Connecting my Father's Family to my Mother's Family

This week Jerry Michel posted this photo on the Facebook page for the Russell County Historical Society of Germans from Russia. 

Jerry identified the couple as Johann George Bender, Sr, (1803-1913) and his third wife, Maria Katherine Schneider, who were married 13 May 1883 in Russell County, Kansas. 
My dad's father, John Ludwig Margheim was born in Russell county, Kansas to German parents who were also from the Volga River area of Russia. I knew the Margheims were associated in many ways with Bender and Schneider families, so I did some research into this couple pictured above. 

As a result of my research, I was able to prepare this chart, which is also pictured above at the start of this post. 

Let me guide you through this maze of cousin connections. At the bottom left is me, Rebecca Margheim, shown as the wife of Larry Jamison. My dad's ancestry goes up to his mother Amalia "Mollie" Koleber and on up to her great grandfather, Johann H. Koleber, born 1817 in Russia. Besides son Johann H. Koleber, the Senior Johann had daughter Maria, wife of George J. Maier. Maria, her husband and family are pictured at the top left of the illustration above. Their daughter Louisa Maier married John Bender. You can see their wedding photo under their name. 

John Bender's grandfather was the Johann George Bender whose photo was posted on Facebook yesterday. But John's grandmother was the first wife of Johann, being Maria Schwien. Johann George and Maria (Schwien) Bender's great granddaughter Manetta Bender married Archibald Parkhurst. Archibald's mother was Letha Cochran and her third cousin was Leo Cochran, the husband of Geneva Hill. 

I knew I had some Hill cousins so I looked up Geneva on Family Search and found the rest of her Hill lineage. Her great, great grandmother was Sarah Strait, wife of Richard Hill. I'm a third cousin five times removed of that same Sarah Strait. In the chart above you can see that my mother Ruby Flanders is a seventh cousin of Geneva Hill. 

So at the bottom right, you see me again, as the descendant of Ruby Flanders and Ernest Margheim. The chart I've prepared shows the cousin connection between my paternal ancestors and my maternal ancestors. The connection is meaningful to me because, as I grew up, I thought these two families were worlds apart. They were on opposite ends of the spectrum in MY world. Little did I suspect that they could be connected through cousin marriages. My world is getting smaller all the time!

Adding photos of those who immigrated

It helps me to understanding relationships if I can see something graphically. So I created a chart that illustrates the people in my previous post and have just added a few more photos to it.

I also learned a couple immigration dates that I added, which tell a story. You can see in the chart on the left side that Georg Jacob and Maria E. Koleber Maier immigrated to America from the Volga region of Russia on 22 Aug 1876. 

Jacob's sister Maria E. Maier Dietz and her husband George Daniel Dietz immigrated through New York on 14 Jul 1904. Six days earlier their daughter Catherine E. Dietz and her husband John George Koleber immigrated through Ellis Island, 8 Jul 1904. Catherine and George Koleber's daughter Amalia "Mollie" came with her parents through Ellis Island as a 20 month old. She married John Margheim, whose parents immigrated through Castle Garden in Dec 1886. 

I try to imagine the communications between these families with news of their move from Kratzke, Saratov, Russia, departing from the port of Liverpool and arriving in America, discussing work opportunities, housing possibilities etc. Family members really had to depend on each other for assistance. How I wish I'd discussed this with my grandmother when I had the chance!

Identifying more of my Grandma Margheim's Photo Collection

 When my dad began his final residence in a Care Center in 2012, it was my responsibility to clean out his house and dispose of its contents. To my great surprise I discovered a large box in the back of his office closet that was full of black and white photos from the early 1900s. Included in that box were the pictures on this post. Some were identified, but most were not. I assumed that the family was close to my grandmother's family simply because of the large number of photos Grandma Mollie Margheim had of these people. With help from the data on the Family Tree at FamilySearch I've been able to identify most of them. Pictured in the family portrait above (and as a couple below) are George Jacob Maier (1849-1932), his wife Maria Elisabeth Koleber (1850-1920), and six of their children. 

With the help of this chart, I was finally able to see the relationship of this Maier family to my own family and understand why my Grandma had so many family portraits. There are two close family connections. My grandmother was Amalia Koleber (Mrs John Margheim). Her mother was Catherina "Katy" Elisabeth Dietz (Mrs. John George Koleber). And Katy's uncle is the gentleman in the family portrait at top, George Jacob Maier. But notice George Jacob Maier was married to Maria Elisabeth Koleber. She's an aunt to John George Koleber. So when my great grandparents looked at the family portrait above, George was looking at his aunt's family and Katy was looking at her uncle's family! Now it all makes sense! I'm so blessed to have these wonderful family photos and to finally know who they represent and their relationship to me.

 

George Jacob Maier, Jr., Amelia Nuss Maier, and daughter Amelia. 

Jacob and Amelia wedding portrait

Jacob and Amelia Maier

Jacob Maier and two of his sisters

Louisa Maier

Louisa Maier and husband John Bender wedding portrait

The Thrill of Putting Names to Faces: Identifying Old Photos

Last summer I did a lot of housecleaning at my Dad's house to convert a storage room into his bedroom, so he'd be free of using steps to get to his bedroom. The reward to that huge job was that I found many large, framed family photographs in one of his pieces of furniture. I was able to recognize my Dad's parents in many of the old photos, but there were a few that stumped me. I carried the large pictures that were matted and framed under glass, to his room at the nursing home where he was residing at that time, and I asked if he could identify the people. He told me he didn't know who they were, but was sure they were friends of his parents, since it was customary to exchange family portraits with friends in the early 1900s.

My dad's ancestors were Germany residents until the mid-1700s, when they emigrated to the Volga region of Russia. Then in 1886 my Dad's father's family, Jacob and Katie Margheim, immigrated to the United States. And in 1904 my dad's mother, her parents George and Katie Koleber, and two older brothers George Jr. and Daniel immigrated through Ellis Island into the United States.

A few months ago I joined a group on Facebook called "Volga Germans" and posted the unidentified photos on their "wall", hoping someone would recognize someone in the pictures and help with my identification.

Since my dad is now living in his home again, I spent some time last Saturday showing him those photos and introducing him to more features on Facebook. When I brought up the first photo, Dad said "I know who that lady is, that's Mrs. Schwein." I wasn't quite ready to do the happy dance but his comment sure put a smile on my face! The young woman was posing along with her family, whose names I didn't know. But at least I had the first clue---the daughter married a man in the Schwein family. Dad then gave me a second clue...she had a son who had married Millie, the sister of "Coonie" Wilhelm. Now "Coonie" is a nickname for Conrad Wilhelm, and I knew that he was married to my Grandpa John Margheim's sister, Mary. If you're not a genealogist, you might think that's a rather convoluted connection, but if you've spent as many hours studying this subject as I have, it will make perfect sense to you!

My first task was to look again at the siblings of "Coonie" Wilhelm and see if I could positively identify Millie. I found that Conrad had a sister named Amelia. I looked at census images on Ancestry.com and found a Schwein family, also living where my dad's parents were living in Hoisington, Barton County, Kansas. I wrote down the household listing and showed it to Dad, and as he recognized names in the household, he confirmed that I had the right Schwein family. Amelia Wilhelm had married Emanuel Schwein. I found that information in an obituary listing for their daughter Irene F. (Schwein) Trageser that had been published in the Osawatomie Graphic, 31 Dec. 2008! The short obituary listing said Irene was the daughter of Emanuel and Amelia Wilhelm Schwein. Lucky me!

So my next search was for the parents of Emanuel Schwein. I found the household listed in the 1920 census (on Ancestry.com) for Wheatland, Barton Co, Kansas and found his parents to be Henry and Hanna. Incidentally, I made a note of the family living next door: Jacob Maier, wife Mary and 3 children. Okay.....Dad said Emanuel Schwein married Amelia Wilhelm and that Emanuel's mother was one of the daughters in the unidentifed photo that started this whole search. This find on Ancestry of the census listing for Emanuel's parents told me her name was Hanna! I'm really getting somewhere!

I did a Google search for "Henry and Hanna Schwein". I found an obituary listing for Elise E. Schwein. Elsie had been listed as one of the members of the Henry and Hannah Schwein household in that 1920 census image. In the obituary notice, it said Elise E. Schwein was the daughter of Henry and Johanna Maier Schwein. Johanna's ("Hanna") maiden name was MAIER! How happy I am when I see obituaries that list full names of family members, along with maiden names! Too many times these days that information is omitted from obituaries!

Now my task was to uncover the identity of Hanna Maier's parents, so I'd know who this family was. Back to Ancestry.com. I found a 1900 Census listing in Lincoln, Russell County, Kansas for a Hannah Maier, born March 1884. I knew from previous research that my grandparents lived in Russell County, so it was reasonable that I had the right family in this location. The listing revealed the father and mother as Jacob, born April 1849 and Mary E., born 1850.

At this point I made a trip to my dad's house Tuesday noon and with great eagerness exclaimed that the man and woman in this photo above were Jacob and Mary E. Maier. He was surprised that I'd discovered this much just from the clue that their daughter was married to his Uncle Coonie's sister!

As I sat at home Tuesday evening, I couldn't stop thinking about this family. I started wondering who Mary E. (Mrs. Jacob) Maier was...what was HER maiden name. You genealogists know that the hunt just continues---there's no place to stop! I was still wondering why my grandparents had this beautiful large family portrait. Back to Google!

Again, an obituary held the answer to what I was looking for. An obituary listing for their son Jacob Jr. said he was the son of Jacob and Mary Elisabeth (Koleber) Maier. I was almost in shock! I ran to the telephone at 9:30 pm Tuesday night to tell my dad that Mary Maier's maiden name was KOLEBER. That's the maiden name of my dad's mother and my grandmother Amalia "Mollie" Koleber Margheim! Now it became more clear why my grandparents were in possession of this big beautiful family portrait. And I was excited that I was in possession of this portrait of a family who were my relatives! From the census I saw that Mary Elisabeth was born about 1850. My grandmother was born in 1902, so I knew this lady was too old to be a sister of my great-grandfather George Koleber. By checking my database, I saw that my great-grandfather was born in 1874, still too young to be a brother of this Mary E. Koleber Maier.

It was late Tuesday evening but I knew I had more hunting to do before I'd be able to go to sleep. And I knew that there was quite an extensive listing of Kolebers and their related families online at http://www.berschauer.com/. By searching this site I found this: Johann Heinrich Koleber and his first wife Maria Katharina Huck are my 3rd great grandparents. After Maria K. Huck Koleber died, Johann Heinrich married Maria Katharina Mai and had a daughter Maria Elisabeth Koleber, whose second husband was Georg Jacob Maier. So the mother of this family in the portrait is my great, great, grandaunt! These is not just a portrait of friends of my grandparents, like Dad and I originally thought. Jacob and Mary Koleber Maier were born in 1849....160 years ago. What a treasure it is to have this family portrait! And what a thrill it is to now know who this family is!

I made another wonderful identification for an unknown portrait from this family searching, but I'll write about that in my next post. So check back soon!