Monday, April 26, 2021

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 17 "Favorite Place"

THE PORCH SWING

My earliest memories of visiting my maternal grandparents include their porch swing.  Though I was born in St. Joseph, Michigan where they lived, my parents and I moved to the Detroit suburbs when I was a toddler and only visited St. Joseph in the summer and on Easter week-end.  I was always excited to visit my grandparents because their home and the town were happy places to be.

My grandparents had a two-story home on Pleasant Street in St. Joseph.  Kitty corner from their home was the local Catholic church and school and directly across the street was the Catholic convent where the nuns lived.  The street wasn't very long, perhaps containing 10 homes at the most, between Court Street and Church Street.  Being in the downtown district everything of enjoyment was within walking distance.  

There were the stores to shop or browse in, the dime store with the wooden floors (which still exists today) where my mother had worked right after high school, the drug store with the soda fountain where we would get an ice cream sundae, the band stand where Sunday performances were held by the St. Joseph Municipal Band and the bluff overlooking Lake Michigan.  We could walk down the staircase from the bluff to the railroad tracks and a little further we would be on the sand by the Lake.  There was also Silver Beach with the famous Carousel (which has now been restored).  Visiting St. Joe was a happy and fun time.

But the thing that gave me the most pleasure was the porch swing that hung on my grandparent's front porch.  It provided a place to sit in peace and quiet, a place for reflection and calm.  It resembled this swing:


There were other chairs on the porch and my grandparents would graciously allow me to sit on the swing while they would take the chairs.  We would talk and they would always be interested in what was going on in my life.  After my grandfather passed away when I was 12, whenever we would visit, my grandmother and mother would sit on the porch with me and we would just relax and enjoy the flowers my grandmother had around the house.  I spent countless hours on the swing myself reading and relaxing.  

The years have gone by, my grandmother and my mother are also gone and the house on Pleasant Street is gone as well.  That side of the street was demolished and a banking complex was built in it's place. (The Catholic church, school and convent building still exist on the opposite side of the street.)  I have walked the street many times trying to picture just where the house was and have determined it had sat where the drive-up lane of Fifth Third Bank sits today:

But in my mind's eye I can still see the house as it was when I was growing up and I can picture the porch swing that I spent many hours relaxing on.  Unfortunately the porch swing is not shown in this portrait but I can see it in my memory:


Good memories of happy and peaceful times!

Copyright 2021, Cheryl J. Schulte

Monday, April 19, 2021

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 16 "DNA"

DNA SOLVES A MAJOR MYSTERY

In genealogy research we are taught to "cite our sources" and "do not add information that cannot be proven".  But what do we do if we have a strong feeling that a piece of research is accurate but do not have actual proof?  That is always difficult.

When I began researching my paternal grandfather's mother's family I came across just such a situation.  This was long before DNA was in the genealogical picture.  I had always had a special interest in my Feucht ancestors - perhaps because my loving grandfather, Elmer Schulte, had told me many times that his mother, Juliane Feucht Schulte, had passed away when he was only 12.  There were only 3 photos of her available and she was so very young and pretty and I felt my grandfather's sorrow that he had not had his mother very long.  This is one of the photos of Juliane and Elmer Schulte:


When I began my research on my Feucht family, my grandfather had already passed away and my grandmother had little information on her husband's family.  I was on my own.

I did know that the Feucht family had belonged to Trinity Lutheran Church in Detroit and that they were buried in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery on Mt. Elliott Avenue in Detroit.  The minister at the time at Trinity Lutheran Church was interested in genealogy himself and I was able to obtain the baptismal certificate for my great-grandmother, Juliane, which did show the names of her parents.  The minister, Gilbert Otte, graciously informed me that the parents of Juliane Feucht had been married as well at Trinity and he provided the most complete copy of their marriage information from the church books:


With that information I was able to obtain the county record of their marriage as well (which surprisingly for 1859) was written in English:


What a wonderful find!  Actual birthplaces in Germany listed on their marriage certificate.  I had never experienced that before and very rarely since.  

With this information I could see that my 2nd great-grandmother, Helena Bauer, was born in Ezelsdorf, Bavaria, Germany and in the next few years I was able, with the help of a German researcher, to trace my Bauer and affiliated lines back to the late 1500's.  But that is information for another post.

For my 2nd great-grandfather, Johann Jacob Feucht, I was able to see from his marriage certificate that he had been born in Ludwigsburg, Württemberg, Germany.  Unfortunately the actual village was not shown which proved to hinder my progress for many, many years.  From the dates on the marriage record and death record of Johann Jacob Feucht I had configured his date of birth as August 12, 1826.  This was all I had to go on other than the general area of Ludwigsburg in Württemberg as his birth place and the fact that he had emigrated to Detroit before his 1859 marriage also in Detroit.

In the following years I learned of a series of books called "The Württemberg, Germany Emigration Index".  I did purchase the first 5 volumes of this series and saw many Feucht entries but nothing that would match with Johann Jacob Feucht or even Jacob Feucht and nothing with an age at emigration or date of birth that came close to my ancestor's birth date of August 12, 1826.

Frustrating - yes!

The years passed and I devoted my energy and time to other ancestral lines, always thinking of ways to find the actual village where Johann Jacob Feucht was born.  Eventually the next volume of "The Württemberg, Germany Emigration Index" became available.  In this volume I was shocked to see an entry for a Johann Jacob Feucht, with birth date of August 12, 1826, from the village of Tamm, Ludwigsburg, Württemberg, Germany!  Could this entry be my 2nd great-grandfather?

The facts in the book did fit with what I knew.  The birth date fit as did the entry that he had emigrated to America and it also listed the emigration year of 1857 which I had not known.  Was this really him?  I did discuss this with two of my cousins and they both agreed that while it was not full proof, the information seemed to highly confirm this entry was for my ancestor.  I did enter this information into my Ancestry tree and into my Family Tree Maker database but in the back of my mind I was still questioning my decision.

More years went by, DNA became widely available and I did the Ancestry DNA test.  I had no matches with anyone related in my Feucht line except children and grandchildren from my great-grandmother, Juliane Feucht Schulte's, sisters.  

Then I did have my mother do the Ancestry DNA test - not to confirm any ancestry from my father's side, of course.  As a thought one day I asked my brother if he would be willing to do the Ancestry DNA test and he agreed.  And that decision proved to be the one that resulted in SUCCESS!

A few years later I noticed my brother had 2 DNA Feucht matches with people from Germany.  I did not have these matches myself but they were both being administered by the same gentleman.  I sent off an e-mail and thankfully the man answered promptly in English.  It turned out that the Feucht matches were on his wife's side of the family and he was researching their lines for them.

He introduced me to the "Württemberg Family Tables" which were created in that area of Germany by the churches in the 1700's and 1800's.  These were similar to what we would call a census except they had very detailed information on 3 generations of a family unit - the husband and wife of the household, the parents of each of the adults and the children of the household.  While finding church book entries are so satisfying, these Family Tables are even more so.  

In the family table of what would prove to be my 3rd great-grandparents, Johannes Feucht (1783-1854 in Tamm) and Anna Barbara Meile (1789 in Tamm-1865 in Bissingen) were listed their 7 children including a son, Johann Jacob Feucht, born August 12, 1826 in Tamm - and next to that entry were the words - emigrated to America in 1857!  

AT LAST - I had found my 2nd great-grandfather.  The DNA matches my brother had were with the brother of our 3rd great-grandfather, Johannes Feucht (above) whose name was Philipp Feucht (1788-1864 in Tamm). 

With the help of these Family Tables and the help of my German correspondent I was able to go back several more generations on my Feucht line.  It certainly helped that he was able to translate the difficult records the further back we went.  

Over the years of my research I have had many matches with DNA that have been helpful and interesting but these matches with my Feucht German cousins were certainly the most exciting.

My thoughts on DNA:

1.  Have as many family members do the DNA test as possible.  If I had not asked my brother to do the test I would not have been able to make this discovery.  Siblings do not have the same amounts of DNA and one sibling may have an important match that the other sibling does not.  This certainly proved accurate in this case.

2.  Don't neglect your 5th to 8th cousin matches.  This was shown to be very true in my case.  My brother's match was with the family of "our" 3rd great grand uncle (as Ancestry describes it) and though the match was low it was an accurate match none the less.

3.  Never give up and don't think you have exhausted all possible records and there is nothing else to be found.  Not true - the beauty of genealogy is that the search is never over.  

I have certainly learned this and have uncovered more information than I ever dreamed possible when I started this journey in the 1970's.

Copyright 2021, Cheryl J. Schulte

Monday, April 12, 2021

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 15 "Brick Wall"

KRAMP FAMILY MISSING DOCUMENTS

In the realm of genealogical "brick walls" I've been very fortunate.  Over my 45 years of genealogical research I have been able to eliminate many of the brick walls that had occurred.  When I began my research there were no personal computers, no Internet, certainly no Ancestry and most of my research was done sitting in Library genealogical rooms, writing letters to Germany and Poland, waiting months for answers and encountering many, many brick walls.

Now that we have all the amenities that make research quicker, with the addition of countless records put online, I have been able to solve many of my brick walls.

Some do remain, however, and a portion involve my maternal Kramp family. 

My 2nd great-grandfather, Albert Ludwig Kramp, was born September 22, 1834 in Kathkow, Kreis Bütow, Pommern, Germany.  

His wife, my 2nd great-grandmother, Emilie Friederike Rott, was born December 16, 1840 in Borntuchen, Kreis Bütow, Pommern, Germany.

Both of those dates I have been able to secure from church book records of Kathkow and Borntuchen now found online.  It is an amazing good fortune that a major portion of the church books for these areas have been indexed and are available for online searching.  But gaps occur and as luck would have it some of those gaps leave brick walls in my research:

1.  Marriage of Albert Kramp and Emilie Rott  I have not been able to ascertain the date and place of their marriage.  The clues that I have amassed include the date of birth of their first child (1857 in Borntuchen, Kreis Bütow).  Since this village was Emilie's birth place as well I can perhaps assume that their marriage took place in Borntuchen.  But there is no absolute proof of this. Marriage records for this time period are not available - YET (!)

2.  Birth/Baptism record of child #1 of above couple, Pauline Kramp, - From her marriage record, immigration record and death record I was able to learn the date of birth of Pauline as December 30, 1857 in Borntuchen.  However, without the actual birth/baptism record from Borntuchen I am unable to prove the birth date is accurate.  There are birth/baptism records available for Borntuchen but they are not available for the years before 1860.  

3.  Birth/Baptism record of child #2 of above couple, Bertha Kramp, (my great-grandmother) - As with her older sister, Pauline, birth/baptism records for Borntuchen were not available at the time of Bertha's birth of July 26, 1860.  Amazingly the availability of birth/baptism records became available as of the beginning of August, 1860 - just not in time for the record I was searching for.  Again, from her marriage record, immigration record and death record I was able to ascertain the date of birth of Bertha.  However, without her actual birth/baptism record I am unable to prove the authenticity of her birth date.

In an interesting discovery for both Bertha and Pauline - they were married in Groß Tuchen, Kreis Bütow, Pommern, Germany in a double wedding on October 4, 1878.  Pauline married Heinrich Gersonde and Bertha married August Kolberg.  Later both families immigrated to the US, settling in Berrien County, Michigan.  I do have both marriage records as well.

Following the births of Pauline and Bertha, the remaining 8 children of Albert Kramp and Emilie Rott, all have birth/baptism records available for searching and I have been fortunate to find all of them.  Their third child, Robert Ernst Berthold Kramp, was born July 27, 1862 in Borntuchen and birth/baptism records were available for discovery which I was able to obtain.

4.  Birth/Baptism record of child #4 of above couple, Albert Carl Ludwig Kramp, was available in the church books of Borntuchen but for some reason showed only the year of birth as 1864.  His baptism was listed as Nr. 124 of Borntuchen, telling me from knowledge gained from reviewing in depth these church books that his birth was undoubtedly toward the end of the year.  The baptism record showed his godparents as well so it was nearly a complete record albeit without the actual month and day of birth.  Without his actual birth/baptism record, I am unable to ascertain the accurate date of birth.

Between the birth of Albert Carl Ludwig Kramp in late 1864 and late 1866, the family of Albert Ludwig Kramp and Emilie Rott relocated a short distance from Borntuchen to the village of Klein Tuchen where their remaining 6 children were born and, again, those church books are available for searching and I do have all their birth/baptism records which I received in the early 1980's by writing to the Priest in the village of Groß Tuchen where the church was located.  

(These German villages were part of Pomerania during the time my ancestors lived there and the Evangelical Church was the church in which they worshipped.  After WWII when the Germans were expelled from this area it then became part of Poland and the Evangelical church books were transferred to the neighboring Catholic Church and the village was given the Polish name of Tuchomie, Poland.  It was from the wonderfully cooperative priest in Tuchomie that I received reams of valuable documents.  We had a correspondence that lasted nearly 10 years until he was relocated to a different church in Poland.  His cooperation was a blessing.)

The remaining children of Albert Ludwig Kramp and Emilie Rott, all born in Klein Tuchen and baptized in Groß Tuchen are:

Ottilie Friederike Mathilde Kramp - born December 16, 1866.

Emilie Jakobine Catharina Kramp - born November 13, 1868.

Otto Wilhelm Hermann Kramp - born December 3, 1870.

Alwine Marie Wilhelmina Kramp - born January 18, 1873.

Hugo Max Kramp - born April 2, 1875.

Louis Conrad Kramp - born April 27, 1877

In reality I have done exceedingly well with uncovering valuable documents on all the members of this family.  

Albert Ludwig Kramp passed away in 1880 in Klein Tuchen.  Following his death, in stages over the next few years, his wife, Emilie Rott Kramp and her children all immigrated to the US and eventually settled in Berrien County, Michigan.  The only exception to this was their son, Albert Carl Ludwig Kramp, born in 1864 in Borntuchen, who remained in the area where he passed away in 1887. 

Once in the US, after first living in Freeport, Illinois, Emilie Rott Kramp married Ernst Zorr on February 22, 1884. They relocated shortly after to Berrien County, Michigan as well.  This is a photo that I do have of Emilie Rott Kramp and Ernst Zorr taken in approximately 1890 in St. Joseph, Michigan:

I continue to check availability of church books for the above 4 people hoping that the missing years will be discovered and put online.  Time will tell but they are my brick walls in any case.

Copyright 2021, Cheryl J. Schulte


Monday, April 5, 2021

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 14 "Great"

EASTER MEMORIES ARE THE GREATEST

Today is Easter Monday and a perfect time to write about my favorite yearly holiday - Easter.  While other holidays were special in their own way, Easter was the holiday that I have the most intense memories of.

I was born in St. Joseph, Michigan.  My mother was from St. Joseph as well where she grew up while my father was from Detroit.  When I was a young girl we moved to the Detroit suburbs where I grew up and where my brother was born.  We took summer vacations back to St. Joseph to visit my grandparents and all my mother's many relatives and they were fun times.

Easter was the special holiday every year where we always went back to St. Joseph to celebrate.  Two of my mother's brothers and their families also came from the Chicago area to spend the holiday as well.

We had traditions that never failed to excite me even as the years went by.  We always dressed up and went to church as a family group and my grandparents were so proud to have their family together.  Even after my grandfather died in 1960 we continued to gather as a family with my grandmother and church was a special occasion.  The church was always crowded on Easter and one year the uncles were dragging their feet about leaving the house and when we arrived at the church there were no pews left.  The service was also being played through the speakers into the basement and we had to sit in the basement fellowship hall for the service.  The uncles never made that mistake again!

My grandmother always had Easter decorations around the house.  A glass hen candy dish was always filled with chocolate covered eggs and it sat on the buffet in her dining room.  I have this candy dish now and continue to fill it with Hershey's chocolate eggs each Easter:


There was always a lamb cake as the centerpiece of the dining room table; a white frosted cake my grandmother made from a lamb mold and which was covered with coconut.  I have this mold today and my mother and I have made the cake a few times over the years.  It is not the easiest to maneuver when removing the lamb.  Those little ears don't seem to want to stay on and we have been known to use toothpicks under the frosting to keep them in place; we just need to remember not to bite into the toothpick:


The centerpiece on the buffet, however, was my grandmother's home made Easter egg tree.  In the 1940's she boiled eggs and colored them, poked holes in the ends and blew out the insides, cut a small opening in each egg, filled with artificial flowers, etc and with the insertion of pipe cleaners hung them on the tree using branches she collected from the grounds around Lake Michigan.  This was displayed in a large vase every year without fail.

Today the eggs are down to 23 which is amazing given they are over 80 years old.  I treasure these eggs and wrap them carefully.  A few years ago I had them on my buffet in my living room and the windows were open with a nice breeze blowing in.  Suddenly I heard a big crash and when going into the living room I was horrified to see the Easter egg tree had fallen onto the carpet.  Amazingly not one egg was broken!  I know that was my grandmother in heaven making sure that her decoration was still safe:


This Easter I again had my grandmother's Easter decorations on display and though Easter is much different now I still have the greatest memories of this holiday as well as great memories of my special grandmother.  

This is Easter, 1961, the first Easter after the death of my grandfather when my family and the families of my two uncles gathered again in St. Joseph with my grandmother. 

This picture shows my Uncle Leslie Kijak, my grandmother Ella Kolberg Kijak, my mother, Eloris Kijak Schulte and my Uncle Harris Kijak:


All are gone now but the memories remain!

Copyright 2021, Cheryl J. Schulte