Flower in the River: A Family Tale Finally Told

Natalie Zett
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"Flower in the River" podcast, inspired by my book of the same name, explores the 1915 Eastland Disaster in Chicago and its enduring impact, particularly on my family's history. We'll explore the intertwining narratives of others impacted by this tragedy as well, and we'll dive into writing and genealogy and uncover the surprising supernatural elements that surface in family history research. Come along with me on this journey of discovery. 

  1. 4h ago

    A Flower for the Little Feller: Anastasia's Goodbye

    Send us Fan Mail In the days after the Eastland disaster, a little girl in Waukegan read about a boy she had never met—and could not stop thinking about him. Her name was Anastasia Holmes. The boy was Willie Novotny, the “little feller” whose story appeared in the newspaper after his death. Anastasia was so deeply affected by what she read that she could not sleep. Finally, her mother agreed to take her by train from Waukegan to Chicago so Anastasia could attend Willie’s funeral and place a flower on his coffin. It is a small story beside the enormous scale of the Eastland disaster, but that is exactly why it is so powerful. In this episode, I follow Anastasia’s journey through a remarkable July 31, 1915, article in the Waukegan Daily Sun and look more closely at the family behind the little girl who carried that flower. I also explore the kind of intimate reporting that preserved moments like this—moments that can disappear when history is reduced to totals, summaries, and familiar retellings. Anastasia never knew Willie, but from that day onward, his story became part of her life. And more than a century later, this lost story is restored. Anastasia's response to a child she never met gives us another way into the Eastland story: not through a number, but through one child reaching toward another. Resources: Waukegan Daily Sun, July 31, 1915, p. 1Illinois Digital ArchivesBook website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/Substack: https://nataliezett.substack.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-z-87092b15/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

    A Flower for the Little Feller: Anastasia's Goodbye

  2. 6d ago

    Saloons, Scandals, and Survival: The Biehl Family and the Eastland

    Send us Fan Mail This week, we’re heading back to Waukegan, Illinois, where the newspapers once again lead us into a much bigger Eastland story than expected. At the center is Frederick Biehl, a 26-year-old former Waukegan resident who died in the disaster. But as I began reconstructing his family, the story quickly expanded into a complicated network of relatives, survivors, conflicting newspaper accounts, and identities that needed a closer look. And then there is Frederick’s mother, Annie Biehl. Years before the Eastland disaster, Annie operated a saloon on South Genesee Street in Waukegan and repeatedly came into conflict with city authorities. The surviving coverage is dramatic and sometimes sensational—but the records leave plenty of unanswered questions. We’ll also look at what happens when repetition begins to replace research in Eastland history—and why the Genealogical Proof Standard requires “complete and accurate citations” as Element Two. Those citations are not a formality. They are a safeguard: without them, history can be separated from its evidence, repeated claims can harden into “fact,” and the people themselves can disappear behind a marketable narrative. But at the heart of this episode is Annie: a complicated woman whose home became a gathering place not only for her own family, but for two young men from other families as well. And Waukegan still has more stories to tell. Resources: Buried by Omission: The Eastland Victim Who Disappeared (PROMO Video)Waukegan Daily Sun (Waukegan, Illinois), July 26, 1915, pp. 1, 4–5, 8.Waukegan Daily Sun (Waukegan, Illinois), July 28, 1915Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/Substack: https://nataliezett.substack.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-z-87092b15/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

    Saloons, Scandals, and Survival: The Biehl Family and the Eastland

  3. Sep 24

    Waukegan’s Happiest Man, a Telegram & Family Ties Across Time

    Send us Fan Mail What happens when the newspaper survives, but the stories inside it need reassembling? Stay with me on this one.  Amid the Eastland disaster coverage, a Waukegan newspaper suddenly drops one survivor tale and shifts focus to a different story. Over a century later, that fractured page becomes a clue. By following the newspaper trail and family relationships, we can separate the stories and piece together what the surviving evidence reveals. One story is about Frank Kubik of Waukegan, IL. After the Eastland capsized, he searched the newspapers and found his sister Emma's name among the missing. But Emma’s story was far from over. Then a telegram arrived, carrying the joyful news that Emma was alive—and with it, another extraordinary tale of survival. John Behounek, who was married to Frank's sister, Rose, spent nearly twenty harrowing minutes in the Chicago River, fighting to keep himself and his wife, Rose, afloat amid panic, exhaustion, swirling debris, and the peril of a drowning person’s desperate grip. Their story lingered in the newspapers, but like so many Eastland tales, it stayed trapped in 1915, never carried forward to new generations. All the people in this story survived the Eastland disaster only to die relatively young in the years that followed. Did their ordeal in the polluted Chicago River contribute to their later health struggles? What could we discover by tracing their long-term health? What patterns might surface if we followed these lives after the disaster? And what insights were lost when that research faded? And finally, we return to the heart of why stories hold such power. Family stories can give us resilience, identity, and a connection to something larger than ourselves. They can stay with us, shape us, and sometimes surface again years later in ways we never expected. And every now and then, a story that isn’t ours can do the same thing—like a forty-something-year-old episode of a TV show that stayed with me long before I understood why. Resources: Waukegan Daily Sun (Waukegan, Illinois), July 26, 1915, pp. 1, 4–5, 8.Extra! Extra! The Eastland Stories Marooned in 1915. PROMO “The Way We Were.” Family Ties. Season 6, episode 9. Written by Gary David Goldberg. Directed by Will Mackenzie. NBC, November 8, 1987.Find a Grave, database and images, memorial 161800205, “Emma Kubik Piatek (1897–1917),” citing Bohemian National Cemetery, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/161800205/emma-piatek : accessed 24 September 2026.Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/Substack: https://nataliezett.substack.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-z-87092b15/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

    Waukegan’s Happiest Man, a Telegram & Family Ties Across Time

  4. Sep 17

    Extra! Extra! The Eastland Stories Marooned in 1915

    Send us Fan Mail This week, I explored the July 26, 1915 edition of the Waukegan Daily Sun, a newspaper packed with Eastland stories that have sat there for more than a century. As is often the case, the people in those articles are mostly absent from today’s Eastland history accounts. Then, one story turned into a newspaper version of Where’s Waldo? (Where’s Wally?), its trail veering off into the lives of a completely different family. Next, we slip behind the curtain of a 1915 newsroom. Reporters dash to the Chicago River, jotting frantic notes, searching for telephones, and dictating stories as the Eastland disaster unravels in real time. Meanwhile, back at the office, editors, linotype operators, stereotypers, pressmen, and a bustling crew must somehow transform all that turmoil into a finished newspaper. A special mention goes to the linotype machine, which was part typewriter, part vending machine, and part backhoe. It was one of the inventions that changed publishing. Given the speed and pressure these newspaper workers faced during the Eastland Disaster, it’s amazing how much they got right. It also helps explain how things sometimes went spectacularly sideways. This brings us to Harry John Tiemann and Alice Lucille Garland Tiemann, two Eastland survivors whose story bursts with drama before splintering apart. Alice faints as the ship overturns, a stranger pulls her through the water, Harry fights to reach her, and then the article abruptly veers into another person’s story. So, I picked up the thread, following it through their marriage records, census rolls, Western Electric files, a 1948 death notice, and even Alice’s later adventures on the community theater stage. Their story, like many others, had been sitting in that newspaper since 1915. This week, we invite you to meet them. Resources: Waukegan Daily Sun (Waukegan, Illinois), July 26, 1915, pp. 1, 4–5, 8.The WGN: A Handbook of Newspaper Administration, Editorial, Advertising, Production, Circulation, Minutiae. Chicago: Chicago Tribune Company, 1922.Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/Substack: https://nataliezett.substack.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-z-87092b15/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

    Extra! Extra! The Eastland Stories Marooned in 1915

  5. Sep 10

    Dorothy Missed the Boat. Fred Broke a Window: Eastland Survival Stories

    Send us Fan Mail Being a few minutes late can change an entire life. Yet being thoroughly documented doesn’t guarantee anyone will keep researching. This week, we follow two strikingly different threads from the 1915 Eastland disaster and examine how unevenly this history has been documented. First, let’s talk about Dorothy Berman. In July 1985, seventy years after the disaster, Dorothy went back to the Chicago River and shared her story with several newspapers. At the time of the disaster, she was a 20-year-old file clerk at Western Electric who planned to board the Eastland for the company picnic but showed up late. Instead, she stood on the riverbank and watched the ship capsize “like a toy,” while people screamed and slid into the water. She survived, but the memories of that day stayed with her for the rest of her life. When Dorothy was almost ninety, she spoke to reporters, and her story appeared in newspaper after newspaper. Still, in modern histories of the Eastland disaster, her name and eyewitness account are missing. Next, we meet Fred Hornburg, his father, and his brothers, all Western Electric employees who survived. Today, they linger as little more than names on a list, while the lives and connections behind those names have gone largely unexplored. Fred told the story of his Eastland survival in a 1951 newspaper article. By then, he was working as a bridge tender, looking directly over the stretch of the Chicago River where the ship capsized. His account takes us back to Fred at fourteen, trapped inside the Eastland as the water rushed in, and follows his remarkable escape. The article also mentions the use of a Pulmotor resuscitation device, giving us another look at how Chicago responded to emergencies and connecting this story to the city’s earlier experience with the Iroquois Theater fire. Dorothy Berman’s eyewitness account was recorded in newspaper after newspaper, then disappeared from modern histories. Fred Hornburg and his family remained, but mostly as names on a page. In this episode, we put the people back behind those names. Resources: “Recalls Eastland Loss from Job Vantage Point.” Chicago Sun-Times, July 25, 1951, p. 49. “Eyewitness Recalls Chicago River Tragedy 70 Years Ago.” Alton Telegraph (Alton, IL), July 29, 1985, p. 3. Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/Substack: https://nataliezett.substack.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-z-87092b15/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

    Dorothy Missed the Boat. Fred Broke a Window: Eastland Survival Stories

  6. Sep 3

    Martin saved lives. Edward shattered doors. Opal stepped in.

    Send us Fan Mail In this week’s episode:  A Chicago police officer leaps into action, rescuing lives amid the chaos of the Eastland disaster.Two undertakers clash in a dramatic battle for possession of a corpse.Amid the turmoil, a determined woman sets her sights on earning an undertaker’s license.First, meet Martin Benson, a  Chicago police officer whose 1936 Chicago Tribune obituary called him an Eastland hero and credited him with saving several lives on July 24, 1915. His role is documented. His biography is findable. Yet  Martin’s name and biography are missing from modern revisions of the Eastland Disaster history. Next is Edward Shute. Edward is mentioned on a list or two, but there’s no biography.  The newspapers, however, had considerably more to say. A lot more. Shute, a Chicago undertaker, was remembered for handling funerals after major disasters like the Eastland. Yet, as I traced his story through old headlines, his life unraveled into a series of wild and unexpected turns. Here are just a few. He once fought with a rival undertaker over a body, and the dispute ended up in court. Then there was the Passavant Hospital incident. Edward, his brother, and friends of the deceased forced open a locked morgue door after hospital officials refused to release a body to him. The door broke, Edward took the body, and when the police arrived, they chose not to get involved. Edward’s name kept surfacing in the news, tangled in stories of police chases, roaring cars, a rifle, and even a motor ambulance. Then there is Opal Pulver Shute, Edward’s second wife. In 1912, more than 200 people took the Illinois State Board exam, but Opal was reportedly the only woman there. She passed, joined the family's undertaking business, and sometimes seemed to be the face of it. Eastland history in the last few years often repeats the same missteps: countless lives fade from the narrative, while others are whittled down to nothing more than a name on a list.  Deeper research seldom produces a tidy biography. Quite the opposite. It gives us the memorable, complicated, sometimes downright unruly lives that make history worth knowing in the first place. Resources: Chicago AncestorsChicago area UndertakersFind a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/198805274/martin_edward-benson: accessed 3 Sep 2026), memorial page for Martin Edward Benson (10 Feb 1863–17 Nov 1936), Find a Grave Memorial ID 198805274, citing Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA; Maintained by Good Oman (contributor 47813454).Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/Substack: https://nataliezett.substack.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-z-87092b15/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

    Martin saved lives. Edward shattered doors. Opal stepped in.

  7. Aug 27

    Rinse, Lather, Repeat the Evidence: When Lists Overtake the History

    Send us Fan Mail When someone survives the 1915 Eastland disaster, gives a firsthand newspaper account just days later, and, years later, both she and her story disappear from later retellings, a big disconnect emerges. And the disconnect may be because the research didn't go deep enough before the broader Eastland story was repackaged and repeated. In this episode, I go back to the July 28, 1915 Hudson Observer and use newspaper accounts published at the time to show what happens when documented evidence collides with later lists. First, I return to Martha Willig’s remarkable survivor account and the frustrating fact that her family’s documented connection to the Eastland still isn’t widely represented online.  Her story was well documented and is one of the more complete survivor accounts. And yet it was never carried forward. Then I turn to the Remy family, who came to Chicago from New Jersey through their connection to Western Electric. The 1915 newspaper reports clearly establish their relationships, addresses, ages, and community ties. Later compilations manage to separate the family, muddle the facts, and—just for good measure—lose the source citations. I also share tips for researching your own family’s history, including how MyHeritage’s Scribe AI can help with translation and historical context. It can be a very useful starting point, but it still needs to be checked against the records. And I share a current experiment of mine: creating research field notes in Vellum, a Mac program designed for formatting books (including eBooks), or Atticus, a similar publishing tool. I’m using them to keep records, commentary, and citations together in one clean, shareable document that can be updated as the research reveals additional information. This episode is for anyone working with Eastland history, Chicago history, genealogy, or the larger question of how historical claims are built and supported. Share it with a fellow researcher, follow the sources, and keep the evidence moving forward. Resources: Digital Public Library of AmericaFind a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/270549532/ella_florence-remy: accessed 27 Aug 2026), memorial page for Ella Florence Goelz Remy (Apr 1874–24 Jul 1915), Find a Grave Memorial ID 270549532, citing Grove Church Cemetery, North Bergen, Hudson County, New Jersey, USA; Maintained by Burt (contributor 46867609).Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/270549537/florence_a-remy: accessed 27 Aug 2026), memorial page for Florence A. Remy (1896–24 Jul 1915), Find a Grave Memorial ID 270549537, citing Grove Church Cemetery, North Bergen, Hudson County, New Jersey, USA; Maintained by Burt (contributor 46867609).Atticus — Writing and book formatting softwareVellum — Writing and book formatting softwareMyHeritage Scribe AI — AI-assisted tool for reading, translating, and interpreting historical records.Natalie Zett. “From Hoboken to Hawthorne: Martha Willig’s Untold Story.” Flower in the River Podcast, Episode 64, June 1, 2024.Reclaiming My Story website. "Cultural Empowerment & Storytelling."Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/Substack: https://nataliezett.substack.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-z-87092b15/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

    Rinse, Lather, Repeat the Evidence: When Lists Overtake the History

  8. Aug 20

    An Eastland Story Comes Full Circle: Martha Willig’s Eastland Survival

    Send us Fan Mail Picture it. A survivor, Martha Willig, wrote down what happened on the Eastland the very next day. Then, on July 28, 1915, her gripping account ran on the front page of a New Jersey newspaper. Yet her name, the names of her fellow survivors, and their story are missing from modern versions of Eastland Disaster history — despite that article and later corroboration from descendants of the family. That contradiction is where this story starts, and it's why I'm bringing Martha Willig and Otto Larsen back to the center of it. She's in many records. She's just absent from the story that got passed down. Vet Twice, Keep the Originals That gap is why I discuss heritage and historical organizations. The majority do exemplary work, but they’re not all created equal. Vet the organization, not the label. Along those lines, I also revisit my own 1998 experience of sharing an article and photo with a venue that seemed very enthusiastic at the time. And then: crickets. Fortunately, I kept the originals. As a result, I finally learned how to curate my own family's history instead of waiting for permission. That experience turned into a life lesson. When you've done the research, located the records, and confirmed the facts, you don't need to wait for anyone else to acknowledge your family's story. The evidence gives you everything you need to tell it yourself. Run with it! Martha Willig's Survival Story Which brings us back to Martha, and to her own words: the crush of the crowd, the moment the ship tips, Otto's efforts to save her, and the loss of her brother-in-law, Louis Kruse. From there, we look at what came after the headlines, including Martha’s sister, Rose Kruse, and her life as a widow and single mother. Some families didn't just lose people on July 24, 1915 — they lost years of stability afterward. That's the thread running through this episode: the story doesn't end at the waterline, and neither does the responsibility to tell it. If you're interested in the Eastland disaster of 1915, Chicago history, genealogy, or preserving family stories with solid documentation and attribution, pull up a chair. We're doing that here every week. Resources: “Survivor’s Tale of Eastland Disaster,” Hudson Observer (Hoboken, New Jersey), 28 July 1915, 1; reproducing a letter from Martha Willig to her sister, written 25 July 1915.Natalie Zett, “From Hoboken to Hawthorne: Martha Willig’s Untold Story,” Flower in the River Podcast, episode 64, published 1 June 2024, audio podcast.Book website: https://www.flowerintheriver.com/Substack: https://nataliezett.substack.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-z-87092b15/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zettnatalie/YouTube: Flower in the River - A Family Tale Finally Told - YouTubeMedium: Natalie Zett – MediumThe opening/closing song is Twilight by 8opusOther music. Artlist

    An Eastland Story Comes Full Circle: Martha Willig’s Eastland Survival
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About

"Flower in the River" podcast, inspired by my book of the same name, explores the 1915 Eastland Disaster in Chicago and its enduring impact, particularly on my family's history. We'll explore the intertwining narratives of others impacted by this tragedy as well, and we'll dive into writing and genealogy and uncover the surprising supernatural elements that surface in family history research. Come along with me on this journey of discovery. 

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