Searching for Death Record in Wisconsin 1872-1879

DeAnn asked Olive Tree:

I am searching for my 2 Great Grandfathers death date? His name is James Frantz, born about 1825, Mecklenburg, Germany. Do not no when he emigrated to the States. He settle in Dane county Wisconsin, until his death. His youngest daughter was born About 1871, so I am assuming that he died between 1872-1879, if he died in 1880 he would of been in the 1880 Census. His family moved to Nebraska. They were in the 1880 Census.

Hi DeAnn

The 1870 census shows James with his wife and family but also living with them is a Fred France [sic] age 47 also born Mecklenburg. He is no doubt your James' brother so you may be able to find them arriving in the USA. Since their daughter Lucy was born circa 1856 in Wisconsin, they must have been in the country in the 1860 census at least. Yep, there he is, living in Middleton Dane Wisconsin in 1860.

Have you tried Vital Records records available for free on Wisconsin Historical Society Site ? They have a death index for Wisconsin pre 1907.

There is also the possiblity that he moved to Nebraska with his family and died there before 1880 census

When in Doubt Check the Original Record

Carrie asked .

My mother's father Ralph Gorman was 19 at the time of my mother's birth (1928) and is listed on the birth certificate as a taxidermist from Minnesota. My mother was born in Shawano/Mattoon, township of Almon, Wisconsin. Her mother was born in Minnesota in 1909. No other family members know any details either. So not knowing his parents or siblings, my brick wall seems permanent

.

Lorine Answers: Cariie, you asked a sensitive question so I've edited quite a bit of it for privacy reasons. A check of census records from 1910 on reveals no Ralph Gorman who fits your description. Variant spellings of Gorman did not pull anyone up that fits either.

So, I suggest you need to question if the name Ralph Gorman is correct. That leads to the question - did you consult an original birth registration for your mother or did you use a transcribed version? Because when in doubt you should always go back to the orginal to verify that the transcriber was correct. Perhaps his name was not Gorman but something similiar. Perhaps he had a middle name that he used interchangeably with Ralph. Perhaps his age is wrong ( there are Ralph Gormans of various ages in the census records). There are lots of possibilities for error and if you have been searching for 3 years with no results, it might be time to turn to the original and verify your facts. You may want to read "I Found My Great Great Grandfather Online -- Now What!!??? (Verifying Records Found On Webpages)" which explains about different "generations" of records and why it is so important to go back to the original record.

Trying to find city or village of grandfather's birth

Joe S. asked me on Jan 4/09 .... I am trying to locate a city or village where my grandfather (John Szudarek- now spelled Shudarek) came from. According to the 1900 Federal census he arrived in the US in 1880. On his marriage certificate he came from Posen, Europe. Born on 2 Nov., 1863 and baptized a catholic. His parents were Ignatius Szudarek and Apolonia Kaczmarek. My dad said he did not know of any brothers or sisters. So far I have not been able to locate any passenger records.

I wrote to Joe privately and asked for the location of his grandfather in 1900 and the name of his grandfather's wife. There were too many "hits" when I went to look for John on the census so I needed more details to find the right man.

Joe responded with: The reason I left out some details was because it happened after my grandfather arrived here and I thought it would not help.
My grandfather was married to Julia Gebel on Nov. 26, 1888. They were married in Portage County, Stevens Point, Wis. On the marriage certificate she came from Slesia. Europe. They lived in Wis. all their lives. My grandfather died on March 13, 1933 and my grandmother died Dec.25, 1952.

I ANSWERED: Hi Joe, You've obviously done a lot of research on your family and have gathered some good details. I needed your grandfather's location and wife's name so that I could look in census records for more clues. I checked the 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930 census for your grandfather as I wanted to verify his immigration year. I also wanted to see whether or not he ever naturalized. Naturalization records are a great way to find details such as place of birth or an exact immigration date and ship name.

I noted that, as is often the case, his immigration year varied from census to census. In 1900it was 1880, in 1910 1880, in 1920 it was difficult to read but it looks like 188[?] and in 1930 it was 1882. So you have a range from 1880-1882 and I would allow a couple of more years on either side of that. So search ships passenger lists from 1878-1884 for starters.

As for your grandfather's citizenship details, he states that he has his first papers (PA) in the 1910 census. In 1920 he is listed as an Alien so that means he hadn't yet naturalized. 1930 census once again shows him as having his first papers (PA) so there is a chance he had to re-apply. But in any case there should be first papers if not actual naturalization documents on file for him. You can find out more about Wisconsin naturalizations but there are very few Wisconsin Naturalization records online. Your search may have to extend to offline records.

Portage County naturalization records from 1844-1956 are held at Stevens Point Area Research Center. The address is

James H. Albertson Library
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
Stevens Point, WI 54481

Phone: 715/346-2586

I would phone or visit and have a search for your grandfather's first papers (and his naturalization papers in case he naturalized)

As for your question about his village or town of origin, you may find that on his naturalization papers. Meantime you might want to join the Posen mailing list and post a query. Posen is a province of Poland, formerly of Germany, so talking to others who are knowledgeable about Polish or German research should be helpful.

This was a very interesting puzzle and I hope I've been able to steer you in a good direction to carry on your search.