SOMETIMES RECORDING MY ANCESTOR’S LIVES BREAKS MY HEART

 Chester, Helen, Walter & Adolph Ortell

This is one of those days.  I’m continuing my goal to get all of those 33 death certificates I downloaded from the seekingmichigan.org site in March, entered and sourced in my Legacy database.  When I wrote the blog post about this process I had only recorded 4 of them.  I am up to 21 as of this afternoon.  Progress is good.
 
However, in doing my entries today, I am reminded of the terrible heartbreak that occurred in many of the lives of our ancestors.  Today it concerns the Ortell family.
 
The Ortell’s are related to me via my 2nd & 3rd cousins, Paula, Shirley, Betty & Debbie.  I’m closest to my cousin, Paula, but am proud to call all these ladies family.
 
Shirley, Betty & Paula are daughters of Everett Hockster and Mary Sophie Ortell.  It is the story of Mary Ortell’s siblings and father that I share with you today.

Here is the story of the Ortell’s as I recorded it today.
 
6 May 1936 – Chester Ortell, age 23 dies of a broken neck in a tractor accident on the family farm.
17 Nov 1936 – Helen Ortell, age 22 dies of pulmonary tuberculosis.
7 Feb 1937 – Ladislaus “Walter” Ortell (father of Chester, Helen & Adolph), age 47 dies of a fractured skull in an auto accident.
22 May 1944 – Adolph Ortell, age 26 jumps to his death from the 7th story of a hotel.

Within 9 months, between May 1936 and Feb 1937, Walter Ortell’s wife Sophie lost two of her children and her husband.  Then 7 years later she loses another son.  In 1920 she had lost a son at the age of one month to convulsions.

I cannot help but be affected by these events.  Our ancestors are very real people with the same joys and sorrows that we have in our lives.  I never want to forget that.

Here is a family group photo of some of the Ortell children, including Chester, Helen & Adolph
 

Here are the death certificates for Chester, Helen, Walter and Adolph

Death certificate - Chester Ortell

Death certificate - Helen Ortell

Death certificate - Walter Ortell

Death certificate - Adolph Ortell

Newspaper article about the death of Walter Ortell and one that tells of the families sad losses.

There are memorials created for the Ortell family on findagrave.com.  You may visit them here:

Chester – Memorial #93489947
Helen – Memorial #93490009
Walter – Memorial #89393193
Adolph – Memorial #93489344

Do you have stories like this in your family that have made you stop and think of what they went through?  If so, I’d love to hear about them.  Please share in comments here or on your own blog with a comment and a link to your blog.

If you think you might be related, even remotely, to anyone mentioned in this blog, please contact me!

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST
WEDDING WEDNESDAY - Walter Ortell & Sophie Warchol – 1908
THRILLER THURSDAY - Hobart B. Stewart Murdered – 1936

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2015   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

WEDDING WEDNESDAY–Ortell & Warchol - 1908

LADISLAUS “WALTER” ORTELL & SOPHIE WARCHOL

Walter and Sophie Ortell are the grandparents to my 2nd cousins on the Lindsay side of our family.  Walter & Sophie had 11 children: John, Chester, Helen, Mary, Adolph, Ladislaus, Alois, Henry, Bernice, Anthonia and Eleanore.

Here is a family view from my Legacy database. Please click on image to enlarge it.

My cousins are doing the research on this part of the family.
 
However, if you think you might be related to anyone mentioned here, please contact me and I will get in touch with them.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2015   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION