ancestry

My Breakthrough Moment

/ Gail Grunst Genealogy / Leave a comment

There have been several breakthrough moments throughout the years. Today I am focusing on this breakthrough moment because the story of my ancestor’s life is tragic.

Back in 2007 I sent for my great-grandfather, Carl Desens, death certificate from Cook County, Illinois and it listed his parents as John Desens and Henrietti Gressier.[1] I looked all over for John Desens, but there were too many to narrow it down to my John Desens without more information about my John. 

Carl along with his wife and children settled in Forest Park in 1891.[2] According to my father, they went to St. John Lutheran Church in Forest Park, IL.  I went there to find my grandmother, Helen Desens, baptism record and while there I copied the records of all the Desens I could find.  I noticed on the baptism record for one of their children listed a Johann Desens, Herman Desens, and Bertha Matthews as Godparents.[3] Was this Johann Desens, Carl’s father?  And could Herman Desens be a brother of Carl’s? I assumed they probably lived in Forest Park or nearby, and I looked for them in this area with no luck.

I was having no luck on Ancestry or Family Search back then.  For some reason I googled their names.  For Herman Desens I found an obituary on Clark County Wisconsin History Page  ,  “The latest victim of careless handling of guns is Herman Desens, a man about thirty years of age who lived with his father across from Fred Zell’s place west of town (Greenwood, Clark County). Friday evening, Oct. 18, 1901, as the two were about to leave the clearing where they had been working, the young man went after his shot gun, which he had left nearby standing against a log. He seized the gun by the muzzle and drew it toward him, and in doing so the hammer cocked, discharging the load of one barrel into his breast. The father hearing the shot, looked up, but noticing his son standing thought nothing of the shot and stooped to his work, when he heard his son give an exclamation and saw him start for the house. The man only went a few yards when he dropped to the ground dead. The funeral occurred at the cemetery on the West Side Sunday afternoon. Deceased, with his father, came to Greenwood about two years ago and have lived together on their small clearing.” [4]

 I started looking around the Clark County Wisconsin History website and found a death index that listed Herman’s death as October 15, 1901, and John’s death as July 16, 1907.[5]   I also searched all the cemetery’s and found the graves of John and Herman Desens at the United Church of Christ East Cemetery.[6] 

I sent to the Wisconsin Historical Society for John’s death record hoping the informant would be a name I recognized linking him to my grandfather Carl. When I received it, there was no informants listed, however, I was surprised to see that the cause of death was multiple stab wounds to the chest.[7] This sent me back to google and the first thing I found was an article from a book Greenwood The Hub of Clark County (1853 – 1907)[8]  “Much later, Zell and Dazen, neighbors, who lived three and one-half miles west of town, quarreled and fought; Dazen with a knife, which he cut Zell in the face, on the hands and wrists. They were both seriously injured and were brought to the North Side Hotel, then operated by Gene Cummings. Both were put into the same room where they could glare at each other. By the doctor’s orders they were to be kept in bed, but Dazen got up and started for home and the next morning was found dead, just outside his own yard.”[9]  They do not give a first name, and the last name is spelled different. 

Next article that I found was from the Neillsville Times and it read as follows: “Peter Desens, who was cut in a fight with his neighbor, Fred Zell near Greenwood (Clark Co., Wis.), died last Saturday as a result of his wounds.  Zell is in the hospital Marshfield and is in precarious condition and death may come to him also.[10]

There are of course two versions to the fight.  Zell claims that Desens was the aggressor and that the fight resulted after an altercation over some cattle.  Zell says that Desens was standing near the gate at the Desens home and that the old gentleman called to him as he was passing.  As he stood with his resting on the gate, Desens suddenly drew a knife and cut him across the hand, severing the cords.  He also was badly cut about the face and chest.

Desen claimed before his death, that Zell grabbed him by the throat and that he drew the knife in self-defense.”

It will be a pretty hard matter to determine who was the aggressor in the fight, and if Zell is brought into court his plea will probably be self-defense.”  In this article the first name is Peter. At this point, I did not know if this was John Desens or not.  Zell was name in Herman’s Obituary and again in these two articles.  There was no Peter Desens in the Clark County Death Index. 

I went back to my original notes that I took when I interviewed my father back in 1979 and I had written down that some relatives were killed in Wisconsin by Indians.  This led me to believe I was on the right track, but they were not killed by Indians. 

A trip to Clark County to get more information was required to find out if John was indeed Carl’s father. In 2014 my husband and I made the trip and my goal was to:

1.  Visit the Clark County Courthouse in Neillsville to find the following

          A.  Will or probate for John Desens – Death Date 7/6/1907

          B.   Land records for land – Came there in approx. 1899.

          C.  Court record of stabbing incident with Fred Zell.

2.  Find the United Church of Christ East Cemetery.

3.  Find Farm located 1 ½ – 3 miles west of Greenwood.

My first stop at the Court House in Neillsville, Wisconsin was the Probate Office.  Since he owned land, I thought there should be a probate file. I was told that the old probate files had been transferred to the Wisconsin State Archives in Madison, but she was able to tell me that there is a file and gave me the number.  Next, I went to the Circuit Clerk to see if there was a criminal file for the neighbor that killed him.  I was not allowed to search; they will search for me at their convenience.  I filled out a form and paid $5.00 for the search.  My next stop was the land office.  The lady in this office was great!  She showed me to the Grantor and Grantee books and let me search.  I knew his death date, so I started with the Grantor books for 1907 and found the sale of the farm in Sept of 1907.  I did not recognize the name of the man who purchased it.  I copied down the information and went back to clerk with the information of the book and page number the title should be in.  She had to take to the basement of the courthouse.  The bookshelves were covered with plastic tarps, she pulls a tarp back, pulls out the book and opens to the page.  I was able to write down the legal description.  Next to that title was one for his son, and I wrote down that legal description too.  It appeared that they each owned 40 acres next to one another.  The clerk asked me if I would like to know where the farms were today.  She anticipated my next question!  We went back upstairs to look at the current plot book. By the legal description we were able to find the farms and the roads that they are on today. 

My husband and I drove out to the farm, and I was able to get some pictures and see what it looks like today.  Then we went to find the cemetery where he is buried.  I was hoping he had a headstone so I could find his grave and he did, but his son who is buried right next to him did not.  The church he went to is close by the cemetery. Both church and cemetery are close to his farm.

I sent to the state archives for his probate file and while waiting for that to come, I received the court records of the stabbing incident.[11]  The court records were an interesting read and gave me a better insight into how it all occurred and what happened afterwards, but no clue to his relationship to me.  Finally, the probate records came, and this was my breakthrough moment because after several years of searching it listed my great grandfather Carl as one of John’s heirs.[12]

Today, the probate file is available online at Ancestry.com.  My search would have been a lot less complicated if it was online back then.

Week 5 Break through moment 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Copyright © Gail Grunst 2026

[1] Certificate of Death for Carl Desens ,12 June 1921, Registration Number 1050, State of Illinois, Department of Public Health, Division of Vital Statistics, County of Cook, City of Chicago.

[2] Forest Park Pioneers, abstracted from the book Forest Park Welcomes you to its 100th Birthday Party 1856-1956  by Ellen Cannon.  Found this in the McHenry County Genealogy Section at McHenry Public Library District in McHenry Illinois.  Call # Illinois, Cook Co. 977.3 Local History

[3] Baptism Record for Henrich Herman Desens, 21 April 1895, St John Congregational Book 1887-1905, page 85, #1888 28. St John Lutheran Church, Forest Park, Cook Co., Illinois.

[4] Found on website Clark County Wisconsin History  Desens, Herman (1871-1901), Obituary, Clark Co., WI

[5] Found on website Clark County Wisconsin History DeathIndexes1873_1908

[6] Found on website Clark County Wisconsin History  Immanuel East Living Index D

[7] Death Record for John Desens, 6 July 1907, Pre- 1907 Wisconsin Death Record, County of Clark, Vol 1, Page 428. State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Microfilm room, 816 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin.

[8] Greenwood the Hub of Clark County, Compiled 1934 by the Greenwood Women’s Club, Transcribed 2001 by Janet Schwarze.  This complete manuscript with illustrations, as well as the follow-on volume “1934 to the Present”, is available in paperback for $16 from:  The Branstitter’s Museum, South Main Street, Greenwood, WI 54436. All proceeds go to this non-profit museum.  Compiled by Members of the Woman’s Club, Essalyth Andrews, Gladys Arends, Hazel Flatz, Ingebor Shields, Lillie Heilman, exofficio.  Found on website Clark County Wisconsin History.    Found on website Clark County Wisconsin History  Greenwood, Clark Co., Wisconsin History

[9]  Ibid.

[10]  Obituary for Peter (John) Desens 11 July 1907. Neillsville Times (Neillsville, Clark County, Wisconsin) 11 July 1907.

[11] I received copies of court documents  from the Clerk of the Court, 517 Court Street Rom 405 Neillsville, WI 54456 for an incident involving Fred Zell and John Desens.  There is no citation for them from Clerk of the Court.

[12] Probate Case Files, Ca. 1873-1917, and Beginning With File No. 2699, Ca. 1900-1917, 1918 (See Film Inventory Below); General Probate Index; Author: Wisconsin. County Court (Clark County).

Helen suffered many hardships

/ Gail Grunst Genealogy / Leave a comment

At the turn of the 20th century, my grandmother Helene Margarete Augusta Desens came into this world.  She was the youngest of eight children born to Carl and Augusta Desens.  She was born and grew up in Forest Park, Illinois.  She attended St. John Lutheran Church and school.  I never had the privilege of knowing my paternal grandmother because she died six months before I was born.  For some reason, I always felt connected to her.  As a little girl, I would visualize her looking down from heaven and watching me.  My father never told many stories of his mother except that she had a great sense of humor and could be sarcastic.  I wanted to know my grandmother like I knew my maternal grandmother.  My grandmother suffered many hardships and died at a young age.  I think that is why her story means so much to me.

In January of 1919 she anxiously awaited the return of her boyfriend to come home from France after serving in WWI.  Two months later, Helen married George Manfroid the day before her 19th birthday.  Near the end of 1919 she gave birth to a baby boy, George, Jr.  For the next 10 years, life was pretty good for them.  My grandfather work and she stayed home with their little boy, George.  They lived in Forest Park among both of their families.  They visited back and forth with family and friends.  My grandfather bought a gas station and they bought a house in Elmhurst, IL where her sister Annie lived.  Life was good!

Then the great depression happened.  It hit them hard.  My father always talked about it.  He was only 10 when it happened, yet it made a big impression on him.  My grandfather lost his business, and he had a hard time finding work.  They lost their big house in Elmhurst, but somehow, they managed to buy a smaller house in Elmhurst.  The house had a living room, dining room, kitchen and one bedroom and one bathroom.  My father slept in the living room on the sofa. 

My grandmother worried about where they were going to get their next meal.  Sometimes they ate bananas for Sunday dinner.  In 1933, during height of the great depression Helen gave birth to another son Donald.  He was born mentally challenged.  I often wondered if my grandmother did not get the right nourishment during her pregnancy.  As he grew older, he could not feed himself, dress himself, or go to bathroom on his own.  He was non-verbal and my father said that Donnie could be a handful. Helen became his full-time caretaker. I can’t image how she handled this alone while my grandfather tried to find employment and finally did with the American Can Company.  She had a big family so maybe her sisters pitched in and helped her.  My father was 14 when Donnie was born so maybe he helped after school.  Although, my father left high school when he was 17 to find work to help support the family. I don’t know how much help he was after he started working.  When Donnie was about 11 years old, Helen was diagnosed with Parenchymatous Nephritis (kidney disease and failure).  She suffered with this for 4 years.  Image having to take care of her son Donnie and at the same time she was sick.  Treatment for this during the 1940’s was dietary modifications mostly milk and low salt diet to control Edema, bedrest and warm clothing, antibiotics for secondary infections.  She could not rest when she had a son that needed her.  I don’t know if she followed the dietary recommendations or had antibiotics. After four years of suffering, she succumbed to the disease.  She was hospitalized over Labor Day weekend with Uremia and was there for five days. On the fifth day she died at 46 years old leaving behind a husband and two sons. During the five days, the doctor never came to see her until the day she died. My father thought the doctor and the hospital didn’t do enough to save her.  They just let her lie there and die.  After that, my father would have nothing to do with doctors or hospitals for a long time.   Donnie was 13 years old and still needed his mother.  I wrote about Donnie’s story on my blog several years ago you can find it at Meeting Uncle Donnie.  As it turned out, Donnie can understand more than he is able to verbalize.  He did manage to tell me one time, “Ma is with God.” 

Knowing about the hardships she faced in her short life is why her story means so much to me.  We all face some hardships in our lives, and I certainly have in my long life.  Mine were different than hers, but I feel I can relate to her. Maybe someday I will get to meet her in Heaven for the first time.

Week 3 What this story means to me 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks