Letters, Ledgers, and Lost Lives

www.flowerintheriver.com
It’s May 31st—an important date if, like me, you have roots in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. On this day in 1889, the South Fork Dam gave way, and a wall of water wiped out most of the city. Over 2,000 lives were lost. It was a manmade disaster—tragic, preventable, and all too familiar.

In this episode, I begin with the story of Maggie Irwin, a chambermaid who died in the Johnstown Flood at age 18. Her mother saved the letters Maggie sent home during her brief time working in a hotel—and because of those letters, we remember her today. She’s buried among the unnamed in Grandview Cemetery, but her words still speak.

From there, we fast-forward 26 years to another disaster—one that changed my own family’s trajectory: the Eastland. And this is where things get personal again.

You’ll hear about the Schultz and Kempa families—John, Veronica, and their baby Edward, all lost in the Eastland Disaster. What surfaced recently were fraternal insurance records—documents full of detail, legal battles, and emotional fallout that most histories skip over. These aren’t just forms; they’re grief, held in carbon copy.

This family—John, Veronica, and Edward Schultz—were the relatives of the late Rosemary Pietrzak. Rosemary was one of the very first people I connected with when I started this journey. She was kind, wise, and generous with her family history. She helped me understand not just the facts but the long shadow the Eastland cast over so many lives.

When I came across the Schultz family’s insurance file this year, I felt a responsibility—not just as a researcher, but as someone Rosemary trusted. I wanted to tell this story with care, because she deserved that. Her family deserved that.

She once said to me, “They may not have died on the Eastland, but they surely died of it.” That line stayed with me—and I repeat it often.

This episode is about what happens after disaster. The paperwork. The disputes. The forgotten stories. It’s about how we carry loss, and how even the most overlooked documents can bring dignity back to people who were nearly erased.

💛 For Maggie. For Rosemary. For all of them.