Ancestry Chapter 37
1914 - More Grandchildren, the Motorcycle Tragedy, WWI Reaches Dirschau
More Photographs, the Motorcycle Photographs
Taken in front of the Norek home on 23rd Place. Michael Norek on the Thor motorcycle. (It was actually something like a motor-bike.)
Cecilia in the side car. Michael Jr. looking over from the back. Anton in a Thor sweatshirt on the grass. Stephen watching from the curb.
In the next photo, Anton is on the cycle and Michael Jr. is hanging on the sidecar.
They liked that motorcycle. They would regret that motorcycle.
Two more grandchildren born, 1914
Cecilia and Matt 's first child, Helen, was born in 1914. Lucy and Leo's third child, Lucille, was born in 1914.
Michael Norek now has four grandchildren, five surviving first-batch children, and three second-batch children. He is about to lose one of them.
1914. World War I begins in Europe on July 28, 1914 when Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.
The Tragedy on Labor Day Sunday, September 6, 1914, Chicago.
It was Labor Day weekend. It was Sunday. The Norek family was off to the cemetery. This was the family tradition.
Anton did not go with them. He said he was sick, and so they left without him.
Anton was not sick. He wanted to ride the motorcycle. Just to ride, or was he going someplace in particular? Whatever the reason, he took the motorcycle out.
Anton reached Garfield Blvd., near the corner of Garfield and Ada Street. Garfield is 5500 south, and Ada is 1326 west. This corner is about 4 miles south of where the Norek's then lived.
On Garfield, near the corner of Garfield and Ada, the wheel of the motorcycle caught in a trolley line rut. Anton was thrown from the cycle into an oncoming car. Anton died on Garfield Blvd. at age 18 (18 years, 4 months, 21 days), of neck and internal injuries.
The Cook County death certificate
which provides the details of cause
and location of Anton's death.
St. Paul's record of Anton’s September 6th death and September 9th burial at St. Boniface Cemetery. This record includes the notation “Killed – Accident” and lists his age as 18 yrs. 4 mo. 21 D.
Anton was already a tool and die maker like his Dad. He was the favorite brother of Stephen and Cecilia. A bright, likeable, and possibly carefree, boy.
Lucy is almost 26. Cecilia is 24, Stephen 19, Annie 17. Second-batchers - Michael Jr. is 6. Josephine is about 3. Peter is just 1. Labor Day was never again celebrated by the Michael Norek Sr. family.
Photographs of motorcycle, believed taken after Anton's accident and death.
Photos taken in the Norek backyard at their home on 3rd Place, Chicago. The motorcycle will be repaired.
September 8, 1914
Dirschau, West Prussia. The Chicago Daily News reports that the battle line has swung into southern sections of East Prussia and is pushing north and west towards West Prussia. See War Map, Eastern Campaign on the left.
Chicago. In Chicago the Norek family is preparing for Anton’s funeral. They will bury him tomorrow.
September 10, 1914
Dirschau, West Prussia. The Chicago Daily News reports that the battle line has swung through almost all of East Prussia and is right there, 15 to 20 miles from Dirschau. The battle line where the German-Austrian military faces the Allied forces represented by Russia on this Eastern front. See War Map, Eastern Campaign on the left.
Chicago. In Chicago, this is the day after the Noreks buried Anton. One year, 8 months earlier Antonia left Dirschau, returning to Chicago with her husband. On this September 10th certainly Antonia must be overwhelmed – grief for Anton, fear for her parents, sister and brother in Dirschau, and relief that her two youngest children were here, not there, because Michael fetched them back.
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