Valentines day 2023 is fast approaching. I ran across this blog piece on the Dupage County Forest Preserve website. It was posted by Wayne Hill a heritage interpreter at Kline Creek Farm in West Chicago. It provides some insights on courting rituals and rules during the 1890s.
Speaking of romance and courtship here is a side note. The Matthias Klein family of Winfield Illinois was a large family. The Matthias Kleins (known as “the river Kleins”) and one of the daughters of Matthias and Josephine (Hammerschmidt) Klein was Mary Klein. Mary was married to Joseph L. Schlick, Jr. of Burlington Illinois. Joseph and Mary met at a St. Johns the Baptist Catholic Church in Winfield Illinois during a social event.
1910 U.S. Census Winfield Township. This listing show Joseph living with his brother on the Mack Road dairy farm in Winfield Township. On a rainy boring day Joseph began carving his name on one of the barn limestone foundation walls. When the barn was torn down my Grandfather Frank Schlick moved the stone to the parking garage at St. James Farm. When Frank moved upon retirement back to his Winfield Beecher Street house the stone was stored behind the garage. My former brother in-law and my father later tossed the stone into a dumpster when my grandparents had died. Another piece of family history gone.
For a period of time Joseph was living on Mack Road with his brother Casper Schlick to assist him with the dairy farm operations. Following the St Johns event Mary and Joseph, Jr., evidently spent a lot of time together (with a chaperone no doubt) and fell in love. They eventually were married on 5 September 1911. They had five children: Loretta (Schlick) Hermann, Martha (Schlick) Olsen, Edward Schlick, Marie (Schlick) Berna and Irene (Schlick) Deihs.
About Schlick Daleiden Families - DuPage and Kane Counties of Illinois
Kevin Davis is a retired Public Library Director. He is a Board member of the Winfield (IL) Historical Society. Davis has over 35 years experience working in public libraries. He is deeply interested in local Chicagoland, Dupage, and Kane County History. Davis earned a BA in History and an MA in Library Science from Dominican University. He is a volunteer researcher for the St. James Farm Forest Preserve part of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County in Illinois. His work includes extensive writing and research on the McCormick family line who were former owners of St. James Farm. He is an avid family historian / genealogist and has done extensive research on the Schlicks and Daleidens of DuPage and Kane County Illinois.
Schlick Daleiden Family DuPage/Kane Co. Blog 