My next fill-in-the-gaps couple is Grandma’s great-grandparents–my 3x greats, Ludwig and Dora (Kusch) Noffke and Adolf (possibly his name) Waldeck and his wife NN (name unknown).
These two Prussian couples are my genealogy brick walls. They are the four grandparents of my great-grandmother Clara Waldeck, and the immigration story of the families of her parents, the Noffkes and Waldecks, is intertwined.
August Heinrich Noffke, a single man, was the pioneer who first came to the United States. He departed from Hamburg on 7 May 1869 at the age of 28, which means he was born about 1841. He was possibly from Schwetzkov, Prussia, and a carpenter by trade.
The family history that was passed down through the minutes of family reunions states that August Noffke’s “parents and family” followed him “in about three years.” This means that Ludwig and Dora—perhaps Dorothea– (Kusch) Noffke must have immigrated around 1872. Family must mean their children or August’s siblings.
I believe that by the time this history was typed up the Waldecks had become somewhat separated from the Noffkes because the name used for the history was Neffka. Also, the writer did not know when Ludwig and Dora died.
Back to August Noffke: his sister Alwine Noffke Waldeck (born 1846) was married with children and living in Prussia at that time. Clara wasn’t yet born. So it wasn’t Alwine who immigrated with her parents.
Their brother Carl (born 1843) could have come with the parents, but I don’t think so. The ship manifest shows him with Louise and Herman Noffke, not his parents. In fact, his wife was Louisa and his son was Herman, so I am guessing that he was already married and traveled with his own family.
Until I find the ship manifest for Ludwig and Dora I won’t know who they traveled with.
August Waldeck, age 14, son of Alwine and her husband Gottfried, immigrated to the U.S. and lived with his grandparents, Ludwig and Dora. August paid the passage for his parents and siblings, so then Alwine and Gottfried and their other children immigrated in 1882.
Therefore, I need immigration documents for Ludwig and Dora. It seems likely that Gottfried Waldeck’s parents, Adolf and NN, never left Prussia.
For all four individuals, I am missing birth, marriage, and death records.
There is a Findagrave memorial for Ludwig with a photo of his headstone at Lakeside Cemetery in Caledonia, Michigan. I set up a page for Dora and have requested a photo of her headstone. I’ve called the cemetery for information, but they had no information.
On their son Carl/Charles’s 1897 death record it clearly states that his father is dead, but Ludwig’s name is incorrectly listed as Charles. It’s unclear if Dora is listed as dead or alive. I suspect alive.
I am trying to track down the path of Alwine and her husband in Prussia in hopes of their records leading to the records of their parents.
At this point, I still do not know for sure where either of them was from within Prussia.
You see why I combined all four into one post. I just don’t have enough information on them. The day that wall breaks down and all the information starts to tumble toward me, I will be very excited! After all this is the branch where my mitochondrial DNA comes from ;).
The Family Kalamazoo 
May the wall come down soon
Thank you! I sure hope so. I’ve been waiting a long time!
Interesting Luanne.
I can’t imagine what a sea cruise from Europe was like in the 1860’s and 1870’s, much less making the trip at age 14; what an adventure for August Waldeck. Let’s hope this blog post reaches someone who can fill in all the gaps.
Thank You for the post.
That would be great! Yes, what an adventure! And how dangerous! Shows how desperately they all wanted to immigrate, I think.
I went to My Heritage today because they are offering free access through tomorrow for birth records. Though these are one film at Family Search and some at Ancestry, I just found some records I did not have previously for my German ancestors and I actually added another generation to my tree for some! You might want to check there.
Heading over there right now. Thanks, Eilene!
Disappointing to have so much missing, but I think you might discover more.
I always think about the actual coming to America on ships when I read about the ship’s manifest. Gosh, it’s so hard to think that our families wanted to get here so badly they risked their lives on those ships.
Or to send their 14 year old son alone!!! It boggles the mind, doesn’t it?
It truly does. Such Belief or maybe such desperation or some combination.
Aha, you will not prevent me from wishing you a Happy Birthday in the midst of a pandemic! I am so very sorry to hear of your cousin’s death and the tragedies of that family. The pandemic draws closer and closer to us, it seems. But somehow our anchor holds on to what we believe in spite of the horrors. These are the times that try our souls, but enjoy your ice cream bars on your birthday – you deserve happiness. Onward.
Thank you, Sheila. What a crummy birthday. I got my ice cream bar, though. For now I’m going to concentrate on the really little things . . . . Onward and you stay safe.
Are these people all on the 1880 census? Not that helps find births or deaths or even immigration records, but I assume you have found them all there. I wish I had some other suggestions, but I’m coming up blank. Good luck!
Good question. The ones who should be found on the 1880 census are August and his parents Ludwig and Dora. August is on there with his wife and children, living in Grand Rapids, working in a furniture shop. I haven’t found his parents on the census. Are they not there yet after all? Or are their names mangled? And would they be in Grand Rapids or Caledonia? They are buried in Caledonia, so I suspect they lived in Caledonia, which might have meant that they were farmers there.
Could be the indexing. Try familysearch as well as Ancestry—I’ve found that often I can find people on Familysearch whose names were terribly misspelled on Ancestry.
Oh good idea. Thank you!!!
oh those damn brick walls 🙂
Yes, they are !@#%^&*() haha!
Good luck with your search! I have every confidence that you will have those brick walls tumbling down in due course.
I so hope you are right!
🙂
I hope you plow through your brick wall. I am hitting some too. Good luck, my friend.
Oh no! Good luck to you, too!!! So frustrating!
Hi Luanne, I don’t know whether I’ve commented on any of your earlier posts, but I do follow your blog since I have Noffkes in my family tree. As of this point in time, the Noffkes in my tree are only inlaws – the daughter of Wilhelmina Noffke and Peter John Hardy. Maybelle Hardy (1910-1998), was my great uncle’s wife (his name was Elmer Steffke). My Steffke ancestors were also from Pomerania (the Kries Lauenburg area) – they immigrated to SE Michigan in the late 1800s. My father has about 20 DNA matches with people who have Noffkes in their family trees (ranging from about 6 cM to 13 cM). I enjoy reading your posts and hope we can all break down a few more brick walls in the years to come.
So interesting. According to a German genealogist I spoke to, Noffke is a name associated with what he called Eastern Europe, meaning Prussia, and not what is now known as Germany. So possibly a distinctly Prussian surname. Interesting about your father’s DNA matches. Did you take the same DNA test? Meaning through the same company as your father. I wonder if your father and I match. If you want to try to figure it out, please email me at luanne[dot]castle[at]gmail[dot]com. Thanks!
Interesting, there are Waldecks here in Western Australia – the family own garden centres/plant nurseries. I don’t know about their background but perhaps you have relatives here too?