Mystery Meeting - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

My paternal grand-father, W.C. Protz immigrated to the United States in 1905, docking at Ellis Island on April 12th.   After an arduous voyage across the Atlantic on the Kaiser Wilhelm, William or W.C. as he was called, wasted little time traveling to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and finding accomodations with the Strauch family at 254 Kidder Street.  By 1917,  he had married his first wife and mother of his two sons, William and Robert.   Her name was Mary Elizabeth Lentz and she was the daughter of William and Elizabeth Stuebner Lentz.  What was going on in the years between his arrival in 1905 and his marriage in 1917? How did he meet Mary?

    

W.C became a notable businessman, eventually establishing a tinsel manufacturing concern in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Before this, however, in a 1908 directory, he is employed as a book-keeper.  I speculated that he may have become a book keeper for the S.S. Kresge company.  Interestingly, the manager of that store was William F. Lentz who happened to be the elder brother of Mary.  Was it possible that W.C. met Mary through a relationship with his co-worker, William?  I had fun imagining William inviting W.C. home for dinner and sparks flying across the family dinner table. But was that what really happened?  

Recently, I was asked to help edit a book that included information about my grand-father and his tinsel company.  This led to re-checking the old Wilkes Barre directories and there I found W.C. living at 254 Kidder Street in 1909.  His occupation was listed as “weaver”.  Weaver?  What the?  It didn’t take long before a thought popped into my head.....Mary had been a weaver at a lace factory in town.  In fact, she was a forelady there.  Could W.C.’s first job in Wilkes Barre have been as a weaver in the lace factory where Mary worked?  Did Mary introduce W.C. to her brother, William, who then offered W.C. a position at S.S. Kresge?  Wow... the timing of this possibility was more likely!

By 1912, my grand-father had moved to Detroit, Michigan where he is listed in that city directory as being employed as a "floor-walker".  He gave a home address as the local YMCA.  By 1914, he was working as a clerk in the S.S. Kresge store in Detroit.  William Lentz, in the meantime, had married and moved to Detroit where he was the manager of the same store.  I suspect that since William was the manager, he may have offered the clerk position to W.C. who was happy to take it.  It wasn't until
1918 that W.C. moved on to Milwaukee to begin work in his tinsel company.

W.C. returned to Wilkes-Barre in 1917 to marry Mary Elizabeth Lentz in what was described as "a quiet, but pretty wedding".