George Matthew Schardt was born on May 26, 1881, in Saukville, Wisconsin. He married Monica Rosalie Hanke (daughter of Joseph L. Hanke Sr. and Hedwig Knobloch) on November 24, 1903, in Port Washington, Wisconsin. She was born on April 7, 1879 in Breslau, Germany.
They had eight children:
He died at age 82 on April 25, 1964 in San Jose, California. She died at age 93 on March 20, 1973 in North Chicago.
Notes for George Matthew Schardt from Richard Schardt:
George’s father was 55 when George was born. His mother died when he was 4 years old. Apparently, George’s father, who was now almost 60, felt he couldn’t care for his son and so George was taken in by his father’s brother, Peter Schardt. Peter’s children apparently resented having to share their parents with George.
George attended one year of college at Marquette University. He was a moulder at the Chicago Foundry in North Chicago, IL. He liked to hunt and the story is that he hunted turtles with a gun. In 1923 George was Chief of Police in North Chicago, IL In those days it was a part time job.
Apparently, money was embezzled from the city and George was arrested. His father-in-law, Joseph Hanke, put up $500 for his bail. December 12, 1923 George disappeared, jumping bail, never again to be seen by his family. He left his wife and eight children. Sometime after that, a member of the North Chicago police, a man named Petocki, told George’s wife Monica, that George had been set up to take the fall for the embezzlement. To add credibility to that, after George jumped bail, the $500 check covering his bail was never cashed.
Shortly after his death in 1964, his son George John, discovered that his father, George Matthew, had been living just a few miles from him in San Jose. George John was able to talk to some of his father’s friends. They spoke highly of George Matthew. They told a story that when George Matthew was about eighty he contracted diabetes and that his leg would have to be amputated. George refused, electing the diabetes to take its course. Three years later he died of complications of the disease.
George John recovered his father’s ashes and had his father properly buried in San Mateo in a plot next to the graves of his and his wife Gloria’s.
