Finding A Grave

My French third great grandmother Marie Anne Schmitt (née Gury) died sometime between June 1860 and June 1870. According to the 1860 census, Marie Anne (called Mary here), her husband Nicolaus (recorded as Nick) and eight of their children lived in Cincinnati, presumably in the Over the Rhine neighborhood. Their youngest children Joseph (5) and…

New Collections in Ancestry

I booted up my computer to draft a blog post about my Schmitt ancestors for this Surname Saturday. While things were warming up, I checked email. And found this: 54 is a large number of new hints, which in itself is interesting. More interesting however, are the hints that stem from new collections. What really…

No Mention of the Children

“The many friends of Mrs. Mary E. Schmitt will learn with regret of her death, which occurred at her home, on Calhoun street, early yesterday morning. Mrs. Schmitt was the daughter of the late John Kauffman, the brewer, who founded the Kauffman Brewing Company, and wife of Emil[e] Schmitt, general manager of the concern. She…

Just down the Street

Literally. According to Google Maps, it was a three-minute walk from 655 W 61st Street to 538 W 61st Street in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. The other day I wondered about the possibility of my 2nd great-grandmother Elise Mueller and her brother John N. Schmitt attending the same church. I knew they lived near one another (and…

Schmitt Siblings

This picture has appeared on my blog before, but it is so special it deserves another post. Four Schmitt siblings are in this photo. The gentleman in the center was born Jean Nicolas Schmitt on 16 May 1841 in Hellimer Moselle Lorraine France, the third son of Nicolas Schmitt and his wife Marie-Anne Gury. In America he was…

In Loving Memory

Recently I compared the lives of my third great-grandmother Elisabeth (nee Schmitt) and her sister Christina Kirchheiner. While drafting that post, a document inside Christina’s file caught my eye; a receipt for her funeral arrangements. Three obituary notices were listed. Why hadn’t I followed up on these leads? Immediately I sent a request to the Cincinnati Public Library. The very…