Gen Journey

Joseph Carolus Holl was born on June 07, 1869 and entered this world at the Holl farm house. This land is now along the east side of Erie Road exactly half way between Highway JJ and Willow Roads. Joseph was baptized at Holy Martyrs of Gorcum Catholic Church in Preble, Brown County, Wisconsin. Witnesses to the baptism were Joseph Dollar, brother of his mother, and Elizabeth Myssed.

He was 2 years and 4 months old when the Great Peshtigo Fire forced the family to abandon the farm for safety to the west. In all probability, he had no memory of that night on October 8, 1871. His oldest sister, Gertrude died in 1874 when he was just over 5 years old, and he likely had very few. if any, memories of her as well. Life on the farm was busy and Joseph, like his other siblings, was expected to do his share to help with running this family business of farming. He had four older brothers, John, Jacob, Peter, Henry and one surviving older sister, Margaret, to teach him chores and help him with the schooling he attended in the one room schoolhouse near his home.

Joseph was 11 years old when his father, Jacob Sr., passed away unexpectedly from Pneumonia during the winter of 1880, and his mother was about to give birth to his youngest brother, Edward, that Spring. With Catherine, Anna and Matthias between he and his youngest brother, there were plenty of opportunities for him to pass along all that he had picked up from his older siblings. As the oldest brothers began working in lumbering and homesteading land farther north in Oconto County, Wisconsin, around this time, Joseph and Henry assumed their responsibilities at home while he was a teenager. With the coming of adulthood, Joseph also worked winters at the John Hammes lumber camps in Padus. He, too, made his way north to town of How, Oconto County, Wisconsin, to live with his older brothers. By this time the four oldest were each busy developing homestead farms and some had sawmill operations.

Hayes, in town of How, Oconto County, was the bustling new village and nearby Suring was a few shacks near a marshland called the Suring Sleugh when Joseph met and married a local young woman Ludovica (Louise) Jorgensen, September 10, 1892 . It was a civil ceremony that was sanctioned October 22, 1892 at St. Michael Catholic Church in Keshena, according to the church book of marriages. His bride's parents were Ludovic Jorgensen and Christina Nelson. There was one older son named Nels Jorgensen who was born in 1867 and married in 1896, settling near Suring, Oconto County. Nels is buried at Wanderers Rest Cemetery in Gillett, Oconto County. The Jorgensen family were originally from Denmark.

Joseph and Louise had their first child June 11, 1893 and named her Agatha. Their second was a son named Hubert Irvin born in September 1895 according to the 1900 Federal Census for Oconto County, but no birth certificate could be found for him in either state or county archives.

The 1900 US census shows Joseph to have been every bit as busy and productive as his older brothers. He is listed as a merchant living in Underhill with his wife and two children. According to family history he owned the general store in Mosling. Joseph also had purchased a 96.69 acre tract of land from William Chase, Township 28 North, Range 17 East, Section 2, along the east side of the Oconto River just downstream from Hinz, in town(ship) of Underhill. This property remained in the family, under his name, at least until 1912 on the county plat map.

By 1893 the county newspaper reported that Joseph had started and owned the stage and dray service running between Underhill, Suring, Gillett, Hinz, and Hayes, to handle train travelers, shoppers, and return trip railroad passengers. The weekly Oconto County Reporter announced in December 1893 " It affords excellent accommodations for passengers". The stage also offered time for passengers to dine or shop at stops along the route.

The grave stone in St. Joseph Catholic Church Cemetery in Gillett, Oconto County, tells us that Joseph Holl died October 24, 1901 at the age of 32 years and 4 months. The inscription on the stone is as follows:

Neither the cemetery and St. Joseph Parish in Gillett nor Catholic Diocese of Green Bay Archives have records going back that far, as it was before 1907 when the Gillett parish was a mission church without permanent clergy. No death certificate was filed with the State of Wisconsin or at the Oconto, Shawano or Brown County Court - Register of Deeds Offices. Research of Oconto County and local newspapers failed to find any mention of his death. All this is unusual for a person who was successful and well thought of in the community. No cause or place of death had been established, only the death date and burial site are known.

Eventually, through contact with his wife's family descendants, it was learned that Joseph Holl had died of Tuberculosis. It must have been hard on a family who had already lost two wives to that disease epidemic recently. These family members all lived in the same area. Science now tells us that the Tuberculosis that descemated families all over the county for decades, was carried by wild deer herds that grazed with the milk cows. The TB organism was left on the grass through the deer spittle, and picked up by the cows who grzed the same area. After the cows were infected, people became contraminated by drinking raw milk and dairy products. This was not discovered until generations later. Pasturization at high temperatures now kills organisms in milk, and helped stop the spread of human TB.

COUNTY COURT
At the term of county court held by Judge Jonas Wednesday, the following matters were taken up:
in the matter of the estate of J. C. Holl final settlement was adjourned until the regular May term.

The final judgement of Joseph's estate is dated August 14,1903 it states that after some of the belongs are sold, re: equipment, household items. The home, then plus the land, the estate was split 3 ways. An a special guardian was appointed for the children, which was Chas.Jorgenson, Louisa's brother.

On January 9th, 1904, land records state that Louisa sold land to Robert Hintz. On Jan 16, 1904 Chas. sold Robert Hintz land on behalf of the children. The widow Holl and her children were already living in the Waupaca area by 1904 where her brother Nels and her father Lars lived. Robert Hintz and the Hintz family were local woodsmen and lumber millers. The land that they bought from Mrs. Holl was virgin woods, undeveloped. The old settlement of Hintz in Oconto County was named for this pioneer Hintz family.

Records of their Joseph and Louisa Holl's son, Hubert Irving Holl, indicate that he also had Tuberculosis as a child, and medical care on tip of general living expenses my have figured strongly into both the move from Oconto County and the selling of estate property after Joseph's death. By 1910 Louisa Holl and the children were close to being on their way to Eau Claire. Her father Lars died in 1912, and brother Nels went back to Suring. Brother Chas. died unexpectedly in Suring. His obituary stated that he was a well respected person.

It wasn't until the fall of 1912 that Edward Holl, youngest brother of Joseph and an earlier business partner in the Hintz General Store, took over the children's remaining shares of their father Joseph's estate. At their mother's request, Edward sold the shares of the children to Fred Rusch on October 16,1912. The document states that the remaining 95 acres were sold for $710.25. By this time Irving was age 17 and his sister Agatha was 19. Hubert Irvin was a bookkeeper and Agatha was a court stenographer in Eau Claire, where she lived with her mother.

Joseph's son Irvin was also found on the 1900 US Census (see above census) but disappeared from all later records that were researched. After years of searching, a descendant of this son made contact with the resulting exchange of information. Irvin's full name was Hubert Irvin Holl. As an adult, he spelled his surname Hall. According to the 1910 census widow Louisa lived with children Hubert Irvin and Agatha in New London, Waupaca County, Wisconsin.

A 1918 draft registration card for Hubert Irvin places him in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, near Milwaukee. He was single, age 21 years and worked as a "night man in a garage" for the Laboratory Garage Company. He was born September 9, 1895 in Underhill, Wisconsin. Hubert was described as being tall with a medium build, having brown hair and eyes and no distinctive or unusual features. His descendants have World War I US Army military service records for him and his gravestone indicates he was a member of the Wisconsin 7th Corp Field Artillery Brigade.

By 1920 Louisa and daughter Agatha were living together in Eau Claire. Hubert Irvin was single, age 23; living alone as head of household in Rusk County, Wisconsin. About a year later he was married to Emily Irene Fitzpatrick and moved to Eau Claire Wisconsin where his children were born. They had 5 children; Joseph, Lorraine, John, Fenton and James.

The 1930 Federal Census shows the young family living with Josephine La Paige who was the great aunt of hubert's wife, Emily. Hubert was working for a Commercial Electrical Equipment company.

Hubert Irvin Hall Obituary
October 7, 1936
Judy Austin Collection

Daughter Agatha was a stenographer. Agatha remained single. Louise did not remarry. In 1930 the two women were living in Eau Claire, Wisconsin where 29 year old Agatha was working for the county court.

Louisa was living in Madison, Wisconsin in 1936, at the time of her son Hubert's death. Daughter Agatha was living in Milwaukee. Hubert's place of death was in Eau Claire, on October 7, 1936. Like his father, he also was very young; passing away at only age 41, of Myocarditis. This is an inflammation of the heart that can be caused by a number of maladies. Hubert was a book keeper at the time of his death and is buried in Eau Claire in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Eau Claire.

Agatha died December 1945 and was buried near her father, Joseph, at St. John Cemetery, Gillett. Following, on March 22, 1946, widow Louisa Holl passed away in Madison. The only survivor listed was her brother, Nels Jorgenson. Louise is buried near her daughter, Agatha, and husband Joseph Holl in Gillett. There are no headstones in the cemetery for Louisa or daughter Agatha.