Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:
It's Saturday Night again -
time for some more Genealogy Fun!!
Here is our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings: Check out Lisa Alzo's "Fearless Females 2023" blog post prompts and write about one of them.
Here's mine:
I have done many Fearless Females posts in the past but have
not done day 20, so here is my post. March 20—Is there a female ancestor who is your brick wall?
Why? List possible sources for finding more information.
I have many women whom either I don’t know their surname or I know the surname but don’t know her parents. Let's look at Susanna Radunz. Susanna Radunz was married to Vincent Sievert on 10 February 1850 in Schneidemühl, Posen. I do not know the name of the church or any other details except the date.[1]
They came to the U.S. on 23 June 1852 aboard the Johanna Elise.[2] Later, I found W. Sievert with his wife and child on the Hamburg passenger list. This document confirmed he was from Schneidemühl, Prussia.[3]
The rest of their ten children were born in Joliet, Will County, Illinois, and were baptized at St. John the Baptist Church. Many years ago, I wrote to the church asking for information about baptisms and marriages and received printouts of the various baptisms, not the actual images. However, she did send me the image of my great-grandparent’s marriage record (Johan Anton Hork to Julia Ann Sievert) which gave the Schneidemühl town name for Julia Sievert’s parents.
A new database with images has appeared on Ancestry: “Illinois, U.S., Catholic Diocese of Joliet, Sacramental Records, 1800-1976.” Included in this collection are records for St. John the Baptist Church in Joliet. These are indexed but I have been viewing the registers page by page. This has been rewarding, as I have found entries for not only the known baptism records but also for records I had not previously known about. I also check the sponsors’ column and have found info there, too.
For each of the entries, the parents’ hometowns were listed.
Susanna Radunz/Raduns (both spellings were used) birthplace was listed as:[4]
- Hasenburg, West Prussia (Elisabeth’s baptism 1868)[5]
- Hasenberg, Marienswerer, Prussia (Josephine’s baptism, 1871)[6]
- Hasenberg, Prussia (Catharine’s baptism, 1875)[7]
Susanna also had a sister, Wilhelmine, who came to the U.S. in 1854 aboard the ship, Elida. The Hamburg passenger list has her birthplace as Apolda, Thüringen.[8] She was on the same ship as Vincent’s brother, John Siwart, and sister, Henrietta Freitag.[9]
Wilhelmine married Joseph Hartung on 27 July 1857 in Joliet, Will County, Illinois.[10] Wilhelmine and Joseph had seven children, and from their baptism entries, I learn the birthplace of Wilhelmine:
- Hasenburg, Pommern Prussia (Johannes Hartung’s baptism, 1869)[11]
- Hasendorf, Posen, Prussia (Catharina Elisabeth’s baptism, 1872)[12]
- ?, Posen, Prussia (Elisabeth’s baptism, 1873)[13]
The passenger list from Hamburg with the Thuringia placename is a conflict. Either I have the wrong Wilhelmine, the recorder got the wrong name, or she was there before sailing.
Future Research
I will continue reading the baptism and marriage entries to
locate all entries concerning Susanna Radunz and Wilhelmina Radunz to make sure
that I have all the information from these sources.
I will research where Rasenberg/burg is located in Posen.
I will search for possible records in Rasenberg at the
following places:
- FamilySearch catalog (https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog)
- Genealogy.net (http://genealogy.net/genealogy)
- Matricula Online (https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/)
[1]
This information came from a cousin, Thomas Manley, who had hired someone in
Posen to do the research. He received the data but no copies of the images. Tom
cannot locate his notes, so I have no further details.
[2] "Passenger
Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1957," digital
images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), Johanna Elise, 23 Jun
1852, p 2, Winzent Seivert; NARA Roll 115; Line: 10.
[3] “Hamburg
Passenger Lists, 1850-1934,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1068)
>1850-1859 > Direkt Band 003 (1 Mär 1852-1 Jul 1852) > image 191 of
246, line 9, W. Sievert; Staatsarchiv Hamburg, Hamburger Passagierlisten, v.
373-71, VIII A 1 Band 003, p 4, film K_1702.
[4] I
have only browsed to page 100 in this volume, so I have only three children
listed.
[5] “Illinois,
U.S., Catholic Diocese of Joliet, Sacramental Records, 1800-1976), Ancestry
(https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62097)
> St. John the Baptist, Joliet > Baptism Register, 1868-1884 > images
12-13, p 12-13, Elisabeth Helena Evert, 22 Nov 1868; Sacramental Records,
1800-1976, Catholic Diocese of Joliet.
[6]
Ibid > images 44-45, pp. 48-49, Josephine Siewert, 21 Oct 1871.
[7]
Ibid > images 90-91, pp. 94-95, Catharine Sievert, 11 July 1875.
[8] “Hamburg
Passenger Lists, 1850-1934,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1068)
>1850-1859 > Direkt Band 006 (15 Apr 1854-7 Dez 1854) > image 313 of
459, Wilhelmine Radenz, Elida, 15 Apr 1854; Staatsarchiv Hamburg; Hamburg,
Deutschland; Hamburger Passagierlisten; Volume: 373-7 I, VIII A 1 Band 006/007;
Page: 1; Microfilm No.: K_1703.
[9] "Passenger
Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1957," digital
images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), Bark Elida, 22 May 1854,
p 5, Joseph Feitag.
[10]
Will Co, Illinois, marriage license, Joseph Hartung to Miss Wilhelmine Ruttens,
25 July 1857; collection of Thomas Manley, copy in author’s files.
[11] “Illinois,
U.S., Catholic Diocese of Joliet, Sacramental Records, 1800-1976), Ancestry
(https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62097)
> St. John the Baptist, Joliet > Baptism Register, 1868-1884 > image
20-21, pp. 20, 25, Johannes Hartung.
[12] Ibid
> images 48-49, pp. 52-51, Catharina Elisabeth Hartung.
You have some definite possibilities for finding more records. Hope you find lots!
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