Her Sons Take Wives.

On the 4th of February 1888, Joseph stood before Justice of the Peace Theodore Rudzinski to marry Miss Lulu Wolfe, daughter of John and Elizabeth Wolfe. The couple moved north to Ashland, Wisconsin with his younger brother Edwin. There they joined their older sister, Hermine Gervais, and her husband Noe.

The men worked for the Michigan, Lake Shore & Western (MLS & W) Railroad. And it was there that Joseph and Lulu's three children, Mabel, Stella and our ancestor Walter were born.

The remaining Petelle boys married in rapid succession. In 1892 it was the eldest, Rocque's, turn when he wed Annie Smith. On July 3, 1893 Charles married Corrine Desjardin, and three days later Edwin (having returned to Milwaukee) married Adeline Rutschke. Rumors were rampant that the 1893 Columbia Exposition in Chicago caused a surge in weddings in Milwaukee.

The "Gay 90's" did not bring prosperity. There was yet another major financial crisis that summer, and a number of banks failed in the city. The following year the largest ever strike of primarily Pullman employees caused a blockade of trains from Chicago. Joseph and his young family returned to Milwaukee as the country slipped into a 4 year long depression.

Edesse moved to 278 Lenox with sons Edwin and Charles and their families. Her youngest son Paul had left for Chicago, settling near his sister Matilda Odenbrett, and in 1895 he married Anna McCartin. Hermine's son Raymond was born in Chicago a year later. It is clear from church records that the family kept close even as they moved apart for they often appear as witnesses at each other's baptisms and weddings. In February of 1895 Edesse lost her brother, "old Paul", who died at the age of 82 (28 Feb 1895).