Wedding Wednesday -- Fred B. Schmidt and Matilda Wedel

Fred B. Schmidt and Matilda Wedel are my great grandparents. Obituaries and other family records list their marriage as 1895 but, according to the Barton County, Kansas, courthouse records, they were married 30 December 1896 by the Justice of the Peace in Great Bend, Kansas. 

This picture is their wedding portrait.

Both Fred and Matilda's families were of Russian Mennonite background. Their families left the Ukraine area of Russia during the great Mennonite migration of the late 1870's. Fred was born in 1874 in Karlswalde, Russia to Benjamin Schmidt and Catharina Siebert. His family immigrated to North America in 1875. Matilda was born in Kansas in 1878 to David Wedel and Justina Decker who immigrated in 1874. They both grew up in the Pawnee Rock area of Barton County.

Fred and Matilda lived and farmed in Barton County for the first years of their marriage and then in the spring of 1910, they moved to Kiowa County. They moved their family of seven children in a lumber wagon to their new home. The moved could not be made in a day so they stopped for the night in Lewis, Kansas and stayed in a hotel. This was a new experience for them all  --  to sleep in a hotel and eat in a restaurant.

The cattle and furniture were moved by rail to Greensburg. They all lived in the granary while a house was being built and moved into the new house just before harvest. After they moved to Kiowa County, they had two more daughters.

They were a typical farm family for the era. They raised wheat, corn, barley, oats, potatoes, hogs, chickens, ducks, geese and cattle. They planted big gardens and had their own milk, cream, butter and eggs. They also butchered their own hogs. Butchering days were always exciting. Neighbors would help each other butcher and it was a big day for everyone.

The Fred B. Schmidt Farm in Kiowa County.

Fred and Matilda lived the remainder of their lives in the Greensburg, Kiowa County area of Kansas. In the 1930's, Fred encouraged his family to start a Benjamin and Catharina Schmidt reunion. It is still an annual event in Greensburg.

Matilda died in 1944 and Fred in 1955. They are both buried in Dundee Valley Cemetery, Dundee, Kansas.

-Rita


SOURCES:

Ancestry.com. Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1800-1945 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2006. Original data: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1800-1882. Micropublication M425. RG036. Rolls # 1-108. National Archives, Washington, D.C. 

Dundee Valley Cemetery (Barton County, Kansas; section 16, township 20S, range 14W). Grave markers.

Hiebert, Clarence, compiler. Brothers in Deed to Brothers in Need. Newton, Kansas: Faith and Life Press, 1974.

Kansas. Barton County. "Marriage Records." Records Dept., Barton County Courthouse, Great Bend, Kansas.

Schmidt, Pearl and Grace Unruh. "Family of Fred B. Schmidt." Personal memories. Copy in possession of author.

BIRTHDAY BIO - Emma Grimm Egli - Emma's Life

Emma and CB Egli

Yesterday’s "Matrilineal Monday" tells you about my research into Emma Grimm and in the process, some of Emma’s life. But there is more to her story and since today would be her birthday, what better day to tell it. Her daughter, Maude, wrote more about her:

“[Emma] was born on April 2, 1877. . . . near Tremont, Illinois, in a small cabin surrounded by dense timber or woods.  She was born prematurely. I recall her describing herself, as told by her relatives. Her head was small enough to fit inside a teacup and her hand was small enough to fit through her mother’s wedding ring. Her little body was wrapped with cotton and placed inside a shoe box. Her incubator was the kitchen range oven. . . . .

When mom was 12 or 13 years old the stepmother sent her out to the woods to see why her father was not coming home. As mom told the story, she remembers her father had come into the house that day and ate a bowl of bread and milk before going out to the timber to chop down some trees to supply the cows with leaves to eat. It was getting dark so she was too frightened to go to the woods alone. She was fearful of what she might find. So she ran to the neighbor and asked him to go along. He lit the lantern and together they walked to the timber where he was working. They found her father lying under a large branch of the tree. They figured he had already been dead several hours.

After her father’s funeral, mother’s stepmother told her she would have to make her own way now as she could not afford to keep her, plus her four little children." 

From what her children recall her telling them, she lived with various families in the community, helping them as a domestic servant.  She may also have lived with her half-sister, Anna and Anna’s husband, John Egli. It was through that family that she met Christian (CB) Egli. She married CB on the 19^th of December, 1895, although she told her daughters that if she’d had a place to call home, she would not have gotten married so young. She was 18.

CB and Emma settled in Tazewell County, Illinois and started a family.  Their first four children were boys: Amon, Joe, Lou and Emery (my grandfather). Then they had a daughter, Maude, followed by three more boys: John, Sam, and Lawrence (known as Ted). Then they decided to move to Iowa. Emma was very pregnant when they moved to Iowa by train, the first of March. Her second daughter, Elsie, was born on the 30^th of March.

The family settled in a place called Blanden. It was near Manson, Calhoun County, Iowa. There, CB and Emma had five more children – the above mentioned Elsie, then Jesse, Ida, Rosetta, and Stan. Thirteen children in all.

CB Egli Family

They lived on a 640 acre farm in Iowa. The life of CB and Emma is detailed in a book entitled, “Family Memoirs” written by Maude with input from her siblings. The book gives wonderful descriptions of the places they lived, the chores they did, the animals they owned  --  all the day to day details of family life for a large family living on large farm in the early 1900s.

Emma, I’m sure, felt blessed to have such a large and loving family after her difficult years as a young child. But her adult life was not without sorrow. She saw two of her children die. Young Rosetta died at only a few months from pneumonia and her son, John, died at 15 of a ruptured appendix.

CB, Emma and their grandchildren

Then a few years later, she too suffered a ruptured appendix, and, although they did surgery, she had a blood clot and died. She was 57.

SOURCES:
Swartzendruber, Maude Egli.  Family Memoirs of Christian Benjamin and Emma Grimm Egli ...1895-1930...to June 1983. Hesston, Kansas; privately printed, 1983.

MATRILINEAL MONDAY -- EMMA GRIMM EGLI -- researching an orphan

Emma Grimm was a mystery to me for some time and it seems, even to her own family when they stopped to think about it. Her daughter, Maude, wrote in the family memoirs written many years after Emma’s death:

“It seems impossible that we never questioned mom about such things. But it seems there was no reason for questioning. Perhaps it was because there were always a lot of people around and my mother certainly had her hands full taking care of her large family – so when was there time for reminiscing?”

What Maude wrote about her mother and what Maude shared with me in conversation was all I had to go on in learning more about Emma. Maude shared what she thought was correct from memories of her mother telling about her young life.

“Emma Grimm Egli was born on April 2, 1877, to Samuel and Katie Bërger Grimm near Tremont, Illinois, in a small cabin surrounded by dense timber or woods. . . . .She was about three months old when her mother died. . . .

We know nothing of who cared for the baby after the mother’s death. Later her father married again and had four more children; two boys and two girls.

When mom was 12 or 13 years old the stepmother sent her out to the woods to see why her father was not coming home. . . . They found her father lying under a large branch of the tree. They figured he had already been dead several hours. . . .

After her father’s funeral, mother’s stepmother told her she would have to make her own way now as she could not afford to keep her, plus her four little children.

So at the young age of 12 or 13 years mom had to assume the responsibility of looking after herself. From our second cousin, we learned that our mother spent considerable time in her mother’s home, since Aunt Annie was a sister to mom’s mother. This would have been the home of her grandparents. But we never knew if her grandparents were still living or what their full names were. Mom and Aunt Annie were near the same age.”

This isn't much to go on especially considering that the Aunt Annie referred to here was not a Berger; her maiden name was Riggenbach.

I started this research before the days of online records, so I began by writing to Tazewell County. They do not have birth records from 1877.  There was no record for a Samuel Grimm and Katie Berger in Tazewell County. Maude had an old marriage certificate for Emma and Christian so I knew the date of their marriage and requested their marriage record from the county. I was shocked to find that Emma had listed her parents as Chris Grimm and Barbara Berger!  How did Maude get them so wrong? And by now Maude was gone and I couldn't even share this information with her, but I recalled Maude telling me that her middle names were after her grandmothers. Her name was Maude Barbara Katie. And her paternal grandmother had been a Barbara. And according to this, her maternal grandmother was as well. So who was Katie? And who was Sam?

I searched further and found Chris and Barbara’s marriage record but I didn’t find anything with names Samuel and Katie.  I was searching census microfilm at the library by this time and began to search Tazewell County, Illinois. But I knew the chance of finding the right Grimm’s would be difficult. If Emma was a first child and was born in 1877, they would not appear in 1870. And in 1880 I didn’t know who I was looking for. I didn't know who his second wife was. I found a few Chris Grimm’s but they had all been married to their current wife in 1877.

I decided to look into the Anna Riggenbach story. Anna Riggenbach had married another of the Egli boys – John Egli, who was Christian’s uncle.  I looked up their marriage record and found her parents listed as Jacob Riggenbach and Catherine Bier. I went to the 1880 census and found a Katherine Riggenbach as head of household. In her household were a large number of Berger children (listed as her children) and three Riggenbach children (also her children) as well as one 3 year old granddaughter – “Ami Grimmer.”  If this was Emma, then Katherine Riggenbach could well be my "Katie."

I moved on back to the 1870 census and once again found a Catherine Riggenbach, head of household and the first child listed is Barbara Berger.

I then went back to the 1880 census and looked for Chris Grimm – I found him listed as Chris Grimmer with a new wife, Mary. Now it was back to the marriage records. There they were – Chris Grimm and Mary Flickinger – his second marriage her first.

I also posted a query on the Rootsweb surname site for Grimm. I relayed the story of Chris Grimm’s death hoping someone from the family of the second wife would recognize it. And eureka! They did.  One of Mary Flickinger’s grandchildren responded. She knew the story of her grandfather's death [dying when a tree fell on him] and they had heard rumors of his previous marriage and another child but had no definitive information about Emma. At any rate, they were able to confirm his second wife, their four children, his death and their location in Illinois. And one of the other four children had been named “Sam.”

So, in spite of totally incorrect information in the family record, I had found Emma’s family. 

Emma's connection to me:

Sources:

Swartzendruber, Maude Egli, author and compiler. Family Memoirs of Christian Benjamin and Emma Grimm Egli: during the first 35 years 1895-1930. Hesston, Kansas: n.p., 1983.

Egli - Grimm Certificate of Marriage. Hopedale, Illinois. Issued by Omish Church (sic),  Copy held in 2006 by Ida Egli, Kalona, Iowa.

USA. Illinois. Tazewell County. 1870 US Federal Census. Population Schedule. Digital images: NARA microfilm. Heritage Quest. www.heritagequestonline.com

USA. Illinois. Tazewell County. 1880 US Federal Census. Population Schedule. Digital images: NARA microfilm. Heritage Quest. www.heritagequestonline.com

BIRTHDAY BIO -- Kenneth H. Schmidt (1932-2011)

Today would have been my dad’s 81^st birthday.

Kenneth Howard Schmidt was born in 1932 in Greensburg, Kansas, in the home of a midwife. He could point the house out to me before the tornado of 2007 destroyed it.

He was the oldest child of Harvey and Beatrice Schmidt. They would add another son, Lee, and a daughter, Judi, to their family in later years. He grew up on a farm southwest of town.

While the Schmidt families came from a Mennonite background, Harvey and Beatrice were not regular church attenders as Ken grew up.  But Ken would return to his Mennonite roots and join the church as a young man at Hesston College, Hesston, Kansas. And Ken would go on to work for the Mennonite Church – and in particular, the medical ministries – the rest of his life.

 Ken’s path into this field began with his salvation experience. As a Mennonite, he chose to be a conscientious objector and registered as such with the selective service. This change of status made him a target of selective service investigation for many years.

Ken served out his alternative service as an orderly in hospitals in Pueblo, Colorado. While this wasn't his first choice, he was glad to have a location in Colorado as his girlfriend and future wife, Phyllis Egli, was in nurses training in LaJunta, Colorado – about 75 miles away.

After he completed his service and Phyllis completed her training, they were married and settled in Kansas working as farmers for Ken’s dad, Harvey. But Ken kept his hand in the medical field. He was on the board at the local hospital.  And eventually he decided to go back to college and got a degree from Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas in Medical Technology.

In the following years, the Mennonite Church hired him to work in hospitals and nursing homes in south Texas, Colorado, and Indiana. Although he was trained in medical technology, he worked in administrative positions. And even after he retired and returned to Greensburg, Kansas, he worked as administrator of the local nursing home.




Ken was also active in churches wherever he lived and active in the lives of his children and grandchildren. He was also a part-time farmer in Colorado and in Kansas.

Ken was a very devoted husband and in their later years, Ken and Phyllis - his wife of over 50 years – were often seen holding hands as they walked down the halls of their retirement apartment community.

As Phyllis struggled with illness and disabilities, he was more and more her constant help and companion. And as her health failed, so did his. He was showing early signs of dementia.

Mom passed away in January 2010 and in the months that followed, Dad seemed to lose his will to live. He lost weight and slowly slipped away from us. He passed away on the 25^th of January 2011. We love you and miss you, Dad.

Postscript: I have added more bio info and photos on this post Birthday Bio early years

Book Review: My Grandfather's Prison

I recently read the book My Grandfather's Prison: a Story of Death and Deceit in 1940s Kansas City by Richard A. Serrano.[1] I came across the book in a Kansas City bookstore in the section labeled "Local."

Although Mr. Serrano is a journalist, not a genealogist, this book is an intriguing example of family history writing. It is definitely lacking in documentation from a genealogist's standpoint. I would love to have seen footnotes, endnotes, bibliography -- anything to document the sources that Mr. Serrano details in his story.

The book basically tells of Serrano's search for what happened to his grandfather, James Lyons. Lyons abandoned his wife and child, Serrano's mother, when she was 2 or 3 and then died shortly before Serrano was born. No one really knew what happened to him except that he was a "lovable drunk" who died in the old jail.

Serrano discovers the death certificate lists his grandfather's death as "shock . . . fractured neck . . . traumatic conditions." Why was he in jail? "Drunk in public." His grandfather was murdered in the Kansas City Municipal Farm solitary confinement cell. How does something like this happen? Why did it happen? Who did it? The mystery begins.

The search for old records is detailed and so painfully familiar to genealogists - missing records, misfiled records, poorly stored records . . . it's all here. But there are lessons to be learned from Serrano. His persistence is admirable and pays off when he is allowed to dig through old records and when he finds people most of us would never even think to look for! But Serrano's ability to recreate the social environment that his ancestors lived in is key in ultimately understanding his grandfather's life and his death. Kansas City history is full of corruption and deceit. The story includes mob style murder and organized crime connections. If your family was in politics or police work in KC you might not like what you read here!  Kansas City history includes a large skid row population. Those people were all someone's family, too. Some of their stories make it into Serrano's book. Bringing Kansas City to life on his pages hit home to me when he discussed the 1930s in Kansas City. I suddenly remembered my grandmother telling me that she and grandpa went to Kansas City after they were married in 1931 and he left her alone in a hotel room to go to a "speakeasy." The draw of the Kansas City "speakeasy" during Prohibition was an irresistible lure for many men.

There is a lot of sadness in this story. The sadness of what alcohol abuse and addiction does to families is probably the most notable. But just as we all have discovered, there are things to be learned when we understand our ancestors including all their flaws. Serrano's journey brings him what he needs.

In spite of its lack of documentation, this book is a good and easy read and well worth it. One reviewer on Amazon called it "slow paced and unfocused" and his arguments had some validity but I found the writing to feel very sincere. I think it will inspire you - maybe to dig a little deeper for records, maybe to search for social history, maybe to write about a difficult ancestor. I recommend it. Just remember your citations.



Image courtesy of Dan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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[1] Serrano, Richard A. My Grandfather's Prison: a Story of Death and Deceit in 1940s Kansas City. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2009.

Funeral Card Friday -- Benjamin P. Schmidt

My great, great grandfather Benjamin P. Schmidt was born in Karlswalde, Russia. He and his wife and children immigrated with the Mennonite migration in 1875 and settled in Barton County, Kansas.

Every year there is a Benjamin P. and Catharina A. Schmidt Family Reunion in Greensburg, Kansas, and one year one of his grand daughters brought this funeral card.

Wedding Wednesday - Peter and Annie Peterson

My great grandparents Peter Pedersen and Anna Peterson were married on January 22, 1891. They chose to use her spelling of the Peterson name as their married name. They were the first couple to be married in the Augustana Lutheran Church in Manson, Iowa.

Fifty years later, in 1941, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary,

and in 1945 their story was published in the local newspaper.

Manson (Iowa) Journal, August 16, 1945

This article tells their story. She immigrated from Sweden as a very small child. He immigrated from Denmark as an adult. They met in Manson and spent the remainder of their lives there.

Thanks to Heather at Leaves for Trees for suggesting this graphic!