Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Baert, Mrs. Willobrodus 1913
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Sandy Heintzelman sheintz@iserv.net November 25, 2010, 12:44 am

Ionia Daily Sentinel, 3 Dec 1913

Did Not Know of Wife’s Death.

Willobrodus Baert Goes To New York To ?? Wife and Three Children.

Only to Find That Mother Died in Mid-Ocean and Fellow Passengers Took up
Collection to Bring Her to Land – Ionian ??

When Willobrodus Baert, a member of the colony of Belgians, who are living here,
left for New York last Friday morning, he went intending to meet his wife and
three small children en route to this country on the steamship New Amsterdam. 
He had left them ?? six months ago in their [The rest of this paragraph is
unreadable.]

Had Mr. Baert remained in Ionia another 14 hours he would have learned that his
wife had died suddenly on the vessel in mid ocean, that at first it had been
planned to bury her at sea, but that kind-hearted passengers had taken up a
collection and the body was brought on to New York for burial at Hoboken.

But these things he did not know when he left Ionia and he probably did not
learn of his sad loss until he had arrived in New York ready to welcome his
family to a new life in a new land.  Instead of the fond wife he found only the
three motherless children, the girl aged 11 and two boys, aged nine and seven.  

Mr. Baert has been living across the river where the old Mill street road
intersected the Lyons road, with Mr. and Mrs. Johan Verpoorten, fellow
countrymen of his who understand the American language well.  He came about six
months ago and does not speak English at all.

The news of the death of Mrs. Baert a second cabin passenger on the New
Amsterdam was sent to New York by wireless message from the steamship and from
the Chicago office of the company word was wired here to Mr. Baert.  However, he
had left the city on Friday to meet his family and so went in ignorance of the
sad meeting with his children who were bringing the body of their mother for
burial ashore.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/ionia/obits/b/baert9926nob.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/mifiles/

File size: 2.4 Kb