The Schmitt family grows

Joseph Schmitt (1838-1915) was my great-great-grandfather.  We "knew" from census records and other sources that he was a “Hucksker” in Baltimore’s markets and he later had a small grocery store.  He had emigrated from Bavaria around 1852 and on 3 July 1859, in Baltimore’s St. John Roman Catholic Church, he married a young lady from New York, Mary Emma Hanson.  Mary Emma appears to have had ancestors who came to America on the Mayflower so she was likely a good catch for a poor immigrant like Joseph.

Joseph and Mary Emma only had one child, who used the Anglicized name as an adult, Joseph Andrew Smith (1860-1902).  This small family likely caused some heartache for Joseph Sr. later in his life.  Mary Emma passed away in 1897 and Joseph Andrew died young in 1902 so Joseph Sr. spent more than a decade at the end of his life with only five grandchildren as blood relations, all of whom were starting their own way in life.  We know that Joseph Sr. took in a boarder after his wife passed away and Joseph was buried from what appears to be a friend’s house (John C Bauer).  Other than the fact that he was buried in Baltimore’s Loudon Park Cemetery with his wife and one namesake grandchild who died in infancy, we know little about him and nothing about his birth family…

Until now.

Thanks to DNA, I have found a brother of Joseph who started his own large family in Baltimore.  The brother’s history is a little better documented and will hopefully lead to some more clues about Joseph.  It already has provided some valuable information though.

First, how did I find the brother?  When I first had my DNA tested, it was with 23&me.  It was more of a way to get medical information and to help my sister.  That said, the results caused me to start trying to identify my DNA relatives.  One close relative on 23&me was Eric Teschemacher.  There are no trees on that website to help me identify him but I thought I would have recognized a name like that if he was a close relative.  That’s when I joined Ancestry.com and built a tree for Eric.  It turned out to be pretty easy to do since most of his ancestors’ names were rather unique.  In addition to Teschemacher, family names included Eyring, Lochboehler and Halbert on Eric’s father’s side.  His mother’s grandparents were all born in Italy so I knew there was no connection to me there. Eric’s father’s great-great-grandparents included several Irish family names that are or could be in my tree but there was also one ancestor that I was intrigued by but could never prove I was related to…

Until now.

Eric’s great-great-great-grandfather was George Schmitt who was born in Germany in 1844 and died in Baltimore in 1900.  Again, at the time, I could not connect George to the Joseph Schmitt that I descended from.  Now that Ancestry started to split my DNA relatives into “father’s side” and “mother’s side”, I looked at the long list of DNA relatives on my father’s side.  Most of the closer relatives I have either already figured out how we were related or I had grouped them into descendants of the Bunce, Avery or West families who were ancestors of Mary Emma Hanson and early colonizers of the US.  There were a handful of other close DNA relatives though that didn’t fit in elsewhere and they were all related to each other as well as to some of my second cousins, all descendants of my great-granddad, Joseph Andrew Smith (1860-1902).  One of these DNA matches, John Gossman, only had a tree showing that his father, John Gossman Sr. was born in Baltimore sometime in 1932 and died in 2014.  He also gave the name of his paternal grandparents as John Gossman and Emma Bisch with no other information.  With that as a start, I built a tree for John and found out two key things.  First, his grandmother’s maiden name was Meekins, not Bisch, (that’s key for John but useless for me).  Second, John’s great-great-grandfather was George Schmitt (1844-1900)!  I know that guy!

After this, I started to chart the descendants of George Schmitt.  One of the first names to pop up was a son-in-law named George J. Lochboehler.  I’ve seen that name before too!  Of my DNA relatives on Ancestry.com, I was able to trace down from George to Christopher Bostic, Sarah Gossman, Christopher Rice and Donna Kropp in addition to John Gossman and Eric Teschemacher (on 23&me).  For all of them, I share enough DNA that it is almost certain that they would be 4^th cousins of mine or closer (according to Ancestry.com).  George just has to be a brother of our Joseph Schmitt.

So, what do we know about George?  According to his census records, death certificate and obituary, George started his working life as a shoemaker but quickly change over to being a sewing machine agent.  The 1870 census record and George’s 1867 marriage certificate from the Maryland Archives show that George had started his family in Baltimore.   His death certificate, however, says that he had been a resident of Baltimore since 1862.  His obituary noted that he came to America as “a lad” but he reported that he immigrated in 1855 on the 1900 census.  Incidentally, Joseph had reported that he had immigrated in 1852 on the 1900 census but exact dates can’t always be trusted to old memories. 

Between about 1855 and at least 1862, George appears to have been in New York.  He enlisted in the Union Forces with the 94^th New York Infantry in Goshen, New York on 31 January 1865.  After seeing action in White Oak Road, Five Forks, Petersburg and the pursuit of Lee to Appomattox, George was sent back to guard Washington DC and then mustered out on 18 July 1865 in DC.   

I believe that this is most likely when George really settled in Baltimore, near his brother, Joseph, who appears to have been living there before the war (according to Joseph’s 1859 marriage record).  This makes me rethink though, how Joseph came to marry a woman from New York.  Did he know Mary Emma from New York and just meet and marry her after coming to Baltimore?

The most useful information I have from George is that both his gravestone in Baltimore’s Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery and his obituary say that he was born in Baunach, Bayern (Bavaria).  That would most likely be where Joseph was born about six years earlier.

This information leads me to believe that both Joseph and George came to America with their parents and likely started life in this country in New York.  Joseph may have been old enough to come on his own but George certainly wasn’t.  That means that I need to look closer for a family coming over, not just an individual.  Also, I should be looking in New York and Maryland for their parents, not Germany.  It also means I have to visit Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery as that is where most of George’s family is buried.  Finally, it also makes me reconsider who Joseph M. Smith was, other than just another Joe Smith in the family. On the 1880 census, Joseph and Mary Emma lived at their 237 Preston Street home with two minors, 1) their 20 year-old son listed as Andrew J. Smith, a blacksmith apprentice, and 2) a 14 year-old boy named Joseph M Smith, who had no listed relationship to Joseph Schmitt but was working as a huckster.  It also said he was born in Bavaria just like both of his parents.  Since Mary Emma was born in New York and Joseph Sr. had already immigrated, they were not the parents of this Joseph.  I had always assumed that Joseph M. was a nephew of Joseph Sr. from a brother left behind in Germany but I am not as sure now.  It’s just another mystery to solve.

 

The Lelands of Woodfield and Derryherk, Co. Roscommon, Ireland

My great-great-grandmother was Mary Ellen Leland (b. 16 Dec 1838, County Roscommon, Ireland – d. 5 Sep 1910, Baltimore, Md. USA).  Of this, I am certain.  This birthdate was engraved on her gravestone and may have fudged by a year or two on the birth but in the 1900 census said she was born in December, 1837.  It’s close.

According to great-Uncle’s Herbert’s biography “The Inevitable Success”, his grandmother, Mary Ellen, was a native of Co. Roscommon who was sent to Mt. Savage, Maryland to live with an uncle around 1854. 

According to my mother’s research back in the 1970’s when she could speak to her mother, aunts and uncles, Mary Ellen’s father in Roscommon was Thomas Leland.  Unfortunately, that was based on memory only, as far as I know.  Mary Ellen was said to have three brothers who also come to Baltimore.  Those were supposedly Patrick, Thomas and Michael.

Mary Ellen’s death certificate said that she was 73 years old when she died and that her parents were Thomas Leland and Mary Martin.  In full disclosure, one of her obituaries said that she died at 72 years old, was a native of County Roscommon and came to America at 16 years old (around 1854) with her parents “Mr. & Mrs. William Leland”.  Ugh!  I’m trusting the death certificate.

Mary Ellen married William Galvin in Baltimore on 24 December 1863.  From that date until at least the time of the 1870 census, Mary Ellen and William had someone living with them named Thomas Leland.

This Thomas Leland (b. abt 1842, Co. Roscommon, Ireland – b. 31 August 1920, Baltimore, Md. USA) had the notation on his death certificate that he was the son of Thomas Leland and Mary “Norton”.  Genealogy is a messy business!

In Baltimore, living around the corner from the Leland / Galvin family was the family of Michael Leland (b. September, 1846, Roscommon, Ireland – d. 15 September 1907, Baltimore, Maryland, USA).  His death certificate noted that his parents were Thomas Leland and “Bridget” Martin!  His certificate also noted that he and both parents were all born in Co. Roscommon.

Until today, I could find no information of Patrick, the other brother of Mary Ellen.  I did, however, find a Bridget Leland whose death certificate in Baltimore said her maiden name was O’Connor.  It did not say whether she was married or widowed but it did say that she was only a resident of Baltimore for two years.  She is buried in Baltimore with three of her children (Annie, Thomas and Michael).  On the death certificates of two of the children whose certificates are available, they mention that their parents were “Patrick Leland and Bridget O’Connor”.  One of them also had in his death notice that he was a native of Co. Roscommon and the son of Patrick and Bridget Leland.  All three children had reported on census records that they were born in Ireland.  This was different because Mary Ellen, Thomas and Michael all married and had children in the US.

Here is where it gets interesting.

I looked to see if I could find the Irish birth records of Patrick and Bridget’s children. 

•  Annie was born about 1864 according to her death certificate which is when Irish birth records started to be kept. I could not find any government records of her birth and the only possible church record showed a “Joannes Layland born on 11 February 1862 to Patrick and Bridget Layland in Elphin, Cootehall, Roscommon”.  I doubt this is Annie’s record. 
• Thomas reported on his marriage license to be born about 1873.  The closest match I could find in the Irish birth records was one for a Thomas Leland, born 8 July 1868 to Pat Leland and Bridget Connor in Dereenabrone, Boyle, Roscommon.
• Michael said on his 1900 census return that he was born in 1874.  I could only find a Michael Leland born on 14 July 1870 to Patrick Leland and Bridget Connor in Derryherk, Boyle, Roscommon.
• A further search found a Catherine Leland born to Patrick Leland and Bridget Connor on 20 June1872 in Derryherk, Boyle, Roscommon.  There is also a death record for her, reported by Bridget, on 8 August 1888, also in Derryherk.
• Still searching, I found a Patrick Leland born to Patrick Leland and Bridget Connor on 20 August 1874 in Derryherk, Boyle, Roscommon.  He later appears on the 1901 census in Derryherk with his parents.

That got me thinking….

I looked for a death for a Patrick Leland in Derryherk.  Sure enough, there it was on 6 July 1905 and he was reported to be 65 years old when he died.  Obviously Bridget immigrated to Baltimore shortly after her husband’s death which explains why she only lived in Baltimore for two years.

While looking for this Catherine’s and Patrick’s records, I found another death record for a Leland in Derryherk.  There was a Thomas Leland who died at 84 years old as a farmer and widower on 4 June 1888.  That just has to be my great-great-great-grandfather.  Bridget Leland reported the death to the authorities.  How many Lelands lived in tiny Derryherk?  How many Bridget Lelands lived in Derrtherk??

I was feeling lucky so I kept going.  I looked for a Mary or Bridget or Mary Bridget Leland who died before 1888 in Derryherk.  I didn’t find that but I did find a Bridget Leland who died at 72 years old on 26 December 1873 in Woodfield, Boyle, Roscommon, an adjacent townland to Derryherk.  This was interesting too because according to the Griffith’s Valuation, there was only one Thomas Leland faming land in Roscommon in the 1850-60’s and he was working the land in Woodfield, next door to a Patrick Leland.  I reckon that this Bridget is Thomas’ wife and my great-great-great-grandmother.  For now, I will call her Mary Bridget Martin.

The documentation all this is in my Ancestry.com tree.

In Search of Jennie Johnston McGovern

Our great-grandmother, Catherine Josephine McGovern Smith had a brother, John (1853 – 1895), who was the oldest brother who survived until adulthood.  When I first took a look at his generation, I could find very little information about him other than what was revealed in his death notice and also on the Md. State Archive’s marriage index card.  He died young and he had married Jennie Johnston only three years before he died.

I knew even less about John’s wife, Jennie.  I could not find her on any census records before or after the marriage.  I could not figure out any of her family. What ever happened to her?  Where did she come from?  Now, with some more COVID time on my hands, I dug a little deeper.

On a newspaper search, I saw that a Mrs. Jennie R. Johnston had sold a house on Riggs Ave in 1896.  It was likely that this was the right Jennie so I at least now had a middle initial for her.  That might help.  Other than that tidbit, the only thing I saw was that she was living at a home at 19 W. Barney St. by 1898 according to the Baltimore directory.

 

I finally looked a little closer at the marriage index card and realized that John was supposedly living in Wilmington, Delaware when he was married.  That’s where I needed to look for him!  The 1892 Wilmington directory had only one possible match, a John J. McGovern at 712 Walnut who was a clerk working for H&T Co.  Maybe that was the right person but if it was all it gave me was another middle initial.

 

Searching in Ancestry.com for John in Wilmington did supply a rather sad document match that confirmed I was on the right trail.  There was a death certificate issued there for a male child, stillborn on 15 August 1892 to John and Jennie McGovern.  That was just over six months after the wedding but I don’t judge.  It just makes it sadder.

At this point, I decided to look closer at the Wilmington and Baltimore newspapers after John’s death.  There was one article that showed up in a previous search that I now looked closer at.  It was in the German language paper from Baltimore, Der Deutsche Correspondent.  This time I was able to figure it out… the widowed Jennie married a widower, Dixon McL. Crawford in 1898.  With the groom’s name, I could finally find the Md. State Archive’s index card which is only indexed by the groom’s name.

This information and further newspaper and census searches revealed that Dixon’s first wife, Mary Ann, died just over a year earlier at only 36 years old, leaving him with a couple of teenage children.  I am not sure how Jennie got on with the 17 year old step-son but at least she had something in common with the 13 year old step-daughter – her name was also Jennie.

With Jennie’s new married name, I could look in the newspapers again and I found some really sad news as well as some really surprising news.  Jennie’s new husband, Dixon, died in November, 1900 at 44 years old, just over two years after marrying the second time.  That left his 15 year old daughter with only a step-mother at home to care for her.  That is, until…. 31 May 1901 when Jennie Johnston McGovern Crawford also passed away.  The strain of burying two young husbands, neither surviving long after the wedding, losing one child of her own and caring for step-children alone must have been too much for Jennie, dying at only 37 years old.

 

While still documenting the family, I found one last piece of the puzzle that surprised me.  This came in the form of an earlier death notice, one for the mother of Dixon Crawford’s first wife, Mary Ann.  Do you see why it’s important?

 

After reading this, I understood the unusual notations on the Md. State Archive’s index card for Jennie’s marriage to Dixon.  Look again at the "Relation" section.  It also made clear Jennie’s housing situation after John’s death.  And finally, I had found Jennie’s parents and a sister.  I guess Jennie really was close to her step-daughter, obviously named after her.

A final twist came just as I was tying up loose ends and getting ready to post this message.  While looking at the Loudon Park Cemetery records, I realized I had overlooked something on the 1900 census report.  Dixon McLean Crawford Jr. was born on 16 January 1900.  Jennie had a baby!  Of course it wasn’t that great for the child in the end.  He lost both his parents before he reached 17 months old.  That’s when the fun really started.

Incidentally, $20,000 in 1901 is worth about $550,000 in 2022.  Also, that William H Finch mentioned was the owner of the house where Jennie was buried from.  The niece and nephew in Jennie's will were her step-children, the children of her sister, Mary Ann Johnston Crawford.