Philippine Voehringer’s Family is Found!

It all started with a newspaper article in the Courier-Journal, a newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky. I was searching this newspaper in the ProQuest.com newspaper site that the attendees at IGHR at Samford University had access to.  There was a newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky and I had Wollenweber ancestors in Louisville. So in my search I found an article about real estate transactions. Philippine Wollenweber, a widow, was selling her interest in the estate of Fred Vohringer to Rosina Noking.[1]

Well, light bulbs went off in my head! Voehringer was Philippine’s maiden name. I knew this from her marriage record to Ludwig W. Wollenweber.[2] Selling an interest in an estate meant she had some connection to this Fred. Vohringer. And could Voehringer and Vohringer be the same name?
The complete transaction as printed in the newspaper went like this:

 
“Philippine Wollenweber, widow, to Rosina Noking, interest in estate of Fred. Vohringer, deceased, and being one-half interest in 20x145 1/2 feet, west side Twenty-sixth street, 75 2/3 feet south of Grayson, $500 cash."

So she was selling her one-half interest in a piece of land on Twenty-sixth street. Was she selling the half interest to the person who had the other half interest? And how did Fred. Vohringer relate to Philippine?

So more research was needed. I found a couple more Courier-Journal articles using Wollenweber and their variant spellings in the search. I found a 19 Sep 1899 article, entitled, “Not Her Will: Mary Agnes Haebes Sues.”[3] Its transcription is here:

Not Her Will.
Mother Incapable of Making Such a Paper.
Mary Agnes Haebe Sues.
   Mary Agnes Haebe filed in the Circuit Court yesterday a petition in which she seeks to set aside an order of the County Court probating the will of her mother, Maria Agnes Vohringer.
   The latter died on Christmas day, 1898.  The plaintiff names as defendant her sisters, Mrs. Barbra Kilgus, Mrs. Rosina Noelling, Mrs. Philipine Woolenweaver, and her brother, Jacob Vohringer.  The plaintiff claims that the paper admitted to probate on February 2 last, as her mother's testament, was not her will.  She was not, it is alleged, mentally capable of making a will, and the paper is alleged, mentally capable of making a will, and the paper is alleged to have been procured by fraud and undue influence."

Well, there’s Philipine Woolenweaver, which is very close to Wollenweber (which means in German, wool weaver). Here Philippine is listed as a sister to a Rosina Noelling. Well, the name begins with an N and ends in ing like the previous newspaper article. Newspapers are notorious for misspelling surnames. Philippine is also listed as a sister to Mary Agnes Haebe, Barbra Kilgus and Jacob Vohringer. Where was Fred Vohringer? Was he not a brother? Or had he died previously to this article?
From this article, I have a possible mother as Maria Agnes Vohringer. Possible siblings:

• Mary Agnes Haebe
• Barbra Kilgus
• Jacob Vohtringer
• Rosina Noelling (or Noking)

More searching and I found the article about Fred Vohringer. Guess who contested his will? Jacob Vohringer and Maria Halbe.[4] Here is that transcription:

 
"Jacob Vohringer and Maria Halbe yesterday filed an appeal to the Circuit Court from the order of the County Court probating the instrument offered as the will of Frederick Vohringer.  It is alleged that the document was probated upon an ex-parte hearing. The appellants who are among the heirs-at-law of the deceased, claim that he left no will, but died intestate."

This article stated that Jacob Vohringer and Maria Halbe were brother and sister to Frederick Vohringer. If he was a brother to Jacob and Maria, and Philippine was a sister to Jacob and Maria, then Philippine was a sister to Fred.

It is very exciting to find some evidence of additional family. More research is needed. I can search for the wills for both Frederick Vohringer and Maria Agnes Vohringer. FamilySearch has the Jefferson County wills online so I will search them out. I also need to check court cases to find out how the suits turned out. Did Mary and Jacob win their suits or did the court let the wills stand as written? Time to order films from FamilySearch.

But so far, I’ve rounded out Philippine’s family as:

• Mother: Mary Agnes Vohringer, died 25 Dec 1898
• Daughter: Maria Halbe/Haebe
• Daughter: Barbra Kilgus
• Daughter: Rosina Noelling/Noking
• Daughter: Philippine Wollenweber
• Son: Jacob Vohringer
• Son: Frederick Vohringer

Oh, why are these people important? Philippine Voehringer was my husband’s second great grandmother. Her daughter, Matilda Wollenweber married Frederick Henry Davey.[5]

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[1] "Real Estate Transfers," Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), 13 July 1901, p 10, Philippine Wollenweber to Rosina Nolting; digital image, ProQuest (http://proquest.com : accessed 13 June 2013), Newspapers.
[2] Kentucky, Louisville, Marriage Registers, Family History Library microfilm, 882708, vol 6-7 1853-1860, vol 7 p 98, Wollenwebber-Voehringer, 1858.
[3] "Not Her Will," Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), 19 September 1899, p 6, Mary Agnes Haebe Sues; digital image, ProQuest (http://proquest.com : accessed 13 June 2013), Newspapers.
[4] "A Will Contest," Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), 17 April 1895, p 7; digital image, ProQuest (http://proquest.com : accessed 13 June 2013), Newspapers.
[5] They were married in Charlestown, Clark Co, Indiana, but I have not found the official marriage record yet.