52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 8

This week’s writing prompt, Heirloom, is one that I am really excited about. In my husband’s family is a dresser that has been passed from generation to generation. It is known to have been in the family since at least 1891. That is a lot of history!

It was first owned by Johann August Determan and his wife, Mary (Luchtel) Determan, my husband’s great-grandparents. Johann was born 11 September 1867 in Clinton County, Iowa to Bernhard Clemens Determan and Marie Anna (Sander) Determan. Bernhard and Marie Anna had emigrated to the United States from Germany, arriving in New Orleans on 7 January 1845. Six members of the Determan clan were aboard the Ship Leontine, which had departed from Bremen, Germany. These families farmed in Clinton County, Iowa.

Mary Luchtel was born 17 June 1873 in Dyersville, Iowa to Herman Bernard Luchtel and Sophia (Grote) Luchtel, both of whom were born in the United States. Mary and Johann married in Breda, Iowa on 27 January 1891 when Mary was just 17 years old. Johann was 23 at the time. The couple went on to have 10 children. In the 1900 census, taken in April of that year, the family was living in Kniest Township, Carroll County, Iowa. By then they had been married 9 years and had 6 children: Caroline, Mary, Frank, Laura, Elizabeth and Edward (who died in September of 1900). They were living on a farm that they owned. Four additional children, Clement, Theresa (my husband’s grandmother), Martha and Joseph, were born in Iowa between 1901 and 1907.

In 1908, when Theresa was 5, the family decided to homestead in the Butte area of Nebraska. They traveled by train with their possessions, including the above-referenced dresser along with some farm machinery and animals. They completed the distance of about 300 miles in one day. But Johann died on 18 March 1910 in Butte at the age of 42, leaving Mary alone with their children. She continued to work the farm with her sons and hired help until 1918, and then she moved back to Iowa. The 5 oldest children married in Butte, and they remained in Nebraska with son Frank working the farm. Mary left with the 4 youngest ones, bringing the dresser and her other possessions back to Iowa.

In the meantime, Johann’s sister Maria Elizabeth died in Breda, Iowa in 1913. She had been married to Bernard Clemens Schulte, and they had 12 children. Sometime between 1918 and the beginning of 1920, Bernard married Mary (Lutchel) Determan. They were together by the 1920 Iowa census, along with 3 of Bernard’s children and 4 of Mary’s children.

Mary Determan Schulte
and Theresa Wolterman

When Mary died in 1955, the dresser went to her daughter Theresa (Determan) Wolterman, and from her to Theresa’s daughter Jeanette (Wolterman) Krebs. Jeanette was the mother of twins and only had one chest of drawers. Jeanette then passed the chest to her daughter Kay (Krebs) Bailey as she had two boys and could use it for them.

In 2011 Kay offered to bring the chest from Illinois to a family reunion as she no longer had a need for it. Interested family members put their names in a hat, with the understanding that the lucky winner had a vehicle large enough to take it home with them. We were fortunate to end up with the dresser, and we in turn gave it to my father-in-law as he had expressed an interest in it but was unable to attend the reunion.

Determan dresser

He refinished the piece, repairing some parts that had been damaged over the years, and gave the dresser back to us to be given to our son and his wife in Springfield, Virginia. The dresser has seen a lot of miles, and no doubt would have a lot of stories to tell. It is great to have a tangible item that connects 5 generations over more than 127 years!

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 7

Skipping weeks 5 and 6 due to the Family History Writing Challenge, today I turn my attention back to the 52 Ancestors challenge. The writing prompt for this week was Valentine, appropriately. I don’t have any old Valentine’s Day cards in my possession, nor do I know off the top of my head about any births or marriages which took place on February 14th. But I do have four men in my family tree named Valentin, and one who was named Valentinus.

Valentin is the Spanish form of Valentino, from the Latin name Valentinus. The Latin name comes from an old Roman family name originating as a nickname from the adjective valens, meaning the healthy, the strong. Valentinus is the original form of Valentine. It is no surprise that the person most associated with this name is St. Valentine.

As an aside, in 2016 Valentin was ranked 65th out of the top 100 most popular names for boys in Switzerland. For purposes of this post, I am going to focus on three of the Swiss Valentin males as they are all in the same family line.

Switzerland Cantons

Valentin and Claudia

Valentin Kübler, my 3rd cousin 3 times removed, was born on 17 May 1899 in Büsserach, Canton Solothurn, Switzerland. On 26 July 1924 he married Claudia Josefina Schonbachler in Einsiedeln, Canton Schwyz, Switzerland. The distance between those two towns is 141.6 km, and Einsiedeln is where Claudia was born. The distance makes you wonder how the two met.

Valentin and Claudia resided in Büsserach, and that is where they had their six children. Two boys and three girls were born before their youngest son, Valentin Anton, arrived in 1944. He is my 4th cousin 2 times removed. Valentin died in Breitenbach, a town located near Büsserach, in 1979. Claudia died in Büsserach in 1996.

Büsserach, Switzerland 

Although Valentin Anton died in 2001, many of his family members are still living so I will be somewhat vague in their details. Valentin Anton and his wife had two boys and one girl, but did not name either of their sons Valentin. One of their sons, my 5th cousin once removed, named his youngest son Valentin, which makes young Valentin my 6th cousin.

Naming patterns in families are always interesting. Wouldn't it be great to have a name that is synonymous with the Saint of Love?

Love

Family History Writing Challenge Day 14

At this point I have exhausted every avenue that I can think of, and that has been suggested to me, in attempting to find out who were the parents of Thompson Hightower. I will continue to watch for DNA matches that might point me to another person researching this family, as well as check online resources as information in constantly added.

But I feel that my next step is to hire a genealogist who specializes in Kenton County/Campbell County genealogy to see if he or she knows of resources that I have missed. Thanks to the postings this month on my blog, I can point the genealogist here so that my efforts won’t be duplicated.

Elizabeth Hightower

Thus I will be ending my writings on the Family History Writing Challenge for this year, and will instead resume my 52 Ancestors posts. But I’ll leave you with this intriguing piece that I found at the Kenton County Public Library. An article dated 22 July 1870 on page 1 of the Cincinnati Daily Gazette discussed the case of the Commonwealth vs. Richard Harris in which Harris had been accused of raping Mrs. Elizabeth Hightower. Thompson Hightower died in 1866. Is this his widow, Elizabeth? There was another Hightower named Rolla living in Kenton County at the same time, and his wife was also named Elizabeth, so it could have been her as well.

It is a noteworthy case in that the acting mayor allowed the “introduction of a negro woman as testimony for the prosecution.” It is believed to be the first instance of the court in Covington allowing a negro to testify in a case that involved a white person. The testimony resulted in the accused going free. It would be interesting to see if any other articles exist on this case.

For now, I am stepping away from the Hightower brick wall I have been banging my head against.