Preface

In 1997, as members of the Society were planning that year’s cemetery walk, Doug Mytnik, chief planner, was scouring through several of the history books in the Society’s collection searching for information on the people whom we would portray. I thought there was a better way and decided to create a Combined Master Index for the four historical works which treat Skokie’s history in depth. These works are, in order of publication:

Niles Township, by E. Palma Beaudette, ca. 1916

Luxembourg Brotherhood of America, by Richard J. Witry, 1987

Skokie, A Centennial History, by Richard Whittingham, 1988

St. Peter Catholic Church, 1868-69 to 1993-94, by David Buisseret, Richard J. Witry and Rosemary Schmitt, 1994

Initially, Mr. Daryl Connett, of the Skokie Public Library, compiled the first index to the Beaudette Book during Mary Radmacher’s tenure as Librarian. A copy of his index was given to the Skokie Historical Society in 1984. I used the Connett Index as a base and added substantially to it. By way of explanation, the Beaudette Book was published sometime in 1916-17. She refers, at page 25, to the pastorate of Rev. George Thiele (“Rev. George Thiele is its present pastor; Rev. Adams is assistant.”). Fr. Adams' tenure was short— January 1916 through April 1917. Fr. Thiele’s pastorate at St. Peter Catholic Church ended in May 1917. Additionally, the lists of public officials ends in 1915.

The Luxembourg Brotherhood book covers geographic areas other than Niles Center / Skokie as does the Beaudette book. I have limited this Combined Master Index to Niles Center / Skokie.

Society contributor Marilyn Abbink created an Index limited to the proper names of people referenced in the Skokie Centennial Book. To this work I added references to places, events, buildings and things.

I have adopted two conventions. They are:

  1. Reference to the Beaudette (EPB) and St. Peter (PET) books are in Mixed Case; references to the Luxembourg book (LUX) are in lowercase; references to the Skokie book are in UPPER CASE
  2. Initials at the end of each reference refer to the book in which each reference is found.

The Luxembourg book contains six (6) appendices. They contain a listing of LBA officers, section members and the identities of the consular officials who have represented the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in Chicago.

The St. Peter book contains five (5) appendices. They identify contributors to a capital fundraising drive, roster of parish priests and teaching nuns, real property acquisition table and, most importantly, a chronology of the parish from 1843. The inside covers identify registered members of the parish at the time of the book’s publication. All of the foregoing appendices should be examined by serious researchers.

Thanks are due to Marilyn Abbink and Mr. Connett for their contributions in getting this massive project underway. Thanks to Doug Mytnik for his editorial oversight and many suggestions for improvement. In some small way, I hope this Index makes it easier to locate and understand the history of Skokie / Niles Center.

Richard J. Witry
Membership Chairman
Skokie Historical Society
October 9, 2001

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