REMEMBRANCE
OF
"Bess"
by Helen F. Ferguson
Frederick W. Kauffman 1878-1958
Elizabeth "Bess" Swift 1884-1959
Elizabeth Swift was born in Liverpool, England on April 23, 1884. According to her birth certificate,
her name was Elizabeth, but she always said it was "Bess" and that is what everyone called her.
Bess was three years old when her mother, Mary Anne Clark, died. her father,
Patrick Edward Swift, had passed away a year earlier. Bess and her sister Helen "Nell", and their brother,
Thomas, were taken to Canada by an uncle who was a sea captain on a freighter ship in 1987,
when Bess was three years old.
Bess and Nell were placed in a convent where they were raised and Thomas was
taken to Chicago, IL to live with a relative, Mary Taft. Thomas became
their foster child. Margaret lived with the Taft's' also, but Bess
thought perhaps she arrived later. Bess and Nell were sent to the Tafts'
for a short while, when they were 15 and 20 years of age. They both found
work at the fair store in downtown Chicago and rented an apartment on the near
south side.
On April 28, 1900, Bess married Frederick Wilhelm Kauffman- Bess was 16
years old and Fred was 21 years old.
Nell married Otto Julius Willer on April 28, 1900. They all lived
around 39th and State Street-- Bess and Fred, Nell and Otto, Fred's parents,
Herman and Emilie Kauffman and Otto's parents- The Theodore Willer's. All
of the families attended St. Peter's Lutheran Church in their neighborhood. |
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Fred & Bess Kauffman
Children of Frederick and Bess Kauffman:
i. Frederick Herman3
Kauffman,
b: January 10, 1901 in
Chicago, IL;
d: April 20, 1979 in
Grayling, MI.
ii. Harold Theodore
Kauffman,
b: August 04, 1903 in
Chicago, IL;
d: October 12, 1989 in
Grayling, MI.
iii. Helen
Margaret Kauffman,
b: (Private)
iv. Betty
Mae Kauffman,
b: (Private)
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