Heinrich Nicolaus Roediger, Reprise

In the Blog Post "George Roediger, pt 2--In America" I introduced the information that I knew about George's oldest son, Heinrich Nicolaus, who went by "Henry" here in America. At that time I had not been able to access specific information about his death other than the date and place. Since then I have been to the Auglaize County Library and Probate Office in Wapakoneta and want to present what I found.
First, in the Probate Office, the County Record of Deaths revealed the following:
Roettinger, Henry N., Male, died 23 Dec 1905. He was single, age 32Y 8M 6D. He was born in Tamgreis, and died in St. Marys. He was a laborer, white and died of a contusion. His residence at the time of death was in Washington Twp, Auglaize Co, OH. Vital Statistics: Class 5, Sub-Class 1, No. 5.

As you can see, his last name was mangled, as was the place of his birth. I believe that what the recorder meant to write for his place of birth was Tann Kreis. Kreis being the German word for circle or in geographical terms, "district" and is often used in describing an area surrounding a particular location. According to his baptismal record, found in the church records of the Lutheran Church in Tann, He was born in House #52 in Tann on 17 April 1873 at 2 in the afternoon. He was baptized in the home on 4 May 1873. He is described as a child born out of wedlock, and named in the baptismal document as Nikolaus Scheuch. His parents are described as Anna Martha Scheuch, daughter of the Bürgermeister, Nikolaus Scheuch; and George Rödiger, son of the farmer, Tobias Rödiger. A month and a half after his birth, his parents were married in the Lutheran Church in Rohrbach on 1 June 1873. (Rohrbach is just .7 miles SE of Tann, both being situated on Rohrbacher Straße, which runs along the Rohrbach Brook).

After locating the newspaper accounts of Henry Roediger's death, I found the cause of death listed in the county records rather strange, if not totally inaccurate. I found three newspaper articles describing his death. The first two are from the Auglaize County Republican and the third from the Auglaize County Democrat. All were issued on December 28, 1905.

First, the clippings from the Republican:

As you can see, these newspaper reports chronicle the accident, and attribute Henry's death to a broken neck which was the result of his horse and buggy being struck by a passenger train engine. He was a hired hand on John Arnett's farm, and as is known from the 1900 census which was cited in the Blog Post "George Roediger, pt 2--In America", he had also been living with the Arnett family.The article from the Auglaize County Democrat provides mostly the same story but is more gruesome in detailing the accident. Just warning you! The Democrat also misspells Henry's surname and provides information about his family which seems suspect to me:

There are Roettgers in the area, but it is unfortunate that the reporter was unable to distinguish between the two families. And so the line about his parents living in southern Indiana is also suspicious. Maybe I am wrong, but as far as I know, George and Augusta never lived in Indiana, even for a short while. I do know that in 1900 (Census) George was renting land in Washington Twp, Auglaize County; at the time of his marriage to Augusta (1902) he was living in St. Marys, his son George Harry was born in 1903 in Washington Twp (county birth records), Auglaize Co; his daughter, Hulda Alice was born in June, 1905 in Hopewell Twp, Mercer Co (county birth records); and in 1910 (census) he owned land in Section 30 of Hopewell Twp, Mercer Co. adjacent to William Weir. It is possible that George went to southern Indiana and was there at the time of his son, Henry's death in 1905, but if so, he had been there less than 6 months before Henry was killed and stayed no longer than 5 years afterwards according to the records I have. Some of you who have researched this more thoroughly may have deed records or other documents which would narrow this down even further. If there is any info that substantiates or refutes the Democrat's claim I am all ears.

Thus it was, by the close of 1905, George Roediger was bereft of all of his first family, save one (Anna Margaretha Agnesa), and had begun a new family with Anna Augusta Grosse-Schmidt. Together they had two children, George Harry born 24 Aug 1903, and Hulda Alice born 5 June 1905.

George Roediger, pt 3a--The Elusive Albert Schmidt

This is an addendum to my previous post "George Roediger, pt. 3"

Albert Schmidt was the first husband of Anna Augusta Grosse, who later married George Roediger in Columbus on 30 October 1902. Their marriage record states that Anna (Grosse) Schmidt was a widow.
I have been trying to find a death record for Albert. I have been able to narrow down the time of his death to the period between 2 June 1900 and 30 October 1902. The first date is from the 1900 census which was enumerated on that date in Montgomery Twp, Franklin Co, OH, and the second date is from Anna Augusta Grosse's second marriage.
It seems that this should be a simple search now that the images of Franklin Co, Ohio's Death Records are now available on FamilySearch.org. But I have not only done an automated search, but when that failed to produce results, I looked at every line of every page of death records between these two dates and came up empty.

In the last Post, I highlighted newspaper articles about an Albert Schmidt who died by his own hand in 1903. But this death took place outside of the known time frame, and took place after Anna Augusta remarried. And even though there are a number of similarities between the Albert Schmidt who Anna Augusta married and the Albert Schmidt found in the haystack in 1903, there are also several dissimilarities which I believe would rule him out. And I believe that the facts presented below positively rule out "Haystack Albert Schmidt."

The portion in purple is an addition I made after the initial post:
But for those of you who are interested, I found the death record for "Haystack Albert" on line 26 of page 350 of the Franklin Co, Ohio Record of Deaths (1890-1899, vol. 3):
Albert Schmidt, white male, age 56 years, born in Germany, married, death was sudden on 6 July 1903. Ruled a suicide by morphine poisoning. His occupation was carpenter. He lived at the corner of 9th and Sycamore. He had lived in Columbus for 14 years. The names of his parents were unknown. 

To just point out the dissimilarities from this record to what was known about our Albert Schmidt:
1) Obviously, and most compelling is that he died over 9 months after the widow and Anna Augusta and George Roediger were married, and, as you will see below, at least 2 years after her husband Albert stopped showing up as the head of household in the City Directory and Anna began showing up as the head of the household.
2) This Albert was living at a different address than what is found in any of the records pertaining to Albert and Anna.
3) This Albert was 56 years of age, which makes him 3 years older than our Albert as portrayed by the 1900 census and 14 years older than portrayed by his marriage record. (See further down for details)
4) Finally, this Albert is listed as "married" at the time of his death. But, if he was, then it wasn't to Anna Augusta Grosse, who had by that time remarried and moved to Mercer Co.

The odd part of all this is that although this Albert Schmidt had lived in Columbus for the previous 14 years, he is not to be found in the City Directory, nor the 1900 Census. Stranger and Stranger.
For added mystery, I noticed that the person listed directly above this Albert Schmidt also died from suicide by morphine poisoning on the very same day. Katie Myers was 26 (30 years younger than Albert), had only lived in Columbus for 2 weeks, and had previously lived in Zanesville, Ohio. Curiouser and curiouser.

So when, where and how did OUR Albert Schmidt meet his demise?

I am hoping that by presenting the facts that are known about Albert Schmidt, Anna Augusta's husband, one of their descendants will see this post. And maybe, just maybe someone will have a story or some hard evidence about Albert's demise.

So here are the facts that I have been able to learn:

*Name: Albert Schmidt or Schmitt (from his marriage record, and the 1900 census)
*Date and place of birth: A major discrepancy is found when comparing the marriage record and the 1900 census. The marriage record says that he was 26 years old when he was married on 14 August 1890. That would make his birth ca. 1864. However, in the 1900 census, he is listed as 49 years old with his birthdate given as July 1850. That is a huge discrepancy, and only serves to muddy the waters. But both records agree that he was born in Germany.
*Occupation: Marriage record says "carpenter" and the 1900 census says "house carpenter"
*Residence: at the time of his marriage (1890) he was living on Mohler St. or Ave., Columbus (Apparently this street's name has been changed or no longer exists)
At the time of their first daughter, Johannah's death (7/28/1891), they were living at 439 E. Deshler, Columbus.
At the time of Gertude's birth (3/3/1892), they were still living at 439 E. Deshler, Columbus.
The Columbus City Directory of 1891 and 1892 also shows Albert Schmidt living at 439 E. Deshler, Columbus.
By the time of Ervin's birth (11/23/1893), they had moved to 395 Forest, Columbus.
At the time of Gertrude's death (1/2/1900) they were living at 395 Forest, Columbus.
At the time of the 1900 census they were living at 395 Forest, Columbus.
According to the 1900 Columbus City Directory, Albert is listed as a carpenter, living at 395 Forest St, Columbus.

According to the 1901 Columbus City Directory, Anna Schmidt is listed as living at 395 Forest, Columbus. This would indicate that Albert had died by the time this year's publication had been updated.
According to the 1902 Columbus City Directory, Anna Schmidt is listed as living at 395 Forest, Columbus, and doing laundry.

The timeline created above from various records, especially the Columbus City Directory, helps us narrow down when Albert died. We now know he was still living on 6/2/1900 (1900 Census) and he had died by the time of the 1901 City Directory. So, it appears that he died sometime during the second half of 1900.

Since his death does not appear in the Franklin County Death Records, it is possible that Albert was working away from home when he died. Makes me wonder about the possibility of him working in Mercer County at the time of his death. That might explain how George Roediger met his widow. But all of this is just grasping at straws.

If any of you have access to Newspaper Archives, maybe you could be persuaded to search the Columbus paper for the death of an Albert Schmidt in either 1900 or 1901. If you are a descendant of Ervin Ernest Schmidt, I am sure you are interested in this subject, and if you have already found the answer, please speak up. This kind of unsolved mystery drives me crazy!

George Roediger, pt. 4--The Line Endures

I am going to start off with a photo from the archives which would have been more appropriate to the pt. 3 post. But, that post was long enough.

1st Row--Irvin Aufderhaar, Walter Aufderhaar, Dorothy Aufderhaar, Martha Aufderhaar

2nd Row--Anna Augusta (Grosse) Schmidt-Roediger, Margaret (Roediger) Aufderhaar, Anna Christina (Weifenbach) Roediger, Mamie (Roediger) Horn, Alfred Roediger, Bertha (Roediger) Smith

3rd Row--William Aufderhaar, Conrad Roediger, George Roediger

(ca. 1919)

Conrad and George are brothers (red line), Anna Augusta is George's second wife (blue line)
and Margaret is George's sole surviving daughter from his first marriage (green line)

The four children in front belong to William Wesley and Margaret (Roediger) Aufderhaar

The older children on the right belong to Conrad and Anna Christina (Weifenbach) Roediger

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I find it interesting that the children from George and Anna Augusta (Grosse) Schmidt-Roediger's marriage are not in the above photograph.

But they did have two children, Harry George, and Hulda Alice. And they are the main subjects of today's post.

Harry George was born on 24 August 1903. On 4 October 1925, in Mercer County, he married Louetta Margaret Fetters. Harry George and Louetta Margaret had three sons. Since this generation has members who are still with us, in order to protect their privacy, I won't go into further detail, but their names are mentioned in their mother's obit below. But, in case there are other children, I would appreciate getting filled in by members of this portion of the family. :) Harry George died on 13 January 1999 in Beavercreek, OH and was buried at Riverside Cemetery, Troy, OH.

His wife of 66 years, Louetta Margaret Fetters was born on 28 March 1904 in Hopewell Twp, Mercer Co, OH. She was the daughter of Walter E Fetters and Olive L. "Ollie" Miller. Louetta died on 25 January 1992 and is also buried in Riverside Cemetery. What is somewhat disconcerting to me is that they have no memorial page on FindAGrave.com linked to Riverside Cemetery. Harry has a Memorial page (#23207845) but it list his place of burial as "unknown". FindAGrave.com is a great resource and I have contacted Mike Dearbaugh, the creator of Harry George's Memorial to advise him of the cemetery that he is buried in. I have also created a Memorial page for Louetta (#188483280) and linked her to Harry, as well as to her parents, who already have Memorial pages.

I would like to know more about Louetta's progenitors. Comment to this post if you would be willing to help me flesh that out.

Hulda Alice was born on 5 June 1905. On 12 November 1924 she married George Edward Luth (9/5/1901-1/9/1970) son of John H. Luth and Anna L. Frahm. They had 6 children (that I know of). In this case, I do not have obits or death notices for the parents that might reveal the identities of their children. But I am certain that four of the six children have died. Three died before the age of 10.

*Helen Pauline was born 9 July 1925 and died 23 January 1937 of pneumonia.

*Alice Marie was born 5 August 1927 and died just one day before her sister, also of pneumonia.

*Grace Irene was born 6 April 1933 and died on 19 February 1937 from a sore throat and heart condition. All three are buried in Buck Cemetery, Mercer Co, OH

*Florence Eileen was born 19 August 1929, married Donald Lee Bollenbacher on 18 June 1950. They had four children. Eileen died 26 July 2017. Donald was born on 17 April 1929 in Jay County, IN and died on 18 December 2016 in Van Wert (Inpatient Hospice Care), Van Wert Co, OH. They resided in the Rockford area, Mercer Co. They are both buried in Saint Pauls United Church of Christ Cemetery, Rockford.

It was Eileen who shared with me, in 2012, the picture of Anna (Grosse) Schmidt with two of her children in front of their house in German Village. --See the previous Post--

She shared a number of other photos with me at that time that pertain to her father's side of her family. She also had this clipping that I am sure you will find interesting, so I include it here:

The Singing Roedigers--Kenneth Earl Roediger, son of John Henry and Anna Christina (Eschmeyer) Roediger,
his wife, Magdaline Grewe and their four children, Shirley, Connie, Joann and Gary

I would certainly like to have a copy of that 45 rpm record. I don't suppose there any still out there? I have the means to digitize it, in case anybody has one residing in a box in the closet. Just sayin'

Before I conclude this series on George Roediger, I should provide you with the facts concerning the conclusion of his sojourn here on earth. I still have work to do to come up with the supporting documents. What I know, I received from my mom's research, and the research of Margaret (Henkener) Aufderhaar, which I have misplaced. I know it is within 10 feet of me, so it isn't really lost. And again I am indebted to Eileen (Luth) Bollenbacher, who supplied me with George's obit. *George Roediger died on 5 March 1934 in Mercer Co, OH at the age of 79 years. *His wife of 31 years, Anna Augusta died on 1 March 1940 in Celina. They are buried in Row 8, Section C, on the West side of Swamp College Cemetery, Rt. 29, west of Celina. If you notice in Anna's obit, there is more that can be learned about her family. She had a sister, Mrs. Agnes Oche living in Columbus. I am also aware of a brother, Emil (buggyseat maker) and August. But all of this is fodder for another post.

Well, I think I have finally wrapped up my series on George Roediger. I hope that you have found some useful information. And please be sure to let me know if I have mis-stated anything, or if you would like to provide additional information.

The formatting engine for this Blog is weird. So was unable to put George's obit directly under this. Check below Anna's Obit.

George Roediger, pt. 3--A New Wife (and Her Previous Marriage)

Frankly, I am posting this with some fear and trepidation. I feel like I am crawling out on a weak limb to grab the cat stuck up a tree, or skating on thin ice.
"Why?" you ask. I'm glad you asked. I have two main reasons.
First, I'm dealing with a part of the family that others reading this blog are more closely connected to than I am and who have done more research than I have. Some also have had direct contact with George and his second family, so stories may have been told that I am not aware of.
Second, the research I have done has left me with more questions than answers, and has left me to speculate on the validity of certain information that I have found. I don't want to draw the wrong conclusions and misrepresent the facts.

As always, I appreciate your feedback. But in this case I am begging for it. Help me to separate fact from speculation so we can all get a clear picture of George and his second family.

With that disclaimer and begging out of the way, let's begin.

On 30 October 1902, George Rödiger married Anna Augusta (Grosse) Schmidt. Their marriage record was recorded in Franklin County, Ohio.

Facts:

George was a farmer, living in St. Marys, Ohio, widower, 44 years old--the rest is old news, but verifies his identity.

Anna Augusta was living in Columbus, Ohio. She was born 18 October 1864, in Germany to August Grosse and Wilhelmina Buttner. She was previously married to man with the last name Schmidt,

 who is now deceased.

Their marriage was solemnized by Rev. Richard Plüddermann.

Questions which arise:
1) How did a farmer from St. Marys meet his bride who lived 90 miles away in Columbus, Ohio?
2) Did their families know each other in Germany?
3) What church were they married in? Does the name of the minister provide a clue?
4) What was Anna Augusta's first husband's given name?
5) When did she immigrate, and did she come alone or with her parents?
6) Why were their ages given in terms of the year following their marriage? This is highly unusual, since they had already had birthdays in the current year of 1902. Was one or the other of these dates a mistake?

Of the above questions, I have only found answers to #4 and #6. I'll address #6 first.
Q #6) Upon further review of the other three marriage records on this page solemnized in October of 1902, two of them also gave ages in terms of a birthdate in 1903. So that does not appear to be unusual in Franklin Co. Still odd though. I know from George's birth record in Tann that his correct date of birth is 24 May 1854. So, the record is already two days off. So, by adding 44 years (which is given as his age) to 1854, I get 1898. Since according to the record he would have been 44 on his birthdate in 1903, there is a 5 year discrepancy. This makes the age info for both spouses suspect.

Q #4--What was Augusta's first husband's given name? Page 468 of the Franklin County, Ohio Marriage Record Index provides the answer (left and right sides of the record have been copied separately to make it almost legible to the naked eye):

Bride's portion first, last line:

Augusta Grosse, age 24, native German, not previously married, resides on S. 5th,
marriage solemnized by Carl Ackermann, St. Johns

Bridegroom's portion, last line:

Marriage: 14 August 1890, Albert Schmitt, age 26, native German, carpenter by trade,
not previously married, resides on Mohler

From this record I learned that the first husband of Anna Augusta Grosse was Albert Schmitt. I learned his age, ergo his approximate birth date (1864), where he was born, where he resided and what he did for a living. I learned when, where and by whom Albert and Augusta were married, as well as where she was living at the time.
It was from George's marriage to Augusta that I derived her birth date of 18 October 1864. Since I am now suspicious of that information, it does not surprise me to learn that Albert and Augusta's marriage record tells a different tale. According to her marriage to Albert, she was 24 years old when they married on 14 August 1890. Math wizards out there may want to check out my calculations, but I think this works out to mean that her birth date was between 15 August 1865 and 14 August 1866. And of course this isn't consistent with the 18 October 1864 from her marriage with George Rödiger.

Questions:
1) When was Anna Augusta Grosse really born?
2) When did Albert Schmitt/Schmidt die?
3) Did Albert and Augusta have any children?

Let me address Q #3, Did Albert and Augusta have children. The answer is, yes. Three that I'm aware of.
Their first child was Johannah. My source for this FamilySearch.org, Ohio, County Death Records, 1840-2001, Franklin, Death Records 1890-1899, pp. 98-99. I have the image for this but, in this case I think it would be simpler for me to just give you the data found in this record:
Name: Schmitt, Johannah
Color: W
Sex: F
Age: 6 months
Place of Birth: City
Marital Status: --
Duration of Illness: 3 days
Date of Death: 28 July 1891
Cause of Death: convulsions from acute gastro-enteritis
Physician: W. B. Schueller
Occupation: --
Residence: 439 E. Deshler
Tenement or Private Residence: Private
Time of Residence in Columbus: 6 months
Place of Previous Residence: --
Name of Father: Albert Schmitt
Name of Mother: Augusta Schmitt
Nativity of Father: German
Nativity of Mother: German
Place of Intended Interment: Green Lawn
Date of Intended Interment: 1 August 1891
Name of Undertaker: George G Schoedinger

In addition to this record, there is also a Memorial page for Johannah on FindAGrave.com, memorial # 62298404. If you take time to look it up, you will find a photo of the location of her grave. There is no stone, but someone has very thoughtfully made a sign and posted it at the grave site.
In addition to the photo, there is a burial card, which probably is from the Green Lawn Cemetery records. Don't confuse this cemetery with the one in Wapak. The Green Lawn referred to here is in Columbus, just south of I-70 and adjacent to German Village. I was hoping to post a digital image of that card here but am awaiting permission from the one who posted it. It is available on the FindAGrave.com website. I will tell you that the info on the card differs slightly (sigh) from the death record cited above. It gives her date of death as July 30, rather than July 28, and her cause of death as "Summer Complaint." I'm no doctor, so maybe Summer Complaint is another term for acute gastro-enteritis. However, the burial card does give a birth date of 24 January 1891 which is consistent with the age of 6 months given in the county death record.

Their second child was Gertrude. My sources for this child are Franklin County Record of Births vol. 5, p 172-173, Entry #238 and FindAGrave Memorial #62298515.
The former tells us that Gertude Schmith was born on 3 March 1892 in Columbus. Her parents are given as Albert Schmith and Anna Grosse, who lived at 439 E. Deshler.
The latter has another burial card, which gives Gertrude's birth as 15 March 1892, death from Scarlet Fever on 2 January 1900, and burial in Green Lawn Cemetery on 3 January 1900. Need I point out the birth date inconsistency? Anywho, the parents names are given as Albert and Anna Schmidt.

Their third child was Ervin Earnest. His birth record was recorded in vol 6, pp. 22-23 of the Franklin County Records, Entry #920 and tells us that Ervin Schmidt was born 25 November 1893, his parents were Albert Schmidt and Anna Grosse, who were now living at 395 Forrest. (I actually have visited both locations and have the photos to prove it--however, the one on Deshler has large trees and shrubbery obscuring the view. But here is a photo of their house on Forest St. It is quite small, and was a step down from the house on Deshler.

395 Forest St, Columbus, OH

After I had taken this picture in July, 2012, I visited Eileen (Luth) Bollenbacher in October, She had an old photo of Augusta (Grosse) Schmidt-Roediger. But she could not identify where it was taken. I had one of those spine-tingling moments and said, "I know exactly where that was taken," and showed her my photo. And now I will show you hers:

Anna Augusta Schmidt, with children, Gertrude and Ervin Schmidt (ca. 1896)

And a close up of Augusta and the kids:

After his mother and George Roediger married, Ervin moved with them to Hopewell Twp, Mercer County, OH. He married Martha Clara Etta Now in 1915, had four children that I have identified, died 22 February 1963 in Celina and is buried in Buck Cemetery, Mercer Co.

I have a pretty extensive collection of photos of headstones from Buck Cemetery, but not Ervin and Martha's. So, if anyone "happens" to go headstone hunting, would you snap a picture of theirs for me? :)

Now I will return to an earlier question that I posited: When did Augusta's first husband, Albert Schmidt die? Frankly, this has been stumping me for a long, long time. I may have I found some articles about his death, but there are a couple of things that bother me about this particular Albert Schmidt. Unfortunately, I can't find any other Albert Schmidt who died in Franklin Co who fits the profile. This Albert Schmidt does in part, although some of the dates are problems.

Is this Anna Grosse's husband, mentioned in the German Language Newspaper in Columbus?:

Westbote Zeitung, 8 July 1903
"Sought rest in death and found it too. By means of morphine he shook off the burden of life from himself
--Albert Schmidt, a German ..."

And an article in an English Language Newspaper:

Columbus Dispatch, 8 July 1903

I hope you can read this, because it is too late in the day to transcribe it. Note the similarities between the Albert we know, and that of the man in this article. Same name, German, middle-aged (about 40), was found in the German Village area (Central Ave and Mound St--there ain't no farms there anymore, I can tell ya) and "it is said he was a carpenter." All of that fits. What doesn't fit is that he died 8 months after George and Augusta were married. But their marriage record states that she was a widow. If this is the right guy, then, well, you can see why I was a little nervous about this subject. Not that I'm saying he is. I just don't have any other candidates at this point. And it is an interesting story to end this segment on. There was another short article in the Columbus Citizen on the same day about the mysterious Albert Schmidt and his suicide note.

Another thing that bothers me about this Albert Schmidt: There is nothing in these articles that indicates that he was currently married, or ever had been. That goes for his suicide note as well. There is some ranting about property, but nothing about a wife or children. So, help me out here. Has anyone found another Albert Schmidt that would fit the bill? If so, please step forward.

There are, of course, two more children in George and Augusta's future. So, stay tuned for "pt. 4, the George Roediger Line Endures"