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Posts Tagged ‘Prussian history’

2020 Fill in the Gaps Project: My 3XGreat-Grandparents, Ludwig and Dora (Kusch) Noffke and Adolf Waldeck and NN

Posted in Family History, Genealogy, Germany history, Kent County history, Michigan history, Noffke, Prussia history, Waldeck, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 15, 2020| 25 Comments »

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 ;).

 

 

 

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2020 Fill in the Gaps Project: My 2XGreat-Grandparents, Gottfried and Alwine (Noffke) Waldeck

Posted in Caledonia Michigan history, Family History, Genealogy, Germany history, Kent County history, Michigan history, Noffke, Prussia history, Waldeck, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 6, 2020| 26 Comments »

Introducing my BRICK WALL of genealogy:

My great-great-grandparents, Gottfried and Alwine (Noffke) Waldeck. Gottfried was 1841 – 1913. Alwine 1846 – 1912.

Back row:  Fred (in a terrible accident and lived out the rest of his life at the Kalamazoo State Hospital) married Caroline Meier, Ada (Helene/Lena Ida) married Frederick Steeby, Anna (who was married, but I still need to iron out this “mess”–she was at least married to William Alexander Stewart), August (died in WWI, a bachelor)

Front row: Gottfried, Clara (my great-grandmother), Alwine, Godfrey married Anna Ruehs

There were other children who died young, but exactly who they were needs sorting out.

The family story in America may have started with Alwine’s older brother August. I wrote about him here: Pioneer of the Family

I have written many posts about my great-grandmother Clara and have also written about Fred and his accident and his wife and her family in other posts (search Waldeck).

Gaps might be a ridiculous word for what I have missing from this couple’s lives. I do not know where in Prussia either of them were born, although if the information is correct about August, it is possible that Alwine was born in Pomerania. However, together, the couple seem to have lived in West Prussia, where they may have worked on a large estate or two. I do have birth and/or baptism records for several of their children, but I can’t read them well enough and the place names for Prussia are soooo confusing. I will need help with this portion to create a timeline of locations.

If you are not familiar with Prussia, East Prussia was the province furthest east, but West Prussia is just to the west of East Prussia–still in what is now Poland and on the Baltic Sea. Pomerania, also on the Baltic, is just to the west of West Prussia. Posen is to the south of these provinces.

I don’t have a marriage record for the couple, so I don’t know which area of Prussia they were married–or how they might have met.

Gottfried and Alwine did arrive into Baltimore from Germany in 1882, but I don’t have any other immigration and naturalization records.

I do not have a headstone for either, but have put in a request through Findagrave. I also requested management of their memorials, but have not received a reply. I can only hope for the kindness of the current holder because at 2x greats, they are one removed from my right to manage their memorials. Hmm, but my mother could do it!

I don’t have any military information for Gottfried. Or an obituary.

So what in the world DO I have then (besides anything mentioned above)?

*Gottfried’s death certificate: he died of chronic nephritis. His place of birth is gibberish; nobody has ever heard of such a place.

*Alwine’s death certificate; she died of interstitial nephritis. Her place of birth is just listed as Germany. Notice they both had a form of nephritis and died a year apart.

*Land ownership map in Caledonia, 1894.

*1900 and 1910 census records. The 1890 doesn’t exist, and Gottfried died a few years after the 1910. When there are only one or two census records it really brings home how many of these immigrants only lived 10-20-30 years in this country before dying.

*I know it’s above, but let’s face it, having a photograph of your 2xgreats is pretty cool :).

*Alwine’s obituary, although it’s very limited–and spells her first name Albina. (Alwine is pronounced Alveena)

Finally, I would like to post the property map. The parcel owned by Gottfried is near the bottom, in the center darkened area. His land is a small piece. Do you see the darkened section in the middle at the bottom? His parcel is second from the farthest right (of the darkened section) and the second from the bottom. Although Gottfried and Alwine’s son-in-law, my great-grandfather Charles Mulder, eventually owned a lovely farm in Caledonia, 1894 was long before he purchased his property.

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Could This Be Fred Waldeck? Mystery Solved!!!!

Posted in Family History, Genealogy, Germany history, Kent County history, Michigan history, Prussia history, Waldeck, tagged , , , , , , , on February 13, 2019| 39 Comments »

At the end of this post, I wrote an update.

Instead of griping about not having time to do genealogy research, I’ve decided to change my attitude. I am so blessed with so many old family photos, that my time is best spent right now trying to identify the photos!

Today’s photo is labelled, but it still presents a few problems. The date is 1951. I don’t know the location, but believe that the location is probably in southwest Michigan. The names are Cora, Fred, Godfrey, Anna.

Waldeck surname

Godrey has to be Gottfried Waldeck (Jr), born 18 December 1880 somewhere in “Germany”–most likely Prussia. He was married to Anna Christine Ruehs. She was born 2 December 1882 (same birthday as my mom!). My mother knew them as Uncle Godfrey and Aunt Anna. I’ve written about him before–how he drove his tractor down the block to work in his fields when he was blind. How I saw him do just that.

I asked Mom, and she confirmed that the two on our right are definitely Uncle Godfrey and Aunt Anna.

I like the photo without the orange a bit better.

But who are Cora and Fred? Godfrey had a brother, Fred. He’s the one who lived at the state hospital. He had brain damage from a terrible accident that happened when he was young and newly married with a young child. Fred was born in 1869 and died in 1953, so he would have been 81 in 1951. You can read more about him at Waldeck Family Research. This man does look the right age, but would he have been in good shape like this? Dressed up in a nice suit and tie?

Take a look at this photo of one of the old Kalamazoo State Hospital photos. It could be the building behind them.

Here is the family photo that includes Fred as a young man. Fred is back row, left side. Godfrey is front row, right side.

I am hoping that I can get verification that this is, indeed, Fred Waldeck who lived at the State Hospital. In comparing the younger Fred to the older Fred in the photos, I do think it is the same person.

If I could find out who Cora was that would be even more amazing!

UPDATE:

Thanks to Linda Stufflebean from http://www.emptybranchesonthefamilytree.com/ I was able to put together the pieces of who is in the photo and who is probably holding the camera.

All along I have been imagining Fred as abandoned at the “asylum” all those years. After all, his son was still almost a baby when Fred was injured. His wife Caroline Meir had to work for a farmer and leave her son Edward with her mother in Grand Rapids. Eventually she became a nurse and lived with her mother and with Edward. Caroline probably worked very hard her whole life and raised Edward to become a pastor. She passed away in 1946.

This new “find,” the photo identified as Cora, Fred, Godrey, and Anna, 1951, shows that the family visited Fred. Cora is Fred’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Edward who must be taking the photograph. So on this day in 1951, Fred’s son and daughter-in-law, and his only surviving brother, Godfrey, and Godfrey’s wife Anna visited Fred who was dressed up in a suit and tie for the occasion. The only close family members not in the photograph, in fact, are my great-grandparents, Clara and Charles Mulder. Clara was Fred’s only surviving sister by 1951.

Little tidbit of info: Fred was to die less than two years later, in January 1953. Clara died mere months after her brother, on 6 September 1953.

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