Category: Rolfes

Going To The Chapel and We're Gonna Get Married...and Baptize Our Firstborn

4/14/2017

I have finally had the chance to parse through all of the records I gathered during my trip to RootsTech and the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. I was fortunate to find records relating to the Rolfes family who came from Spreda, Germany, a small agricultural community about a half-hour walk from Langförden, which is where the nearest Catholic church was/is located.

My husband's 5th great-grandparents were Johann Henrich Rolfes and Maria Elisabeth Stüve. Johann Henrich and Maria Elisabeth were married in Langförden on 9 Jul 1805, which you can see on the second entry in the image below. (Here the surname is spelled Roelfes.)

Marriage Record of Johann Henrich Ro(e)lfes and Maria Elisabetha Stuve

I started looking through baptism records, and I found that the couple's first child, Maria Elisabetha, was born just a few days before, on 5 Jul 1805. The baby was christened on the same day they married: 9 Jul 1805.

Baptism Record of Maria Elisabetha Ro(e)lfes

In my research, of course, I have encountered situations in which a marriage was no doubt due to an impending birth. However, I've never encountered something like this. Did baby come earlier than expected? Was the couple not able to get a dispensation to speed up their nuptials? I don't know, but actually, this process of marrying couples and baptizing their children all at once has become more common in the modern day, with more and more couples having children before marriage, and with the prevalence of more and more blended families. Perhaps we can just say that Johann Henrich and Maria Elisabeth were ahead of their time!

Image source: FHL film 911504, Langförden

©2017 Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Census Sunday: The Rolfes Family, 1850 and 1860

10/4/2014

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Johann Heinrich (Henry) Rolfes was my husband's 4th great-grandfather through my mother-in-law's Brunswick line. He immigrated to America from Germany in the early 1830s. After arriving at the Port of Baltimore, he made the journey to western Ohio, and settled in the newly-formed German-immigrant town of Minster. Henry married Maria Catharina Huessmann in 1836 and, in 1852-53, he purchased a fair amount of land in Auglaize County's Jackson Township, a couple of miles southwest of the Minster town limits.

Until this past week, I had had trouble locating Henry and his family in the 1850 and 1860 U.S. Censuses. I decided to take a fresh look at the information I did have and try to search again. I made the assumption that he stayed in the general vicinity of Minster between 1836 and 1852. (And yes, I made the conscious decision to come back and search the 1840 U.S. Census; that census only lists the male heads of household, and, at the time, I didn't feel like looking through tick marks and trying to decide if I had the correct family).

First, I manually read through the entire 1850 U.S. Census enumeration for the town of Minster itself. I did not find a family resembling the Rolfes family. There was no enumeration district known as Jackson, so I decided to check German Township's enumeration; German Township was known as such because so many German immigrants settled there. Plus, it is directly adjacent to Jackson Township, where I know they did end up.

I am fairly sure I did find Henry and Catherine Rolfes, with their only two children living at the time, Joseph and Catherine, in German Township. The surname isn't spelled correctly, but their ages match other evidence I have found. Two teenage girls with the same surname also live in the household, but I haven't been able to identify the correct relationships yet. (Click for larger view.)

The Rolfes Family, 1850 U.S. Census, German Twp, Auglaize Co, Ohio

Finding the family in the 1860 Census was a little more challenging. By now, I knew that the family was established in Jackson Township, and I knew that I had combed through that enumeration section before. But, I went back and looked more carefully. There were not any families with an 'R' surname whose first names and ages even resembled the Rolfes family. But, I did find a family by the name of 'Wolfast' whose names, ages, and birthplaces fit.

Rolfes Family, 1860 U.S. Census, Jackson Twp, Auglaize Co, Ohio

I went to Google Translate, selected German, and typed 'Rolfes' into the box. Then, I clicked on the little sound button in the lower right corner to listen to how Rolfes would be pronounced in German. And, let me tell you, with a thicker German accent, a census enumerator not familiar with German could very well interpret it as Wolfast. Take a listen here. I should mention that I'm not exactly sure who the ten-year-old 'Catherine M.' is in the family - it could possibly be a daughter or a niece I haven't yet researched.

Then, I went and manually searched the 1860 Agriculture Census forms for Jackson Township. I should have looked here first, because there is no 'Henry Wolfast' listed, but instead his name is spelled 'Henry Rolfast.' It turns out that he was one of the top landowners in Jackson Township, with a total of 290 acres and a farm value of $5,000. (Click for larger view.)

'Henry Rolfast' 1860 U.S. Agriculture Census, Jackson Township, Auglaize County, OH

Henry Rolfes did not appear in any future census. He passed away in 1866. His wife, Catherine, went to live with her married daughter, Catherine Rolfes Prenger, whose husband was also a farmer in Jackson Township. The widow Catherine Rolfes passed away 11 Oct 1877.

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder.

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Tombstone Tuesday: Mary Magdalena Bernard Rolfes

2/19/2013

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A kind volunteer with the FindAGrave.com network recently photographed this tombstone for me. This is Mary Magdalena Bernard Rolfes, one of my husband's ggg-grandmothers on his mom's side of the family. (Rita Brunswick Tumbush was her great-granddaughter.) The gravestone is located in St. John's Catholic Church Cemetery in Maria Stein, Ohio.

Gravestone of Magdalena Bernard Rolfes, St. John's Cemetery, Maria Stein, Ohio

Magdalena was the daughter of Joseph Bernard, a French immigrant, and Anna Maria Kemper, who, according to U.S. Census data, was born in Pennsylvania. They were married in Mercer County, Ohio on June 13, 1839. Magdalena was born in Maria Stein, but I have not yet been able to determine Magdalena's exact date of birth; her obituary from The Minster Post (below) states that she was 76 yrs, 2 months, and 7 days old at the time of death. That would put her year of birth at 1846, which may not be correct since her older brother's death certificate has 1846 as HIS year of birth. Magdalena's death certificate lists her year of birth as 1856, which is completely off.

Magdalena Bernard Rolfes Obituary, The Minster Post, 29 Sep 1922

Magdalena married Joseph Rolfes on May 2, 1865 in Mercer County. They lived and worked on a farm in Mercer County's Marion Township, right next to Magdalena's parents, and the two families are listed on the same pages in the 1870 and 1880 U.S. Censuses. The 1900 census lists her as having had 13 children, although I can find birth and/or death records for only 12. Unfortunately, her husband, Joseph, passed away in 1883 when he was only 41 years old. Her oldest child, Henry, was only 17 years old at the time and she had many other little ones to care for. Magdalena did not remarry and, with her children's help, must have kept the farm going, because in the 1900 census she is listed as a farmer and the head of the household. In her later years, she lived with her two daughters, Katherine and Caroline, and her son, Anthony. Katherine worked as a dressmaker to support the family and Anthony worked as a farm laborer.

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Going To The Chapel and We're Gonna Get Married...and Baptize Our Firstborn

Census Sunday: The Rolfes Family, 1850 and 1860

Tombstone Tuesday: Mary Magdalena Bernard Rolfes

Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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