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Time Travel • Barbering and Blood

February 18, 2015 By //  by Natalie the Blademaiden Leave a Comment

As a family-tree tracing junkie and the son of a history professor, as well as inhabiting work and home spaces dating to the 1800s, Natalie and Tyler always have one eye on the past. Sometimes we unearth some treasures, and we always share treasure.

Kmiec Kwak Wedding

Great Grandpa Joe, Great Grandma Agatha, Grandma Hank (21) & Grandma Toni (19) on their wedding day, Great Grandpa Andrew

Have you ever told what you thought was an innocuous anecdote to someone you have known for a long time, only to find out you dropped a bomb on their world? Good bomb, bad bomb, even a neutral bomb can change everything you thought you knew or understood.

That happened to me last weekend in spades. You see, we took a trip down Midway (airport) way to my grandparents’ house for a multi-birthday dinnery-thing. Grandma asked that I bring my tools to give grandpa a haircut. So far, so normal. Then he tells me a little tidbit about his dad.

{left} Grandma Toni (21) & Grandpa Hank (23) on a Chicago beach in 1946; {right} Great Grandma Agatha & Great Grandpa Joe in sometime in the 19-teens

So in the middle of this haircut my 92-year-old grandfather tells his 32-year-old granddaughter, who has been a barber for 7 years (what I’m saying is, he and grandma have had a good long while to mention this) that his father, my great grandfather, was a barber.

Headsploady.

Over the past few years I have been tracing back my family tree, and although I have taken a march through American history back through the Revolutionary War and to mid-1500s Europe on my mother’s side, my father’s side is Polish.

Benjamin Webb

The Webb clan (mother’s side), great great great grandparents Benjamin & Mary Lee with great grandpa Everett and his twin sister on Ben’s lap – Kentucky, about 1904

Between the difficult and often changing spellings, languages I don’t speak, and a whole lot of destruction last century, I haven’t been able to dig too far back, nor very deep. Hopefully when I get back to having time for personal projects I’ll get farther, but it’s been tough going so far.

This little gem threw me for a loop though. It has always seemed a bit odd to my family that as a quiet little hermit I would decide to go into such an…extroverted career. Well shit, maybe this explains it. It’s in the blood.

Kmiec Family

A sliver of the Kmiec clan (9 kids total), with Uncle Joe Jr. in the front there, who would fit in perfectly about Wicker Park these days

As we explore more history in our families, shop building and town, we will share more in these Time Travel segments. Because history is freaking cool.

Great Grandpa Kmiec

Uncle Jim who gets his cuts at Beardsgaard nowadays (still has great hair, albeit silver these days), before going off to Basic in 1970, soon to go to Vietnam – caught smoking behind the garage with grandpa Joe


Have any awesome pieces of local history to share? Send us the details right here!

Filed Under: Beyond the Barbershop, Blog, Series Tagged With: Evergreen Terrace, Pillar, The Life of Beardsgaard

About Natalie the Blademaiden

Elfin pixie. Creative blunderbuss. Deep canon nerd. Fracking adorable. Also one half of the married pair of barber proprietors of Beardsgaard and River Peak Apothecary.

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Beardsgaard Barbers
It’s official everyone! Beard trims are back and It’s official everyone! Beard trims are back and open for booking. While we know it’s been months and everyone is looking a bit scruffy please be patient as we try and squeeze all the beard trims we can into the schedule. We’d also like to thank everyone who’s been diligent with keeping our shop a safe and healthy environment. 
If you’re already booked in the schedule we can’t guarantee we can add a beard trim to your service but we can definitely try booking you for a different time to get that beard in. 
{Link to book in bio}
Our news friends at @nbcchicago popped in for some Our news friends at @nbcchicago popped in for some street interviews. You can see what our clients and barbers said at 4pm and 6pm today!
We were deeply saddened by the news of Christopher We were deeply saddened by the news of Christopher Tolkien passing a year ago, and still are to this day. Our love of his father and Lord of the Rings is ever present here at Beardsgaard. So tonight we, and hopefully the rest of you, will take a moment to remember one of the greatest authors of all time, his son, and the impact the Tolkien family has had on our lives. 
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
-J.R.R. Tolkien
While we appreciate all the self sufficient kids t While we appreciate all the self sufficient kids that come into the shop, we still need an adult with them to sign our liability waiver. We know it’s a bit of a pain but it’s really to appease Phydeoux the shop dragon. He has a hunger for children and waivers, and we’d rather feed him waivers.
You don’t have to wear it after your cut, but do You don’t have to wear it after your cut, but don’t forget your hat. It’s cold outside.
The product goblin (and the rest of us) think @soa The product goblin (and the rest of us) think @soapdistillery body oils smell good enough to drink. We promise the oils will make you feel much better if you put them on your outside instead of your inside though.
Well hello to those with wild beards who heard whi Well hello to those with wild beards who heard whispers of moving out of Tier 3 Mitigation! Please pause, we're not there yet. 

This does not apply to the entire state of Illinois, only certain regions. As of now, we are still in Tier 3. We will announce when we have moved to Tier 2 on all of our social media channels as well as our email list, so sit tight until then!

Because knowledge is power, you also can go to http://dph.illinois.gov/regionmetrics?regionID=8 at any time and look at Region 8, which contains Kane County. As of this posting, we are not meeting the metric on hospital bed availability. 

We promise, we want to get everything under your mask looking and feeling great, but we cannot do that until it's safe. Thank you for understanding, and please keep an eye out here, on Instagram or sign up for our email list at the bottom of www.beardsgaardbarbers.com to get updates.
And you? Do you like the barber shop? We like you. And you? Do you like the barber shop? We like you.
We may specialize in short, traditionally masculin We may specialize in short, traditionally masculine haircuts, but Beardsgaard has always been a place for everyone; girls, guys, gays, theys - all identities and orientations find acceptance and a barbershop home here. If, however, you are looking for the luscious salon locks that are far less in our barberly skill set, we are the lucky next door neighbors of the incredible @coasthairsalon
Between the two of us, we have heads of every sort covered in spectacular hair, and positive vibes.
While we would love to see more than half of your While we would love to see more than half of your faces, until Illinois is out of Tier 3 we are just not allowed to do any face services. That means all beard trims and face shaves are not a thing for the foreseeable future. We know that’s a bummer for most of you but think of how epic and wizardry your beards will be once we can do trims!
For beard updates we will be posting across social media and sending an email out to those of you that are on the email list as soon as we know anything. Hang tight Gaardians, your face gardens will be pruned again some day.
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Our Little Slice of Valhalla

In historic downtown Batavia on Route 31 between 1st and Main

117 S Batavia Ave, Batavia, IL 60510

PHONE: ( 630 ) 454 - 4820

EMAIL: shop@beardsgaardbarbers.com

Appointment & Walk-Ins Both!

Parking

Loads of free parking here, both on the street in front of the shop, with an even more substantial parking lot in back.

Current Hours

Closed for Shop Lunch 2-3 pm weekdays, 1-2 pm Saturdays

• Monday - Friday 9 / 8 • Saturday 9 / 5

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