Sometimes when looking into one's family history, you can find things that are disheartening. One of the things we learned was about Sophia (Ilič) Klaich's death. We ordered a copy of her death certificate to learn more about her family. And the document provided new information we did not have before about her birthplace and parent's name.
However, the certificate also provided information that I did not know before about the manner of her death: suicide. I personally didn't know her (she was my great-great-grandmother) and she passed away well before I was born, but it is still saddens me.
Hi Dan and Deb,
ReplyDeleteI'm Peggy Klaich McMullen, your grandmother Alice's niece. My father was George Klaich. I have been following your blog and have enjoyed the fruits of your efforts immensely. As for this latest post, I, too did not know about Sophia's death. From the address listed, I know that she must have been living with either her son, Eli, or her daughter, Smiley. These are two of Mildred's siblings. My dad never mentioned anything about this.
Thank you so much for all your work to uncover more about our family, I greatly appreciate it.
Peggy
Hi Peggy. Thanks for your kind words about the blog. We have really enjoyed working on this. If you ever have leads that you think we should explore, please let us know. At some point, Deb and I hope to spend time in NV tracking down information on this side of the Atlantic ocean.
DeleteAnd thanks for letting us know about the location. We didn't know that before. Thank you!
DeleteYes, Dan, thank you so much for sharing. I didn't know about Sophia either. I heard stories that her daughter (Mildred, grandma's mom) received electric shock therapy in a hospital because she had mental health issues.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I initially hesitated to share this, but I ultimately felt like it was important to share the good, bad, and ugly. And there may have been some mental health issues that spanned generations. There are still stigma's associated with mental health, but I think it is better to know that there was possibly (although not necessarily) mental health issues in the family.
DeleteHi Dan and Deb,
ReplyDeleteAfter your posts yesterday, I spoke with my sister Patti. She mentioned that Sophia
had chronic rheumatoid arthritis. My Dad and Patti were on vacation and traveled through
Thermopolis, Wyoming. My Dad mentioned that his Grandma, Sophia, would travel to
Wyoming hoping that the thermal pools there would provide some pain relief. Eli lived at 665 Hillcrest and Smiley lived at 695 Hillcrest. They were next door neighbors for as long as I can remember. They were both wonderful people. I think that Mildred, your great grandmother lived with Smiley at the end of her life. My Dad had told us, also, that she had electroshock treatments in Sparks, Nevada. I've also heard that she may have had lupus induced psychosis, but medical knowledge at that time didn't recognize it.
If you travel to Reno, you have a place to stay for as long as you need!
Peggy
I appreciate hearing more details about what Sophia and Mildred might have been going through. When I spoke with Amy about the family over the weekend, she said she is really interested in hearing more stories about women. Unfortunately, women's lives are harder to piece together--we don't have immigration records for them, they often didn't naturalize, they didn't serve in the military, they weren't usually on payrolls, they didn't pay taxes or own land...the list goes on. From the dialogue we've been having here, however, it seems like we can understand more about Sophia and Mildred (and other women) by the stories we've heard about them. If we could gather those stories from you Peggy, and from you Amy, and from everyone else, then we might understand a little more about Mildred and Sophia and the other women who came from Croatia and who perhaps also lived in Ely, Nevada as well. Peggy, I would love to meet with you some time this fall (in Nevada) to try to understand more about, especially, the women in the family. Is there anyone else I should talk to while I'm there?
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