Flower in the River: A Family Tale Finally Told

One Family, Two Losses, and a Voice That Went On

• Natalie Zett • Season 4 • Episode 145

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A century-old trade journal shouldn’t be the most gripping thing you’ll hear about this week, but here we are: a 1915 issue of The American Lumberman unlocks the intertwined stories of Chicago’s Czech community in the aftermath of the Eastland disaster. We trace a death notice—Julia Kolar—through a maze of addresses, parish ties, and workplace notes. We then follow the thread to meet another victim, Anna Molitor Kolar, and a survivor, Ellla Kolar, whose voice would carry from Chicago to Milan.

We walk through the exact research steps that make lost lives legible again: cross-referencing historian George Hilton’s Appendix D (Eastland: Legacy of the Titanic), combing the Eastland Memorial on Find a Grave, verifying Czech-language obituaries from Denní Hlasatel (Czech language newspaper), and balancing crowdsourced pages with original citations. 

As the puzzle comes together, it reveals the deeper structure of a neighborhood economy built on lumber yards, monthly home payments, and mutual aid. The result is part genealogy guide, part community history, and part recovery of cultural memory.

Survivor Ella Kolar’s arc is a standout. A 1920 passport application shows her heading to Italy for vocal study; press clippings welcome her back for a River Forest reception; and a half-page notice in the Musical Courier confirms representation, bookings, and momentum. Critics in Boston hailed her as a “newly risen star,” and her community claimed her with pride.  While many records are accessible, there’s a gap in research, signaling that more work needs to be done.

If you love family history, Chicago history, Czech-American heritage, or the craft of archival sleuthing, this story has tools and heart in equal measure. 

Resources:

  • Kolar images and obituaries, 1915-07-27 TUE DENNÍ HLASATEL, Find a Grave
  • Anna Molitor Kolar obit 1915-07-27 TUE DENNÍ HLASATEL and Find a grave
  • American Lumberman (1915) and Musical Courier issues on Ella Kolar — via HathiTrust/Google Books.
  • Kolar family records — FamilySearch.org
Natalie Zett:

Hello, I'm Natalie Zett, and welcome to Flower in the River. This podcast, inspired by my book of the same name, explores the 1915 Eastland disaster in Chicago and its enduring impact, particularly on my family's history. We'll explore the intertwining narratives of others impacted by this tragedy as well. And we'll dive into writing and genealogy and uncover the surprising supernatural elements that surface in family history research. Come along with me on this journey of discovery. Hey, this is Natalie, and welcome to episode 145 of Flower in the River. And I hope you're doing okay. This week we will get to know some members of Chicago's Czech community. And the way I found out about these people, a most circuitous route. This is a story that I located inside a trade journal. It's called The American Lumberman. And it was based in Chicago. And this issue was published on July 31, 1915, six days after the Eastland disaster. I'll just read selections because it goes on for quite a while. Disaster makes effective appeal. Subheading Chicago Lumbermen Aid Generously, relatives of victims of Eastland Horror. Purse strings of Chicago lumbermen and allied line dealers were untied quickly following the Eastland boat disaster and contributions totaling more than$5,000 were made to the general fund for the families of the horror victims. The lake steamer turned over in the Chicago River july twenty fourth while tied to its pier. It was loaded with employees of the Western Electric Company who, with their families, were to have an outing at Michigan City, Indiana. The known dead total eight hundred and thirty-one and five hundred and twenty two are still missing. A committee composed of the following well known lumbermen had charge of this subscription Edward Deerson, James Doothy, George D. Griffith, Frank Haltman, Herman H. Hedler, H. H. Kensner, G. H. Holloway, Murdoch McLeod, Mark Porter, and George J. Pope. In order to facilitate the work, most of the checks were sent to E. E. Hooper, Secretary of the Lumberman's Association of Chicago, and he in turn turned them over to the treasurer of the General Fund, though the association had no official connection with the Lumbermen's Fund. Some contributions were made direct to the General Fund Treasurer. The General Fund has passed the$250,000 mark. The lumbermen who generously responded to such a worthy cause as aiding the families of the Eastland disaster were the following. And I'm not going to read all of them because this goes on for half a page and it's in very small print. So needless to say, people were generous. And we're going to continue with this paragraph. One of the victims of the ill-fated Eastland in Chicago was Miss Julia Kolar, daughter of Joseph Kolar, who for many years has been foreman of the Pilson Lumber Company, 22nd and Laughlin Streets. Many other employees of the lumber district had relatives or friends who were victims of the river disaster, which was the worst horror in Chicago history. Almost without exception, the victims were those who lived on the west or southwest side of Chicago and were Polish and Bohemian people. Among these people are hundreds of small homeowners who have been paying for their homes on what is known among real estate men as the monthly payment plan. In scores of cases like the one on whom these payments depended, either the father or the son or the daughter are now enrolled among the Eastland death victims, one of the commendable features of the charity which will be afforded by generous contributions will be the saving of these homes for those who are left to mourn the loss of loved ones. Before we move on, I want to give you some background about the American Lumberman. This was a major trade journal of the U.S. lumber industry from the late 19th century through the early 20th century. It was headquartered in Chicago, which made perfect sense for that era, because Chicago was one of the biggest lumber hubs in the world. By the early 1900s, Chicago was a major distribution for Midwestern timber and a center for lumber yards, planing mills, wholesalers and manufacturers. And it was also home to large immigrant workforces, especially the Czech, Polish, and German workers who, many of them, worked in this industry. The lumber yards west of the river and around Pilsen and Lawndale were major employers, and entire neighborhoods grew up around these industries. And so the magazine reported on industry news, economic updates, and, as you just heard, community and welfare issues. So it wasn't just business as usual. They expressed concern for the people who worked for them. In this article about the Eastland disaster, the editorial staff at The American Lumberman put a face to the tragedy. A single victim, Julia Kolar, is profiled in this article probably because her father, Joseph Kolar, was a longtime foreman at the Pilson Lumber Company. He would have been part of the magazine's readership community, and perhaps would have been a spokesperson for certain things. And foremen weren't anonymous laborers. They supervised crews, handled payroll issues, and I suspect too that they came up through the ranks so they understood how the business worked, and they were hands-on kinds of people before they even became foremen. So finding an Eastland victim this way vis-a-vis a trade journal, this also opens up another facet of life in the early 20th century for Czech immigrants. So that gives us a greater insight as to not just what they did, but how this industry functioned and how this industry responded during this time of great need and tragedy. And my next step was to find out all I could find out about Julia Kolar and her family. And after two years, actually two years and two months, if we want to be specific about it, of doing this deep research into the lives of the people of the Eastland disaster, these are the steps that I generally follow, and I say generally because certain populations need some specific types of searches, and we'll talk about that. But I always look at everything that I can think of to see what information is there. And when I've gathered enough information, I start the analysis process and I go back and forth. When it comes to victims, one of the first places I've learned to go is to Appendix D of George Hilton's book, Eastland Legacy of the Titanic. So the Eastland Memorial Society, no longer in business, they were working with George Hilton in the late 1990s, early 2000s. What they did was take Appendix D, the list of victims, they put it into a spreadsheet, and they put it online on their site so you could see the names of the victims. And not just the names, they also had a comments section where they would put additional information. Well, since they no longer are in business, I have borrowed that same document, turned it into my own spreadsheet, and now started adding my information to it. It is available on my website. Of course, I've added the people that I found, and that would be Thomas Marin, the omitted victim from the Eastland disaster, and Chrissy McNeil Laritson, who died seven years after the Eastland disaster. So I consult that list as well to make sure I have everything. And when I consulted that list, I did indeed see the name Julia Kolar. However, in that list was an additional Kolar surname. So that got me to searching even more. So I searched and located another list of Eastland people. And indeed the two Kolar surnames were there, but there was a third kolar surname. This person's status was designated as unsubstantiated, but there was no additional information as to where this came from. No footnotes, nothing like that. So I had to keep moving. One of the big lessons I've learned through the course of doing this work is that there is no such thing as a one-stop shopping, I don't know what else to call it, experience for understanding the extent of the Eastland disaster. The closest thing you will ever find at this point is George Hilton's book, which unfortunately is only available online via the Internet Archive, but at some point, hopefully that will change. To work with this history, at least at this point, I had to change my mindset entirely, which means you do too if you're coming along for this ride. So what we have to do is search for people the way you would search for a person in your family tree. If you are a genealogy enthusiast or family historian or whatever you want to call yourself, you're the person who knows the family history and who knows how to do the research and who is constantly learning how to navigate these many, many branches of a family tree. I suspect most people who listen to this podcast regularly, that's who you are. So you know the deal. You start from scratch and you create a family tree, and that is just what I do. The other aspect that is, well, it's not unique, but it is a defining aspect of researching the people of the Eastland disaster. The biographies and photos are all over the place, in different online collections. When I've found biographies, much of the time there's no source attribution, there's no footnoting, so I don't know where the information came from in the first place. And since we don't know where the information came from, we can't use it in its current state. But most of the time I have been able to track it down and determine its original source. So all is not lost. It just adds to the intrigue and the amount of time it takes to search for these people, but I'm getting better at it the more I do it. I've learned to just embrace the challenge and roll with it. But the one place that I always go to now is Find a Grave, specifically their Eastland Memorial site, and of course I will give you a link to that. All of the information is created by volunteers, and this is a crowdsourced site, so that means that you too can contribute and make corrections, and corrections are often needed. However, it's free and there's no donation button in sight. You can just go there and get the information. Speaking of which, let me tell you how I was able to find information about Julia Kolar, for whom some very nice volunteers made a memorial on the Eastland Memorial site. The full name of this site is Eastland Disaster Victims, a virtual cemetery created by Bert, but that's a mouthful, so we'll just call it the Eastland Memorial Site on Find a Grave. So get this. There was a photograph of Julia, and she's lovely. Her full Czech language obituary, but I had to do additional research because the source citation wasn't there, but it was pretty easy to find. The obituary for Julia Kolar originally appeared in a publication called the Deni Hlasitel, that's Daily Herald in Czech. And I think anybody who works in Czech genealogy probably knows of this publication. This was a Czech language daily newspaper published in Chicago from 1891 to 2006, and that made it the longest-running Czech serial in the world. Its pages offer a rich chronicle of the Czech immigrant experience in the United States, featuring community news, cultural events, and an estimated 100,000 obituaries, invaluable to genealogists and historians, not to mention podcasters like me. This is from the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International, and yes, I am a member, and I have learned so much from them. So Julia Kolar's Czech language obituary in Denis Lasitel gives us a lot of information, which I will share with you. But there's also her obituary in the Chicago Tribune from July 31, 1915. Here's where it gets interesting because here's where we find the obituary for the quote unquote other kolar, and her name is Anna Kolar. How do you think she's related to Julia or is she related to Julia? So let's go back to the Czech language obituary for Julia Kolar, and this will help us decode the relationship. So here is Julia Kolar's death notice from the Denis Lasatel, july twenty seventh, nineteen fifteen. Death Notice In deep sorrow and grief we announce to all friends and acquaintances the sad news of the death of our beloved daughter, sister, sister-in-law, and niece, Julia Kolorova, who perished in the sinking of the steamer Eastland on Saturday, July 24, 1915. She was born in Chicago 24 years ago and belonged to the Chicago Lodge No. 7 of the CSA. The funeral of our dear one will be held on Thursday, July 29th, 1915, at 9 AM from the House of Mourning, 2540 South Hamlin Avenue, to the Church of the Blessed Agnes of Bohemia on Central Park Avenue, and from there, by automobile, to St. Voich, Saint Adalbert Cemetery, where her earthly remains will be placed in the family grave. Quiet condolences are kindly requested by Joseph and Veronica Kolar, grieving parents, Frontishek, Joseph Bohumil, and George, brothers, Anna and Marie, sisters, Frank Hinos and Joseph Radic, brothers in law, Anna, Grace, Myrtle, and Mildred Kolar, sisters in law, Anton Kolar, and Jan Yarosh, uncles, Barbara Kolar, Katarina Yarosh, and Mary Karlich, aunts, and other relatives and friends. Because of our great sorrow, it is not possible to invite friends and acquaintances personally. Anyone wishing to attend is asked to register at the House of Mourning at two five four zero South Hamlin Avenue or with the undertaker Mr J. T. Schwarzchek at three hundred ten West 26 Street. Next, I'll read the death notice for Julia Kolar from the Chicago Tribune, july 31, 1915. Miss Julia Kolar, 26 years old, sister-in-law of Mrs. Anna Kolar, 2540 South Hamlin Avenue. Julia had been with the Western Electric Company for six years. Her father, Joseph Kolar, is foreman at the Purleen Rubber Company. Funeral was held Thursday morning from the late residence to St. Adalbert Cemetery. Some discrepancies to point out. Unless Joseph Kolar was working at two companies as a foreman, which I don't think he was, this seems to be a mistake. And don't forget, these people, these reporters, were working really fast, so errors happened. They just did. But here's the good news we have all sorts of corroborating information. Information that helps get us some clarity. Let's return for a moment to one of the publications of the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society. In their publication, which is called Nage Rodinia, which means our family, they published some other information from the older Denis Lostatel publication from that era. So back in 1995 and 1996, that's how long ago this was, the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society published information from 1915 and 1916. The first piece that they published was a commentary about the Eastland disaster. I won't read that here, that's for later because it's really long, but it is so insightful. They also published in English all of the names of the people who were part of the Czech community who perished on the Eastland and whose obituaries appeared in the Dani Lassitel issues. I'm bringing up the date, not 1915 and 1916, but I'm bringing up the dates 1995 and 1996, because that is how long this information has been available. For whatever reason, not all of it was brought forward in many of the modern retellings of the stories of the people of the Eastland disaster. Yes, we have seen this quite a bit, but this is again another instance of that, despite its availability. So this is another resource that is tremendously valuable. But since I was specifically searching for Julia Kolar and other people with that surname, I got a lot of information out of these publications. Here's what I found. The first person who lists under the surname Kolar is Mrs. Anna Kolar. I'm going to read from the transcribed list of the Deni Lasitel. That was reprinted in the Nagy Rodinia, which means our family, and this is the quarterly journal published by the Chicago Genealogical Society International. If you're confused, just hang in there, it will become clear, I promise. And it reads, Mrs. Anna Kolar, 1660, South Millard Avenue, age 26, maiden name Molliter, wife of Jerome Kolar, accountant at Garden City Brewery. She drowned with her sister-in-law, Miss Julia Kolar, whose sister, well-known singer, Miss Ella Kolar, was rescued. The next listing under that surname is Julia Kolar. Of course, that's the first Kolar we met. Her address is 2540 South Hamlin Avenue, 26 years old, sister-in-law of the deceased, Mrs. Kolar. Now it is time to pause and straighten out a few things here. It took me a few readings too, but actually the initial Czech language death notice for Julia Kolar helps us figure out what's going on. It listed as her parents, Joseph and Veronica Kolar. That is indeed true. I did the family tree for her, but this death notice also gave us a couple more clues. There was an Anton Kolar and a Barbara Kolar, aunt and uncle to Julia. So I did a family tree for them as well. Anton was the brother of Joseph Kolar, who is the father of Julia Kolar. And Anton Kolar and Barbara Kolar are the parents of Yaroslav or Jerome, as he was known. He married Anna Moliter, and Anna Molater became Anna Moliter Kolar. So a little bit of research revealed the real relationships between all of these people. Anna Moliter Kolar was married to Julia Kolar's cousin. That's how they're related. They're related through marriage. See, isn't genealogy fun? It will make your head hurt, but at the end you will feel so satisfied that you figured something out that you forget the pain, I promise. Now remember Ella Kolar? She was also aboard the Eastland, but she survived. And according to this small article, she was a well-known singer, so she was far from being unsubstantiated. She was there. Her relationship again, she was the cousin to Julia Kolar, not the sister, and she was the sister-in-law to Anna Molliter Kolar, who was killed. Her brother was Jerome, and her parents were Anton and Barbara. And Eastland disaster survivor Ella Kolar went on to have a most interesting life. I searched on Family Search and I was able to locate a couple of passport applications for Ella. Wait until you hear this. This is a passport application for Ella Kolar. The date is May 28th, 1920. So this is five years after the Eastland disaster almost. This passport application was filed in the state of Illinois, and Ella wrote that she had never been married, that she was born in Chicago on the 7th of July, 1897, and that her father was Anton Kolar, who was born in Bohemia, Austria, most likely today's Czechia or Czech Republic, and now residing at 1660 South Millard Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, and that he immigrated to the United States from the port of Remen, Germany, May 1881, and that he resided 39 years uninterrupted in the United States from 1881 to 1920 at Chicago, Illinois. And why did Ella need a passport? And why was she traveling by herself? Ella wrote that I desire a passport for use in visiting the countries here and after named for the following purpose country Italy Object of Visit Vocal Education. So if you remember the article from just a few minutes ago, they mentioned in the article that Ella, who was a survivor, was also a very well known singer. On her passport application, she wrote that she intended to leave the United States from the port of New York on July 3, 1920. The second page of Ella's application is awesome because it has a photo of her, and what I also like about these passport applications is they have a description of the applicant. She was 23 years old, 4'11 inches, high forehead, blue eyes, nose was straight, no distinguishing marks, mouth was medium, chin was round, hair was brown, complexion fair, face was full. Of course, some of this is subjective, but that's how they did things back then. And she signed her name Miss Ella Kolar. Now there was an additional application for registration of a native citizen. It seems that the first part of this was lost, but there's some crucial information on this application as well. And at this point she is living in Milan, Italy at the Hotel della Via Milan. And she states that she is residing in Italy to study, and the date of this application is the 8th of September, 1920. So she was indeed studying and doing her thing in Italy. So what's your guess? What do you think happened to Ella after she returned from Milan? The answer is a lot. I'm going to read several articles to you. The first one is from the November twelfth, nineteen twenty-one issue of the Oak Leaves that's out of Oak Park, Illinois. Headline Makes Debut in Opera. Miss Ella Collar returning from Milan, Italy, will be given reception in River Forest. Mrs. Jerome E. Colar of four hundred ten Monroe Avenue will leave Monday for New York, where she will meet her sister-in-law, Miss Ella Collar, who is returning from Milan, Italy, where she has been for the last two years, having made her debut there in grand opera. During her stay in New York, Mrs. Kolar will be at the Waldorf Astoria and expects to be there for about two weeks. Upon returning to River Forest, Mrs. Kolar plans to give a reception at which her friends may meet Miss Kolar, whose musical talents and long study promise distinction for her in artistic affairs. That's the end of that small article. And as a side note, Mrs. Jerome E. Kolar, well obviously Jerome Kolar remarried after he lost Anna during the Eastland disaster. This is a transcription from the April 30th, 1922 issue of Denis Lasitel, the Czech language publication that was out of Chicago. Headline Great success of a Chicago Czech artist. Miss Ella Kolar, about whom we have had occasion to report in previous issues of the Denis Lasitel, and who is well known among our Czech theater goers, gave an outstanding performance in a concert arranged by Mr. A. V. Cerny and held in the Carter H. Harrison High School. On this occasion, Miss Kolar took part in Anton Dvorjak's famous Stabat Mater. She studied voice in Italy and made her first American debut in Boston on April 21, 1922. After her successes abroad, it can easily be seen that her triumphant reception in Boston was well deserved. In Italy, her audiences called her, quote, a newly risen star. And on April 21st, Boston itself agreed with that dictum. Our Chicago countrywoman sang in the Boston Symphony Hall, accompanied by the Italian Symphony Orchestra. Under the baton of Signor Raffaella Martino, her piano accompaniment was played by Signor Artoro Casilia. The concert was attended by the famed Boston quote unquote blue bloods, headed by the mayor, and voices everywhere predicted that she was a new Mary Garden. The Boston papers, such as the Boston Globe and Boston Herald, were quite effusive in their praise of our countrywoman, and we report this with great pleasure, since she is our Chicago product. Her father, Mr. Anton Kollar, resides at 6003 Roosevelt Road, Cicero, Illinois. These articles give us a sense of who Ella was, and not just that. We see how she was embraced by her community, the Czech community of Chicago. And they did not hide how proud they were of her and her accomplishments. The Czech community of Chicago suffered tremendous losses during the Eastland disaster. There probably was not a family that was not affected by what happened. And this is only a few years after the Eastland disaster took place, and those wounds, that grief was probably still very raw for most of the people. I'm just guessing, but perhaps for all of these people who suffered so greatly during that time, maybe Ella represented something too. Maybe she represented the triumph of the human spirit. I don't know, but that's just speculation. Ella was from about nineteen twenty-two until perhaps her marriage in nineteen thirty, she was doing very well. It was pretty easy to locate her on various websites such as Hatha Trust. And it was there that I found a trade journal, ironically. We started with a trade journal, we'll end with a trade journal. It is called The Musical Courier, and Ella is in several issues of this, but this one stands out. It is from October 12th, 1922. I'll tell you about the Musical Courier magazine or trade journal and why this was such a big deal. It was one of the most important trade journals of the American music industry, and it was published weekly and read by concert presenters, booking agents, artist managers, conservatories, recital series organizers, and opera houses and music clubs. And in this particular issue of the musical courier, there is what appears to be a half page advertisement for Ella. However, what it really is, is a professional booking notice, and it was placed for industry eyes, not the general public. And it functioned as a signal of availability and legitimacy, and it meant that this artist was professionally trained, actively performing, represented by management, and ready for bookings. A person couldn't be there just because they had aspirations. They had to have established themselves. So here is the piece about Ella Kolar. It takes up half a page nearly, and there's a very big grand photo of Ella. And this booking notice reads The sensational American dramatic soprano Ella Kolar booked to appear in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee. Few available dates open. Then there's a quote from the Boston Globe. Miss Kolar has a charming personality, and her voice is delightfully clear and true. She is under exclusive management with Alan and Fabiani, Incorporated, 56 West 39th Street, New York City. So Ella did very well. She didn't have a long singing career, but she made the most of it. She was 33 years old. They were married at the Cook County Clerk's office. So after her marriage, she was back in Chicago. She and her husband did not have children as far as I could tell. Her husband died in 1950. Ella died in 1955. Her obituary, which was really kind of sparse, made no mention of her surviving the Eastland disaster and made no mention of her music career. So I'm glad to bring that up here and to talk about her status as someone who lost a great deal during the Eastland disaster, but who survived and who went on and put her voice literally out there into the world. It sounds as if she made quite an impression on those who were able to hear her. And yes, I have been looking for recordings of her. And I'll keep looking because again, you never know what you will find on the internet. True? True. And also when I look back on 2025, the greatest joy that I have had this year and the previous year was bringing forth these stories of all of the people whose lives were touched by the Eastland disaster. Needless to say, Ella Kolar is no longer in the unsubstantiated category. She witnessed the horror of that day. She lived with the grief of that day, as did her family. And she continued, and while we don't have a lot of information about Julia Kolar or Anna Mullicher Kolar, we see their biographies in those who survived them. We see their biographies in their obituaries. And we know that they were loved. And so next week I will continue with more stories. There are more stories. But in the meantime, take care of yourselves, take care of each other, and thank you for joining me on this journey. I appreciate you. Hey, that's it for this episode, and thanks for coming along for the ride. Please subscribe or follow so you can keep up with all the episodes. And for more information, please go to my website. That's www.flowerinthher.com. I hope you'll consider buying my book available as audiobook, ebook, paperback, and hardcover because I still owe people money, and that's my running joke. But the one thing I'm serious about is that this podcast and my book are dedicated to the memory of all who experienced the Eastland disaster of 1915. Goodbye for now.

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Natalie Zett

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