Robert Thomas Lathrop was born on 17 November 1917, in Peru, Illinois, the fourth child of Leroy and Clara (Janz) Lathrop. He grew up alongside his older siblings Leroy B., Marie, and Harold J., and was later joined by a younger sister, Agnes, born in 1920. The family also mourned the loss of twin brothers who died in infancy. In 1920, the Lathrop household was a crowded and lively one. The family lived with Robert’s paternal grandparents, Edward and Katheryn Lathrop, along with several aunts and uncles at 2425 Market Street in Peru—fourteen people sharing one home. Robert’s father worked…
2LT Arley John Kuehn, Service No. O-712172
Arley John Kuehn was born on 13 April 1922, in Peru, Illinois, the son of Otto and Emily Kuehn, both Peru natives. His father had served in the First World War as a Private in Company H of the 55th Infantry, and the year before Arley’s birth, Otto married Emily and began building a life in the town where they had both grown up. By 1930, the Kuehn family was settled at 2228 Second Street in Peru. Otto had traded his soldier’s uniform for a mail carrier’s route, delivering letters and parcels through the streets of their small Illinois city.…
PVT Michael Stanley Krystofek, Service No. 36395608
Early Years Michael Stanley Krystofek came into the world on 5 September 1907, in Peru, Illinois—a small city along the Illinois River—the fifth child of Polish immigrants Stanley and Sophia Krystofek. His parents had made the long journey from Poland to America in the 1890s, married in LaSalle County in February 1897, and built a life rooted in hard work and family. By the time Michael arrived, he already had four older siblings: Joseph, Mary, John, and Anthony. The family would eventually grow to nine children, with the arrivals of Frances, Josephine, Anna, and finally young Stanley in 1919. The…
PVT Leonard Irving Howarth, Service No. 36672551
Leonard Irving Howarth was born on 6 February 1925, in Peru, Illinois, the fourth son of Thomas Sheldon Howarth and Johanna Fitzpatrick Howarth. The family Leonard was born into was a blend of two immigrant traditions. His paternal grandparents had come to America from England in the years following the Civil War, while his maternal grandparents, the Fitzpatricks, were the first American-born generation of Irish families that had crossed the Atlantic in the mid-1800s—part of the great wave of Irish emigrants still fleeing the aftermath of the Famine years. Leonard’s father, Thomas, was a veteran of World War I who…
PFC Milton Joseph Haas, Service No. 36371784
Milton Joseph Haas came into the world on a summer day, 19 August 1917, in West Brooklyn, a small community in Lee County, Illinois. He was the second son of Martin and Anna (Graf) Haas joining his older brother Ivan, who had been born three years earlier in 1914. When Milton was still a toddler, the family relocated to Peru, Illinois, settling into a rented home at 2019 Second Street. Martin found steady work as a mechanic at a local garage. Milton attended St. Joseph’s parochial school, where the rhythms of Catholic faith and community shaped his early character. From…
SGT Everett Charles Gosnell, Service No. 36323623
Sergeant Everett Charles Gosnell was born on 20 July 1907, in Kingsley, Kansas, to William and Nancy Jane (Noe) Gosnell. The couple had married in January 1900 in Green County, Kentucky, and eventually moved to Illinois, where they raised their family. In 1910, Everett was living with his parents, two older brothers, and an older sister in San Jose Village, Mason County, Illinois. His father worked as a section laborer for the Chicago & Alton Railroad, later the Alton Railroad – a position that perhaps drove the family to relocate over the next ten years to Toluca, Illinois. At some…
PVT Valentine Garncarz, Service No. 36479149
Valentine “Val” Garncarz was born on 22 October 1924, in LaSalle, Illinois, the second son of Valentine F. and Belanda (Murawski) Garncarz. At the time of Valentine’s birth, his parents were living at 1107 Fifth Street in Peru with their two older children, Theresa and Anthony. Valentine’s father and namesake worked as a clerk for the railroad. In 1926, when Val was three years old, his grandfather John Garncarz passed away. In the wake of that loss, the family moved in with John’s widow, Mary, at 608 Plain Street in Peru. In 1931, Valentine’s sister Mary was born. As a…
Understanding Your Google Accounts and Profiles
If you have used Google products and services for a long time, you may be like me and never really paid close attention back in about 2012 when Google introduced profiles to Chrome. Finally this week I realized I needed to get a good handle on the difference between accounts and profiles in Chrome. Fortunately I now have AI tools to discuss things like this. So after spending a while talking about it with AI, I explored some of the concepts with my accounts and profiles. I still would not consider myself an expert, but I knew I needed a…
1LT Roy May Jr, Service No. O-723996
Roy May Jr. was born on 13 August 1921, in LaSalle, Illinois, the eldest son of Roy and Charlotte “Lottie” (Baker) May. A year later his brother Robert was born. In 1924, when Roy was three years old, the family suffered the loss of a full-term stillborn child, William, who never came home. In 1930 when Roy was eight years old, the May family lived in a home they rented at 542 Eighth Street in LaSalle. Roy’s father worked as the proprietor of a jewelry shop. By 1940, Roy Sr. had left the jewelry business and taken a job at…
Mapping the Historic American Building Surveys
Lately I have been focusing on researching historic buildings in Peru, Illinois, and trying to leverage the information published in, I believe, the 1980s in the Historic American Building Survey (HABS) report for that community. What I found was researching properties with these reports can be challenging. Even when covering only one community, the document can be lengthy, and I have not found them to be bookmarked. So if you want to know if a specific property is surveyed and in the report, you need to open the report and scroll or page through it. Even if you find a…