Michael George Andrew HERTEL

26 JUL 1862 - 17 FEB 1918

• BIRTH: 26 JUL 1862, Perrysburg, Wood County, OH
• DEATH: 17 FEB 1918, Goshen, Elkhart County, IN

1. +Paul HERTEL

INDEX

[N23022] Michael George “Andrew” Hertel

Birth 26 Jul 1862
Perrysburg, Wood County, OH

Death 17 Feb 1918 (aged 55)
Goshen, Elkhart County, IN

Burial
Oakridge Cemetery
Goshen, Elkhart County, IN
Plot Section 4, Row 20, Lot 421
Memorial ID 51753511

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In the baptismal record (on the right) Michael's baptismal middle name is George. In Catholic tradition, the middle name is often named after a saint or family member. In public life Michael's middle name was Andrew, as one of Michael's daugthers refers to her father as "Michael Andrew Hertel". Tom Wagner, researcher, kindly supplied the baptismal record. Thank you Tom!
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Please note that on all the newspaper accounts, there are discrepencies - such as the age of the deceased, the name of the train that was involved, and the spelling of the deceased's surname.

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Goshen Times News, Monday, February 17, 1918, p. 1.
Train Strikes Hotel Bus and Kills Driver.

"Michael Hertel Met Instant Death in Accident Sunday Evening: Hit by Fast Mail Train at Ninth Street Crossing Over New York Central Tracks - Was Father of Ten Children"

Michael Hertel, 55 years old, driver of the Hotel Alderman auto bus, and owner of a boarding and rooming house on South Ninth street, was instantly killed about 7:30 Sunday evening when his car was struck by N.Y.C. train No. 35, a fast mail train due to pass through Goshen at 5:10. The train is not scheduled to stop here. Mr.Hertel had just left his home on Ninth street, opposite the N.Y.C. station, and was driving across the tracks on his way to the passenger station, where passenger train No. 23 was expected to arrive within a few minutes. According to several witnesses, Roy Zellar, taxie driver, John Geaugh, gate operator, and Clarence Gillmore, Hertel drove directly in front of the train without apparently ever having seen it. He seemed to make no effort to stop his car or to turn aside. He was alone in the bus at the time of the accident. The car was struck almost squarely, and the engine and chassis were thrown against the fountain in the small park plot north of the tracks. Hertel's body was carried on the pilot of the engine up to Cottage avenue crossing, where it was thrown beside the tracks, and the crushed body of the bus remained hanging on the front of the engine until the train was stopped opposite the Castetter storage house. Hertel's body was found by the train crew near the rear end of the train. The top of his head had been crushed in, but his body was not mutilated in any way, nor were any other bones broken. The train which struck the car was traveling at a fast rate of speed, as it was late, but witnesses of the accident that the usual whistle warning of its approach was given. The crash of the train striking the metal body of the car was heard several blocks away, and the engineer succeeded in stopping the train in a comparatively short distance from the scene of the accident.

Father of Ten Children.
Mr. Hertel was the father of ten children who are living, and one son who died about five years ago. His wife, Mary Hertel, also survives him. The children, the oldest of whom is about 22, all unmarried, are Walter, Cecelia, Hildegarde, Paul, Collette, Raymond, Helen, Angela, Clara and Norbert.
Mr. Hertel was born in Ohio, but before he came to Goshen ten years ago, he had resided on a farm in Illinois, not far from Chicago. When he came to Goshen he bought a farm near here, but had always lived in the city. For a number of years he had been proprietor of the rooming and boarding house on Ninth street and also owned the car which he operated as a bus for the Hotel Alderman.

Pursued by Hard Luck.
Ever since Mr. Hertel's residence in Goshen he had been pursued by misfortune of every kind. First the buildings on his farm were destroyed by fire, a son died a number of years ago, recently his hotel was almost wrecked by another fire, and it was rare that some member of the family during the last five years had not been recovering from some accident or was not quarantined for some communicable disease. And then came the greatest disaster of all Sunday evening, when Mr. Hertel himself met death.

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Goshen Times News, Necrology; Tuesday, February 19, 1918, p. 5.
HERTEL FUNERAL. Funeral services of Michael Hetel will be held from St. John's Catholic church. Father Hottenroth will officiate and interment will be made at Oak Ridge Cemetery.

Note: Michael is interred in the Hertel family plot in Oakridge Cemetery (Goshen, IN). The information was obtained from the Goshn Public Library, "Oakridge Cemetery, Elkhart County, Indiana," Compiled by Jeffrey L. Keim; 1997 (see the photo on the right). Michael is in Row #19, plot 421.

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Indiana, The Elkhart Truth, February 18, 1918, p.1.
"Goshen Man Killed on Railroad Crossing: Michael Hurttel, 54, Hotel Alderman Taxicab Driver, Hurled to Death by Train."

Michael Hurttel, 54, driver of the Hotel Alderman taxicab at Goshen, was instantly killed when struck on the Main street crossing at Goshen by New York Central train 35 at 7:45 o'clock last night. His skull was crushed and death was instantaneous. He is survived by a widow and ten children.
A story of the accident told here today is that Hurttel drove to the station to meet a train which proved to be late, and that he started back and then saw the headlight of No. 35's engine. Thinking it the light of the train he was to meet, he turned back, driving onto the crossing directly in front of 35, which does not stop at Goshen. The taxicab was partly demolished. Mr. Hurttel lived just on the north side of the crossing where he was killed. His funeral is to be held from St. John's Catholic church in Goshen at 9 o'clock Wednesday. Coroner Eugene Holdeman was called from here. The only witness of the accident, besides the engineer and fireman, is Leroy Zellers. Engineer Lindsay and Fireman Drake, both of Toledo, were on the engine. Their testimony will be taken tomorrow night.

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Indiana: The Elkhart Daily Review, Monday, February 18, 1918.
"Father of Ten Killed by Train at Goshen."
Michael Hertel, aged 54, was instantly killed last night at the Ninth street crossing, Goshen, when the back end to the Alderman hotel bus which he was driving was struck by Lake Shore passenger train No. 35. Mr. Hertel was on his way to the depot when the accident occurred. Leroy Zellar, who witnessed the tragedy, told Coroner Holdeman that the train was visible for many blocks back. Mr. Hertel leaves a wife and ten children. The funeral will be held at 9 o'clock from the St. John's Catholic church. The burial will take place at the Oak Ridge Cemetery.

Michael Hertel is the son of George Hertel and Margaretha Schmitt (from Oberehrenbach, Barvaria, Germany). His parents immigrated, along with his sister, Elisabeth to Fremont Center, Illinois. Michael's brother, Andrew, and his sister, Mary, were born in Fremont before his family moved again to Perrysburg, Ohio. In Perrysburg, Michael was born, along with an older brother, George. The Hertel family can be traced back to the early 1600s in Oberehrenbach, Barvaria, Germany. (Ref.: Tom Wagner, researcher.)

In a 1900 census, Michael Hertel's widowed mother, Mrs. Margaret Hertel, was living with his family; Margaret was born Jan 1823 in Germany and she was the mother to 9 children, 5 living.

Michael was a farmer in Lake County, Fremont Township, Illinois. His wife, Mary was born in Illinois (her father born in Germany, and her mother born in Wisconsin). Nearby, are two other Hertel households, probably Micheal's brothers (George and Andrew Hertel).