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Mom's Turn on Stage: The Cleveland Folk Festival

Mom is third from right in this newspaper clipping. In a stroke of serendipity following last week's post on my Grandpa's involvement in Cleveland's Theater of Nations, I ran across an email I had sent in an attempt to identify the newspaper and date for the clipping above. 1 My mother, Anna Kozlina Gilbride (1937-2010), is pictured third from the right, seated on the floor. Since I was fortunate to learn the background surrounding Grandpa's role in The Colleen Bawn , I thought I'd check the newspaper websites again to try to find this clipping and finally date it. And I did find it, in the 5 February 1952 edition of The Cleveland Press ; Mom was 14 years old in this photo, lots younger than I had imagined! 2 The caption states that Mom was performing as part of the Croatian Slavulj Society. Slavulj—Croatian for "the Nightingales"—was founded by Joseph Gregorincich and operated from 1937 to about 1951. The group began as a singing and drama club and later ...
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What Became of John Schiltz?

 

John N. Schiltz, a third great-granduncle, was a bit of a "man of mystery" to my cousin Mary Ann, who I met last year on a research trip to New York and Canada. (Mary Ann and I share 4th great-grandparents, Peter Schiltz and Anna Marie Cailteux; John was their son.) 

Mary Ann knew that John had served in the Civil War, and wondered what transpired in his life afterwards. Never one to shrink from a mystery, I researched John after I returned from my trip and uncovered his Civil War service as well as his life after the war. 

I wrote about John for Historical Wyoming, the quarterly of the Office of the Wyoming County Historian in New York. The article was just published in their Spring issue. Thanks to Wyoming County Historian Kevin Proper, who graciously permitted me to reprint "What Became of John Schiltz," here.

If you are a Schiltz relation and have anything to add to this story, do reach out at ngcintx@gmail.com.

 

Note: Historical Wyoming's style does not allow for source citations to be included, preferring sources to be incorporated as much as possible into the text.  

 

Until next time... 

 © Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2026. All rights reserved.   

 

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  1. Marian B. WoodJune 18, 2026 at 7:34 AM

    Enjoyed your engaging story about John, who survived a lot during his Civil War years and went on to live a full life!

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    1. AnonymousJune 18, 2026 at 11:50 AM

      Thanks Marian. I always appreciate your comments!

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  2. Linda StufflebeanJune 19, 2026 at 9:58 AM

    Congratulations on publishing John's story and on uncovering so many details about his life.

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    1. Nancy Gilbride CaseyJune 19, 2026 at 10:36 AM

      Thanks Linda! Appreciate you reading and commenting.

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  3. Diane HenriksJune 22, 2026 at 7:20 AM

    How wonderful of you to research him for your newly found cousin and wonderful story about John as well. He certainly led a full life. Congrats on publishing his story in the Historical Wyoming.

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    1. Nancy Gilbride CaseyJune 22, 2026 at 8:08 AM

      Thanks Diane. One of my goals this year is to find more places to publish stories that I have uncovered, and I've found that local historical or genealogical societies are eager to accept submissions. It's just one way to leave a legacy.

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  4. AnonymousJune 25, 2026 at 5:57 PM

    What cemetery transcription did you use? I found this one:
    https://genesee.nygenweb.net/Cemeteries/Batavia%20-%20St%20Joseph%20Cemetery%20S.htm
    which has these dates. Father and Mother both dying a year earlier than you claimed.
    All of these names are listed in Findagrave as you may know, the dates all matching the listing I found, however there are no pictures for Mother/Father/Cecilia which is of course a gold standard (or at least, better than transcriptions which often have errors)
    Sheltz (Father) 1842 1915 2
    Sheltz (Mother) 1845 1907 2
    Sheltz Cecilia 1882 1908 2
    Sheltz Margarete 1869 1933 2
    Sheltz Monica 1888 1953 2
    Sheltz Nellie 1875 1921 2

    fultonhistory.com has a few search hits for Sheltz.
    The obit of Margaret E. who died in 1923, not 1933, and it claims the parents survived her which is likely a mistake
    https://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%2023/Batavia%20NY%20Daily%20News/Batavia%20NY%20Daily%20News%201923%20Apr-Sep/Batavia%20NY%20Daily%20News%201923%20Apr-Sep%2000371_2.pdf
    I have submitted the obit and corrected her name on her Findagrave memorial at
    https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/80188787/margarete-sheltz

    This article from 1892 supports your connection to Canada: "John Sheltz, who has been employed by P.S Ward, has secured a position with his uncle In Canada."
    https://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper 10/Batavia NY Daily News/Batavia NY Daily News 1891 Dec-Jan 1893 Grayscale/Batavia NY Daily News 1891 Dec-Jan 1893 Grayscale - 1079.pdf

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    1. Scott BarvianJune 25, 2026 at 5:58 PM

      oops - I'm not Anonymous...

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    2. Nancy Gilbride CaseyJune 26, 2026 at 7:52 AM

      Hi Scott!

      So I obtained John's death record from the town clerk. He died in E. Aurora on 4 March 1916. Margaret's death record is in the NY Death Index on Ancestry; I have yet to order that record. It's stating she died 5 Jan. 1907. I wonder if maybe someone had a bunch of headstones made an once much later and didn't quite recall the dates?

      Thanks for the info from Fulton History. That website confounds me! I'll have to try it again. I have a few other things I'll send you by email. ""Thanks for reading and commenting.

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  5. Scott BarvianJune 26, 2026 at 12:28 PM

    Fulton is a difficult site to use. It is a retirement project of the owner and the search engine he chose (or wrote himself?) is very very difficult to use. But the amount of content he has (all donated) exceeds anyone else's efforts by orders of magnitude. "It is what it is."

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    1. Nancy Gilbride CaseyJune 26, 2026 at 3:21 PM

      I've already been on there this morning noodling around. It's a wonderful resource, to be sure, if a bit difficult to navigate.

      Delete

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