Great Aunt Caroline (Hegwer) Fritze

 

I think this image and the few pages that accompanied it may have been the biggest research finds from my recent Salt Lake City trip.  Caroline (1831-1905) was fourth of the ten children of Carl Benjamin and Maria Rosina (ILGNER) HEGWER.  I may never find pictures of any of her siblings or parents, but at least I now have this one!

I knew that her husband, whose name I have recorded as Rev. J. Andrew FRITZE (1816-1877), had been a Lutheran clergyman of some note, often the first one in some of the areas where I have found him.  I also knew that Andrew & Caroline's family had been in Indiana.  

While at the Family History Library, I followed a hunch that there might be some information about him in this book:  The Pastors and their Families, St. Peter Fueling Evangelical Lutheran Church, Root Township, Adams County, Decatur, Indiana.  It appears in the FHL catalog with call number 977.273/R1 D3f.  It's a small book, unpaginated, compiled by Alan Franz.  (According to the catalog, it is also available on microfilm as Item 7 on film # 1,440,530.)

I used my digital camera to record the 13 pages about Rev. Fritze. The image above is cropped from one of those pages.  The book also includes photos and birth/death dates for their 9 children, copies of obituaries for both Andrew & Caroline, and other general information.  In one spot, it says Caroline & Andrew met and married in Europe but in Wisconsin in another spot.  I am confident that they met and married in Wisconsin.

In my genealogy dreams, this book was going to include wonderful, specific information about Caroline's birthplace and her grandparents.  That dream did not come true, but I'm still very happy having an image of someone from her generation!

Grandparents Bertha & Ben

Bertha Maud Carr was born 13 December 1893 in Racine, Racine, Wisconsin to John Henry and Ann Matilda (Causier) CARR.  Benjamin Theodore Hegwer was born 22 February 1885 in Goff, Nemaha, Kansas to Charles Herman and Margaret Lavina (Richardson) HEGWER.

They were married 11 September 1912 in Ely, White Pine, Nevada, where both Ben and John Henry were working.  This photo shows them in the mid to late 1920s in Salt Lake City, Utah.  By then, the family was living in St. Charles, Bear Lake, Idaho. 

The building with the water tank is the Salt Lake Hardware on N. 400 West just north of North Temple.  The railing was in front of the Union Pacific Railway Depot.  Where they are standing is now the front of a new Hyatt.  So, the railing is gone, the street looks different, and there is now an overpass in the way between where they were standing and the building, but the building is still there!

Back from Researchin'!

What a great trip!  I visited family & friends and got to spend two full days at the Family History Library.

At the FHL, I examined over 50 books, saw 29 microfilms/fiche, made 230 digital images from books or films, and spent an hour with a German-reading volunteer on translating some sources.  I am really impressed with the new digital coping process for microfilms.  

It's going to take me a good while to get all this new info analyzed.  I didn't find anything that is obviously a barn-burner for any of my direct lines, but I think there is a lot here that may lead in good directions.

The researching was great, but easily the best part was spending time with family and friends.  That part of the trip was much too short.  My dear aunt once again pulled out previously unseen, old family photos.  Some of them will show up here shortly!

Goin' Researchin' !

This is to announce that there won't be any new entries here for a while: I am going to Salt Lake City next week for several days! So, right now, I'm working hard on pre-research homework:

which families and locations am I targeting: I know I want to read the book shelves for specific counties: Knox, Seneca, and Ottawa in Ohio and Estill in Kentucky

what specific books do I want to see that are not available to me otherwise

I've got 3 documents or book extracts set aside which I need to discuss with a volunteer who reads German

I need to place an advance request for 2 films from the vault

I have 2 non-circulating microfiche to see

some other quickie microfilms do I need to see; ie, index films or quick vital records, as opposed to films like town records or deeds that require careful reading (I don't mind ordering those through my local FHC). I'll also use this trip to look at films that I don't expect to be useful but that I'd still like to see but don't want to pay $6 on a whim!

For my first trip there, I had studied Nancy Carlberg's Researching in Salt Lake City and found it quite useful. I think I'll try to reread it again before I leave!

I'm so excited! When I included a Family HIstory Library trip as one of my resolutions, I really wasn't sure it could happen! Have a great few weeks and I'll let you know all about it!