My Search for the Past | Sharing my genealogical research into my family and my husband's family including Biermann, Schatz, Lindner, Maier, Hartley, Sigmund, Brown and allied surnames.

Nettie Walton – A Documented Idiot – 52 Ancestors 2015 #33

Posted by Cheryl Biermann Hartley on August 20, 2015 in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, Sigmund

This week’s optional theme for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is “Defective, Dependent, & Delinquent.” Amy Johnson Crow describes the theme this way:

In 1880, there was a special census schedule for “Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes” — the blind, deaf, paupers, homeless children, prisoners, insane, and idiotic. Do you have someone in your family tree who would have been classified as such? (To learn more about the special 1880 schedule, see my post, “Do You Have a Defective Ancestor?“)

I reflected on who might fit this post for week 33 and remembered Nettie Walton, part of my mother-in-law’s family. Yes, I would like to know more about Nettie, born 5 August 1865 to James Walton and Mary Ann Davis Walton. She would be my husband’s 3rd great-grand aunt. I recalled that in the 1880 I had seen the check mark in column 18 indicating that she was an “idiot.” This terminology seems harsh to us in the 21st century, but in the 19th and even into the 20th century, this was the common term for an individual who was mentally handicapped.

I had known about the special schedule for the 1880 census, but until the topic came up for this week’s blog, I had not located Nettie. It didn’t, once again, on my first try this time around either. I decided to narrow the search to the database for the special schedule, looking for people named Nettie in Chester County. Bingo, there she was – transcribed as Nettie Hulton. (I submitted the obligatory correction to Ancestry.com and moved on.)

I learned new, but heartbreaking, information about Nettie. According to this document, Nettie suffered an injury to her head that when she was four months old. The head trauma is said to have caused convulsions. There is a question that asked about the size of the head and hers was described as “large.” It seems plausible to me that Nettie’s fall may have been caused by the convulsions. There are a number of congenital conditions that are characterized by an enlarged head.

Nettie Walton 1880 Supplemental Schedule cropped

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Pennsylvania 1850-1880; Supplemental Schedules of Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes; Year: 1880; Roll: 13; Publication Number: M597; Retrieved from Ancestry.com Aug 15, 2015.

In 1870 and 1880 Nettie was living with her parents. The 1880 census tells us that Nettie could neither read nor write. The 1900 census is more telling. Nettie’s parents were deceased by this time and she is an inmate in the County Home. We learn that Nettie is portrayed as not being able to speak English. This question was intended to give a count of people who spoke a foreign language rather than English, but the census taker recorded Nettie’s inability or unwillingness to speak. This gives us a picture of a fairly low functioning individual. Her age is recorded as 1871 and the month is birth is unknown. Nettie is single and had never had children. I can only imagine that Nettie must have been bewildered by being placed in an institution after having been surrounded by family her entire life.

In 1910, Nettie is shown as living with her sister Sallie’s family. This census does say that she speaks English, but of course, cannot read or write. I am grateful that Nettie’s older sister decided to rescue her from the county home. Sallie Gore seems to have kept Nettie with her through the decade as Nettie is recorded in the Gore household in 1920.

On 14 November 1925, Nettie died at the Homeopathic Hospital in West Chester at the age of 60. She had been admitted there after a fall on October 2 that left her with a compound fracture of the lower femur. She did not recover and fell victim to septic pneumonia.

Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1963. Series 11.90 (1,905 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Retrieved from Ancestry.com, August 19, 2015.

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Henry Schatz – Easy to Know You – 52 Ancestors 2015 #31

Posted by Cheryl Biermann Hartley on August 5, 2015 in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, Biermann

This week the theme for 52 Ancestors is “Easy.” Finally, here is a chance to tell a story that isn’t about the challenges of research. I picked someone that I find likeable and that is because my dad always made him seem likeable. Henry Schatz was my father’s maternal grandfather, so I already knew a lot about him before I ever began researching. Henry was born 21 September 1869, and I was able to locate him with his parents and siblings in the June 1870 census, where he was accurately recorded as being 8/12ths of a year. His parents were John Schatz and Friedrike Schwenn Schatz, and I have already written about them at length.

Henry grew up on this father’s dairy farm in Sedamsville and in 1880 the address was given as Mt. Peter Road. I have searched and never found a Mt. Peter Road; the 1880 Williams’ Cincinnati Directory gives John Schatz’ address as Delhi Pike. In 1882, John Schatz is not listed, possibly because of the recession that is recorded in history as having started in March. In 1883, John has transitioned from dairyman to teamster. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, a teamster was “a person who drives a team of horses, (especially in hauling freight)…Transferred to motor truck drivers by 1907.”

Henry Schatz as a young man.

Three of John’s sons became drivers, including Henry. From this experience, Henry eventually to started his own business as a moving man. In the 1910 census, he is still listed as a teamster, but now he is designated as an “employer.” Between 1905 and 1906, Henry changed his listing in the Williams’ Cincinnati Directory from “teamster” to “furniture cars.“ This may be about the time he purchased a motorized truck. I have this wonderful family photo with their moving truck painted with the name of the company “Schatz Auto Transfer and Moving Co., 645 Delhi.”

John Schatz (front), Katherine, Frieda and Gustie Schatz (left to right in truck), unknown man in cab

My father remembers Henry as being a large man – not fat, but fit.

Henry Schatz married Augusta “Gustie” Miller on 8 July 1891 at Martini German Evangelical Church. Gustie was only 15 at the time.

Henry Schatz and Augusta “Gustie” Miller on their wedding day

They had a baby son in December, but, sadly, I believe this was a stillbirth, since the baby was unnamed. In 1893, their daughter Frieda was born. Frieda was named for Henry’s mother Friedricke. Then, five years later, my grandmother Katherine came along. She was probably named for Gustie’s mother, Katherine Wippel Miller, although she also bore the Christian name of Gustie’s sister, Katherine Miller Patterson. Henry left no sons to carry on the family business. I think this was a fun family as evidenced by this photo that may have been taken for a holiday like the Fourth of July. Clearly, there was music at this gathering. I can only identify a few people in the photo. In the right corner may be a rare photo of Andrew Miller, Gustie’s father. Seated on the hood of the truck is Henry, and Gustie is in the front to the left of her father. I love the festive feel of this photo, but regret that I don’t know who the other people are.

Henry Schatz with his moving truck for a festive gathering with family and friends.

Henry Schatz was still an employer in the moving business in the 1920 census. When the census was enumerated in 1930, his status had changed. He is now a worker/helper for a moving truck. Had his fortunes changed because of the depression, or at age 60, did he just decide it was time to cut back on his labors? At any rate, Henry and Gustie owned their home on Enright Avenue in Cincinnati and their daughter, Katherine, her husband, and children were living with them. This was my dad’s family and this is why he knew Henry Schatz so well. He grew up living with his grandparents in the same house. His dad, John Biermann, was a banker and paid them rent.

There are a few photos taken in Florida that suggest the Shatzes had some leisure time. Gustie and Henry visited her brother, Philipp Miller, there. The child in the photo is unknown.

Gustie and Henry Schatz in Florida

Gustie died in 1936. Just three years later, on 20 November 1939, Henry was struck by a motor vehicle and died of a fractured skull. One of the last photos of him was taken with this catch of fish, clearly beaming at his success.

Henry Schatz – about age 69

Tags: Cincinnati, Miller, Schatz, Sedamsville Permalink

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Anton Stephan – Following Bunches of Hunches – 52 Ancestors 2015 #30

Posted by Cheryl Biermann Hartley on July 31, 2015 in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, Lindner

This week the optional theme for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is “Challenging.” I guess that is one of the things that I enjoy about genealogy – the challenges. Truly, it wouldn’t be any fun for me if the ancestor quest didn’t include endless mysteries to be solved.

Sometimes family history is intuitive and, even, serendipitous. I am not saying that one shouldn’t practice good research habits, but there are also times when one feels the urge to follow a hunch. That was the case with Anton Stephan, my 2nd great-grandfather. I started my search for him with no information except the names of his children. When I began, I knew that my great-grandmother, on my maternal grandmother’s side, was Julia Stephens from Ripley, Brown County, Ohio. I had no information about her parents, although I assumed they were German. My parents used to play at arguing about who was more German. My dad would say to my mom, “What about your grandmother? Her name was Stephens and that’s English.” My mother would explode, “English! She wasn’t English!”

Julia wasn’t too hard to find in the 1860 U.S. census, though; from there, I learned that her parents were Anthony and Catharine Stephen and they were, indeed German (even though, in the 1860 census, Catherine was mistakenly identified as having been born in Ohio). I found this information 15 or more years ago.

Julia was born in 1856, and the census listed her older sisters and a brother. I was familiar with this family through the stories of my aunt and my mother. The census matched what I had heard through oral history, including the documentation of a brother who was believed to have drowned.

Online publication - Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.Original data - 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Eagle, Brown, Ohio, post office , roll , page , image .

Online publication – Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.- 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Eagle, Brown, Ohio, post office , roll , page , image .

I hunted for Anthony and his family in the 1850 census and couldn’t find them at first. These were the early days of Ancestry.com and search engines were less sophisticated. Anton was transcribed as “Inton Stepan” and the family was living in Mason County, Kentucky; but he was shown in the household above the rest of the family, which I presume was a mistake. It was no wonder that the name wasn’t transcribed properly. The writing is faint and difficult to read. Eventually, I realized that the correct name for my ancestor was Anton Stephan (the German spelling).

Year: 1850; Census Place: District 1, Mason, Kentucky; Roll: M432_212; Page: 30A; Image: 401

Search as I might, I could not, and never have found my Stephan family in the 1870 census. I thought, perhaps, Anton had died before 1870. I located several of the adult children in Cincinnati and other locales by 1880. Gradually, I found other records for my great-grandmother Julia (whose real name was Juliana Magdalena Stephan), but who was also alternately known as Julia, Lena and Maggie through the course of her life. Death certificates and burial records gave me the name of her mother as Catharine Helfrich. While I didn’t have names for Catharine’s parents, I had a hunch. There were two Helfriches, Francis and Anna Otillia, living in Brown County contemporaneous to Catharine Helfrich Stephan residing there. Could Otillia be Catharina’s mother? She was the correct age. Francis (sometimes “Frank”) was too young to be her father, though. Maybe he was a brother, or perhaps his age was wrong in the census. It was confusing, but I added these people to my family tree without postulating a relationship to me.

The 1850 census indicated that the oldest two children were born in Germany in 1848. That told me that Anton and Catharina must have immigrated in 1848-1849, since they appeared in the 1850 census. I also had information that showed the Stephan family came from Bavaria. Bavaria was a huge place, though, and I couldn’t find this family on a ship’s passenger list. How would I ever find the birth place for Anton or Catharine?

And, that is where I got bogged down…

For years, I couldn’t find any more information. I spent a lot of time searching for Stephan and Helfrich records. Stephan is a very common German surname, but Helfrich is a little more narrowly distributed. It seemed likely that my family originated in western Bavaria.

Surname Map for Helfrich – Courtesy of Christoph Stoepel

There was a marriage for an Anton Stephan and a Catharina Helferich in Leiman, Pfalz, Bavaria, but it took place 14 January 1800. My Anton Stephan was not born until 1810 or 1811. Still, this was interesting and I wondered if they were relatives. Sometimes families would be allied over many decades. Maybe these were Anton’s parents. It was even possible that Anton married a cousin with the same name as his mother.

Still, I did not feel confident enough to pursue ordering the LDS films for Leiman. I continued searching. Eventually some more records turned up for the couple that married in 1800. At least I thought it was them. These were marriage records for their children and the church was in Munchweiler, Piramasens. There was no Anton that would have been a good fit for mine.

More and more, I felt as though I was being pointed to the Pirmasens area of the Southwest Pfalz. I located the Pirmasenser Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Familienforschung or Pirmasens Genealogical Study Group It is so helpful that they have an English version of their website. Here I discovered emigrants from the Pirmasens area. Anton Stephan was not listed, but I found a number of people who left and settled in Brown County, Ohio. It was looking more and more positive that my Stephan family came from somewhere in the area.

About five years ago I had a breakthrough when I found Anton Stephan listed by Find-A-Grave. There was even a photo of his tombstone and dates of birth and death! Now, I finally had something a bit more concrete. His date of birth was 30 January 1811 and he died 2 May 1871. (Again, I realized, he should have been enumerated in the 1870 census. I still cannot find him.)

Find-A-Grave; Maplewood Cemetery,
Ripley, Brown County,
Ohio, USA; Added by Paul (Dakota) S

Armed with dates, I began to search further. I found several online trees that had an Anton Stephan from Eppenbrunn near Pirmasens. His date of birth was 29 January 1811. Could this be the same person as my great, great-grandfather? There was a problem, though, besides the birthday being off by one day. There was a family tree that recorded this Anton Stephan as having died before adulthood. I decided not to be discouraged; we know that there are mistakes in a lot of family trees.

A little over two years ago, I tested my autosomal DNA at Ancestry.com. Darn, there were no verifiable Stephan matches in the beginning; but there were matches who had ancestors in Eppenbrunn and another in a nearby town called Vinningen. I finally felt that it was time to test my hunch. I would try to verify that my Anton Stephan and the one born in Eppenbrunn were one and the same. I also noticed that the surname Helfrich was found in Vinningen. I ordered Catholic church films from the parish of Trulben, which included Eppenbrunn; I decided to look at Vinningen, too, and ordered those records.

The Trulben film was partially indexed and I easily located Anton Stephan’s christening record. Yes, I had found him! I was so excited. He was the son of Jean Stephan and Elisabeth Gehringer. Then, I began looking for the marriage to Catharina Helfrich. It wasn’t there; nor, did I find her baptism record in either Vinningen or Eppenbrunn. Well, I thought, at least I found Anton Stephan.

Taufen 1797-1823; Heiraten, Tote 1808-1823; Family History Library International Film 400500; Katholische Kirche Trulben (BA. Pirmasens)

On my hour and a half drive home from the Family History Center in Sissonville, West Virginia, it dawned on me. I had proven nothing. All I did was confirm that the Anton Stephan in the Eppenbrunn christening record was the same one that I had found in other trees. The proof that this was my Anton Stephan lay in finding the marriage to Catharina Helfrich and I had not been able to do that. I had just been a victim of my own circular argument!

Oddly, while I was scouring the Vinningen film for Catharina Helfrich, I found something else of interest. I found a baptism record for Peter Elsässer. I copied the record because I have two close DNA matches who have the same Peter Elsässer as a common ancestor. The date of birth didn’t match, but it was close.

I decided that I needed to get grounded and make sure that I hadn’t missed any clues in the United States. I still felt strongly that I had found my ancestor, but I just hadn’t proved it. Something I still needed to do was to hunt down the will of Frank Helfrich. I have written about this before. This is where I found a stunning revelation. Frank Helfrich made his stepdaughter his sole heir. Her name? – Catharine Stephan, wife of Anthony Stephan. Catharine’s name at birth had not been Helfrich, but what had it been? I needed to know her maiden name to find my proof for Anthony.

I posted to the Brown County Facebook group about my dilemma. In no time at all, Lynn Wayson Koehler shared a marriage record from FamilySearch.org with me. It was for Anthony Stevens and Catharnie (sic) Elcesser on 3 May 1846. My heart did a flip-flop. Here were my 2nd great-grandparents and they had married in Brown County.

Stephan – Elcessor Marriage – Brown County Ohio

I tried searching, but could not find the same record; however, using the date of the marriage it was not difficult to locate. My real shock, of course, was that the name Elsässer had turned up. I already knew that there were Elsässors in Vinningen. I couldn’t wait to return to the Family History Center to look for them.

I found Catharine Elsässor’s christening record and it fit her projected age. She had grown up a mere 7 kilometers from Anton. I won’t go into all the details, since I have posted on the Elsässer findings here.

This still didn’t definitively prove that the Anton Stephan from Eppenbrunn was the one I was seeking. But I was stacking up evidence to support my hunch that he was. For one thing, there was no death record for Anton in Eppenbrunn, nor in the surrounding communities; further, there was no marriage record for him there. Anton Stephan appears to have vanished (and that was a good thing!) He may have emigrated to the United States as early as 1837. A ship’s passenger list for New Orleans has an Anton Stephan who was the right age arriving in 1837.

Finally, I decided to return to the DNA. I had now filled out a tentative tree for Anton and had more surnames that I could test with my matches. I had great results. I have two matches who document their ancestry to my 6th great-grandparents, Johannes Nikolaus Roth and Johanna Mistler, a branch of my Stephan line. I also have Gehringer matches that link me to Anton’s mother. Further, my aunt and sister have since tested their autosomal DNA. They, too, have matches supporting the theory that the Anton Stephan of Eppenbrunn is, indeed, our ancestor.

This was a long and complicated search, but one that was very rewarding. Along the way, another family researcher advised me not to waste my money on renting the Eppenbrunn and Vinningen films. I am glad I didn’t listen. I know a lot of my research was based on a feeling in my gut that I was on the right path, but I think that each step was measured and tempered with reasonable conjecture. After all, if you are going to prove something, you must first create a hypothesis and then test it. That is really exactly what I did.

Tags: Brown County Ohio, Elsasser, Eppenbrunn, Stephan, Vinningen Permalink

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Franz (François) de la Marche – The Dance Master – 52 Ancestors 2015 #29 (Updated)

Posted by Cheryl Biermann Hartley on July 22, 2015 in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, Lindner

In 2015 I wrote about my search for Augusta Gustave Catharina de la Marche, my 7th great-grandmother. She was born is Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, on 26 April 1658. When I finally located the original baptism record through the online holdings of Les Archives Départementales du Bas-Rhin, it named her father as Franz de la Marche, dance master.

I received some help with translation from an individual who is part of the Alsace Genealogy Facebook group; he also provided links to some biographical data. The most extensive bio came from Das Bayerische Musiker-Lexikon Online (BMLO). Franz de la Marche, it was said, was born in Munich and held a doctorate of theology from the College in Rome. From Rome he was appointed the spiritual advisor to the Prince Bishop of Eichstädt and he was also Kapellmeister there. (Kapellmeister is the leader of a church orchestra.) The last post that he held before his death between 1662 and 1672 was as “zweiten Kanonikus” (second canon) for the Willibald choir. He was also a composer having written Musikalisches Jägerhorn, in deutschen Arien. Yet, another brief biographical entry indicated that Franz de la Marche was tanzmeister (dance master) in the employ of the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Franz de la Marche certainly was gifted. All of this talent and the man could dance, too?

I began to have misgivings. Catharina de la Marche was baptized Lutheran. How did a man, who was the Spiritual counselor of a Roman Catholic prince bishop, come to baptize his children Lutheran? Was a man who was serious about arranging sacred music for the church likely to be dancing as well. The entertainment aspect of dance seemed a little frivolous by comparison.

After a great deal of searching, using French and German search engines, I found an answer in a scholarly article on Baroque dance. According to author Giles Bennett (“Tanz am Braunschweiger Hof um 1700“; Rothenfelser Tanzsymposion, June 2004), there were two Franz de la Maches who were contemporaries. The dancing master and the Kapellmeister were, indeed, two different people. I heaved a sigh of relief. I narrowly averted confusing the two men as one.

So who was the Franz de la Marche, the dancing master? His given name is often seen as François, the French version of Franz. He did spend much of his career serving Prince Georg II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, and was the first dance master for his court. And, what services did a dance master provide to his royal patrons? The job is well-described by the blog of the California Ballet:

With dance being such an important part of court interactions, most nobles employed a specialized instructor, a Dance Master, to give them daily instruction in court dance. These Dance Masters were considered experts on proper social behavior, and would instruct the Nobles on such things as how to dress properly, how to bow correctly, how to handle one’s gloves, fans, or swords with ease, how to properly carry oneself. These things were all requisites for advancement within the courtly circles, and a single fumble could set a nobleman or noblewoman back years in their advancement. This attention to personal deportment may still be seen in ballet dancers today – how they stand, walk, carry themselves in a lifted position.(Retrieved from California Ballet; https://californiaballet.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/ May 17, 2010).

Renaissance Dance

Sometime prior to 1649, Franz requested a letter of recommendation from the Landgrave supporting his application to establish residency in Strasbourg. This letter is catalogued as being held in the collection of Les Archives Départementales du Bas-Rhin (Lettre de recommandation délivrée par le landgrave George au maître de danse François de la Marche, qui désire s’établir à Strasbourg), but it has not been digitized. In 1658 François de la Marche is known to have choreographed a major ballet called Die Tugend-kette (Histoire du spectacle en Europe (1580-1750) Béhar, Pierre & Watanabe-O’Kelly, Helen; Harrassowitz Verlag, 1999; p. 554).

Franz de la Marche was, it turns out, part of a “dancing dynasty.” In her book, “The Pre-Romantic Ballet” (Dance Horizons, 1975), Marian Hannah Winter says that the de la Marche family was probably the greatest dancing family in Germany during the 17th century. She speculates that they may have been descendants of Olivier de la Marche, (1426-1501), chronicler and poet, born at the Chateau de la Marche, in Franche-Comté. I have no evidence any relationship, but one does wonder how one family rose to such prominence for the art of dancing.

Giles Bennett mentions Ulrich Roboam de la Marche and Friedrich de la Marche in Wolfenbüttel. The activity of Franz de la Marche seems to die out in Strasbourg and Darmstadt in the late 1650’s; but around 1670, he is seen again in Bayreuth and Dresden. He is probably the individual called François de la Marche, le Pere (the father); associated with him are François, Jacob, Ludwig, (Johann) Dietrich, Georg (Wilhelm) and Rudolf Christian de la Marche.

It is interesting to note that the prominent dancing masters often worked in collaboration, and the de la Marches were no exception. A typical example of a production that saw the active involvement of dancing masters from more than one court is the Kurtzes Ballet vom Sieg der Liebe (Short Ballet on the Victory of Love), performed in Stuttgart in 1671 to celebrate the marriage of Margrave Christian Ernst of Brandenburg-Bayreuth to Sophia Louisa of Württemberg-Stuttgart. Among the performers were François Maran, dancing master at the Bayreuth court, and his colleague Marin Sanry, who held the equivalent position in Stuttgart. Both men certainly also choreographed sections of the production. Subsequently, following the arrival of Sophia Louisa at her new court in Bayreuth, a second ballet was given, the Sudetische Frülings-Lust (Pleasures of the Sudeten Spring). The libretto’s title page proclaims Maran’s role as the entertainment’s ‘inventor’ and lists among those dancing alongside him: Sanry from Stuttgart; François de la Marche, the court dancing master at Darmstadt; the latter’s son, also François; and Rudolph de la Marche, a dancing master from Dresden. (“Collaborative Creative Thought and Practice in Music”; Barrett, Margaret S., editor; Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.; 2014; p. 145).

François de la Marche also wrote his own ballets. One that has survived in print form is Ballet der Glückseligkeit (Bergen, 1667), which translates as ballet of bliss.

Although I started my research in Strasbourg, I knew that the dance master had older children that must have been born elsewhere. I checked the record for the city of Darmstadt, but found none. Eventually, I was led to Giessen based on a reference from Ernst Pasquein in “Geschichte der Musik und des Theaters am Hofe zu Darmstadt, Vol 1” (Wittich, 1853, pg. 27). This sourse indicated that Hessen Landgrave Georg II hired François de la Marche as a dance teacher for his children and paid 172 Gld. for his move from Paris to Giessen in 1638. Four children were born in Giessen: a son (Georg or Wilhelm – the records conflict) who was born in 1641 and died a few months later in May; Johann Dietrich, born 17 November 1643; Magdalena Dorothea, born 8 October 1645 and died 22 July 1646; and Georg Wilhelm, born 16 November 1747.

Children who were born in Strasbourg were: Johan Theodoricus (died 1660); Sophia Margreth (born 1650); Maria Elisabetha (born 1652); Rudolph Christian (born 1653); Gustav Franz (born 1655); and, Augusta Gustave Catharina, my 7th great-grandmother (born 1658). All of the de la Marche children born in Geissen and Strasbourg had godparents of noble standing.

Margarethe is the only mother mentioned in the records, but her maiden name is never given. I have not found a marriage record in Giessen, so I expect she and the dance master were married earlier. The possibility of even older children lingers. Margarethe’s death is recorded in St. Thomas Parish in Strasbourg as 30 June 1665. It appears that Franz de la Marche remarried. A record from St.Thomas Parish for 1668 (v 250, p 66) translates to say “by permission of the Council and XXI on the 14th of January Herr François de la Marche the Danzmeister married Jgfr. (Jungfrau) Judith Barbanoier, daughter of Matthias Barbanoier the Wollenweber (weaver of woolens) from Markirch” (Translation by Alex Bueno-Edwards). Since the younger Gustav Franz was only 13, this was almost certainly the father.

Franz de la Marche lived in Strasbourg for well over a decade. The family that I have been able to attribute to him are shown in an updated family group sheet:

Family Group Sheet for François de la Marche

I have made some progress sorting through the names of the dancing de la Marches. Sons Johann Dietrich and Georg Wilhelm definitely danced. Also, there are some reference to “a son of the same name” dancing with the father – that could be Gustav Franz. The son Rudolph Christian, who was born in 1653, seems to be too young to be the aforementioned dancing master for the Dresden court. Perhaps this was a brother of Franz. Sophia Margreth, daughter of Franz, married François Maran, her father’s colleague and dancing master at the court in Bayreuth.

The connection to François Maran brings up another consideration. François Maran was the son of Jean Maran of Stockholm, Sweden. It has been suggested that the Marans may have been Walloons. François de la Marche was certainly a Lutheran. Ulrich Roboam de la Marche was a confirmed Calvanist and a Huguenot. The common denominator is that they were all French Protestants. Keep in mind that Augusta Gustave Catharina de la Marche married the Pfarrer of Zeitz and 2nd great-grandson of Martin Luther. Incidentally, a daughter of Ulrich Roboam de la Marche also married in Zeitz.

This is my amateur attempt to connect the de la Marches who comprised a dancing dynasty. Scholars who study Baroque dance don’t seem to have made as much progress in connecting the families as I have, but I will confess that I still have a lot of work to do.

Tags: dance master, de la Marche, Dresden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Strasbourg Permalink

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Johann Georg Gottlob Maier – Road Trips – 52 Ancestors 2015 #28

Posted by Cheryl Biermann Hartley on July 19, 2015 in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, Lindner

I am posting a bit late this week. I have done pretty well so far this year. I think this is the first post that I’ve fallen behind on. It seems the most difficult stories to write are the ones for which there is either not enough information, or too much information. In this case there is a great deal to sift through. The theme for 52 Ancestors for Week 29 is “Road Trip,” and I have chosen to write about my great-grandfather Maier. He traveled to several exotic places on business.

Gottlob Maier – Cincinnati Portrait

My maternal grandmother’s father, was Johann Georg Gottlob Maier. He was originally from Plieingen, near Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. Gottlob was born the 2nd of February 1860 to Johann Jakob Maier and Anna Magdalena Kaag Maier. I believe he was one of ten children born to Jakob and Magdalena, but I am not sure how many survived to adulthood. I have verified that three died in infancy (or at birth) and one died at age three. Jakob Maier was a locksmith and Gottlob undoubtedly learned this useful skill from his father. Upon the completion of his military service in Tubingen, he headed to the United States.

He embarked on the ship Emsland and arrived on 4 May 1884 through the port of New York. He chose Cincinnati, Ohio, as his new home, most likely because he had uncles (his father’s brothers) and cousins there; but Cincinnati was also a city with a strong German community, and so it was a natural choice for a young unmarried German man.

Gottlob Maier married Juliana Magdalena Stephan Solger, a widow with two children, on 28 September 1891. They had three children together – Emil, Alma, and Will. My grandmother, Alma, their only daughter, died young when my mother and aunt were just two and four respectively. These two motherless girls spent a lot of time with their Maier grandparents while my grandfather earned a living. The Lindner grandparents lived in Germany, so it is natural that my mother shared more information about the grandparents she knew.

The information I recall about Gottlob is a bit disjointed. For example, I know that he was a sharpshooter in the German military, but I have not searched for his military records yet. This photo is identified as Gottlob Maier and it matches several other pictures. The inscription on the back of the photo contradicts what I know. It says that he is the son of Uncle Karl of Esslingen. I can only conclude that the writer was confused. There had been an Uncle Karl Maier in Cincinnati, but he was deceased by the time this photo was taken. Perhaps this was his mother’s brother.

Johann Georg Gottlob Maier – Early 1880’s

Gottlob Maier became a machinist, specializing in equipment for the tobacco industry. For at least part of his work career he worked for Miller, DuBrul & Peters Mfg. Co., possibly beginning around 1910. I was aware as a child that he traveled overseas for his work to set up machinery for his employer. My mother had two clay figures in her china cabinet that came from the Azores Island, an autonomous region of Portugal. Postcards from São Miguel and a photo confirm a trip there in 1911.

Gottlob Maier in Azores for Miller Dubrul and Peters Mfg

Gottlob Maier (front) in Azores on business for Miller, Dubrul & Peters Mfg. Co.

Additionally, some event required Gottlob Maier to apply for an emergency passport while he was there. I assume his passport may have been lost or stolen. He applied to the U.S. Embassy for a replacement so he could return to the United States. The application shows that Gottlob was in the Azores for over six weeks on this trip.

Gottlob Maier - Emergency Passport 1911 copy

Emergency Passport Application at the U.S. Embassy in the Azores -16 September 1911

Gottlob also traveled to Havana, Cuba, and possibly to San Juan, Puerto Rico. A postcard dated 28 May 1913 from Havana to his wife, Lena, is in German, showing that is the language they spoke together.

1913 postcard from Havana sent from Gottlob to Lena

Back side of 1913 postcard sent from Gottlob to Lena

Earlier in 1911, a Teodoro Silva from Cuba began a correspondence with my grandmother, Alma. If he was a hopeful suitor, it did not go anywhere. Gottlob and Lena were likely to discourage her from marrying anyone who was not ethnically German.

In 1921 Gottlob Maier renewed his passport.

Gottlob Maier -1921 Passport Photo

The following year, he returned to Plieingen to visit his siblings and other relatives. His homecoming was notable enough to be reported in the newspaper, “Filder Botte: Amtsblatt für das Oberamt” on 23 May 1922. Gottlob saved the paper, and I scanned and excerpt of the original. It is very fragile and some of the words are illegible where it has deteriorated along the crease.

Filder Botte – 22 May 1922

The article mentions the Gasthaus zur Linde and a reunion with old schoolmates.

Plieningen Gasthaus zur Linde

Gottlob Maier retired by 1930 – he has no occupation listed in the Cincinnati City Directory. I believe he may have performed some locksmith services on the side, though. He died 1 May 1935 and was cremated. His ashes are in the same grave as his pre-deceased daughter Alma at Vine Street Hill Cemetery.

Unfortunately, I have many unidentified photos of family in Germany, Maier is not an easy name to research since it is an extremely common German surname.

Additionally, I am especially looking for my cousin Joachim Maier who was my pen pal in the early 70’s. I have no idea how to locate Joachim. I am not even sure exactly how we are related. I think he was living in Hamburg at the time of our correspondence.

Tags: Cincinnati, Lindner, Maier, Plieningen Permalink

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John Campbell – Finding the Family Patriot – 53 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2015 #27

Posted by Cheryl Biermann Hartley on July 8, 2015 in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, Sigmund

I wonder how many men fought for American independence whose ancestors could not prove their active service. In February 2014, I wrote about my husband’s side of the family. John Campbell’s wife, Mary Jackson Campbell, struggled for nearly nine years trying to receive a widow’s pension of an old Revolutionary soldier. (See “Mary Jackson Campbell – It Took an Act of Congress – 52 Ancestors #4.”) Why was it so difficult for her to prove that her husband was a patriot?

In 1837, by the time that Mary Campbell decided that she needed relief because of her pecuniary circumstances, many of the possible witnesses were deceased. She herself seemed to have a fairly foggy memory of dates and military engagement’s. Yes, she had often heard of her husband speak of these his time during the war, but her sworn testimony on her husband’s service was quite vague. Service papers? Well, they had been deemed useless and burned.

Mary Campbell did eventually receive her pension, but John Campbell was only given credit for nine months of service. Did he really serve in the American Revolution? I found myself wondering if Mary’s attorney-grandson simply wore down the bureaucracy. Was it possible to learn more about John Campbell’s possible military service?

John Campbell appears in the American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI). It indicates that he was born in Delaware in 1750. At this juncture, John’s parents are unknown. Other than his marriage to Mary Jackson on 21 Sep 1771, very little else is available on his life.

Tonight I reviewed the pension application again. Mary stated that her husband enlisted in late 1776 for a period of nine months. After that, he volunteered and was away from home for another two years. At the close of that period he enlisted again until the end of the war. Despite what seems to have been a true commitment to the cause of liberty, the claim could not be corroborated in the official record.

Mary seemed certain that her husband served under Captain George Latimore. The government responded that she would need to provide more information. They could not confirm Captain Latimore as a commanding officer. They wanted more proof. Interestingly, though, Caleb Bennett, a former Governor of Delaware, made the same claim about serving under Latimore in his pension application and he seemed to have no problem with the government:

Lt. Caleb P Bennett – Be it remembered that on the 24th day of March in the year of our Lord 1818 before the Honorable John Day Esquire one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of the State of Delaware Comes Caleb P Bennett a resident of the Borough of Wilmington in the County of New Castle and State of Delaware who upon his solemn affirmation administered affirms and saith, that on the 28th day of March 1776, he enlisted in a Company of State Artillery commanded by Captain George Latimore for the term of nine months soon after was promoted to the first Sergeant of the Company, being raised for the defense of the aforesaid State & that in the month of June or July, the company both Officers and privates, solicited, or petitioned the proper authorities of the state to be attached to the Delaware Battalion then on their march or perhaps arrived at their destination in the neighborhood of New York, about the same time a Battalion of Flying Camp being raised, and commanded by Colonel Samuel Patterson of New Castle County to which the said Company was ordered to join and to act as a Company of Light Infantry to the aforesaid Battalion and remained in actual service during, and after the expiration of the term of Enlistment. (Transcribed by Will Graves)

Governor Bennett provided an affidavit to Mary Campbell stating that he remembered her husband serving with him under Captain Latimore and that they were both present at the Battle of Staten Island.

I couldn’t identify a Captain Latimore, but I did uncover a wiki for George Latimer, who was a lieutenant-colonel in the Revolutionary Army. Latimer was elected as an assemblyman from New Castle County, Delaware, in 1779. This was probably Bennett and Campbell’s commanding officer.

So where was the record of John Campbell’s service? Could it have been overlooked because of a tiny misspelling? It took just a bit of imagination to locate John Camble, who enlisted with Haslet’s 1st Delaware Regiment, and who appears on the muster roll in Dover, Delaware, for 12 April 1776.

John Camble on Muster Role for Haslet’s Regiment – Content Source: The National Archives Publication Number: M881 Publication Title: Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War Publisher: NARA National Archives Catalog ID: 570910

A further check found that the 1st Delaware was part of a raid on Staten Island, NY, on August 21-22, 1777. Although the details don’t fit Mary Campbell’s timeline, they fit with the claims made by Caleb Bennett. Is it surprising that Mary was off on her dates? Don’t forget, she was going on her recollection of events from over 40 years earlier. The one thing she did remember, though, was that her husband was away for the duration of the war, making him one of the truly committed patriots fighting for American independence.

Tags: John Campbell, Mary Jackson Permalink

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James Burton Evans – A Murder Story Halfway Told – 52 Ancestors 2015 #26

Posted by Cheryl Biermann Hartley on July 2, 2015 in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, Sigmund

This is the halfway point for the 2015 edition of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. I am proud that I have kept up with my posts so far this year. I did have a little help from guest bloggers Gary Barlow and Ingemar Nåsell and for that I offer them a big “thank you!” Since the theme this week is “Halfway,” I decided to look at a story that I was pretty sure was only halfway complete when I last looked at it. It involves a murder in my husband’s family.

James Burton Evans was the middle son of Abner Jesse Evans and Mary E. Brown Evans. He was the younger brother of my husband’s second great-grandfather, Frank E. Evans. In 1881, the family resided at 415 McIlwain Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. McIlwain Street has since been renamed Titan and is on the south side of Philadelphia, just a few blocks from Jefferson Square. Abner was listed in the city directory as an engineer, but we should not assume that he was a railroad engineer. From the news story that follows, we should probably conclude that he was an engineer in a factory, likely dealing with the mechanical infrastructure of the workplace. Here is an 1876 map of Philadelphia showing the neighborhood in which the story unfolds. McIlwain Street is at the center of the map with Wharton Street just below and Redwood above.

Second Ward of Philadelphia in 1876.

I found the death record for James B. Evans at age 15. He died on 3 January 1881 of a hemorrhage from a knife wound. This sounded newsworthy, so I went in search of the story. It was easy to find, as it was on the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer on Tuesday, January 4. The headline read: “A Sad Case. A Lad of Fourteen Stabs a Young Acquaintance.” The news report indicates that James had just returned from work at a factory where he was employed with his father. He was, then, sent on an errand to pick up from bread from a nearby bake shop. Upon exiting the store, four boys of James’ acquaintance saw him and one called out “there goes a tough one.” James made some retort and a fight ensued. James was out-numbered four to one but his demise was that one of the boys had a knife. Although a man from the neighborhood tried to separate the boys, he was unable to prevent a tragedy. James called out, “I’m stabbed!” The knife found it’s mark just under the right collar bone, severing an artery and puncturing a lung. He was carried to a drugstore at 4th and Wharton Streets, but he died within minutes.

The police charged 14-year-old Martin Dorp with the murder. Supposedly he threw up his hands immediately following the stabbing and exclaimed, “I didn’t stab him, for I have no knife!” Another boy in the group, however, placed the blame on Dorp. Here is the complete first report:

Tuesday, January 4, 1881 Paper: Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Volume: CIV ,Page: 1

A subsequent inquest was detailed in the news two days later. Martin Dorp maintained his innocence throughout, but the testimony of the other boys pointed to him and no one else. He was held and bail was set at $5,000.

Thursday, January 6, 1881 Paper: Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Volume: CIV, Page: 2

This is where I stopped when I first found this story; but, something bothered me about it from the beginning. Martin was described as a small youth of good character, who had never been in trouble before. His father was a sea captain named Victor Dorp. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I decided that I needed to investigate further. I broadened my search to see if I could learn more about what happened to young Martin Dorp. I focused my search on Dorp rather than James Evans.

The next mention of Martin Dorp was this odd tidbit on 10 January, 1881. It seems that Martin had has an accident aboard the ship Overland and was seriously injured. How did that come about?

Report of Injury to Martin Dorp – Monday, January 10, 1881 Paper: Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Volume: CIV, Page: 3

Yet, on 29 January Martin Dorp was indicted for homicide in the James Evans slaying and held for trial. It appears that trials were much speedier in 1881, because on 3 February the trial took place. There was so much disparity in the testimony of the witnesses that I was surprised the jury convicted the young man. You can read the trial account here:

Martin Dorp Trial and Conviction 3 Feb 1881

A Boy Convicted of Homicide – Thursday, February 3, 1881 Paper: Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Volume: CIV, Page: 2

A motion was made for a new trial and young Martin was admitted to bail, pending the decision. On 17 February, arguments for a new trial were made. The following day, the judge granted Martin Dorp a new trial based on testimony that had not been heard previously.

Friday, February 18, 1881 Paper: Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Volume: CIV, Page: Copy of 2

Unfortunately, that is the last I can find for the trial of Martin Dorp. A Martin W. Dorp was admitted to high school on 29 June 1881. Is this the same boy? At any rate, it is easy to conclude our research when we find the first few news articles on a legal matter, but if I had stopped with the mention of James B. Evans, the story would have been halfway told.

Tags: Dorp, Evans, Philadelphia Permalink

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Christopher Whipple (Wippel) – Had a Farm – 52 Ancestors 2015 #25

Posted by Cheryl Biermann Hartley on June 24, 2015 in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, Biermann

Christopher Wippel was my fourth great-grandfather and he was a brother of Johann Wippel, who was also my fourth great-grandfather. Yes, you have correctly deduced that my third great-grandparents, Charles (Carl) and Catharine Wippel were first cousins. Christoph Wippel was born 2 December 1802 in Bobenheim Roxheim, Ludwigshafen Am Rhein, Rhineland Pfalz, Germany. His older brother, Wendelinus Joannis Wippel, was born 10 May 1796. Their parents were Jakob Wippel and Anna Maria Eisenhauer Wippel. Christoph married Katharina Anna Lauer on 6 February 1826 in the Catholic Church in Roxheim. He brought his wife and four children to the United States, arriving in Baltimore on 6 July 1840. It is possible that the family first went to Ohio, but I have no confirmation of that yet. Two children were subsequently born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, where the family ultimately settled.

Christoph often anglicized his name. His given name became Christopher and sometimes Christian. Wippel took on the English spelling of “Whipple.” Since the theme of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks for this installment is “The Old Homestead,” I will focus on Christopher’s land ownership. He was a farmer and acquired a parcel of 100 acres. I was pleased that a cousin, Pete Whipple, located a mention of “C. Whipple” in the “Map of Lawrence and Beaver Counties from Actual Surveys” by N.S. Ames which was published in 1860. Ancestor Tracks generously hosts these images free to the public.

1860 Land Ownership Map for New Sewickley Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania

The location of a cemetery south and slightly west of the Whipple land is a welcome landmark for later reference. While not named in the 1860 atlas, I was quickly able to learn that this is the Powell Cemetery. A search of Ancestry.com revealed that a land ownership map from 1876 is also available. In 1876 the same parcel is shown in the name of “A. Whipple,” and referring to the youngest son, Adam.

Adam Whipple Farm on 1876 LandOwnership Map

1876 Land Ownership Map for New Sewickley – Collection Number: G&M_17; Roll Number: 17; Ancestry.com. U.S., Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1860-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Here is a magnification of the pertinent part of the 1876 map:

Adam Whipple Farm Land Map 1876 magnified

1876 Land Ownership Map for New Sewickley – See reference above

This information matches Christopher’s (Christian’s) will which states that he bequeathed the farm to Adam upon his demise in 1877. The transfer had probably already taken place, but the will charged Adam to pay his brother Thomas $700 and each of his three sisters, Barbara, Catharine and Christine, $300 a piece. Finally, Adam was to pay the two granddaughters, children of Charles, $100 each. The latter bequest seems to suggest that Charles (who was divorced by his cousin Catharine in 1857) was deceased by the time Christopher wrote his will on 24 March 1870.

Copy of Christian Whipple’s Will from Beaver County, PA, Probate Records

Although I have found no record of his death, there is evidence that Charles Wippel died between 1865 and 1868.

I was able to use Powell Cemetery to get a rough idea on Google Earth where the Whipple was once located. Steel School road appears to take a slightly different route than it did in 1860 and 1876, but the cemetery is mapped, even though no markers are evident from the aerial view. This is still farmland and it is interesting to take a virtual tour of my family’s first surroundings in their new homeland. I imagine it was still wooded in the 1840’s and it must have taken a lot of hard work and grit to turn the land into a modestly prosperous farm. Here is the nearest I could get to the Whipple land using Google Earth’s Street View:

New Sewickley – Intersection of Lovi and Steel School Road

Tags: Beaver County, Whipple, Wippel Permalink

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Emil Heinrich Max Lindner (the elder) – The Stamp Collection – 52 Ancestors 2015 #24

Posted by Cheryl Biermann Hartley on June 17, 2015 in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, Lindner

Max Lindner’s stamps

I don’t really know how the postage stamps of my 2 times great-grandfather, Emil Heinrich Max Lindner, came into my possession as a child. I think they were just around, and I swept them into my stamp collection, because, after all, they were stamps and I was a stamp collector. I don’t remember anyone ever saying, “Here, you can have these stamps,” but they ended up on a shelf in my closet when I was about ten; later, my family just seemed to consider them to be mine.

The funny thing is that these stamps are not what you might expect. This is not an album of different stamps from countries around the world. No, this is an old cigar box full of hundreds and hundreds of the same issues. These stamps are very special to me as a collection, because they are a revealing look into the personality of the elder Max Lindner.

Charlotte Christiane Püschel

Possibly Emil Heinrich Max Lindner – taken in Cincinnati

First let me tell you a little about the man. Emil Heinrich Max Lindner was the son of Johann Friedrich Heinrich Lindner and Charlotte Bertram. He was born in Sondershausen, Thuringia, Germany on 11 April 1831. Somewhere along the line he met fathered a child with Friedricke Emilie Hähnert of Königsbrueck, Saxony. This was my great-grandfather, who bore his name. Were Emilie Hähnert and Max Lindner married? I still don’t know the answer to that question. If they were, the marriage had ended by 1862. Max married Christiane Charlotte Pueschel and their son, Heinrich August Gustav Lindner, was born on 28 May 1862, in Dresden, Germany. They had two more children together, Clara Pauline Minna and Heinrich. Heinrich died in 1880 at the age of 12. Max the elder was a tischler, or carpenter, who lived at Duerrerstraße 42. The 1888 address book for Dresden lists both father and son simultaneously. I was excited to see this entry with the identity of both men as Emil Heinrich Max Lindner. Within the family there has been mild disagreement about the order of the given names. They were the same. The junior Emil Heinrich Max Lindner was listed with the occupation of steinmetzgeh., or journeyman stonemason. At age 62, Max and Charlotte Lindner decided to immigrate to Cincinnati, Ohio, to join their son, Gus. They passed through Ellis Island on 17 August 1893, arriving with luggage that consisted of three bags.

So, what about my odd box of postage stamps? My great, great-grandfather’s hobby was cutting stamps into little pieces and gluing them cardboard to create artwork. I have been lucky enough to have been given one of his pieces. It is a small floral design – only about 9 inches by 11 inches. Green Ben Franklins are the leaves of the plant and pink George Washingtons are the tiny flowers.

stamp art by Emil Heinrich Max Lindner ca. 1900

Postage stamp design by Emil Heinrich Max Lindner – ca. 1900

Max’s major accomplishment was a large American eagle that my aunt had in her living room (over the fireplace, I think), although I am not sure where it is now. It was an impressive piece of work that must have required an inordinate amount of patience and a very steady hand to execute. I am not sure if this art form would be considered German Scherenschnitte or not.

I recall my mother telling me that Max would canvas his neighborhood to ask his friends and acquaintances to save their canceled postage stamps for him. As you can see, he carefully counted them and bundled them into little wrapped packages. You can tell that Max must have been a meticulous individual, but he was an artist as well. It’s funny that one of my precious possessions is an old box of worthless stamps. Max died 14 April 1912 just before my grandfather, his grandson, arrived in the United States.

Tags: Cincinnati, Dresden, Emil Max Heinrich Lindner, Max Lindner Permalink

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Anna of Kiev – A Notable Royal Wedding for France and My Family Tree – 52 Ancestors 2015 # 23

Posted by Cheryl Biermann Hartley on June 9, 2015 in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Gary Barlow makes another appearance as a guest blogger this week. In keeping with the Global Family Reunion that took place in New York this past Saturday, June 6, I can now claim a relationship to royalty by marriage through cousin Gary. Here is Gary’s contribution to this week’s 52 Ancestors theme, “Wedding.”

A notable royal wedding for France and my family tree

By Gary Barlow

I recently discovered that one of my ancestral lines descends from members of the British aristocracy. Since then, I’ve found that that’s about as lucky a break as one can get in tracing ancestors. Because British and European nobles have historically placed such a high value on knowing who a person is descended from, the records on their families can go back as much as 1,500 years. Finding those ancestors in my family tree, I also discovered that two of them were married in a wedding that had significant implications in the history of France.

The noble connection for me begins with my 10th great-grandfather, Thomas Warren, born 1604 in Poynton, Cheshire, England. Thomas was the youngest son of Sir Edward Warren, Baron of Stockport, and his wife, Lady Susan Booth. About 1630, like the younger sons of many English nobles, Thomas moved to the American colonies, settling on the south bank of the James River near Jamestown, Virginia. My mother’s grandfather, William Henry Warren, was descended from him.

Going back from Edward Warren, I found that the Warrens had been Barons of Stockport all the way back to the mid-1300s and before that had been Earls of Surrey back to the 1100s. One of those ancestors, Sir John de Warenne (1231-1304), 6th Earl of Surrey, married Alice de Lusignan (1224-1291). They were my 24th great-grandparents. Alice de Lusignan in turn was the daughter of Hugh de Lusignan (1183-1249), Count of La Marche and Angouleme, and his wife Isabella Taillefer (1188-1246), who was the widow of King John of England (1166-1216) when she married Hugh de Lusignan. Isabella Taillefer was the granddaughter of King Louis VI of France (1081-1137) and Adelaide de Maurienne (1092-1154). That made all the previous kings of France my ancestors, going back to Hugh Capet (941-996), considered to be the first king of the state that grew into France.

Statue of Anna of Kiev erected in 2005 near her purported place of burial.

One of the most remarkable of those ancestors is my 30th great-grandmother, Anna Yaroslavna, also known as Anne of Kiev, a princess who became queen of France upon her marriage to King Henry I of France on May 19, 1051, at the Reims Cathedral. Anna was born about 1030, one of eight children of Grand Prince Yaroslav I of Kiev (983-1054) and Ingegerd Olofsdotter (1001-1050), who was the daughter of Sweden’s King Olof. Yaroslav I ruled what’s known historically as Kievan Rus, the forerunner of the state that became Russia.

Before his marriage to Anna, France’s King Henry I had searched in vain for a suitable royal princess to marry and produce an heir. His first wife had died in childbirth and he was getting old for a man of that era. The available princesses of nearby states were too closely related to Henry for marriage, so finally he sent a delegation to distant Kiev, which was a rapidly growing military and political power under the leadership of Yaroslav I, known historically as “Yaroslav the Wise.” In fact, through shrewd alliances and marriages of his children to royal families in the Byzantine Empire, Norway, Poland, Hungary, and England, Yaroslav had greatly enhanced the power and prestige of his kingdom. Yaroslav also encouraged the arts and education and financed the building of significant cathedrals and churches in the Byzantine style. Kiev and Yaroslav’s court were, in fact, a much more refined and sophisticated city and royal court than Paris or Henry’s court at the time.

Marriage document signed by Henry and Anna

So when Anna arrived in France to marry Henry, he and his court must have been shocked to discover that Anna was very well-educated in history and politics and was fluent in five languages, including Latin and Greek. She had even learned French before her arrival. Neither Henry nor most of his court could even read and write. For her part, Anna was a bit shocked at first as well, writing to her father soon after her arrival that France was “a barbarous country where the houses are gloomy, the churches ugly, and the customs revolting.” She added that they didn’t bathe enough either and had served only three courses at her wedding banquet, in comparison to the five-course dinners she was used to every day in Kiev.

Marriage of Henry and Anna from “Chroniques de St. Denis,” dated in the mid-1300s.

To his credit, Henry quickly realized how lucky he had been in his choice of a queen. He learned to consult her on his decisions, and in the remaining nine years of his life and reign many of his royal decrees included the inscriptions “With the consent of my wife Anna” and “In the presence of Queen Anna,” the only royal decrees in French history to bear such inscriptions. Many royal documents included Anna’s signature as well.

She did produce an heir for Henry, naming their son Philip, a name she brought from her knowledge of Greek history, thus introducing the name into the Western European royal tradition. The regard that Anna came to be held in by the French nobility and people was so high that when her son inherited the crown as King Philip I at age eight, Anna was chosen to serve as regent until he came of age six years later, the first queen ever appointed regent in French history. Another son, Hugh, was the founder of the Orleans branch of the French royal house.

Anna died Sept. 5, 1075, and is believed to have been buried at Villiers Abbey, which she had founded, in La Ferte-Alais, Essonne, France. A statue of her was erected and unveiled near there June 22, 2005, in a ceremony attended by President Victor Yushchenko of Ukraine, and French and UNESCO officials.

Tags: Anna of Kiev, Gary Barlow, Henry I of France Permalink

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