Helbling Family, Beerbower Family (Click for Family Tree)

As many are ‘wrapping up’ their holiday shopping today, one of our ancestors helps to put gift-giving into a different light.

Gerard William “G.W.” Helbling (1882-1971) was a talented artist as well as a very loving husband. He married Anna “May” Beerbower (1881-1954) on November 24th, 1904.

G. W. had a sign painting business during his younger years and then again in later years of his life. He also made beautiful cards, paintings, and even scrapbooks for his grandchildren. Within all he painted for family, his love came through, most especially in those treasures for his dear wife.

It would be wonderful to have the color version of G.W.’s card so that we could better tell if it was a manufactured card (the flower section does look pre-printed) or if he had painted part of the image; we also do not know what was inside the card or on the back of it. We are, however, grateful to have this black and white copy of the card front, and the letter inside, from an early, miraculous contraption called a “Xerox machine.” (Introduced in 1959, these copiers were not widely available for individual use for another 5-10 years, and copies were expensive when one was finally located.)

What was the Helbling family tradition as far as Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and gift giving? Devout Catholics, it is likely they attended a Christmas Eve church service and again another on Christmas morn. Did the two exchange their own gifts within the sweet adult quiet later on Christmas Eve, when the children were in bed, or wait until the morning when their children, 8 year-old Edgar Bradley Helbling (1908-1994), 5 year old Anna “May” Helbling, later Reilly (1911-1985), and 3 year old Viola Gertrude Helbling, later Carrigan (1913-1971), would excitedly unwrap a gift or two stashed under the decorated tree? Perhaps they waited until the children were engrossed in their new toys and then G.W. and May could share a moment together.

G. W., or “Dard” as May called him, would have handed this envelope sweetly to his beloved wife:

“Merry Christmas

to my dear pal”

May would have pulled the card out of the envelope, feasting on the beautiful card that was a gift in itself.

Inside the card was something even more precious- a sweet letter detailing G.W.’s gift for Anna:

Here is a transcription of the letter:

G. W. HELBLING

LONG DISTANCE                            UNDERTAKER                       KINLOCH, DELMAR
PHONE                       LICENSED        EMBALMER                      2518-J
MOTOR AND CARRIAGE SERVICE
3930 ST. LOUIS AVE.
ST. LOUIS

                                                                          Christmas Eve 1916

                      My darling wife: ~
I’m wishing you another
Merry Christmas, of the many happy
years we have spent together, I
am bringing to you nothing that
could be less customary as a gift
at such a time, but a gift that
I feel will better suffice to show
my love for you, and the tenderness
and protection which it is ever my
one thought to surround you with.

Living, I love you, and beyond-
thus it is that my Christmas greeting
to you this year will be an additional
$1000. Insurance policy in your name.

Again, dear pal. Merry Christmas
and happy New Year.

always your
Dard

The family did not have much income for holiday presents and even daily expenses, but G.W. knew that the cost of a life insurance policy would help to provide peace of mind for the unthinkable- his death. Working as an undertaker at that time would have likely influenced him to choose his “less customary” gift. The policy was one of the best gifts he could give his wife, especially as their family grew. What a loving husband!

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Family treasure chest of photos and ephemera. It is unknown where this copy came from, or where the original is today. If someone reading this has the original, we would love it if you would share a color copy, and let us know more about the card itself. Thanks in advance!
2. G. W. Helbling was sometimes listed instead as William Gerard Helbling, especially in his earlier years. His paternal side was German, and in many German families it was very common for a person to use their middle name on a daily basis, rather than their first given name.
3. Thankfully May never had to use the insurance policy (unless they cashed it in) as G.W. survived to father three more children with her (their first child had died in infancy). Anna May passed away in 1954, and G.W. lived another 17 years.

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

Original content copyright 2013-2021 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Springsteen Family, Beerbower Family, Helbling Family (Click for Family Trees)

[If you are descended from Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling (1881-1954) and Gerard W. “G.W.” Helbling (1882-1971) of St. Louis, Missouri, these are your ancestors!]

As tough as our times are today with the Covid-19 (Corona virus) pandemic, we have ancestors who lived through pandemics too. Their smart thinking, the fact that they (probably) followed the directions of the experts at that time, and their good genes as well as perseverance helped them get through those difficult times. Love of their family was probably a big factor too!

Let’s go back to 1918, and the “Spanish Flu” outbreak. There are plenty of references to learn more about this pandemic, including a PBS documentary, “Influenza 1918.” Let’s explore a bit about our family in particular.

Our Springsteen family had a number of members who were likely living in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1918.  Jefferson Springsteen (1820-1909) and his wife, Anna (Conner) Springsteen (1824-1887) had lived there from about 1853. They had eight children, one of whom died as an infant and two sons who died prior to 1918. Their daughter Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower, mother of Anna May Helbling, may have been living in Indianapolis, as she had been born there and moved back a couple of times, her husband had passed away there in 1916, and we cannot find her listed in the 1920 Federal Census in any state. Anna’s sister Mary Elizabeth (Springsteen) Beckwith had been widowed- probably actually divorced- and was living with her daughter’s family in New York in 1915, but had moved back to Indianapolis by the 1920 census. Their younger brother, Abram Springsteen, “the youngest drummer boy of the Civil War” as the family lore called him, could also have been in Indianapolis, as he married there in 1912 but then was enumerated in the 1920 census in Washington, D.C. Their youngest brother, Robert E. Springsteen (1857-1931), is the only sibling that we know for sure was living in Indianapolis in 1918, but the others may have been there.

We are looking at Indianapolis, Indiana because there is an excellent article just published on the Indiana History blog about life there during the 1918 epidemic. “Coping with Quarantine in a Pre-Digital Era” is a great read that details how people spent their time during the 1918 quarantine. The information in the article would also probably apply to a large portion of the United States back then. The kids were out of school, it was a Congressional election year, and the economics and boredom of stay-at-home orders were challenging to all. The cause of the disease was unknown, there were no treatments nor vaccines for it, and the death toll in the US and around the world was staggering. (Any of this sound familiar?) The US was in the midst of World War I too, putting additional pressure on the people and government to keep going.

St. Louis, Missouri is another city to mention here, as Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling, daughter of Anna Missouri and Edgar P. Beerbower, lived there. With her husband Gerard William “G.W.” Helbling, she had three children living then: Edgar Bradley Helbling (1908-1994), Anna May Helbling (later Reilly) (1911-1985), and Viola Gertrude Helbling (later Carrigan) (1913-1971). Anna was expecting their fourth child, Robert Harvey Helbling (1918-2001), as the flu began, and “Bob” was born in August.

World War I was using Liberty Loan bonds to help finance the war, and a huge parade was held on September 28, 1918 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is estimated 200,000 people filled the streets to cheer on those in the parade and the war effort. Unfortunately the “Spanish Flu,” which had already attacked military bases and soldiers starting around March of 1918, was unknowingly present in the crowds as well. It only took 72 hours to fill all the beds in the city’s hospitals, and within a week, 2,600 civilians had died. One week later, the city’s death toll was 4,500. The city was short of doctors and nurses, as so many were in military service due to the War.  With no antibiotics nor vaccines at that time, and health care workers using gauze facemasks that had holes large enough to allow most microorganisms through, containment was challenging. Philadelphia finally shut down schools and businesses, but they had waited too late- they could not keep the virus in check. (The 1918 flu was an H1N1 virus of avian origin, so not exactly like today’s corona virus, but still very virulent and hard to contain.)

Thankfully, Anna May and G.W. Helbling and their children were living in St. Louis at that time. It must have been frightening to have small children, including a newborn, as they read the newspapers and saw how the flu was raging across the country, and the world. (Their first child had died as an infant so they must have been very fearful.) The St. Louis city health commissioner was alarmed by the flu activity in the influenza hotspots of Boston and Philadelphia, and toward the end of September 1918, he knew that it would only be a matter of time before the “Spanish Flu” was seen in the Gateway City. He proactively set up a monitoring system, cancelled a Liberty Loan drive, educated the public through articles in the newspaper on how to prepare and avoid the flu, and once cases were being reported, he helped to get a public health emergency declared. Dr. Max C. Starkloff was then given more authority and closures of entertainment, schools, and churches were implemented by October 9th, with public gatherings banned. Those with medical knowledge worked with the city government to minimize any foothold in the community that the flu might gain. As cases of influenza increased, although at a much slower rate than in Philadelphia, St. Louis business hours were cut and then non-essential businesses and factories were closed to further protect citizens. (And yes, business owners and politicians were understandably worried about the economic impact to themselves, their city, and the country.) When restrictions were gradually lifted in mid-December because case numbers had diminished, new illnesses and deaths spiked in a second wave. Eventually, case numbers stayed low and removal of restrictions on December 28, 1918, added some joy to a difficult holiday season.

St. Louis is lauded as a city that looked into the future, followed medical advice, and quickly acted for the good of their citizens. What we now call “social distancing” helped to keep the city’s death toll to the sixth lowest in the country; Indianapolis was one of the five cities that had an even lower mortality rate, helping to save our family there. The graph above shows clearly the effect that physical distancing, done early and across the board, can have in an epidemic. This data has been studied by epidemiologists and will hopefully be heeded by governmental bodies and citizens to “flatten the curve” and reduce illness and deaths in our current pandemic. Implementing the 1918 tactics of St. Louis in 2020 can still buy us time for development of treatments and vaccines, and for ramping up manufacturing of materials needed for protection and treatment of patients and staff. The above graphs show that when strict measures are put in place early, the illnesses and deaths are much less than in places that have waited until the virus is rampant.

We are now experiencing in our day-to-day lives some of what our ancestors went through in those days of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. Knowing that they survived through “social distancing” and the economic pain that ensued can help us have resilience and faith that we too can make it through this.

BTW, if you have a little extra time on your hands, the references below can be interesting reading. Reference #4 and #10 are particularly good, quick, and not terrifying. They also may give some comfort knowing that a whole lot of folks got to the other side despite not having the technology and scientific advances we have today. And while you are reading, think about how the ancestors only had newspapers, neighbors, local storekeepers and postal carriers to spread news. Sadly they also carried germs, but at least we have a better understanding of that today.

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. “Influenza 1918” on ‘American Experience’ on PBS. May be viewed online at https://www.pbs.org/video/american-experience-influenza-1918/

2. “Have Americans forgotten the history of this deadly flu?” https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/have-americans-forgotten-the-history-of-this-deadly-flu

3. Anna Missouri (Springsteen) Beerbower lived with Anna May and GW Helbling in St. Louis possibly in the 1920s, and it is known she was there in the 1930s. We do have pictures of her there before the 1920s, but do not know if she was visiting or living there.
4. “Coping with Quarantine in a Pre-Digital Era”
   https://blog.history.in.gov/coping-with-quarantine-in-a-pre-digital-era/. Thank you, Dick Eastman, for featuring this article in your wonderful newsletter.: https://blog.eogn.com/2020/04/03/coping-with-quarantine-in-a-pre-digital-era/
5. Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling and G. W. Helbling had two more children after the pandemic: William G. “Bill” Helbling (1920-2018) and Mary Theresa Helbling (later McMurray) (1925-2008).
6. “Philadelphia Threw a WWI Parade That Gave Thousands of Onlookers the Flu”  https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/philadelphia-threw-wwi-parade-gave-thousands-onlookers-flu-180970372/

7. “The Spanish influenza of 1918 in St. Louis, Missouri.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16961567

8. “The American Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919: St. Louis, Missouri” https://www.influenzaarchive.org/cities/city-stlouis.html#

9. “Public health interventions and epidemic intensity during the 1918 influenza pandemic.” Richard J. Hatchett, et al, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, May 1,2007. PNAS May 1, 2007 104 (18) 7582-7587; first published April 6, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0610941104
10. “This chart of the 1918 Spanish flu shows why social distancing works” by Michael J. Coren, March 11, 2020, Quartz. https://qz.com/1816060/a-chart-of-the-1918-spanish-flu-shows-why-social-distancing-works/
11. “1918 Pandemic” https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

Original content copyright 2013-2019 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Helbling Family (Click for Family Tree)

[Those of us ‘of an age’ will remember cartoons and commercials with ‘rabbit’ pronounced more like it is spelled above; seems like as kids a lot of us said it that way too. And it alliterates better with “Wordless Wednesday.” Sorry.]

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1. Family treasure chest of Helbling photo albums.

Click to enlarge any image. Please contact us if you would like an image in higher resolution.

Original content copyright 2013-2018 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

On June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the official flag of the United States of America. That date has been commemorated throughout the years with parades and picnics, a rite of summer across the land. Although the oldest continuous Flag Day parade may have been in 1909, Flag Day was not officially proclaimed a holiday until 1916, when Woodrow Wilson established June 14 as Flag Day.

The people of America didn’t need an official proclamation, however, to celebrate their pride in our flag and all it represents. Our Helbling family documented their Flag Day celebrations through the years, and preserved them in family photo albums.

The above image shows the children of Gerard William Helbling (AKA G. W. Helbling) and Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling in front of their home at 5136 Page Ave. in St. Louis, Missouri. Edgar Helbling was about 9, May Helbling 6, and Vi Helbling just 4 years old.

Other photo albums hold earlier years of Flag Day celebrations. This picture shows G.W. Helbling in front of their home with their three oldest children. (Three more were to be born to them in subsequent years.) Edgar looks so stoic, the little soldier, the big brother, flag on his shoulder, ready to march off into history to show his pride. (…in his little short pants ;D) Little May Helbling is upset- is she scared of all the flags? Not wanting to pose for a picture? Maybe it is that giant bow on her head??? G.W. seems like such a loving father, trying to comfort her and get her to participate.  (His youngest daughter, however, remembered him as very stern.) Cute little Vi Helbing, just one year old, is taking it all in- she always was so even-tempered when I knew her as an adult, and being a middle child, may have been that way too when young.

Note the sign on the house- “G. W. Helbling, Undertaker.” The 1914 St. Louis, Missouri, City Directory lists Gerard W. Helbling as being “with Ellis Undertaking Co, 727 King’s Highway boul.” His daughter Mary remembers that 10-15 years later, when she was young, he had his undertaker’s equipment down in the basement of the house. Visitation for the deceased’s family was on the first floor living area, and the children would stay upstairs on the second floor and have to be quiet. Wonder why the funeral home address was given in the City Directory, when he had the sign in front of the house? Maybe he had left the employ of Ellis Undertaking by this date and had his own business.

People were much closer to death, back in those days. Mary remembered that it didn’t seem strange or creepy at the time to have a dead body in the house- mostly, it was just hard to be stuck upstairs and be very, very quiet as a young child.

The family was living at 4927 St. Louis Ave., St. Louis, per the 1914 St. Louis City Directory. This address is between N. Kingshighway and N. Euclid Avenue, and has sadly declined very significantly. (Although valued at $40,000-50,000, the building sold in 2013 for just over $7,000.) Today’s websites, like GoogleMaps, Trulia, or Zillow indicate that the home was built in 1906 and currently has 2,482 square feet; it has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. It is currently a multifamily home, and probably also was when the Helblings lived there. Husband and wife, Grandma (Anna May’s mother) and three children, all in 2 bedrooms and 1 bath- people lived a lot ‘closer’ back then.

Of course, back then you didn’t just display the flag in front of the house- you participated in a parade!

It didn’t always go well, however. Getting everyone dressed, primped, hats attached so they didn’t blow off in the wind (long hatpins to the rescue), finding umbrellas to shade delicate young (and older!) skin from the brutal St. Louis summer sun, and into the car was probably a challenge, especially with three little ones.

Oh, oh- trouble! A slight delay…

Looks like G. W. was a master of all trades- artistic and creative, but he could also build a garage or repair an automobile. The caption on the scrapbook page was written by Anna May (Beerbower) Helbling, we believe. G.W. had wonderful handwriting too, so it may have been his note.

Note that the steering wheel is on the right, and the windshield is split (on purpose). The lights that can be seen on the sides of the car would help in identification of the car type, and although I have looked, it is hard to determine which model they had. (Car model ID is definitely not my forte.) It may have not been the most current model, especially since there appears to have been some trouble. Hope they got to the parade or picnic on time!

Notes, Sources, and References:

1) Flag Day Poster, 1917- United States Library of Congress‘s Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID cph.3g06262. Public Domain.

2) Flag Day entry on Wikipedia, Accessed 06/08/14. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_Day_(United_States).

3) Gould’s St. Louis [Missouri] Directory for  1914. Ancestry.com. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Accessed 06/07/14.

4) 4917 St. Louis Ave was sold in 2013 for just $7,237- sadly, the neighborhood has been in decline for a long time.

5) A great website of images of American autos through the years may be found at http://www.earlyamericanautomobiles.com/1900.htm. Pages 9-12 have some charming photographs of cars out on the streets of America, sometimes with famous people in them or nearby.

6) Helbling family photo albums owned by the author.

Please contact us if you would like a higher resolution image.

Copyright 2013-2014 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.