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Note: Notes for Walter Baaske, Sr.: Walter did not have a <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/1mVcoYhhpzGfWTR68">certificate of birth</a> filled out for him until November 12, 1942, when he was 33 years old. The informant who gave the information for that certificate was Walter's brother-in-law, Phillip J. Secor, who was the husband of Walter's so-called sister, Hattie, who had died in 1934. Phillip's statement that Walter's father's name was "Henry Baaske" was not accurate. Walter's father also was apparently not Ferdinand Johann Baaske, known as "Fred" and as "John" Baaske, the late husband of Lizzie Baaske. Fred/John seems to have died more than nine months before Walter was born.
There is also strong doubt whether Lizzie Baaske was really Walter's biological mother. Lizzie would have been a 42 or 43 year old widow on Walter's birth date of February 15, 1909, which was pretty old to be giving birth. Or, maybe Walter was Lizzie's son, but he was illegitimate. Or, Walter could have been the illegitimate son of Lizzie's daughter Elsie, who would have been 15 or 16 years old when Walter was born. Or, Walter could have been the illegitimate son of one of Lizzie's teenaged sons Paul or Max. Or, maybe Walter was otherwise adopted. There is no way to know for sure who Walter's biological parents really were. See the "notes" for Ferdinand Johann Baaske, and his wife Elizabeth "Elise" "Lizzie" K. Puttkammer, in this genealogy chart, for more information about this.
Walter was listed in the 1910 U.S. census as a 14-month-old. The census listed him as Lizzie's son, but that doesn't prove that Lizzie was actually Walter's biological mother.
Walter was only 9 years old when Lizzie died on December 21, 1918.
The 1920 U.S. census shows 11-year-old Walter Baaske living at 59th and Normal in Chicago. He was living with Paul Baaske, age 30, who was a son of Walter's purported mother Elizabeth. Censuses usually list relationships to other people in the same household, but both Paul Baaske and Walter Baaske were listed as "boarders".
That Paul Fred Baaske was a son of Ferdinand/Fred/John and Elizabeth/Elise/Lizzie Baaske. This information comes from a railroad employee information card which requested the employee's personal information, including, surprisingly, the name of the employee's father and the maiden name of the mother. That card was later posted on ancestry.com. Paul died in 1969.
A photo of that 1920 census page: <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/ggweKqkgRcqQXX2h6">Photo</a>
Walter has not been found in the 1930 U.S. census.
On November 21, 1936, after having four children together, Walter Baaske and Josephine Niedzielko got married. The location of the marriage was Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church, 3528 S. Hermitage Ave, Chicago. It seems surprising that a Catholic church would have married a man and woman who had four illigetimate children together. A photo of Walter and Josephine's marriage license and marriage record document: <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZkBSqqgvW4L8LehCA">Photo</a>
On December 15, 1938, Walter filled out an application to get a Social Security card and number, which was 325-16-1178. <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/efcwPuj8QLmzJnAg9">Photo.</a> He did not know the name of his father. At that time, Walter was living at 3431 W. 38th Place, in Chicago.
The 1940 U.S. census had an effective date of April first. Walter Baaske happened to be the last name on a census page, so the remaining family members in the home were listed at the top of the next page. For the purpose of simplification, the names and information have been combined onto one <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/occEDgkkttfSq8Xp7">photo.</a>
Listed were Walter, 31; his wife Josephine, 29; and just two children, the misspelled name "Jeraldine", 9; and Walter, age eight. It isn't known why Donna, Ronald, Larry, and Velerie were not listed as living with their parents, or where they <i>were</i> living. They haven't been found listed elsewhere in the 1940 census.
The family lived at 608 May Street, in Chicago. Their rent was $10 per month. The x in a circle above Josephine's name on the census page indicates that she was the person who gave the family's information to the census taker. She stated (as indicated in column 14) that she had an 8th grade education, while her husband had never had any schooling!
Walter was a construction laborer, but he hadn't worked for 40 consecutive weeks before April 1, 1940. Walter had only worked 12 weeks during 1939, and he had only earned $172 in 1939. Unusually for the time, Josephine, as a married woman and a mother, worked outside of the home, as a bookbinder. She had worked 15 weeks, and earned $180 in 1939. (Columns 31 and 32.)
The children of Walter and Josephine Baaske were all apparently born in Cook County, Illinois:
1) Geraldine June Baaske, <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/8IEn61nvj317P2wH3">born April 22, 1931.</a> She married Kenneth M. Troutman on May 23, 1950, in Cook County. She married Clifford William Kurtz. Geraldine Kurtz died August 14, 1990, in Alabama.
2) Walter Baaske, <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/GrDS6QfylSfFyyUq2">born October 16, 1932.</a> He married a woman named JoAnn.
3) Donna Jean Baaske, <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/dbEUotMR0uTP9fVn1">born July 13, 1934.</a> She married LeRoy Hosey on October 29, 1952, in Cook County. They had nine children. Donna J. Hosey died January 14, 2016, in Manhattan, Will, Illinois.
4) Ronald Dennis Baaske, born February 21, 1936. He married Rita Pavia on June 23, 1960, in Cook County. He married a woman named Phyllis.
5) Larry Gaylord Baaske, <a href="https://photos.app.goo.gl/q7pt09Fy5xdDSHBd2">born August 26, 1937.</a> He married Geraldine A. Berent on August 23, 1957, in Cook County. He married a woman named Peggy, unless Peggy was a nickname for Geraldine. In Larry's father's 1983 death notice, his wife's name was stated as Jeanne.
6) Velerie Joyce Baaske, known as "Vel", born October 26, 1939. She married Ronald Des Laurier on February 17, 1959, in Morris, Grundy County, Illinois. The couple had two sons and two daughters. Velerie died May 27, 1995, in the country of Barbuda and Antigua. More about her is in this chart.
7) David Paul Baaske, born in 1941. He married a woman named Carol.
8) William Warren Baaske, born June 23, 1942. He married a woman named Mary. They had three sons and a daughter. William Baaske died October 5, 2015, in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
9) James Edwin Baaske, born in 1943.
10) Roger T. Baaske, born in 1946. He married Terry Craver on August 17, 1968.
11) Colleen C. Baaske, born in 1948. She married Stephen J. "Steve" Sundberg.
12) Diane Baaske, born in 1952. She married a man with the last name of Granger, then a man with the last name of Perkins.
13) Bernadette D. Baaske, born in 1954. She married Robert Schranz. - Walter's <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/7YCmZg5GEZ6mHP4t7">death certificate</a> states that his occupation was a truck driver. His address prior to his death was 5559 W. 63rd St., Chicago.
Walter's death notice in the March 4, 1983 <i>Chicago Tribune:</i> <a href="https://goo.gl/photos/xqiBW1VNT5TpF3D76">Photo</a>
Walter's FindAGrave memorial: <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/113502409/walter-baaske">Memorial</a>
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