52 Ancestors 2019 - Week 1 "First"

For the first week of this year’s 52 Ancestors Challenge, the prompt is first. I will begin with the first of my direct ancestors who came to the United States.

St Anthony Church Oberselters Germany
Parish Church of the Burbach family since 1732

Georg Burbach was born on 3 Aug 1825[i] to Hubertus Burbach and Catherine Schaf in the tiny village of Oberselters, Hessen-Nassau. He was the third child and first son. His baptism took place on 7 Aug 1825[ii] at the Church of St Anthony in Oberselters. Although his family had lived in Oberselters for over one hundred years[iii], Georg would be forced to leave his home to find employment, At that time in Hessen-Nassau, only the oldest son could inherit the land and while Georg was the oldest son, his father was not.

Georg traveled to the village of Villmar, 12 kilometers[iv] from Oberselters. Where he found work on the farms which raised cereal grains. Even today the region is known as “The Golden Triangle” due to its fertile soil and favorable weather for growing crops.[v]

Georg met and married Catherine Caspari in Villmar. They were married 29 April 1849 I the Villmar Catholic Church of Sts[vi] Peter and Paul.

Their first son Adam was born on 5 Sep 1849 and baptized on 8 Sept 1849 in Saints Peter and Paul Church. His Godparents were Adam and Dorthea Caspari of Villmar and Peter Kreppel of Oberselters.[vii] Adam would live only five years before his death on 6 Dec 1854. He is buried in the cemetery at Saints Peter and Paul.[viii]

Son Hermann was born 11 Mar 1852 followed by another son, Johan on 15 April 1854.[ix]

The worsening economic conditions in Germany combined with the death of their son probably contributed to Georg and Catherine’s decision to emigrate to America, Catherine’s Aunt and Uncle had immigrated to Milwaukee County, Wisconsin and wrote home with positive statements about their successful farming endeavor there.

Mary Ogden Cliipper Ship
google images

On 7 March 1856 the little family received permission from the government to leave for America.[x] And so began their journey to Wisconsin. After many months traveling by land and sea they reached New York on 28 Jul 1856 having left Le Havre, France on the Mary Ogden.[xi]

More travel by railroad and river boats was ahead of them before they would reach the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin but, eventually they would reach their destination.

According to the 1860 census Georg was a laborer living in  the 9^th Ward of the city with his wife and two sons.[xii] In 1863  Georg had become a “Drover” or cattle herder, and living on Walnut and 20^th. He was 38 years old and had already become a cattleman.[xiii] By 1879 he was a cattle broker. His sons Hermann and John had begun their own work lives as a lithographer and store clerk respectively.

As the years passed the family grew more prosperous and working hard Georg’s sons opened a Butcher Shop in the mid 1870s. From then until his death in 1897 he worked with his sons as a butcher.

Georg Burbach died 20 July 1897 and was buried In Calvary Cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[xiv]

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[i]  Kirchenbuchduplikat 1818 - 1874, Dupilcate Church Book Baptisms 1820-1840: 7 Aug 1825 George son of Huburtus Burbach and Catheruine Schaaf, St Anthony Catholic Church, Oberselters, Hessen-Nassau, Germany

[ii] ibid

[iii] ibid

[iv] Google maps

[v] Wikipedia

[vi] Villmar Catholic Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Villmar). Kirchenbuch 1632 - 1884. Diocese of Limburg Archives, Limburg, Hessen-Nassau, Germany. FHL microfilm 1272247. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[vii]  Villmar Catholic Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Villmar). Kirchenbuch 1632 - 1884. Diocese of Limburg Archives, Limburg, Hessen-Nassau, Germany. FHL microfilm 1272247. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[viii] ibid

[ix] ibid

[x] Struck Wolf-Heino (Main Author), Die Auswanderung aus dem Herzogtum Nassau (1806-1866) : ein Kapitel der modernen politischen und sozialen Entwicklung: Emigration from the Duchy of Nassau, Germany 1806-1866. (Wiesbaden, Germany : Franz Steiner, c1966: Franz Steiner, 1966), ; FHL microfilm FHL microfiche # 6001623.

[xi] Year: 1856; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: M237, 1820-1897; Microfilm Roll: Roll 164; Line: 21; List Number: 676Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

[xii] 1860 U S Federal Census, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, (9th Ward, City of Milwaukee); page 801, M653_1423; Page: 801; Image: 407;, LDS film 805423, M653_1423, online database ancestry.com, 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d..

[xiii] Milwaukee City Directory (Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin:n.p.n.d.), page 38, George Burbach and family; digital image, ancestry,com (https://www.fold3.com/image/255348646 : accessed 8 March 2016).

[xiv]  Wisconsin Death Records 1867-1907 Wisconsin State Historical Society, FamilySearch.org, database (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XLCC-XS8 : online 11 March 1897), p 465 place of burial.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 52 "resolution"

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It’s week 52 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge and the prompt is “resolution”.

At this time of the year I usually review the genealogy goals that I wanted to accomplish this past year and determine what I want to accomplish for the coming year.

Last year one of my goals was to finish documenting my children’s Patriot Ancestor connection for an application to the DAR since this was a leftover from 2017 goals. Guess what it’s at the top of my list this year! I am determined that it will be completed this year.

I joined this challenge last year in hopes of increasing the number of my blog posts. This worked so well that I am joining again. Of the 52 weeks of prompts, I have posted 45 times. I think this is a big improvement over the 21 blog posts in 2017.

I will continue the “Do Over “that I began in 2016 and continue adding source citations to all individuals and facts and may re-visit some of my older blog posts to see where they can be improved.

I still volunteer weekly at my local Family History Center and am program chair for the local genealogy group.

Other hopes for the coming year are for more information on my husband’s mysterious Swedish ancestors and furthering my knowledge of my Irish 2^nd great-grandparents.

Check back next year to see how I did.

52 Ancestors in 52 Week - Week 51 "NICE"

This is week 51 of the 52 Weeks challenge and the prompt is “nice”.

When I was growing up in the 1940s and 1950s, our family was the recipient of an annual basket of fresh fruit. It arrived every year in time for the holidays. The card was always signed “The Mungers”. In the 40s and 50s fresh fruit in the winter was rare since the transportation and distribution of fresh items had not yet been perfected. I always wondered who the Mungers were and why they sent such a nice gift.

When I began doing genealogy this was one of many apparent mysteries I wanted to answer.

In the 1930s my father and his sister were friends with a young couple named Otto (aka Bud) and Grace (Munger)Dvorak who also lived in Chicago. Otto and Grace had both been born and raised in Iowa before marrying and moving to Chicago where Otto was employed by John Morrell & Co. As graduates of the University of Iowa they were ardent supporters of the football team and often went back for games. My father and his sister Dorothy often went with them. The friendship flourished and grew even stronger when Dorothy married Bob Murray and the young couples began having children.

In 1938 Grace was home in Iowa and 8 ½ months pregnant with her third child.  On 28 Dec 1938, Grace went into labor. Complications of her pregnancy caused Grace to hemorrhage and she died giving birth to a son David.

Grace was survived by her husband Otto, daughter Barbara, sons Dudley and David as well as her parents Grant and Mable Munger and sister Dorothy.

The Mungers never forgot the friendship that was forged by the young people and remembered it every year with the special gift of the fruit basket.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Dad's cousin Lorraine

When I was growing up there were people who appeared in our lives who were only there at certain times of the year. I didn’t know if they were connected to our family or not. They were never introduced, they just appeared. Since I started doing genealogy, I have learned many of their stories. One of those people was Lorraine. This is her story.

Every year on Thanksgiving, the doorbell would ring and there would be Lorraine. I don’t know how she got to our house, but she always came for dinner. She was a slender woman with medium grey curly hair. Wearing a beige silk dress with a lace collar she would usually sit in Mom’s armchair in a corner of the living room with her feet flat on the floor in front of her. I m sure she engaged in conversation with my parents and the other adults that were present, but I don’t remember talking to her.

When I started doing a family history for my father’s parents, I learned that my grandmother Henrietta was born to Hermann and Eva Schmitz Burbach in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Henrietta was the youngest of six children in the family and the only surviving daughter.

Her brother George married Rose Schmitt in Milwaukee on 17 Feb 1897[i]. George and Rose had three daughters before the death of Rose on 4 Dec 1901. [ii] Lorraine was my dad’s first cousin!

Lorraine Henrietta Burbach was born 22 Feb 1901, shortly before the death of her mother. She and her older sister Olive became close while their father mourned the death of his wife. Eventually George would re-marry and have eight more children but the ten-year age gap between the two sisters and their half siblings would remain.

So far there are very few records to document Lorraine’s life. She is listed in the census in 1900 and 1910 but I haven’t found her in 1920 or 1930. Her sister, Olive age 20, is listed as a lodger in the 1920 census and in the 1930 census Olive is apparently in a tuberculosis sanatorium in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Lorraine is listed in the 1922 Milwaukee city directory as living at 646 Astor and working as a waitress.[iii]

In 1940 Lorraine appears with her husband Wilby Gist living at the Biltmore Hotel in Chicago.[iv] According to the census, Wilby was a bus driver and Loraine was a telephone operator. They had both finished High School and were living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1935.

Social Security Death Index shows a death date of 4 Feb 1985 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois.[v]

I never knew Wilby, so I can only assume he died during the 1940s and probably in Chicago unless he was in the war. There is no record of Lorraine having children and I have yet to find a gravesite for her.

An article in the Daily Herald from 1968 describes Lorraine’s many

collections and her many accomplishments.[vi] Reading the article makes

me think that her life wasn’t as sad as I had originally thought.

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[i] Wisconsin Marriages, pre-1907;Vol 35 page 0337.

[ii] Wisconsin Death Index 1820-1907 ; Volume:27;Page 0306; Reel:89; Index Volume:09;;Sequence Number:048690

[iii] Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

[iv] Year: 1940; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: m-t0627-00927; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 103-184A

[v] Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2014. Number: 387-03-2074; Issue State: Wisconsin; Issue Date: Before 1951

[vi] Ancestry.com; Info The Daily Herald (Chicago, Illinois); 1968 September 11

In Honor of my brother Tom's 75th Birthday, I have transcribed the poem our dad wrote to commemorate his birth.

Happy Birthday Tom!!

It was on the afternoon of December sixth,

That the arrival of Thomas Michael had been fixed.

But too far ahead of the story I am getting you see,

For I had meant to tell is just as it happened to be.

It was a cold morning, one of dark skies and light rain,

The only thing we thought important was Connery departure by train.

Momsie and Pops were going to Florida to see Ellie you know,

They also had in mind the sun so hot and the lack of cold snow.

I arrived home from work about a quarter to ten,

the reason being , that it was raining again.

Betty was in the basement doing her wash in her machine so fine,

I went down to give her a hand, especially with the things that were mine.

All of a sudden she said “Don, I don’t feel so well.”

I said “darling, come up stairs and sit down for a spell”.

We went upstairs and decided after all,

To give Doc Carey the long awaited call.

I said Betty to 4140 I must go to say good by,

Because we have many things to do and time will fly.

After telling Ma and Pa good by, and to have a nice trip,

Down on Washington Blvd. I met Doc Carey and his black grip.

I said, “Doc old boy, from your office don’t stay away,

as my loving wife will be your patient today.”

I then called Pauline, who was sweet to say,

that she would stay with Donna till later that day.

Betty and I then in my car started West,

To complete the doings for the things we were blessed.

After arriving at the Hospital, and starting Betty on the way,

up and down the hall I wandered with my lange chest on display.

After waiting for about and out there in the cold hall,

over the loud speaker my name they did call.

Into the delivery room I then dashed like a kid,

For I was anxious to see just hoe good a job we had did.

Betty was happy to hear it was a boy,

But there was no holding me, overloaded with joy.

Betty looked fine, although tired and weak,

It was at this time I decided things no longer looked bleak.

I then ran to the phone and started my calls of pride,

It seems you just want all to know that your son’s at your side.

The first I did call was my mother, who was on the job in our home,

But it seems that there was no answer, now why should mother roam.

Dorothy then heard from me that it was a boy.

Congratulations to both of you, we shall share your joy.

Then I called Pauline, I was still busting with pride,

I asked her to tell the others before their long ride.

Back in the room with Betty, things were peaceful and quiet,

We both just relaxed, there was no longer a riot.

After sitting there talking, we decided the name should then be,

Thomas Michael Hansen sounded plenty good to Betty and me.

It is now growing late so the door I must close,

Leaving Betty and Tommy is a sleepy repose.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 47 Thankful for a Compiled Service Record!

This week is about “being thankful” and while I have a lot to be thankful for, I will concentrate on a genealogy find I am very grateful to have received.

Oloff Hansson was one of my husband’s 2^nd great-grandfathers. Oloff was born somewhere in Sweden. He first appears in the US Federal Census for Michigan City, La Porte, Indiana. He and his wife Marie were living in house # 132 and his stated occupation was fisherman.[i]  They were a seemingly poor family but over time they had children which increased the family to nine children.

Oloff served with Company E in the 4^th Regiment of the Indiana Calvary from August of 1862 until June of 1865 [ii], he then returned to Michigan City to resume life with his family,

The family moved to Chicago before 1880 when they appear in the census living at 254 West Chicago Ave and Oloff continued to his occupation as a fisherman. The youngest child in the family was Enert who was six months old.[iii]

Oloff died in March of 1900, before the census was taken. It seemed I was at a brick wall since I had never found his parents or birthplace. I could find no trace of his widow in the 1900 census and the children were all married by then.

His pension did not appear in the online records at fold three although I was able to find an application and pension number. None of Oloff’s naturalization papers gave a place of birth other than Sweden.

I sent off to NARA for his Compiled Service Record which held quite a bit of biographical information. While I still don’t have his parent’s names or know where he was born, I did get the answers to some of my questions.

According to his pension application, Oloff left Sweden about 1855 and traveled to Germany. In Hamburg he married Maria Hepke at the American Consulate and they left Germany for the United States about 1857. I also learned that Marie had died of childbirth in 1881. After the 1880 census there is no record of the infant Enert so it is possible that he died then as well.

So now I am looking for a Swede who emigrated to Germany and then a married couple, he born in Sweden and she born in Germany, leaving Hamburg about 1857-1859 for America.

I am grateful for this find since it limits my search parameters.

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[i] ear: 1860; Census Place: Michigan City, La Porte, Indiana; Roll: M653_275; Page: 389; Image: 391; Family History Library Film: 803275

[ii] Historical Data Systems, comp. U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.

[iii] Year: 1880; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 195; Family History Film: 1254195; Page: 163B; Enumeration District: 141; Image: 0521

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 43 Cause of Death

John William Peterson appeared in only four records during his short life. He was born to Leopold and Caroline (Neilson) Peterson on 3 June 1876 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts[i]. He was the second child and first son born into the marriage. He was baptized in the Emanuel Lutheran Church of Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts on 9 July 1876[ii]. It is noted in the record that neither of his parents were members of the church and his father is listed as L P Peterson.

In 1880, John is recorded living with his parents at 520 W Superior Street in Chicago, Cook, Illinois.  Also, in the household were his older sister Annie and younger brother Francis (Frank).[iii]

The final record that John appeared in was the Cook County, Illinois, Deaths Index, 1878-1922 which yields the information that John Wm Paterson, age 9, died on 7 June 1885 in Chicago and is buried at Graceland Cemetery.[iv]

A little boy just nine years and four days old was gone and I began to wonder just what caused his death. Was it an accident? Newspaper searches gave no clues so I decided that it would be necessary to get a death certificate to find the answer to my questions.

When I located the death certificate for John, the cause of death was listed as poliomyelitis.  Wow! Polio! Growing up in the 1940s and 1950s I was very well aware of Polio and it’s seriousness but I hadn’t known that it even existed in the 1880s.

A query at Wikipedia gave me more information about Polio and the epidemics associated with it. I never knew that it was associated with water like cholera. There was no epidemic in Chicago in 1885 but I am sure that the water was not the cleanest and a young boy would be drawn like a magnet to any standing water. I will never know how John contracted Polio but now I know the cause of his death.

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[i] Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

[ii] Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Elk Grove Village, IL, USA; Parish: Emanuel Lutheran Church; ELCA Film Number: S160-161; SSIRC Film Number: S-160

[iii] 1880 U S Federal Census; Census Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 195; Page: 601A; Enumeration District: 133

[iv] Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois, Deaths Index, 1878-1922 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.