You may not think the first wife of a 1st-cousin thrice-removed “deserves” a lot of research time. But there is a woman in my tree that’s been pulling at me of late, so today I’d like to give Jennie Rose (Beckley) Schmitt her 15 minutes of fame.
Jennie’s husband Arthur J. Schmitt, the son of my 2nd great-grandmother’s brother, intrigues me. His parents lost two sons before Arthur was born. He was just 14 years old in 1896 when cancer took his mother. Two years later his father died. Despite what was surely a difficult childhood, Arthur J. Schmitt became a success in business and found happiness in his personal life. But only after surviving at least one more significant loss.
Arthur and Jennie appear together on just one census record; the 1910 census taken April 15th in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio:
This one census tells us quite a bit, however. Arthur’s father [Emile Schmitt] was born in France and his mother [Mary Kauffmann] was born in Ohio. This confirms information I found in other sources. He works as an Assistant Secretary at a bank. I know that Arthur later became an executive with the bank, so his occupation provides another confirmation that we have the correct man.
Column 9 asks how long the couple has been married. It looks like Arthur and Jennie tied the knot around 1905. In the Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1994 collection on FamilySearch, I found this wonderful treasure:
So, they were actually married on the 8th of June 1904. Armed with additional information provided in the record above, I was able to find Jennie in the only other census in which she would appear:
Jennie Rose Beckley Schmitt died of pneumonia in 1912. This is a copy of the index card created by the Cincinnati Health Department housed at the Digital Resource Commons at the University of Cincinnati:
Jennie is buried at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati Ohio. Sharing the plot is her husband of nearly eight years and his second wife.
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