Krause 2024

Well, I didn’t build much on the notes on the site from 2021.

This quarter, I focused on documenting previous research on Generations 5 and 6.

Johann Krause and Elisabeth Spielhaag

Karl Zerbe and Elisabeth Spielhaag

Karl Zerbe and Philipine Boesler

Jacob Otto and Katherine Bechtold

Martin Krause and Louise Heck

Martin Krause and Karoline Martin

Gottfried Spielhaag and Karolina Hinz

Gottfried Spielhaag and Elisabeth Engel

Jakob Otto and Magdalene Margarete Maier

Jakob Otto and Friederika Anderst

Johann Michael Bechtold and Maria Catharina Schell

Notes from this research:

I realized this quarter that the Krause’s lived in Bukowitz from somewhere around 1900 until as late as 1911. I still wonder why they landed there and why they stayed so long.

I learned that the Krause’s followed the Pastian family to the US. The Pastian’s were related to Caroline Otto!

Another realization is that the daughter, Wilhelmina, as well as Elisabeth Krause Zerbe came to the US twice. It seems that the first time, Wilhelmina was ill and wasn’t allowed to enter the US. Elisabeth turned around quickly and came back within a few months. But Wilhelmina stayed in Bukowitz again until she returned in 1911 with her oldest brother, Johann.

Films to research on the Krause family – Bukowitz Taufen from 1879-1900 on film # 245545.

The Zerbe family – what happened to the children of Karl Zerbe’s 1st marriage? We see a few of them being confirmed in Bukowitz.

The Jacob Otto family – I still may write in to the podcast “My Favorite Murder” to document the events around the murder of Christine Otto Zacharias in 1983.

In the Martin Krause and Gottfried Spielhaag families, there are a number of children that we never learn more about. I wish we could learn more about whether these people grew to adulthood and whether they were able to move away from their German Russian settlements.

Similar stories with the Jakob Otto and Johann Michael Bechtold families – there are a handful of children with no further information beyond their births.

I was able to document more about the Johann Michael Bechtold family. Especially their son Michael, whose daughter eventually married into the Leno family.

And the Pastian family of Elisabeth Bechtold and Peter Pastian seem to be the first to come to the US and blaze the trail for the whole Krause clan! I’m still trying to find the immigration records, but some records show their arrival in 1882. The second was the sister Caroline Bechtold and her husband Peter Bitterman who arrived in 1885.

Finally, something else to try to document better is that the entry on Peter Pastian’s Find a Grave site says that his wife was raised by aunts and uncles because her parents died young.

Based on the fact that they seemed to have stopped having children at the ages of 31/32 may indicate that they died young. There is a Michael Bechtold getting married in 1866 and then passing away in 1868. Could this be the same Michael?

Will these films give us any clues to the identity of Michael?

1884091/3 97

884092/1 104 1

Josephine Bly Wyatt Carr – the key?

In all of my research into the Carr ancestry, I have pondered what in the world Great Grandma Carr was thinking when she left the Denver area and married a man in Ophir, Colorado.

Ophir was then, and now, a very small town.

In contrast, Josephine’s first husband was a successful cattle rancher and she lived next door to her father-in-law.

I remember at one point during my correspondence with the Colorado State Archives, I asked if there were any migration patterns or any events in Colorado history that might explain why a widow would connect with a miner. Considering she had 3 living children at the time, too.

Still – I don’t have a good picture of how John Carr and Josephine would have met. But there they are getting married in December of 1887.

Also note, when I asked the County Recorder of San Miguel County about getting a marriage license on Dec 22 and getting married in Ophir on Dec 23, she said something along the lines of people here at that time were sturdy and they must have had a good horse. (There are stories of the 1880’s time period of postmen going missing during the Christmas season and not being found for YEARS!)

During my current thinking about this issue, I discovered a few interesting facts. Look at this timeline:

5 Sep 1886 – Walter Wyatt (brother-in-law) married May Dunbar

9 Jan 1887 – John Wyatt, father of Josephine’s first 5 children, dies

25 Jan 1887 – brother in law Franklin, gets married in Bordenville, CO, to Minnie Dunbar, the sister of Walter’s wife

16 Jun 1887 – sister in law Mary gets married in Jefferson, CO – to William Dunbar, the brother of Franklin Wyatt’s wife

So, my question is – did the dynamic in the Wyatt family shift so dramatically that Josephine felt compelled to leave? And how did she select the Telluride, Ouray area?

Otto – Ancestry leads

Just noticing that Ancestry.com has our Otto ancestry back a bit further than I do.

Not completely convinced of its accuracy, so I’m starting a project here.

Here is the connection Ancestry makes.

We have our Otto ancestor coming from the German lands/Duchy of Warsaw. Gottlieb was born thereabouts in 1765 and died in 1814 in Neuburg, Ukraine, where the Otto family settled.

Ancestry identifies this Johann Gottlieb Otto from a city called Birkenfeld, Wuerttemberg, born in 1765, and married to Maria Elisabeth Lukassin. He married Elisabeth in 1803 in Preschen, Preschen, Sorau, Brandenburg.

Could be – but our records show all of his children born BEFORE 1800.

I might want to see this record. The marriage place isn’t far off. And the marriage could simply have NEEDED to be done.

Volume Year Range	426, 1802-1840
FHL Film Number	1334887

My concern is that this Birkenfeld and this Preschen, while both may have at one time been part of the large Prussia, are not actually close to each other and I think it’s a stretch to assume folks with the same name in these two places are the same person. But it is possible.

PLUS, if I am reading the record correctly, this young Otto boy was born and DIED in 1765.

Mehlhoff’s and the early Mormon pioneers

Recently, my Mom learned that someone on her line of the family was an early Mormon pioneer.

It’s not a really direct connection – but here it is spelled out…

William Mehlhoff

His Dad, Adam Mehlhoff

His Mom, Eva Rieger

Her Mom, Catharina Haeberle

Her Mom, Anna Maria Schaeberle

Her Father, Hans Schaeberle

His Father, Johann Schaeberle

His Father, Hans Martin Schaeberle

His Father, Johann Schaeberle

His Sister, Barbara Schaeberle. She married Johann Haaren

His brother Jacob Haarer (now heading down the chart again…)

His son Johann Haarer

His son, Johann Harrar

His son, John Harrar

His daughter Caroline Patience Harrar

She married 1st Frank Johnston and he must have died because she traveled to Utah in 1857 with her son Frank. Her company was led by Samuel Amos Woolley.  This was his 2nd trip to Salt Lake and he was returning from a mission to India.

She traveled with Samuel Amos Woolley doing his washing, cooking and baking. Her surname was spelled “Johnson” in Woolley’s diary.

John Mills Woolley was Samuel Amos’ brother and she was John’s 2nd wife (he eventually had 3)

He died in a lumbermill accident in the 1860s

Suspects – John Carr

While being upset that I have no real way to verify which John Carr is mine, the thought has often hit me that I should just research all of them to eliminate them.

I first started doing this when I listed every John Carr born in the UK from 1840 to 1850.  I did this when I was an undergraduate at BYU.  I don’t think I still have that list and it never really gave me anything to work from because it was just a list taken from an index.  So there were no real details about the family ties there.

But during a long walk, I was pondering the realities of the Irish potato famine, emigration and people named John Carr. Even with Liverpool playing a large role in the Irish migration, I keep coming back to the thought that I could possibly track all the Carr families.

If nothing else, I can simply narrow down the options.

How to approach this – try to track down all the John Carr’s I found that were able bodied seamen? I could at least try to learn more about using maritime records in genealogical research.

Should I use passenger/arrival lists along the Eastern US seaboard to track all John Carr’s?

Or perhaps use US Census records? Find all the John Carr’s and connect them to their origins with the hopes of finding a connection.

Or I could use UK census records to determine which Liverpool or Irish Carr families had a John Carr that left versus those that stayed?

All good ideas.

But now for the NEXT TWIST – dated 10/4/2022 – Ancestry.com updated their DNA results and now, the Irish in our line is listed as back down to 1%.

So after trying to use those DNA results to help screen and direct my research, I am back to a multitude of John Carrs!

FIRST EFFORT

The John Carr’s of the Colorado census 1885

There are 10 people named John Carr in Colorado in 1885. There is a chance one of them could be our John Carr – especially when you consider that immigration dates range from 1860 to 1883.

But, of course, that doesn’t mean he’s in Colorado.

One of the reasons I believe he might be in Colorado already is because Josephine marries him relatively quickly after her husband dies. (John Wyatt dies in January 1887 and Josephine marries John Carr in December 1887).

Only 3 of the John Carr’s in 1885 Colorado list their origins as either Ireland or England. So that narrows the list of candidates significantly.

Another sign that one of these could be our man – none of them show up on the 1900 Colorado census. (We know our John had moved to Utah by then.)

However, based on what we know, John would have been between 37 and 40 years old in 1885. And single. I doubt he could have passed for 23 or 24.

Name	Location	Age	Single/ Married	Job	Birthplace	Father birthplace	Mother birthplace
John C Carr	El Paso, CO	44	Married	Traveler	England	England	England
John Carr	Gilpin, CO	24	Single	Miner	Ireland	Ireland	Ireland
John Karr	Clear Creek, CO	23	Single	Expressman	Ireland	Ireland	Ireland

The John Carr’s of the Colorado census 1880

Of the three John’s identified above, none seems to match the John Carr’s on the 1880 Census. Below are the 5 total John Carr’s in Colorado during the 1880 Colorado Federal census and only 1 lists Ireland as his birthplace.

Again, considering his estimated age of 32 to 35, none of these folks seem to be a likely match. (Even considering that in 1900, he is listed as 5 years younger than what we believe he was.)

Name	Location	Age	Single/ Married	Job	Birthplace	Father birthplace	Mother birthplace
John Carr	Pueblo, CO	22	Single	Works on RR	Ireland	Ireland	Ireland
John Carr	South Pueblo, CO	30	Single	Fireman	Missouri	Missouri	Missouri
John Carr	Denver, CO	9	Single	Attends school	Illinois	Maine	Connecticut
John Carr	Denver, CO	46	Single		Pennsylvania	Ireland	Ireland
John M Carr	Boulder, CO	18	Single	Attends school	Colorado	Ohio	Iowa

Another element to document – in a lecture on tracing Irish immigrants, a professional researcher share the following:

Ages vary widely among the Irish, such as in the Irish censuses and in the ages of immigrants, so we cannot rely on ages or birth dates. Don’t be surprised if birth dates vary by up to 10 years between sources.

Doesn’t that sound familiar?

Also,

It was not uncommon for the Irish to use more than one given name in the course of their lives. The use of Latin in church registers further complicates matters.

Next – if John Carr WAS in the US already in 1880, but he HADN’T made it to Colorado, where would he be?

No real way to know the answer to that. We could search for other mining communities since that seems to be his profession. But family stories also talk about being at sea. So do we limit ourselves to the coast?

Also, with such a variety of immigration dates AND birth dates to use as filters, how do we properly narrow down the list?

My research into John Carr’s outside of Colorado on the 1880 Federal Census is limited to those people identifying themselves as from England or Ireland. That seems to be the criteria that I feel satisfies everything we know about his life.

Let’s hope that list isn’t outrageous…

1880 CENSUS Search

Starting with 68 John Carr’s – minus Corry and other “similar” spellings, you end up with only 39 individuals (4,111, including similar spellings when you don’t filter for born in England)

Please note that none of the John Carr’s in this list of 39 live in Colorado. None of the John Carr’s in Colorado show their birthplace as England.

NAME	PARENTS OR SPOUSE	LOCATION	AGE	OTHER
John Carr	George and Mary	Wallingford CT	9	all born in England
	sp. Lavenia & kids	Salt Lake City, UT	31	all born in England
	sp. Mercy + kids	Springfield, MA	35	all born in England
	Geroge & Annie	Woodbury, CT	9	all born in England
	sp. Martha & kids	Grafton, WV	51	mother b. Ireland
	widower	Delavan, IL	73	all born in England
	w/kids	Milnesville, PA	27	all born in England
	sp. Martha	Wilkins, PA	32	all born in England
	Richard & Jane	Chicago, IL	5	all born in England
	Edward & Ann	Providence, RI	16	parents b. Ireland
	sp. Jane & kids	Lowell, MI	81	all born in England
John E.	sp. Mary & kids	Leavenworth, KS	40	all born in England
	sp. Briget & kids	New Hartford, NY	48	all born in England
	sp. Cathrine & kids	Seneca, NY	61	all born in England
	sp. Lizzie	Barton, MD	23	F. Ire; M. Eng
		Lawrence, MA	19	parents Scotland
	stepmom Julia	La Grange, NY	35	all born in England
	John & Margaret	NYC	17	parents b. Ireland
	md.	Newark, NJ	28	all born in England
	sp. Grace	Neptune NJ	60	all born in England
	sp. Jennie	Paterson, NJ	50	all born in England
	sp. Elizabath	East Saginaw, MI	50	all born in England
		Waukesha, WI	19	all born in England
	mother Bridget	Taunton, MA	17	parents b. Ireland
	sp.  Hannah	Middletown, NY	45	all born in England
		Scranton, PA	15	all born in England
	md.	Lawrence, MA	27	all born in England
	sp. Jane & kids	Wyoming, PA	35	b. England
		Carrollton, MD	20	parents b. Ireland
John S.	sp. Mary & kids	Brooklyn, NY	52	all born in England
	sp. Ann & kids	Westmoreland, NY	64	all born in England
	sp. Ann & kids	Pelham, NH	61	all born in England
	sp. Mariah	Northshade, MI	50	all born in England
	md.	Custer, Dakota	30	parents Scotland
	sp. Mary & kids	Hughestown, PA	44	all born in England
John Morgan	sp. Jane & kids	Bridgeport, PA	28	all born in England
		Union Rock, WI	62	all born in England
Jno.		Pittsburgh, PA	25	all born in England

From this list, do any people stand out?

I wondered about the John Carr in the Dakota territory – but he lists his parents from Scotland and that is not part of our story.

Perhaps some of the single men could be leads. But I estimate that our ancestor would be been between 32 and 35 years old. And all the single candidates in this list are either 15 or 19. That seems like a significant gap.

Based on this exercise, the immigration dates of 1860, 1861 or 1878 seem less likely. While John could be missing on the census simply due to his profession – which could lead to him living in a very remote area – or even simply because of misspellings or other errors, the fact that there are so few single men that match the simple criteria of having parents born in England (maybe Ireland) leads me to believe that we won’t find our ancestor in the US prior to 1880.

1851 UK Census – John as a child?

Also, it hit me that finding John as a child in England (1851, 1861 census) might be an option. He wouldn’t be the person providing the info. But is the church record we have accurate? Are those his parents? Is he from Hull then and not Liverpool?

In an exercise to see what I’m up against, I ran a search for John Carr in the 1851 UK Census. I targeted people 3 – 6 years old, but the search included a bit more than that. I narrowed the list down to anyone with John or Edwin or even an abbreviated E in their first name. That leaves me with 277 options.

Narrowing it down to people either living in or born in Liverpool only (9) or Hull only (3) versus in Lancashire (45) or Yorkshire (60). Interesting note – Liverpool has 2 John’s born in Ireland.

Another note – there was only one father named Christopher in any of the entries (all 277) and the spouse was not Ann. So if the parents’ info isn’t accurate, is the birthplace of Hull even worth considering? And knowing Josephine’s info about her husband doesn’t ever seem to be accurate, how likely is it for Liverpool to be accurate?

LIVERPOOL RESULTS – 1851 UK Census

NAME	PARENTS	BIRTHYEAR	BIRTHPLACE	RELATION TO HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD	CURRENT RESIDENCE		FOUND IN 1861 CENSUS	RULED OUT? Y/N
John Carr	William, Ann	abt 1850	Liverpool, Lancashire, England	Son	West Derby, Lancashire		N	N
John Carr	John, Ann	abt 1851	Liverpool, Lancashire, England	Son	Toxteth Park, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr		abt 1847	Lancashire, England	Nephew	Bretherdale, Westmorland		N	N
John Carr	James, Ellen	abt 1847	Lpool, Lancashire, England	Son	Liverpool, Lancashire		N	N
John Carr	Thomas	abt 1847	Liverpool	Son	Toxteth Park, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	Hiram, Margaret	abt 1849	Liverpool	Son	Liverpool, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	William, Mary	abt 1844	St Helens, Lancashire, England	Son	Liverpool, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	Peter, Mary	abt 1850	Ireland	Son	Liverpool, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	John, Bridget	abt 1843	Ireland	Son	Liverpool, Lancashire		Y	N

1851 UK Census – more – Lancashire Carr’s

NAME	PARENTS	BIRTHYEAR	BIRTHPLACE	RELATION TO HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD	CURRENT RESIDENCE		FOUND IN 1861 CENSUS	RULED OUT? Y/N
John Carr	John, Anna	abt 1850	Manchester, Lancashire, England	Son	Hulme, Lancashire		Y	N
John Power	David, Ellen	abt 1848	Gt Harwood, Lancashire, England	Son	Great Harwood, Lancashire		N	N
John Carr	John, Anne Maria	abt 1846	Manchester, Lancashire, England	Son	Cheetham, Lancashire		N	N
John Carr	William, Ann	abt 1850	Liverpool, Lancashire, England	Son	West Derby, Lancashire		N	N
John B Carr	John, Rachel	abt 1848	Wigan, Lancashire, England	Son	Wigan, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	John, Ann	abt 1851	Liverpool, Lancashire, England	Son	Toxteth Park, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr		abt 1847	Lancashire, England	Nephew	Bretherdale, Westmorland		N	N
John Edward Carr	John, Ann	abt 1850	Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England	Son	Levenshulme, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	Sarah	abt 1847	Hulme, Lancashire, England	Son	Hulme, Lancashire		N	N
John Carr	James, Ellen	abt 1847	Lpool, Lancashire, England	Son	Liverpool, Lancashire		N	N
John Carr	William, Sarah	abt 1849	Golborne, Lancashire, England	Son	Newton in Makerfield, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	Andrew, Eliza	abt 1847	Manchester, Lancashire, England	Son	Manchester, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	James, Ellen	abt 1849	Manchester, Lancashire, England	Son	Ardwick, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	Michael, Cathrine	abt 1849	Manchester, Lancashire, England	Son	Manchester, Lancashire		N	N
John Carr	Alexander, Agnes	abt 1849	Collyhurst, Lancashire, England	Son	Manchester, Lancashire		N	N
John Carr	Patrick, Ellen	abt 1850	Warrington, Lancashire, England	Son	Warrington, Lancashire		N	N
John Carr	John, Ann	abt 1850	Longton, Lancashire, England	Grandson	Longton, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr		abt 1845	Preston, Lancashire, England	Coson	Bowland Forest Higher Division, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carre		abt 1848	Wigan, Lancashire, England	Lodger	Wigan, Lancashire		—	Y
John Carr	Thomas, Agnes	abt 1850	Blackburn, Lancashire, England	Son	Blackburn, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	John, Mary	abt 1850	Newton, Lancashire, England	Son	Newton, Lancashire		N	N
John Carr	Thomas, Elizabeth	abt 1850	Little Bowland, Lancashire, England	Son	Little Bowland, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	Richard, Jennet	abt 1850	Much Hoole, Lancashire, England	Son	Much Hoole, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	Thomas, Nancy	abt 1850	Walton, Lancashire, England	Son	Walton le Dale, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	Thos, Alice	abt 1850	Bolton, Lancashire, England	Son	Great Bolton, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	Willm, Mary	abt 1850	Salford, Lancashire, England	Son	St Simons, Lancashire		N	N
John Carr	Richard, Emma	abt 1850	Prescot, Lancashire, England	Son	Bury, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	Margaret	abt 1845	H Norris, Lancashire, England	Grandson	Heaton Norris, Lancashire		Y	N
John James Carr	John, Mary	abt 1847	Pendleton, Lancashire, England	Son	Manchester, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	John, Elizabeth	abt 1851	Bolton, Lancashire, England	Son	Great Bolton, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	Michal, Elizabeth	abt 1845	Manchester, Lancashire, England	Son	Manchester, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	Thomas	abt 1847	Liverpool	Son	Toxteth Park, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	Hiram, Margaret	abt 1849	Liverpool	Son	Liverpool, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	William, Mary	abt 1844	St Helens, Lancashire, England	Son	Liverpool, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	William, Alice	abt 1844	Over Wyresdale, Lancashire, England	Son	Over Wyresdale, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	John, Mary	abt 1844	Stalybridge, Lancashire, England	Son	Ashton under Lyne, Lancashire		Y	N
John A Carr	John, James	abt 1843	Salford, Lancashire, England	Son	Salford, Lancashire		N	N
John Karr	Edward, Jane	abt 1844	Much Woolton, Lancashire, England	Son	Much Woolton, Lancashire		Y	N
Jno Carr	Rand, Eleanor	abt 1845	Manchester, Lancashire, England	Son	Lambeth, Surrey		N	N
John Gore	Richard, Alice	abt 1848	West Derby, Lancashire, England	Son	West Derby, Lancashire		N	Y
John Carr	Edward, Elizth	abt 1847		Son	St Simons, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	Peter, Mary	abt 1850	Ireland	Son	Liverpool, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	John, Bridget	abt 1843	Ireland	Son	Liverpool, Lancashire		Y	N
John Carr	Charles, Mary	abt 1844	Ireland	Son	Manchester, Lancashire		N	N
John Core	Henry, Sarah	abt 1843	Manchester, Lancashire, England	Son	Manchester, Lancashire		—	Y

You’ll notice that only 3 entries are shown as eliminated from consideration.

Next, I moved to trying to find these families on Ancestry.com to see if more research might already have been done which would include info that would eliminate even more.

And, indeed, based on finding these suspects with other records that would directly conflict with my John Carr’s 1887 marriage date, I eliminated 10  more suspects.

This leaves 32 suspects from the 1851 census. I haven’t considered whether there are any John Carr’s on the 1861 census that would ADD to this total. Hm.

Other places to look?

After a consultation with someone at the Family History Library as part of RootsTech 2022, the idea that Josephine’s family may have had some connection with John from Pennsylvania was suggested.

Also, where were the other large mining communities of this time period? Could he have worked at a mine near Josephine’s home in Pennsylvania? Would that have helped them make the quick connection they did?

Zabriskie – the first to join the Mormon church

Here is a history taken from the FamilySearch site:

Henry Zabriskie was born 11 Aug 1788 in Northampton, Pennsylvania.

He was the second child and oldest son of Christian Zabriskie and Elizabeth Morgan Zabriskie. He had two brothers and two sisters, Sarah, Maria, Lewis, and Abraham.

He moved with his parents to Cayuga County, New York and served as a private in the New York Militia during the War of 1812.

He married Eleanor Galpin (Golpin) in Cayuga Co., New York, in 1810. Eleanor died in Hamilton County, Ohio. Proxy baptism was completed for her in 1840. She was sealed to Henry on 18 December 1878 in the St. George Temple.

In 1814 Henry moved to Hamilton, Ohio and then a few years later to Lawrence County, Indiana.

In Indiana, Henry married a girl from Kentucky, Nancy Newgin. Nancy was the daughter of Edward Newgin and Francis Fisher Newgin. Henry and Nancy were the parents of five sons and one daughter: Zeno (1825), Jerome (1828), Charles (1829), Napoleon Bonaparte (1831), Alma (1835), and Susanna (1840).

During December of 1823 Henry moved to Vermillion County, Indiana where he later heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and was baptized on 11 Aug 1832. In 1836 Henry and Nancy moved again joining the Saints in Clay Co., Missouri.

During the winter of 1838-39 Henry and his family of young boys ages 13, 11, 10, 7 and 3 were driven from Missouri to Illinois with the rest of the Saints.

Henry spent a while in jail with Joseph Smith and other Mormon leaders. Henry settled his family in Montrose, Lee County, Iowa, across the Mississippi river from Nauvoo. Susannah was born there in 1840. Henry was ordained a High Priest on 10 August 1845.

When the Mormons were driven from Nauvoo, Henry moved his family to Winter Quarters in Council Bluffs. There his son Jerome, age 18, joined the Mormon Battalion.

In 1849, Henry went to Utah and became an early settler in Provo. Jerome joined him there after his service in the Battalion.

Henry died in Provo on 13 December 1857 at the age of 65. His wife Nancy died 17 March 1879 in Minersville, Utah just 3 days after her 79th birthday.

(Information taken from the book “The Zabriskie family”, family group records, Nauvoo Baptismal Records of the Dead, Book B30; FamilySearch, Ancestral File.)

Further details – Henry and Nancy traveled to Salt Lake City with the Allen Taylor Company. The company departed from Council Bluffs on 5-6 July 1849 and arrived in Salt Lake City 10-20 October 1849. There were 378 people in the party.

Here is a list of the Zabriskie’s that traveled with this company:

Zabriskie, Alma (13)
Zabriskie, Charles (19)
Zabriskie, Henry (61)
Zabriskie, Jerome (19)
Zabriskie, Nancy Newgin (49)
Zabriskie, Susan (9)

In looking over the family records, it seems that Zeno Zabriskie stayed behind. Charles Zabriskie moved along to California in the 1850s. I can’t find further records for Napolean Zabriskie after his registration for the Mexican War. Abraham also seems to have stayed behind.

Interesting fact – it seems that the last record I could find for Napoleon Bonaparte Zabriskie is his enrollment in the Army for the Mexican War. In searching military records, I figured his last name might be misspelled, as it has been many times on census records. If you search just for the 1st name Napoleon, there are 591 men with that name!

Also, it seems that at least one of Henry’s children from his first wife eventually joined the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

More info – it seems Henry’s brothers Lewis and Abraham, his sisters Sarah and Maria, as well as his parents came to Indiana. In trying to research why someone would head west at this time, a few general trends are found. First, after the War of 1812, native Americans were pushed back, which opened up Indiana for settlement. Also, in 1816, Indiana became a state.

Keep in mind, this means that Christian, who had lived his whole live in the New Jersey, New York area, moved to rural Indiana (it was all rural then) around the age of 65.

Rieger – stepping back to Germany

Good news!

If you read the previous Mehlhoff research entry from 2021, you will see that there was a GCRA Newsletter that needed looking into.

Well, it turned out to be a gold mine.

I will summarize the findings below, but below are the scans from the GCRA. Many thanks to their researchers!

Indeed this info confirmed that Johann Friedrich Rieger is our immigrant ancestor. The significant find is that, after Johann Friedrich’s death (in 1827), his wife Rosina seemed to have been carrying on with Gottlieb Drewe. He seems to have been a little scandalous himself, and was already living outside some of the main establishments of the German Russians. But there came a time when she had not been remarried and she had not been managing her family’s farm. Her children, remember, were 11, 9 and 4.

So the community took the farm away and gave it to another settler and the family was forced to move away, finding room for some time in the settlement of Waterloo (Beresan colony), eventually settling near Gross Seidemenucha was was near the Hebrew settlements of Nikolayew.

Because this town was outside the German Russian colonies, the travelling pastor was the person who visited and gathered any vital records (birth, marriage or death). This is why many of the Rieger records are missing or entered out of order in the parish records – they were only added if the traveling pastor remembered to add them.

Now the search can begin for the Rieger origins. The GCRA already states that Johann Friedrich’s info wasn’t found in Rohrbronn. And we can add the Schmidt family to this search now too – supposedly in Heilbronn.

Further research to Georg Schmidt shows that he moved to Kassel in 1808, arriving from Kolonie Groembach, county of Laznow, South Prussia, and arriving there in 1801 from Wurttemberg. Many of the Prussian colonists in Kolonie Groembach were from the vicinity of the village of Groembach, Altensteig, Wurttemberg. So I’ll be looking in both those places.

GCRA Newsletter Vol. 29 #2
Page 11-29

Page 30-51

Page 52-56

Krause 2021 (the Bechtold’s go way back)

While I have long had a schedule for my research, the last many years have been busy and I haven’t really stuck to the structured plan.

But I’m getting my act together somehow.

Some interesting achievements:

KRAUSE

I was able to access the book published about Tarutino that documented the early Krause families in Bessarabia.  So now I feel very confident in the last few Krause posts showing Johann Michael Krause as our ancestor.

It may be time to try to track him back to the German lands. But which location is right? Are the ones found by the various researchers close to each other? I haven’t even looked them up yet!

And would his wife’s location of Sepolen or Lentschuetz be helpful in that search?

The best place to start is from a trusted source – and the Tarutino book seems to be the earliest reliable record we have.

Good news – that book identifies the birth place of Johann Michael Krause as Deutsch Krone, Prussia.

And Wikipedia says this about that location:

The Deutsch Krone district became part of the Kingdom of Prussia after the First Partition of Poland in 1772. Through the Treaty of Tilsit , the southern part of the district with the towns of Filehne, Schönlanke and Schneidemühl fell to the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807. As part of the Prussian administrative reforms , on April 30, 1815, the district became part of the new administrative region of Marienwerder in the province of West Prussia . Several exclaves were mutually exchanged with the neighboring district of Dramburg in the northwest. After the final determination of the new district boundaries in the Marienwerder region, the Deutsch Krone district comprised the towns of Deutsch Krone, Jastrow , Märkisch Friedland, Schloppe and Tütz . The seat of the district office was in the town of Deutsch Krone . 

Further Tarutino research needs to be done. I find this info below  – quoting the same Tarutino book I used earlier to confirm Johann Michael Krause’s connection. I didn’t see that book reference his father.  But this quote makes that claim:

Ludwig KRAUSE was born in 1782 at Schönlanke, West Prussia [present day Trzcianka, Wielkopolskie, Poland]. Ludwig KRAUSE was one of the original colonists of Tarutino in 1814.

Ludwig married Anna Katharina KOSCH in about 1798 at Schönlanke, West Prussia. This union was blessed with 7 children; Paul, Andreas, Johann Michael, Christoph, Karolina, Ludwig and Samuel.

Ludwig KRAUSE at age 39, died in November 1821 at Tarutino, Akkerman, Bessarabia, South Russia. Ludwig’s son Christoph was his farming successor.

Sources: Odessa 3 — Bessarabian Collection & St. Petersburg Archives; and the 5 volumes of, Tarutino — Ancestors and Family History with Family Relations in Bessarabia, 1814-1940, by Heinrich WAHLERS (https://www.geni.com/people/Ludwig-Krause-Sr/6000000033867150076)

After reviewing the source material, there seem to be 2 Johann Michael Krause’s born in 1802 living in Tarutino.  Luckily, their wives’ names are not similar so there are clearly two families to trace. But finding their parentage might prove difficult. 

But my initial conclusion is that Ludwig is NOT the father of our Johann Michael. The difference I see in the records so far is that on Johann Michael is from Schoenlanke while our ancestor’s birthplace seems to be Deutsch Krone. Of course, Deutsch Krone is both a city and a district. And Schoenlanke is quite close by.

UNLESS. Yes, there’s an unless in this story. Interestingly, Johann Michael and his “first” wife, Juliana Mehle, have 4 children  listed as “vorehlich geboren” (born before the parent’s marriage)  – including our Martin Krause. I don’t have access to the original records, but could this mean that these children were from a previous marriage?

More research to do!

Deutsch Krone, West Prussia is now called Wałcz, Poland and is also not terribly far from Bukowitz – where August and Caroline Krause married (about 84 miles).

This town fell under Prussian rule in 1773 as part of the First Partition of Poland.

For you genealogy tourists out there, Wikipedia adds that “The lack of heavy industry in Wałcz and the surrounding areas has helped the city to maintain relative ecological cleanliness and is an excellent location for rest and relaxation. It has a post office that was built during the reign of Napoleon.”

HECK, SCHULZ, SPIELHAAG

The original immigrants have been identified for all these family lines. But their origin in the German lands of the day is more mysterious. I believe this may be because the Prussian lands changed borders more often than the Baden Wuerttemberg lands we have researched so far.

So it's time to put some time into geography and history to see if any of these cities still exist and what the story of the area might tell us.

The key to tracking down the Spielhaag origins may lie in finding the death record for Gottfried, which is listed in multiple places on Ancestry as 1879. But I can't find the source record or primary record for that info.

Will we find more info on Gottfried in either of the Familienbuch's identified on film 1768316 in the Wahl Bessarabian index? Film 1768316 (2 entries:  70, 73 in item 1 and 131, 306 in item 2)

No mention of the surname Heck has been found in Graudenz yet.

Films searched online: 

Kirchenbuch, 1774-1823

Authors:

• Preußen. Armee. Infanterie Regiment 54 (Main Author)

Taufen 1774-1823 Heiraten 1774-1787

Family History Library

International B1 Floor Film

172478

102461831

Kirchenbuch, 1622-1919

Authors:

Evangelische Kirche Graudenz (StKr. Graudenz) (Main Author)

Taufen 1781-1843

Family History Library

International B1 Floor Film

71305

7948918

Tauf-Index 1741-1840

Family History Library

International B1 Floor Film

559869 Items 1-2

7946954

Another tactic I am considering is trying to find women with the maiden names above to see if they traveled with their brothers or fathers and their death records may give us further clues.

Krause’s meet the Otto’s

One question I had never asked before was why the Otto’s were in Bukowitz? As you saw above, the Krause’s seem to have been from near that area. So perhaps that is why they ran through there on their way to the US.

And now, it seems the same may be true for the Otto’s. The early Otto’s are listed as “Warschauer Umsiedler.” This is most likely referring to the Duchy of Warsaw, which was a jurisdiction established around the time of Napoleon encompassing an area Northwest of Warsaw and bordering the very lands of Posen and West Prussia.

In fact, in the West Prussian records, the surname Otto is present and, therefore, this area will definitely be somewhere that we need to learn more about.

One of the early Otto emigrants, Christian Otto died in 1835 and his birthplace is cited as Aschitz in Prussia. I am looking into whether this is the same city called Aschitzau, in Silesia area in Prussia.

BECHTOLD

Another branch of Krause genealogy is the Bechtold family. I remember when we first learned of this surname, in great-grandma Krause’s death certificate!

This quarter a major breakthrough has been reached!

I have mention of various potential places of origin in the research we were working on many years ago.

From Conrad Bechtold’s death record in 1855, we confirm that he immigrated from Torschau, Hungary. In the Torschau records, there is a Karl Bechtold who immigrated to Torschau in a party of 4 people. But there seems to be a generation missing between Karl and Conrad.

Sure enough, research gathered by a village coordinator for Torschau, Peter Haas, documents both the immigrant Karl and his son (also Karl) and then the next line, Conrad, who left for Freudental.

I have reached out to Peter Haas to find out more about his research, documentation and how to contribute to his research efforts documenting the town of Torschau. Some dates seem suspect, so I do believe there is some work to do in verifying and confirming some of this info. But, if the research presented on the internet is correct, we added 5 generations to our Bechtold line (Conrad’s father, Karl, and his grandfather Karl and his great grandfather Ludwig Philipp, born in 1709 in Saarbruecken, then comes the 2nd great grandfather Johann Adolf Bechtold from Enkirch in Rheinland (not far from Saarbruecken), and – so far – his 3rd great grandfather, Ludwig Bechtold from Trarbach. He died in Birkenfeld.

But even more exciting is that Johann Ludwig Philipp Bechtold seems to have married into a noble line. His wife was Anna Maria Margaretha Kliebenstein. Grandma Kliebenstein’s grandmother was Anna Dorothea Kleber. And Anna Dorothea Kleber’s 7th great grandfather was Cunrad von Hertenberg. This was a noble family from Rheinfelden, was sits on the border of Germany and Switzerland. The town was split in two when Napoleon set the border between Baden-Wuerrtemberg and Switzerland.

Here are the coast of arms for those of Hertenberg. There doesn’t seem to be much about this family on the internet. So I guess there will be a lot of research to do!

Maier – trying to use DNA to push past this obstacle

As I review potential DNA links on Ancestry.com, I am making note of where there are potential matches.

Here is the first as it relates to the Maier line.

There is a pedigree chart from Paul and Sue Cole that ends with Catharina Mayer Weissenburger from Grossliebenthal.  That is also where our Maier ancestor is from.

Could Catharina and our Magdalene Margaretha (married name Otto) be linked?

Here is Catharina’s death record for us to check out:

Weissenburger, Christine       5 Jan 1856 Grossliebental Husb Georg Weissenburger      1884100/2 137  6   50 yrs 8 mos   Born Endersbach/Wurt

Here are potential birth records that may also help us make the connection:

Weissenburger, Anne Marie Dor 28 Jun 1836 Grossliebental Georg Weissenburger           1882646/2 45   73

Weissenburger, Christoph      29 May 1834 Grossliebental Georg Weissenburger           1882643/1 85   45

Weissenburger, Daniel         23 Apr 1838 Grossliebental Georg Weissenburger           1882648/1 348  49

Unfortunately, after reviewing all these films – none of them proved to connect these two Maier women. I wasn’t able to conclude they absolutely aren’t related. But I doubt that they were sisters.

4th Quarter 2002

Genealogy Newsletter Qtr 4 2002Download