I finally made the trip to the Hancock County, Illinois, Historical Society Library with the hope of finding a few more details about the
1887 suicide that my great-great-grandmother Noentje (Grass) Ufkes mentions in a letter to her brother-in-law. Noentje intimates that Fayen was somehow involved with an "English" girl, but doesn't indicate who the girl was.
There was a reference to the suicide in the paper and it even made the front page. Unfortunately there was not the level of detail for which I was hoping.
Based upon the references I have located, the man's name is Dirk/Dick Fayen/Frieden or some reasonable variant thereof. The mention in the
Carthage Republican does indicate that Fayen had worked for A. K. Coffman for "the past year" which would lead one to the initial premise that he had not lived in the United States for much longer than that. I'm also thinking that since my great-great-grandmother wrote about him a letter to her brother-in-law that they both knew Fayen and he may have been an immigrant from the same area of Germany as the Ufkes family. That's merely speculation.
I was unable to locate a death certificate for Fayen and from previous experience know that there are no extant records of coroner's reports for this time period. Fayen left no probate or estate record which was not surprising given his employment.
Where he is buried is another matter.
