Michael Hasenstab - Tragedy

looks spooky

Michael Hasenstab - 

B: 2 Feb 1858 in Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, United States 

D: 6 April 1932 in Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, USA 

My GGrandfather, Michael Hasenstab, must have had some issues and it is purely speculative on my part to say what it was because I don't know. What I do know, is he was widowed early - and left to raise 2 young children, Caroline and Edwin at ages 4 and 2. I do not know how or why his beloved Minnie, died. Perhaps she died in childbirth?

The census shows him and his 2 young children living together at several different residences.In 1922 it shows he was living at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. Curious, to say the least.

1920 Census shows he is the head of the house - but has both Caroline and Edwin as adults living with him. It also shows Caroline had married (widowed or divorced) with 3 young children, living with them.

He was a Butcher by trade.

Yesterday I found these 2 newspaper clippings, on his suicide.

Poor guy - He must have been so desperate. I wish I knew why.

April 2, 1932 (Saturday)

Former German Crown Prince Wilhelm endorsed Adolf Hitler for president in the April 10 election. By making a political statement, Wilhelm broke his word to the German government that he would refrain from politics as a condition of his return to Germany from exile.

April 3, 1932 (Sunday)

Germany's "Easter truce" forbidding political activities expired at noon with violent clashes around the country.

April 4, 1932 (Monday)

Vojislav Marinković became Prime Minister of Yugoslavia.


April 5, 1932 (Tuesday)

The documents seized by German police in last month's raids on Nazi headquarters were presented to the government. According to authorities, they showed Nazi plans to start a civil war in which a secret army would seize arms and ammunition and cut off water supplies to city centers.

Chancellor Heinrich Brüning told an audience in Stuttgart that the re-election of Hindenburg would pave the way for a settlement of the reparations problem, while the election of Hitler would cause the German mark to drop with a crash "in no time."

April 6, 1932 (Wednesday)

Four powers (Britain, France, Germany and Italy) opened the Danube Conference in London, discussing the perilous economic situation of the countries that once made up Austria-Hungary.

I may never know this side of Heaven.

Genealogy isn't for the faint-hearted

SUICIDE RUNS IN FAMILIES

7 months later, I get a message on Ancestry - someone from the Hasenstab family.

This gal actually knew "Uncle Ed" and "Aunt Cordie".  As you will read, she tells me, something that blew my mind. My Grandfather also committed suicide. Gunshot, same as my Mom. By this time, I had found out that my Great Grandfather, Michael, had jumped off a bridge to his death.

This was 3 generations of suicide in the Hasenstab family.

This is NOT what I was looking for. You have to understand, that when you dig through the mysteries - you just might find out why they were mysteries, to begin with.

She eventually said she would send me a picture - she never did. In fact, she just stopped communicating with me.

The Death Certificate - Michael Hasenstab

That evening, when I had received a reply from my earlier post, I was as excited as a small child, in a candy shop. I remember it was late in the evening - around 10pm - but I couldn't wait till morning. I downloaded my Great Grandfather's Death certificate.

What I saw, was shocking. The cause of death was SUICIDE! He was 74 years old.

I was devastated. My mom had committed suicide and now I find out, her grandfather had done the same. What was going on?

Genealogy and Me

While growing up, I always loved the stories my Mom told from her youth in Dayton, Ohio. The Depression, World War 2, and her family. It was like a totally different world from where I was - a small coastal town in California. I wish I had paid attention more. I thought I had, but as age creeps up on me, I have forgotten the names of people and places.

Mom did a good job keeping up with her side of the family's genealogy. Back then, they were written in the Bibles and you believed it. Now I find, that on Ancestry, many of the dates are wrong. Back then, many gave birth at home and would get a provisional birth certificate, in order to attend public school. You would see Grandmas and Moms walking up to the school, their arms full, carrying the Holy Bible, with names and dates of everyone in the family.

Mom knew a lot about her Mom's family. However, it was her father's family that she always wanted to know more about.

I, on the other hand, was fascinated with my father's side of the family, having been told, we had a good portion of Cherokee in our blood. I only wanted to know about that. No one had any good information back then. When these genealogy sites started on the Internet, I joined.

Of course, I started with my father's side and ran into so many walls. I gave up for a while.

Then I started my mom's side of the family. Her mysterious father and his family became my obsession.

In 2008, my mom committed suicide. To fill my days, of grief, I got back into genealogy and began searching for the answers my mom never got.

Boy, did I find them!