Harry Allen

For those of you that don't know who I am, I am Joe Konsela's grandson, and Patricia Konsela's son, Joe Heath. I have been doing a lot of stuff with genealogy over the past year and have been graciously granted rights to post on here because I have a few things that you guys might be interested in.  I thought that something that you guys might be interested in was the Harry Allen story. I've heard that some of you used to visit him from time to time.

I'll give you a progression of the stories and facts as they developed for me.

My grandpa told a very interesting story about Harry saying that
he was a 5 year old kid and the Kondzielas found him with no parents on boat on the trip over here. I'm not sure if he was just trying to spruce it up and make it interesting or if he believed it, but what actually happened is a bit different.

This is how I started out my search about a year ago... I was trying to verify the story with Beverly Keltner:

My mom has been telling me this story that Grandma and Grandpa have been telling her since she was a girl.  She said that Robert and Olga  found Harry left over on the ship without his parents.  They couldn't understand him (different language) and called him Harry Allen because that  was the name sewn in his jacket. 

I officially debunked the story today for her, which kind of sucks, but now we're really wondering what the heck happened. 

First issue- Robert came over when he was 5, and Olga came over on a completely different ship, so they could not have been married and adopted Harry.

2nd issue- I have a copy of the 1905 census on ancestry.com that shows that Robert was still single when he had Harry.  Harry's name was Henry in the 1905 census, and he was 13 years old, which means he was born in 1892 (Robert and his parents came over in 1884).  He was not on the 1900 census for the  Konselas. 

I checked the 1900 Montana, Wi census for Allens and couldn't find any, which makes me really wonder where this kid came from.

She did tell me that  she went to visit him in a home a couple of times and does remember him.  We're both really interested in finding out the true origins.

This was her response:

I spoke with my sister Rosemary, and she had memories much like my own about Harry.   Harry lived with Erna but we thought we had been told they never married.  We remember the house as being very dark.   We were told Erna was nearly blind but could see better in dim light, so the kerosene lanterns that were mounted on the walls were lit very low.  Neither of us knew just WHO he was – but thought he was someone who just came to live with grandma and grandpa  (Robert and Olga) who brought him up with their own children.    Rosemary remembers that the Allens lived out in the country around the Arcadia area.  They had a spring near the house and had built a “spring house” over a flat rock the water ran over.  (Springhouses were used as refrigerators since the water coming out of the earth was very cold and cooled the area around it.  The springhouse served as a refrigerator for milk and butter and other food items.    Bev remembers being impressed with a “really cool” (no pun intended!)  waterfall that flowed down a hill over wooden slats that had been placed in a descending order.  These may have formed the system that brought the water to the house the way Bill remembers it.   

Rosemary and Beverly remember one story from a visit that they have repeated many times.  The family was visiting Harry and Erna and she served a lunch of sandwiches.  After the plate went around the table, Erna took the sandwich plate back into the pantry saying she needed to make more sandwiches.   (There must have been a few of us in the family by that time!)   Erna returned the plate to the table with the same sandwiches, but they were cut into smaller pieces!    (This seems like a trick worth remembering!)

The next time I heard from Bev regarding this subject:

Following is a message that my brother Bill posted on our Thoma Family Blog.

Harry Allen was born on November 4, 1892 in Long Island, New York.

He served in the US Army during World War I. The entered the Army at Duluth MN on May 2, 1918. He was a Private assigned to Co. D, 357th Infantry. He was discharged at Camp Grant, IL on June 16, 1919. I don't know anything about his service; however, I have requested a copy of his discharge papers which may shed some light on his service. His serial number was 2858985.

In 1957 at the age of 65, he filed a claim for pension benefits from the VA. At that time he stated that he operated a farm of 80 acres with 21 tilled. His gross income for the previous year was $616. with the principal source listed as milk sales. He indicated that he was still able to do some work on the farm but that it was getting difficult due to poor general health and a hernia. According to the claim, he had a 4th grade education.

On the claim, he listed his "Father's Name and Place of Birth" as Frank Allen, Long Island, NY. He listed his "Mother's Maiden Name and Place of Birth" as Mary Konsella (stepmother) Bessemer, MI. He listed his next of kin as Robert Pogreba, friend.

(Note: Bessemer MI is in the UP, not far from Hurley WI.)

My records show that in June of 1974 he was a resident of the Arcadia Nursing Home. He died on Christmas day, 1986 at St. Joseph's Hospital in Arcadia.

 

He is buried in Lot 212 of St. Joseph's Cemetery in Glencoe (just outside of Arcadia). The County Veteran Service Officer ordered a flat granite grave marker from the VA and I ASS U ME that it is on his grave. I have not visited the grave - maybe I'll visit it next summer.

His death certificate is recorded in Trempealeau County. The cause of death is listed as Arterial Sclerotic Heart Disease. The father and mother's names on the certificate say "unknown".

His soc sec number was 468 18 4463.

A book,"The Long Way Home: An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War" chronicles the lives of 12 immigrant who came from Europe only to end up back in Europe fighting in WWI. One of the men was Max Cieminski. Max went to stay with his sister, Mary, who was married to August Kondziela who owned a brewery and boarding house in Bessemer. I would be willing to bet that if someone did some research, they could link the Kondziela's of Bessemer MI to Robert Konsela of Waumandee. I have seen spellings of Konsela's in our area as Kondziela also. Anyway, I believe that this is the link that gets Harry Allen whose step mother was Mary Konsella down here to the Robert Konsela family. I may have to make a trip to Bessemer next summer to see if the brewery is still there.

I vaguely remember visiting Harry on his farm. What I remember was that the house was very dark and that he had "running water" in the house. There was a wooden trough running right through the house from a spring outside. Water ran through the trough continuously which had to be pretty handy. I don't believe that there was electriciy in the house - but that was probably 55 years ago, so my memory might not be accurate. Didn't Harry have a woman - Erna?? living with him? What was her last name?

What I remember Mom saying about Harry was that he came to live with their family because he was abused by ?? as a child. I seem to remember her saying that he had a scar on his face from a time that he was hit in the face with a butcher knife.

Harry had to be about 33 years old when Mom was born, so she was repeating lore that may have been exaggerated some.

Harry was probably a "step" cousin or nephew of Robert.

I've been talking to August Konsella's (he took the 2 Ls) grandson, John Riggs of Reno, NV. I relayed some of  that information and asked him if he knew anything about Harry. He responded with:

Harry was adopted from the Orphan Train from NY to live with with the August and Mary Kondziela family in Bessemer, MI. He lived with them and when grandpa Kondziela died, he came to the funeral. He very well may have moved in with August's brother Robert to help on Robert's place. May be he wanted to be a farmer and learned that with Robert. Our family was close and all the relatives visited back and forth.
The brewery is long gone. Grandpa built the family home on the site. He also built 6 or more other houses on Iron Street in Bessemer. He also moved many of the houses in the town to other lots.
Thank you for the update on what happened to Harry, seems he was the adopted or step brother of both of our groups. PS, this kind of proves we are cousins you know.

And:

Look at this web site... this is where Harry Allen came from, via being a NY orphan. A bunch of these kids were taken off the trains and shifted around connected families as helpers and made family of those they lived with.

http://www.childrensaidsociety.org/about/history/orphan-trains 

After that, he took me by surprise with this:

I was wondering? Henry Allen and Harry Allen? Were they the same person? Brothers? Harry does vanish from My Mom's family. Mom said that her Mom and Dad took in a Orphan Train kid who the Sheriff and Town Constable made them send him away? Then they got got custody of another, wonder if it was really the same kid or different in both instances and the names are screwed up?

I told him I didn't know anything about a Henry Allen, and we ended the discussion with him saying this: 

It is most likely the same fellow. After problems in Bessemer, he was sent to live with your Robert and turned out to be a good kid and good man. I will list him will change the name to Harry and show him moving to you guys. This is a direct connection between your Robert and my August (Augustyne - Augustyne) Kondziella to your Robert's spelling. I also could have written Henry instead of Harry by mistake. We need to clean these mistakes up and merge the families.

So, that's what I have for Harry Allen. I'm not sure if any of you have any more details you could add about him or his life. I'm not sure whether he was abused or if he was a "bad kid". I would think that John would not have been told if his grandparents were abusing Harry. Then again, maybe Harry needed to get out of the city and onto the farm to clean up his act.  Either way, he was and still is a direct link from the Robert Konsela family to the August Konsella family, and it was a very interesting story that developed over the last year and a half.