Leon Czolgosz, where did he live in Detroit?

**gnome** · December-19-17, 12:20 PM

Ol Leon was a nut case who shot and killed President Wm McKinley in 1901. It is reported he was either born in Detroit or Alpena. In either case he lived here for a period of time as a youth.

So where did he live while here?

**Jimaz** · December-19-17, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by gnome

Ol Leon was a nut case who shot and killed President Wm McKinley in 1901. It is reported he was either born in Detroit or Alpena. In either case he lived here for a period of time as a youth.

So where did he live while here?

From Wikipedia:

Czolgosz was born in Alpena, Michigan, on May 5, 1873. He was one of eight children born to Polish American family of Paul Czolgosz and his wife Mary Nowak. The Czolgosz family moved to Detroit when Leon was five.

I couldn't find a street address in that article.

Interesting story.

**Lowell** · December-19-17, 03:39 PM

From NY Times article two days after assassination, Sep 8, 1901 in Buffalo. It seems the entire family had left Detroit, of which there is no mention.

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**Ray1936** · December-19-17, 07:41 PM

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...frank-czolgosz Interesting info on him here.

**EastsideAl** · December-20-17, 02:31 AM

His bio is really garbled and all over the place. I see him listed as having been born in Detroit at least as often as in Alpena, and see it said that he was baptized at St. Albertus. I also see references to him and his family living in Posen and Rogers City MI [[and moving to Alpena when he was older), Natrona PA, Warrenville and Cleveland OH, before he went to Buffalo on his own as a young adult.

One thing that seems pretty certain though is that if he ever did live in Detroit it wasn't for long. Perhaps for only a year or two during his early childhood.

**EastsideAl** · December-20-17, 03:58 AM

Interestingly, there's also an early Edison film that can be found online, which purports to show the execution of Czolgosz. It's a fake though, and was actually part of Edison's propaganda war against George Westinghouse and his Alternating Current system.

**gnome** · December-20-17, 09:54 AM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

His bio is really garbled and all over the place. I see him listed as having been born in Detroit at least as often as in Alpena, and see it said that he was baptized at St. Albertus. I also see references to him and his family living in Posen and Rogers City MI [[and moving to Alpena when he was older), Natrona PA, Warrenville and Cleveland OH, before he went to Buffalo on his own as a young adult.

One thing that seems pretty certain though is that if he ever did live in Detroit it wasn't for long. Perhaps for only a year or two during his early childhood.

Agreed, hence my query.

Detroit has been blessed/cursed with having been a town where folks have passed through and this forum is legendary with using its collective sleuthing skills to solve all sorts of riddles.

**Lowell** · December-20-17, 10:22 AM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

Interestingly, there's also an early Edison film that can be found online, which purports to show the execution of Czolgosz. It's a fake though, and was actually part of Edison's propaganda war against George Westinghouse and his Alternating Current system.

Speaking of Edison, this article was beside the above pictured article. The second bullet in McKinley had not now be found.

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**jiminnm** · December-20-17, 10:38 AM

The 1880 census has Louis Chandgas, age 6, living on 8th St. in Alpena, born in Michigan with parents Paul and Mary born in Poland. This has been generally accepted by those researching the family to be Leon Czolgosz and family. Leon's mother was Mary Czolgosz and she died in 1883.

The 1900 census has a Leon Czolgaez, born May 1873, single, living in Orange Twp., Cuyahoga County, Ohio. It states he was born in Ohio, but his siblings show born in Michigan and parents Paul and Katie born in Germany. This has also been generally accepted as Leon and family. Paul Czolgosz remarried in Alpena in 1886 to a Katherine or Katie.

I've looked at enough census docs to know the spelling and other info is dependent on the knowledge and ability of person giving the info and the capability of the enumerator to transcribe it correctly. These listings are almost certainly Leon and his family. The Find a Grave bio that Ray referenced tracks with these and is the info most Czolgosz family researchers use.

I checked newspapers.com and the Det Free Press in 1901 has several articles about Leon, but none mentioned that he ever lived in Detroit. The Sept 08 1901 DFP had an article discussing Leon's life in Cleveland, a side bar discussing his birth and life in Alpena, but no mention of any time in Detroit.