a room, a city returning to work beneath the glare of searchlights.I also pause to ask a larger question: what other stories have been hiding in plain sight? Barnes won a Pulitzer, yet her Eastland chapter is rarely—if ever—mentioned today. Skinner crafted a powerhouse performance from that book, but her credit faded into the background. This story was waiting to be found. Why wasn't it?Here, genealogy, local lore, and literature intertwine—revealing how culture preserves memory even when research falls short. Resources:“Miss Cornelia Otis Skinner Skillfully Presents ‘Edna His Wife,’” The Washington Daily News (Washington, D.C.), February 22, 1938, accessed via Chronicling America, Library of Congress.Edna His Wife, Broadway production, December 7, 1937–January 1938, Little Theatre, New York, Internet Broadway Database (IBDB).Margaret Ayer Barnes, Edna, His Wife: An American Idyll (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1935), accessed via Internet Archive.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I finish reading “Catastrophe on the Chicago River,” a Czech-language article by Josef Mach Sr. from 1916. The piece delivers a searing, firsthand account of the Eastland Disaster’s impact on Chicago’s Czech community: families shattered by the loss of multiple members, a grieving husband driven to despair after losing his wife, and three hundred funerals unfolding in just three days.But then, an unexpected detail rises to the surface.Near the end of the article, a name appears: Anton J. Cermak. Chief Bailiff. President of the Czech Assistance Committee. The man who would later become Chicago’s first and only foreign (Czech) born mayor—and who would die after the 1933 assassination attempt that also targeted Franklin Delano Roosevelt.Cermak didn’t just oversee a relief fund. According to a 1934 Czech publication, he rushed to the scene, worked without rest for days, and may have never fully recovered.This was not a new discovery. The Eastland Memorial Society had already traced Cermak’s connection and shared it on their website. When the organization dissolved, that knowledge was left behind. It lingered, preserved yet hidden, waiting in the Internet Archive.And this cycle repeats itself.The research is out there. The documentation survives. But when groups dissolve, authors move on, and sites go dark, history sometimes slides back into the river—not because it was never found, but because research gets reduced to a highlight reel and bullet points.As Elizabeth Shown Mills reminds us, genealogy requires reasonably exhaustive research. That standard doesn’t expire. It doesn’t end when a book gets published or when a historical organization closes its doors.The Eastland story needs researchers who will keep digging, keep translating, keep connecting the dots, because the cycle of endlessly “rediscovering” what was already known is wearing thin.Resources:Kalendar Hlasatel: Pro Čechy Americké na Obyčejný Rok 1934. Chicago: Tiskem a nákladem Denního Hlasatele, 1934.Náše Rodina, the journal of the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International Amerikán Národní Kalendář (1916)—Chicago Czech annual almanac Eastland Disaster Victims on Find a Grave—where the restored photos are being added.  (Note: Eastland Disaster Victims on Find a Grave is where you will most likely find bios for the majority of those who died on the Eastland. There, you can also contribute.) Scriptum.cz—the Czech digital archive where the original text aBook 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailWe journey deeper into "Catastrophe on the Chicago River," a century-old chronicle of the Eastland Disaster as seen through the eyes of Chicago's Czech community. Josef Mach Sr. crafts a living, breathing account of the capsized excursion ship, trading headlines and statistics for the intimate details of lives upended. This narrative names names, lists addresses and funeral halls, and traces the ache that rippled through the close-knit Czech neighborhoods of Chicago.As we move through the recovered text, you’ll hear eyewitness detail: rescue storiesa man shouting “Jump!” to his family as the ship rollsa piano shattering in a crowded cabinworkers using acetylene torches and cutting the hull while calls for help rise from below decksThe story traces the public rituals that shaped collective mourning: solemn processions winding past Masonic halls and freethought schools, wreaths stacked in fragrant towers, and Boy Scouts saluting an unknown child, "Boy 396," who, for a moment, became the city's own.You'll learn why restoring provenance and footnotes is not a luxury in public history, especially since they've often been removed in later retellings of the Eastland Disaster. We also explore the cultural backbone that transformed sorrow into unity. The Sokol movement, which began in Prague and flourished in Chicago by the 1890s, wove communities together through gymnastics, choirs, discipline, and civic engagement. These bonds fueled the collective response after July 24, 1915.This is archival recovery pulsing with life, where immigrant newspapers, neighborhood ties, and meticulous citations draw the past close enough to touch.Resources:Pages, Faces, and Names Restored - A Czech Eastland BreakthroughNáše Rodina, the journal of the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International Amerikán Národní Kalendář (1916)—Chicago Czech annual almanac Eastland Disaster Victims on Find a Grave—where the restored photos are being added.  (Note: Eastland Disaster Victims on Find a Grave is where you will most likely find bios for the majority of those who died on the Eastland. There, you can also contribute.) Scriptum.cz—the Czech digital archive where the original text and images were locatedBook 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailWhen Research Starts Talking BackWhat happens when your research doesn’t just sit there quietly… but starts nudging you, whispering, insisting you dig deeper?In this episode, I try something a little different. After sharing my 2025 retrospective, The Search Goes On — Coincidence. Clarity. Resolve., I handed that episode to Google’s NotebookLM—an AI tool many genealogists are exploring—and let it analyze the work.The result? Two AI research companions, Eva and Max (NotebookLM’s AI hosts), listen to my last episode and talk back—analyzing the research, the discoveries, and the questions it raises. What surprised me was where they lingered: accountability, documentation standards, and how historical tragedies are sometimes framed and fixed in place.It’s thoughtful. It’s a little strange. And it’s unexpectedly illuminating to hear your own work reflected back by an algorithm.You’ll also hear me reflect on:provenance—and what gets lost without itpattern recognition and persistencethe messy beauty of family historywhy history is never really “finished”—and why the inquiry must continueCoincidence, clarity, and resolve all make return appearances.What emerges is a case for clear sourcing, shared definitions of casualty, and open access.Resources: The Search Goes On — Coincidence. Clarity. Resolve.NotebookLMBook 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailA single number can shape how we remember—until new evidence asks us to look again. This episode takes you inside another year of research on the people of the Eastland disaster, where a repeated death toll gives way to an evolving, documented estimate. I share how two overlooked victims surfaced through archival work, and why adding their names is crucial for families, historians, and anyone who believes facts should lead the story—not follow it.This journey isn't just archival; it's personal and communal. I discuss the engine of citizen genealogy—focused work that chases one question until it yields—and how my background in writing, investigation, and IT shaped a method built on verification and transparency. We also confront a core challenge: there's no widely adopted standard for who "counts" as having died in the Eastland disaster. That vacuum allowed an estimate to morph into a brand.A breakthrough in a Czech-language archive unlocked more than text. I found an original 1916 publication featuring over 140 photos of Czech victims—images largely unseen for generations. Uploading those photos to the Eastland Disaster Victims' Memorial on Find a Grave means family members can finally see the faces behind the names. One descendant left a memorial tribute, yearning for a picture that seemed lost forever. Sharing that photo reminded me why I do this work: a corrected record is not an abstraction; it's relief, recognition, and sometimes joy.Resources mentioned:The Magic Part Is The Listening (Crista Cowan with Natalie Zett) (Stories that Live in Us podcast)‘The hidden engine room’: how amateur historians are powering genealogical research (Guardian UK) “Every Life Matters to Me” (Lisa Louise Cooke with Natalie Zett) (Genealogy Gems - Premium podcast)Eastland Disaster Victims (Find A Grave)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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we return to Chicago's Czech community and uncover something extraordinary: an original 1916 Czech-language publication that didn't just tell the story of the Eastland disaster—it preserved more than 100 photographs of Czech women, men and children who lost their lives during the Eastland Disaster. Many of these photos haven't been seen since the article was published in 1916. You'll hear how finding this rare primary source adds depth, texture, and nuance to our understanding of the tragedy. 🌊 What's inside  Meet Josef Mach, the Czech-American writer who documented the Eastland disaster from within his community (“Catastrophe on the Chicago River.” Amerikan národní kalendář  (1916).How the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International's Náše Rodina helped preserve and translate this history decades later The discovery of the original Czech-language publication in a Czech digital archive—and the unexpected treasures inside: page after page of photos What it's been like extracting and uploading these images to the memorials on the EASTLAND DISASTER VICTIMS site on Find a Grave  Why restoring original names for members of various immigrant communities is both an act of restoration and remembranceFinal thoughts: There's a risk in assuming "the research is done." Spoiler alert: it isn’t. Many aspects of the people of Eastland Disaster have barely been explored.  This breakthrough reminds us  that the research needs to continue. There's still so much to uncover, question, and restore.📷 A living archive—one photo at a timeFor many families, these uploads to Find a Grave may be the first public photo attached to their loved one's memorial. This work is ongoing, but it's already an incredible step toward restoring dignity, identity, and connection across generations.Resources:Náše Rodina, the journal of the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International Amerikán Národní Kalendář (1916)—Chicago Czech annual almanac Eastland Disaster Victims on Find a Grave—where the restored photos are being added.  (Note: Eastland Disaster Victims on Find a Grave is where you will most likely find bios for the majority of those who died on the Eastland. There, you can also contribute.) Scriptum.cz—the Czech digital archive where the original text and images were locatedBook 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailA century-old trade journal shouldn’t be the most gripping thing you’ll hear about this week, but here we are: a 1915 issue of The American Lumberman unlocks the intertwined stories of Chicago’s Czech community in the aftermath of the Eastland disaster. We trace a death notice—Julia Kolar—through a maze of addresses, parish ties, and workplace notes. We then follow the thread to meet another victim, Anna Molitor Kolar, and a survivor, Ellla Kolar, whose voice would carry from Chicago to Milan.We walk through the exact research steps that make lost lives legible again: cross-referencing historian George Hilton’s Appendix D (Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic), combing the Eastland Memorial on Find a Grave, verifying Czech-language obituaries from Denní Hlasatel (Czech language newspaper), and balancing crowdsourced pages with original citations. As the puzzle comes together, it reveals the deeper structure of a neighborhood economy built on lumber yards, monthly home payments, and mutual aid. The result is part genealogy guide, part community history, and part recovery of cultural memory.Survivor Ella Kolar’s arc is a standout. A 1920 passport application shows her heading to Italy for vocal study; press clippings welcome her back for a River Forest reception; and a half-page notice in the Musical Courier confirms representation, bookings, and momentum. Critics in Boston hailed her as a 'newly risen star,' and her Chicago Czech community claimed her with pride. In a way, she sang for all of them.If you love family history, Chicago history, Czech-American heritage, or the craft of archival sleuthing, this story has tools and heart in equal measure. Resources:Kolar images and obituaries, 1915-07-27 TUE DENNÍ HLASATEL, Find a GraveAnna Molitor Kolar obit 1915-07-27 TUE DENNÍ HLASATEL and Find a graveAmerican Lumberman (1915) and Musical Courier issues on Ella Kolar — via HathiTrust/Google Books.Kolar family records — FamilySearch.orgBook 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailThe River Remained in Her Bones: A Recovered Eastland Story A single line in a 1922 obituary can change the shape of history. We follow that thread to Chrissie McNeal Lauritzen, who survived the SS Eastland capsizing by clinging to the overturned hull, “was never well since,” and died seven years later from complications tied directly to that morning on the Chicago River. This isn’t just a moving story; it’s documented evidence that challenges the fixed perception of the Eastland death toll and reveals how disasters reverberate through families, records, and time.We explore the documentation: a death notice from a Rockford newspaper, filled with names and places, reflecting the family connections that supported those words on the page. We also examine the genealogical methods that transform a single paragraph into a comprehensive family network. Along the way, we meet Chrissie’s husband, Charles, through a 1917 passport application that holds a rare photo and a remarkable corporate letter from International Harvester. Those pages pull us inside wartime bureaucracy, frequent overseas travel, and how companies vouched for employees navigating citizenship questions and tightened State Department scrutiny during World War I. The documents don’t just fill gaps; they give texture to a home life shaped by illness, work abroad, and a daughter growing up in the long wake of 1915.The takeaway is clear and urgent: numbers that become legend need revisiting, and primary sources—obituaries, passport files, small-town columns—can restore lives to public memory. We show how to read these records, why women’s names and maiden names are crucial for genealogical accuracy, and what it means to honor those whose suffering extended beyond the day of the disaster.  Learn how a forgotten death notice rewrites the Eastland narrative and what it takes to update the historical record with care, clarity--and evidence.Resource:“Mrs. Chrissie Lauritzen Dies of Complications.” Rockford Morning Star (Rockford, IL), April 8, 1922.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailA forgotten headline. A crowded dock. A father who turns back to a capsized  ship and pulls a family friend through a porthole. In this episode, we follow the Rabe family—Fred, Delia, Grace, and Kenneth—from a terrifying morning on the Chicago River into the decades that followed, when work, service, and community stitched their lives into something livable again. We open the archive, and listen as Grace and Kenneth share their memories of that day, 84 years later.Grace becomes a skilled comptometer operator at Western Electric, part of a large, highly trained cohort of women whose precision work kept the company running long before electronics took over. Kenneth rises through the company and never boards a pleasure boat without remembering the river. Fred advances to department manager, yet even after a 1999 article documented his rescue of family friend Anna Johnson, the act was never acknowledged. It’s another example of how an Eastland story can surface clearly in the record yet fade again, even when it should have been carried forward. Their obituaries turn out to be maps—Telephone Pioneers chapters, Eastern Star ties, addresses that trace moves across neighborhoods and seasons of service. Those details show how survivors rebuilt meaning through hands-on volunteer work, fraternal lodges, and a workplace culture that blended pride with mutual aid.Resources: Northlake Herald-Journal (IL), December 1, 1999 — “Eastland Disaster All But Forgotten,” by Jennifer Giustino.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailSome histories don’t fracture because records vanished; they fracture because we stopped asking questions. In this episode, we look at the Eastland Disaster through a different lens — not just what happened in 1915, but how its story has been curated, simplified, and sometimes commercialized, and how we can repair and restore it with evidence.I share what two years of deep research (and new academic work) revealed: there’s no agreed standard for who qualifies as an Eastland victim, and no peer-reviewed, source-cited list — even though a mid-1990s tally has often been treated as final.We walk through four patterns shaping public understanding: “empty frames” where names exist without biographies; vanishing attribution that severs data from sources; forgotten lives hiding in plain sight across court files, newspapers, and community databases; and the numbers game that turned a best-guess death toll into marketing copy. Along the way, we spotlight crowdsourced heroes—Find a Grave volunteers, family historians, and independent sleuths—bloggers and podcasters—whose careful work often surpasses certain institutional sites, precisely because they cite, correct, and keep looking.This is also a story about ethics and memory. We talk about why provenance matters, how to handle uncertain data without erasing it, and what it means to protect human stories from becoming slogans. From locating omitted individuals like Thomas Marren (excluded from the initial tally of victims) to resurfacing accounts tied to future Admiral Hyman Rickover, the method is consistent: follow the evidence, show your work, and leave a trail others can test. I also share progress on restoring the defunct Eastland Memorial Society website from the Wayback Machine, turning a lost archive into a living resource for researchers, descendants, and the simply curious. If you care about accurate history, communal stewardship, and honoring the people behind the numbers, this conversation offers tools and a path forward. Resources:Palmer, Ada. Inventing the Renaissance: The Rise of Cultural Movements and the Myth of the Middle Ages. Princeton University Press, 2023.  Although focused on the Renaissance, Palmer’s exploration of how later generations reinterpret and reshape earlier eras offers a striking parallel to the historiography of the Eastland Disaster.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailA photographer’s byline led me straight into another long-overlooked Eastland story — the 1965 Chicago Tribune interview with survivor Anna Meinert, one of the many accounts from this event that were well documented but seldom researched and carried forward.Anna’s memories bring the morning of July 24, 1915 into sharp, human focus.Fifty years later she could still see it all: water seeping from portholes, the sudden lurch, the scrap of canvas above a window, a stranger’s boot kicking her away, and the two other strangers whose hands pulled her to safety. Her friends never made it off the ship. That contrast — a precise memory set against an incomprehensible toll — reframes the Eastland Disaster that claimed more than 800 lives.From there, we widen the lens. Anna’s account intersects with the larger story: ballast decisions, the court ruling that declared the Eastland “seaworthy,” and the ship’s second life as a Navy training vessel on the Great Lakes before being scrapped after World War II. Then the trail moves into the realm of records. Through baptismal entries, census pages, and obituary lines, we confirm that she was born Alma Augusta Johanna Meinert to Prussian immigrants, married a Grimmer, raised a daughter, and later settled in Baton Rouge. Her obituary makes no mention of the disaster — a reminder of how easily family memory can disconnect from the events that shaped it.And this entire journey is only possible because of the Eastland Memorial Society, whose meticulous early work created a template for how history should be preserved: clearly, respectfully, and without turning real lives into marketing material. Though the organization is gone, its archived website on the Wayback Machine continues to guide research like this — proof that good historical work keeps paying forward.That’s the lesson in Anna’s story: when we connect photographs, survivor interviews, and genealogy, we return people to history and history to families.Take a moment to get to know Anna Meinert Grimmer. She’s been waiting a long time.Resources:Fitzpatrick, Thomas. “Horror of Eastland Haunts Memory of Survivor.” Chicago Tribune, July 11, 1965.Lane, Russell. “812 Died Half Century Ago: Suddenly the Boat Lurched.” Jacksonville Courier (Jacksonville, Illinois), July 23, 1965.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailTracing the Eastland story back to the people who first preserved it online.This week, I’m pulling back the curtain on how, in the late 1990s, the Eastland Disaster story was rediscovered, shaped, reshaped, and carried onto the early Internet (courtesy of the Eastland Memorial Society). But when that original website vanished, some of its content — including family-written stories and volunteer research — resurfaced in later retellings without the names of the people who first contributed them.In other words, the attribution was MIA.And I’ll share how the record can be rebuilt using clear sources, solid attribution, and a commitment to course-correction whenever new evidence turns up — those moments where the archive gently reminds you, “There’s more to the story.”The guideposts are stubbornly simple:Cite your sourcesCredit those who did the workWelcome contradiction.Keep the file open for new research — even if it means letting go of a cherished assumption (or two!).In this episode, I spotlight the Eastland Memorial Society — the under-credited early web project that built timelines, tracked permissions, preserved photographs, saved media coverage, and offered essential context back when the internet was barely out of diapers. Thanks to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, those pages now act as a genuine research Rosetta Stone.Resources:The Eastland Disaster (1999). Documentary featuring members of the Eastland Memorial Society and historian George Hilton. Digitized by the Internet Archive.Eastland Memorial Society, “News,” archived Oct. 20, 2000, via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.Hilton, George Woodman. Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1995.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailSirens, floodwater, shattering glass, and a calm voice saying, “Just a moment, please.” We revisit the women who turned raw noise into order—telephone operators whose steady hands and quick minds kept cities connected and, in wartime, helped save lives on the front lines.We start in Chicago with the Eastland disaster and widen the lens to the “Hello Girls,” the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit. These bilingual women carried commands across the trenches, cut confusion to seconds, and worked under fire in wooden barracks —yet they weren’t officially recognized as veterans until 1977 thanks to President Jimmy Carter. Along the way, we read from the 1920 Green Book magazine feature that captured the role’s grit and grace: a chief operator swept away in a New Mexico flood after clearing her crew, a Chicago operator who kept cool as glass rained down after a bombing, and Texas teams who reported to flooded exchanges in bathing suits because the calls couldn’t wait.We also talk ethics and craft: The operator who ran the Peace Conference switchboard and never “listened in,” is a reminder that power over the line demands restraint. Inside smaller exchanges, chiefs balanced training, staffing, reports, and the daily diplomacy of customer tempers. And we honor one whose skill modernized boards during the 1893 World’s Fair and whose name graced a rest home for operators.This is a story about communication as a social contract. Before automation, the network had a heartbeat, and it belonged to women who treated urgency with poise and turned chaos into connection. If the history of technology often centers machines, these voices remind us that trust is the first infrastructure.Resources:The Green Book Magazine (Nov. 1920)Smithsonian audio: Telephone OperatorsA Switchboard Operator and a Nurse Walk Into a ShipwreckBook 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailWhat happens when the storyteller is gone—but the story keeps rewriting itself?A single family biography can carry the weight of a neighborhood’s memory. We open the archives on a 20-year-old Western Electric employee who boarded the Eastland with her fiancé in 1915—and trace how her story, first written by a family member, nearly disappeared under paraphrase and missing attribution.What begins as a personal account of loss becomes a blueprint for preserving authorship, provenance, and trust across the fragile web.What began as a family story became a case study in restoring authorship and digital integrity.We walk through the dynamic immigrant life of Cicero, the morning the Eastland rolled into the Chicago River, and the sibling who arrived just as the ship capsized.Alongside those details, we share how we traced the original 1999 article, found the author’s later blog posts, and mapped the path of unattributed copies that flattened key context.If you love genealogy, public history, or deep research, this episode offers a practical toolkit:•Time-stamped archiving with the Wayback Machine and Archive.Today•Side-by-side document comparison•A clear-eyed approach to AI that favors verification over automationWe close by restoring the story—and the storyteller’s name—to its rightful place.Recognizing the author isn’t optional—it’s about respecting ownership, upholding ethics, and protecting the record for those who follow.Resources:Family History by Colleen (Colleen Ringel's blog)Chronicle Makers (Denyse Allen) Genealogy Gems (Lisa Louise Cooke)The Familly History AI Show (Make Thompson & Steve Little) Archive.todayInternet Archive Wayback MachineView Gabriella Schlentz’s FamilySearch profile here.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailA city comes alive when you can stand on a corner and glimpse yesterday behind today’s skyline. That’s the spark behind my conversation with Ryan Wilson, a designer and mariner who turned countless hours in archives into the Chicago History Map—a large-format, interactive portal where high-resolution photos meet precise locations and time fades just enough for details to surface.We talk about the winding path that led from Admiralty charts on private yachts to digitized street scenes, and why visual design can make genealogy, urban history, and public memory feel immediate. Ryan walks us through the choices that keep the experience human: desktop-first for big images, intuitive hover interactions for quick context, and a workflow that mixes Affinity apps, Image Map Pro, and a lean site builder. The result invites you to zoom into specifics—storefront signage, transit lines, architectural facades—and to link names, neighborhoods, and events with evidence you can study.Attribution and ethics are a throughline. As images drift across social media without credits, Ryan anchors each photo to institutions like the Newberry Library, Library of Congress, and Chicago Public Library, restoring provenance so researchers and curious minds can find companion materials and verify dates. We also explore the thrill of discovery—hidden collections, estate finds, and the Vivian Maier story—and why independent creators are vital to preserving local history. Chicago’s layered neighborhoods become a living syllabus, and help historical events, connecting historical events like the Eastland Disaster to the streets, jobs, and homes that shaped real lives.If you enjoy Chicago history, genealogy, cartography, or simply great design that makes knowledge accessible, you’ll love this one. Explore Ryan’s work at VagabondStudiosDesign.com and ChicagoHistoryMap.org (links below). Resources:🧭 Ryan Wilson's site: Vagabond Studios🗺️ Dive into Ryan Wilson's Chicago History Map Project🖼️ Vivian Maier Photography ArchiveBook 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailMemory can vanish quietly—sometimes with a server shutdown. This week, we open the door to the Eastland disaster’s online past: from an early researcher’s dial-up “postcard pages” to an early Eastland website’s now-defunct archive. We trace how those pioneering digital efforts shaped what many of us think we know today.Along the way, we revisit transportation historian George Hilton’s foundational work—his flexible approach to casualty counts and the permissions that seeded the first online lists. We also explain why numbers in mass tragedies should stay open to revision, not carved in stone.Then we bring three family voices back into the light:Ole Nicholas Jensen, rescuer and survivor.Mary Vrba Lippert, whose resilience carried her from a Wisconsin farm to Western Electric.Frieda Emma Amelia Till, saved at 17 and determined to build a full life after that harrowing experience.Their stories—once carefully attributed online—eventually lost their bylines or  disappeared from view.  We talk about how that happens, how to restore them, and why proper citations and links aren’t pedantry—they’re respect.This is a story about historiography, ethics, and repair: using the Internet Archive, public history standards, and persistence to restore authorship, correct omissions, and make the record more trustworthy for descendants, educators, and curious listeners.If you love genealogy, history, or digital preservation, you’ll find both practical guidance and renewed purpose—along with a cautionary tale.Resources:Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Archived version of “Biographies” page, Eastland Memorial Society website. Captured October 9, 2015.Elizabeth Shown Mills, “QuickLesson 15: Plagiarism—Five ‘Copywrongs’ of Historical Writing,” Evidence Explained, n.d., accessed October 15, 2025Book 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailA tug’s line goes taut, a mandolin stops mid-note, and a sleek steamer rolls onto its side in six minutes. That’s the scene an eight-year-old John Griggs never forgot—and the memory he later captured in a gripping article, “Excursion to Death,” lost for decades and now brought back to light. We trace the morning’s small warnings at the dock, the sudden tilt that turned joy into panic, and the eerie contrast of the Eastland disaster unfolding within sight of Chicago’s bridges and streetcars.From that riverbank, the story widens. Griggs grew into a tireless radio actor—over 5,000 shows—and the calm, persuasive voice of Roger Elliot on House of Mystery. Under trailblazing producer Olga Druce, the program won praise for blending suspense with science, helping kids face fear with clear thinking rather than superstition. That mission resonates with the Eastland’s hard lessons: design matters, ballast and beam matter, and ignoring repeated warnings carries a human cost. We walk through the ship’s troubled history, the investigations that followed, and the strange afterlife of the Eastland as USS Wilmette, a training vessel that sailed safely for years once stripped and balanced.Along the way, we reclaim Griggs not only as a witness and performer, but as a quiet guardian of culture. He assembled one of the largest private film collections in the country, later forming the foundation of Yale’s Film Studies Center. Memory survives because people choose to keep it: through writing, radio, archives, and stories we pass on. Join us as we connect a six-minute catastrophe to a lifetime of teaching courage, reason, and care in storytelling.ResourcesJohn Griggs, “Excursion to Death,” American Heritage 16, no. 2 (February 1965).“Olga Druce,” Wikipedia: The Free EncyclopediaFrom Eastland Witness to Radio Legend: John Griggs’ Journey (Flower in the River Podcast)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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailA century after his birth, George W. Hilton is still guiding our footsteps. This episode honors the transportation historian whose book Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic became the cornerstone of Eastland disaster research. After discovering my own family connection to the Eastland Disaster, Hilton’s work became my north star.What begins with grief — and a surprise manuscript from a relative — unfolds into a story about how scholarship, storytelling, and stubborn love for truth can rescue memory from the margins.I share the early frustration of facing Hilton’s dense footnotes while craving a human arc, and how another Eastland researcher’s long-lost web essays built a bridge into the story.Along the way, we unpack Hilton’s core thesis: how post-Titanic safety regulations, lifeboat mandates, and a top-heavy design converged with ballast flaws to create catastrophic instability. We revisit the numbers debate — death certificates, Coast Guard counts, Tribune tallies — and highlight the rare intellectual humility Hilton showed by documenting uncertainty rather than forcing false precision. It’s a masterclass in research methods, regulatory history, and ethical remembrance.We also sketch Hilton’s life: Chicago-born, Dartmouth- and University of Chicago-trained, UCLA professor, prolific author on railroads, cable cars, and night boats. Hilton literally went the extra mile, visiting the graves of Eastland victims to verify names and pay respect. He never tried to control the narrative, but instead invited others to complete the record and join the research.That spirit propels our push to make his work more accessible through digital and audio editions — because discoverability is the lifeline of public history and genealogy.Resources:The Eastland Disaster. Documentary. Southport Video Productions, 1999. Accessed via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Featuring George Hilton.George W. Hilton. Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic. Stanford University Press, April 1995Book 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailThis week we take a deeper dive into the Claims and Libels files (In the Matter of the Petition of St. Joseph-Chicago Steamship Company, Owner of the Steamer Eastland, For Limitation of Liability) preserved in the National Archives Catalog. The research revealed a startling omission — a victim missing from the original compilation of Eastland victims and from most later derivative lists (with one exception!)By cross-checking court filings, obituaries, and family connections, I was able to restore a missing piece of the Eastland story.This episode is also a tribute to George Hilton, whose Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic remains the cornerstone of Eastland research. His scholarship was unmatched, and like all historians (and genealogists), he knew the work was not complete and invited future scholars to review, correct, and expand on it. By leaving the door open for discoveries like this one, Hilton reminded us that history is never finished — it is a shared effort across generations.Resources:Claims and Libels files, In the Matter of the Petition of St. Joseph-Chicago Steamship Company, Owner of the Steamer Eastland, for Limitation of Liability, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. Records preserved in the National Archives Catalog.George Woodman Hilton, Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1995), Internet ArchiveEastland Disaster Victims: A Virtual Cemetery. Find a Grave.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailAdmiral Hyman Rickover—father of the nuclear navy and one of the most influential military figures of the 20th century—had a connection to the 1915 Eastland disaster that’s been virtually forgotten. As a 15-year-old Western Union messenger in Chicago, young Rickover delivered telegrams to grieving families throughout the night following the tragedy. What haunted him most? The undertakers who swarmed the scene, exploiting grief-stricken families for profit. “Where money is involved,” Rickover later wrote, “some people will stop at nothing to get it.”This discovery emerged from a 1979 newspaper article—one of many overlooked historical threads I’ve been pulling while researching the human stories behind the Eastland Disaster. The revelation pairs perfectly with another significant find—court documents from the National Archives containing detailed personal injury claims filed by survivors against the steamship company.These legal records give voice to survivors whose experiences have remained buried for over a century. Frank Brady described being “violently thrown” into the Chicago River, leaving his “nervous system greatly injured, shocked and shattered.” Harold Durkee detailed broken ankle bones and lost wages totaling what would be thousands in today’s dollars. Mrs. Abby Wiley recounted being trapped in the water, suffering injuries that prevented her from working while medical bills mounted.These documents are invaluable primary sources—actual testimony rather than newspaper accounts or later retellings. They reveal not just the physical and emotional trauma of survivors, but the financial devastation many faced. A $10,000 claim in 1915 represents roughly $320,000 today, showing the magnitude of what these working-class families lost.These stories were never truly hidden—they’ve been waiting here all along. Join me as we uncover the forgotten voices of the Eastland Disaster, stories that have lingered in plain sight, just waiting to be seen and heard.Resources:Hyman G. Rickover, “Eastland Disaster,” Union Leader (Manchester, NH), May 28, 1979.National Archives and Records Administration. (n.d.). Folder 14: Claims and libels (Record Group 21, Records of District Courts of the United States, Law Case Files, In the matter of the petition of St. Joseph-Chicago Steamship Company, owner of the Steamer Eastland, for limitation of liability) [Court records]. National Archives Catalog. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/485300049?objectPage=83Book 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailAt just 17 years old, Peter Hardy stood on a Chicago bridge in 1915, watching the Eastland fill with happy Western Electric employees on their way to a summer picnic. Moments later, the ship rolled onto its side, plunging more than 800 people to their deaths.Peter didn’t run. This Rusyn immigrant teenager dove straight into the polluted Chicago River and began hauling people out — families clinging together, strangers fighting for breath. He saved at least ten lives that morning before finally staggering away, shaken but alive. And in the chaos, looters stole the very shoes and jacket he had set aside before leaping in, leaving him to walk home barefoot.In this episode, I share how I stumbled across Peter Hardy’s heroism — and why his story struck me so deeply. Like Peter, I am Rusyn. That shared identity made his presence in the Eastland story all the more astonishing, since our small, stateless people are rarely mentioned in Chicago’s history at all.From Sanok, a small town in Poland, to Chicago and Connecticut — Peter Hardy’s story runs through all three. A Rusyn teenager who leapt into a river, walked away barefoot, and built a legacy that endures.Resources:Mills. Making Places of ConnecticutBridgeport Sunday Post, Sept 5, 1965 — “Peter Hardy Was a Hero at Capsizing of Excursion Steamer 50 Years Ago,” by Andree Hickok.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I return to Dwight Boyer’s "True Tales of the Great Lakes" and discuss two forgotten heroes of the 1915 Eastland disaster—one remembered correctly, the other erased for more than a century by a newspaper typo that turned my fact-check into a full-blown genealogical detective story.The Mystery BeginsWhile researching Boyer's account of the disaster, I encountered two names that appeared nowhere else in most modern Eastland documentation: N.W. LeVally,  and J.H. “Rista,”  who reportedly saved 40 lives. Both men had crucial roles in the rescue efforts, yet their stories seemed to vanish as time passed.Norman LeVally: The Yale ManMy search for LeVally led me through Yale Alumni records and Chicago Tribune obituaries, revealing a successful businessperson who worked for the Oxweld Acetylene Company for nearly two decades. But his connection to one of Chicago's greatest tragedies was missing from his biographical record.The Case of the Missing HeroJ.H. Rista proved elusive--putting it mildly. Though credited with saving 40 lives and defying Captain Pedersen’s orders to halt rescue efforts, he seemed to exist only in a single 1915 newspaper account, Boyer's book and the Chicagology website. Searches across multiple genealogical databases turned up nothing.Breaking the CodeThe breakthrough came in the November 1915 proceedings of the International Order of Odd Fellows. Where the account of Brother J.H. Ripstra and his heroic actions during the Eastland disaster was mentioned. The Real John Henri RipstraJohn Henri Ripstra wasn’t just a hero of the Eastland disaster. He became a nationally recognized sculptor, numismatist, and Lincoln scholar. He founded the Lincoln Group of Chicago in 1931, led the American Numismatic Association as president, and was later inducted into its Hall of Fame. His art and scholarship helped shape how we remember Abraham Lincoln.Yet because of one misspelling, none of his extensive biographies seem to link him to the day he helped save lives during the Eastland Disaster.The Larger TruthThis episode exposes an ongoing and troubling pattern: the lives of so many tied to the Eastland are too often overlooked—sometimes erased by something as simple as a typo.Resources:Journal of Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the State of Illinois, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Seventy-Eighth Annual Session, November 16, 1915.Ripstra, J. Henri, ed. Lincoln Group Papers: Twelve Addresses Delivered before the Lincoln Group of Chicago on Varied Aspects of Abraham Lincoln’s Life and Interests. 2nd series. CBook 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailHidden stories have a way of finding the light. In this fascinating deep dive, we uncover two previously unknown documents that reshape our understanding of the 1915 Eastland disaster that claimed over 800 lives in the Chicago River.The first discovery reveals how the tragedy transformed American journalism. Through a December 1915 Associated Press Service Bulletin, we glimpse the behind-the-scenes response of the nation's leading news agency and hear the voices of newspaper editors across the Midwest praising the AP's "remarkable" coverage for its "promptness and accuracy." These testimonials from Kentucky to South Dakota demonstrate how thoroughly this Chicago disaster reverberated nationwide.Even more compelling is the eyewitness account of the Burns brothers - Luke, an attorney visiting Chicago on his honeymoon, and his physician brother Peter who responded to the disaster scene. Their harrowing story, published in a small Minnesota newspaper but never incorporated into mainstream Eastland narratives, provides chilling details: a woman swimmer killed by a barrel thrown from the overturned ship, a Polish survivor who saved 25 people through a porthole, and grieving mothers who lost multiple children. Luke Burns minced no words, calling it "criminal negligence" and describing the Eastland as "not seaworthy" and "top-heavy."This pattern of finding crucial historical evidence in overlooked sources raises profound questions about historical preservation. As with many neglected chapters of history, it's often independent researchers, genealogists, podcasters, and dedicated volunteers who step up to document stories that might otherwise vanish forever. The truth, as they say, has a way of surfacing - even if it takes a century and everyday citizens to bring it to light.Want to help preserve these important stories? Subscribe to the podcast, visit flowerintheriver.com, and consider picking up the book that started this journey of historical recovery.Resources:Boyer, Dwight. True Tales of the Great Lakes. Cleveland: The World Publishing Company, 1971.Associated Press Service Bulletin, December 17, 1915The Virginia Enterprise, Virginia, Minnesota, July 30, 1915Minnesota Historical SocietyEastland Disaster Victims (Find a Grave).  Looking for Eastland Disaster victims’ photos and bios? As of 2025, this is a great place to start. It’s a crowd-sourced initiative, created and maintained by people who genuinely care about those who died on the Eastland. You can also contribute!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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailThree young engineers fresh out of Cornell University were running late to the Western Electric company picnic on July 24, 1915. One had overslept, making the trio miss their train and arrive at the Chicago River docks just as their coworkers were boarding the SS Eastland. Redirected to a secondary boat due to overcrowding, they stood on a bridge and watched in horror as the Eastland slowly tilted, then capsized in the shallow water, trapping hundreds inside. Their tardiness had saved their lives.This remarkable eyewitness account of the Eastland disaster might have been lost forever if not for Jake Fry, who decades later told the story to his friend's son. The friend, Ira Cole, had never spoken of that day to his own family—a silence that mirrored many survivors' responses to trauma. What makes this account particularly valuable is how it captures not just the immediate catastrophe but its aftermath: the desperate rescue attempts continuing into the night, the train ride home with grief-stricken survivors, and the sleepless night that followed.Both Ira Cole and Jake Fry went on to have distinguished careers in engineering—Cole becoming a pioneering electrical engineer with Lockhead Electronics and Fry developing the relay system for long-distance direct dialing at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Their contributions to technology and their communities illustrate the profound ripple effects of survival. Had they boarded the Eastland that day, not only would they have likely perished along with over 800 others, but their innovations and family legacies would never have existed.This story, published in Thousand Islands Life magazine in 2011 yet overlooked by many Eastland researchers until now, reminds us how easily historical memory can fade without deliberate preservation. Too often, disasters like the Eastland are sensationalized, packaged, and sold. But in that process, the real people disappear. Each disaster holds countless individual stories—voices silenced, memories carried forward quietly. Recovering those narratives isn’t just history; it’s resistance against forgetting. What parts of your family’s story are still unspoken, waiting for someone to ask the right questions?Resources:Cole, Rachel. “The Eastland Disaster.” Thousand Islands Life Magazine, 13 Nov. 2011, Note: The comments on the original 2011 article add an interesting layer to this story. They’re worth a look if you’d like to see how the narrative was being shaped at the time.Boyer, Dwight. True Tales of the Great Lakes. Chapter 2, “Who Speaks for the Little Feller?”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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailOne shout could have saved lives. On the morning of the Eastland Disaster, a lone street peddler saw the danger before anyone else. His warning was met with laughter and scorn, and while his experience was recounted in the papers, it was under the wrong name.In this episode, we return to Dwight Boyer’s True Tales of the Great Lakes and follow one story back in time—stepping onto Chicago’s Clark Street Bridge on July 24, 1915, and tracing the trail from century-old newspapers—first to the real name, and then to his origins in Sicily and finally to the heart of Little Sicily (Chicago), along with the life he built before and after that pivotal morning.This is the story of how a simple error—repeated for more than a century instead of being researched—can bury a legacy… and how setting it right can bring a hero back into the light.Resources ReferencedBoyer, Dwight. True Tales of the Great Lakes. Chapter 2, “Who Speaks for the Little Feller?”Chicago Tribune, July 25, 1915.Daily Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL), July 26, 1915.Lombardo, Calogero. “A Brief History of Chicago’s Little Sicily Neighborhood and the Saint Philip Benizi Parish.” 2013.Additional Music: Multiple tracks sourced from Pixabay. Licensed for free use under the Pixabay Content License.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailIn this week’s episode, I continue reading from "Who Speaks for the Little Feller?"—Dwight Boyer’s unforgettable chapter in "True Tales of the Great Lakes" (1971), one of the earliest and most detailed accounts of the Eastland disaster. A meticulous maritime journalist, Boyer combined accuracy with deep empathy, giving voice to the people whose lives were forever altered that day.This isn’t just history—it’s storytelling with heart. Names, quotes, context—it’s all there. Decades before anyone else tried to piece this together, Boyer had already done the work. George Hilton later built on that foundation with scholarly precision in Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic (1995), reinforcing what Boyer had captured through journalism and humanity.Yet, in the 21st century, so many of those same stories still missing from modern retellings--specially the ones that are recycled constantly.This episode is about honoring the storytellers who came before—and the real people whose lives they refused to let slip away. The work was already done. It’s time we reconnect with it.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailWhat We’re Covering:Maritime journalist Dwight Boyer (1912–1977) published a detailed Eastland Disaster account in 1971—more than two decades before most major works on the subjectHis chapter in True Tales of the Great Lakes draws from courtroom records, witness interviews, and primary source materialAlthough George Hilton cited Boyer in Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic, Boyer's work has otherwise been mostly overlooked or uncredited Highlights from Dwight Boyer's Career:Boyer wrote for the Toledo Blade (1944–1954) and Cleveland Plain Dealer (into the early 1970s)Respected journalist, known for precision, solid journalism, and vivid storytellingThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) cited his work in its Official Guide to Great Lakes MaterialsResources:Boyer, Dwight. True Tales of the Great Lakes. Cleveland: The World Publishing Company, 1971. — Chapter 2: “Who Speaks for the Little Feller” (Eastland Disaster)Hilton, George W. Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1995.— Includes citation of Boyer’s 1971 accountNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A Guide to Selected Great Lakes Maritime History Materials at the National Archives–Great Lakes Region. Washington, D.C.: NOAA Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, 1992.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailReleased on July 24, 2025 – the 110th anniversary of the Eastland DisasterOn this pivotal anniversary, I’m sharing one of the most haunting firsthand accounts ever recorded about July 24, 1915—a story that doesn’t end when the ship rolled, but follows the tragedy all the way to its most chilling conclusion.TRIGGER WARNING: There are graphic descriptions of death in this episode.Jack Woodford was a 20-year-old aspiring writer standing on a Chicago River bridge when he witnessed something impossible: a massive steamer slowly rolling over "like a whale going to take a nap" in calm water on a sunny morning. But Jack's story doesn't end with the disaster itself. It continues through his swim across the river, his frantic reporting for the Chicago Herald and Examiner, and ultimately to a moment that would change his understanding of life and death forever.At 3 AM, Jack was alone in an emergency morgue with hundreds of  Eastland victims. What he experienced there defied explanation - a presence, an awareness, something that suggested the boundary between life and death wasn't as clear as anyone believed. In his own words: "You could stand in the middle of the floor and by swiveling, see them all... It was as though their brains, having been taken out of play, their thought processes, somehow continued."This episode features Jack's complete, unedited account from his 1962 autobiography - a powerful reminder that the Eastland disaster's most compelling stories often come from voices that have been overlooked or ignored.About Jack Woodford: Born Josiah Pitts Woolfolk in 1894/5, Jack became a controversial novelist, pulp writer, and author of the famous writing manual "Trial and Error." He died in 1971, leaving behind over 100 novels and this extraordinary eyewitness account.RESOURCES:The Autobiography of Jack Woodford (1962, published under Jack Woolfolk)The Pulp Scribbler meets the Capsized Ship (Flower in the River)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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailWhat if being late saved your life?In this episode of Flower in the River, we follow the eerie ripple of that question through time.On the morning of July 24, 1915, Tom Milton and Willard Haynes were in Chicago when the Eastland Disaster unfolded. Milton missed boarding the ship by a single minute. Haynes, a physician, arrived just as chaos overtook the riverfront and assisted at the scene.Their connection to the disaster surfaced in 1954 when both were living in Texas. That year, the Houston Chronicle published an interview with Milton in which he mentioned the Eastland Disaster. After reading the article, Haynes wrote a letter to Milton sharing his own experience of being there that day—opening with the words:“Stranger things have happened…”Their names do not appear in any known accounts of the Eastland Disaster. Their stories remained overlooked—until now.This episode is about memory, timing, transparency, and the strange ways history finds its way back. It’s also a story within a story: about family archives, investigative instincts, and the quiet dignity of men whose roles in history were left unrecorded for nearly 40 years.Spoiler alert: the eBay item that sparked this episode is now safely archived at the Newberry Library in Chicago!ResourcesThe Actor and the Doctor: Converging Lives Post-Eastland (released July 5, 2024) featuring the detailed stories of Tom Milton and Willard Haynes.Newberry Library, Eastland Disaster Digital CollectionBook 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, we revisit the Bell Telephone News from August 1915 and the stories of  extraordinary individuals who responded to the Eastland disaster with courage and quick thinking:Fred J. Lippert - The telephone company engineer who happened to be wearing his bathing suit that morning (planning to swim after work) and dove repeatedly into the Chicago River to rescue victims. But his heroism didn't stop there - his entire life was defined by service and sacrifice.George Spiegelhauer - The methodical rescuer who knew how to operate the cutting-edge "pulmotor" resuscitation devices when others couldn't. His story has a beautiful twist involving beekeeping that perfectly captures his caring nature.H. Haberstroh - The vacationing boatman whose pleasure craft was pressed into rescue service by police.James Carney - The unsung hero who literally had to swim 100 feet in semi-darkness to install emergency telephone lines at the life-saving station, ensuring communication could flow during the crisis.The Fire That Almost WasI'll also share the spine-chilling story of an unnamed plant department worker who prevented what could have been a catastrophic fire at the Second Regiment Armory - where hundreds of people were gathered to identify their loved ones. Imagine the panic that could have ensued.The Bigger PictureThough freely available in digital archives, these firsthand accounts have remained largely overlooked for more than a century. They reveal not just moments of individual heroism, but the critical, behind-the-scenes work that connected rescuers, hospitals, morgues, and desperate families—long before the digital age. In just a few hours, the telephone company installed nearly 40 emergency lines, creating a vital communication network during one of Chicago’s darkest days.These stories raise important questions about historical memory: Who gets remembered, and why?  By reclaiming their stories, we not only honor their courage, but also gain a fuller understanding of how communities respond in moments of crisis.ResourcesSelfless Saviors: Two Extraordinary Rescuers in the Eastland DisasterBell Telephone News, 1915American AncestorsBook 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailIn this week’s episode of Flower in the River, we unearth a powerful 1952 article written by author Olive Carruthers—an overlooked piece of Eastland Disaster history that should be widely known but has remained hidden for over 70 years. Through Carruthers’ evocative writing, we meet three remarkable figures:Catherine O’Reilly, the telephone operator who took the call about the Eastland disaster—and whose own brother, Patrick, was among the victims.Enoch Moberg, a deep-sea diver from Evanston who pulled more than 60 bodies from the wreckage and yet remains mostly unrecognized today.Olive Carruthers herself, a poet and author whose beautiful, human-centered storytelling reminds us why these names matter.We also unpack why these stories were forgotten—and how rediscovering them reframes what we know about that tragic day in 1915.What you’ll hear in this episode:📞 The call Catherine O’Reilly made—and the call she dreaded to receive.🤿 The incredible heroism of Enoch Moberg, a city diver who worked nonstop in pitch-black waters to retrieve the lost.✍️ The literary legacy of Olive Carruthers, who wrote with clarity, compassion, and historical insight.🕵️‍♀️ Why so many Eastland stories remain sidelined —and what it takes to bring them back.Resources:Carruthers, Olive. “How Evanstonians Assisted in the Eastland Disaster.” The Evanston Review, October 23, 1952. In Evanston’s First 100 Years.The Piper City Journal, December 20, 1917. “Diver Works in Bitter Cold.” A piece that references Enoch Moberg’s service as a diver for Evanston, including his role in the Eastland Disaster.“From Ashes to Action” (about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (1911) and the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition.  Fill to Capacity Podcast (host, Pat Benincasa)Threads of Tragedy: The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the Eastland Disaster. (Flower in the River Podcast)Additional music in this episode sourced from Pixabay Music.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I’m circling back to three stories I’ve covered before—but they’re too important to leave behind.First up: Floyd C. Smith, a hardworking Chicago salesman who was near the dock when the Eastland capsized. He assisted and was later recognized by Coroner Peter Hoffman as a citizen hero. I found Floyd through his granddaughter, Ann, who shared his story in The Chicago Genealogist (Vol. 48, No. 3, Spring 2016).Next: Gertrude Berndt, who survived the Eastland—and twelve years later, survived The Favorite, another boat that capsized and claimed four members of her family. She had warned them about the boat. No one listened. Among those who helped with the rescue that day? A young lifeguard named Johnny Weissmuller, who would later swing to fame as Tarzan of the silver screen.And finally: Bob Satterfield, a political cartoonist who was on the Clark Street Bridge when the Eastland went over. He didn’t just witness it—he captured it in a searing cartoon and a raw, first-person account.Like so many Eastland stories, these didn’t make it into the version of history that gets repeated the most. But they’re part of the record—and they’re not going away.As we approach the 110th anniversary of the Eastland Disaster, remembrance isn't something we perform once a year—it's the work of uncovering each story, name by name.  Watch the Promo for this Episode here: Promo for “One Saved Lives. One Survived Twice. One Drew the Truth. 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailIn this special retrospective, I’m circling back to some of the most powerful stories I’ve uncovered in my Eastland research—stories that have been entirely absent from the popular historical accounts of the disaster.Meet James Gardner, a survivor who not only escaped the capsized vessel but went on to rescue nine women and two men from the Chicago River. His vivid first-person account, published just days after the disaster, offers rare and crucial insight—from the moment the Eastland began to list, to the horrifying sounds of panic as passengers realized what was happening. Despite being easily accessible in digital archives, Gardner’s name is missing from nearly every modern retelling of the tragedy.Even more haunting is the story of Hancock John Harmon, celebrated in his 1917 obituary as a “hero of the Eastland disaster.” Harmon spent an entire day in the contaminated Chicago River recovering bodies—an act of selflessness that would ultimately cost him his health, and eventually, his life. As one Eastland family member would later say about similar cases:“He didn’t die on the Eastland. Instead, he died of the Eastland.”We also revisit the literary response to the tragedy through Agnes Lee’s poem “Eastland Waters,” published in 1916. The daughter of Rand McNally co-founder William H. Rand, Lee was a respected poet whose work appeared alongside the likes of Robert Frost. And yet, her haunting tribute to the disaster has been largely forgotten—even in her own city.These rediscovered voices raise urgent questions:Who decides what gets remembered? What stories are left out—and why? And as we approach the 110th anniversary in 2025, what other voices still wait in the shadows, asking to be heard?Subscribe to be part of the ongoing work to bring these lost narratives back into the light—and to help reclaim a more honest, complete, and human record of the Eastland Disaster.ResourcesAgnes Lee, “Eastland Waters,” Poetry: A Magazine of Verse, Feb 1916.Galena Daily Gazette, 27 July 1915 (James Gardner)“Hero of Eastland Tragedy Dies, Result of Shock.” The Grand Rapids Press, October 3, 1917.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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailThis is a special bonus episode in honor of Father’s Day 2025.On an ordinary evening in 1960s Cleveland, an unexpected knock at the door changed the way I saw my father forever.This short, true story is a tribute to Robert Joseph Zett (aka, Dad), a working-class man who never thought of himself as brave—but showed me what quiet courage really looks like.Video Link:The Night Nobody Came Knocking – A Father’s Day StoryBook 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I explore an aspect of the Eastland Disaster that’s rarely  investigated: the insurance industry’s response. It’s not as dry as it sounds!We take a deep look at The Insurance Post, an independent trade journal published out of the Royal Insurance Building in Chicago in 1915. This was likely never meant for public eyes—and it offers a stark, often unsettling glimpse into how the insurance industry processed the Eastland tragedy.📌 In this episode:The surprising hub Chicago was for the early 20th-century insurance industryWhat the 1915 Insurance Post really said about the Eastland—down to numbers, payouts, and public imageA glimpse into how working-class families tried to protect themselves with fraternal insuranceThe chilling way insurance agents used the disaster to boost salesA breakdown of “pass-the-hat” insurance and its not-so-charitable implicationsWe tend to trust numbers, but in a disaster like the Eastland, the math--whether insurance payouts or casualty numbers--deserves a second look.📚 Bonus: Learn what a “baby elevator” was. (No, it’s not a metaphor. Yes, it’s as weird as it sounds.)Resources:Insurance Post of ChicagoChicagology -  Royal Insurance BuildingHistory of US InsuranceBook 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 - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist