Frederick Richard Jaeger

   Cause of his death was crushed to death.

  General Notes:

He came from a farm family in Germany and after immigrating to the United States he worked as a saw mill yardman at the Sawyer-Goodman mill in Marinette, WI. He worked with a team of horses and wagon that hauled newly cut lumber over a trestle to a storage area where the lumber could be cured. One day the team bucked and threw him from the trestle and he died shortly afterward.


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Father a Graf \endash large land holdings and prestige. All confiscated during the Franco-Prussian War. Frederick came to the U. S. following a tavern brawl with his brothers in Germany. Furniture was broken, etc. Authorities looked for him but he left with Wilhelm's Army papers and came to U.S. He returned papers to Wilhelm who then joined him in America.

He met Elizabeth Kraft on shipboard and they were married in Chicago. After Elizabeth was born he returned to Germany and was interned for a few months for his previous misdemeanor. He then returned to America with his mother, sister Caroline, brother Jacob, his wife, and children about 1886.

He then came to Marinette. After Richard's birth the family moved to Chicago for three years. When the sale of the house in Marinette (Starkweather Street) fell through they returned to Marinette.

He drove a lumber wagon at sawmill. In 1903 he exchanged a day's work with another driver. Faulty hooking of a dump wagon caused accident, which threw him, and he died of a broken neck.


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This was not put into perspective until after my Aunt Polly and my mother were married but the family could remember. It was a Sunday and the family had gone to Lourdes Catholic church on Water Street and while they were there at the service the whistle blew at Sawyer Goodman - something like two long - and as grandfather was the superintendent he got up from church service and left. It meant that someone had been hurt and he went and found that Frederick Jaeger had been killed while working there. He had been filling in for someone else who had been sick. Later, two of Grandfather Scherer's daughters and two of Grandfather Jaeger's sons married. ^{[Martha Jaeger Mogensen] 6 7}

  Medical Notes:

Fred Yaeger, who resided at 120 Starkweather street, was fatally injured by being run over by a dump car in the Sawyer-Goodman Co. yards Sunday afternoon, his injuries being internal, and death resulting about two hours after the accident.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Naturalization: in Cook County Court, 18 Mar 1893, Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA. ⁸
STATE OF ILLINOIS }
COUNTY OF COOK }

Be It Remembered, That on 18^th day of March in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and ninety Three in the Circuit Court of Cook County, in the State of Illinois (the same being a Court of Record having a Clerk and Seal), and the February term thereof, for the year aforesaid Frederick Jaeger, an alien came into Court and applied to be admitted as a Naturalized Citizen of the United States, and it having appeared to the satisfaction of the Court that the said applicant has resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for and during the full term of five years last past, and one year and upward immediately preceding the date hereof, in the State of Illinois, and that during said term of five years he has sustained a good moral character, and appeared to be attached to the principles contained in the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order, well being and happiness of the same ; and two years and upward having elapsed since the said applicant filed the declaration of his intention to become a citizen of the United States, according to the provisions of the several acts of Congress heretofore passed on that subject ; and he having now here, in open Court, taken and subscribed the oath required by those laws to support the Constitution of the United States, and to renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to every foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty whatever more particularly all allegiance which he may in anywise owe to The Emperor of Germany of whom he was heretofore a subject.

It Was Therefore Ordered and Adjudged by the Court, that the said Frederick Jaeger be and was thereby admitted to all and singular the rights, privileges and immunities of a Naturalized Citizen of the United States, and that it be certified to him accordingly, which is done by these presents.

Witness, Frank J Gaulter, Clerk of said
Circuit Court of Cook County, and the Seal thereof.
In Chicago, in said Cook County, this 18^th
day of March A. D. 1893

{SEAL} /s/ Frank J Gaulter

• Occupation: Yardman, Sawyer-Goodman Saw Mill, Abt 1895, Marinette, Marinette, Wisconsin, USA.

• Obituary: The Marinette Weekly Eagle, 09 Jun 1903, Marinette, Marinette, Wisconsin, USA. ⁹
Frederick Yaeger is Crushed to Death While Working in the Sawyer-Goodman Yards
HE FELL FROM WAGON SEAT
Lay Suffering on the Ground for an Hour Before He was Discovered

Fred Yaeger, who resided at 120 Starkweather street, was fatally injured by being run over by a dump car in the Sawyer-Goodman Co. yards Sunday afternoon, his injuries being internal, and death resulting about two hours after the accident.

Mr. Yaeger was hauling slabs in the Sawyer-Goodman Co. yards just east of the mill site and had just driven into the yards among several piles of slabs when he fell off the wagon seat, one of the heavy rear wheels passing over his body.

The accident must have happened shortly after three o'clock, but it was fully an hour after it occurred before he was found, gasping his last. Some men were walking to the coal docks when they discovered him, lying in a pool of blood, breathing his last and unconscious. He was removed to his home but died in a few moments. Upon examination it was found that the wheel had passed over his breast, crushing it in. Just how the accident happened no one seems to know. It is believed that he must have been climbing off the seat of the wagon while it was in motion and fell under the wheel.

Mr. Yaeger was about forty-six years old, and was one of the faithful employees of the company. He is survived by a wife and six children. The funeral will be held at 2 o'clock Wednesday from the German Lutheran church.

• Cemetery: Forest Home Cemetery and Mausoleum, 10 Jun 1903, Marinette, Marinette, Wisconsin, USA. ¹⁰  
    FATHER
1857 — 1903

Frederick married Elizabeth Anna Kraft, daughter of George Kraft and Katherine Bender, in 1884 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA.¹ (Elizabeth Anna Kraft was born on 20 May 1864 in Gießen, , Hessen, DEU,² died on 24 Dec 1950 in Grand Rapids, Kent, Michigan, USA ^{2 11} and was buried on 27 Dec 1950 in Marinette, Marinette, Wisconsin, USA ¹².)

  Marriage Notes:

 
Our daughter Mary [Harp-Jirschele] is a Vice-Pres. at AAL [Aid Association for Lutherans].  She is responsible for their Communications, and their Buildings and Grounds.  A couple months ago, she called me and said “Don't we know some Jaegers in Marinette?”  It seems that all attempts to find any Jaegers left there were futile, i.e., none in the phone book, no leads to go on.  So we got into a discussion on how the Jaeger family and the Scherers were related.
 
She was looking specifically for information on Fredrick and Elizabeth.  Now comes the 'small world' part of the story.  It seems that Fred [Sr.] was the first death benefit paid by AAL in their formative years.  He was killed while unloading a wagon of logs at the Marinette Lumber yard. Unknown to Elizabeth, he had bought this policy from a man who rode around on horseback for this fledgling company.  And so Elizabeth was paid an unknown sum of money, which allowed her to pay off the house and keep her family together.

Well, of course I contacted cousin Martha, who graciously invited us for tea.  Mary was thoroughly delighted to see Martha open Volume #9 of her record books and not only have pictures, newspaper clippings, but the actual death certificate.  We then drove around Marinette to photograph 'the house' and other points of interest. When Mary got back to her archivists with the find, they truly believed she could walk on water.

The reason for all of this interest is that AAL will be celebrating 100 years in 2002. This story will be an important part of their centennial book.  Mary wondered if any of Fred's descendants could be insured by the company, since it is the nation's largest for Lutherans.  Wouldn't that be interesting? I'm sending this on to the Jaegers who were on your communications, and you can send it on further. ¹³