Hauberg Family Staff

Visitors to the Hauberg love to imagine living on the estate, but often give less thought to the work required to maintain the home and grounds. The rooms needed to be dusted and swept. Rugs and furniture needed to be cleaned. The children required supervision. Laundry had to be done. There were meals to cook, dishes to wash, silver to polish. The lawn had to be cut, flower and vegetable gardens weeded. Carriages and cars needed to be maintained. It was the staff who kept the estate running.

The Haubergs had both live-in and day staff. There are maid’s rooms on the 2nd floor above the kitchen and a room for men on the 3rd floor. The 2nd floor of the carriage house is a 3-bedroom apartment. 

So, with no further ado, let’s meet some of the Hauberg family staff.

MISS BARBARA ADELIA ROSS

Miss Barbara Adelia Ross was the nurse and governess for the Hauberg children from the time they were infants. Her name appears on the 1920 census as living at this address. She lived in the house, traveled with the family and even as the children grew older, stayed on providing nursing care as needed. The family called her Miss Ross and she became a trusted part of the family.  

John Jr. (Johnny) remembers in his memoir that he and Catherine spent a lot of their time with Miss Ross. She nursed them through their childhood illnesses. She read to them at night from books like Black Beauty, Treasure Island, Gulliver’s Travels and Swiss Family Robinson. Miss Ross encouraged them to go outside and explore the grounds of the estate. Johnny recalls Miss Ross even bought him an international stamp album helping him collect stamps and learn about countries located all around the world.

In 1924, with Susanne and John traveling to the Middle East to see the recently uncovered tomb of King Tutankhamun, the children and Miss Ross spent the summer in a rental home near the beach in Hyannis, Massachusetts. Here they all went swimming, horseback riding, and learned to sail. As the children grew older, family vacations included Miss Ross. In 1926, they traveled to Europe, Miss Ross giving each of the children a small camera and a “My Trip Abroad” diary. In the summer of 1928, they all spent 10 weeks visiting the Hawaiian Islands.

Miss Ross loved nature and discovery. She was one of the 36 people who took part in the first Big Hike of the Black Hawk Hiking Club. The group traveled in two open trucks and a five-passenger car through state parks and Indian areas all the way to Minneapolis and back. John Hauberg led the group, Susanne came home at the end of the first day, the children were too young to be included, and Miss Ross was elected to the camp Council on the very first night of the trip. According to newspaper clippings, she took an active role in the Hiking Club serving on committees and leading some of the day hikes including the Red Bud Hike to Shady Beach and Penny Slough in May of 1928.

Barbara Ross was born on November 19, 1887 in Enbro, Ontario, Canada. She was the eldest child of Dr. Gordon and Anna Ross. She first came to the United States in 1910 and worked as a nurse at the Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago. It is unclear how she came to know the Haubergs. In 1932 she returned to Enbro to care for her ailing mother. She did make a trip back to Rock Island in 1942 to attend Susanne’s funeral.

Demonstrating the closeness of Miss Ross to the Hauberg family is this notice that appeared in The Dispatch on March 1, 1934: “Mr. and Mrs. John H. Hauberg, Twenty-third street and Thirteenth avenue, Rock Island, have received word of the death last night of Mrs. Gordon Ross of Enbro, Ontario, Canada, mother of Miss Barbara Ross who formerly was employed as a nurse at the Hauberg residence. Miss Ross was well known in Rock Island and had many friends there. She was a member of the Black Hawk Hiking club and was active in various other organizations. She had been living at home the last two years caring for her mother.”

MRS. PEARL THEODOSIA BENNETT

Pearl Bennett managed the kitchen for 25 years.  She worked 6 days a week (Thursdays off) ordering supplies, planning menus, keeping the kitchen clean, cooking 3 meals a day for family and staff, and most importantly, keeping the cookie jar full. 

The busiest room in the house is often the kitchen. The Hauberg kitchen was no exception during the 25 years that Pearl Bennett was in charge. The Hauberg children loved being in the kitchen. They would duck into a small space under a counter next to the radiator, watching the activity and listening to the chatter of the coming and goings of staff and family members. Mrs. Bennett loved having the children around. Often, she would make them a treat of jelly bread or possibly fudge.

The Hauberg kitchen wing includes multiple rooms. There is a service pantry between the dining room and kitchen where dishes, glassware and cutlery were stored, and where finished dishes could be staged for service. The main kitchen area housed the stove, a large sink centered under the window, storage cabinets, counter space, and the service call box. The call box was connected to 18 different rooms throughout the house. When a family member wanted to communicate with staff, they would push a call button wherever they were, an arrow on the face of the call box would flip up, and the staff would be alerted to respond to the appropriate room. The kitchen complex also included a large walk-in pantry, a cold ​room instead of a refrigerator, and a service dining room.

In addition to cooking for the family, Mrs. Bennett also cooked for as many as eight staff members who would be eating in the service dining room three times a day. So clearly, Pearl Bennett was busy.

She baked with flour and sugar stored in the pantry in barrels, not canisters. In the summer months she helped with canning and preserving the abundance of fruits and vegetables from the orchards and vegetable gardens on the property. But we know little about what she baked and the dishes she prepared. Wouldn’t it be fun to read her recipes or know more about the menus she planned? We will keep searching.

Pearl Theodosia Dice was born in Logansport, Indiana on January 18, 1880. She married John Bennett in 1897 and the couple moved to Illinois. In 1920, she began working for the Haubergs and according to census data in 1930, Pearl was widowed and had moved into the Hauberg home. Over the years she was not only a valued employee, but had also become close to the entire Hauberg family. According to Pearl’s descendants who live in the area, the Haubergs provided Pearl with a monthly pension for rest of her life. Pearl lived in Rock Island, until her death in 1962 at the age of 82.

In addition to cooking for the family, Mrs. Bennett also cooked for as many as eight staff members who would be eating in the service dining room three times a day. So clearly, Pearl Bennett was busy.

She baked with flour and sugar stored in the pantry in barrels, not canisters. In the summer months she helped with canning and preserving the abundance of fruits and vegetables from the orchards and vegetable gardens on the property. But we know little about what she baked and the dishes she prepared. Wouldn’t it be fun to read her recipes or know more about the menus she planned? We will keep searching.

Pearl Theodosia Dice was born in Logansport, Indiana on January 18, 1880. She married John Bennett in 1897 and the couple moved to Illinois. In 1920, she began working for the Haubergs and according to census data in 1930, Pearl was widowed and had moved into the Hauberg home. Over the years she was not only a valued employee, but had also become close to the entire Hauberg family. According to Pearl’s descendants who live in the area, the Haubergs provided Pearl with a monthly pension for rest of her life. Pearl lived in Rock Island, until her death in 1962 at the age of 82.

MISS EVELYN McHARGUE 

In 1937, Miss Evelyn McHargue, was hired by Susanne Hauberg. A young girl from a small Missouri town, her work as a housemaid was her very first job.  She was paid $12.00 per week plus room and board. The eldest of seven children, she was born on January 6, 1914 to Jessie and Allie McHargue.

Why she made her way to Rock Island is unclear, but she did have an aunt and uncle living in Davenport. Susanne Denkmann-Hauberg’s 1937 budget document lists Evelyn among the staff as “the new girl” with a salary of $12.00 a week. She would have lived on the second floor of the house, above the kitchen in one of three private rooms for female staff. The rooms were furnished including a closet and a shared bathroom at the end of the hall. All the staff ate in the first-floor staff dining room, right off the kitchen.

Evelyn met Curtis Noble Johnson from Davenport and after a rather short courtship he asked her to marry him and she said yes. The Haubergs, were afraid she was marrying in haste and offered to throw her a wedding which would take quite some time to plan. But, she declined. On June 1, 1940 the couple had a small wedding in Muscatine, Iowa. Later they had a celebration dinner at the home of Evelyn’s aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. H. Cox in Davenport. The wedding dinner, attended by family and friends, included the parents of both the bride and groom. At the time of the wedding Curtis operated two auto service stations in the tri-cities with his father. He later appeared to become a realtor and owned the Johnson Agency in Bettendorf. The couple had three children.

Evelyn’s picture was given to Friends of Hauberg by a family member who recounted that Evelyn said many times “Mrs. Hauberg taught her how to run a household.”

MARIE JOHNSON

Marie Johnson was the laundress. Doing laundry in 1912 would have been quite an ordeal.  In 1905, the first drum washing machine appeared. They were an improvement over washtubs, but still operated by hand. You needed to fill the drum of the machine with water, light a gas burner to heat the water, grate in bar soap and let it dissolve; add white items to soak for at least ½ hour to remove any stains; agitate the load of items by hand; pull them out one at a time; run each through a wringer; rinse in a tub of clear water; run it again through a wringer; hang it on a clothes line or on a drying machine rack. Not to mention adding starch and ironing.

Susanne had the latest equipment in her huge basement laundry room. In her diary, she talks about shopping for a drying machine in Chicago. We know there were two large wall sinks, and we suspect several laundry tubs on stands for soaking and washing things by hand; an electric drum washing machine with a wringer; a large drying machine; several irons heated on electric hot plates; tables for sorting and folding; ironing boards; big steaming mangles for pressing large items such as table linens or draperies. A staircase led from the room up to a brick enclosed courtyard where metal rings, embedded in mortar, were used to secure clotheslines and sheets and pillowcases were hung to dry in the sun and fresh air.

Even with the latest equipment, laundry was hard work when Marie Johnson was the laundress. We know she was born in Sweden and arrived in the United States around 1885. Per the 1920 census, there were three Marie Johnson’s without a middle initial, all born in Sweden, living in Rock Island. We think the Marie who worked at Hauberg lived with her brother and sister-in-law, August and Hilda Johnson. She was 41, single and her occupation was listed as a laundress. But, as early as 1910, a Marie John from Sweden lived and worked as a laundress in a dorm at Augustana College. And, in 1912, a Marie Johnson from Sweden worked at the Rock Island Steam Laundry. So, if you have any additional information about the Marie who worked at the Hauberg Estate, please share it with us. We are eager to be able to share the full story of all the Hauberg Family Staff.

ANDREW REITZ

Andrew Reitz was the family’s chauffeur and he and his family lived in the apartment on the second floor of the carriage house. He had been a coachman for Susanne’s parents until their deaths and moved to the Hauberg Estate at the same time as Susanne and John. His obituary starts by saying he worked for the Denkmann Hauberg family for more than fifty years.

Born in a village near Wollendorf, Germany, on May 27, 1859, he came to the United States with his parents in 1872.  The family settled near Grand Mound, Iowa. Andrew came to Rock Island as a young man and was employed for a short time at the Weyerhauser and Denkmann Lumber Company before going to work for the Denkmann family. He married Anna Ristau and the couple had three children, Raymond, Leona and Ernest.

Andrew liked driving horses more than autos. The Hauberg’s initially had both. But he soon became accustomed to both the autos and John’s truck. In fact, so accustomed that in 1919, he was “arrested” for speeding in Moline and fined $5 plus court costs.

The Hauberg’s also had a large greenhouse attached to the carriage house. And, although Andrew was said not to have a green thumb, he did take care of the greenhouse and was in charge of overseeing a small group of men who tended the landscape, the orchard and the vegetable gardens.

Andrew Reitz retired from his job with the Hauberg’s in 1932, at the age of 72. He passed away on January 29, 1940. He was survived by two of his children, Raymond and Leona and seven grandchildren.

HENRY FRANK

Henry was the House Man at the Hauberg Estate for 25 years. He arrived at 4am to ensure everything was ready for the start of the day.He greeted visitors, ran errands, polished both the silver and the families’ shoes, took care of needed maintenance and attended to anything else that was needed to keep the house running smoothly.