In Search of Senior...

In January of 2011 I purchased my first membership to ancestry.com.  It's been an interesting journey with a lot of plot twists and surprises.

The most elusive part of that search has been the "Search for Sr.".  

Christina's Obit
(Click to Enlarge)

Conrad Martin Klein Sr. and Christina Kauth were married in 1863 according to Christina's obituary.  Her obituary is really the only hard evidence for Senior that I've been able to find up until yesterday (05 Feb 2016).

Conrad Martin Klein Jr. was born December 7, 1866 which means his father had to have been alive approximately 9 months before that date.  

Christina, Junior's mother, remarried on October 9, 1867, almost 10 months after Junior was born, to Dominick Moes.  Conservatively, Senior had to have died sometime between March of 1866 and October of 1867.

Senior is said to have been killed in an accident in Wenona, Illinois.  Records from that time frame have been difficult to find.  Searching online, I found that a fire had destroyed a lot of La Salle and Marshall County records during that time frame that I needed.  I've also learned that La Salle County records were not reliably kept until the dates shown in the picture below.

(Click to Enlarge)

As a result, I've had to settle for searching any, and all, records that eluded to a Martin Klein on ancestry.com.  

Part of the difficulty is the difference in names.  I've looked through a lot of census records and the person taking the census usually spelled the name however they saw fit.  Not only are surnames an issue, but also his first and middle names.  

For example, below are all the different ways I've seen to spell "Klein": cline, clyne, kleen, kline, kliner, etc.  Not only that, but some of our relatives went with the literal English translation of "Klein" and used the surname "Little".  I wouldn't be surprised at all if we were somehow related to the famous impressionist Rich Little.  He is likely a Klein... or, we're Little's [?].

Martin could be found by:  martin, matthias, matthew, martinus, conrad, conradus, or just initials [C & CM].

Moes has been spelled: moos, mous, moost, moes, etc.

Kauth has been spelled: kowth, kanth, kauth, etc.

And then there are the illegible, sloppy handwriting, census takers - if they could spell it correctly, you wouldn't know because you can't read their handwriting!  

The next problem is the condition of the documents.  Some of them are in pretty bad shape before anyone has attempted to scan them.  Some of the scans are made from copies that must've been made on the first Xerox machine because the quality is a complete disaster.

All of that to say - this has not been an easy process... I had to resort to finding any and all Klein's that might fit the bill and then research that individual's family tree.  I have at least 10 different family trees started on ancestry.com Usually, only to end up at another dead end.

One of those trees I started months ago came from another family's website.  (click HERE) where I found this:

(Click to Enlarge)

If you click on the image to the left you'll find a Pierre Klein married to Marguerite Bernard and eight children.  One of those children is a Martin Klein, born 13 Nov 1838, in Fouches, Belgium, Luxembourg.  1838 certainly puts him at about the right "marrying" age for an 1863 wedding.

The information above comes from what I consider a pretty reliable source.  The Gosche family was one of the first Luxembourg families to settle in Wisconsin.  The Gosche's also sold property to Klein's and were more than just acquaintances.  Jean Nicholas Klein married Margaretha Mootz as his second wife (following Maria Arendt) and Nicholas Gosche is recorded as a witness to this marriage.  A descendant of the Gosche family lived in Wisconsin all 90+ years of his life and had access to all of the records in the area.  He was an avid genealogist and his forefathers personally knew, what I am leaning towards believing, my own forefathers... those forefathers include Jean Nicholas Klein, Amandus Klein, Peter Klein, and of course - Peter's son Martin.

Long story short, months ago, I took this information and built a family tree on ancestry.com hoping that some clues might show up.  Unfortunately, nothing came up for Martin.  There were plenty of clues for his siblings John, Dominic, and Elizabeth but very little to go on for the remaining siblings.

One thing I did find was that this family had came over from Luxembourg landing at the port of New York in June of 1857.  Unfortunately, ten years later Senior would be dead.  That is not a very big window to find him listed on any federal and/or state documentation.

Christina Kauth, Senior's future bride, was living in Belgium, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin in 1860.  If the Martin Klein above was our Martin, some time between 1857 and 1863 she would meet and agree to marry Senior and then move off to Illinois.

1860 Census
(Click to Enlarge)

The clipping to the left is from the 1860 census showing Christina living with her parents (Peter and Anna Kauth) and her two brothers, Valentine and Heinrich (Henry).

There were some Klein's listed on this same census but not the Klein's we're interested in (at the moment!).

I was beginning to get a little frustrated so I turned my attention to the Kauth family.  Doing so led me to a picture of one page of a census taken in 1865.  Below is a clip from the page I ran into.

1865 Census
(Click to Enlarge)

To the left you'll see Peter and Ann Kauth residing with 2 males and 1 female in the household.  Below that, next door to them was Valentine and Mary Kauth with 1 male and 1 female at the household.

In 1865 Christina would have been married almost two years and was off to Illinois where Junior was born.  Peter and Anna had only Christina's younger brother Henry living with them as he was only 9-10 years old.  Valentine, her older brother was living with his new wife Mary next door to their parents.

All of the above is nice, but I was shocked to see a census from 1865 as I'd searched for one on ancestry.com for a long time!  Nothing ever turned up on ancestry.com for the town of Belgium in 1865.  This led me to Google where sure enough - I was able to dig up the entire census (11 pages) from 1865 after an hour of digging.

What I found was the key I needed!  A few doors down from the Kauth's lived a Peter and Margaret Klein.  Both listed as being foreign born.  Could this be the same Peter (Pierre) and Margaret (Marguerite) from the website shown above?  Not only that, but they lived next door to Peter Roller (more on that later)!

1865 Census
(Click to Enlarge)

Notice that they are living with only 1 male and 1 female in their household.  Dominic, their youngest child would have been 19 at this time and likely out on his own somewhere.  Perhaps even with one of his siblings somewhere.  He didn't go too far because he was married in 1870 in Belgium, Wisconsin.

This census finally placed a Klein family, that made some sense, in the same area as the Kauth family near the time when Senior and Christina were married in 1863.  Not only that, but a Klein family with a son named Martin who was about the correct age to marry.

The census also provided a snapshot of our family history.  The Klein's, Kauth's, Rollers, and Moes are all in this same neighborhood (literally neighbors) as well as family friends and future relatives like the Klos family for example. 

Eventually, I'll point out all the names that make a difference, but for now I need to try and dig up hard evidence pointing to Peter and Margaret Klein as being my Great-Great-Great Grandparents.

1860 Census
(Click to Enlarge)

The information that I have so far is:

Peter Klein, born 19 Apr 1805 in Luxembourg.  They arrived at the port of New York in June of 1857 and traveled to Belgium, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin by 1860.  They are shown on the 1860 census with youngest son Dominic (age 14).

Note:  Dominic Roller was listed as a sponsor to John Klein's baptism in 1861.

John Klein also had a son named Frank... could be where "Emil Frank" (son of CM Klein Jr.) came from?  John also lived in South Dakota for a while.  

Also, it should be noted... guess who they were living next door to in 1860?  

Answer:  Maggie Roller's grandparents Peter and Elizabeth Roller.

I think they may have went to Wisconsin to settle with family.  My best guess at this point is they were somehow related to Jean (John) Nicholas Klein and his family who had settled in the area in the 1840's.

There are also a couple of other Klein family members on this census and living very close to the Kauths.  One is Amandus and Mary Klein living 6 doors down from the Kauths and about the same from Peter and Margaret Klein.  Amandus and John Nicholas must be related somehow as Amandus is the god-father of one of John Nicholas' children.

There's also an older lady by the name of Josephine Klein living in the area.

I need to finish piecing this all together but this could certainly answer a lot of questions.  It could be the reason that Junior met Maggie Roller.  Her relatives lived next door to Peter and Margaret Klein.  Junior, having family in the area (Klein's and Kauth's) may have traveled from Chicago, where he was now working, to visit family and that's how he met Maggie!

There are Moes listed in the area.  When we spoke with the Walgenbach's, they said that Dominic was traveling to Illinois to "see his friend Martin Klein".  It's possible they were friends because they all lived in the Belgium area.  They also could've been friends from enlistment in the Civil War (Illinois enlistment) or even from being friends in Luxembourg.  

Hopefully, this is going to open some doors for me.  I've finally got something to go on and will post up my findings as I go along.

For future reference, below is a map from Belgium, WI 1892.  Notice the proximity of the Klein family to the Roller family.

(Click to Enlarge)