George Washington Stratman is buried in Eastside Cemetery, Dodgeville, Iowa Co., WI. Thanks to Find-A-Grave for making this image available.

Mary Maude (Abbey) Stratman is buried in Eastside Cemetery, Dodgeville, Iowa Co., WI. Thanks to Find-A-Grave for making this image available.

Donal Journey "Don" Egelus and Helen Patricia "Pat" (Richards) (Wright) Egelus are buried in Tahoma National Cemetery, Kent, King Co., WA. Thanks to Find-A-Grave for making these images available.

The Iowa County Democrat, Mineral Point, Iowa Co., WI, Thursday, August 20, 1903

Stratman - Abbey.

Dodgeville Sun: Miss Maud Abbey, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Abbey and George Stratman, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. F. W. Stratman, Sr., were quietly married at the parsonage by Rev. C. Cook, Wednesday evening. Both bride and groom are well known and popular young people. They will reside on Clarence street and will begin housekeeping immediately.

The WWI Draft Registration Report dated September 12, 1918, shows George Washington Stratman (age 41) is a Wheelwright and is living at 406 N. Jefferson St., Monroe, Green Co., WI. He is married to Maude Stratman.

George Washington Stratman Death Certificate.

The Iowa County Democrat, Mineral Point, Iowa Co., WI, Thursday, November 28, 1918

DODGEVILLE

Word has been received here that George Stratman had died of Influenza at his home in Edgerton. The remains will be brought here for burial.

James and Marie Copeland, Wilbur Larson, Marian Stratman, and dog, Carlo, Larson farm, Farmington Twp., Waupaca Co., WI, August, 1926.

Appleton Post-Crescent, Appleton, WI, Tuesday, April 19, 1938

Foreign Service Lions Club Topic

Waupaca Organization Hears Address by Glenn A. Abbey

Waupaca - Glenn A. Abbey, of the United States diplomatic service, was the principal speaker at the Lions club Monday noon at Hotel Delevan. Mr. Abbey was introduced by his brother-in-law, Almo Larson, at whose home he was a week end guest. Mr. Abbey's talk was of "The Foreign Service of the United States." Foe 13 years Mr. Abbey, a native of Dodgeville, Wis. and a graduate of Georgetown university, has been engaged in the American consular and diplomatic service. For two and one-half years he was stationed at Haiti, three years in the high commission in South Africa, located at Johanesburg and Pretoria. He was in Nicaragua a short time following the earthquake and in Venezuela four years. For a little more than a year he was in the service in Paraguay then at Buenes Aires and Paraguay, returning April 6 from Buenes Aires. Mr. Abbey was also a junior delegate to the Chaco peace conference. He is now doing special detail work with the department of state at Washington, D. C., where he will be stationed for two or three years. While in Waupaca Mr. Abbey was a guest at the home of his sister, Mrs. Almo Larson. He left Tuesday morning for Eau Claire where he will be the guest of another sister. Other week end guests of Mr. and Mrs. Larson were Mrs. Ida Abbey, Dodgeville; C. P. Abbey, San Antonio, Texas; Mrs. L. H. Anderson, Eau Claire; Wilbur A. Larson, Watertown; Miss Marion Stratman, Madison; Mrs. Maude Stratman and Harold Indestad, Waupaca. 

Appleton Post-Crescent, Appleton, WI, Wednesday, May 15, 1940

Waupaca - Mrs. M. Stratman will leave Thursday for Madison where she will visit her daughter, Miss Marian Stratman, who will leave that city May 20 for San Francisco from which place she will sail for Honolulu. Miss Stratman expects to be gone one year and will be employed as a surgical nurse in Queen Mary's hospital.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Honolulu, HI, Saturday, February 7, 1942

Miss Stratman is Bride-Elect

Mrs. Maude Stratman of Waupaca, Wis., announces the engagement of her daughter, Marian, to Donal Egelus of Jerome, Idaho. The wedding is planned for 2 p. m. February 28 at St. Andrew's cathedral. The charming bride elect, who has been in Honolulu almost two years, is a nurse in surgery at the Queen's hospital. She was graduated from Madison general hospital, Wis. She is the niece of Glenn Abbey, American consul in London, Eng. and a cousin of Dr. Warren Thomas, M. D., well known in American research circles. The bridegroom elect, who is with the U. S. engineers, attended the Montana school of mines. Both he and his father are owners of sporting goods furniture stores in southern Idaho.

Rufus G. Wright and Helen Patricia "Pat" Richards Marriage Record.

Appleton Post-Crescent, Appleton, WI, Thursday, February 19, 1942

Former Waupaca Resident Will be Bride in Honolulu

Mrs. Maude Stratman, Waupaca, has announced the approaching marriage of her daughter, Miss Marion Stratman, Honolulu, to Donal Egelus, also of Honolulu. The ceremony will take place at 2 o'clock the afternoon of Feb. 28 in  February 28 in St. Andrew's cathedral, Honolulu. The bride-elect was graduated from Waupaca High school with the class of 1933. She enroled in the letters and science course at the University of Wisconsin, later deciding on a nursing career. After graduating from the Madison School of Nursing she took her affiliation period at Milwaukee County hospital. From there she went back to Madison General hospital, where she was employed as a surgical nurse until she accepted a similar position in May 1940 at Queen's hospital, Honolulu. Miss Stratman, who has three brothers, Dallas, Donald and George, Dodgeville, Wis., is the niece of Glenn A. Abbey, American consul in London, England, and a cousin of Dr. Warren Thomas, well known in American research circles. Mr. Egelus, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Egelus, Jerome, Idaho, attended the Montana School of Mines and is now with the United States engineers in the Hawaiian Islands. Both the bridegroom and his father are owners of sporting goods and furniture stores throughout southern Idaho. The marriage service will be followed by a reception for the Queen's hospital staff and for Mr. Egelus' fellow defense workers.

The Honolulu Advertiser, Honolulu, HI, Sunday, February 22, 1942

MARRIAGE APPLICATIONS

Filed in Honolulu, Feb. 20, with Agent Mrs. Lela L. Rankin:

Donal Journey Egelus, 2438 Kuhio ave., and Marian Aynn Stratman, Queen's hspital.

The Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Co., WI, Friday, February 27, 1942

Couple Plans Nuptial Rite at Honolulu

There is wide interest in the marriage service to be read Saturday in St. Andrew's cathedral, Honolulu, H. I., where Miss Marion Stratman, Honolulu, daughter of Mrs. Maude Stratman, Waupaca, will exchange vows with Donald Egelus, also of Honolulu. Miss Stratman, who attended the University of Wisconsin, later was graduated from the Madison General hospital school of nursing and then studied further at the Milwaukee county hospital. Later she returned to the Madison General hospital where she was a surgical nurse until May, 1940, when she took a similar position at Queen's hospital, Honolulu. A niece of Glenn A. Abbey, American consul in London, England, Miss Stratman is also a cousin of the well known American research scholar, Dr. Warren Thomas. Her fiancee, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Egelus, Jerome, Idaho, attended the Montana school of mines and is now with the United States engineers in the Hawaiian islands.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Honolulu, HI, Saturday, February 28, 1942

Miss Stratman Bride Today

Today in a 2 p. m. ceremony performed by the Rt. Rev. S. Harrington Littell, Miss Marian Stratman, daughter of Mrs. Maude Stratman of Waupaca, Wis., will become the bride of Donal Egelus, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Egelus of Jerome, Idaho. The bride, who will be given in marriage by Henry Lewicki, will wear a pastel blue afternoon frock with a double pink carnation lei. Her white accessories will include a snapbrim halo hat. detailed with white butterfly orchids. Miss Roselyn Sutcliff will be maid of honor in a pale green dress with a double white carnation lei and white luahala hat. Tommy Thompson will be best man. Edward Locke will be the usher. After the nuptials a reception will be held at the House Without a Key, Halekulani hotel. Hawaiian music will be played for dancing. The newlyweds will make their home at 2438 Kuhio Ave. The bride to be has been in Honolulu almost two years. She is a nurse in surgery at the Queen's hospital. She was graduated from Madison general hospital, Wis. She is the niece of Glenn Abbey, American consul in London, England, and a cousin of Dr. Warren Thomas, MD, well known in American research circles. The bridegroom elect, who is with the U. S. engineers, attended the Montana school of mines. Both he and his father are owners of sporting goods furniture stores in southern Idaho.

The Honolulu Advertiser, Honolulu, HI, Sunday, March 1, 1942

Miss Stratman Bride Yesterday

At St. Andrew's cathedral yesterday afternoon, Miss Marian Stratman, daughter of Mrs. Maude Stratman of Waupaca, Wis., was married to Donald Egelus, son of Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Egelus of Jerome, Idaho, with Bishop S. Harrington Littell performing the ceremony. The traditional music was played at the console. The bride, who was given in marriage by Mr. Henry A. Lewicki, was gowned in a light blue crepe ensemble with white accessories and matching hat. She wore a double pink carnation lei detailed with white butterfly orchids. Miss Roselyn Sutcliff, maid of honor, was frocked in light green crepe with matching accents and white hat. She also wore a carnation lei. Mr. Tommy Thompson was best man. Usher was Mr. Edward Locke. After the ceremony a reception was held at the Halekulani hotel. The couple will be at home at 2438 Kuhio avenue. The bride, who has been in Honolulu almost two years, is a nurse in surgery at the Queen's hospital. She was graduated from Madison general hospital, Madison, Wis. She is the niece of Glenn Abbey, American consul in London, England, and a cousin of Lt. Cmdr. Warren Thomas (MC) of Washington, D, C., well known in American research circles. The bridegroom, who is with the US Engineers, attended the Montana School of Mines. Both he and his father are owners of sporting goods furniture stores in southern Idaho.

Mary Maude (Abbey) Stratman, age 103, at the Riverside Nursing Home, Waupaca, Waupaca Co., WI. Photo taken February, 1985, at her sister Emma Jane (Abbey) Larson's 101st birthday party.

The Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, WI, Friday, October 3, 1986

Stratman, Mrs. Maude

DODGEVILLE - Mrs. Maude Stratman, age 104, died on Tuesday, September 30, 1986, in a Waupaca nursing home. The former Maude Abbey was born in Richland County on December 10, 1881. She was married to George Stratman, and was a Dodgeville and Monroe resident for several years. She was a member of the United Methodist Church. She was preceded in death by her husband, George; two sons Dallas and George; a grandson; and a great-grandson. She is survived by a son, Donald, Dodgeville; a daughter, Mrs. Marian Egelus, Las Vegas, Nevada; nine grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren; and 30 great-great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held on at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, October 4, in the LULLOFF-PETERSON FUNERAL HOME, Dodgeville. Reverend Verlyn Harr will officiate. Burial will be in East Side Cemetery. Friends may call on Saturday, October 4, at the funeral home from 10:00 a.m. until time of service.

The Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, Dane Co., WI, Sunday, January 28, 1990

Stratman, Donald W.

DODGEVILLE - Donald W. Stratman, age 85, of Dodgeville, Wisconsin, died on Wednesday, January 24, 1990, in a Muscatine, Iowa hospital following an apparent heart attack. He was born on March 4, 1904, in Dodgeville to George and Maude (abbey) Stratman. He married the former Clara Dammen in 1927. The couple resided in Dodgeville where he was co-owner of DH & S Mining Company until moving to San Jose, California in 1958. He was then employed with the San Jose Mercury News until retiring to Dodgeville in 1966. He was preceded in death by his wife, Clara on May 1, 1961; and two brothers, Dallas in 1966 and George in 1964. He is survived by a daughter, Marie (Kenneth) Mlodzik of Santa Barbara, California, and a son, LaVern (Bernice) Stratman of Seneca, South Carolina; six grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; a sister, Marian Egelus of Las Vegas, Nevada; two sisters-in-law, Mrs. Ella Stratman and Mrs. Mamie Stratman both of Dodgeville; and numerous nieces and nephews. Funeral services will be at 1:00 p.m., on Monday, January 29, 1990, in the LULLOFF-PETERSON FUNERAL HOME, Dodgeville. Pastor Verlyn C. Harr will officiate. Burial will be in the Yellowstone Cemetery, Argyle. Visitation will be held on Sunday, January 28, from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., at the funeral home.

Sonoma News, Sonoma, CA

Obituaries

Helene F. Stratman - Navy League president

12/05/03 - Helene F. Stratman made a peaceful transition from this world at home in Sonoma on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2003, with her loving family close to her side. She was 81, but looked far younger. Helene's passing came just days after a traditional Thanksgiving with her three children and their families, where many special and touching moments were shared. A woman of strength and determination, she will be forever missed as a loving mother, role model, devoted friend and leader. Helene was a 10-year resident of Seven Flags and active in many community groups. She was best known in Sonoma Valley as president and founder of the Vineyard Council of the Navy League. She enjoyed organizing activities such as excursions on-board U.S. Coast Guard vessels, private tours of Air Force bases and visits to the California Maritime Academy. Helene also served as a docent with the Sonoma Valley Historical Society at the Toscano Hotel. She was a member of Women of the Moose, Ladies Auxiliary of Veterans of Foreign Wars, Sons of Italy and other groups. Up until recently, Helene worked at Advanced Instruments Hearing Aid Center on Broadway. Before moving to Sonoma, Helene was a 30-year resident of Marin County where as a single mother, she worked full-time in medical office management and raised her children. Prior to founding the Vineyard Council, Helene served as executive officer of the Carpenter Division of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps in San Rafael and then as commander of the Sea Cadet Pyro Division in Petaluma. In these posts, she organized programs for young people interested in the sea services. Working with young people was a longtime avocation that spanned three decades, beginning with Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in San Francisco and Marin County. Ultimately achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel, Helene was commander of San Francisco CAP Squadron 86 from 1975 to 1981 and was also "Outstanding Information Officer" for the Marin Air-Rescue Composite Squadron 4. Born Aug. 23, 1922, Helene grew up in New York and Europe, traveling with Swiss-American parents who developed new concepts for watches and earned several patents for innovative designs. After settling in New York City, marrying and having children, Helene and her family moved to San Francisco in the early 1960s. Her first husband died in action in World War II, and her second husband was a World War II and Korean War veteran who died in 1974. Helene is survived by daughter Jeanne Slominski and her husband, Ron, and grandson, Jesse "Moses" Slominski of Petaluma; daughter Teri Shore of Sonoma; son, George W. Stratman and his wife, Susan, and granddaughter, Emma, of Ramona; nephew Richard Lawson and his wife, Judith, of Alabama and their children; and cousin Hildegard Maag and husband, Willy, and extended family of Zurich, Switzerland. Arrangements were handled by Duggan's Mission Chapel. A celebration of Helene's life will be held 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Jan. 3, at the Seven Flags Clubhouse in Sonoma. RSVP to Teri Shore, terishore@mindspring.com, or 938-3469. Donations may be made to Valley of the Moon Hospice Team, 735 Broadway, Sonoma, CA 95476; or the U.S. Navy League Sea Cadet Corps, Pyro Division, U.S. Coast Guard Training Center, Petaluma, CA 94952.

Helene Stratman-Thomas was born on May 13, 1896 in Dodgeville, Wis., the daughter of Helena Emma Stratman and Warren H. Thomas, a local grocer and businessman. She grew up amid a blend of folk music in her predominantly Cornish town — German folk songs and English game sounds at home, and Welsh hymns from a nearby church. After high school, Helene taught school in Monticello and Brooklyn before earning a business degree from University of Wisconsin–Madison. She worked at an investment firm in Minneapolis for about eight years, and then returned to Madison to complete her B.A. and M.A. degrees in music. In 1930, she was hired at UW to teach music theory, conduct the women’s chorus, and later work as the business manager for the Pro Arte string quartet. She lived with her brother, Warren K. Stratman-Thomas, a renowned malarial research pharmacologist. Together they were avid genealogists, and she was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. In 1940, her music career found a new trajectory. Professor Leland Coon asked her to head the Wisconsin Folk Music Project, a government-funded effort to record music from the state’s diverse population. That summer she embarked on the first of three major collecting trips. Until then her training was chiefly classical, yet quickly she warmed to the task. After the government-sponsored collecting trips, Stratman-Thomas recounted her travels in a radio series on Wisconsin Public Radio and gave lectures on folk music throughout the state. She also devoted a summer to surveying the state’s Cornish music. In the fall of 1948, Stratman-Thomas married A. J. (Pat) Blotz, a Dodgeville man she had known her entire life. She continued to teach music theory and began writing a book about Wisconsin folk music. Stratman-Thomas retired from UW–Madison in 1961. She died Jan. 11, 1973 at the age of 76. Shortly after Helene’s death, her husband asked Harry Peters to complete the Wisconsin folksong book project. Folk Songs out of Wisconsin was published in 1977. Since then there have been other attempts to bring her work to light, including Judy Rose’s 1983 radio series, Wisconsin Patchwork, and the companion book by Leary. In 2001, the Library of Congress released Folk Music from Wisconsin, a 22-track CD of Helene’s recordings. With a heavy recorder and a thin budget, UW–Madison music professor Helene Stratman-Thomas and recording technician Bob Draves rolled down Wisconsin roads in search of folk music. The year was 1941, a time when many first-generation immigrants and big lumber camp veterans were still alive and performing. The two traveled from town to town — “The average speed was 70 miles an hour,” Bob would later recall — covering thousands of miles to put down records in all regions of the state. Within a few years it would become impossible to capture such voices and experiences. Much of what Helene caught on those precarious shellac discs have never been recorded before or since. The trip marked the beginning of Helene’s six-year folk song collecting effort that would result in the preservation of nearly 800 performances representing more than thirty ethnic and regional groups. The copies of the recordings are housed at the Mills Music Library at University of Wisconsin–Madison and the originals are part of the Library of Congress’s Archive of Folk Culture, the largest collection of American traditional music in the world. The Helene Stratman-Thomas Collection of ethnic music recordings is especially rich in the songs of French-Canadian, Norwegian, Swedish, Dutch, Cornish, and German immigrants. It also contains the music of Native American groups (in particular the Ho Chunk); occupational songs by lumberjacks, sailors, miners, railroadmen, and cranberry pickers; and Appalachian music performed by Kentuckians who settled in northern Wisconsin. At a time when American folk music collecting centered on mainly Anglo- and Afro-American songs, or regionally focused works on Cajuns, Hispanics, and various American Indians, Helene’s work stood apart. She was open to all kinds of musical expression, which enabled her to record everything from Czech and Bohemian brass bands to Norwegian hardanger and Polish goraly fiddlers. Other never-before captured tunes came from psalmodikons and tamburica quartets, Oneida choirs, Welsh Gymanfa Ganu singers, and Swedish, Norwegian, Hollander, and Luxembourger balladeers. Temperamental equipment and unpredictable performers made for extremely precarious conditions. “I’m surprised we got anything good at all because this was so primitive,” Draves told Simply Folk’s Judy Rose in a 1983 interview. When exposed to air, the purple coating around the aluminum recording discs would quickly harden so they had to remain tightly covered until performers were ready. Diamond needles that cut the records had to be sharp, yet any accidental touch against the aluminum and the needle was destroyed. Each disc only afforded 4 ½ minutes of recordings, which meant that singers had little room to dally or make mistakes. But there were forgotten lyrics and other blunders, as well as some awkward moments. A cuckoo clock and church bells were just of few of the stray sounds that made it onto the discs. When it came to lusty ballads, singers might clam up in front of the female song catcher. In turn, Helene would step out of the room and let Bob record those songs that “ain’t exactly fitten for a woman to hear.” A music theory teacher and women’s choir conductor, Helene fell into the work of folksong collecting. Yet her ability to develop instant rapport with almost anyone made her a natural. “She was a very loveable person,” Draves recalled, “a warm person who could become very interested in you.”