Elizabeth Anna Kraft

  General Notes:

 
Envelope:
Mrs. Elizabeth Jaeger
623 Rosewood Ave
East Grand Rapids 6, Mich.
 
My dear Fred & Polly, I am so glad that I hearth about you and that you was going to come and see us sometime. I am so happi to think of it. Hope your are all well. Good luck and Auf Wiedershehn.

My dear Fred,

I hope you will excuse me if you hear my story. I was going to write you everyday when I got your letter, but I never got to do it so I am going to write you now. I was so glad to see you, Dear Fred. Where have you been? Last night did you hear that storm? It was terrible to listen to it. I don't know if it any harm some place I never heard nothing about it so it couldn't been so bad but it is nice today again. I am glad it didn't get any wors.

Will close with the best of wishes. Good Bye everybody. Best regards to all and good wishes to everybody. With love, good Bye, and the Lord Bless you.
 
 
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Came from a family who had a grist mill in Giessen, Germany. At the time of her husband's death both his mother and her mother were living with her and three sons and 3 daughters. ^{[Ruth Jaeger Melegari] 5 6}

  Noted events in her life were:

• Publication: Marinette Eagle Star, 19 May 1945, Marinette, Marinette, Wisconsin, USA. ⁷
Mrs. Jaeger to Have 81st Birthday Sunday

Open house will be held Sunday afternoon from 2:30 to 5 o'clock at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Jaeger, 1001 Church street, in honor of the eighty-first birthday of .Mr. Jaeger's mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Jaeger, who came here from Grand Rapids, Mich., for the occasion.

With Mrs. Jaeger will be her six children, Chris, Richard and Fred Jaeger and Mrs. Matt Grill of this city, Mrs. Lee Olsen of Grand Rapids, who with her family accompanied the elderly matron to this city, and Mrs. Meta Kamin of Milwaukee.

• Cemetery: Forest Home Cemetery and Mausoleum, 27 Dec 1950, Marinette, Marinette, Wisconsin, USA. ⁸  
    MOTHER
1864 — 1950

• Obituary: Marinette Eagle Star, 28 Dec 1950, Marinette, Marinette, Wisconsin, USA. ⁹
Jaeger

Final rites were conducted Wednesday at 2:30 p. m., in the First Trinity Lutheran church for Mrs. Elizabeth Jaeger, former Marinette resident who died Sunday at Grand Rapids where she had been living with her daughter, Mrs. Lee Olsen.

Pallbearers were six grandsons, Gardner, Fred and Daniel Jaeger, Alden Grill, Lee and Paul Olsen. Burial was in Forest Home cemetery.

Out of town persons at the funeral were Mr. and Mrs. Olsen and two sons of Grand Rapids and Mrs. Meta Kamin of Milwaukee.

Elizabeth married Frederick Richard Jaeger, son of Wilhelm Jaeger and Anna Katharina, in 1884 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA.¹ (Frederick Richard Jaeger was born on 15 Jan 1857 in Zierenberg, , Hessen, DEU,² died on 07 Jun 1903 in Marinette, Marinette, Wisconsin, USA ^{2 10} and was buried on 10 Jun 1903 in Marinette, Marinette, Wisconsin, USA ^{11 12}.) The cause of his death was crushed to death.

  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