Many people buried in Forest Park didn’t make it into newspaper headlines, or are even mentioned in news articles at all, but their lives were no less compelling and complex. While it is very difficult to find all the details of the Nebel family, the few we can find suggest a story of a typical family at the end of the 1800s.
Augusta Nebel’s incredibly moving monument in the old German Waldheim section of Forest Home Cemetery draws a visitor’s attention, but trying to find even the basic facts of her life illustrates the challenges of tracing the history of immigrants in the United States. In records, Augusta’s maiden name is spelled both as Kampfert and Kampifert, and her first name appears as both Augusta and Auguste. Augusta was born on Aug. 21, 1861, but it is not certain where she was born. On her marriage certificate, her birthplace is recorded as Chicago, but so is her husband’s, who later tells the Census that he was born in Germany, leading one to think the marriage certificate might be inaccurate.
On Aug. 8, 1883, Augusta, at the age of 22, married a man three years older whose name is found in various records as Friedrich, Fritz, Fred, and Pritz. His occupation is listed as “stonecutter.” Her new last name is Nebel, but in at least one place it is spelled “Nabel.” On March 30, 1884, baby William was born.
Sadly, he died a few months later on Aug. 1, 1884. On Oct. 12, 1886 another baby boy was born, Fritz, but he did not make it to his second birthday and died on July 30, 1888. This is not unusual at the time, as in the late 1800s around four out of every 10 children did not live to their fifth birthday. Sadly, Augusta followed her two babies and died on March 22, 1889.
Fritz remarried Dora Schmitt on Aug. 20, 1889 (she was 18 at the time and he was 31). In the 1920 Census, they are living in California. It doesn’t appear that they had any children. They both died in California, Dora in 1925 and Fritz in 1934, but their remains are buried here, in Forest Park.
It’s easy to speculate, based on these slim details, what Augusta’s life was like. Since he was a stonecutter, maybe Friedrich/Fritz worked in the Forest Park cemeteries. Augusta’s first child was born only 7 months after the wedding. Perhaps the couple rushed the wedding, or the child was born prematurely and that’s why he died soon after birth. Augusta died a short six months after her second baby, so it’s possible they fell both ill to one of the many diseases that were rampant at the end of the 1800s, or the birth could have been difficult and she never recovered. It’s impossible to know why Friedrich/Fritz married again so soon (less than six months after Augusta’s death), but he might have been anxious to recover and start a new family.
All five are buried under a large and truly unique monument. One wonders if Friedrich/Fritz carved the tall pyramid-shaped boulder with its dramatic vertical crack appearing to split the boulder in two. Atop the tapered boulder is an elegant urn draped with delicately carved roses. (An urn can symbolize a life lived – the vessel that once contained a life.) On the front, is a scroll engraved with Augusta’s name and dates of birth and death as well as the phrases “Hier ruht in Frieden” and “Ruhe sanft” (“Rest in Peace Here” and “Rest Gently” in English). On the adjoining side of the boulder are the names of the two children, Willie and Fritz. But most remarkable is the life-sized figure of a small child, hand pressed to the forehead in grief. This figure does not have wings so it doesn’t appear to be an angel. Perhaps it is a portrait of a child – maybe one of the Nebel children? It is a work that captures deep and agonizing sadness. It would be easy to miss this monument, as it is in a section of the graveyard close to the Eisenhower and overshadowed by the United Ancient Order of the Druids monument. But once discovered, it is a testament to a time and family whose full story we might never know.
References: LA Times, Public Records
Amy Binns-Calvey is a volunteer with the Historical Society of Forest Park and the author of ‘More Dead Than Alive: Stories of Forest Park’s Quietest Neighbors.’