Reading Foreign Language Obituaries

My third-great grandfather Nicholas Schmitt died on this day in 1876 in Cincinnati Ohio. His obituary* appeared in the German-language newspaper The Cincinnati Volksfreund: Transcription: “Todes-Anzeige. Starb am Montag, den 21. Februar 1876, Abends um 11 Uhr, unser innigst geliebter Vater: Nikolaus Schmitt, im Alter von 64 Jahren, geboren in Hellimer, Lothringen. Die Beerdigung findet…

Translating Fraktur obituaries

My second great-grandmother was one of nine children who (with their parents) immigrated from France to Cincinnati. Most of Elizabeth Schmitt’s siblings stayed in Ohio for the remainder of their lives. Like Emile: Emile married the daughter of a brewery owner. Emile’s wife Maria Elizabeth Kauffman predeceased him: Only two of the couple’s children lived to…