Mary A. Carbine - Daughter of Irish Immigrants

Mary A. Carbine is the oldest daughter and second child born to Michael Carbine and Catherine Clarke. She was the first child in her family to be born in the United States. Her brother Patrick Carbine was born in County Mayo, Ireland around 1846. Mary was born in Syracuse, New York in September  1849.  I have yet to verify this birth date with a birth or baptism record. Although all sources that state a month of birth indicate September as the month of her birth.

I have several sources that put her birth year at either 1849, 1850 or 1851. At this point, I personally think that the best source to follow is the 1850 census that states her as being 1 year old in 1850. The census was taken 30 September 1850.

1850 US Census Michael Carbine Family

The census lists two Carbine families. First, the Patrick Carbine family and then the Michael Carbine family. Patrick was either a brother or a cousin to Michael and eventually settled in Dubuque County, Iowa. I have done a little research on the Patrick Carbine family but I need to look further.

1900 US Census Smith Family Chicago

Mary is listed as born September 1851 and her husband William as born November 1851. I have seen a flexibility in dates when it comes to my Irish ancestors. I can not find the Smith family in the 1880 census and neither could my cousin Barbara Ford. I have searched them many times and many ways but they just don't seem to be in the census.

Here in the 1900 US Census, we find William Smith age 48; Mary A. Smith age 48; Adele Smith age 24; Frederick R. Smith age 22; Adelyn Smith age 18;  Roberta Smith age 5; Michael Carbine (brother in law) age 45. Michael Carbine is Mary's brother who was a widower. This is another story for another blog post.

In this census we also learn that Mary had 7 children with 5 currently living. Their oldest daughter
Mary or May is married, so is not listed with the family in 1900. Their daughter Catherine died at the age of 3 in 1890 of Scarlet Fever. The remaining child's name and sex is unknown to me at this time. According to Fred R. Smith's testimony in court for the estate of his father William Henry Smith, the second child born to Mary and William died at the age of 4 weeks. Fred does not state the sex or name of the baby. I have not found a birth record, death record or obituary for this baby.  I need some good karma, so I can find this baby.

The final document that gives birth information for Mary is her death certificate. The informant for her death certificate was George Carbine. George is Mary's nephew, her brother John's son. He stated Mary's birth date and place as 24 September 1850 New York.

Mary's death record

I will post another article about Mary Carbine Smith after I receive her probate record. I am waiting for this record to come in from an off site facility in Chicago. I will see what I might or might not find...

Probate Record: William Henry Smith

This is my second blog post about my great great grandfather William Henry Smith. I recently listened to a well known genealogy speaker who shared his daughter's blog, with us - his listeners. The speaker shared with us how his daughter has written multiple blog posts with digital sources for each of her direct ancestors (going back probably 4 or more generations). This inspired me to do the same.

Previously, I have written posts about random people and places - which is fine because lots of people are in the queue but I just want to focus myself for a bit and write at least one article for each of my direct line of ancestors. I will include my grandparents and go on several generations from there. This is a good way for me to focus. Focusing or narrowing down can be hard because I always want to include everyone in my family tree - because: 1) they are my family; 2) my direct ancestors of course did not live in isolation - their sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, etc were their family.

In February 2012, I checked out the website www.genlighten.com  It is a genealogy site that links up people who are living in a certain part of the US that are interested in offering their research services in specific areas, such as: birth, death, marriage records, or cemetery look ups, etc. I found Kim Stankiewicz of Chicago, Illinois. Her services included Chicago probate records. So, I emailed her my request for the probate record of William H. Smith.

Well, luck was on my side and she was able to find "my" William H. Smith who died 21 September 1903 Chicago, Illinois. She digitally copied 79 pages of his probate record. There were more pages that included receipts for his business but nothing of substantial importance. She did a wonderful job. I was and still am very happy to have worked with her.

Now, onto the probate record. But, first I need to give you some background on William. He came to Chicago from Brooklyn, New York and became involved in newspaper circulation for several of the Chicago newspapers. He made his living for 20 years distributing newspapers to many of the citizens of Chicago.

After circulating for 20 years, he decided to make a career change. He purchased a lease on part of a three story building that was located at 292 E. Erie St. in Chicago, Illinois (which is at the corner of Erie and State St). He then proceeded to open a saloon (as they called it back then) at the said address. He ran this saloon until he died in 1903. This is the reason for the extra pages of receipts in his probate record.

This is a current look at the corner of Erie and State Streets in Chicago. The saloon was sold to G. A. Nagel 29 February 1904 for $2,500. G. A. Nagel purchased the lease on the building where the saloon was located, the furniture, stock and fixtures, etc. A side note - Fred R. Smith, his son later purchased and operated different saloon at 4936 Broadway in Chicago.

purchase of W. H. Smith saloon

One of the interesting things about this probate record is that after assessing William's assets (excluding the value of several lots he owned in Chicago) the sum total of his worth was $35,593.04. This is not his total value because as I said he owned several lots that I never saw a value recorded for. This is a fair amount of money for someone who came from Brooklyn and seems to have made his way on his own in Chicago.

I did find a website that listed what $35,000 dollars in 1903 would be worth today in 2013. $35,000 would be worth $921,052.63 dollars. Adding the fact that William was only 56 years old when he died, it appears that he worked hard and made good use of his time in making a good life for himself and his family. I was rather surprised by his monetary worth but I didn't know William, so I guess if I had known him - I wouldn't of been surprised.

The value of W. H. Smith and his adult children (Roberta is a child, so no signature)

Three lots that W H Smith owned. 

These three lots were not given a monetary value in the probate record. They were mentioned in relation to deeds, taxes and city assessments but not given a value otherwise. The amount of $33.11 is the taxes paid on the three lots in the Given and Gilberts Subdivision.

There is much more contained in William's probate record but I will close this post with the information I have thus given. I will be adding more information from this probate record to my future posts about his wife Mary A. Carbine Smith, as well as his children.

William Henry Smith - When and with whom did he arrive in Chicago?

My dad's great grandfather and my great great grandfather, William Henry Smith, or William H. Smith or W. H. Smith or just William Smith depending on what record you find him in, was born in Brooklyn, New York. His place of birth was noted as Brooklyn in his death record and in his obituary it is noted that he came from Brooklyn. Other records including his children's birth records stated that he was born in New York City. My Smith line stops with William. I do hope to make more progress.

William H. Smith's death record

Now to figure out when William H. Smith arrived in Chicago, Illinois. I do not know if he came to Chicago with his parents or as a single person or maybe with some other people he knew from Brooklyn. At this point it is hard to know what the correct circumstances of his arrival were. I have 3 clues as to when he arrived in Chicago. The clues I am referring to are the Chicago Voter Registration Records of 1888, 1890 and 1892. I have been able to determine the correct W. H. Smith by his street address 215 and 265 Illinois St. I have this addresses from multiple sources, such as: the birth record of his daughter Adelyn (Adaleine) in 1881; the birth record of his daughter Roberta in 1894; the 1900 Chicago, Cook, Illinois census; his 1903 death record; the address is also listed in other children's birth records.

W. H. Smith 1888 Chicago Voter Registration 215 Illinois St.

In the far right columns you can see three sets of years listed. These are the "Term of Residence." The first is 3 years living in this precinct; the second is 30 years living in Cook County; the third is 30 years living in the state of Illinois. On the far left are three sets of numbers as well.
The second column indicates that he was living in the 24th Ward of Chicago and the third column tells us that he was living in the 15th precinct.

Wm. H. Smith 1890 Chicago Voter Registration 215 Illinois St.

He is still living in the 24th ward and the 15th precinct. In the far right 3 columns he reports: 30 years in this precinct (15th); 30 years living in Cook County; 30 years living in the state of Illinois.

Two years have passed between these two voter registration records but the dates of living in Cook County and the state of Illinois are the same. Obviously the dates are an approximation and not exact. The precinct date is interesting with 3 years and then 30 years. Well, I am thinking that a mistake was listed on the first voter registration record because on William's daughter Adelyn's (Adaleine's) 1881 birth certificate it states that the family residence as 215 Illinois St.

W. H. Smith 1892 Chicago Voter Registration 265 Illinois St.

This record places the Smith family at a slightly different address of 265 Illinois St. rather than the 215 Illinois St. of the previous two records. They are still are living in the 24th ward and 15th precinct. "Term of Residence" states they have been living in the precinct for 35 years; Cook County for 35 years; 35 years in the state of Illinois. Again the years of residence seem to be approximate rather than exact.

So, somewhere between 1857 and 1860 - William Henry Smith arrived in Chicago, Illinois. Of course these dates could vary by a year or so, as well. I have struggled to find him before he married Mary Carbine. The joys of an uncommon surname like Carbine is a very happy thing.

I do have several people that could potentially be my William H. Smith in the 1870 census but it is hard to tell at this point. I need more clues, more information pointing me in the correct direction. I will continue to search until I feel satisfied. Wish me lots of luck.

The Dream

About three weeks before Anna was born, I had a dream. My disclaimer: I am not a vivid dreamer. I usually don't even remember my dreams. Occasionally I do remember and this was that occasion. I woke up and remembered.

In my dream, I walked up to a house. I was greeted at the door and entered the home of a German couple. I knew right away that they were German because they spoke to me in English with a German accent. Of course, if they spoke to me in German, I would not of understood a word. I can read German vital records but this is the extent of my German skills.

I went into the German couples kitchen and we shared a conversation together. It went something like this - I said, "Oh, you are from Germany. I have ancestors from Germany. I have been searching for many years for their hometowns, but I have not been able to find them thus far. I have birth dates and I know the area that they came from."

I continued, "Where are you from?"

The woman said, "We are from Kurhessen."

I said, "Oh! Kurhessen! That is where my ancestors are from. But I have not been able to locate the hometowns, so no luck."

She said, "I know where those records are. I know where you can find them."

I said, "You do!?"

Then the dream ended. I woke up and somehow knew that this dream was special and that I should write it down, so I did. I recorded the dream in my journal, so I wouldn't forget it.

The dream was unusual but it also was unusual because I had not even been thinking of my family history at the time. I was in baby mode. I was cleaning the house, gathering newborn baby stuff, trying to sleep through the night with pain radiating down my legs at night. It was the furthest thing from my mind at the moment.

I went on to have Anna three weeks later. She was healthy and well. She brought excitement to our house and still does.

Genealogy slowly began to creep back into my thoughts after I got Anna through her first year of life. As I considered where I should turn my focus, I thought Johannes Blum, my Kurhessen ancestor. The thought that came to my mind was that I should take the time to research each of his children; he had fifteen children.

Johannes had first married Anna Catharina (possible surname of Ire, Ayre, etc) somewhere in the Hessen-Kassel area, but not in the county of Schluechtern, or at least no marriage record was found in Kreis Schluechtern. In 1846, Johannes, Catharina and their two children immigrated to America. I am sure it was a difficult experience to leave their homeland and travel with their two very young children (ages two and four) all the way to America. Catharina was eight months pregnant when they arrived in America in August of 1846. The trip across the Atlantic must of been something that Catharina would never forget. But some how they all survived their journey and settled in Pennsylvania among fellow Germans.

As the records indicate, Johannes had a total of 7 children with Catharina before she died in Pennsylvania. He then remarried a woman much younger than he. Her name was Maria Anna Henkel, who is my ancestor. They had 8 children together. their youngest child Anna is my dad's grandmother.

As I searched out each of Johannes Blum's children and their families, I found "the record" I was looking for. The super amazing record was the 1920 census for Minnie Blum Piquet - which listed her parents exact places of birth. (Johannes Blum's oldest daughter from his second marriage to Maria Anna Henkel). Minnie was born Elizabeth Blum 12 June 1862 in Erie Co., PA.

Minnie had married Joseph Piquet and they had 5 children together - with their baby daughter Maude dying at 9 months old. As time moved on, Minnie provided a place in her home for her mother Maria Anna Henkel Blum to reside in the final years of her life.

This situation provided the opportunity to remember the past together. Maria Anna died 19 Sept 1913 in Lansing, Iowa at the home of her daughter Minnie.

With this background, it is understandable why Minnie decided to provide the exact names of the hometowns of her parents on the 1920 census, instead of the country of origin (Germany). In the years of research I have done - I have only seen a hometown listed on a census record a handful of  times. It is highly unusual but one can never say never. There is and always will be - the exception. So check, always check every record for every person connected to your immigrant ancestor. Luck might be on your side.

The story goes on from here. I happened to visit with an employee at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, who is from Kurhessen/Hessen Kassel and is a 30 year veteran of German research. She gave me some information on who to contact for research in this area of Germany. The LDS Church has not filmed the records for Wickers (Maria Anna Henkel) and Ahlersbach (Johannes Blum).

So, the story comes full circle - I did contacted Clemens Schreiber for Ahlersbach and all other towns in Kreis Schluechtern and Marion Wolfurt for Wickers, parish of Hilders. I have much more research to be completed in Wickers but I will continue to wait until the records become available for a fee online through the collaboration of some of the German archives.

As for Catharina, well... I have not been able to locate where she and Johannes Blum were married. They were not married in the Kreis of Schluechtern, too bad for me. Must of been a neighboring county where they married and christened their first 2 children. Catharina's story is yet to be discovered. I might need another dream.

Clemens Schreiber - The Genealogist

Map of Germany 1815 - The same year my immigrant ancestor Johannes Blum was born in Ahlersbach. Hessen Kassel is in the center in brown

1




On December 10, 2012, I received an email from Sue Foster. She emailed me to let me know that at the end of November our mutual friend Clem Schreiber had had some major heart problems with resulting surgeries.

I came to know of Sue through searching the Internet for information on Kreis (county) Schluechtern. I my search, I found some pages that Sue had put up about her family in Oberkalbach. Find the pages here http://ursula.foster.cc/   She also has a a CD with the marriages of the Kreis of Schluechtern from 1718-1873 found here http://ursula.foster.cc/page73.html

Sue was born in Germany and immigrated to the USA after World War II. Her mother's family was from Oberkalbach which is included in the area of Schluechtern that I was searching.

My immigrant ancestor Johannes Blum came from Ahlersbach in the Kreis of Schluechtern. I contacted  Sue hoping that she could help me in my search for information about my ancestors via her Schluechtern marriage CD. She checked her CD for the marriage of Johannes Blum and Anna Catharina but was unable to find anything. She then referred me to Clemens Schreiber for further help in my genealogical pursuits on the Blum family because the church books for this area are only found in Germany. She gave me his address in Germany and I wrote to him. Present day Ahlersbach is now incorporated into the city of Schluechtern.

Ahlersbach 

Clem lives in the city of Schluechtern and is a native of Germany. He is in his 80's and does not use email but prefers the traditional route of postal service. Lucky for me, he does speak/read English - so the letter writing worked just great.

Clem is amazing! He is a great genealogists with wonderful attention to detail. He has all of the Evangelische (Lutheran) records for the Schluechtern area at his disposal. Most of which he has transcribed and ready for use. He enjoys genealogy and had worked for years helping many people with their own family research. He only charged me $7 per family that he found - which is very inexpensive. Most genealogists charge you much, much more.

I corresponded with Clem for maybe 9 or 10 months in gathering all of my families from Kreis Schluechtern and a few families found beyond this area. He found over 600 people from my family that I did not know about. I learned from Clem and as a result became a better researcher. I can't thank Clem enough for all of the research he did on my behalf. I wish him the best in his return to good health. He truly has been a heavenly aid to many people. There are still good people!

Next time: Part 2 - the story before Clem - Heaven Intervenes.

Bigler Historical Monument

Hannah Bigler

A few weeks ago while reading the LDS Church News, I found an article about the Bigler family from    Harrison County, (West)Virginia. This peaked my interest because I am related to the Bigler family through my grandfather Dean Secrist. My 3rd great grandmother is Hannah Bigler born 24 June 1820 Clarksburg, Harrison, (West) Virginia. Of course I put "west" in parentheses because West Virginia did not exist when Hannah was born. Hannah's father Jacob Jr. and his brother Mark both joined the LDS Church in (West) Virginia and came west to Nauvoo, Illinois.


An attorney Tom O'Neill residing in Clarksburg, West Virginia became interested in the Bigler family, through the well known LDS Relief Society President Bathsheba Bigler (Hannah's cousin), who married George A. Smith. Mr. O'Neill decided that there should be a monument recognizing the Bigler family homestead in Harrison County. He researched the old land records, used modern software to convert the metes and bounds and ultimately found a large portion of the original Bigler property still in one piece in Enterprise, West Virginia. It is a tear drop piece of land near a bridge. Mr. O'Neill then used his resources and had a historical marker placed on the main road about a mile from the original Bigler Homestead. If you want to read the article go here http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/63004/Historical-marker-honors-Bathsheba-Smith.html#

The Bigler family were early settlers of Harrison County with the father Jacob Bigler, Sr. marrying in Pennsylvania, then moving to Harrison County and raising his family there. There are many interesting stories in the Bigler family. I will dedicate future posts to those stories. They were right in the thick of many happenings after joining the LDS Church.

Jacob Bigler, Sr. grave marker Enterprise, West Virginia

I appreciate the efforts of Tom O'Neill in placing the historical marker in remembrance of the Bigler's. When I get all the way to the east coast (which I will), I will be sure to make a stop in Enterprise, West Virginia, take a photo and of course write about it.
I appreciate the efforts of Tom O'Neill in placing this historical marker. When I get all the way to the east coast, I will visit this family marker and of course, write about it.

Part 2 - Neustadt an der Haardt, A Place of Meeting

Neustadt an der Haardt

Maria Carolina Margaretha Werner was born in this city that is nestled up against the Haardt Mountains. Thus the name, Neustadt an der Haardt. This is a place of grape growing and wine making - much like the surrounding area where I grew up. It is also a place of immigrants. People coming from other villages, towns and cities. There were the farmers, growing grapes but there was also the city life including a wide range of craftsmen. My male relations from Neustadt are a linen merchant, three bakers, and a potter.

I encountered several challenges in Neustadt. First, was the intermarriage between those of differing religious backgrounds. Having to check back and forth between the Lutheran and Reformed church records to make sure I didn't miss anyone. Second, was that as I began to trace the family of Carolina Werner, I found that her father and maternal grandparents did not count Neustadt as their place of birth. Requiring more figuring and more work looking for their towns of origin.

Evangelische Kirche (Lutheran) Neustadt built 1400

This is were the "Burgerbuchs" come into play. Most towns that I have researched in Germany have a very slim record selection to search. Usually there are the church records and limited civil records that were microfilmed. Neustadt, on the other hand, has many different kinds of records that were microfilmed. Lucky me! I sort of stumbled onto the Burgerbuchs.

Burgerbuchs are citizenship books. Citizenship books kept a record of those requiring citizenship in the desired town by "foreigners" (those not born in the desired town) and by natives. In each entry is recorded personal information about the person desiring citizenship and the monetary fee that was paid. Each male was assessed a fee and each married woman was assessed a fee as well. I am still trying to get more information on town citizenship's and how they worked - the various fees, various appointed accounts the fees went to, who paid and why and what the money went to, what age/marital status - especially of natives citizenship fees. I think this will be something I will have to study as I finish my degree.

I did find the citizenship record of Carolina Werner's father Johann Georg Werner. He was from Kaiserslautern, a city found 23 miles to the west and a bit north. I also found the citizenship records for Carolina Werner's grandfather Martin Brenner. He came from the Elsass Lothringen area, an area that is now apart of France. The town he came from is Hordt. As a frame of reference, it is just outside of Strassburg. Hordt is about 61 miles southwest of Neustadt. Martin Brenner's second wife Susanna Maria Uberweg - the grandmother of Carolina Werner also had a citizenship record because she was from the neighboring town of Bochingen, 10 miles away. So, a fee had to be paid in her behalf. Of course, she did not have the same citizenship rights allotted to her husband, as she was a woman.

Georg Werner's citizenship record Neustadt

Martin Brenner's citizenship record Neustadt 3rd entry

Susanna Maria Uberweg's citizenship record Neustadt bottom right entry

page 2 of Susanna Maria Uberweg's citizenship record Neustadt top left

(I know that I should take the time to crop these records but my attention is needed elsewhere now.)

As it turns out Susanna Maria Uberweg's father Johann Jacob was born in Neustadt but married, worked and raised his family in Bochingen. But, on the story goes, as Johann Jacob's father was not born in Neustadt but somewhere else entirely. (I am currently deciphering the place name - only recorded once - no Burgerbuchs that early.) As the title of my post says: Neustadt and der Haardt - A Place of Meeting.