52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Back to School

It’s week 35 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks and it’s back to school time!

My maternal grandparents observed a family tradition that their children would attend boarding school from an early age. Their oldest daughter, Mary Elizabeth was in boarding school at the age of 6 as indicated by the 1900 census.[i] Her uncle Fr Michael Fleming appeared on the next line of the census as a chaplain at the school. Was this why Michael and Alice choose to send their first born child on the long journey from Chicago to Adrian, Michigan? Did the fact that their local parish did not have an elementary school factor into the decision? We will never know but that is when a tradition was born. Mary’s sisters Kathleen, Alice, Pauline and Eleanor followed in her footsteps while baby sister Elizabeth attended another school but still a boarding school. Brothers Thomas and John also attended boarding school but in Wisconsin. Campion High School in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin was a parochial run by the Jesuit priests. The boarding school tradition extended to the Walsh family of Port Huron, Michigan, cousins of the Connerys.

Getting ready for school then meant having enough clothing for most likely two weeks of wear, depending on the laundry schedule of the school. Each child would have a small trunk or foot locker to take their clothes to school in. 

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 As clothing was purchased and prepared for packing it was placed in the trunk. Each item had to be marked with the student’s name. The name had to be permanent and legible. Most likely it was painstakingly embroidered. The trunk also needed to hold personal care items, towels, shoes, and anything else the student might need.

Fast forward to the 1940s and 1950s when my siblings and I were getting ready to “Go Back to School”. We got new shoes in the fall at the beginning of the school year. It was also when we got a new outfit or two. To preserve our new clothes, it was our habit to come home from school and change into “play clothes and shoes”. 

Beginning kindergarten meant you had to get special things for school! You needed a “nap rug” and a “paint smock”. Mom was usually able to provide these from within her home inventory. A bath mat from in front of the tub was the right size and could easily be washed and one or dad’s shirts was a paint smock when worn backwards with the sleeves rolled up.

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As we joined the older grades we “needed” a cigar box to decorate to hold pencils, scissors, and crayons so they didn’t get lost in our desks. Books brought home from school needed covers to protect them. The large grocery bags mom brought home from the store were perfect for any size book and we could color a design on the front along with printing our name at the top right corner. About 7th or 8th grade we would acquire the ubiquitous blue canvas binder. The blue canvas cover was perfect for personalizing with doodles and initials.

School for us, usually began the day after Labor Day and we  would excitedly dress in our new clothes and shoes for the walk to school. We might have used a “school bag” at some point but we never carried a lunch bag since we lived only a block from school and came home for lunch. Since we had an hour for lunch, if we hurried home we could watch “Lunchtime Little Theater” while we ate our PB&Js. 

Customs have evolved over time and “First Day of School” pictures weren’t a thing then like they are now but then cameras then were bulky and flash bulbs and film were expensive. You also had to wait for pictures to be developed which meant a trip to the drugstore with the film and usually about a week later you could go back to get your pictures, hoping they had turned out. Social media did not exist for sharing either!

“Back to School” has changed over time, school supply lists are longer, now including things like hand sanitizer and Kleenex, but they reflect our greater awareness of the needs local community and the fact that school funding has been reduced. I see less emphasis on new school clothes and shoes, much to the chagrin of the stores advertising “Back to School” sales. High schools no longer require that students have a slide ruler, now it’s a scientific calculator.  High school students taking advanced classes now need their own computers since their college level texts are on line. These are good changes and we need to take advantage of the advances science has made.

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[i] Year: 1900; Census Place: Adrian, Lenawee, Michigan; Page: 5; Enumeration District: 0039; FHL microfilm: 1240725

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 34 Non-Population

This week's topic is “Non-population Schedules of the U S Census”.  There are several of these available from 1850 through 1880, mortality, agriculture, industry, and slave among them. For my husband’s farming families, the agricultural schedule will reveal a lot of information to fill out the lives of these people who lived in Willow Hill, Jasper County, Illinois. Willow Hill is a very small farming community south and west of Terra Haute, Indiana. It's main claim to fame is as the home of folksinger Burl Ives, the voice of Frosty the Snowman.

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In 1870, Fred Simpsrod (41) and his wife Annie (38) were the parents of seven children from thirteen to one year of age.[i] Fred and Annie were both German immigrants and living in southern Illinois. A look at the non-population agricultural schedule for the 1870 census will give a glimpse into their lives.

In 1870 Fred Sempsrott was the owner, manager, or agent of 85 acres of improved land of which 45 acres was wooded showing a land valued at $1200.00. The family had 3 horses, 3 milk cows and 3 other cattle. The other cattle were not asses, mules, or working oxen as they were listed separately. There were also 13 sheep on the farm. Including 5 swine, the value of all livestock was listed as $520.00.

Fred’s land produced 158 bushels of winter wheat, 400 bushels of Indian corn and 45 bushels of barley. Although called Indian Corn, it was just corn. Other crops that were itemized on the 1870 Agricultural Schedule were spring wheat, oats, buckwheat, rice and tobacco. These were all known as cash crops as they were grown to be sold. Fred also grew 12 bushels of Irish potatoes and 60 bushels of grass in 1870. 

The last entry on the census relates to the “Estimated Value of all farm production including betterments and additions to stock” Fred’s estimated value was $600.00 which is $11,227.00 today, not a lot to support a family of nine.

By the time of the 1880 Census, F A Simpsrott and Anna Sampsrott were still in Willow Hill, Jasper County, Illinois with six children living on the farm. On the 1880 Agricultural Schedule Fred recorded as F A Simpson and is the owner of 63 acres of fallow and grass in rotation, whether pasture or meadow, 17 acres of meadows. pastures, orchards, vineyards, and 40 acres of woodland and forest. The value of the farm, including land, fences, and buildings was $1500.00 with a total of $135.00 in implements and machinery and $350.00 invested in livestock. Fred had paid $49.00 in building and repair costs in 1879. The estimated value of all farm production (sold, consumed, or on hand) was $400.00. 

The farm encompassed 17 acres of mown grasslands and 16 tons of hay had been harvested to help feed the four horses. There were three milk cows and four animals on the farm that were classified as other than working oxen or milk cows. Fred had two calves born and sold three living cattle.

The farm made 150 pounds of butter in 1879, one lamb was born, and one fleece weighing 20 pounds was clipped or shorn in the spring of 1880. There were 35 swine on hand June 1, 1880 and 24 poultry on hand in the barn yard which had produced $50.00 worth of eggs in 1879.

Under the heading of Cereals, the farm produced 11 acres of Indian corn equaling 30 bushels, 28 acres of land had produced 317 bushels of wheat, and 4 bushels of dry beans were produced in 1879. Four acres produced 30 bushels of Irish potatoes, and Fred also grew 30 pounds of tobacco. In the orchard there were 25 fruit bearing apple trees and 12 bearing peach trees. The bee hives yielded 50 pounds of honey and Fred cut 15 cords of wood in 1879. The value of all forest products sold or consumed in 1879 was $30.00.[ii]

It is interesting to observe the changes in both the questions asked and the answers to the Agricultural Schedule and the changes in farming in ten years. It is impossible to guess whether the family’s fortunes improved with the passing of time but, since the farm remained in the family into the 20^th century I would guess that Frederick Albert Sempsrott and his family prospered no matter how their last name was spelled! (Did you find all five versions of their last name?)

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[i] 1870 US Federal Census, database on line Ancestry.com; Willow Hill, Jasper, Illinois; Roll M593_232; page 3866A; Family History Library Film 545731

[ii] 1880 U S Federal Census; database online, Ancestry.com; Willow Hill, Jasper County, Illinois; Archive Collection Number: T1133; Roll: 41; Page: 13; Line: 8; Schedule Type: Agriculture; NARA microfilm publication T1133, rolls 1-11, 13-56

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 33 Family Legends

The legend in my husband’s family was that his great-great-grandfather Friedrich Albert Sempsrott and brother Johann Heinrich were stowaways on a ship from Germany. According to family lore Friederich had been apprenticed as a cigar maker, when their mother, fearful of conscription into the Hanovarian army, put Friederich and Johann on a ship bound for New York.

            “The Family of SEMPSROTT

1.     FREDERICK ALBERT SEMPSROTT (1829-1907) was born near Berlin, Germany in 1829. He completed his apprenticeship in the cigar-making trade in 1844. His father was dead and his mother cared for him and his brother, John. As he approached the age when he must be inducted into the Army for military service, his mother decided to send him to America because she did not wish to see him sent to the Army for military training.

She watched for an opportunity to place him upon a boat coming to America. Finally she learned of a boat and she stowed these two boys away with a family who were coming to America. The boys worked on the boat for their passage and after they landed in America, they went to Cincinnati, Ohio. There Frederick obtained work in a butcher shop.”[i]

The following spelling variants of the name have made record finding challenging: Semporste, Semporstt, Sempscote, Semmsrote, Semfarote, Simprod, Semporatt, Semport, Seniprot, Semparote, Sempsrote, Sempirote, Simpsrott, Sempscott, Senpscott, Sampsroth. I am sure that there are others that I have either forgotten or not found yet! As far back as 1698 the church books in Martfeld, Germany reveal the spellings: Semsrott, Sempsrott, and Semsroth.[ii]

After searching the records at Castle Garden and checking both Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org without success, I turned to the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Lists and found a record of the D H Watjen, arriving in New York on 26 June 1855 from Bremen, one Johann Heinrich Sempsroth was listed as passenger number 397 in “popdeck” and steerage travelers. Johann was a 21-year-old laborer from Hanover.[iii] These details fit with previously known information about Friedrich’s brother Johann. He was known to have been born in 1833 in Hanover as reported on several US censuses.

At present the earliest record I have found of Frederich Albert Sempsrott is the 1870 census of Jasper County, Illinois. At that point he was married to Anna Margaret Steinfort, who had immigrated with her parents in 1845.[iv]

The 1870 census for Willow Hill, Jasper County, Illinois shows Fred Simporod and his wife Annie to be the parents of seven children with the oldest three born in Indiana, Charles, Henry, and Caroline. Charles’s Family Register indicates that he was born on 7 Jan 1859 in Ripley County, Indiana and a self-reported account in “The Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois”, says that Frederick settled in Indiana for several years before moving to Jasper County, Illinois in 1862. This article also gives the marriage of Frederick and Anna Steinforth as taking place in 1842.”[v]

I haven’t yet found all the the facts about the immigration of Frederick Albert Sempsrott but I haven’t quit looking either. Writing this article has actually given me several ideas for places to look for additional information. I tend to believe the ship’s record of Johann Heinrich Sempsroth’s immigration since it is possible that the two boys sailed under a single ticket, underscoring the “stowaway” part of the story. 

Anna’s parents appear in Ripley County in the 1860 census but Frederick and Anna are not there. If Anna and Frederick married in 1842, why was their first child not born until 1859? So many riddles! I am not finished with you yet Frederick Albert!

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[i] From a typed manuscript of the family history of the Sempsrott Family of Jasper County, Illinois. 1829-1952; author unknown. Manuscript in the possession of Donna Hansen Peterson

[ii] Email dated 27 Jan 2001 from Johann Semsrott of Germany to Donald Sempsrott (ddescendant of Johann Heinrich Sempsrott) . Copy of email in possession of Donna Hanen Peterson

[iii] Immigrant Ships Transcribers Lists: search on “Sempsroth”; Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild

Passengers and Captains Including Names -Referenced in Correspondence Sci-Sha; https://www.immigrantships.net/v7/surnamesv7/splsci_v7.htm

[iv] National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) ; Washington, ADC; Records of the US Customs Service; Series: M255; Roll 5 accessed through Ancestory.com .

[v] Counties of Cumberland, Jasper and Richland, Illinois. Historical and biographical; publisher F. A. Battey & Co., Chicago, IL;  publ:1884; pages 521-522; digitized 2008; digitizing sponsor: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 32 "Youngest"

This week’s prompt is “youngest” and once again I will turn to the Burbach family as the source of my family’s youngest immigrant.

Logo of current Burbach's Meat Market from their facebook page.

My great-uncle Johan Burbach was two years old when he migrated with his parents and older brother Hermann to the United States. They left Villmar, a small village in the Duchy of Nassau and province of Hesse in 1856[i] and began their journey to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They didn’t choose Milwaukee arbitrarily since Catharina Caspari Burbach (mother of Johan and Hermann) already had an aunt and uncle who were farming in the area. Both of Johan’s parents had already lost their parents, so they were ready to brave the voyage to provide a better life for their children.

The little family settled on Walnut Street in Milwaukee, where they became involved in the local German community. Both the boys had been baptized in the Catholic faith in Villmar at Saints Peter and Paul Church[ii] and so they continued their faith education at St Joseph Church in Milwaukee. They attended the German schools, which were very available in Milwaukee at the time, while their father worked to provide food and housing. Since they came from an area of Germany where farming and raising cattle were common occupations, Georg pursued the cattle industry, becoming first a cattle drover before advancing to cattle broker. His sons, Hermann and Johan watched and learned from their father.

On 17 Sep 1875, John Burback married Steffonia Grumber in Brooklyn, New York.[iii] By 1880, John and Stefanie were the parents of daughters Catherine and Eva living with John’s parents on Walnut Street while John and his brother Hermann ran the Burbach Brothers Butcher shop which they had opened about 1876.

According to the 1900 census, John and Stefanie were living at 2327 Lisbon Street in Milwaukee with their six surviving children. John’s brother Hermann had died, and John was the sole proprietor of the butcher shop.

John died on 31 May 1929 at his home at 519 4^th Ave in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. “John Burbach was one of the oldest and best-known butchers of the city and one of the founders of the Milwaukee Mens Market Association. Until a few years ago when he retired, the deceased had a butcher shop at 2327 Lisbon Ave. for many years and previously, for 17 years at the corner of 16^th and Walnut. On the whole he was in [iv]the business for 46 years.”

John’s funeral was on Monday 3 June 1929 from J H Becker and Sons funeral parlor to St Michael’s Church, where he was a member.[v] He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Milwaukee next to his beloved wife Stephanie who died in 1922.

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[i] "Passenger and Immigration Lists (PILI)," database on line, Gale Research Company, ancestry.com (http://search.ancestry.com : online 2004), Immigration of Georg Burbach and family; Edited by William Filby, with Mary K Meyer.

[ii] Villmar Catholic Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Villmar), Kirchenbuch 1632 - 1884, 16 Apr 1854, Birth and Baptism of Johan Burbach; FHL microfilm 1272247.

[iii]  Marriage, (17 September 1875), "New York, New York City Marriage Records 1829-1940: FHL film 1543916; New York City Municipal Archives, New York, New York.

[iv] Milwaukee Herold, 01 June 1929, pg 2 col 7

[v] ibid

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 31 "Oldest"

The prompt for this week is “oldest”, so I am writing about the oldest documented ancestor I have my fifth great-grandfather Johann Jacob Burbach.

Johan Jacob Burbach was born about 1732 in Oberselters, Hesse-Nassau, Germany. Oberselters is now a suburb of Camberg, a metropolis about 40 kilometers northwest of Frankfurt, Germany. Currently Oberselters is known for its mineral waters, although in the 18^th and 19^th centuries it was primarily a farming and mining community.[i] As part of Germany’s “Golden Triangle”,  it is valued for the fertile land and favorable weather for crops.

St Anthony Catholic Church in Oberselters is where the births, marriages, and deaths of Johann Jacob Burbach and his descendants would be recorded for the next century and a half.

On 23 November 1756, Johann married Helena Müller, the daughter of Johann Müller and Anna Bauer in Kamberg, Hesse-Nassau.[ii] They would make their home in Oberselters until 1782 when Johann died, Helena having preceded him in 1775.

Johann and Helena had six children Anna Maria, born 5Feb, 1758;[iii]Maria Elisabetha born 7 Dec 1759[iv]; Wilhelm, my fourth great-grandfather, born 29 Oct 1764, married first Catherine Gross (1763-1800) they had eleven children. He married second Helena Michels (1770-1817) they had five additional children before died 30 May 1819[v]; Maria Elisabetha born 11 Aug 1767, married Phillip Görz13 May 1783 in Kamberg, Hesse-Nassau[vi]; Johann Burbach, born 13 Sep 1770[vii]; Anton Burbach born 2 Dec 1773, died 25 Aug 1795 in Oberselters.[viii]

Given the location of the family, I believe the family was engaged in agriculture of some kind. Occupational records of the time were scarce but I will go back and review the church Baptismal records since I recently learned that the father’s occupation was noted there.

The Burbach saga has just begun!

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[i] Wikipedia

[ii] Katholische Kirche, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Kamberg, Hesse-Nassau), Kirchenbuch, 1598-1900, , marriage of Johann J Burbach and Helena Müller; FHL microfilm 1200886.

[iii] Kirchenbuchduplikat 1818 - 1874, Dupilcate Church Book 1818-1874: 8 May 1819, St Anthony Catholic Church, Oberselters, Hessen-Nassau, Germany.

[iv] ibid

[v] ibid

[vi] ibid

[vii] ibid

[viii] ibid

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 29 Music

Adolf Hansen and family 1894

“Adolf Hansen<ß--- HAN DRYSSET MEOLDIER UT AV ERMEY …>>[i]

This is the title of the book written about my great-grandfather Adolf Hansen a Norwegian Military musician and composer. The Norwegian phrase in the title translates to “he sprinkles melodies out of the sleeve.”  An apt phrase to describe a prolific composer.

Adolf was born on 4 October 1852 , the son of Martin Hansen and Sofie Johannesdatter. His original christening record shows his name as Johannes Adolf Waldemar Hansen.[ii]

Little is known of Adolf’s life before the 1865 census of Oslo, Norway, where Adolf appears with his mother Sofie living at 2 Grondelandsleret with 47 other people.[iii]

By 1875 Adolf’s profession in the census is listed as musician, since he had joined the 2^nd Brigades Musikkorps at age 15 and played clarinet  under the direction of Paolo Sperati. In 1868, 16 year old Adolf went to his director and showed his two musical pieces he had composed, one a march and one a galopp He was allowed to sit in the orchestra and play his compositions!

Adolf kept playing in the various bands and orchestras in Oslo, including the Christiania Norske Theater and the Tivoli. In 1880, Adolf was married with four children when he was sent to Paris for further study on the clarinet.

Adolf continued to direct the bands of the Norwegian Army while adding to his list of compositions until his death 24 Jan 1911 in Bergen, Norway. His composition of most note is the “Honor Marsj” .

Adolf had a total of ten children, five with each of his two wives, I don’t know if any of them inherited his musical talent, but I do remember his granddaughter Dorothy had a grand piano in her living room and I have been told that another granddaughter, Dorette Campbell was an opera singer. Both of my children were in the high school band and my daughter was a music major. She married a music major who continued the tradition by serving in the US Army Band for 26 years.  All three of their children have also been talented musicians in High School. It has often made me wonder if a talent skipped several generations. I guess we’ll never know until a music gene is discovered.

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[i] Egil A. Gundersen, author, Adolf Hansen << - HAN DRYSSET MELODIER UT AV ERMET...>>, first edition (Skien, Norway: self-published by author, 2002), .

[ii] Church of Norway (Aker, Oslo, Norway), Ministrial Book #19 birthssz 1842-1852, page 395, Birth and christening of Johannes Adolf Waldemer Hansen; digital image, digitalarkiv of Norway (https://media.digitalarkivet.no : online 31 Nov 2017).

[iii] 1865 census for Oslo, digitalarkivet.no

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 27 Travel

For the Adolf Hansen family of Bergen, Norway, things began to unravel in the late 1880’s. Dorette Hansen died 4 July 1887[i]after giving birth to a daughter Aagot Dorette in June of 1887. In February of 1889 their father Adolf married Nathalie Bull Egbert and began another family. That Nathalie was only five years older than Adolf and Dorette’s oldest child undoubtedly contributed to the friction in the family.

Several of Dorette’s siblings had immigrated to the United States already and had settled in Chicago, Illinois. Hearing of the family friction they encouraged the motherless children to come to Chicago to establish their lives. On 21 May 1894 three of five of Adolf and Dorette’s surviving children: Adolph Halfdan Hansen, then twelve years old, along with his sister Dagny Amanda (16) and brother ArturDaniel (15)  walked to the police station in Bergen, Norway and registered their intention to emigrate to the United States. Adolph traveled as Halfdan Hansen.[ii] 

On 21 May 1894 they boarded the Norge to sail to New York via Copenhagen.

SS Norge photo credit:wikipedia

The Norge was built in 1881 by Alexander Stephen and Sons of Linthouse, Glasgow, for the Belgian company Theodore C. Engels & Co of Antwerp; her original name was Pieter de Coninck. The ship was 3,359 GRT and 3,700 tonnes deadweight (DWT), and the 1,400-horsepower (1.0 MW) engine gave a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). She could carry a maximum of 800 passengers.[iii]

On June 8, 1894 the Norge docked in New York, New York at Ellis Island.[iv] The manifest of the Norge shows that the three children sailed alone and brought with them a total of $6.00. ($209.78 in 2018 ) Not a large sum to get them from New York to Chicago.

They did travel safely to Chicago where the 1900 census shows Artur and Adolph living with their aunt Olga Pederson and her family where Adolph was a packer.[v] Sister Dagny was working as a domestic and living with the family she worked for.

In 1901 their brother Sigurd would immigrate to New York leaving only their brother Thorolf in Norway along with their five half siblings from their father’s second marriage. 

This wasn't the end of the Hansen immigration from Norway. Lili Augusta, the daughter on Adolf and Nathalie would settle in New York and Thorolf's daughter Lili Riis Hansen would immigrate in the late 1930s shortly before WWII.

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[i] Norwegian Lutheran (Oslo fylke), Ministrial Book #12 Dode og begravede, page 300, death and burial record of Dorette Christiansen; arkivverket.no, Oslo, Oslo, Norway.

[ii] "Digitalarkivet.uib.no," Norwegian Digital Arkiv,  (http://digitalarkivit..uib.no/cgi-win/webcens.exe?slag=visbase&filnamn=arkivvert/EMIBERG&brukar=&loc=5017848&spraak : accessed 6 June 2002), transcription, "Emigrants from Bergen 1874-1930," .

[iii] wikipedia

[iv] Arrival of Adolph Halfdan Hansen; Norge passenger manifest, 8 June 1894, ; in Ellis Island Records; (Washington, D.C.: National Archives), .

[v] 1900 U S Census, Cook County, Illinois, population schedule, Ward 28, enumeration district (ED) ED 844 precinct 4 West Town Chicago city, 11B, 204, Adolph Hansen; digital image, FamilySearch.org (http://familysearch.org : accessed 6 February 2013); United Stated Archives and Records Administration (NARA).