Elizabeth "Liz" Fausz was born on 26 May 1894 in Caseyville, Illinois, to Peter and Margaret (Dietrich) Fausz. She was their seventh known child. Her paternal grandfather had immigrated to the U.S. from France but her other grandparents had all immigrated from regions of Europe that became Germany in 1871. In 1900 Liz's father rented a farm in Caseyville, but two older brothers worked as coal miners. In 1910 Liz was 16. She lived on the farm with her parents but was no longer attending school or working.
She married widower, Robert Muir, on 26 September 1911 in St. Louis, Missouri. She had her first son, Robert Muir, Jr., on 7 January 1912 and the couple had three more children together.
For most of her married life, Liz lived at 436 North 80th Street in East St. Louis, Illinois, while, according to my grandmother, her husband traveled to coal mines up and down Appalachia, organizing miners. I have not been able to find the family in the 1920 census but their third child was born in Tralee, West Virginia, in 1920. So I assume the family lived there for some period of time.
The 1926, 1928 and 1930 city directories for East St. Louis indicated the couple maintained a home in that city, the one at 436 North 80th Street. When the 1930 census was enumerated, Liz was living there with her three daughters and mother and worked as a cook for a private family. She told the enumerator she was married but Robert Muir and his son were not included in the list of people living in the home.
When the 1940 census was taken on 29 May, Liz and her youngest daughter, Margaret, were boarders in the home of P. J. Walker, which was located near her husband's home at 473 North 80th Street. She indicated she was divorced.
Elizabeth (Fausz) Muir died at the age of 46 on 24 September 1940 at Wood River, Illinois. Her usual residence was East St. Louis, Illinois, and she was divorced from Robert Muir at the time of her death.
She was buried on 27 September 1940 in the Caseyville Cemetery, which was located in the town of her birth, Caseyville, Illinois.
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1900 US Federal Census, Census Place: Caseyville, St. Clair, Illinois; Roll: 340; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 0088; FHL microfilm: 1240340
1910 US Federal Census, Census Place: Caseyville, St. Clair, Illinois; Roll: T624_321; Page: 13B; Enumeration District: 0099; FHL microfilm: 1374334
1930 US Federal Census, Census Place: Centerville, St. Clair, Illinois; Roll: 555; Page: 40B; Enumeration District: 34; Image: 984.0; FHL microfilm: 2340290
1940 US Federal Census, Census Place: Signal Hill, St. Clair, Illinois; Roll: T627_879; Page: 20B; Enumeration District: 82-35
Alice (Muir) Jennings' Genealogy Notebook, page 8
US, City Directories, 1821-1989, 1926 East St. Louis, IL (Muir, Liz)
US, City Directories, 1821-1989, 1928 East St. Louis, IL (Muir, Liz)
US, City Directories, 1821-1989, 1930 East St. Louis, IL (Muir, Liz)
US, Illinois, Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1947, 1940 Muir, Elizabeth
US, Missouri, Marriage Records, 1805-2002, 1911 Muir, Robert - Fausz, Elizabeth
Monday, June 8, 2015
Sunday, June 7, 2015
The Great Cyclone of 1896
Ida Mae Riggin was born in 1879 in Troy, Illinois, 17 miles northeast of East St. Louis. She was 17 when the Great Cyclone of 1896 hit the city across the Mississippi from St. Louis.
On 27 May 1896 a series of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes struck the central Midwest. The "cyclone" that hit St. Louis and East St. Louis was a historic tornado that is still considered the third deadliest and most costly tornado to strike the U.S.
The tornado spawned from a supercell; it touched down in St. Louis first and then crossed the river into East St Louis. At least 255 people were killed in the two cities that afternoon, including 35 at the Vandalia railroad freight yards. Many more may have been killed as several steam ships were destroyed in the Mississippi river and bodies were never recovered.
Many of my ancestors lived in nearby Madison County as well as in St. Clair County and East St. Louis at the time the great cyclone hit. According to The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis by Julian Curzon published in 1896, "Nearly half of East St. Louis was wrecked. The damage was done in a few minutes' time, and how anyone in the path of the cyclone escaped is a mystery to all who passed over the devastated section."
"The scene from the Eads bridge resembled a battlefield. The dead and dying were removed from the ruins by willing workers, and the burning mills and warehouses lighted their funeral pyres with a distinctness that added horror to the awful scene." Rescuers and clean-up crews found a 2x10 wooden plank driven through a wrought iron plate.
"The wind struck the levee just north of the East St. Louis elevator about 5:30 p.m. The wharf at Wiggins Ferry was the first to suffer, and it was thrown far up on the levee."
"At the hotels panic prevailed. Women ran from one room to another, and along the corridors, screaming and seeking protection. Men who had faced almost every peril were powerless to comfort them. One glance from the window told them that the storm was one of greater force than any they had gone through or even contemplated. The strongest of them trembled and there were none who pretended they had a reasonable hope of escaping alive."
With the river banks as the base, the entire triangle formed by what is called the Island, there is not a whole house standing. Even the Relay Depot had its corners broken and two huge roundhouses were shaved off below the tops of the middle of the locomotives which stood within them."
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'Courthouse in East St. Louis,' The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896
'Eads bridge,' The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896
'Electric train car blown off bridge,' The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896
'Grain elevator on the Mississippi River,' The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896
'Martell bridge,' The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896
'National Hotel,' The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896
Curzon, Julian (compiler and editor). The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896, (St. Louis, MO: Cyclone Publishing Co., 1896), pages 1-416
On 27 May 1896 a series of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes struck the central Midwest. The "cyclone" that hit St. Louis and East St. Louis was a historic tornado that is still considered the third deadliest and most costly tornado to strike the U.S.
 |
| Electric train car blown off a bridge in East St. Louis |
The tornado spawned from a supercell; it touched down in St. Louis first and then crossed the river into East St Louis. At least 255 people were killed in the two cities that afternoon, including 35 at the Vandalia railroad freight yards. Many more may have been killed as several steam ships were destroyed in the Mississippi river and bodies were never recovered.
Many of my ancestors lived in nearby Madison County as well as in St. Clair County and East St. Louis at the time the great cyclone hit. According to The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis by Julian Curzon published in 1896, "Nearly half of East St. Louis was wrecked. The damage was done in a few minutes' time, and how anyone in the path of the cyclone escaped is a mystery to all who passed over the devastated section."
 |
| Courthouse in East St. Louis |
"A law case was being tried in the court house. When the storm clouds began to gather, the foreman of the jury implored the judge to discharge them. The court house at the time was being shaken by the wind. Five minutes after the jury departed for their homes, the courthouse was destroyed by the tornado."
 |
| Eads bridge (view from East St. Louis) |
"The scene from the Eads bridge resembled a battlefield. The dead and dying were removed from the ruins by willing workers, and the burning mills and warehouses lighted their funeral pyres with a distinctness that added horror to the awful scene." Rescuers and clean-up crews found a 2x10 wooden plank driven through a wrought iron plate.
 |
| Grain elevator on the Mississippi river levee in East St. Louis |
"The wind struck the levee just north of the East St. Louis elevator about 5:30 p.m. The wharf at Wiggins Ferry was the first to suffer, and it was thrown far up on the levee."
 |
| National Hotel in East St. Louis |
"At the hotels panic prevailed. Women ran from one room to another, and along the corridors, screaming and seeking protection. Men who had faced almost every peril were powerless to comfort them. One glance from the window told them that the storm was one of greater force than any they had gone through or even contemplated. The strongest of them trembled and there were none who pretended they had a reasonable hope of escaping alive."
 |
| Martell bridge in East St. Louis |
"When the dawn came it was possible to see the devastation wrought by the storm in East St Louis. The sky was clear, and the beauty of the morning strkingly contrasted with the scene of desolation that was disclosed. On the river bank, from Kehlor's mill on the south to the elevators on the north, not a house was standing. These huge structures and the cold storage company's plant were badly damaged. The river bank was was lined with the wrecks of boats.
With the river banks as the base, the entire triangle formed by what is called the Island, there is not a whole house standing. Even the Relay Depot had its corners broken and two huge roundhouses were shaved off below the tops of the middle of the locomotives which stood within them."
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'Courthouse in East St. Louis,' The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896
'Eads bridge,' The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896
'Electric train car blown off bridge,' The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896
'Grain elevator on the Mississippi River,' The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896
'Martell bridge,' The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896
'National Hotel,' The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896
Curzon, Julian (compiler and editor). The Great Cyclone at St. Louis and East St. Louis, May 27, 1896, (St. Louis, MO: Cyclone Publishing Co., 1896), pages 1-416
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