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Identical houses different in human history

By WENDELL NELSON
Special to The Gazette
The two once-identical houses, in Arnott in the town of Stockton and the village of Almond, are different not only in their present appearance, but also in their human history. The first several years of the Arnott house's life, for example, were tragic ones, beginning with Nick Michalski's death less then two years after his house was built. The Aug. 12 Daily Journal and the Aug. 16 Gazette - both in 1911 - carried obituaries reporting his death at the age of 31.

Considering his brief career, he was very successful in his several enterprises. He owned a hotel in Arnott for at least two years. The Aug. 1, 1906, Gazette's Arnott column announced that "N.J. Michalski wishes to rent his hotel, all furnished, at reasonable price. Anyone desiring to go into the hotel business will do well to look his place over." He also sold cars and, as we have seen, farm implements. The Gazette of Aug. 18, 1909 - shortly before he moved into his new house - reported that "N.J. Michalski, representing the Stevens Point Automobile Co., has sold to M.H. Doenitz, of Almond, a Model D Reo touring car. Mr. Doenitz is state agent for the Champion Potato Machinery Co., of Hammond, Ind."

But it was all to end in two years. According to the Daily Journal's obituary, "Nicholas John Michalski passed away this morning at 4:15 at his home at Arnott. He has been afflicted with tuberculosis for many months and last spring caught a severe cold which increased the hold which the disease had upon him. About two months ago he went to Colorado in search of health, and spent four weeks in the mountains. Returning, he entered River Pines sanatorium, but was there only three weeks. He was taken from there to his home on Monday of this week.

"Deceased was born in Stevens Point May 31, 1880. He was married at Green Bay in the fall of 1904 to Susie Werachowski of this city. Soon after their marriage they moved to Arnott which has been their home since then. He is survived by his wife and two children, Vernon and Stanley…."
The Gazette's obituary related most of the same information, but added that "When (he was) a small boy his parents moved to the town of Stockton, near Arnott," and that his wife was "Miss Susie Werachowski of Arnott." Also, "for a number of years he had been engaged in the farm implement and automobile business and was a successful business man…."

But the family tragedy did not end there. Tuberculosis was a highly contagious disease, and frequently wiped out whole families. When the British poet John Keats wrote, in a sonnet, "When I have fears that I may cease to be/Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain," he was expressing a sense of being stalked by death. Several members of his immediate family had died of TB, and he knew he and the others probably would, too. Keats died of TB in 1821 at the age of 25, according to Carlos Baker's introduction to Keats: Poems and Selected Letters (Bantam, 1962).

So, too, Susie Michalski, "widow of Nicholas Michalski, Arnott…passed away at the home of her mother, Mrs. Pauline Werachowski, 351 Fourth Avenue, at 10:45 Tuesday morning [Oct. 22] after an illness of seven months with tuberculosis of the intestines," the Oct. 23, 1912, Daily Journal reported. "This spring she underwent an operation at Green Bay but this was of little benefit and she failed rapidly until her death…. Besides her mother, she is survived by two sons, Vernon, aged eight, and Stanley, aged four. Also by two sisters, Mrs. Helen Skalitsky, city, four brothers, Nicholas, John and Frank Werachowski of Arnott, and Julius Werachowski, who lives in Montana, and a step sister, Mrs. Frances Vicker, city." Susie was only 29 years old, and she died only a little over a year after her husband's death.

The Gazette's obituary, also from Oct. 23, 1912, added that "She had been a great sufferer from tuberculosis of the bowels, and for a few days was unable to retain nourishment, but was conscious up to almost the last moment."

Her death made orphans of her two young sons. They were taken to Stevens Point to live with her family. Vernon moved in with his grandmother, first at the Fourth Avenue address, above, but later at 332 (which now would be in the 600 block, but is gone) Washington Street (now Avenue), according to his obituary in the Dec. 23, 1918, Daily Journal. Stanley lived with his aunt, Mrs. Skalitsky (or Skalitzky - widow of Adolph) at 619 (which now would be in the 1400 block, but is gone) Briggs Street, the July 1, 1914, Gazette says.

Susie Werachowski foresaw her untimely death, and arranged for her sons' care and for the disposal of her possessions, including the house. Volume 103, page 286, of Warranty Deeds, dated Sept. 4, 1912, gave the house and lot to her mother, Paulina Werachowski, who was to "support and take good care of the first party('s) two sons, Vernon and Stanley(,) until they become of age…and if the property by (sic) sold, what money left over (from) the same (is to) be loaned out on good security, for the benefit of my two sons in equal shares."

Vernon followed the family's pattern of misfortune by dying of pneumonia in the 1918 influenza pandemic - the "Spanish Flu" or "Spanish Lady" - one of 20,000,000 killed by it around the world, far more than the death toll from World War I (see George Rogers' article on it in the Dec. 1, 2000, Portage County Gazette). Vernon was 14 years old when he died in December of 1918, according to the Daily Journal of Dec. 23, and The Gazette of Dec. 25. His name was given as Vernon Nicholas Michalski.
Stanley seems to have been the only member of his family of four to have much luck. The July 1, 1914, Gazette reported his "remarkable escape" from what could have been a fatal accident. "Run over on a brick pavement by one wheel of a heavy touring car and escaping with only severe bruises, mostly on his head and one leg, with little or no question of complete and rapid recovery, is the experience of Stanley Werachowski, aged between five and six years, an orphan boy, who makes his home with his aunt, Mrs. Helen Skalitzky, 619 Briggs street. The child is a bright little fellow, inclined to leave home and visit about without asking the consent of his guardian, and upon securing his hat shortly after dinner Tuesday, he wandered down town. When in front of the jewelry store of Ferdinand Hirzy (418 - now 1028 - Main St.), at about 2:30 o'clock, he started to cross the street. Lyman Park, driving his touring car, came along at the same time, driving at a moderate pace, at about ten miles an hour, and (the boy) was struck and knocked down by the machine, one wheel passing over the left leg before the machine could be stopped. The child was picked up and carried to the office of Dr. von Neupert, Sr., over the Citizens National bank, where he was given first aid and then taken to St. Michael's hospital, where he is doing nicely, although somewhat sore. As stated before, no bones were broken, as an examination showed, and Stanley will soon be able to be about again."

Notice that his name is given as Stanley "Werachowski." His grandmother or his aunt apparently had his name changed - was he legally adopted by one of them? - or The Gazette was in error. In any case, he apparently lived to adulthood. One hopes he had a long, happy life, to compensate him somewhat for his sad childhood.

The house remained in the Werachowski family for more than 75 more years, and most of those years appear to have been happier than the first five. Paulina sold the house and lot to her son Frank for $1,600 (Vol. 102, pg. 632 of Warranty Deeds, dated April 15, 1914). The deed gives her signature as "Paulina her X mark Werachowski," meaning that she was unable to write. Two years later, on Sept. 30, 1916, Frank and his wife, Martha, quit-claimed (gave up all claim to - Vol. 106, pg. 296) the house and lot to Paulina, who on the same day sold it to another son, John A. (Warranty Deeds Vol. 110, pg. 72 ½) for $1,600.

John Werachowski followed his brother-in-law Nick Michalski's example in becoming a prosperous Arnott businessman. In his will (Judgment Assigning Estate, Vol. 143, pg. 417, Sept. 12, 1928), he left one-third of his considerable estate to his widow, Antoinette, and two-thirds, to be divided equally, to his three children: Helen, Eleanor and Jerome. He was involved "in the buying and shipment of potatoes and grain, but he was also interested in the Arnott Hardware company and served as vice president of Arnott State Bank. His holdings included potato warehouses and several store buildings near the Green Bay & Western railroad station," reported his obituary in the Aug. 30, 1926, Daily Journal. A brick building bearing the inscription "J.A. Werachowski 1912" still stands on the east side of Arnott's main street (County Highway J).

On May 13, 1932, his daughters quit-claimed the house and lot to Jerome (Vol. 149, pg. 308), who raised his own family in it. Nineteen years later, he quit-claimed it to his wife, Gertrude (Vol. 199, pg. 131, April 11, 1951). He died on July 26, 1952, at the young age of 43. His obituary in the Daily Journal of that date describes him as a "member of a well-known Arnott family and potato buyer and owner of Jerry's tavern there for many years." His widow quit-claimed the house and lot to their daughter and son-in-law, Barbara and Carl Adamski, on Jan. 22, 1958 (Vol. 215, pg. 434).

The house was finally sold out of the family 32 years later. On March 30, 1990, the Adamskis sold it to Wanda A. Nelson for $48,000 (Warranty Deeds Vol. 531, pg. 1055). She married Joseph P. Riske in early 1992 (according to a quit-claim deed - Vol. 576, pg. 1069, July 17, 1992), and four years later they sold the house to Stephen W. Parrott, an electrician, for $69,000 (Vol. 680, pg. 134, of Warranty Deeds, Aug. 9, 1996). Parrott sold it on Sept. 28, 2000, to Samuel Ridgway, a state highway patrolman, for $75,000, according to Warranty Deed 579147.



	Identical houses different in human history By WENDELL NELSON Special to The Gazette The two once-identical houses, in Arnott in the town of Stockton and the village of Almond, are different not only in their present appearance, but also in their human history. The first several years of the Arnott house's life, for example, were tragic ones, beginning with Nick Michalski's death less then two years after his house was built. The Aug. 12 Daily Journal and the Aug. 16 Gazette - both in 1911 - carried obituaries reporting his death at the age of 31. Considering his brief career, he was very successful in his several enterprises. He owned a hotel in Arnott for at least two years. The Aug. 1, 1906, Gazette's Arnott column announced that "N.J. Michalski wishes to rent his hotel, all furnished, at reasonable price. Anyone desiring to go into the hotel business will do well to look his place over." He also sold cars and, as we have seen, farm implements. The Gazette of Aug. 18, 1909 - shortly before he moved into his new house - reported that "N.J. Michalski, representing the Stevens Point Automobile Co., has sold to M.H. Doenitz, of Almond, a Model D Reo touring car. Mr. Doenitz is state agent for the Champion Potato Machinery Co., of Hammond, Ind." But it was all to end in two years. According to the Daily Journal's obituary, "Nicholas John Michalski passed away this morning at 4:15 at his home at Arnott. He has been afflicted with tuberculosis for many months and last spring caught a severe cold which increased the hold which the disease had upon him. About two months ago he went to Colorado in search of health, and spent four weeks in the mountains. Returning, he entered River Pines sanatorium, but was there only three weeks. He was taken from there to his home on Monday of this week. "Deceased was born in Stevens Point May 31, 1880. He was married at Green Bay in the fall of 1904 to Susie Werachowski of this city. Soon after their marriage they moved to Arnott which has been their home since then. He is survived by his wife and two children, Vernon and Stanley…." The Gazette's obituary related most of the same information, but added that "When (he was) a small boy his parents moved to the town of Stockton, near Arnott," and that his wife was "Miss Susie Werachowski of Arnott." Also, "for a number of years he had been engaged in the farm implement and automobile business and was a successful business man…." But the family tragedy did not end there. Tuberculosis was a highly contagious disease, and frequently wiped out whole families. When the British poet John Keats wrote, in a sonnet, "When I have fears that I may cease to be/Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain," he was expressing a sense of being stalked by death. Several members of his immediate family had died of TB, and he knew he and the others probably would, too. Keats died of TB in 1821 at the age of 25, according to Carlos Baker's introduction to Keats: Poems and Selected Letters (Bantam, 1962). So, too, Susie Michalski, "widow of Nicholas Michalski, Arnott…passed away at the home of her mother, Mrs. Pauline Werachowski, 351 Fourth Avenue, at 10:45 Tuesday morning [Oct. 22] after an illness of seven months with tuberculosis of the intestines," the Oct. 23, 1912, Daily Journal reported. "This spring she underwent an operation at Green Bay but this was of little benefit and she failed rapidly until her death…. Besides her mother, she is survived by two sons, Vernon, aged eight, and Stanley, aged four. Also by two sisters, Mrs. Helen Skalitsky, city, four brothers, Nicholas, John and Frank Werachowski of Arnott, and Julius Werachowski, who lives in Montana, and a step sister, Mrs. Frances Vicker, city." Susie was only 29 years old, and she died only a little over a year after her husband's death. The Gazette's obituary, also from Oct. 23, 1912, added that "She had been a great sufferer from tuberculosis of the bowels, and for a few days was unable to retain nourishment, but was conscious up to almost the last moment." Her death made orphans of her two young sons. They were taken to Stevens Point to live with her family. Vernon moved in with his grandmother, first at the Fourth Avenue address, above, but later at 332 (which now would be in the 600 block, but is gone) Washington Street (now Avenue), according to his obituary in the Dec. 23, 1918, Daily Journal. Stanley lived with his aunt, Mrs. Skalitsky (or Skalitzky - widow of Adolph) at 619 (which now would be in the 1400 block, but is gone) Briggs Street, the July 1, 1914, Gazette says. Susie Werachowski foresaw her untimely death, and arranged for her sons' care and for the disposal of her possessions, including the house. Volume 103, page 286, of Warranty Deeds, dated Sept. 4, 1912, gave the house and lot to her mother, Paulina Werachowski, who was to "support and take good care of the first party('s) two sons, Vernon and Stanley(,) until they become of age…and if the property by (sic) sold, what money left over (from) the same (is to) be loaned out on good security, for the benefit of my two sons in equal shares." Vernon followed the family's pattern of misfortune by dying of pneumonia in the 1918 influenza pandemic - the "Spanish Flu" or "Spanish Lady" - one of 20,000,000 killed by it around the world, far more than the death toll from World War I (see George Rogers' article on it in the Dec. 1, 2000, Portage County Gazette). Vernon was 14 years old when he died in December of 1918, according to the Daily Journal of Dec. 23, and The Gazette of Dec. 25. His name was given as Vernon Nicholas Michalski. Stanley seems to have been the only member of his family of four to have much luck. The July 1, 1914, Gazette reported his "remarkable escape" from what could have been a fatal accident. "Run over on a brick pavement by one wheel of a heavy touring car and escaping with only severe bruises, mostly on his head and one leg, with little or no question of complete and rapid recovery, is the experience of Stanley Werachowski, aged between five and six years, an orphan boy, who makes his home with his aunt, Mrs. Helen Skalitzky, 619 Briggs street. The child is a bright little fellow, inclined to leave home and visit about without asking the consent of his guardian, and upon securing his hat shortly after dinner Tuesday, he wandered down town. When in front of the jewelry store of Ferdinand Hirzy (418 - now 1028 - Main St.), at about 2:30 o'clock, he started to cross the street. Lyman Park, driving his touring car, came along at the same time, driving at a moderate pace, at about ten miles an hour, and (the boy) was struck and knocked down by the machine, one wheel passing over the left leg before the machine could be stopped. The child was picked up and carried to the office of Dr. von Neupert, Sr., over the Citizens National bank, where he was given first aid and then taken to St. Michael's hospital, where he is doing nicely, although somewhat sore. As stated before, no bones were broken, as an examination showed, and Stanley will soon be able to be about again." Notice that his name is given as Stanley "Werachowski." His grandmother or his aunt apparently had his name changed - was he legally adopted by one of them? - or The Gazette was in error. In any case, he apparently lived to adulthood. One hopes he had a long, happy life, to compensate him somewhat for his sad childhood. The house remained in the Werachowski family for more than 75 more years, and most of those years appear to have been happier than the first five. Paulina sold the house and lot to her son Frank for $1,600 (Vol. 102, pg. 632 of Warranty Deeds, dated April 15, 1914). The deed gives her signature as "Paulina her X mark Werachowski," meaning that she was unable to write. Two years later, on Sept. 30, 1916, Frank and his wife, Martha, quit-claimed (gave up all claim to - Vol. 106, pg. 296) the house and lot to Paulina, who on the same day sold it to another son, John A. (Warranty Deeds Vol. 110, pg. 72 ½) for $1,600. John Werachowski followed his brother-in-law Nick Michalski's example in becoming a prosperous Arnott businessman. In his will (Judgment Assigning Estate, Vol. 143, pg. 417, Sept. 12, 1928), he left one-third of his considerable estate to his widow, Antoinette, and two-thirds, to be divided equally, to his three children: Helen, Eleanor and Jerome. He was involved "in the buying and shipment of potatoes and grain, but he was also interested in the Arnott Hardware company and served as vice president of Arnott State Bank. His holdings included potato warehouses and several store buildings near the Green Bay & Western railroad station," reported his obituary in the Aug. 30, 1926, Daily Journal. A brick building bearing the inscription "J.A. Werachowski 1912" still stands on the east side of Arnott's main street (County Highway J). On May 13, 1932, his daughters quit-claimed the house and lot to Jerome (Vol. 149, pg. 308), who raised his own family in it. Nineteen years later, he quit-claimed it to his wife, Gertrude (Vol. 199, pg. 131, April 11, 1951). He died on July 26, 1952, at the young age of 43. His obituary in the Daily Journal of that date describes him as a "member of a well-known Arnott family and potato buyer and owner of Jerry's tavern there for many years." His widow quit-claimed the house and lot to their daughter and son-in-law, Barbara and Carl Adamski, on Jan. 22, 1958 (Vol. 215, pg. 434). The house was finally sold out of the family 32 years later. On March 30, 1990, the Adamskis sold it to Wanda A. Nelson for $48,000 (Warranty Deeds Vol. 531, pg. 1055). She married Joseph P. Riske in early 1992 (according to a quit-claim deed - Vol. 576, pg. 1069, July 17, 1992), and four years later they sold the house to Stephen W. Parrott, an electrician, for $69,000 (Vol. 680, pg. 134, of Warranty Deeds, Aug. 9, 1996). Parrott sold it on Sept. 28, 2000, to Samuel Ridgway, a state highway patrolman, for $75,000, according to Warranty Deed 579147.