Jump to Navigation

Schwanbeck family collection, 1830-2021

1    COLLECTION SUMMARY

1.1/1.2 Introduction/Abstract

The Schwanbeck family collection contains photographs, diaries, and family history research created and compiled by the Schwanbeck/Rogers family. The materials portray the Schwanbeck family’s life in Collyer, Trego County, Kansas. However, WaKeeney and Voda, both townships in Trego County, Kansas, are significant as well. Due to family history research and scrapbooks, there are other maternal and paternal names following the Schwanbeck family tree that include: Rogers, Ehrichs, Matuschka, and Kalkbrenner/Kaltbrunner. Additionally, extended families and family friends are present. Those surnames include: Ziegler, Mensing, Kessler, Malinowsky, Zawodsky, and Tappe.

The collection focuses on farming, harvest scenes, dust storms, and the lives of Henry (Heinrich) Ehrichs (1840-1893), Anna Magdalena Friederika Kalkbrenner Ehrichs (1836-1919), Friederich Wilhelm Carl Schwanbeck (1842-1918), Caroline Emelie Lusia Matuschka Schwanbeck (1848-1930), Adolph G. (Gus) Schwanbeck (1872-1938), Louisa Friedericka Elizabeth (aka Lulu) Ehrichs Schwanbeck (1877-1966), Nora Christine Ehrichs Williams (1879-1948), Otis F. (Fred) Schwanbeck (1896-1930), Grace Schwanbeck (1901-1925), Annie Laura Schwanbeck (1899-1908), and Myrtle E. (Elizabeth) Schwanbeck Rogers (1902-1982). Most of the material are photographs depicting these scenes and those family members after Adolph G. Schwanbeck and Lulu E. Ehrichs Schwanbeck were married as well as Lulu Schwanbeck's diaries from 1935-1962. Thus, the bulk of the collection spans from 1896-1962.

1.3      Dates

1830-2021 (bulk 1896-1962)

1.4      Quantity

4 cubic feet

1.5      Creator

Schwanbeck family

1.6      Title

Schwanbeck family collection

1.7      UID and/or Call #

532855

1.8      Language

English

      1.9     Notes

This finding aid describes materials held by the Kansas State Historical Society. Materials may be used in the Research Room during regular research hours. Support for telephone, mail, email, and online research and reference is available through email: KSHS.reference@ks.gov, phone: 785-272-8681, ext. 117, or on-site: Tuesday-Friday 9:00-4:00 and Saturdays 9:00-12:00. 

In a continuing effort to improve the completeness and accuracy of finding aids, revisions are made as more or new information becomes available. Consequently, this finding aid may differ slightly from what appears on the microfilm or on the Kansas State Historical Society’s web site.

      1.10   Repository

Kansas State Historical Society (Topeka, Kan.)

 

2    BIOGRAPHY OR HISTORY

 

The Schwanbeck family history started in Kansas in 1879.[1] However, both the Schwanbeck and Ehrichs family are of German descent. Nonetheless, both Adolph G. (Gus) Schwanbeck (1871-1938) and his future wife Louisa Friedericka Elizabeth (aka Lulu) Ehrichs Schwanbeck (1877-1966) arrived in Trego County, Kansas unknowingly at the same time in 1879. At age 7, Adolph moved from Milwaukee, Wisconsin with his parents Friederich Wilhelm Carl Schwanbeck (1842-1918) and Caroline Emelie Lusia Matuschka Schwanbeck (1848-1930), along with his four siblings. While Lulu moved from Chicago, Illinois at age two with her sister and parents Henry (Heinrich) Ehrichs (1840-1893) and Anna Magdalena Friederika Kalkbrenner Ehrichs (1836-1919).

Sadly, Adolph and Lulu experienced a lot of tragic passings before they found each other. Although Adolph would have no recollection, his sister died during childbirth in 1871. As Adolph grew up, six of his siblings passed in Voda, Kansas, from December 30, 1890, to January 5, 1891. All the young siblings died of diphtheria within one-week. Additionally, his older sister, Anna C. (Schwanbeck) Shirkey, passed at age 25 on April 2, 1894, in Goodland, Kansas. For Lulu, her father passed away on July 23, 1893, in Collyer, Kansas. Moreover, Lulu’s sister, Nora Christine Ehrichs Williams (1879-1948), was hospitalized at the Topeka State Hospital for over 40 years.[2]

After all those tragedies, and with more unwittingly to come, Lulu and Adolph found happiness in marriage in 1896 in WaKeeney, Kansas. Throughout their lives, they were both also involved in their communities’ becoming members of various clubs and organizations such as the Union Club, the American Legion Auxiliary of Kansas, and Freemasonry chapters in Kansas. They had a rich social life. Lulu wrote about frequently welcomed visitors to their farm as well as them going to visit others. Their daughter, Myrtle, would follow in these steps.[3]

While Adolph worked as a farmer, he and Lulu had four children. Otis F. (Fred) Schwanbeck was the oldest sibling born on December 1, 1896, in Voda, Kansas. Otis became a farmer, as well, though he enlisted into the military as a private for the U.S. Army Transport Service during World War I (WWI). He departed from Brest, France on April 9, 1919.

In 1899, Annie Laura Schwanbeck was born. Then, Grace and Myrtle Schwanbeck were born right after each other in 1901 and 1902. Unfortunately, in 1908, a tragedy struck Lulu and Adolph again as Annie had an untimely accident. She was kicked in the head by the family’s driving horse. The doctor took her to Topeka to recover at Christ hospital, but she succumbed to her injuries.

Annie’s death marked a plague of passings for Lulu and Adolph. Grace passed in 1925 at the age of 24 by septicemia (aka sepsis). She just married Jesse O. Kessler in 1922. Similarly, Otis married in 1923 to Marie Elizabeth Hamburg. After WW1, he not only married Marie, but he traveled and lived in Colorado as well as lived in a couple of cities in Kansas. Seven years later, in 1930, Otis died of a heart attack. By 1935, Lulu and Adolph had lost both their parents and Lulu’s brother passed by hemorrhage of the lungs on his way home due to a dust storm. That same year, Lulu started to write in her diaries.[4]

Lulu’s diaries discussed common activities like dinner plans, chores, weather, finances, social events, etc. as well as multiple dust storms that occurred from 1935 to 1939.[5] There is a gap in her diaries from 1937 to 1938. During this time, though, she suffered and recovered from severe burns from a near death furnace cleaning accident and Adolph passed in 1938.[6] Lulu continued to tend to their farm through everything with a “business as usual” mentality.[7] She hired ranch hands starting in the 1930s as Adolph’s health declined and after his death when the farm was put into her care. Names of the people who Lulu hired to help include Henry Mechalis, Harold Hobbick, Ernest “Herman” Dietz, and Charlies Haskell. Her brother-in-law, Otto Henry Schwanbeck, helped her frequently with farming and in everyday life too. “Aunt” Ottie J. Zadwodsky Spena (1886-1972) was another close family friend mentioned throughout Lulu’s diaries, along with Ottie’s brother, Peter “Pete” Zadwodsky (1874-1965).

On another note, the years in Lulu’s diaries spanned the life of her one surviving child, Myrtle E. (Elizabeth) Schwanbeck Rogers (1902-1982). Myrtle got to a college level education, unlike Lulu who wanted that growing up. Myrtle went to the University of Kansas (KU) starting in 1920. She was a member of the Achoth sorority, which changed its name to Phi Omega Pi in 1922, from 1921 to when she left.[8] According to the KU yearbook and memorabilia in this collection, she left college by 1922 even though she was in the class of 24’. She took elective type courses, but she did not have a major chosen. After leaving, she also traveled to Colorado, Chicago, and eventually Heide, Germany.[9]

By 1931, Myrtle married John Logan Rogers (1887-1960) at the home of Myrtle’s parents in Voda, Kansas. John had a long past before marrying Myrtle. He was born in Quenemo, Kansas, but raised primarily in Shawnee, Kansas until the death of his mother in 1898. From then until 1917, he lived in Jackson, Missouri with his cousin. During WWI, the U.S. Army drafted John. He departed from New York, New York in 1918. His rank was Corporal for the Company M 137th Infantry National Guard Army. After the war, he married Lela Emogene Owens on May 13, 1920. Their marriage made John the adoptive father of Ginger Rogers, originally from Independence, Missouri. A letter from Lela E. (Owens) Rogers to Myrtle suggests Lela and John divorced in Dallas, Texas in 1929.[10] Nonetheless, John would marry Myrtle in 1931. Further, by 1942, John would work as a mail carrier for the Quenemo, Kansas post office.

Myrtle and John settled in Quenemo, Osage County, Kansas by 1935. They had a son, Bruce Logan Rogers (1934-2021) born on September 4, 1934. Thus, Lulu and Adolph would get to establish a relationship with their only grandchild, although Lulu had a longer time with Bruce and her future granddaughter. Eventually, Myrtle saw the passing of both her husband and mother, Lulu, in the 1960s, but she lived until 1982.[11]

Bruce married Veda Rogers in 1956. They had a daughter, Kathryn Elizabeth Rogers in 1958. So, both Lulu and Myrtle got to connect with their great-granddaughter and granddaughter. Additionally, in 1969, Bruce and Veda created the Vassar Playhouse in Vassar, Kansas near Pomona Lake. Five years later, they purchased a steamboat that offered cruises on Lake Pomona. They, then added a second theater venue, The Whippoorwill Showboat which offered a dinner, show and cruise on the lake.[12]

Regrettably, the tragedy for the now Schwanbeck-Rogers family continued. On November 10, 1978, Kathryn died due to an unknown illness at the age of 20. Only months before Kathryn’s passing, on June 17, 1978, the Whippoorwill just departed on the river when a small tornado struck it. The boat overturned and there was loss of life. Through all their misfortunes, Bruce and Veda continued to follow their passions and give back to their community, very much following Lulu’s motto of “business as usual.”

They established the Kathryn Rogers Foundation for Artists in memory of their daughter in 1980. That same decade, Bruce and Veda were inducted into the Association of Kansas Theatre’s (AKT) Hall of Fame in 1986. And, at the turn of the century after Bruce’s retirement, they turned their historic Vassar residence into a Bed and Breakfast. Veda Rogers along with their children are the current members of the Schwanbeck family.

 

3    SCOPE AND CONTENTS

 

The collection is divided into 4 series based on item type. There are scrapbooks, photo albums, personal papers, and diaries.

The scrapbooks and photo albums are titled: Lulu’s children who died early,Myrtle Schwanbeck Rogers: miscellaneous, Myrtle Schwanbeck Rogers: childhood, school & adult years, Friederich Schwanbeck (b. 1842 d. 1918) and Emelie Schwanbeck (b. 1848 d. 1930), Descendants of Henry (Heinrich) Ehrichs and Anna Kalkbrenner,Other relatives and friends of Lulu Ehrichs Schwanbeck: Theodore (Festus, MO) Tappe (III), photos: Voda, Harvest, Farm, Storms and Pete & Ottie Zawodsky, Postcards from the past: Ehrichs – Schwanbeck family, No title (“Mimi” on inside cover), Maternal grandparents and family of Bruce Rogers.

The personal papers include funeral cards, photos, Myrtle’s bible, Annie Laura’s autograph book, Lulu’s autograph book, Grace’s graduation book, address books, recipes from the Journal of Agriculture, cookbooks, trade card book, estate titles, and family history research.

There are diaries written by two individuals: Lulu E. (Elizabeth) Ehrichs Schwanbeck (1877-1966) and Myrtle E. (Elizabeth) Schwanbeck Rogers (1902-1982).

 

4    CONTENTS LIST

 

Box 1

Series 1 – Scrapbooks                                                       4 binders

* Lulu’s children who died early, Myrtle Schwanbeck Rogers: miscellaneous, Myrtle Schwanbeck Rogers: childhood, school & adult years, Friederich Schwanbeck (b. 1842 d. 1918) and Emelie Schwanbeck (b. 1848 d. 1930)

 

Box 2

Series 1 – Scrapbooks                                                       3 binders

Series 2 – Photo albums                                                    2 albums

* Descendants of Henry (Heinrich) Ehrichs and Anna Kalkbrenner,Other relatives and friends of Lulu Ehrichs Schwanbeck: Theodore (Festus, MO) Tappe (III), photos: Voda, Harvest, Farm, Storms and Pete & Ottie Zawodsky, Postcards from the past: Ehrichs – Schwanbeck family, No title (“Mimi” on inside cover), Maternal grandparents and family of Bruce Rogers

 

Box 3

  Series 3 – Personal papers                                               12 folders                   

         Series 4 – Diaries                                                             1 folder

                        Subseries 4.1 – Myrtle E. (Elizabeth) Schwanbeck Rogers, 1919 to 1920

 

Box 4

         Series 4 – Diaries                                                              2-14 folders

                        Subseries 4.2 - Lulu E. (Elizabeth) Ehrichs Schwanbeck, 1935 to 1962

 

5    RELATED MATERIALS

 

 

6    BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

  • [Series 3 – Personal papers], Schwanbeck family collection, Kansas State Historical Society.
  • [Series 4 – Diaries], Schwanbeck family collection, Kansas State Historical Society.

 

7    INDEX TERMS/SUBJECT HEADINGS/ACCESS POINTS

 

  • Ehrichs family
  • Kalkbrenner family
  • Matuschka family
  • Rogers family
  • Schwanbeck family
  • Tappe family
  • Zawodsky family
  • Collyer (Kan.) -- History
  • Kansas -- Farming -- 19th century
  • Kansas -- Farming -- 20th century
  • Kansas -- Trego County -- Genealogy
  • Kansas -- Trego County -- History
  • Voda (Kan.) -- History
  • WaKeeney (Kan.) -- History
  • Ehrichs, Anna Magdalena Friederika (Kalkbrenner), 1836-1919
  • Ehrichs, Henry (Heinrich), 1840-1893
  • Matuschka, Johann Friedrich Gottlieb, 1815-1901 -- Family
  • Rogers, Bruce L. (Logan), 1934-2021
  • Rogers, John L. (Logan), 1887-1960 -- Family
  • Rogers, Myrtle E. (Elizabeth) (Schwanbeck), 1902-1982
  • Rogers, Veda
  • Schwanbeck, Adolph G. (Gus), 1872-1938
  • Schwanbeck, Annie Laura, 1899-1908
  • Schwanbeck, Caroline Emelie Lusia (Matuschka), 1848-1930
  • Schwanbeck, Friederich Wilhelm Carl, 1842-1918 -- Family
  • Schwanbeck, Grace, 1901-1925
  • Schwanbeck, Louisa Friedericka Elizabeth (aka Lulu) (Ehrichs), 1877-1966
  • Schwanbeck, Otis F. (Fred), 1896-1930
  • Williams, Nora Christine Ehrichs (1879-1948)
  • Dust Bowl Era, 1931-1939
  • Dust storms
  • Genealogy
  • Great Depression
  • World War, 1914-1918
  • World War, 1939-1945

 

8    ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

 

9.1      Restrictions on access

There are no restrictions on access.

9.2      Restrictions on use

Notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). The user is cautioned that the publication of the contents of this collection may be construed as constituting a violation of literary property rights. These rights derive from the principle of common law, affirmed in the copyright law of 1976 as amended, that the writer and/or producer of an unpublished letter, other manuscript or audio-visuals has the sole right to publish the contents thereof unless he or she affirmatively parts with that right; the right descends to his or her legal heirs regardless of the ownership of the physical manuscript itself. It is the responsibility of a user or his or her publisher to secure the permission of the owner of literary property rights in unpublished writing.

9.3      Custodial History/ Provenance

Veda Rogers donated the Schwanbeck family collection. Veda compiled the scrapbooks with her late husband, Bruce Rogers. Veda did the family history research too. Lulu Schwanbeck wrote the diaries that were passed down to Bruce Rogers. Bruce and Veda also acquired the few other personal papers regarding Lulu’s siblings. All this material helped Veda Rogers write A grand day : the forgotten voice of a woman farmer through dust, depression, and war.

9.4      Alternate forms

There are no alternate forms.

9.5      Preferred citation

Note: [document and/or series description, date], Schwanbeck family collection, Kansas State Historical Society.

Bibliography: Schwanbeck family collection, Kansas State Historical Society.

9.6      Acquisition information (Accession #)

2025-251

9.7      Processing information (Processor name)

                        Olivia Banzet (Irwin)


[1] There are photographs and family history research on the family prior to 1880, and their German ancestry, in this collection.

[2] There is more information on this in the family history research section of the personal papers series of this collection.

[3] There is a collection of postcards from different places all addressed to Myrtle from various people in the scrapbooks series of this collection.

[4] The diaries are a considerable portion of the collection.

[5] Lulu loved to cook. There are cookbooks in this collection from Lulu and Myrtle in the personal papers series.

[6] The whole Schwanbeck-Ehrichs family including Lulu, Adolph, their children, siblings, and parents were buried together at Union Cemetery in Collyer, Trego County, Kansas.

[7] She is quoted writing this in her diary entries. Find in the personal papers series.

[8] There is memorabilia of the games, concerts, etc. she went to at KU in the scrapbooks series of the collection.

[9] There is a family history research file on Heide, Germany in the personal papers series. Myrtle took the trip in the 1970s with her son, Bruce, and daughter-in-law, Veda Rogers.

[10] This letter is in one of Myrtle’s scrapbooks titled: Myrtle Schwanbeck Rogers: miscellaneous.

[11] Myrtle and the rest of the Rogers family were buried together at Oak Hill Cemetery in Quenemo, Osage County, Kansas.

[12] Bruce and Veda Rogers have a related collection at the Kansas Historical Society titled the Veda Rogers collection. The collection includes material on the Vassar Playhouse and the Whippoorwill Showboat. See “related materials” for more information.