Rosie's Room

The Search for Peace

I left off talking about the ghostly happenings in Jessie's place and about Father Conrad's blessing. And so far all has been quiet at the home.

But, I am a very curious person and I don't rest until I discover what I what to know.  I enjoy research and I'm very good at researching.  I have to toot my own horn every once and a while.  LOL
So I continued my research on Jessie's house - I had done all the research from 1949 to the present and then I hit a brick wall in attaining information prior to 1949.  The home was built in 1926.  So I needed to resume my research by going the Register of Deeds and then it was back to the Mead Library to finish up.  I finished my research yesterday. And, I can say I discovered what can be the only explanation for the ghost activity.

I know everything from who owned the land the house was built on, the original owner who had the house built, and the names of every single owner and occupant who ever lived in that house.  I know the original address of the house.  I have read every deed transfer and probate transfer..  I have read all but one obituary for every person who lived in that house who has died - no matter where they lived or were staying at when they died.

And I found Bertha!  Bertha Gutschow (aka: Guetschow) was the ONLY person to have died, literally, IN the house. I have a copy of Bertha's obituary, In her obituary it actually says that she died in her home and it lists the address!  There was also some very interesting information about her stated in her obituary...

"Mrs. Gutschow's greatest interests were centered in her home and family."

"Three sons preceded Mrs. Gutschow in death."

Bertha and Fred also had three sons and one daughter who were alive when Bertha died.
Bertha died in 1938 at the age of 68. ("from a lingering illness")

I know where Bertha and her husband, Fred, and two of the three sons who died before her (and Fred) are buried.  There is also another of their sons buried in the same cemetery, though he died in 1992.

Neither of the two sons of who preceded Bertha in death were named James (jimmy).

There was a son named Fiedrich Wilhem Ludwig Gutschow who was only 21 years old when he died.  He was born in 1901 and died in 1922.

There was a son named Ludwig Johann Gutschow who was just shy of 2-1/2 years old when he died.
He was born in May of 1906 and he died in December of 1908.  (Milo will turn 2 on August 25)

But you know what?!  I have been unable to find ANY information on the third son who died before Bertha.  I have exhausted all but one avenue for trying to find out about this son.  And let me repeat what I said before, I am an excellent researcher.  The only thing left for me to do to try to find out about this son is to go to the cemetery and see if he is buried where his parents are.

And in case you were thinking whoever wrote Bertha's obit may have made a mistake the information about there having been THREE sons who preceded her in death, I read the obituary for Bertha's daughter, Martha, who died in 1993.  Martha's obituary states that she was preceded in death by six brothers.  Do the math: three brothers had died before her mom did and three brothers died before she did = six brothers.

We'd known all along that "Jimmy" wasn't the only spirit to have inhabited Jessie's house.

Could the third son, the one I can't find any information about, have been named James?  I might never know.  This son is the ONLY person with any sort of connection to the house I can't find one bit of information on.

I need to also tell you that Bertha and her family didn't even live in Sheboygan until 1929!
You'll notice that the two sons who died before did died before the family even moved to Sheboygan. Bertha and her family weren't even living in Jessie's house until proven - 1932! Though they may have been living in the home in 1931, there was no city directory done for 1931.  The family wasn't living in the house in 1930, as proven in the city directory for that year.

So I can't say I have found all the answers to all of my questions, but I feel I found what I went looking for. I feel I have solved enough of the mystery to say the mystery has been solved.

In honor of Bertha, her deceased family members, and those of her family who are still alive I thought I'd post an art journal spread that I did back in January.  It isn't connected to the Lutheran faith, which is the religion Bertha and her family were, but it signifies the peace that I wish for Bertha and her deceased loves ones, especially that third son who remains a mystery to me.

The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts.