I love vintage hats and jewelry – and newspaper research.  Last year when conducting research for a client, I found a milliner in Marysville, Kansas named Mathilda Lorke.  She sparked my interest so I explored her world for a while.  Here is what I found.

Mathilda Lorke (1854-1917) was born May 20, 1854 at Goldbach, which sits about thirty miles southeast of Frankfurt, Germany.  She began her life’s work as a milliner in her homeland before immigrating to the U.S., arriving in Marysville in October 1884.  She likely got a job as a milliner in a local dry goods store to get started.  Two years later she opened a shop with a partner, Rosa Dorfner, in the John Broughton’s Building at 813 Broadway, in the heart of downtown Marysville.  Dorfner sold her share of the business to Mrs. Geraty, who continued the partnership through 1888, when the firm was dissolved.  It clearly was not a good match as Mathilda sued and won a court case against Geraty for $200 in 1889 (about $6,800 today).  Mathilda picked herself up, dusted off a bit and then was back in business on Broadway in 1890, with a new partner, Ms. Parker.  But it was only a few months before Mathilda advertised as a sole proprietor of “Mathilda Lorke Milliner.”[1] Her millinery would be in business on Broadway for the next sixty-six years. 

Mathilda was an astute businesswoman and I like her style. She seems uncompromising in her advertisements [“Boss Milliner”], yet isn’t afraid to use humor either [you’ll look like a guy if you don’t go to the right milliner!]. The firm name changed after Mathilda passed and through the years the business changed with the trends, shifting from millinery to hat shop, then adding ladies ready-to-wear clothing and accessories (1928), but the Lorke name endured until 1957. 

Mathilda could not run the shop alone and was joined in Marysville by her widowed sister Amalie Truhn and her daughters Frieda and Paula. The women moved in with Matilda and the nieces worked in the millinery shop.  Amalie kept house for the family.  The hat shop was open six days a week and the women walked from their home at 1107 Broadway to the store.   Another sister, Augusta Danniger, lived in Comstock, WI.  Augusta’s son William lived with Mathilda in 1895.  William’s sisters also worked in the store in later years.

Mathilda had plenty of competition and worked hard to stay on top.  Twice a year she went to Chicago and sometimes Kansas City and other “eastern cities” to shop the latest fashions.  She sent her nieces and other shop girls to Kansas City and Chicago to take classes on how to make (or remake) hats into desirable fashion accessories.

In September 1908, Lorke Millinery displayed the fashionable hat called “The Directoire” that was “all the go” in larger cities.^[2]  That style is similar to the Easter Bonnets above and the 1908 postcard below. Lorke Millinery offered to remodel old hats in latest styles, adding ribbons, birds, and other trimmings. Easter “bonnets” were a BIG deal.  The Lorke employees literally burned the midnight oil to finish the custom orders even through the 1940s.^[3]

As I envisioned Mathilda’s shop, I wondered about my ancestors.  I don’t have many pictures of the ladies in hats.  I can’t say they didn’t wear them, just didn’t take photos and most likely my ancestors were not atop the fashionable set, although I suspect the photo below might have been in the spring and possibly Easter.  Still, I enjoy looking at the styles and imagining what a headache they must have been!  I also looked through Maureen Taylor’s book Fashionable Folks: Bonnets & Hats, 1840-1900 to better understand the styles and their eras.  I have a couple of postcards from the early 1900s – even one sent to my grandfather Carl Siegel in 1908 that shows a lady wearing the large “Directoire” style hat. Another shows the era’s fashionable ladies liked the big hats and tiny (corseted) waists!

I hope this inspires you to look at businesses or industries even if not directly related to your family.  Maybe Mathilda Lorke will inspire you too. Who knows, you may just find a tiny clue or fact that you can add to your timeline and family story.  Oh, and definitely take a look at those vintage hats next time you are in an antique store.  You might find a new favorite just in time for Easter.

[1] Evening Democrat. 25 Apr 1891, 1.

[2] Marysville Advocate. 3 Sep 1908, 3.

[3] “Easter Bonnets Aren’t What They Used to Be.” Marysville Advocate. 7 Apr 1966, 15.