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Census Surprises: Emelia Heidemann

1880 US Federal Census for Emelie Heidemann, via Ancestry.com.
1880 US Federal Census for Emelie Heidemann, via Ancestry.com. (Click to enlarge.)

Helbling Family (Click for Family Tree)

Sometimes, as genealogists, we are so busy checking off our list of what we need for a person, such as census, birth, marriage, and death records, military, etc., that we don’t slow down and peruse what is going on around the person’s name in the record. That is what happened in this research session- due to such a variety of spellings of Emelie’s first name, and not being positive about her last name (see previous posts linked below), when I did find her I was excited. It verified her last name, so then I went to look for more.

But wait- Emelie was “at school” in 1880. (I had no idea when she was born when I started researching her.) There was an Annie Heidemann listed right after her, listed as “at school” as well- neither listed as ‘daughter.’ Hmmm, no parents listed there. Moving up the census page, there were no other Heidemanns to be found- all persons were “at school” and had different last names, plus four women over the age of 52 were listed as “boarding”; there was also a younger “servant” listed. Time to check the previous page in the census. Jackpot- it had 20 listed as “teacher,” 1 “Infirmarier” (nurse?), 3 seamstresses, and 23 as ‘lay sister.’ There were also 3 more “at school” to add to the 28 on the page with Emelie and Annie.

So it looks as if the Heidemann sisters (or cousins?) were in a boarding school, probably Catholic as:

1) They were a German family;

2) ‘Lay sisters’ were enumerated;

3) Many teachers were enumerated, and their first names sound a lot like Catholic sister’s names; they did have a last name listed however, and no title such as “Sr” (for “Sister”).

4) The only male in the grouping was the servant, age 24.

I did not see Emelie & Annie’s names listed on the enumeration for Herman Heidemann for 1880, so initially thought that it verified them attending a boarding school. Possibly, though, the “Matilda” and “Ida” listed with Hermann were Emelie and Annie respectively, with the school using their formal names, family using their middle names as Germans often did. If Emelie and Annie were additional children, however, there would have been a child born each year in the family- not impossible, but somewhat unusual, and the births were off by a year. The question remains about why they might have been enumerated both at school and at home.

To confuse the matter further, the City of St. Louis actually did TWO enumerations for the 1880 US Federal Census- one in June, which is the one with Emelie and Annie listed in the school grouping but not listed as such with Herman, and then another in November, when those names were also not listed with Herman’s family. There is another twist too- Herman’s wife is listed as Louisa in one but Lizzie in the other. Ancestry.comas a Missouri marriage record forHermann Heidemann to Elisabeth Kastrups, and some Ancestry trees have her listed as ‘Elizabeth Louisa Kastrups’ so that could explain the two different names for her. That marriage date of 17 Oct 1863 could fit, though the oldest child I could find was Edward, born in 1869; that would be an unusual amount of time to go with no children, though they may have lost some children early in their marriage.

And then dear Herman Heidemann- the 1895 St. Louis City Directory lists 4 men with the same name: one a carpenter, one a cooper, one a teamster, and one with no occupation listed, and they all lived in different homes.

Ancestry.com family trees only added to the confusion- many persons apparently have mixed up the Hermans. The 1870 census on Ancestry did not help much, although there was a Herman in Chicago but that family did not have the older children.

 

Obviously, we could use some help in sorting this tangle of Heidemanns, but probably need someone more closely related with better knowledge of the family. I do feel confident about Emelie marrying Fred Spahn- I have heard the Spahn name before in Helbling family discussions. Please contact us if you have any more information about the Heidemann family and Emelie Heidemann Spahn.

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1) 1880 US Federal Census entries for Emelie and Ann Heidemann- Year: 1880; Census Place: Saint Louis, St Louis (Independent City), Missouri; Roll: 722; Family History Film: 1254722; Page: 655D; Enumeration District: 100; Image: 0738; via Ancestry.com.

2) 1880 US Federal Census entry for Hermann Heidemann family- Year: 1880; Census Place: Saint Louis, St Louis (Independent City), Missouri; Roll: 722; Family History Film: 1254722; Page: 66B; Enumeration District: 106; Image: 0136; via Ancestry.com

3) Hunting For Bears, comp.. Missouri Marriages, 1766-1983 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

 

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Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.
 
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Mystery Monday: Emelia and Aunt Lizzie- Solved

Emelia and Aunt Lizzie, possibly Peoria, Illinois.
“Emelia and Aunt Lizzie”, possibly Peoria, Illinois. (Click to enlarge.)

Helbling Family (Click for Family Tree)

Last Monday our Mystery Monday: Emelia and Aunt Lizzie post included the above image in hope of someone seeing it and being able to help us solve the mystery of Emelie and Aunt Lizzie and how they fit into the family. We now think we have a solution, although we do not know for sure who each of the persons are in the photograph- yet.

Trolling through my Ancestry.com family tree to try and find an “Emelie” was fruitless, but “Lizzie” was a hit: Elizabeth “Lizzy” Barbara Helbling surfaced after I had entered some data from old notes, specifically some from cousin Mary Lou, who did so much great Helbling research back in the days before the internet, and was so generous in sharing it.

Lizzy was born 25 Feb 1839 in Lawrenceville, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, to Franz Xavier Helbling and Mary Theresa Knipshield. Lizzy was therefore the sister of Franz X. Helbling, Jr., thus the aunt of ‘our’ Gerard William “G.W.” Helbling, son of Franz. The photo album belonged to G.W. and his wife, Anna May Beerbower Helbling, so she would have been “Aunt Lizzy” to May who was putting the captions in the album.

I thought the image was probably taken in the 1930s, but Aunt Lizzy died 25 Dec 1928, so it would have to be sometime in the 20s. She is likely the very elderly woman on the right in the photo, since she was listed as age 81 in the 1920 US Federal Census, and died at age 89.

If this was taken in Peoria, she was a pretty spry lady- she was living in Pittsburgh, PA in 1920 so would have probably taken the train to Peoria in her 80s. Spry also with sitting on the ground for the picture and possibly a picnic- getting up might have been hard!

 

So who then is Emelie? Emelie is the daughter-in-law of Lizzy, as Emelie married, probably in 1892, Frederick A. J. Spahn, the son of Lizzy and John Spahn. Emelia/Amelia was listed as a Practical Nurse in the 1920 US Federal Census, so she may have traveled with her mother-in-law as Emelia and Frederick were living in Lizzy’s household in 1920 in Pittsburgh. (How convenient to have a nurse around for someone 80 years old!) Emelie L. Heidemann was the daughter of Hermann and Louise Heidemann, born about 1840 and 1843, respectively, in Germany.

Researching Emelie in the census was challenging at first, since her given name was spelled so many ways, and I did not have a maiden name. Thankfully an Ancestry.com tree did have a maiden name, so searching using that last name as a clue, I was able to find her family. Her death certificate confirmed her maiden name, as it listed Hermann Heideman as her father, and that she was the widow of Fred J. Spahn.

Emelie was born in 1870, so would have been 50 in 1920. She might be the woman on the right in the dark dress, or the upper left with glasses. Fred is not listed in the caption in the photo album, so he may not have come on the trip- or could have been the photographer! (He died in 1837.) We will need to find a photo of both of them, and one of Lizzie, to try to match up images and identify these folks. Hopefully someone else out there has this same photo with identification. Please let us know if you are a Spahn or Helbling relative!

 

Notes, Sources, and References: 

1) Emelie Heidemann in the 1880 US Federal Census- Year: 1880; Census Place: Saint Louis, St Louis (Independent City), Missouri; Roll: 722; Family History Film: 1254722; Page: 655D; Enumeration District: 100; Image: 0738; via Ancestry.com.

2) 1920 US Federal Census for Elizabeth “Lizzie” Barbara Helbling Spahn Bushman- Year: 1920; Census Place: Pittsburgh Ward 26, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T625_1526; Page: 19B; Enumeration District: 739; Image: 1122; via Ancestry.com.

3) Family photo album.

 

Please contact us if you would like higher resolution images. Click to enlarge images.

We would love to read your thoughts and comments about this post (see form below), and thank you for your time! All comments are moderated, however, due to the high intelligence and persistence of spammers/hackers who really should be putting their smarts to use for the public good instead of spamming our little blog.
 

Original content copyright 2013-2015 by Heritage Ramblings Blog and pmm.

Family history is meant to be shared, but the original content of this site may NOT be used for any commercial purposes unless explicit written permission is received from both the blog owner and author. Blogs or websites with ads and/or any income-generating components are included under “commercial purposes,” as are the large genealogy database websites. Sites that republish original HeritageRamblings.net content as their own are in violation of copyright as well, and use of full content is not permitted.
 
Descendants and researchers MAY download images and posts to share with their families, and use the information on their family trees or in family history books with a small number of reprints. Please make sure to credit and cite the information properly.
 
Please contact us if you have any questions about copyright of our blog material.