The German Brick Wall
One of the most frustrating parts of genealogy research are what genealogists call 'brick-wall ancestors'. I've come into contact with many such ancestors, and I'd say the prevailing nationality of those ancestors is German. What is it about the way Germans from the 1850s-1950s were raised that caused them to be so tight lipped about family matters? The majority of the issues I am dealing with lately come from my biological paternal side, but I have run into a similar problem with my maternal side as well as my adoptive paternal side. It's like they were trained from birth to keep a secret to their graves. I guess it's Gibbs' Rule 4 (NCIS); Best way to keep a secret. Keep it to yourself. Second-best, tell one other person—if you must. There is no third best.Genealogists have a term that I am becoming increasingly and frustratingly familiar with: Brick Wall Ancestors. My birth name, KRAUSE, is one such brick wall that is blooding up my forehead fierce. My father has been ailing for some time, and one of his dreams is to know where our name came from in Germany. When he was growing up, he heard stories of his grandfather and siblings, but nothing beyond that. Until I found copies of Charles' marriage license, we didn't even know their parents' names. And now, Ferdinand KRAUSE and Amelia WOLF are big, bloody brick walls.
Many genealogy blogs suggest how to get around brick walls. In today's post I explain how I went about tracking down what I know thus far about my KRAUSE relations. My next post will be a chronological order of their life events' documentations.
Uncle Gus, Is That You?
Since my direct ancestor Charles (great-grandfather) married only once, he has fewer source documents to point to his lineage. I figured I'd take a crack at his two older brothers, Gustav and Max, and his younger sister (Catherine) Bertha. According to stories Pop remembers, Gus and Max never married. Catherine married, but didn't have any children. This seems to be a consistent family trait. Of my father and his four siblings, only he and my aunt had children, my half-sister and I, and three cousins. Of Charles and his siblings, only Charles himself had verified biological children, a whopping 6 of them, four boys and then two girls.
I started with Catherine, but again, she has no children, married once, and has few source documents to track. I took the information from her marriage license and Charles' and found that their parents' names were Ferdinand KRAUSE and Amelia WOLF. Adding them to FSWT and Ancestry resulted in no suggested persons and therefore no suggested parents. Next I figured I'd look into Gustav and Max, but since the stories suggest they were lifelong bachelors, I didn't hold much hope.
There appear to be several men in the FSWT who were known as Gus KRAUSE, Gus C. KRAUSE, Gustav KRAUSE, and Gustave KRAUSE. All documents point to the men being born around the same time, settling around the same area, all have fathers named Ferdinand or Frederick Krause, and all have mothers named either Amelia/Emily Wolf or list just a surname of Wolf. In later years, towards the end of these men's lives, there is discrepancy as to whether they were born in Indiana or Germany, but that is a history lesson in itself. Either these individuals in the tree are more than one man or they are all the same. But how to figure that out??
As I searched through the records attached to the individual "Gus" men, I found three wives. O.O Gus, you old dog! But again, I remind you, I have no idea if all three wives were married to my Gus. I saved all the information and attached them when I thought the evidence was overwhelming, particularly since there is a lack of census records for more than one Gus. Frustrated doesn't even begin to cover it.
I started with Catherine, but again, she has no children, married once, and has few source documents to track. I took the information from her marriage license and Charles' and found that their parents' names were Ferdinand KRAUSE and Amelia WOLF. Adding them to FSWT and Ancestry resulted in no suggested persons and therefore no suggested parents. Next I figured I'd look into Gustav and Max, but since the stories suggest they were lifelong bachelors, I didn't hold much hope.
There appear to be several men in the FSWT who were known as Gus KRAUSE, Gus C. KRAUSE, Gustav KRAUSE, and Gustave KRAUSE. All documents point to the men being born around the same time, settling around the same area, all have fathers named Ferdinand or Frederick Krause, and all have mothers named either Amelia/Emily Wolf or list just a surname of Wolf. In later years, towards the end of these men's lives, there is discrepancy as to whether they were born in Indiana or Germany, but that is a history lesson in itself. Either these individuals in the tree are more than one man or they are all the same. But how to figure that out??
As I searched through the records attached to the individual "Gus" men, I found three wives. O.O Gus, you old dog! But again, I remind you, I have no idea if all three wives were married to my Gus. I saved all the information and attached them when I thought the evidence was overwhelming, particularly since there is a lack of census records for more than one Gus. Frustrated doesn't even begin to cover it.
Naturalization and Citizenship Breakthrough
Gus wasn't a brick wall. He was a trap of quicksand in a stinky wet bog. I was getting nowhere with Gus in Ancestry and FamilySearch. Time to think outside the box and use lessons from the Logic Trinity.
According to the 1900 census that placed Amelia and the four children in the home of William STAHLHUT and his four children, Amelia was born in Germany. The census also told me that the KRAUSE children's father was born in Germany, but the younger three children were born in Indiana. This meant that Ferdinand, Amelia, and Gus came to America before Max's birth. Max's year of birth fluctuates between 1882 - 1884, and the Gus birth dates vary between 1877, 1879, 1881, and 1882. There was a short window of opportunity between Gus's birth and Max's birth for the family to immigrate, but the conflicting birth years weren't helping to narrow it down. I also could not find any record of the family in census records prior to 1900.
Somehow a Google search landed me at Indiana Archives and Records Administration (IARA). I think I was looking for a way to find my grandmother's birth and death certificates or at least a visual, unofficial record of them, but the thought occurred to me to search for the KRAUSE surname only. There had to be plenty of records, as Indiana sits right in the middle of the "German triangle", an area of the Midwest United States that has high numbers of German descendants. (Find more information about the German immigration timeline.)
THERE!!! Ferdinand KRAUSE, Naturalization Record! In it, I found the date of entry, 1880/10/11. Now... is that October 11? or November 10?? I jumped to the Ellis Island search page. And found nothing. What?!?!
So here's where knowing history really helps in genealogy. (On a side note, if you have any interest in genealogy, I suggest you learn US and World History. The two go hand in hand. It also helps make boring school courses more interesting if you know that one of your ancestors took part in some historical event, usually serving in a war unfortunately, but still gives you a personal connection to it.)
According to the 1900 census that placed Amelia and the four children in the home of William STAHLHUT and his four children, Amelia was born in Germany. The census also told me that the KRAUSE children's father was born in Germany, but the younger three children were born in Indiana. This meant that Ferdinand, Amelia, and Gus came to America before Max's birth. Max's year of birth fluctuates between 1882 - 1884, and the Gus birth dates vary between 1877, 1879, 1881, and 1882. There was a short window of opportunity between Gus's birth and Max's birth for the family to immigrate, but the conflicting birth years weren't helping to narrow it down. I also could not find any record of the family in census records prior to 1900.
Somehow a Google search landed me at Indiana Archives and Records Administration (IARA). I think I was looking for a way to find my grandmother's birth and death certificates or at least a visual, unofficial record of them, but the thought occurred to me to search for the KRAUSE surname only. There had to be plenty of records, as Indiana sits right in the middle of the "German triangle", an area of the Midwest United States that has high numbers of German descendants. (Find more information about the German immigration timeline.)
THERE!!! Ferdinand KRAUSE, Naturalization Record! In it, I found the date of entry, 1880/10/11. Now... is that October 11? or November 10?? I jumped to the Ellis Island search page. And found nothing. What?!?!
So here's where knowing history really helps in genealogy. (On a side note, if you have any interest in genealogy, I suggest you learn US and World History. The two go hand in hand. It also helps make boring school courses more interesting if you know that one of your ancestors took part in some historical event, usually serving in a war unfortunately, but still gives you a personal connection to it.)
Castle Garden, the First "Ellis Island"
Everyone knows about Ellis Island. Even non-Americans know about Ellis Island. But it turns out it was only active as an immigration center from 1892-1924. So where did immigrants like like my family come through New York before that?
From 1830 - 1890, Castle Garden in Battery Park, New York (now known as Castle Clinton), is where immigrants first landed in the early years of the Immigrant Invasion. The website that should list everything for Castle Garden, much like Ellis Island's website, is often down. The information is essentially lost or inaccessible, although well known computer engineer and genealogist guru Stephen P. Morse managed to capture much of the data throughout the years. His website is a great One-Step search option for genealogy. I often conduct Google searches that wind up directing me to a page on his site. Visit him here.
I then turned my attention back to Google and searched for ships that docked in New York on 11 Oct 1880, hoping that was the correct date. From the IARA website, I knew that his port of departure had been Bremen, Germany, so I looked for a ship that came into port that day from Bremen. I found 4 ships docking on Oct 11, and only the General Werder came from Bremen. I shot back to Google searching for passenger lists for General Werder, manifests from the ship. Anything. So many different search terms and phrases. Finally, I found myself at the NARA, the National Archives and Records Administration. There was a subcategory which may have all my answers. Data extraction of manifests for German passengers entering the United States from 1850-1897.
Immigration Breaththrough
I searched for Ferdinand Krause and my query netted 0 results. So I searched for the General Werder in 1880 to find the manifest identification number. On another screen, I typed in the number and searched through page after page, looking for the Krause surname. Finally, there they were: Emilie, Ferdinand, Gustav.
I'm not going to lie. I literally broke down and cried. I may have even sobbed. If you do not understand why, there is no way I can explain it to you. I can't even begin to figure out how to explain it to you, where to start, that will help you understand why finding this piece of information would make me bawl.
Dreams Made Reality
Doesn't mean I can't try. In 1993, my 8th grade teacher introduced us to the theatre, to Broadway. I learned about CATS and Les Miserables. I wished and dreamed I could see a performance with my own two eyes. Later after getting my license, I came across a VHS tape presenting a 10th Anniversary Concert of the Les Miz production by a specific theatre company. I still have it in the closet, kept safe, but I spent most of Jr/Sr years playing the tape over and over. When I hear the sung words "Do you hear the people sing, singing the song of angry men..." I get choked up. Every. Single. Time. When I went to the movies with my stepdaughter and her mother and saw Les Miserables with that star studded cast, I spent the entire time in tears, my face perpetually wet. It may not have been on Broadway or in a theatre, but it was Les Miz and I was seeing it with my own two eyes. A near 20 year dream made reality.
So if that's how I reacted to finally realizing a childhood dream, isn't it plausible to see how going from being a virtual orphan to finding this sliver of my roots would send me into tears? The Black Hole of My Origins is starting to be a little less black and a little less huge.
The current White House Administration and many white supremacist groups keep screaming to keep the non-Americans out. Citizens of our country who have ethnicities outside of white are being swept up in ICE raids and have to fight to get their jobs back and constantly prove who they are and why they have the right to be here. But here I am, rumored to have Apache and/or Cherokee blood, passing as 100% white, with ugly white privilege. I have white ancestors living in the colonies prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence while at the same time, I'm only 4th Generation American (KRAUSE) and 3rd Generation American (DUHN), descended from Germans who were escaping oppression in their homeland, adopting a country about to go to war with the place of their birth.
The current White House Administration and many white supremacist groups keep screaming to keep the non-Americans out. Citizens of our country who have ethnicities outside of white are being swept up in ICE raids and have to fight to get their jobs back and constantly prove who they are and why they have the right to be here. But here I am, rumored to have Apache and/or Cherokee blood, passing as 100% white, with ugly white privilege. I have white ancestors living in the colonies prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence while at the same time, I'm only 4th Generation American (KRAUSE) and 3rd Generation American (DUHN), descended from Germans who were escaping oppression in their homeland, adopting a country about to go to war with the place of their birth.
One Million, Forty-Eight Thousand, Five Hundred Seventy-Four people. You just might not be as "white" or as "American" as you think.
Using Logic Trinity Methods: As I have been studying the census methods, and since my father found a historical map detailing Fort Wayne in 1922, I wanted to know more about the areas my family lived. In the margins of the early written census records, enumerators noted what road they were walking. The house number was sometimes recorded. Legibility can be an issue, but by comparing information between records, you can find out exactly where your ancestors lived, and if you're really lucky, the house is still standing! How cool is that?
In my case, the KRAUSE family I'm trying to pin down lived in and around the same neighborhood for decades. Remember the car pictures I mentioned at the beginning of the post? Pop remembers hearing stories about the 1901 photo being taken at the family homestead. But through the census records, it would seem that the house in the background actually belonged to STAHLHUT and not KRAUSE.
I find it interesting that my family stayed in and around this one neighborhood throughout the years. The area is now commercially zoned and the residential portion doesn't start until a few blocks just south. The roads in this area have also drastically changed, some no longer exist.
I encourage you to look through the Library of Congress's historical map section and use them to see the streets your families lived on. Track down the addresses and see if the homes still exist. If you're brave enough, contact the current homeowners and ask if they know anything about the history of the house. Who knows? It may be completely renovated. It may be old enough to have been the walls that watched your ancestors grow up.
Additional Notes from this fortnight's research: Census Records Research
Using Logic Trinity Methods: As I have been studying the census methods, and since my father found a historical map detailing Fort Wayne in 1922, I wanted to know more about the areas my family lived. In the margins of the early written census records, enumerators noted what road they were walking. The house number was sometimes recorded. Legibility can be an issue, but by comparing information between records, you can find out exactly where your ancestors lived, and if you're really lucky, the house is still standing! How cool is that?
In my case, the KRAUSE family I'm trying to pin down lived in and around the same neighborhood for decades. Remember the car pictures I mentioned at the beginning of the post? Pop remembers hearing stories about the 1901 photo being taken at the family homestead. But through the census records, it would seem that the house in the background actually belonged to STAHLHUT and not KRAUSE.
I find it interesting that my family stayed in and around this one neighborhood throughout the years. The area is now commercially zoned and the residential portion doesn't start until a few blocks just south. The roads in this area have also drastically changed, some no longer exist.
I encourage you to look through the Library of Congress's historical map section and use them to see the streets your families lived on. Track down the addresses and see if the homes still exist. If you're brave enough, contact the current homeowners and ask if they know anything about the history of the house. Who knows? It may be completely renovated. It may be old enough to have been the walls that watched your ancestors grow up.
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