The census of 1870 lists Anthony as working on the family farm in Greenfield Township in SE Michigan. The census of 1880 also lists him as working on the farm, but in a column to denote "Sick" persons Anthony is listed as having "Asma". The relevance of this information did not dawn on me until later in my investigation.
From information from the Michigan "Wills and Probate"database I was able to locate copies of the settlement of Sebastian Burkel's estate. The initial documents were filed on 12 Jun 1884, but it looks like the estate was not settled until October of 1889. Since Anthony was the eldest son, he served as executor of the estate. After all was said and done each of the brothers (Anthony, Aloysious, Joseph, and August) received the sum of $125.00. This would have been about $3289.47 in today's dollars.
Signature of Anthony Burkel as appeared on Will and Probate documentation for the estate of Sebastian Burkel |
At some point (presumably following his inheritance) Anthony moved to Colorado. In 1893 Anthony is listed in the Denver, CO city directory. He lived at 934 10th street. He was still in Denver by the next year, but had moved to room #3 at 1466 S. 10th street. He moved again before the directory was published in 1895 (945 11th Street).
The next 10 years of Anthony's life are not well documented, but in 1905 he is listed as an employee of the St. Anthony's Hospital on W. 16th Ave. (between Quitman and Raleigh) in Denver. He was a resident of the hospital working as a staff gardener.
From the 1910 census I learned that Anthony was single, still working and living at the hospital. The census lists his parent's birthplace as Germany. He was a wage earner, and he could read and write. There is also a column on this census that denotes Civil War veterans. There is a #4 in this space next to Anthony's name.
Initially, I assumed that the #4 in the space meant that Anthony had served in the Civil War for 4 years. When I did the math, this did not make a lot of sense. If Anthony was born in 1849 - he would only have been 11 years old at the start of the war. I searched the Civil War veteran database for his name - and I did find the name "Anton Burkel" who was a soldier for the Confederacy that had been taken prisoner. Was this our Anthony? Maybe he was part of a drum and fife corps or maybe he lied about his age (which was not unprecedented).
In 1911 Anthony was still at the hospital working as a "driver". In 1912-13 he is listed again as a gardener. Anthony died on 8 Aug 1918. He is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery at Wheat Ridge in Jefferson County, CO. (Section 10, Block 5) Someone made sure that he was buried and had a monument to his life.
Monument for Anthony Burkel 1849 - 1918 at Mount Olivet Cemetery at Wheat Ridge in Jefferson County, Colorado |
An article from the Denver Post (Tuberculosis in Colorado History) helped shed some light on a
"It was a widely held belief that by 1900 'one-third of Colorado’s population possible reason for Anthony's move to Denver:were residents of the state because of tuberculosis,' Fresh air, year-round sunshine, low humidity and the higher elevations provided relief from the symptoms ... according to a doctoral dissertation by history scholar Cynthia Stout."
The symptoms of Tuberculosis are similar to the symptoms of Asthma. Recall that Anthony is listed on the 1880 census as having "Asma". Perhaps (2nd Great) Uncle Anthony traveled to Denver with the hopes that the change in climate would help minimize the symptoms of his sickness. It is possible that he may even have been suffering from Tuberculosis (or Consumption as it was called then) and it had been misdiagnosed on the 1880 census.
The hospital that Anthony worked for (St. Anthony's) began as a sanatorium for Tuberculosis patients. As the population in Denver began to swell the need for hospitals and places to house the sick grew. In 1884 seven nuns arrived from Lafayette, Indiana. As part of the newly formed "American Branch of the Poor Sisters of St. Francis Seraph of Perpetual Adoration" the sisters worked tirelessly with the sick. They also raised enough money to open a hospital that was dedicated 13 Jan 1893. It was here that Anthony lived until he died in August 1918.
Photo from St. Anthony's Hospital, Denver CO. Website |
For the last several years I have conducted my ancestry investigations using Ancestry.com. They charge a monthly fee - which I gladly pay. Over the years the amount of information that I have had access to has more than doubled. The website is constantly expanding their databases.
A few weeks ago I was finally able to solve the mystery of Uncle Anthony's alleged Civil War service. Believe it or not, there was a second "Anthony Burkel" who was from Louisiana! His real name was "Antoine F. Burkel" and he was born in 1845. His was the name I had seen on the Civil War Muster rolls and prisoner lists. At some point following the war Antoine moved to Illinois (just outside of Chicago). He lived there with his wife, Alice, until he died in 1893.
At this point I do not have enough information to determine if this branch of Burkels are blood relatives. Recently, there have been a few Burkels from New Orleans that have popped up on my ancestry radar. It is possible that these are relatives, but I may never know for sure.
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