On Tuesday mornings, I go to breakfast with some men. I mentioned that my hobby is genealogy one morning and a few shared some of their backgrounds and brick walls. One the men is Fred.
Fred’s German Heritage
Fred tells me his dad was born March or May 8th 1895 in Holzminden, Germany. I’m having a bit of trouble reading my scribbly notes. Fred’s dad was Walter Ulbricht(?) Reuter. As we are in the 21st century, that means that Fred’s dad was born 2 centuries ago. Fred asked me what was a good genealogy site. I said Ancestry. The first thing I did at Ancestry was to create a family tree for Fred. It just has Fred and Walter right now. Usually, when I create a tree hints pop right up. This time that didn’t happen. I guess that I stumped Ancestry.
It would have helped if I had asked Fred when and where he was born. Ancestry has a Search button which is helpful. I know Fred’s wife’s name and where he lives, so I added that in. Ancestry gave some telephone information from around the year 2,000. Now I know that Fred is actually Frederick R. That narrows down things a little.
Searching for Walter at Ancestry
I had better luck finding Walter at Ancestry.
It turns out that the US Government was very thorough in getting everyone’s name for World War II. Now I see where Walter lived in 1942 and that he was born in May and not March. And if we could go back in time, we could call him on an old-fashioned telephone. I also at least know the first name of Walter’s wife – Anna Marie. Speaking of Anna Marie, here is her marriage record from the Episcopal Diocese Records of Newark, New Jersey:
As I see a 1927 under the record, my guess is that they married in December, 1926. When I added this record to Fred’s tree, I noticed that Ancestry added parents for Walter. I had to turn the page on the marriage record to find this:
They say in genealogy every solution causes two more problems. Here are Fred’s grandparents: Ernst Reuter and Augusta Grote(?); and Richard Wolf and Anna Fritsch(?). The penmanship is actually quite good. Interestingly, Anna’s witness was also a Fritsch. Now the Ancestry computer cogs are turning and they think they have some clues as shown by the green leaves:
However, they don’t seem so sure about Walter’s parents.
Two Ancestry Hints for Walter
The two Ancestry hints for Walter were the 1930 and 1940 US Census. Here is Walter in 1940 with a young child:
Now I see that Anna Marie was from Austria. Fred did mention the Austria-Hungarian Empire to me.
The 1930 Census is important as it gives immigration information:
Walter was a recent immigrant of only about a year and his wife arrived in the country 1915.
Back to the Old Country
Next, I did a search for Walter’s dad Ernst at Ancestry:
This was the first record that popped up at Ancestry. It certainly seems like the right couple. And they were married in time to have Walter in 1895. We have a lot of new basic information here. Now we know when Ernst was born and married and where he was born and married.
Some German Geography
Before I rush into the past with more dates and names, I thought it would be a good idea to look into some geography. Where is Holzminden and Oerlinghausen?
Oerlinghausen is at the top left of the map and Holzminden is the bottom right outlined in red. Apparently Holzminden is a town and a district. The 5 mile scale is also at the bottom right of the map. I suppose these two Towns were 30 or so miles from each other. Here is a street view of Holzminden:
Holzminden had a large prisoner of war camp during World War I. It was famous for having the largest POW escape of British Soldiers during that War. Here is the prison complete with prisoners and guards:
Here is Oerlinghausen:
My guess is the church in the photo could be where Ernst and Auguste wed. Apparently between 1888 and 1895 the family moved to Holzminden.
The Wolf and Fritsch Families
Now I wonder if we can find out more about Fred’s Austrian side. As I mentioned, the Wolf family came to the US before Walter Reuter. That means that they should show up in the 1920 Census.
So far, all of Fred’s information was right. He told me his mom was from what is now the Czech Republic. That would have been referred to as Bohemia in 1920. As a bonus, Anna Fritsch’s parents are living in the house. They arrived in the US 4 years after the Wolf Family. I had some trouble finding information on this side of the family. Here is the death record for Joseph Fritsch:
It looks like Anna was born a year after Josef and died 16 years after her husband in 1937. They were buried in the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa, NJ.
It appears that Richard Wolf, Sr. was a diminutive man. Here is a physical description from his WWII Draft Registration:
Ellis Island
I was ready to give up on Fred’s maternal side, then I checked FamilySearch. That is the web site run by the Mormons. I told Fred that they had good genealogical resources. A search for Fred’s mom’s family at FamilySearch pointed me to the Ellis Island web site. Fred had told me his parents came through Ellis Island.
This manifest shows Fred’s mother Anna Wolf traveling to the US with her mother Anna and brother Richard. Importantly, it mentions that the family was from Karlsbad, Austria. The contact from where they moved from was Joseph Fritsch (Anna’s dad). He lived in a specific part of Karlsbad which I have trouble reading: Schulgadfe(?).
According to Wikipedia:
Karlsbad may refer to:
- Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic (formerly known by its German name Karlsbad, and known as Carlsbad in English)
- Karlsbad (Baden), Germany
The right answer appears to be in the first bullet. It should be recalled that this trip took place during the first year of World War I. I would imagine that travel would have been difficult at that time. On the second page of the manifest, they needed to show where they would live. They would be living in Paterson, NJ with her husband.
This shows that the mother Anna and her son, Richard were born in Landau(?). The daughter Anna was born in Eger.
More Geography
Karlsbad in the current Czech Republic is close to Germany.
If I have Landau right, it is closer to France than the Czech Republic:
When I look up Eger, I get that it is in Hungary.
If I have it right, then Anna Fritz and her son Richard Wolf were born in Landau, Germany. Then the family moved to Eger, Hungary where Anna Wolf was born. Then the family moved to Karlsbad. However, there may be other explanations. Ancestry mentions a Landau, Austria.
This location seems more consistent than Landau, Germany as all these locations were in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This must be a small Town as I haven’t found out much about it, except that it “… is a town in the Steiermark region of Austria”.
Back to Richard Wolf
When I last left Richard’s wife Anna, she was traveling to New York City via Rotterdam with her two children Richard and Anna. She had left the Austro-Hungarian Empire which was where World War I had started. In 1915, the War had been going on for one year, but the US was not to enter the War until 1917. So whatever the reason for their move to the US, it seemed like the outcome would be a good one.
I was able to find a passport application for Fred’s Uncle Richard Wolf, Jr. He was able to confirm my suspicion that he was born in Austria aka Czechoslovakia:
This passport application was filled out in 1922. It also gives important information about his naturalization papers which may come in handy.
I couldn’t make all of this out, but the clear part shows that he intended to visit with relatives in Czechoslovakia.
Fred’s tree looks like this:
You might say the brick wall is at Richard Wolf, Sr. I’d like to learn more about him. I did find a passport extension for Richard, Jr. This one was actually typed, which is an improvement. Now rather than Landau, it looks like Richard, Jr. was born in Sandau, Czechoslovakia.
This appears to be closer to Karlovy Vary, aka Karlsbad. Richard, Jr. who was 22, planned to stay in Germany to study engineering:
Does Fred resemble his maternal Uncle Richard?
Here is Mittweida, where Richard, Jr. lived – not far from the present Czech Republic:
Back to the Reuter Side
It looks like Walter Reuter traveled to Germany a few times. He sailed from Hamburg to New York in 1924 before he was married. At that time, he said he would be staying with his cousin Hattie Grote in Fredericksburg, Texas. He sailed from Hamburg to the US on August 28, 1929. He was listed as a merchant with his last residence in Traventhal, Germany. In 1936, he visited Germany with his wife.
Here is where I stopped with Fred’s tree:
The Grotes and Reuters that I found were all from Oerlinghausen.
Summary
Fred had a good idea of where his parents’ families were from. Fred has a very German background. Even those that were from Bohemia or Austria appear to have German names. Fred’s ancestry is tied up in World War I. This is around the time that many of his ancestors came to the US.
Fred’s father took many visits to Germany and lived there in between his time of living in the US. I am not sure if he ever became a citizen. On the trip he took to Germany in 1936, his wife shows as a US citizen but it is not clear that Walter was.
Fred tells me that his father got a PhD in Germany. After publishing this Blog, Fred sent me a copy:
That is something to be proud of. Fred tells me the PhD was in Political Science.
The earliest of Fred’s ancestors that I could find lived in Oerlinghausen, Germany. Here is another map with Oerlinghausen pointed out:
And remember, Fred’s maternal grandmother lived in Sandau, not Landau.