Rose O'Neill

Rose O'Neill (1874-1944) = Self-taught Artist/Illustrator. Author. Free-Spirit. Poet. Best known for her Kewpie characters. Rose was born in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania in the summer of 1874 to "Meemie" Alice and William Patrick O'Neill as one child of seven. She attended a Catholic primary in Omaha, Nebraska and taught herself to draw by looking at illustrations in her father's books.

The Kewpies first appeared in 1909 as cartoon characters in the Christmas issue of Ladies' Home Journal and were regularly featured in other women's magazines for the next twenty-five years, however by 1912, German porcelain doll makers were creating dolls based on her Kewpie illustrations. She said  she wanted her Kewpies to teach people to be happy and kind.

She married twice, but chose not to become a mother of any chubby babies herself as she was supporting her large family with her work.  

Bonniebrook in the Missouri Ozarks (Taney County) was Rose's favorite home. At the height of her career, she purchased other homes in New York, Connecticut, and in Italy. Near the west side of Bonniebrook, a small brook gurgled its way downstream which was said to have inspired the name for her home. At the top of the house was Rose O'Neill's studio, filled with treasures from friends and family. Her unusual, but favorite mode of dress for the times  were blousy aprons or kimonos over a Greek style tunic. 

In the spring of 1944, Rose died of heart failure at the age of 69. She was buried near her family and Bonniebrook.

For Your Info: While I find Rose's Kewpies appealing, some of her other illustrations I find dark and disturbing.

More to Read:
1.) Rose O'Neill: An Autobiography. Edited by Miriam Formanek-Brunell.University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Mo; 1997.

2.) American Illustrator: Rose O'Neill. By J. L. Wilkerson. 2001

3.) Collecting Rose O'Neill's Kewpies. by David O'Neill and Janet O'Neill Sullivan. 2003.

4.) Historic Missourians

5.) Kewpies and Beyond: The World of Rose O'Neill. By Shelley Armitage. 1994.

6.) Rose O'Neill - The Girl Who Loved to Draw by Linda Brewster. 2009.

7.) Representative Women. By Lois Oldham Henrici. 1913.

8.) The Kewpie Primer. By Elizabeth V. Quinn. Illustrated by Rose O'Neill. Frederick A. Stokes Co, New York. 1916.

9.) Titans and Kewpies: The Life and Art of Rose O'Neill. By Ralph Alan McCanse.

10.) The Adventures of the Kewpies: A Coloring Book.  Saalfield Publishing Co, 1962.

11.) Missouri newspapers at Chronicling America

12.) Findagrave #21784408

Places to Visit:
1.) Branson's Kewpiesta in April.
2.) Drury University: The Rose O'Neill House, 900 North Benton Ave, Springfield
3.) Nelson-Atkins' Collections, 4525 Oak Street, Kansas City (2 pieces of Kewpie art)

4.) O'Neill Museum, 485 Rose O'Neill Road, Walnut Shade, Mo.

5.) Ralph Foster Museum, College of the Ozarks, 1 Cultural Court, Point Lookout (south of Branson)

"Do good deeds in a funny way. The world needs to laugh or 

at least smile more than it does."  

~ Rose O'Neill

Citation: "Rose O'Neill." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 5 February 2020. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

St. Philippine Duchesne, RSCJ

St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, RSCJ (1769-1852) = Missionary Nun. Revered by the Potawatomi and given the name of “Quah-Kah-Ka-Num-Ad” (woman who prays always), Rose was born in Grenoble, France, the second of eight children to Pierre Francois and Rose Euphrosine Perier Duchesne. She survived the religious persecution of the French Revolution.

 Bishop Louis William Valentine DuBourg, bishop of Louisiana, sent Mother Rose Philippine Duchesne and a group of nuns, in 1818, to establish an Academy of the Sacred Heart in St. Charles, Missouri. Not only did she establish the free-of-charge girl’s school, but also the first convent of the Religious Sisters of the Sacred Heart, a teaching order, there.

In 1838, the US federal government forced some 900 Potawatomi from their land in Indiana and made them march single file over 600 miles in three months, ending near present day Osawatomie, Kansas. The forced march is now known as the Trail of Death as many died along the way. Most of the surviving Potawatomi eventually settled in Sugar Creek near Mound City, but were later relocated to St. Marys on the Kansas River in 1847. Catholic missionaries opened schools for boys and girls at both.

Duchesne’s dream was to serve the Indians and she made quite an impression on them when it finally became a reality at the age of 72, thanks to her friends, Fr. Peter De Smet, SJ, and Fr. Peter John Verhaegan, SJ. She and three other nuns arrived in Kansas City on a steamboat on the way to their assigned mission. She never quite mastered the Indian language, but prayed daily, visited the sick, and helped the Indian girls with their knitting. After a year, she was summoned back to St. Charles where she lived the rest of her life, dying on November 18, 1852. One hundred, thirty-six years after death, she achieved sainthood when canonized on July 3, 1988.

Posthumous Award:

1918 = The Historical Society of Missouri named her the greatest benefactor among the state’s pioneer women.

More to Read:

1. Philippine Duchesne. By Louise Callan.

2. The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. 150 Years of Faith: 1850-2000. By Todd Habiger. 2000.

3. Dictionary of Christianity in America.Editors: Daniel G. Reid, Robert D. Linder, Bruce L.Shelley, & Harry S. Stout, Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 1990.

4. Webster’s Biographical Dictionary. Merriam-Webster, Springfield, MA; 1956.

5. A Centenary of Catholicity in Kansas: 1822-1922. By Thomas H. Kensella. Casey Printing, Kansas City; 1921.

6. Frontier Missionary

7. St. Mary's Sugar Creek Mission

8. Shrine of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne
9. Missouri: Day by Day. By Floyd C. Shoemaker, Editor. Mo State Historical Society, 1942.
10. Map of the Pottawatomi Indian Reservation in Kansas in 1846.
11.  "Contagious: A Saint, a Student and a Shared Journey of Love." Donnelly Digest. Summer 2018. Vol. 12, Issue 1. p.10-13. Retrieved from Donnelly College website, 608 N. 18th St. Kansas City, KS.

12. Findagrave #301 and  # 9395


Historical Note: Every Pottawatomi citizen who traveled from Indiana to Kansas on the Trail of Death was listed. To find out if your ancestor was enrolled on the list, click here! 

Places to Visit in MO & KS:

1. The Shrine of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, 619 North 2nd Street., St. Charles, Mo.

2. Map and Markers List in Missouri and Kansas
3. St. Philippine Duchesne Catholic Church, 5035 Rainbow Blvd, Westwood, Kansas

4. Sacred Heart Church (f. 1942), Mound City, Linn Co., KS.

5. St. Philippine Duchesne Shrine on Sugar Creek, Mound City, KS.

6. St. Mary’s Mission signpost, St. Mary's, KS.
7. 1838. Pottawatomi Trail of Death Historic Markers through-out Missouri and Kansas. One is on the bluff above the Blue River crossing north of the first picnic shelter south of Red Bridge Road in south Kansas City. (Renew the Blue River). 

8. Immaculate Conception Church, St. Mary’s, KS. (First cathedral of Vicariate Apostolic of the Indian Territory: 1851-1855).

Johnson County, Kansas

Citation: "St. Philippine Duchesne, RSCJ." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 22 July 2016. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Mary Engelbreit

Mary Engelbreit (b. 1952) = German-American Artist. Best known for cherries, checks, cottage roses, dots, hearts, Scotties, and Ann Estelle, whose namesake is Mary's maternal grandmother and wears glasses like Mary (second grade).

Once upon a time, a little girl was born on June 5 to "Papa" (d. 1990) and Mary Lois Engelbreit and she grew up in St. Louis, Missouri along with her younger sisters, Alexa and Peggy. She loved to draw and her first studio was in a linen closet. Some of her childhood memories are the shopping trips downtown with her mother for new straw bonnets for her and her sisters to wear to church on Easter Sunday and rambling together through flea markets.

When her high school guidance counselor at Visitation Academy recommended an university educator degree, Mary ignored the advice, skipping both university and art design school and immediately began her career in the arts at various jobs such as a free-lancer, after school at an art supply store, then at an advertising agency, as an editorial cartoonist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and for greeting card companies. Early on she made it a policy to associate with supportive people.

Like one of her illustrated fairy-tales, Mary began dating Phil Delano, an administrator in the county juvenile court system, in 1974 and married producing two sons, Evan in 1980 and Will, 1983. Eventually a granddaughter, Mikayla and a storybook cottage came along.

Mary's dearest dream was illustrating children's books, like the vintage ones her mother read to her growing up and in 1993, she finally realized it with the first of many, Hans Christian Andersen's Snow Queen. Many of her nostalgic and charming designs are translated into other products and today, her "Empire of Cuteness," is a multi-million-dollar company. Yes, she bloomed where she planted.

Quote: "She creates things that touch your heart. Her drawings have that nice quality. Crudeness and vulgarity hit us in the face everyday. Mary's pictures capture something we love and are losing fast." (Mary Lois Engelbreit.)

More to Read:

1. Mary Engelbreit, INK. See especially "About Me."

2. Mary Engelbreit: The Art and the Artist. By Patrick Regan with Mary Engelbreit. Andrews & McMeel, Kansas City, MO., 1996.

3. Home Sweet Home: A Journey Through Mary's Dream Home. By Patrick Regan. Andrews McMeel, KCMO, 2004.

4. Mary Engelbreit: Cross Stitch For All Seasons. Meredith Press, 1997.

5. Missouri Legends: Famous People from the Show-Me State. By John W. Brown, Reedy Press, St. Louis, Mo; 2008.

6. A Mary Engelbreit Flickr Fan Group
7. Mary's YouTube Channel

Read biographies of Mary's Favorite Artists: Joan Walsh Auglund, Seymour Chwast, Milton Glaser, Johnny Gruelle, Peter Max, Maxfield Parrish, and Jessie Wilcox Smith

Places to Visit:

1. Mary's Studio, 4814 Washington Blvd., Ste. 230, St. Louis (visit by appointment only)

2. Andrews McMeel Publishing Co, Kansas City


Extras for (Home) Educators:
Many classroom and teaching aids can be found such as bulletin board displays, calendars, charts, coloring, and children's books  at Mary's website. Click on the link to her website above.

Citation: "Mary Engelbreit." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 31 January 2014. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Henry William Brinkman

Heinrich Wilhelm (Henry William) Brinkman (1881-1949) = Architect. On April 30, Heinrich, one son of twelve children, was born to Theodor and Fredricka Marie Voeste Brinkman in the German province of Westphalia. The following year, his family emigrated to America, first moving to Decatur, Illinois, then to Garnett, Kansas, and finally settling in the German settlement at Olpe, some ten miles south of Emporia, Kansas. His father first worked as a builder, then in the hotel business, a merchant and finally was the director of the Olpe State Bank. Henry’s younger brother, Leo J., grew up to become an accountant.

The Brinkman's were devout Catholics, very active in church affairs, and this may have led Henry to specialize in the design of churches and related facilities. He graduated from the school of architecture at Kansas State University in Manhattan in 1907. While he designed many other types of buildings during the course of his long career (1910 –1947), such as residential and civic ones, the main body of his designs were for the glory of God.

On June 24, 1908, Henry and Elizabeth K. Kuhlmann were married in his hometown of Olpe. They had four children born to this union – Eleanore, Joseph Jerome “Jerry,” Gloria Ann, and James Warren Brinkman. Jerome Brinkman followed in his father’s footsteps and joined Henry in his architectural firm after World War II, finally becoming a partner in the firm when Henry retired in 1948.

Henry was an active lay member of the Sacred Heart parish in Emporia, Kansas, a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Rotary Club, and was for sixteen years a director of the Citizens National Bank of Emporia. He died on December 7, 1949 and was buried in the St. Joseph Cemetery in Olpe, Kansas.

More to Read:

1. Brinkman Family Records. J.W. Brinkman. Emporia, Kansas.

2. Germantown, Missouri and St. Ludger Church: 1833-2002. Donna Koch Talbott. 2002.

3. “Henry W. Brinkman, Architect.” By Larry Hancks, 2004.

4. Kansas Historical Society Kansapedia website article 

5. Lyon County Historical Museum (ask to see Brinkman’s family clipping file), Emporia

6. The Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas: 150 Years of Faith 1850-2000. By Todd Habiger. 2000.

7. The Emporia Gazette (articles on Henry Brinkman), December 8 & 10, 1949

Building Permit Records
8. John Stanley Hagen, Architectural Firm Partner. Findagrave #89465500. 

9. Findagrave #81798917

Places to Visit:

A Partial List of Churches designed by Brinkman:

Kansas:

1908-10 = St. Joseph Catholic Church, Olpe

1910 = Methodist-Episcopal Church, Americus

1911 = Sacred Heart Catholic Church, First & Exchange, Emporia

1912-17 = St. Joseph Catholic Church, 105 N. Oak St., Damar, Rooks Co. (National Register, 2005)

1912 = Brinkman’s 1st Personal Residence, 917 State, Emporia.

1913 = St. Bede’s Catholic Church, Kelly.

1916 = St. Lawrence’s Catholic Church, Easton.

1916 = St. Joseph’s Catholic Church (basement), 811 Vermont Ave, Kansas City.

1917 = Parsonage, Andale.

1917-18 = St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, 630 South Pyle St, Kansas City. (closed)

1920 = The Seven Dolors Catholic Church, 731 Pierre St. (NE corner of Juliette & Pierre St), Manhattan, Riley Co. (National Register, 1995)

1920-21 = St. Joseph Catholic Church (completion), 811 Vermont Ave., Kansas City. (A Polish national parish; merged with St. Benedict parish in 1976)

1920-22 = St. Martin’s Catholic Church, Piqua.

1922-24 = St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Emporia

1922 = St. Benedict’s Parochial School, South Boeke St.& Pacific Ave., Kansas City.

1922-26 = Mother House, Order of Sisters Servants of Mary, 800 North 18th St, Kansas City

1922 = St. Joseph’s Parochial School, Olpe.

1922 = Brinkman’s Personal Residence II, 508 Exchange, Emporia.

1922-23 = Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, 2203 Parallel & Troup Avenues, Kansas City.

1924-27 = St. Peter’s Cathedral, 414 North Grandview Blvd. Kansas City. (Seat of the Archdiocese).

1925-27 = Church of the Holy Family & Rectory, 6th & Ohio and 274 North Orchard St., Kansas City.

1925 = St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, 4th & Maple St, Fowler.

1925- 41 = Bishop Ward High School and addition, 708 North 18th St., Kansas City.(Dedicated on Oct. 11, 1931)

1927 = St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Offerle.

1928 = St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Emporia

1928 = St. John’s Rectory, Spearville.

1929 = St. Patrick’s Parochial School, Corning.

1929 = St. John’s Parochial School, Hoisington

1929 = St. Andrew’s Parochial School, Wright

1929 = Sacred Heart Parochial School and Rectory, Dodge City.

1929 = St. Anthony’s Hospital, Sebetha

1930 = Church of the Holy Redeemer, Tampa

1942-43 = St. Agnes’ Catholic church, 53rd & Mission Road, Roeland Park.

Missouri:

St. Peter’s Elementary School, Joplin

St. John Hospital addition, Joplin

1912 = Guardian Angel(s) Catholic Church (1st phase), 4232 Mercier, Kansas City.

1922 = Guardian Angels Church, Kansas City, Jackson Co.

1922-23 = Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church, Kansas City, Jackson Co.

1922-24 = St. Francis Seraph, Kansas City

1922 = Sacred Heart Parish hall, 814 West 26th St, Kansas City.

1922-23 = Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church, 2554 Gillham Rd., Kansas City

1924-28 = Holy Name Catholic Church (completion), 2201 Benton Blvd., Kansas City

1924-25 = St. Francis Seraph Catholic Church, 807 North Agnes Ave, Kansas City (closed 1991)

1925 = St. Catherine’s Home for Working Girls (Sisters of Mercy), 1026 Forest Ave., Kansas City

1925 = Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 930 Norton, Kansas City

1926-32 = St. Therese of the Little Flower Parochial School & addition, 5809 Michigan Ave, Kansas City.

1927 = Our Lady of Guadalupe Parochial School, 2310 Madison, Kansas City

1927 = St. Ludger Catholic Church, Germantown, Henry Co.

Catholic Church, Blue Springs

Citation: "Henry William Brinkman." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 15 May 2012. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Bereniece Therese Chouteau

Bereniece Therese Chouteau (1801-1888) = French – Catholic. Daughter of Col. Pierre Menard, first Lt. Governor of Illinois.

Having just celebrated her 20th birthday, she was a convent-educated young bride when she married Francois Gesseau Chouteau (1797-1838), a 24 year old. They emigrated up the Missouri River to the future Kansas City area, a wilderness. Francois was the son of Pierre Chouteau and a nephew of Auguste Chouteau, the founder of St. Louis. They were sent upriver to build a warehouse for their family’s fur trading business. Francois built their first home on the river, but it was flooded, along with the warehouse in 1826. They built another home up on the river bluff near the foot of Troost and Forest avenues and settled there to raise their ten children, nine sons and one daughter. Five died young.

There was no priest in that area for some time. Once, during the Christmas season, Berenice told some young Indian boys the story of man’s redemption when she showed them her statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding her Divine son. Another time, during a cholera epidemic in 1827, she baptized seventy-five Indian children. But eventually, a 26 year old missionary priest came, Father Joseph Anthony Lutz. He stayed there for nearly two months to administer to the spiritual needs of the early Catholic community in the winter of 1828.

In 1833, Bishop Rosati of St. Louis sent Father Benedict Roux to the little community at the mouth of the Kaw River. They celebrated mass in a rented log cabin. Later Father Roux baptised one of Bereniece and Francis’ sons as well as Elizabeth and Eulalia Boone, Daniel Boone’s great-granddaughters.

When Mrs. Chouteau died on November 21, 1888, she had outlived her husband, all her children and most of her friends.

More to Read:

1. Light in the Early West: Berenice Chouteau. By Rev. James J. Schlafly, M.A., Benziger Brothers, 1959.

2. Jackson County Pioneers. By Pearl Wilcox. 1975.

3. Chez Les Canses: Three Centuries at Kawsmouth. By Charles E. Hoffhaus. 1984.

4. Here Lies Kansas City: A Collection of Our City’s Notables and Their Final Resting Places. By Wilda and Hal Sandy. 1984.

5. Journal of the House of Representatives of the Twelfth General Assembly of the State of Illinois (information about her Father).

6. Ghost Towns of Kansas: A Traveler’s Guide. Daniel Fitzgerald. University Press of Kansas, 1988.

7. A Condensed History of the Kansas City Area: Its Mayors and Some V.I.P.s 1850-1950 ” Assembled by George Fuller Green. City Historian. The Lowell Press; Kansas City, MO. 1968.
8. Missouri: Day by Day. By Floyd C. Shoemaker, Editor. Mo State Historical Society, 1942.
9. The Chouteau Family. By Beatrice Clark Turner.
10. Chouteau Genealogy 
11. Creoles of St. Louis. By Paul Edmond Beckwith. Nixon-Jones Printing Co, St. Louis, 1893. Free e-book retrieved from Google Books. http://books.google.com/
12. 1810 Pierre Menard's letter to Pierre Chouteau of St. Louis, MO. 
13. Pearl Street. 
14. Findagrave #50822410

Places to Visit in MO. and KS:

1. St. Louis
2. Conjunction of the Mississippi River and the Missouri River.
3. Conjunction of the Missouri River and the Kansas River.

4. Four Houses, Wyandotte Co., KS. (about 20 miles downstream from the mouth of the Kansas River at Cedar Creek; 2 ½ miles east of DeSoto, KS. on the north bank) Marker Site: of Chouteau Station 1828-1903. Trading Post, Ferry Crossing, Train Station, Post Office, General Store

5. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 416 West 12th St., Kansas City, Jackson County.
6. Chouteau Greenway, N. 38th Street to N. 43rd St, KCMO
7. Look around behind the building for the Chouteau Society marker at Pennsylvania and Westport Road, Kansas City, MO. It is enclosed within black iron fencing.
8. Chouteau Park, N. 46th Street and Chouteau Trafficway, KCMO.
9. Marais des Cygnes River
10. Vernon County Historical Museum, 212 West Walnut Street, Nevada
11. Chouteau's Island Marker, US-50, one mile west of Lakin, Kearny Co, KS.
12 Calvary Cemetery, 5239 West Florissant Ave, St. Louis.
13. Lewis & Clark Museum (on the Missouri River),  St. Charles, MO. (see General William Clark's family tree chart).

Citation: "Bereniece Therese Chouteau." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 18 May 2011. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Fr. Jacques Marquette, S.J.

Père (Father or Fr.) Jacques Marquette, S.J. (1637-1675) = Jesuit Priest. Missionary. Explorer. Along with French Canadian fur trader, Louis Joliet (1645-1700), Marquette is best known as the discoverer of the mouth of the Missouri River. Marquette was born in Laon, France on June 1, 1637, to Nicolas & Rose de la Salle Marquette. His father, a lawyer, provided a good life for his large family.

When Jacques turned nine, he went to study at the Jesuit school in Reims, France. The Society of Jesus or the Jesuits were a religious order for men within the Roman Catholic Church founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola*. Marquette dreamed of becoming a missionary, one who brings the message of Christ to others. When he turned 29, he was ordained a priest, given the title Father and wore the black robe of the order.

King Louis XIV of France was eager to expand French territory in the New World and sponsored an overseas mission in which Marquette was chosen to go. When he reached New France, present-day Canada, he lived near several missions, gaining the trust of the native peoples and learning their languages.

Marquette met Louis Joliet, a fur trader and map maker and prepared an expedition to explore a great river nearby. They departed on May (some books say June) 17, 1673. When they reached the Mississippi River which forms the eastern border of the present-day state of Missouri, they sailed down it as far as the mouth of the Arkansas River, where they turned around because of their fear of the Spanish army.

After Marquette fell ill on the return trip, his health was never quite the same afterwards. He passed away in 1675.

More to Read:

1. Collection of Travels (Recueil de Voyages). Marquette's Journal. Paris; 1681.

2. Famous Explorers Five Part Series Video: Marquette & Joliet. Produced by Film Ideas, Inc. Wheeling, IL. 2002.

3. Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet. By Jeff Donaldson-Forbes. 2002.

4. Marquette & Jolliet: Quest for the Mississippi. By Alexander Zelenyj. 2007.

5. The Explorations of Pere Marquette. By Jim Kjelgaard. Random House, 1951.

6. The Life and Times of Father Jacques Marquette. By Susan Sales & William H. Harkins. 2009.

7. Webster's Biographical Dictionary. G & C. Merriam, 1956.

8. Dictionary of Christianity in America. Editors: Daniel G. Reid, Robert D. Linder, Bruce L.Shelley, &  Harry S. Stout, Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 1990.
9. Findagrave #671 

Places to Visit in MO.

The Mississippi River

The Missouri River

Historical Trivia:

The great Mississippi river was known by Native Americans of the region as Missi Sepe, meaning "Father of Waters". The Missouri River was called the Pekitanoui or "Muddy Water."

Quote:

Teach Us to Serve Thee, Lord

By St. Ignatius of Loyola, (1491-1556)

Teach us, good Lord, to serve Thee as Thou deservest:

To give and not to count the cost;

To fight and not to heed the wounds;

To toil and not to seek for rest;

To labor and not ask for any reward

Save that of knowing that we do Thy will. Amen.

Citation: "Fr. Jacques Marquette, S. J." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 23 October 2010. History Nut of Missouri, USA.