52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - 2025; Week 4 "Overlooked"

 OVERLOOKED:

Great-grandpa - where were you born?  

Despite over 40 years of genealogical research, I have been unable to find proof of the birthplace of my paternal great-grandfather, Rudolph Myer Schulte.  I have researched and discovered more documents and information on him than most of my other ancestors but none of the records confirm his birthplace.  This is definitely a mystery.

This is what I have been able to confirm:

Rudolph Myer Schulte was born 24 October 1869 in Germany.  His father was Joseph Meyer Schulte, who was born in Beckum, Westfalen, Preußen, Germany in 1843 and his mother was Alvina (Alwina) Tobien (Tobian) who was born in 1848 in Pommern, Preußen, Germany.

On the 10th of April, 1872, Joseph, Alvina and Rudolph immigrated from Hamburg, Germany to America, settling in Detroit, Michigan.  The Hamburg passenger list indicated that their place of residence at the time of departure was Goldikow, Pommern.  Recent in-depth research has shown that there is not, nor has there ever been, a village named Goldikow in Pommern.  With assistance from a cousin in Poland, whose help has been overwhelming, it is believed the name of the village was actually Zoldekow which now, in Polish, is Sulikowo.  This has proven to be undoubtedly accurate with recent research I have been undertaking on the Tobien family (which will be discussed in another blog post).

At the time of arrival in America, Alvina gave birth to their second child, a daughter Elizabeth on 28 June 1872.  A third child, Ida, was born on 23 November 1874.

Here is a photo of the Joseph and Alvina Schulte family in approximately 1875-1876 in Detroit:

Joseph and Alvina Schulte with Rudolph standing, Ida sitting on mother's lap and Elizabeth standing by father:

The 1880 United States census for Detroit, Michigan showed the Joseph Schulte family with Rudolph listed as having been born in "Germany" as was also listed for his parents.  This gave me no new information.

On 7 October 1891 Rudolph married Julie Feucht.  Again the marriage record(s) indicated Rudolph was born in Germany:

Marriage certificate for Rudolph Schulte and Julie Feucht:

In 1892 Rudolph joined the Detroit Fire Department, a career that would see him joining the US Navy to serve in the Spanish American War in 1898 where he served on the USS Yosemite.

Rudolph Schulte as a Detroit City Fireman:

Rudolph in the US Navy during the Spanish American War (he is with his younger brother, Theodore, in this photo):

I decided to contact the National Archives in hope of obtaining Rudolph's Spanish American War military records.  Some months later a thick package arrived in the mail for me.  In his own handwriting Rudolph had written "I was born in Germany and came to America with my parents when I was 2 years old".  

Why, oh why, couldn't he have been more specific as to where he was born - did he even know?  He was only 2 when he immigrated with  his parents and did they ever discuss where in Germany he had been born?  It was impossible to know.  Another roadblock!

The 1900 US census for Detroit, Michigan was even more confusing as it showed Rudolph being born in Michigan which, of course, was incorrect.  Did the census taker get this information from his wife, Julie?  She certainly knew her husband was born in Germany.  It would be impossible to know.  Another roadblock!

The 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1940 US censuses for Detroit, Michigan all showed Rudolph Schulte as having been born in "Germany".

On January 14, 1907, Rudolph's wife, Julie, passed away.  Just 5 weeks later, Rudolph married her sister, Elizabeth Feucht, who had been widowed twice previously and had 4 children.  Again, their marriage record indicated Rudolph had been born in "Germany".

Elizabeth passed away on 17 February 1937 and on 5 March 1938 Rudolph married for the 3rd time to Mary Bender.  Their marriage certificate didn't shed any new light on Rudolph's birth place.

Marriage record of Rudolph Schulte and Mary Bender:

Rudolph passed away on 1 April, 1940 in Detroit, Michigan and was buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit in the Bender Family Plot - the cemetery plot of his 3rd wife's family.  His death certificate had a bit more information regarding his place of birth listing Westphalia, Germany and his obituary stated the same.  Beckum, Westphalia, Germany was the birthplace of Rudolph's parents, grandparents, great grandparents and several earlier generations all leading to my belief that Rudolph himself had been born there.

Rudolph Schulte's death certificate and obituary:

With all my research, and the amount of documentation I had, I still had no idea and no positive proof of where my great-grandfather had been born.  I was very close to my grandfather, Rudolph's only child, and yet my grandfather told me he only knew his father had been from Germany.  Obviously families never discussed these things.  My grandfather shared with me all the military medals of his father and all the photos that my grandparents had.  In with the photos were a few of Rudolph in the Masonic fraternal organization clothing.

Rudolph Schulte as a member of the Masonic fraternal organization:

 Armed with this information I wrote to the headquarters of the Masons in Detroit.  After many back and forth letters (this was before computers), I received copies of Rudolph's application and other paperwork from his time as a member of the Masons.  In that application was, in Rudolph's own handwriting, his place of birth as Beckum, Westphalia, Germany!

At last I had confirmation that Rudolph was indeed born in the place of his Schulte ancestors.  I was ecstatic...

Until I began searching for absolute proof of this,  hopefully, with documentation from Beckum.

That has not happened despite many years of research.  While the Catholic church records of Saint Stephan Katholische Kirche are microfilmed by the LDS and Family Search, and while myself and another Schulte cousin, have thoroughly gone through the records, giving us information on our Schulte line back to the 1600's, no record of the birth of Rudolph Schulte has been found nor a marriage record of his parents.

I even hired a professional German researcher in 2021 who visited the church and viewed the vital records for Beckum and other nearby villages that were all part of the Saint Stephan Catholic Church parish.  The professional genealogist informed me there was no record of either Rudolph's birth or the marriage of his parents.  Using the assumption that Rudolph's mother could have been Evangelical (Lutheran), as the family was when they arrived in America, the professional genealogist checked the Evangelical records as well and nothing was found.

Now in 2025, I am back to square 1.  While my Schulte ancestors - from my 2nd great grandfather, Joseph Schulte, back to the 1600's were all members of the Catholic Church in Beckum, Westphalia, it is still a mystery where Rudolph was born and where his parents were married.

I love a good mystery but 40 plus years of research has frustrated me.  I'm not giving up; there is always something new to investigate and I am turning my research to Rudolph's mother, Alvina Tobien, to see if that will open up some avenues.

Despite the topic of this post being "overlooked", I feel that I have not overlooked any available records or information that has been available to me - up to this point!

copyright 2025, Cheryl J. Schulte

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - 2025; Week 3 "Nicknames"

WHAT NAME DO YOU USE:

In my genealogical research I have often found interesting naming patterns in specific families.  While it was common to name children after a grandparent or a sponsor, in one of my lines I found patterns that could not be linked to a specific reason.

I did learn after much research, that in the 19th century, German children were often given multiple first names, including biblical names, names of saints and old family names.  Common names for boys were Johann, Friedrich, Wilhelm, while common girls names were Anna, Maria, Elisabeth.  Typically only one of the names was used throughout the person's life.

In my paternal Feucht family this was certainly true and many times the chosen name was substituted for another of the two or three names making research very difficult.

My 2nd great grandparents, Johann Jacob Feucht and Magdalena Helena Bauer were both born in Germany.  Johann Feucht was born in Tamm, Ludwigsburg, Württemberg, Germany and Magdalena was born in Schwarzenbach by Nürnberg, Bavaria, Germany.

They both immigrated to Detroit, Michigan at separate times, and married in Detroit on 20 February 1859 at Trinity Lutheran Church. 

Ten children were born to them as follows:

 Johann Georg Feucht - born 25 February 1860 and died 25 July 1860.

Anna Margarethe Elizabeth Feucht - born 12 July 1861 and died 17 February 1937.  She was known as Elizabeth or Liz throughout her life

Anna Margarethe Elizabeth Feucht:

Kunigunde Margarethe Rosa Feucht - born 12 January 1864 and died 11 November 1908.  She was known alternatively as Rosa, Rose and even Kunigunde on various documents throughout her life.

Kunigunde Margarethe Rosa Feucht:

Johann Conrad Feucht - born 29 June 1866 and died after November 1908. Documents over the years have noted him listed as Johann, John and Conrad.  He disappeared from records after November, 1908 and he is still a brick wall for me.

Karoline Margarethe Mary Feucht - born 2 August, 1868 and died 7 May 1869.  Documents in her brief life have shown her listed as Karoline and Mary.

Christine Katharine Juliane Feucht - born 16 February, 1870 and died 14 January, 1907.  This was my great-grandmother and throughout her 37 year life she was known as Julia, Julie, Juliane and Julia Anna.

Christine Katharine Juliane Feucht:

Margarethe Feucht - born 4 July 1872 and died 1 January 1936.  The multiple naming pattern seemed to stop with her though she was known alternatively through her life as Margaret, Maggie, Meg.

Margarethe Feucht:

Helene Feucht - born 6 March 1875 and died 3 June 1957.  She was mainly known as Lena or Helene throughout her life.  She lived the longest of the Feucht siblings.  She was also the only one of the daughters that was actually named after her parent.

Helene Feucht:

Johann Georg Feucht - Another child given the same name as their firstborn son.  This son was born 20 October 1877 and died 7 January 1933.  Documents over his lifetime indicated he was using the name George.

Charles Henry Feucht - The last of the children of Jacob and Helena Feucht.  He was born 15 January 1881 and he died 6 October 1945.  He used the name Charles throughout his life.  He was only 4 when his mother died and 11 when his father died.

There were 4 sons with 3 of them given the first name of their father - Johann and 1 daughter named after her mother.

Every one of the 10 children had multiple baptismal sponsors but none could be connected to any known relatives - aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc even after I was able to trace both the Feucht line back many generations in Tamm, Württemberg, Germany and trace the Bauer line back 15 generations! in villages surrounding Nürnberg, Bavaria, Germany.

Despite the various names chosen by my great-grandmother and her 9 siblings, I am pleased that I have been very successful in tracing both lines of my family back in Germany and to have connected by DNA matches with 3 different "cousins" still living in various parts of Germany.

copyright 2025, Cheryl J. Schulte

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - 2025; Week 2 "Favorite Photo"

FAVORITE PHOTO(S) 

Over the 47 years of my genealogical research I have acquired thousands of photos of ancestors from family members who have willingly allowed me to scan and return their photos to them.  Naturally there are many that I would deem "favorites" and I have chosen two such photos to feature today.  

These two photos are from both my father's side and my mother's side, they are from different countries and different periods of time but it is amazing how the two photos tie together.

Over the last several years I have had amazing success with DNA matches via the My Heritage website.  While I use the Ancestry site exclusively for my research, I ventured into My Heritage 5 years ago hoping to make connections with European cousins.  I had been informed that more people in Germany and Poland (my areas of interest) use My Heritage so I downloaded my family tree to My Heritage hoping to have some matches.

It took over a year but then the results started coming in with amazing DNA matches that have allowed me to grow my family lines back many generations.

One such DNA match came to me a few years ago from a young gentleman in Warsaw, Poland.  This match was on the line of my 2nd great-grandmother, Balbina Korcz who was my mother's great-grandmother.  I had very little information on my Korcz ancestors and was just fortunate to find US records originally that indicated her name.  In the decades since then I had never had any luck learning anything more about her.

With this DNA match though I found a correspondent who was willing to share his records and the information he had uncovered.  He turned out to be my 4th cousin, 2 times removed which was amazing since we actually had high numbers of shared DNA.

One of the photos he shared with me were of his 2nd great-grandparents, Melchior Korcz and Katarzyna Neumann.  Melchior was the grand-nephew of my 2nd great-grandmother, the above Balbina Korcz.

Melchior was born 28 December 1878 in Trzek, Poland and Katarzyna was born 04 May 1877 in Ługowiny, Poland.  They were married approximately 01 April 1901 in Poland.  Melchior passed away in 1952 in Swarzędz, Poland and Katarzyna passed away in 1955 also in Swarzędz, Poland.  Both are buried in the Cmentarz Parafialny w Swarzędz (Municipal cemetery in Swarzędz, Poland). Melchior was my 2nd cousin, 2 times removed.  Here is a photo of the two of them taken in Poland.  I would estimate this photo was taken in the later years of their marriage.  I fell in love with this photo and the way they were posed.

Melchior & Katarzyna Korcz:

While going through my multitudes of photos I came across another one that caught my eye showing another interesting way of posing a couple.  

This photo is of my great-grandfather, Rudolph Myer Schulte and his second wife, Elizabeth Feucht.  Rudolph was my father's grandfather.  While I never knew this great-grandfather I had enormous amounts of genealogical information on him and his 3 wives that I had acquired over the years from my paternal grandparents.  Rudolph's first wife, Juliana Feucht, was my great-grandmother and she unfortunately passed away at the young age of 36.  Two months after her death, Rudolph married her sister, Elizabeth, and they combined their families.

Rudolph had been born on 24 October 1869 in Germany.  US records show he was born in Beckum, Westfalen, Germany but research has not found positive evidence of that (YET)!  Elizabeth Feucht was born 12 July 1861 in Detroit, Michigan.  Rudolph and Elizabeth were married 20 February 1907 in Detroit.  Rudolph passed away on 01 April, 1940 in Detroit and Elizabeth passed away on 17 February 1937 also in Detroit.

This photo of Rudolph and Elizabeth was taken, I believe, at Riverview Park in Detroit, Michigan in approximately 1912.  

Rudolph and Elizabeth Schulte:

What a fun experience this must have been.

These are just 2 of my favorite ancestral photos but I feel they are well suited to this blog post.

copyright 2025, Cheryl J. Schulte

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - 2025; Week 1 "In The Beginning"

47 YEARS OF RESEARCH

Time moves swiftly, especially in retirement, and it is difficult for me to realize that the last time I did this "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge was 4 years ago.  I've decided it's time again for another "go" at blogging about my ancestors for this 2025 challenge.

In the beginning of my research, 47 years ago, I never would have expected the discoveries I would uncover with the advent of the Internet, DNA, foreign translation apps, professional researchers, etc.

Over the course of the next 52 weeks I will be writing about the discoveries I have made that have taken me "across the ocean" to the actual birthplaces of my 2nd great-grandparents where I have obtained vital records and connected with cousins from those lines.  In many instances, I have been able to go back beyond the 2nd great-grandparents to, in a few families, my 10th and above great-grandparents. 

I truly believe there is no end to what one can discover and we will never reach the "end" of our research. 

Don't get discouraged. The possibilities are endless.

copyright 2025, Cheryl J. Schulte