In 1700 – my 6th great grandparents Jakob Johann Wenceslaus Leyies-Trauden and Anna Ottilia Schwartz were married in the Reformed Church of Contwig, Southwestern Germany, near the border with Lorraine. These were ancestors of my grandmother Leies. In this time period, the Leies surname was Trauden Leyies/Layies Trauden and recorded in church records as Lais, Leis, Loys, Trauden, Trauten, Traudi, Trauti, Traut, Leys, etc. Genealogists have speculated that Trauden was a mother’s surname at one point. But nobody really knows. Jakob was the son of Wenceslaus (Wentz) Trauden Leyies and a woman whose name is unknown.
After the Thirty Years War, Wenceslaus Trauden Leyies and his family were among the first 5 immigrant families to settle in the district of Oberhausen. Wenceslaus came in 1686 and purchased 1 and 1/2 lots of land in 1706. Each lot consisted of 14 acres of meadows, 3 acres of gardens, and 30 acres of manure fields. The primary source of livelihood for the inhabitants of Oberhausen was agriculture. (The information on their land was received from the Leyes family with whom we share ancestry. Their ancestor Michael moved to another village and the surname was spelled Leyes. Our ancestors moved to Nuenschweiler and it began to be spelled Leies.)
The only clue about their origin is the fact that Wenceslaus’s son Anton went by the nickname Donges and Donges is used in the High German language – one can look to see where that language was spoken at that time period. Lorraine spoke a German dialect, by the way.
Anna Ottilia Schwartz was born in the area of Oberhausen and her father Hans Adam was the local Gerichtsschoffe which is like a sheriff. We only know that her mother’s name was Magdalena. They too were members of the Reformed Church.
In 1717 – My 7th great grandparents Anna Apollonia Ziehl and Jean Michel Conrad were married in the Catholic Church of Hornbach, Germany, also near the border with Lorraine. Anna Apollonia was the daughter of farmers Johann Christian Ziehl, a farm manager, and a lady named Anna Maria Barbara from Dietrichingen.
Jean Michel was Hans Michael Conrad in the records at this time, but next to his name was the word Schweyen. I discovered that it was a village in Moselle, France. He was the first ancestor I found in my tree from France. He was baptized Jean Michel Conrad on December 3, 1697 in Loutzviller, just over the border with Germany. He was the son of Jean Gregor Conrad and Elisabetha Stauder. Jean Michel’s grandfather was named Jean Stauder dit le Suisse. “Dit le Suisse” means “known as” Jean the Swiss. Jean Stauder was born in Volmunster, France though. It was actually Jean dit le Suisse’s father who was born in Switzerland. What was he doing in France? I do not know. Jean Michel’s baptism is one of the photos attached. He too was a farmer. They were all ancestors of my grandmother too.
Finally, in 1881, also among these family members of my grandmother Leies, from this same area of Germany, there was a story printed in the Chicago Tribune newspaper involving her father’s immigrant uncle Ferdinand Bold, who had luckily survived the Grand Street Tenement Disaster in New York City. His mother-in-law and brother-in-law did not survive, while his wife was severely injured. His infant son was unscathed.
Are we related? Do you have a question about my sources or have an addition? Please email me – cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net.
On today’s date in 1620, one of my Anabaptist refugee ancestors Christen Strubel, also known as Rubeli, was baptized in Langnau im Emmental, in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland. He was born in June 1620 to Barbara Gungerich and Peter Strubel. His baptism took place in the Reformed Lutheran Church of Langnau. He was my 8th great grandfather.
According to the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online, Langnau has a history of Anabaptism going all the way back to March 1525. Today, Langnau has the oldest Mennonite church in the world, dating to 1530.
Christen’s mother Barbara might have also been an Anabaptist influence on her children. She was born in nearby Oberdiessbach, and her younger brother Christian Gungerich was an Anabaptist teacher who was imprisoned in Schwarzenegg Prison and escaped. He was recaptured and died (maybe executed) in the Waisenhaus Prison in the city of Bern. Barbara’s mother was named Anna Schindler. There is a possibility Anna Schindler was a relation of, or a descendant of the Andreas Schindler from Thun who attended the Great Debate (on the Anabaptist Creed) in Bern in 1538. Thun has a close proximity to all of these villages. The relationship to Andreas Schindler is a possibility. It has not been proven!
Christen married Anna Muller in the Reformed Church of Oberdiessbach in 1642. In the winter of 1672, Christen and Anna and their six youngest children left Oberdiessbach for the German Palatinate due to religious persecution. They were no longer permitted to possess property and left with what they could carry.
In 1691 Christen was recorded on the Palatine Mennonite Census list as living near Messerschwanderhof near Otterberg in the German Palatinate.
Christen’s grandson Balthasar Jakob Rubeli was recorded in his lifetime as having been Lutheran and Catholic, but was raised by parents, who were noted in the Catholic Church book of Contwig, Germany, as being common residents of the area but not Catholic. Balthasar’s children were all baptized Catholic. Other Rubeli researchers hypothesize Balthasar was really a Mennonite.
A knitting friend had recently been talking about all of the religions in her tree. She has a lot more than me though. This is the list I came up with for my tree that I have found to date:
Protestant – Martin Heinzen was tried for witchcraft by the Catholic authorities in Switzerland in 1629. He was only labeled as Protestant in the record.
Calvinist
Anabaptist (Taufer)
Mennonite
Old Lutheran
Reformed
Lutheran
Roman Catholic
Folk Catholic
Spiritualist
Of course not to mention the various religions of my cousins of my immigrant ancestors I may have missed.
Do you have any comments, or corrections? Are we related? I would love to hear from you. -cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net
I was recently asked by another researcher what Swiss surnames in my tree I was researching in Canton Bern, Switzerland that belonged to the early Anabaptist followers there. Below is an updated list of surnames and place names:
Oberdiessbach:
Gungerich/Gungery*, Schindler, Vogel, Muller, Rubeli*. See GAMEO. Christian Gungerich was an Anabaptist preacher that was imprisoned in Schwarzenegg prison when he escaped in 1669. He was re-captured and imprisoned in Waisenhaus Prison in the Canton’s capital Bern. He died there in 1671. He is my 10th great grand uncle. See Der Tauferlehrer Christian Gungerich (1591-1671) und der Streit um Seinen Nachlass for more on his relations. Also see Oberdiessbach Kirchenbuchen via Canton Bern archives, Mennosearch.com and the book Bernese Anabaptists and their American Descendants.
Langnau:
Vogt, Strubel known as Rubeli* in Oberdiessbach. See Langnau Kirchenbuchen via Canton Bern archives. Part of the Rubeli family emigrated to the German Palatinate in 1672 as religious refugees. See Mennosearch.com.
Dear Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandmother Kunigonde,
You have the most interesting name in my tree and your last name is not known to those of us researching you. You were the mother of my ancestor named Michael Kempf. He lived in a town named Hornbach. I have discovered that you were Roman Catholic and the historic church in Hornbach contains the bones of St. Pirminius. You must’ve worshipped there.
I didn’t know Kunigonde was even a name until I found you. I looked up the meaning and origin. It is from the Old High German and sometimes spelled as Kunigonda. The name dictionaries call it a two-element name. Kunni=the tribe, the clan. Gund=the fight, the battle. I really dig the two-element meaning of your name!
Apparently there was a St. Kunigonde and she was the daughter of King Bela of Hungary. She is the patroness of Poland and Lithuania where she is known as St. Kinga.
Was Kunigonde a family name in your family?
Did you know your third great grandson was named Heinrich Leies and he traveled across the ocean to the United States of America in 1848 with his family to have a farm in Wooster, Ohio? His brother Jacob Leies came three years later to the greatest city in the New World called New York City. Your fourth great grandson named Peter Leies joined the Union Army during the nation’s Civil War and died at a battle called the Battle of Antietam. He was only 21 and he was born in Nunschweiler, not far from Hornbach.
Anotherfourth great grandson followed Heinrich to Wooster, Ohio. His name was Johann Leies and Heinrich was his uncle. He was my ancestor. He ran saloons in Chicago and was a piano dealer. He had very religious sons. One became a Roman Catholic priest and died in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Did you know you probably have thousands of descendants across the ocean in America perhaps due in part to Heinrich’s emigration?
You are named in a book called the Rubenheim Register from Zwiebrucken. I would love to see that book. But, what can YOU tell me that the book doesn’t. What was Hornbach life like?
Sincerely,
One of your thousands of descendants
1550 Hornbach, via Wikipedia
Dear 9th Great Granddaughter,
Females rarely learned to write in my day unless they took a religious order. My good friend Sr. Marie Radegonde Belina is writing this for me. What an angel she is too to be able to translate English to our dialect and back to English for me. She was a half English/half French orphan the good Sisters took in.
Thank you for digging my name. I don’t know what you mean by “digging.”
What can I tell you about my life? I was born at a time of a long religious, political, and terrible war – The Thirty Years War. We would hear from the priests there was a peace and then another peace. But it would not end. Then a few years later there would be word of another peace.
We did not care about those far away princes fighting for power. We were more concerned with having food on our tables when the winter was through. Half the men in my family were gone and another quarter of my family uprooted themselves and were never heard from again. We just wanted it to end.
When I married, the war was coming to an end. My husband (your 9th great grandfather) and I lived near Hornbach at a time the entire surrounding area was almost devoid of citizens and buildings due to the many years of war. The country-side had been devastated due to famine, disease, and theft. The old town wall of Hornbach and our church were some of the few things left.
We were ruled by the Duke of Zwiebrucken.
Before the war, Hornbach was once surrounded by rich vineyards. Nobody came back to re-plant them. Instead, after the war, the Dukes invited people from the Swiss Cantons and from Tyrol to our area to farm. They were rumored to be excellent farmers.
Some of my descendants married the descendants of the Swiss immigrants.
My husband Johann Kempf and I had a farm. We had 8 children: Matthias, Anna Christina, Michael, your 8th great grandfather, twins Kunigonde and Johann, Maria Katharina, and twins Regina and Anna Margaretha.
Michael was my second born son and he was trained to follow his father as a farmer.
I died before I could see Michael’s children be born.
I died before France took control of the Hornbach-Zwiebrucken area in 1680.
Yes, I heard about Heinrich and the others. Nunschweiler was very tiny in my day.
Heinrich Layes (that’s how Sr. Marie Gertruda spells the surname) left Germany at a time when liberal nationalists pushed for civil liberties here. The cost of the war I lived through and cost of that war on our people was ingrained in their minds.
In 1848, these forward thinking men had to flee their homeland for your country – a country that had established those ideals when those in power began to silence their democratic plans.
Keep shaking those female branches of my tree in Germany. You aren’t even close to finding all of my descendants in America.
March is Women’s History Month, making it an excellent time to focus on the ancestresses in my genealogy. I tried a memory exercise off the top of my head going alphabetically listing names of women in my tree. I did pretty well, with the exception of Y and X.
I also listed off the top of my head where they lived. If I could find their profession, station, or husband’s station, I listed that too. All of these women were born pre-1870 and were born overseas.* Only two on my list are immigrants.
Here we go:
A is for Apolline Weyland, 9th great grandmother, Liederscheidt, Moselle, France, a laborer’s wife
B is for Anna Saveria Barbacone, 5th great grandmother, Rione di San Giovanni, Penne, Pescara, Italy, a contadina
C is for Cecilia “Cilla” Vocciero, 7th great grandmother, Talanico, Kingdom of Naples, unknown
D is for Dorotea Frattarola, 7th great grandmother, Farindola, Pescara, Italy, landowner’s mother
E is for Elisabetha Stauder, 8th great grandmother, Schweyen, Moselle, France, laborer’s wife
F is for Karolina Friederika Wilhemina Fehlig, 3rd great grandmother, Grohnde, Hameln-Pyrmont, Niedersachsen, Germany, master tailor’s wife
G is for Anna Dorothea Maria Grabe, 4th great grandmother, Grossmehlra, Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen, Thuringen, Germany, miller owner’s wife
H is for Anne Marie Aloisia Heinzen, 2nd great grandmother, Brig, Canton Valais, Switzerland, immigrant – dress-maker
I is for Ignota (Italian for unknown), mother of Panfilo Zenone, husband of Maria Giustina Marcella, Panfilo’s mother left Panfilo at the foundling wheel in Penne, Pescara, Italy
J is for Elisabetta di Julio, 6th great grandmother, Farindola, Pescara, Italy, unknown
K is for Kunigunde (No Last Name Known), 9th great grandmother, Hornbach, Sudwestpfalz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, unknown
L is for Laisa Girardo, 8th great grandmother, Talanico, Kingdom of Naples, unknown
M is for Marie Louise Koppel, 3rd great grandmother, Koerner, Sonderhausen, Thüringen, Germany, immigrant – miller owner’s daughter
N is for Vittoria Di Norscia, 6th great grandmother, Rione di San Giovanni, Penne, Pescara, Italy, a lacemaker
O is for Odile Kolsch, 8th great grandmother, Vinningen, Germany, wife of the Eschevin de Justice
P is for Veneranda Paolucci, 6th great grandmother, Farindola, Pescara, Italy, a contadina
Q is for Anna Elisabetha Dorre-mother of Quirinus Eckebrecht, 4th great grandmother, Grossmehlra, Sonderhausen, Thüringen, Germany, laborer’s wife
R is for Laura Rosa, 5th great grandmother, Contrada Tavo, Farindola, Pescara, Italy, a contadina
S is for Sandra Dragone, 5th great grandmother, Talanico, Kingdom of Naples, unknown
T is for Tommasina Secondina, 10th great grandmother, Kingdom of Naples, unknown
U is for Ursula Magliulo, 7th great grandmother, Talanico, Kingdom of Naples, unknown
V is for Vittoria Gambacorta, 5th great grandmother, Rione di San Giovanni, Penne, Pescara, Italy, a lacemaker
W is for Caroline Christina Wilhemina Julianne Geselle, 5th great grandmother, Sankt Andreasberg, Goslar, Niedersachsen, Germany, wife of silver mineworks supervisor
X is for all of the women in the tree with no surname. They were in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy.
Y is for Magdalena SteYer, 5th great grandmother, Huberhof, Nuenschweiler, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, a farmer
Z is for Anna Apollonia Ziehl, 7th great grandmother, Monbijou, Leichelbingen, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, farm manager’s daughter
*I only have one female ancestor in my tree that was born pre-1870 in America – Katharina Schuttler Eckebrecht. Her parents were immigrants.
Can you find one for every letter in your tree?
For my next entry this month, I plan to focus on a female ancestor we only know by her first name.
Nuenschweiler’s Church of the Ascension via Wikimedia Commons
Nuenschweiler – On today’s date in 1842, my third great grandparents Franz Jacob Bold andElisabetha Scheidwere married in the Catholic parish in Nuenschweiler, Rheinpfalz, Germany by Father Joannis Feibel. They were the parents of Emilia Bold Leies.
Elisabetha and Franz Jacob were from neighboring Rodalben. She was born there while he was born in neighboring Knopp-Labach.
Their Catholic marriage record declared that Franz Jacob was the son of Adam Bold and Margaretha Becker, married residents of Rodalben. It looks like the parochial vicar of Rodalben, Father Petro Bold, is mentioned in the Latin marriage record. He was the older brother of Franz Jacob. He also baptized Elisabetha Scheid, according to the baptismal record I found on film which is now available online at Family Search.
The marriage record also declared that Elisabetha was the daughter of Johann Jacob Scheid and the deceased Catharina Buchler, also of Rodalben.
Franz Jacob Bold, the head schoolmaster of the Catholic school in Nuenschweiler, was the son of farmers. His Bold grandparents were named Johann Adam Bold and Magdalena Helf. Elisabetha’s ancestry has been detailed here and here.
Franz Jacob Bold, for all intents and purposes, appears to have died in Germany around 1880, which lead to his wife’s immigration to America. She died in New York City in 1905.
Pictures of Nuenschweiler and Knopp-Labach can be found online here.
Recently I was contacted by two fourth cousins researching the immigrant Bolds. Thank you to B.R., a descendant of Alexander Bold, who pointed out that Elisabetha Scheid Bold and Franz Jacob Bold had another child that came to America and was named Ferdinand Bold. He and his family were part of a New York City tragedy that was absolutely horrifying to discover. Now knowing of this immigrant brother of Emilia Bold Leies, it makes sense that she named her second son John Ferdinand.
A descendant of Anna Bold Leies and Jacob Leies, P.A., informed me that there may be at three least cases of Bolds marrying Leieses in our lines. We plan to sort it out! This includes a possible case of one of the daughters of Anna Bold Leies, that I had vowed to find in a previous post, marrying her first cousin – a Bold!
TA also told me that Leies, on her side of the family, is pronounced LEESS. Not LE-AS as it is on our side and there are some Leies relations residing in Pennsylvania. Interesting indeed! Thank you for finding me!
Emilia Bold’s Youngest Brothers
Emilia Bold’s youngest immigrant brothers Richard and Ferdinand Bold seem to have traveled to America together when Richard was 17, arriving at the port of New York on November 25, 1871, on the Donau which sailed from Bremen, Germany. The strange thing about the passenger manifest I found listed Ferdinand as age 9. American records point to his age as having been 13.
This confuses me and leads me to doubt whether or not a Richard Bold and Ferdinand Bold traveling together are the same Richard and Ferdinand that are the brothers of Emilia. However, if it is in fact the correct people, it is not the first time we have seen Emilia’s siblings traveling alone without parents. Emilia’s sister Anna came here alone at the age of 15 as noted in this previous post: Immigrants #32-#34 ~~Great Great Great Grandmother Elisabetha Scheid Bold, her daughters Rosa Bold Ertl, Anna Maria Bold Leies, and their in-laws~~. Today’s post is an update to that previous post.
Ferdinand J. Bold
In 1880, at B.R.’s direction, Ferdinand Bold was found marrying Mary Knaup (daughter of Anthony Knaup and Frances Nackes), a German-American born in New York City. According to that year’s Federal Census, he was working as a stationary engineer. The New York Marriage Index on Family Search says he was born in 1858 in Nenschweiler. To me, that is close enough to mean Nuenschweiler, where the majority of his siblings were born.
That year, Ferdinand and his wife resided at 218 Sullivan Street with his mother-in-law Frances Knaup, sister-in-law Teresa Knaup, and brother-in-law John Knaup. The census sheets before and after theirs reveal it to be a neighborhood made up of immigrants from Germany and Ireland.
In November of 1880, according to the Naturalization Index, Ferdinand became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
The Bolds and the Grand Street Tenement Disaster
In 1881, according to many newspaper articles, Ferdinand, wife Mary, their baby Joseph, and his wife’s family lived at the corner of 5th Avenue and Grand Street on the top floor when the tenement suddenly caved in. It was a three floor building and Ferdinand’s family lived on the top. It became known as the Grand Street Tenement Disaster and was nation-wide news. Below are samples of some news clippings about the tragedy.
The Chicago Tribune, November 10, 1881
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 9, 1881 – Note near the bottom of the paragraph the Bolds are mentioned
The Chicago Inter-Ocean, November 10, 1881 – Note the paragraph about Ferdinand Bold’s family
Ferdinand’s wife’s mother and brother were killed. She herself was badly injured but survived. The news clippings I found about the collapse described some pretty horrific details. Some of them were in Chicago newspapers. Imagine how great great grandmother Emilia Bold Leies and her other Chicago siblings must have worried when they read the news there!
Below is an image found on Google images, Amazon, Abe Books, and eBay from an engraving Harpers Weekly made and printed and is called “Grand Street Tenement House Disaster.” Originals are for sale out there on the internet. Ferdinand Bold may be in the image.
It is a miracle baby Joseph survived. The following spring, Ferdinand sued James O’Brien, the owner of the building, for $1,100.00 damages. He was awarded $426.00. Current inflation makes that a little less than $10,000.00.
The New York Times, March 7, 1882
A coroner’s jury was held and found James O’Brien and the owner of the adjacent building, Julius Levy, grossly negligent in the deaths of 9 tenants of the building, however, a grand jury found no criminal negligence on their part!
Ferdinand and Mary went on to have 3 more children after Joseph: Theresa, Frederick, and Albert Joseph. Unfortunately, Ferdinand passed away young in February, 1893.
Wife Mary evidently re-married around 1895 to a Mr. Brennan because the 1900 Federal Census names her as Mary Brennan, widowed, and having been married 5 years. Mr. Brennan had already died. She was raising her children and his three children as well.
Ferdinand’s Descendants
Ferdinand’s children Theresa and Joseph worked in a stationary factory and never married.
Ferdinand’s sons Frederick and Albert both married. Three grandchildren of Ferdinand served in the military. Frederick’s two sons, Frederick James and Joseph Aloysius joined the New York National Guard while Albert’s son Walter Albert was an Army Veteran of World War II, adding to the number of descendants of Elisabeth Scheid Bold that joined the United States Military in some fashion. Joseph Aloysius died in an automobile accident shortly after signing up for National Guard duty.
All World War I and World War II draft records that I could find for Ferdinand’s children and their descendants describe them as tall individuals, medium build, with brown hair, brown eyes, and a light complexion.
I do not know where Ferdinand is buried.
Richard Bold
Richard Bold was born in 1854 in Busenberg, a few miles from Nuesnchweiler, Germany. A few years after he arrived at the Port of New York in 1871, I found him in the 1878 Chicago Directory, working as a barber. At the time of the 1880 Federal Census, he was living with his older brother Alexander and his wife and family, still working as a barber.
I found a news clipping stating that on May 31, 1882, Richard Bold was appointed to the Police Department. His brother Alexander was also a policer officer at this time. In 1883 he married another German immigrant, Louise Ruf, daughter of Louis Ruf and Henrietta Gerber. Later clippings regarding Richard Bold state he was a patrolman at the Larrabee Street Station. Grandma Ferraro lived on Larrabee.
Chicago Inter-Ocean, June 1, 1882
The Haymarket Massacre and the Bolds
On May 3, 1886, labor demonstrators across the country rallied in support of an 8 hour work day. A peaceful demonstration in Chicago turned deadly when Chicago police officers attacked and killed picketers at the McCormick Reaper Plant.
The following day, on May 4, 1886, the Haymarket Massacre took place in Haymarket Square. It too started as a peaceful labor demonstration organized by a few anarchists in support of that 8 hour work day and in support of the laborers the Chicago police had killed the day before. One of the speakers at the Haymarket Square that evening was a lay Methodist Minister from England, a known activist.
At 10:30 pm, when, according to the data at the Illinois Labor History Society, 176 Chicago Police Officers carrying Winchester repeater rifles were trying to disperse the remaining crowd of 200, an unknown individual threw a dynamite bomb at the police, killing seven of them, and four civilians, and injuring many others. Gunfire immediately following the blast also resulted in some of the deaths and injuries. Source: Wikipedia.
It is unknown who fired the first shot following the bombing and some reports said in the chaos the Chicago police ended up firing on each other. A historian believes that in less than 5 minutes, 176 Chicago police officers had gotten what they desired because Haymarket Square was emptied of everyone, except for the casualties. Sources: Wikipedia, Chicagocop.com., and Chicagology.com
The next day, Marshal Law was declared in Chicago and the front page of the entire Chicago Tribune was dedicated to “hellish event”. Source: newspapers.com.
Eventually, in actions led by irrational fear of the foreign born (including several Germans), eight accused anarchists were illegally rounded up, tried and convicted, and hung – including the lay Methodist minister from England. One commit suicide the evening before the handing. Later some were pardoned. Sources: Wikipedia, Illinois Labor History Society, and Chicagocop.com.
More about controversial Haymarket can be found here: Wikipedia article.
I suppose, with the fact that 176 Chicago police officers were there that night, Police Officer Alexander Bold (then assigned to the Des Plaines Street Station) was likely there. See Chicagocop.com – on duty police officers of the Des Plaines Street Station were at Haymarket that evening. Patrolman Richard Bold MAY have been there as well.
In 1887, a list was printed in the newspaper of the contributions each police officer in the city made towards the “Haymarket Monument Fund.” Richard Bold contributed .25 to the fund as part of the Larrabee Street Station. According to Wikipedia, that monument had been damaged in the early 1900s and later destroyed in demonstrations against the Vietnam War. A new monument dedicated to the event now stands in front of the Chicago Police Headquarters.
In 1888, I found Richard Bold on the Chicago Voter Registration stating he had lived in Chicago for 15 years and was naturalized. Perhaps he lived in NYC for two years with his Bold relatives there.
In 1889, Richard Bold appeared in list of Chicagoans in the paper who had contributed to the fund for the Chicago’s World Fair. He contributed $20! He never lived to see the Fair though.
He passed away in 1890 from influenza complications. Below is his death notice.
January 18, 1890, The Chicago Inter-Ocean
Richard had a son named Richard, born shortly after his death. He didn’t live to his first birthday. I have no idea who the other child is of Richard that is mentioned in his death notice.
Richard Bold is buried in St. Boniface Cemetery, burial place of his sister Emilia Bold Leies.
This all makes me wonder when did Emilia Bold get here and who did she come with, or was she like her siblings and came alone or as a teenager without an adult?
Sources:
B.R., fourth cousin
T.A., fourth cousin
New York Passenger Manifests
Family Search Busenberg Catholic Church Records
New York City Marriage Index and Death Indexes
Social Security Death Indexes
World War I and World War II Draft Cards
United States Veteran’s Burial Cards
United States Naturalization Indexes
New York National Guard Enlistment Cards
Federal Censuses
Newspapers.com
Cook County Marriage and Death Indexes
Illinois Labor History Society
Chicagocop.com
Chicago Voter Registration, 1888
City Directories
Wikipedia
Find-a-Grave
Nueschweiler, Germany Catholic Church Confirmation Records via microfilm
Recently, I discovered and can confirm that, yes, second great grandmother Emilia Bold’s mother Elisabetha Scheid Bold did come to America, at the age of 57 in 1880, sailing from Rotterdam, Netherlands aboard the ship the Scheidam and died in Manhattan in 1905. Her daughter Rosa traveled with her. They traveled in steerage and no profession was listed for either of them. Through clues in censuses, it appears Elisabetha’s husband, Jacob Scheid, Nunschweiler’s Head Catholic Schoolmaster, had passed away. Elisabetha came to live with her daughter, Anna Maria Bold, who had been in America for 13 years.
Anna Maria Bold Leies
I find Emilia Bold’s sister intriguing because of the age that she came here alone. According to church records, Anna Maria Bold was born in 1852 in Busenberg, Germany, a few miles from Nuenschweiler. At the age of 15, in 1867, Anna Bold’s name appeared in the Hamburg Passenger Lists on the ship named Cimbria sailing for the Port of New York. Her place of origin was Nunschweiler. She traveled in steerage. The passenger listing really specifies her age as 15! Anna Bold is also listed in the Germans to America index at the age of 15. Castle Garden lists her as arriving on June 13, 1867 at the age of 15 as well. The burning question is, did she know anyone on the Cimbria?! Is there anyone out there researching her that can shed light on this? What prompted her to leave her home at this age?
Cimbria’s listing for Anna. Literacy was not specified.
The next year, Anna Bold married Jacob Leies on December 6, 1868 at the age of 16, according to the recently released New York City Marriage Index. At first I thought this was a mistake that she was marrying at 16 and marrying a Leies. I actually discounted the index when I first found it. But no, it is all real and she is really Emilia’s sister. The marriage index listed the names of Jacob’s parents and also his birthplace as Huberhof – the same farm as second great grandfather Johann Leies.
What is our relationship to Jacob Leies?
Jacob Leies was first cousin to our second great grandfather Johann Leies. Jacob Leies and Johann Leies shared the same grandparents. Johann Leies (great great grandfather) is the husband of Emilia Bold – sister of Anna Maria Bold.
Jacob Leies was born in Nunschweiler to Johann Jacob Leies and Louisa Catharina Knerr, who immigrated to the United States around 1854 when Jacob was 14. He and his parents were living in New York City’s 8th Ward at the time of the 1855 New York State Census. Johann Jacob was listed as a laborer on that census. The entire Leies family had their surname misspelled as Lyse on that record.
Even though Jacob was about 14 years older than Anna Bold, Anna Bold would have been about the age of 2 when Jacob would have left for America.
Also, Jacob Leies is the brother of Union Soldier Peter Leies, 1841-1862, born in Nunschweiler, Germany and killed at Antietam. Jacob spent time in the Union Army as well, after his brother’s death at Antietam, in the NY 159th Infantry Regiment. I have had trouble locating information on Jacob in the Union Army and don’t want to spend the money to order the service records of a first cousin 4 x removed to me no matter how fascinated I am by immigrants in the United States Civil War.
Coincidentally, after the war, Jacob supported Anna and their children as a “manufacturer of artificial limbs.” That made me wonder if Jacob suffered an injury during the Civil War, so I looked for a pension. I couldn’t locate proof of one. The spelling of Leies in most records at this time in America is allover the place as well. On the other hand, his choice of profession choice could mean nothing.
On to Elisabetha Scheid Bold…
Elisabetha Scheid was born in 1822 in Rodalben to Johann Jacob Scheid and Catharina Buchler according to Rodalben’s Kirkenbuch and Familienbuch. She married Franz Jacob Bold in Nunschweiler, in 1842 where he was the schoolmaster. This current blog post is updating some of the facts regarding Elisabetha Scheid in this previous post.
On January 24, 1880, Elisabetha and her youngest daughter, Rosa, arrived in the Port of New York on the ship the Scheidam, which had sailed from Rotterdam, Netherlands.
This is the largest I can make this snippet of their manifest
American records point to proof that Elisabetha’s husband Jacob Bold had passed away in Nunschweiler by 1880. I found an Elisabetha Bold on the 1880 Federal Census living with her daughter Anna and son-in-law Jacob Leies, and their children Mary Ann, Richard Joseph, Louisa, Jacob Aloysius, and Anna. Her relationship to head of household Jacob was listed as “mother.” The box for widowed/divorced is checked next to Elisabetha’s name.
Back to Anna…
In 1885, Elisabetha’s son-in-law Jacob Leies passed away. In 1897, Anna Bold Leies passed away. Anna’s will on Ancestry.com listed all of her children as heirs and a man listed as her cousin Jacob Weinlin, as Executor.
A little on her children: Anna’s son Jacob Aloysius Leies joined the United States Navy in 1905. After his service, he was a post office clerk and never married. Richard was a merchant/salesman according to federal censuses and city directories. I have been able to trace Richard’s large amount of descendants to the 1990s while I am still trying to track down what happened Anna’s daughters Louisa, Mary Ann, and Anna.
Juliana Rosa Bold Ertl
Rosa (Julian Rosa) Bold was born in 1860 in Nunschweiler. As stated above, she came to the United States with her mother in 1880. It is unclear how long she was in New York City. She was not on the census with her mother in 1880, nor with her Chicago siblings Richard, Alex, and Emilia.
By 1883 though, she is found in Chicago marrying another German immigrant named John Ertl, They had three children: Elizabeth, Karl, and John. She passed away young, on April 4, 1891 in Chicago.
I could only find one of Rosa’s children in adulthood – Elizabeth, whose profession on the 1940 Federal Census was listed as a stenographer for an architect company. She never married. I am still searching for her sons.
Back to Elisabetha…
By the time of the 1900 federal census, Elisabetha was living with Jacob Weinlein, his wife Louisa, and their family in New York City. Elisabetha was listed as “aunt” as to her relationship with the head of household Jacob. (He is the same man that was the Executor of Anna’s will.) Elisabetha stated she was widowed, a mother of “8” children and when asked if any of her children were living the number was “0.”
I found that number interesting because her son Immigrant #1: Chicago Police Officer Alexander Bold, was still alive. You may remember that Alexander had a rocky family life and his wife had divorced him on grounds of cruelty. I suppose it could be that he was estranged from his family.
I too count 8 children born to Elisabetha in Germany, as follows:
Emilia – born in 1843, died in 1894 in Chicago
Rosalia Maria Magdalena – born in 1846, died as an infant
Catharina Michaelina – born in 1848, died unk.
Helen Catharina – born in 1849, died unk.
Alexander – born in 1850, died in 1910 in Chicago
Anna Maria – born in 1852, died in 1897 in NYC
Richard – born in 1854, died in 1889 in Chicago (have not told his story yet)
Juliana Rosa – born in 1860, died in 1891 in Chicago
The census taker wrote “yes” in the block under “Can Speak English” in the 1900 federal census for Elisabetha.
Elisabetha passed away on January 14, 1905 in Manhattan. Several of her descendants are buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Westchester County, New York. I wonder if her grave is there also. I have not located it yet. The New York Death Index did list her parents as Jacob Scheid and Catharina Bechler. That is so close to Buchler, there can be no mistake that 3rd great grandmother Elisabetha Scheid Bold came to the United States too.
On this Veteran’s Day weekend, I decided to count the amount of Veterans that I could find descended from Elisabetha Scheid and her husband Franz Jacob Bold. So far, this is what I have: 1 U.S. Navy Veteran, 1 World War I Veteran, 6 World War II Veterans (3 of which were brothers) including Colonel Gerard M. Leies.
I will find what happened to Rosa’s sons and Anna’s daughters!!!!!!!!
Sources:
Familien – und Seelen-Verzeichnissi fur Pfarrei Rodalben
Rodalben Kirchenbuch
Nunschweiler Catholic Church records via microfilm
Busenberg Catholic Church recrods via Family Search
Hamburg Passenger Lists
New York Passenger Lists
CastleGarden.org
Germans to America
New York State Censuses
United States Federal Censuses
New York City Directories
New York and Chicago birth, marriage, and death indexes
New York State Civil War Muster Rolls
Fold3.com
Various records from National Archives pertaining to the descendants of Richard Leies
My great great grandfather Johann Leies was born in Nuenschweiler in the German Palatinate in 1843 to farmers Johann Adam Leies and Elisabetha Margaretha Pfeiffer. He came to America in 1867 and became a naturalized citizen of the United States that same year in Wayne County, Ohio. Before moving to Chicago and running a saloon, he worked as a farmer, a carpenter, in beer and wine dealing, and married a childhood friend from Nuenschweiler in Wooster, Ohio – Immigrant #24 ~~ Great Great Grandmother Emilia Anna Bold Leies~~and had their children, Alexander, my great grandfather, and John Ferdinand.
Uncle John wrote a lot about this immigrant grandfather of his and even visited the Catholic church in Nuenschweiler to obtain a transcribed copy of his grandfather’s baptism. The village is about 6 miles from the current day border of Moselle, Lorraine, France. Johann was born at Huber Hof near Nuenschweiler. Huber Hof was the name of his great grandfather Michael Conrad’s farm. Hof originally meant temple or hall in Old Norse. It later was used for courtyard and eventually for a collection of buildings on a farm. Source: Wikipedia.
When Johann was born, the farm had already been inherited by his grandmother Gertruda Conrad. Information on his estate came from a great source: Intelligenzblatt des Rheinkreises, Volume 7, or Google Books! Johann was the oldest of at least four children. The baptismal records of Nuenschweiler are missing a few decades which means there may have been more siblings.
Like me, Uncle John did not know the date or location of Johann’s arrival here, although he left a great trail for the researchers that would come after him. He thinks he may have entered the country in New Orleans.
I wondered why did Johann go to Wooster, Ohio when I read Uncle John’s research. This past summer when I found a relation of ours (Union Soldier Peter Leies, 1841-1862, born in Nunschweiler, Germany and killed at Antietam), I began looking for more Leies family members in the Civil War. That led me to two other first cousins of great great grandfather Johann that were drafted during the Civil War in Ohio – Henry and Anthony Leies. They were brothers. From what I can tell, they were only drafted and didn’t serve. Their parents were Heinrich Leies and Barbara Buchheit from Nuenschweiler and all of them had been living in Wooster, Ohio. Heinrich was the oldest brother of Johann’s father making them aunt and uncle to Johann.
Not only is it apparent at this point in my research that the Heinrich Leies family paved the way for the other Leieses to come to America, but they got here even earlier than our first direct American ancestor Johann Schuttler in 1849. Heinrich Leies, wife Barbara, and their sons arrived in New York City in 1848.
September 1848 Passenger Manifest of the Nicolas, which sailed from Le Havre, France
I do siblings when I count the immigrants in my tree. Do Heinrich and family count since he was the sibling of Johann’s father? Definitely.
Back to Johann. Do you think he lived with Uncle Heinrich or a cousin when he got to Wooster? It is very likely. Johann would only have been about 5 years old when his Uncle Heinrich and Aunt Barbara left Nuenschweiler. Both his Uncle Heinrich and Aunt Barbara were two of his baptismal sponsors, as you can see on the parish record below.
Johannes Leies Baptism, dated April 25, 1843, Catholic Parish in Nuenschweiler
Uncle John had a copy of a letter his grandfather wrote to his cousin Johann Leies (a different Johann!) in Massweiler, Germany in 1910 that he translated from German and distributed to his family before his death. One detail from his life in Germany is written in the letter. He stated that “When I was 18 years old I worked in Pirmasens near the church not far from Loewenbrunnen for a Jew called Wolf. He had a bone mill at Nuenschweiler; his son’s name was Alphonse. He went to America.”
Important facts about Johann’s years in America were listed in the letter to back home in 1910 in this order:
“I have been in America for 43 years. I worked as a farmer and carpenter for two years;
Then I worked 7 years in the wine and beer industry in Wooster, Ohio;
Then we moved to Chicago. Here in Chicago I have dealt in beer and wine for 8 years;
Then for four years in other types of work;
Then for 22 years in the piano business with my son.”
At the time of the 1880 Census in Wooster, Ohio, Johann’s cousin Henry Leies was running a saloon. I can’t help but think that Johann may have been working there at some point before he moved to Chicago in the “wine and beer industry.”
The paper trail on Johann picks up in Chicago in 1880 where he is running a saloon according to the census. I would love to know the name of his saloon – his beer and wine business. I couldn’t find anything on newspapers.com regarding his saloon. By the mid 1890s, the hard-working and diligent Johann owned his own piano dealing shop – John Leies Pianos. Later he brought his son Alexander into the piano dealing business and they became known as John Leies & Son Pianos.
Chicago City Directory, 1896
Johann remarried in 1896, two years after the death of Emilia Bold. His second wife, Carolina Sickel, was born in New Orleans. The 1910 Federal Census stated that her father was born in France, and that her mother was born in Germany. She had been put into a home before Johann died in Chicago in 1922. You can see his Find-a-Grave Memorial here.
Written in Latin above, in the margin next to Johann’s baptism, is his date of death in America. Uncle John knew his grandfather often sent money home to the parish in Nuenschweiler. The priest back home either received word of his death from a relative in Nuenschweiler, a relative in Chicago who wrote home, or from Uncle John himself when he visited. In turn, the church books of Nuenschweiler were photographed by the Latter Day Saints. I would like to think it was from Uncle John.
Uncle John wrote a fantastic report on this grandfather of his. Email me if you wish to have a copy.
The Ancestry of Johann Leies (so far)
The great grandmother of Johann was Margaretha Rubly. It is in this part of Leies line that we descend from The Anabaptist Rubeli of Aeschlen bei Oberdiessbach, Switzerland, religious refugees to the German Palatinate in 1672. I really enjoyed researching that part of the Leies family.
One of Johann’s ancestors was named Hans Adam Schwartz, born around 1650. According to the Contwig Reformed Church Records I found, he was a Gerichtsschoffe or Court Alderman in the Zwiebrucken area of the Palatinate. He was our 7th great grandfather. His daughter Anna Ottilia married our 6th great grandfather Jakob Johann Wenceslaus Layies-Trauden. Leies was spelled as Layies at that point in the church records.
Johann also had ancestors born in France like his wife Emilia. The earliest known of them was Jean Michel Conrad, born December 3, 1697 in Shweyen, Moselle. I would like to point out that in 1697, parts of the Palatinate were under French rule. His baptism from the Archives of Moselle is below. Thank you cousin G. Pfeiffer in France for sharing and emailing many Conrad records to me.
Like some of the ancestry of Emilia Bold, going back to the 1400s in this part of Europe, there are two parts of Johann’s ancestry that “claim” to be able to trace back to the 1400s, and even to the 1300s in a town in the present-day Saarland. In the 1300s the region of present-day Saarland was part of the Holy Roman Empire. Emilia’s Helfrich line isn’t a myth right now like Johann’s pre-1600s ancestors are for American researchers. Maybe those trees on Geneanet are correct, but I can’t prove it!
Johann’s 1910 letter stated he had a photo album of his family back in Germany. If that album still exists, it must be a treasure.
Sources:
Wayne County, Ohio Historical Society
Nuenschweiler, Germany Catholic Church Records
Hornbach Catholic and Protestant Church Records
Intelligenzblatt des Rheinkreises, Volume 7
Cousin G. Pfeiffer, France
Baptemes Loutzviller 1691-1723, Archives 57
Contwig, Germany Church Records
Weisbach and Massweiler, Germany Catholic and Reformed Church Records
Zur Familie Trauden/Layes von Oberhausen, by Johannes Becherer via L. Broschart in Koblenz, Germany
United States Federal Censuses
Ohio Birth and Marriage Indexes
Uncle John
Chicago Marriage and Death Indexes
Find-a-Grave
Newspapers.com
New York Passenger Lists/Manifests/National Archives
Wikipedia
Google Books
Chicago City Directories
Numerous French and German personal genealogy databases
Leimen/Merzalben/Leiningen: Reber, Helfrich/Helferich/Helferig (in Leimen before and after the Thirty Years War according to 850 Jahre Leimen. See also Die Helfriche)
Aeschlen bei Oberdiessbach, Bern: Rubeli/Strubel (from Langnau), Muller – Rubeli and Muller migrated to Fischbach, RP and lived in Messerschwanderhof and Contwig. The Rubeli were related to the Gungerich Anabaptists of Diessbach. See: Mennosearch.com and Der Tauferlehrer Christian Gungerich von Oberdiessbach (1595-1671) und der Streit um Seinen Nachlas by Hanspeter Jecker.
My DNA matches the Rubeli descendants that emigrated to Pennsylvania before the Revolution. They used Ruble and Ruple in America. See also this former blog post for sources and references on the Strubel/Rubeli: The Anabaptist Rubeli of Aeschlen bei Oberdiessbach, Switzerland.
It is a miracle baby Joseph survived. The following spring, Ferdinand sued James O’Brien, the owner of the building, for $1,100.00 damages. He was awarded $426.00. Current inflation makes that a little less than $10,000.00.
Cinziarosa's Descendants (c) 