Category: Bollinger

Q Is for…Quincy

Q Is for…Quincy

Posted on by spuddled

Today’s blog post is brought to you by the letter Q. I was hoping to find a relative who had died of quinsy (a tonsillitis complication), but I could not. I did, however, discover that there are six towns named Quincy that appear in our family tree: California, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. With an honorable mention of West Quincy, Missouri. Of these, a few were home to relatives by marriage only, so we’ll focus just on those with connections to blood relatives – and provide just a few anecdotes, as there were a total of 228 events that took place in one of the Quincies, and it’s getting close to bedtime.

Quincy, Illinois wins the prize for the highest number of family events (185). Probably the closest connection is my third great-granduncle, Baldes (or Balthasar) Bollinger. The brother of my maternal third great-grandmother Saloma Bollinger, he was born 12 January 1829, probably in Switzerland. His history is somewhat elusive, but at some point he lived in Nebraska and apparently also served in the Civil War. He seems to have lived at the Soldier’s Home in Quincy, and he died there on 17 December 1910. He is buried in Quincy’s Sunset Cemetery.

Find a Grave Memorial ID 89191746

Interestingly, another Quincy, Illinois connection with Civil War ties is a paternal third cousin four times removed, Noah Thomas Brown. Noah was the son of Logan and Abbey (Boyce) Brown and a descendant of my Sweeney line. He was born 5 October 1841 in Morgan County, Illinois, and he enlisted in the 10th Illinois Cavalry on 21 September 1861 in Springfield, Illinois. He served only about six months before dying in Quincy on 19 March 1862 of acute bronchitis.

Consolidated Lists of Civil War Draft Registration Records1
Ancestry.com. U.S., Registers of Deaths of Volunteers, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

A third Quincy, Illinois connection was May Edith Oldridge, my fifth cousin twice removed and Noah Thomas Brown’s second cousin twice removed. May was born 18 March 1896 in Knox County, Missouri, the daughter of Oscar Clarence and Anna Izora (Reaugh) Oldridge. Five years before Edith was born, the Blessing Hospital Training School for Nurses was founded in Quincy in association with Blessing Hospital, which had opened in 1875.2 It was here that Edith enrolled in a nursing course in March 1916. An article in the The Knox County (Missouri) Democrat of 7 July 1916 notes Edith’s return home for a brief vacation. Then in January of 1917, she had spent a few days with her grandmother before returning to Quincy, according to The Edina (Missouri) Sentinel. Four months later, though, newspaper articles had much less cheerful items to report. On 30 May 1917 The Clarence (Missouri) Courier noted: “Mrs. C. M. Cockrum went to Quincy Thursday to visit her niece, Miss Edith Oldridge who is quite ill.” The following day, The Edina Sentinel reported: “Miss Edith Oldridge, who formerly lived here but who has been taking a course in trained nursing at the Blessing Hospital in Quincy the last year, is seriously ill at that place of typhoid fever.” On 1 June The Knox County Democrat also reported on Edith’s illness and that her uncle, Gene Reaugh, had gone to visit her. That same paper, four days later, reported that Edith’s health was improved; the hope this must have inspired was short-lived, however. On 14 June The Edina Sentinel reported Edith’s death. Similar articles appeared in The Knox County Democrat on 15 and 19 June.

14 June 1917 The Edina Sentinel

Not all of the Quincy connections are so grim, however. Quincy, Kansas, was the location of a Christmas 1900 wedding between Alfred Eugene Christison, my fourth cousin three times removed, and Lenora E. Kolb. Though his link is to a completely different Quincy, Alfred was another Sweeney connection and was the second cousin once removed of Noah Thomas Brown and the third cousin once removed of May Edith Oldridge. Alfred was born in Kansas on 14 September 1874. The Toronto (Kansas) Republican of 28 December 1900 reported on the wedding, noting that the Rev. W. Emerson officiated “in a very befitting manner.” What a relief.

Our final Quincy for today is Quincy, Ohio. Though not the 185 family events of its Illinois compatriot, the Ohio variant does have a respectable 34 in the family tree. A large number of these come from one of our Seventh Day Baptist connections. John Sutton, my fifth great-granduncle, was born in New Jersey in 1785, married in West Virginia in 1807, and died in Quincy, Ohio, in 1869…maybe. What is more certain is that John’s daughter, Alzina Hill Sutton, who was born in July 1828, married her second cousin once removed, Nathan Maxson on 17 February 1852. Sources differ as to where their eldest child John was born (was it Virginia or was it Ohio?), but the remaining 6 children were all born in Ohio: Franklin (born in Quincy on 30 March 1855); Martin Elijah, born in Logan County on 2 February 1858; Deborah, born between 1860-1861; George B., born in March 1864; Fannie, born between 1866-1867; and Rebecca, born in October 1869. On 1 May 1873 Alzina died, and she is buried in Quincy’s Fairview Cemetery. When Nathan died some 28 years later he was buried beside her. Their son John is buried there as well.

Find a Grave Memorial ID 17920087
  1. The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Consolidated Lists of Civil War Draft Registration Records (Provost Marshal General’s Bureau; Consolidated Enrollment Lists, 1863-1865); Record Group: 110; Collection Name: Consolidated Enrollment Lists, 1863-1865 (Civil War Union Draft Records); NAI: 4213514; Archive Volume Number: 5 of 6 ↩︎
  2. https://www.hsqac.org/blessing-opened-with-one-doctor-140-years-ago81744fd3 ↩︎

Tombstone Tuesday – Darmstadt to Fairbury

Posted on by agnette

Karl Schwing, my 3G-grandfather, was born in 1813 in Darmstadt, Germany.  His father was apparently also named Karl Schwing, according to the History of the Schwing Family, which provides many of the following details. While in Germany, Karl was a Lutheran minister; he was married twice in the “Old Country” but lost both wives shortly after childbirth, the second wife buried at sea during the trip from Germany to America. Karl would later join the German Apostolic Christian Church.

In 1851 Karl married Saloma Bollinger, my 3G-grandmother, in Akron, Ohio. They had a son, John B., in 1852, and in 1853 the two older children, Karl and Margaret, died. Four more children followed John’s birth: Charles; Henry Edward; Albert Carl, Sr.; and Joseph Gilbert. Both the 1860 and 1870 censuses show Karl working as a tailor in Akron. In 1877 the family moved to Livingston County, Illinois, where Karl worked as a farmer. Three years later, the oldest surviving son, John, died in Chatsworth, Illinois, of lung fever. Karl only outlived his son by three months. The Livingston Yesterday series from the Pontiac Public Library (taken from the Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Illinois) states that on 10 August, 1880, “at the zenith of his powers,” Karl died. He is buried in the South Apostolic Christian Cemetery outside Fairbury, Illinois. Karl’s widow Saloma lived for two more decades, residing with all three sons at various times. She died in early 1900 and is buried in Graceland Cemetery in Fairbury.

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Wednesday’s Child – Swing Children

Posted on by agnette

 

Today’s “Wednesday’s Children” were the offspring of my great-great-granduncle, Joseph Gilbert Swing and his third wife, my great-grandaunt, Lydia (Hoffmann) Swing. Born August 10, 1861 in Akron, Ohio, he was the youngest child of Karl and Saloma (Bollinger) Schwing. His older brother Albert Carl was my great-great-grandfather. About 1877 he moved with his parents to Livingston County, Illinois. As we have seen, he married Annie Schippee about 1885-1886 and had two children, Walter and Anna. Annie died June 19, 1888, and Joseph married Eugenie Hoffmann (sister of my great-great-grandmother Catherine) on February 23, 1890. Joseph and Eugenie had four children: Joseph John, Mary S., William J. and Jacob G. Eugenie died June 12, 1900 at age 35. Joseph then married Eugenie’s half-sister, Lydia (sister of my great-grandfather Paul) on September 1, 1901.

Joseph and Lydia had a total of eleven children: Eugenie C., Elizabeth S., Harvey A., Christine A., Phillip L., Gilbert L., Caroline L., Edna May, Marjory, Jessie Edward, and Ruth Evelyn. Around 1913-14 the family moved from Fairbury, Illinois, to Stillwell, Indiana. It is at Oak Grove Cemetery in La Crosse, Indiana, that three of the eleven children lie buried.

Joseph and Lydia lost two of their children within little more than two months; Edna May died first, on May 17, 1916, one day after her second birthday, and Phillip on July 24, 1916 at age 8. Five years later, on March 13, 1921, the youngest child, Ruth Evelyn, also died. Joseph himself died July 29, 1949 at age 87; Lydia lived another eight years, dying September 21, 1957.

Surname Saturday – Bewildering Bollingers

Posted on by agnette

Saloma Bollinger, my 3G-grandmother, is bewildering. Was her name Saloma, Salina, Lalla, or Salome? Was she born September 22, 1821; September 22, 1822; or between 1823-1824? Was she born in Zurich or Schaffhausen, Switzerland; Kentucky; Germany; or Akron?

It seems most likely that she was named Saloma Bollinger and was born September 22, 1822 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. She appears to have emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, about 1848 with two brothers, a sister, and a brother-in-law (and possibly her parents). One brother was named Baldes and is said to have served in the Civil War.

What of the Bollinger surname? I have yet to identify who Saloma’s parents were, or any siblings other than Baldes (and even he is pretty murky). Ancestry.com provides the following: Swiss German: habitational name for someone from any of three places called Bollingen, in Schwyz, Württemberg, and Oldenburg, or from Bohlingen near Lake Constance (which is pronounced and was formerly written as Bollingen). 

This doesn’t provide us with much. Fortunately, Saloma’s later years are more easily documented. By 1850 Saloma had moved to Akron, where she met Karl Schwing; they were married in Akron the following year. In 1860 Karl and Saloma (ages 46 and 36) were enumerated in Akron with children John, 9; Henry, 3; Albert, 1 (my great-great-grandfather); and an Elizabeth Raison, 20. Karl’s occupation is listed as tailor. Another son, Charles, had died in childhood.

In 1870 the family is still in Akron; “Charles Schwing” and “Soloma,” John, Henry, and Albert have been joined by Joseph, age 8.

By 1880 the family has moved to Chatsworth, Illinois: Charles Swing, 66; “Lalla” Swing, 58; Henry Swing, 23; Albert Swing, 20; and Joseph Swing, 18.

On August 14, 1880, the Chatsworth Plaindealer noted the following:

Deaths

Mr. Swing formerly of Ackron [sic], Ohio, died at his home in this township Tuesday evening, aged 67 years. His funeral was attended Thursday.

Saloma’s son John had died earlier that year of “lung fever” at age 29. It seems that Salome spent the final 20 years of her life rotating between the Illinois farms of her three remaining sons, living at different times in the Chatsworth area, Cissna Park, and after 1888 in Fairbury with son Joseph. Saloma died in early 1900 and was buried in Graceland Cemetery, Fairbury.

Derrick K. Babbs, in his book 91 Years of of the Fairbury, Illinois German Apostolic Church: 1874-1965, reprints Saloma’s obituary:

Saloma Bollinger Swing

Mrs. Saloma Swing died at the residence of her son Joseph Swing in this city Wednesday, January 7, aged 77 years, 4 months and 10 days. Saloma Bollinger was born in Switzerland September 22, 1822. She came to America with her parents in the spring of 1849. The family first located at Akron, Ohio. She was united in marriage to Carl Swing in 1851 at Akron and 24 years of her life were spent at that place. Five boys were born to them, three of whom are living: Henry Swing, at Lamar, Missouri; Albert at Cissna Park, Ill.; and Joseph the youngest at Fairbury. On first coming to Illinois the familiy located near Chatsworth where they lived for five years. It was in that place that she lost her husband, Mr. Swing dying August 10, 1889 [sic].

The family came to Fairbury in 1888 and she has since made her home in this city. She was a kind and affectionate mother and a loving wife. She was for many years a member of the German Apostolic Church and died in that faith. Besides her three children she leaves two brothers and many friends to mourn her death.

The funeral services will be held this afternoon in the German Apostolic Church of this city, and the remains will be laid to rest in the Fairbury cemetery.