Death Certificates Archives

Category: Death Certificates

Document Detail: Death Certificate of Samuel Slegel

Posted on January 18, 2026January 17, 2026 by spuddled

I’ve always thought of both sides of my family as essentially midwesterners who migrated to the “Intermountain West” in the 1940s, leaving the remainder of their families (and my ancestors) behind. Today’s post, my inaugural “Document Detail” entry, takes a closer look at how things are not always as they seem.

My maternal grandparents, Joseph Benjamin and Velma Marie (Swing) Hoffmann were both certainly midwesterners. Grandpa was born in Fairbury, Illinois, and Grandma in Francesville, Indiana. They married in Peoria, Illinois, in 1938, and moved to Idaho in 1940. Though Grandma’s parents later moved to Texas, the fact that their move took place after Grandma and Grandpa’s made it seem that Grandma and Grandpa were the trailblazers, the first to really leave their midwestern roots.

On Grandpa’s side, his parents and three of his grandparents are all buried in Fairbury. One outlier, his paternal grandmother, is buried in Cissna Park, Illinois. Again, all in line with my familial identity. My maternal relatives emigrated from France, Germany, or Switzerland, wound up in the midwest, and stayed until Grandma and Grandpa set off for the west so Grandpa could hunt and fish. At least that is the lore.

But if we backtrack, we find a different story. Grandpa’s mother, Emma Alice Slagel, as I’ve said, died and is buried in Fairbury. She was born there as well. Her mother, Mary Demler, was born in Baden, Germany, married Samuel Slagel in Fairbury in 1875, and was buried in Fairbury in 1928. Samuel Slagel was born in Wisconsin in 1849 (or possibly Iowa; sources differ), eventually moving to Fairbury before marrying Mary. His parents, Samuel John and Mary (Walty) Slegel, were born in Bern, Switzerland (Samuel between 1815-1816, and Mary between 1819-1820).¹ Their first child was born in France, but the remaining 11 were born in the midwestern U.S. Mary died in Iowa, though I have yet to determine exactly when.

But Samuel John? He died in…Oregon. And his was not a mid-twentieth-century move. He was living in Dairy Creek, Washington County, Oregon, by 1880, as he was enumerated there with his married son John.² In the 1887 Washington Territorial census, he was living in Klickitat (now part of Washington State, and about 120 miles east of Washington County, Oregon).³ I haven’t found him in the 1900 census yet, which at first led me to believe he died before 1900. But Ancestry.com’s Oregon Death Index provided a death date for him of 3 February 1905,⁴ and when I emailed the Oregon State Archives, they responded quickly with a copy of Samuel’s death certificate.

Since the entire premise of this theme is to focus on one document in detail, I’ll do that now (finally). Right off the top (literally), what stands out is that he passed away in the “Insane Asylum” in Salem, Oregon. A quick stroll through Wikipedia tells me that what is now called the Oregon State Hospital was founded in 1862, but the current building was constructed in 1883.⁵

The next thing that jumps out from Samuel’s death certificate is his name. Here he is listed as “John Schlegel, Sr.” He might, in fact, take the prize for the highest number of name variations in the numerous records in which he appears. In the “Alternate Name” field in my database, he shows up as: John Schlagle, John Schlagel, John Schlegal, John Slagle, Samuel John Slegel, John Schlegle, John Slagel, John Schlegel, and John Samuel Slegel.

Whatever his name was, he is listed as 88 years old at his death, and a widower born in Switzerland who had worked as a farmer. All of that seems pretty accurate, though I do wish someone had entered an actual birthdate for him! And next we get his date of death. Interestingly, it seems that the Oregon Death Index was inaccurate, and that he died on 13 February 1905 rather than 3 February. The doctor who signed the death certificate, W. D. McNary, notes that he had attended John from 31 January – 13 February, last saw him alive on the 13th, and that John died that day at 1 p.m.

Dr. McNary gave “senile exhaustion” as Samuel John’s cause of death. This vague term describes fatigue in older adults that could be caused by any number of factors so isn’t terribly helpful. What is interesting is that Samuel’s death certificate notes that he was only at the asylum for 14 days before his death, and before that his “former or usual residence” was Banks, Oregon (which is in Washington County). So his was not a long extended stay at the asylum. Which makes me wonder what happened to necessitate taking him there on 31 January. Then the final piece of information gleaned from the document is his place of death: the Asylum Cemetery. Samuel John would not have been buried here for long; after a vote by the Oregon Legislature in 1913, all the remains in this cemetery were disinterred and cremated, some being claimed by relatives and reinterred to location designated by the family members. I’m not sure if Samuel was one of these, or where his remains are now.⁶ But in spite of my preconceived notions, at least three of Samuel’s children would also live and die in Oregon. It’s just that my direct ancestor wasn’t one of these three, and it took another two generations for my branch to make the journey west.

A completely unrelated postscript: in doing a quick search for the Dr. W. D. McNary who treated Samuel John, I discovered that he had been born at Klickitat, Washington, but moved to Salem, Oregon, where he served on the state hospital staff. He died in 1943. But his son, Wilson Davis McNary, Jr., died in 1941 in San Mateo, California, shot to death by someone who accused him of “stealing his girl.”⁷ There are a whole slew of newspaper articles about that, but that’s too much of a digression even for me.

1850 Census (n.p: www.ancestry.com, n.d). ↩︎
FamilyHistory Search and/or www.ancestry.com, 1880 Census. ↩︎
Washington State Archives, “Washington, U.S., State and Territorial Censuses, 1857-1892,” censuses, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1018/ : accessed 25 March 2025), John Schlagel. ↩︎
Ancestry, Oregon Death Index, 1903-1998. ↩︎
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_State_Hospital ↩︎
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2626933/asylum-cemetery ↩︎
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/108775348/wilson_davis-mcnary ↩︎

Not Forgotten: The Death of Grace Montgomery

Posted on August 25, 2024June 29, 2025 by spuddled

On this day we remember the short life of my second cousin twice removed, Grace Montgomery. Grace was born on 20 August 1916 in Warren County, Ohio, and died five days later. She is buried in the Springboro Cemetery in Springboro, Ohio. Her parents were William Wiley and Amy A. (Beal) Montgomery; her grandparents were Edward and Louisa A. (Malotte) Montgomery; and her great-grandparents were William and Mary Ann (Extell) Montgomery, my 3G-grandparents.

Grace was the third child and only daughter born to William and Amy. Her brothers were Clement W., born in 1912; Omer A., born in 1914; William Wiley, Jr., born in 1919; and Carl E., born in 1921. Grace’s official death certificate lists premature birth as her cause of death.

Five-day-old Grace never appears in any census record, but her parents can be traced through several enumerations, remaining always in Warren County. In 1950 youngest son “Wiley, Jr.” is 30 years old and still living at home. He is listed as a farmer, as is his father, so it seems probable they were farming together. Amy died in 1958 and William Wiley, Sr., in 1965. Of Grace’s brothers, Clement died in 1982, Omer in 1987, and William Wiley, Jr., in 1979. The youngest, Carl, died in 2018 at the age of 96, outliving the sister he never knew by 102 years.

Death in Iowa: the Drowning of Leolin Van Horn

Posted on June 30, 2024June 29, 2025 by spuddled

*Des Moines Tribune-Capital*,
1 July 1929

Today is the anniversary of another sad death in family history. This time the deceased is Leolin Van Horn, my fifth cousin once removed. He was the son of Lewis Alexander and Mary Aldie (Knight) Van Horn and was born 26 October 1907 in Tama County, Iowa. Leolin’s mother was the granddaughter of Mary “Polly” (Davis) Knight, a descendant of William “Bottom Billy” Davis, who has appeared in this blog in the past.

Leolin was one of 10 children born to Lewis and Aldie, though by 1910 two of the children had passed away. In that year’s 1910 census, 2-year-old Leolin appears with his parents and siblings in Carlton, Iowa. The family was still in Carlton in 1920, the household consisting then of Lewis and Alda; Lewis’s mother Mary (then 81 years old); and children Orel, Leolin, and Alvin. Lewis would die on 12 June 1924 at age 63, followed by Leolin five years later.

According to the Des Moines Tribune-Capital of 1 July 1929 (a Monday), the previous weekend had been a tragic one for many across the state. Twelve individuals had died in various incidents in Iowa: five in automobile accidents, four in drownings, and two by suicide. The article then goes on to detail each of the twelve deaths. Regarding Leolin, it is noted that he was swimming with three companions near LeGrand; exactly what happened is not clear, but one of the friends rescued the two others but was unable to save Leolin. His death certificate notes that he died of “drowning or possibly heart failure” at 4:10 p.m. He was 21 years old and working as a butter maker.

A letter uploaded to Leolin’s Find a Grave memorial, written by Zelma Peterson, who appears to have been the older sister of the companion who was unable to save Leolin, tells of the effects the tragedy had not only on Leolin’s own family but those of the others involved in the incident. Leolin is buried at Garwin Union Cemetery in Garwin, Iowa.

Another loss would take place less than a year later when Leolin’s older sister Martha Inez died in Janesville, Wisconsin, at age 36. She had married her fourth cousin Luen Lippincott in either 1914 or 1915, and they had had three children together. Her cause of death is unclear, but must have been a sad blow coming so soon after the loss of Leolin.

Aldie herself died unexpectedly 14 years later at age 77. She had been visiting Janesville and was preparing to return home to Iowa when she passed away. Her body was taken back to Iowa where she was interred at Garwin Union Cemetery. The other Van Horn family members lived on for quite some time; the next of the siblings to die was Frank, in 1964. Most of the others lived into the 1970s, and the youngest would not pass away until 1991.

How Old Is Old?: The Death of Hannah Davis Doak

Posted on June 16, 2024June 29, 2025 by spuddled

Today we remember the death 146 years ago of Hannah Davis, my fourth great-grandaunt. Interestingly, she is one of 15 individuals named Hannah Davis in my family tree. Her younger brother, Cornelius, was my fourth great-grandfather. They were two of the children of Joseph S. and Hannah (Sutton) Davis.

Hannah was born about 1801-1802 in what would become West Virginia. On, 8 September 1819 in Harrison County, (West) Virginia, she married James Doak, a Pennsylvania native. In 1850 (the first census which listed each household member by name), James and Hannah “Doke” were enumerated in Doddridge County, along with presumed children Marion, 15; Catharine, 7; and Alexander, 4. Sadly, in the “Condition” column next to Marion’s name is written simply “Insane.” Living in the next dwelling over is James and Hannah’s 26-year-old son, Davis “Doke” and his new wife Rachel.

In 1860, still in Doddridge County, James and Hannah Doak are listed with children Katharine, Alex, and Marion. Again using the terminology of the time, Marion is listed as “Idiotic.” James died on 18 May 1866 in Doddridge County, West Virginia. He was about 66 years old. The 1870 census shows the widowed Hannah living with her son Alexander, now 24 and married. He and his wife Charlotte had added a new baby, Loverna, to the family the previous September. Marion, still labeled “Idiot,” is living in the household with them as well. The census also notes that Marion is unable to read or write.

Eight years later, on 16 June 1878, Hannah Doak passed away in Doddridge County. Her West Virginia death record, inconveniently unable to be displayed or downloaded at the moment due to some weird technological gremlins, lists her cause of death as “old age.” She was approximately 77. Sorry, Dad!

I have yet to determine what became of poor Marion after Hannah’s death; perhaps he died sometime between 1870 and 1880. In any case, I did not see him in any of his siblings’ households in those later years. James and Hannah’s youngest child, Alexander, lived until 1920, dying in West Union, West Virginia; he is buried in the Arnolds Creek Cemetery in Greenwood. The Find a Grave website notes that Alexander and Rachel had at least five children: baby “Levernia” from the 1870 census; Walter, who died at age 4 from fever; Gilbert; James W.; and a second Walter. At his own death, Alexander was 74; his widow Charlotte survived until 1930, dying at age EIGHTY. “Old age,” indeed.

Tragedy at Resort, Michigan: the Death of Bert Burdell Jones

Posted on May 5, 2024June 29, 2025 by spuddled

I have another sad story for you today. The subject this time is my third cousin three times removed, Bert Burdell Jones. He was born 3 November 1867 in Mason County, Michigan. He was the eldest child of James E. and Margery M. (Taylor) Jones. Margery’s parents were Elias and Sally (Willson) Taylor. Elias’s sister Mary Eunice was the second wife of my 4G-grandfather John Wilder Wilson, and these Taylor/Wilson connections produced the “Moses Taylor letters” I’ve discussed here before.

Bert appears in census records with his parents in 1870 in Kalamo, Eaton County, Michigan, and in 1880 in Little Traverse, Emmet County, Michigan. In the column in the 1880 census where infirmities are noted, next to Bert’s father’s name is noted “rupture.” This is one of those mystery medical descriptions I have yet to pin down; according to the Find a Grave website, James Jones died in 1883 at the age of about 45; whether this was related to his “rupture,” I do not know.

On 27 March 1890 in Harbor Springs, Emmet County, Bert married Minnie Caroline Dietz. He was 22; she was 19. Ten years later Bert and Minnie were enumerated in Resort, Emmet County, along with children Harold V., born July 1893; Dewey M., born April 1898; and what looks like Vyolynn (born April 1900), but in later records appears to be Verlyn. Bert is working as a day laborer.

The 1903 Petoskey, Michigan, City Directory lists Bert B. Jones as a farmer with 70 acres of land and a total property value of $1200 in Resort. In 1910 the family is still in Resort; no street names are given for the section in which they appear, but the enumerator has labeled it the “Jones Neighborhood.” Bert is listed as a general farmer; son Harold, 16, is a laborer in a lime kiln. M. Dewey and Verlyn E. are still in the household; Minnie is listed as having given birth to four children, but with only three still living. A daughter, Lottie L. Jones, had been born about 1896 and died 15 March 1897; she is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Petoskey. Others in the Jones household in 1910 included Minnie’s father Amos Deitz [sic]; a German neighbor, Frank Newman; and a 5-year-old niece, Agnes Jones. Agnes was the daughter of Bert’s brother Sidney; though Sidney was still living, Agnes’s mother had died sometime between 1900 and 1908, and it was not unusual in these situations for motherless children to be taken into other households where they could continue to benefit from the influence of a mother figure.

Interestingly, by 1920, 14-year-old Agnes seems to have become so much a part of Bert and Minnie’s family that her relationship is listed as “Daughter” in the census. Verlyn is still living in the household, as is Amos Deitz, now 84, and a new addition, 5-year-old James Bradford Jones, Bert and Minnie’s last child.

It is difficult to say what happened over the next two years, as I have yet to find any newspaper articles or other sources that would provide more context. All I have is a very clinical death certificate for Bert. His death is noted as taking place on 5 May 1922 in Resort, and he is listed as a 54-year-old farmer who had lived in Resort for 41 years. Mrs. Minnie C. Jones is the informant, and the coroner has listed Bert’s cause of death as “Suicide by strangulation (hanging).” Bert’s Find a Grave memorial adds the detail that this death took place in his barn.

A couple of years after Bert’s death, Minnie married Peter J. McEwen, before dying in 1930 at age 60. Eldest son Harold, by age 24, was missing the fingers off his left hand at the first joint but worked as a railroad telegraph operator until his own tragic death in 1949 at age 56 when he was struck by a freight train in front of his station. Merton Dewey died in Kalamazoo at age 57, Agnes Jones at 59, and Verlyn at 69. The baby of the family, James Bradford, lived until 2001, dying at age 87; one hopes he found sufficient joy in his own life to mitigate so much tragedy.

Marie from Mackwiller: The Death of Marie Elisabeth Hoffmann

Posted on April 28, 2024June 29, 2025 by spuddled

On this day we remember Marie Elisabeth Hoffmann, my third great-grandaunt, who died 169 years ago today. She was born on 10 October 1793 in Mackwiller, Alsace, the daughter of Jean Pierre and Caroline (Bach) Hoffmann. As of 2021 Mackwiller had a population of 539. Marie was the eldest of at least eight children: sisters Caroline, Christine, Catherine, and Marguerite, and brothers Nicolas (father of our Jacob Hoffmann), Peter (who died at age 1), and Pierre.

I don’t know a lot of details about Marie’s life; the information I do have comes from the various records of the Bas-Rhin region of Alsace. It appears that around 30 June 1819, Marie gave birth to a son, listed in civil records as Jacques Hoffmann. Jacques lived only three months and 9 days, dying on 9 October 1819. On Jacques’s death record, where the name of his father would ordinarily be listed, it states instead (in French) “the name of his father is unknown to us.”

Nonetheless, some seven years later, Marie was married, to Jean Chrétien Friedrich, eight years her junior. They were married in Mackwiller on 4 February 1826. On 2 August of that year they had a son George, and in 1828 they had a daughter Catherine. The family appears in the 1836 and 1841 censuses for Mackwiller. Both husband and wife are listed under their middle names and as Protestants. There are records from August 1831 of a daughter Catherine born to Chrétien and Marie Elisabeth (Hoffmann) Friederich, so it is possible the first Catherine died young and a second daughter was named after the first.

Marriage Record of Chrétien Friederich and Marie Elisabeth Hoffmann

In 1850 George (or Georges) married Henriette Rose, 29 years old. Then on 28 April 1855 in Mackwiller, Marie Elisabeth died, aged 61. In August 1856, her widower died, in Mackwiller as well. As I mentioned, there are a lot of gaps in the family’s history, which means more investigation is needed. A genealogist’s work is never done. Yay!

Death Record of Marie Elisabeth Hoffmann

Her Demise Was Not Entirely Unexpected: The Death of Agnette Roberg

Posted on February 18, 2024June 29, 2025 by spuddled

On this day 105 years ago, my great-great-grandmother Agnette (Lien) Roberg died in Boone County, Nebraska. Hers was in many ways the quintessential immigrant story. Born 30 November 1844 in Biri, Oppland, Norway, she was the daughter of Evan Olsen Lien and his wife Karen Larsdatter Onsrud. According to sources at the University of Tromsø, in 1865 both she and her sister Oline were employed as maids.

On 12 January 1871 Agnette gave birth to a son, listed on the record of his 7 May 1871 baptism in Ostre Toten, Oppland as Emil Marthinus, son of Marthinus Juliussen. He would later go by the name Emil Martin. I need to further investigate the relationship between Agnette and Marthinus, as it appears Marthinus was still alive and living in Oppland long after Agnette and Emil emigrated to America.

Agnette and 7-year-old Emil emigrated in 1878 on the S. S. Angelo. On 3 December of that year, Agnette, then 34, married a 23-year-old bachelor, Anders Mathis Roberg, in Rushford, Minnesota. In May of the following year, the family of three left Minnesota for Nebraska in a covered wagon. Less than a year after their move, on 17 February 1880, Agnette would give birth to her second child, Severin Andrew. Severin was followed on 5 November 1881 by Sophie Christine (the only great-grandparent I ever met, and only because she lived to be 97), and on 2 June 1884 by Sena.

The family appears in the 1880 census in Shell Creek, Boone County, Nebraska, and in the 1900 and 1910 censuses in Midland Precinct, Boone County. Tragedy had struck the family in 1908 with the gruesome death of Sena’s husband, Charlie Johnson, which was followed by various legal entanglements and Sena’s eventual mysterious disappearance. In addition, Sophie and her husband Carl Ozro Wilson had lost two small children: Anders Clarence Wilson died on his 2nd birthday, 13 August 1909, and Woodrow Wilson died at two days old on 23 July 1917.

These events must have made the later years of Agnette’s life sad ones. Sometime around 1917 Agnette was diagnosed with liver cancer, and on 18 February 1919 she succumbed to the disease at the age of 74 years, 2 months, and 19 days. According to her death certificate, she was buried two days later in the South Branch Cemetery in Newman Grove, Nebraska. I have visited this beautiful windswept cemetery and seen where Agnette was buried that day, and where Anders was buried following his death 24 years later. Grandson Anders Clarence is buried near them; baby Woodrow Wilson is buried near his own parents in the Winner, South Dakota, cemetery.

Agnette’s obituary appeared in the Newman Grove Reporter of 19 February 1919. It mentions her failing health and not unexpected demise. Enumerating Agnette’s survivors, the writer refers to Emil “Roeberg” living near Bradish, “Severn” northwest of Newman Grove, “Mrs. Sina Johnson, whose place of residence we did not learn,” and “Mrs. Carl Wilson,” living in Dakota. The writer notes that Agnette was survived by thirteen of her fifteen grandchildren.

Finally, the writer captures much of Agnette’s life in one succinct paragraph: “Mr. and Mrs. Roeberg [sic] were among the oldest settlers in this county coming here forty years ago they bravely endured the hardships incident to pioneer life. They are well and favorably known throughout the entire community.” A fitting epitaph.

Sophie, Anders, Severin, Emil, Agnette, Sena

Dark as a Dungeon: Coal Miner Zina Flanigan

Posted on January 28, 2024June 29, 2025 by spuddled

This week’s snapshot of family history centers around the untimely death of Zina Edward Flanigan, my fifth cousin twice removed. He was a descendant of “Bottom Billy” Davis, mentioned here previously. The fifth of twelve children of William T. and Lydia Jane (Greene) Flanigan, he was born 16 December 1895 in the Coal district of Harrison County, West Virginia. This is not to be confused with Coal City, West Virginia, which is farther south in the state, in Raleigh County. Many of our relatives were from the Seventh Day Baptist strongholds of Harrison and Doddridge Counties.

In the 1900 census Zina’s father is listed as a coal dig[g]er, supporting his growing family in one of the many coal mines throughout that region. In 1910 Zina, now 15, is still listed as attending school and not employed. An interesting photograph from the West Virginia History OnView website shows a boy of 15 at work in the coal mines in 1908, so it would not have been unheard of for Zina to have been working by this time.

This reliance on the coal mines for the family’s livelihood can be readily seen throughout their census records. By 1920 Zina had married, but his siblings still at home were beginning to find employment to help out; his sister May, 24, is listed as “working out,” and Lester, 17, as a “laborer, coal mines.” In 1930 Zina’s father’s occupation had changed to “quarry man, stone quarry,” but Howard, 24, was a “loader, coal mines.” In 1940 William, Lydia, and Howard were living with Zina’s youngest sibling Glen, though Glen is a carpenter. William, now 72, is still employed in the coal mines, now as a coal loader, while Howard is listed as a “machinist, coal mine.”

Meanwhile Zina, no longer under his father’s roof, continued down the coal mining path. On 2 July 1917 21-year-old Zina married Bessie Arthelia Ash, 20 years old, at her father’s residence. At about the same time, Zina registered for the draft and noted his employer was the Clark Coal Company. In 1918 Bessie gave birth to their first child, Kenneth Bute Flanigan, but Kenneth died in 1920. His cause of death (along with that of 5 others on the same page) is listed helpfully as “complications.” Three more sons followed (in 1921, 1924, and 1931), all of whom lived to adulthood and can be found in later censuses.

Zina can be found in 1930 but not 1940, as he died 84 years ago today at the age of 44. Unlike the death certificate for baby Kenneth, Zina’s provides a bit more detail on both his life and death. His occupation is listed as Coal Miner at Katherine Mines. His parentage, birth date, and marriage to Bessie are confirmed. And according to the information supplied by his attending physician, Zina died at the Union Protestant Hospital in Clarksburg at 4:30 a.m. on the 28th, having been attending by Dr. Williams starting on the 26th. Dr. Williams indicates Zina’s cause of death as “meningitis (strep)” and then adds “A history of a head injury while working in the Mines – (a possible cause).” I didn’t realize meningitis could be caused by head injury, but a quick Google search confirmed this is a possibility. One thinks of mining accidents and black lung, but less so about injuries from which one recovers only to have them prove fatal in a circuitous way later on. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find further details about Zina’s head injury history.

The newly-widowed Bessie appears in the 1940 census as head of the household, along with her sons, then 19, 15, and 8. None are listed as having employment. According to the Find a Grave website, Bessie remarried in 1944, but that marriage soon ended in divorce. In 1954 she married again, to Harvey Kyle in Frederick County, Virginia. That marriage lasted 21 years until Harvey’s death. Bessie herself would die in 1990 in Baltimore at the age of 93, having outlived Zina by more than half a century.

Wednesday’s Child: Enfant de Hoffmann Jacob

Posted on December 21, 2022December 21, 2022 by spuddled

Much of our Hoffmann family history came originally from the “green pamphlet” written by my great-granduncle Joseph Hoffman regarding his father Jacob’s life in Europe and the family’s emigration to the U.S. in 1883. This pamphlet lists Joseph’s siblings and half-siblings: ten children Jacob had with his first wife Annette Meyer and the seven additional children Jacob had with his second wife Christine Schmidt. Joseph’s list would suggest that he was the youngest of the first set of children, but there is at least one child unaccounted for.

Anna or Annette (Meyer) Hoffmann, Jacob’s first wife, was born 13 December 1827 in Grostenquin, France, and died 26 June 1874 in Renaucourt, France, aged 46. I had previously seen a cropped photograph of just her death record, but when I found the website for the Departmental Archives of Haute-Saône and looked more closely, I noticed another record just above Annette’s.

Death record of Hoffmann Infant — Civil records from Renaucourt, France, 1873-1882

Using my rusty high school French, I was able to determine that entry number 6 was for an “Enfant de Hoffmann Jacob présenté sans vie.” The “présenté sans vie” label was used to define those children who died before a birth registration could be drawn up. No name is given for the Hoffmann infant, but the record confirms he was de sexe masculin and was born 7 June 1874 at 9 p.m. Only 19 days later, Annette Meyer died as well; it seems likely her death resulted in some way from the birth of this last unnamed child.

I know nothing else about this baby who died too young, but at least finding his death record has given him a voice and has allowed me to give him his rightful place in the family tree.

Sympathy Saturday – Typhoid Fever

Posted on June 7, 2014June 29, 2025 by agnette

If one’s ancestors have to die, they may as well succumb to interesting diseases. Typhoid fever is one of those causes of death that has an antiquated ring to it. My only prior association with it was from reading the Catherine Marshall novel Christy. But apparently my great-great-grandfather, Albert Carl Swing, was one of its victims. Or was he really Albert Charles Swing, as indicated on his death certificate? Hmm.

Albert died 10 days shy of his 63rd birthday in Francesville, Indiana. He had been born 24 October 1859 in Akron, Ohio, the son of Carl/Karl Schwing and Saloma Bollinger. The family appears in both the 1860 and 1870 censuses in Akron. In 1877 they moved to Livingston County, Illinois, where they appear in the 1880 census in Chatsworth. On 17 February 1884 in Fairbury, Illinois, Albert married Catherine Marie Hoffmann. Together they had 13 children, including my great-grandfather, Albert Carl Swing, Jr. In 1900 they appear in Ash Grove, Illinois, then in 1905 moved near Wolcott, Indiana. In the 1910 census they were enumerated in Salem, Indiana, then in 1920 in Hanging Grove, Indiana. Two years later Albert died. Albert was buried three days after his death, in the Francesville (Roseland) cemetery.

Typhoid or enteric fever is a specific infectious fever characterized mainly by its insidious onset, by a peculiar course of the temperature, by marked abdominal symptoms occurring in connection with a specific lesion of the bowels, by an eruption upon the skin, by its uncertain duration, and by a liability to relapses. This fever has received various names, such as gastric fever, abdominal typhus, infantile remittent fever, slow fever, nervous fever, pythogenic fever, etc. The name of ” typhoid ” was given by Louis in 1829, as a derivative from typhus. Until a comparatively recent period typhoid was not distinguished from typhus. For, although it had been noticed that the course of the disease and its morbid anatomy were different from those of ordinary cases of typhus, it was believed that they merely represented a variety of that malady. The distinction between the two diseases appears to have been first accurately made in 1836. [Britannica1911].

Ahnentafel

genealogically speaking