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In 1905, John Karls purchased “Matt Schaefer’s house near the depot” at 7707 Blivin, which was built about 1895. It stood next to John’s general store at 7709 Blivin Street.
John Karls was from Johnsburg, being born there in 1871. In 1898 he married Mary E. Adams. The next year they were living in Spring Grove and he was working as a carpenter when their first daughter Hildegard (Hilda) was born. Two years later their son Leo was born. John purchased the general store in 1901.
Mary became ill with “consumption”, (TB, which was the leading cause of death at the time), and died in the house in 1904, just four days after giving birth to daughter, Angeline, who died two days later. They were buried together in St. Peter’s Cemetery.
In September 1907, John married Anna Roos who he is pictured in the above photo with his two children, Leo & Hilda. (To the left of the house you can see the old ice house, that stood at the south end of the large pond at Hatchery Park where the ice was cut from.) Anna was born in Spring Grove in 1884 to Nicholas and Mary Wagner Roos and lived her whole life here. John and Anna had five more children, Eleanor (Marsh), Clarence, Ed, Regina (Waspi), & Charles.
John served as the Village Treasurer (1902-04) and Village Clerk (1908) and then as Village President from 1913-1919. John died in 1953 and Anna lived until 1966.
In the 1980s, Ben Orbeck bought the house and it was a rental for many years. Today, it is the business office of Resolute Plumbing, Inc. The house is well cared for and still retains most of its originality, including the same size window openings. However, the little side porch with turned spindles was replaced with a large wrap around porch many years ago.
Story by Laura Frumet
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