On the Move, Again.

The Turn of the Century.

This was a difficult time for the young family as they had to endure a separation. Joseph surfaces in the 1900 Chicago city directory as a manager living at 1221 North California Avenue. The 1900 census further reveals that he and his oldest daughter Mabel, now 11, were renting. He claimed (or it was assumed by the census taker) he was a widower. Mabel was "at school" and Joseph was a conductor for the railroad. The address is very close to where his mother and sister lived.

Still in Milwaukee, Lula appears in the 1900 census twice. First, living with her parents in a home they rented. She admits to being married 10 years, with all three of the children she bore living. In the household only two are named: Walter, at age 8 and Estella, age 6 were in school.

The other mention of Lula was at 256 Ellen Street in a record taken a few days earlier. Here, she is a domestic for Nicholas and Emma Fowler. Her daughter Stella is found on this page as well. Clearly these were trying times for the family.

The split was temporary. Joseph returned to Milwaukee the following year. He stood as godfather to Charles' son Joseph at his baptism at Immaculate Conception. Once again he is a confectioner with a shop at 1209 Wells, living for a time with brother Edwin and his family. He continues in this occupation at least through 1905 per the Wisconsin state census. His children were growing up: Mabel, 16, Walter 15, and Stella, 13.

Move to Chicago.

The Windy City beckoned to the Petelle family, and they moved to a home close to Joseph's mother Edesse and sister Matilda at 427 Rhine (later Belden) in Chicago. Joseph was listed as a porter in the 1908 city directory. Given his ties to the railway industry this possibly refers to the job of assisting train passengers.

Walter began to work as a clerk at the Chicago Board of Trade, the first grain futures exchange in the United States. A couple years later at age 19 he was a settler for the Board. As buyers and sellers would accept a price for a commodity, his duty would be to settle, or close, the deal.