Uncovering Stories

The Power of Asking Questions

Do you remember when you got hooked on genealogy? Was it a gradual pull, or did you jump right in?

I fall into the gradual pull category. My interest in genealogy began in the 1980s when I was given a folder of the Heines lineage. It contained just names and dates—no other information. I thought it was intriguing but filed it away.

 In the 1990s, a relative on my mom's side (Haag/Schatz) dropped by the house with a large envelope filled with pictures. I was interested but didn't have the time or the energy to pursue this hobby. 

Fast-forward to nine years ago. I pulled out the Heines folder and started to ask questions. I wasn’t interested in the names and dates. I wanted to know how these people lived, what happened in their lives, and who they really were. I discovered that genealogy is all about stories, and those stories come from the questions.

My first questions were about the other side of the family: my mom's dad, John Simon Schatz. Bampie, our nickname for him, was a heavyset man with the biggest heart thumping in that massive chest who died when I was in sixth grade. It was a crisp March day in 1963 when I rode my bicycle the 2 miles to my grandparents’ home to spend time with him since he had been ill. He greeted me from the hospital bed that was set up in the dining room. I was used to seeing the large quilting frame occupying the whole space where grandma’s friends, with thimbles on one of their fingers, pushed their needles through the patchwork quilt while spinning their own stories. But no quilters were there on this day. Bampie looked happy to see me and appeared to be getting better. Our conversation turned to gardening, and he shared his excitement about putting out his garden in the spring.

When I arrived home, I told Mom that Grandpa was feeling better. She shook her head and put her arm around me, telling me that wasn't the case. He was dying, and there was no cure for his illness. I was heartbroken and shocked when he died the next day.

Grandpa’s father, John Bernard Schatz, died when Bampie was 5, shortly before his youngest sister was born a month later. This left his mom, Magdalene Deyss Schatz, with four children to raise. Within five months, she married the farmhand Frank Wissel. She went on to have seven more children with her new husband.

When I was growing up, I was told Bampie ran away from home in 1909 when he was 16 because of his abusive stepfather. He traveled from Rockport, Indiana, to Evansville, Indiana, a distance of 32 miles. Several years ago, I contacted Bampie’s brother's son, Adrian Schatz, who confirmed the story.

I wanted to know who Bampie ran to. Why Evansville when Owensboro was much closer? People often moved to be closer to family members or for employment. Since I had done very little research on this family, I assumed most of his family lived in Rockport.

I searched the city directory to find out where and possibly who he lived with. Since he was under 18, he wasn't listed until 1911, when I found him living in a boarding house with his older sister, Mary. I had no idea she had run away, too. Did they run away together? Also, while digging, I found that his mother and some of his dad’s family lived in Evansville, so he had plenty of support, which answered why he relocated to Evansville.

Then came more questions: What was my grandfather's stepdad really like? Did other family members see him in the same light? Who else ran away? Adrian Schatz and Mary Ann Bertke, daughter of Bampie’s step-sister, Rose Wissel Bertke, agreed that Frank Wissel was a complex man, and even his children had issues with him. Mary Ann’s mother wanted to marry Frank Bertke, but her father didn’t approve. They waited until she was 18 and then married.

Bampie’s older brother Albert wanted to run away with him. However, he stayed home because he was concerned for his mother's safety. He believed he needed to stay to protect her. When Albert was 18, a man offering steady farm work in Iowa came through town, and Albert accepted employment with him, moving far away from his Indiana home.

My next questions were about Mary and their youngest sister, Lena. Mary married in Evansville, divorced, remarried, and moved to Detroit. His youngest sister, Lena, married and moved to Louisville, Ky. However, she didn’t leave home until she married.

After his sister Mary married her first husband, Bampie moved in with his dad's sister, Mary Schatz Doerr, until he married Lillian Haag in 1914. Throughout his life, he maintained a close relationship with his mom's family and stepsiblings.

I met Bampie's siblings, but I was too young to remember. This picture, taken in his living room in 1951, shows some of his siblings and spouses. Adrian Schatz, Mary Ann Bertke Meyer, and the other relatives on the Wissel side helped me identify people in this picture. I am the toddler pictured next to Bampie’s brother Albert.

I’ve found that questioning is an essential skill for improving my decision-making. It’s not enough to get an answer; I also need to make sure and verify that it is correct, which often involves more questions. I should not assume anything, which at times is difficult to keep from doing! But if I want to uncover these stories that are so important to me, I need to keep questioning.