My Trails into the Past

In the previous blog post about Henrietta Fiday, we discovered that she was listed in the 1900 census as a Henrietta Richman. After analysis, it was thought that she was indeed Henrietta (Sievert) Fiday, the mother of Magdalene Reichman, and not the mother of Joseph J Reichman. [1] Jos. J. Richman and wife, Magdalene were living in Joliet at 207 Johns Street. [2] Here is an image of a portion of the census. This was a second marriage for both Joseph and Magdalene. 1900 Will Co, Illinos for Jos. J. Richman (Reichmann) Here is the transcription: Richman, Jos J, head, w, m, Mar 1850, 50 m2, 3 yr, Germany, Ger/Ger, 1870, 30 yr, na, butcher, house                 Magdalene, wife, w, f, Jan 1852, 48, m2, 3 yr, 7 child/4 living, Germany, Ger/Ger                 Elizabeth, dau, w, f, Sep 1878, 21, mar, 3 yr, 1/1, Indiana, G...

Henrietta Charlotte Sievert was the sister of my second great-grandfather, Vincent Sievert. [1] He and three other siblings all immigrated to the United States in the 1850’s.  Henrietta and her husband, Joseph Feitag arrived in New York aboard the Bark Elida on 22 May 1854 and along with her sister, Eva and her husband, Christoph Winke, and her brother, Johan Siewert and his wife, Anna. [2] 1854 Ship List of the Bark Elida  for the Siewert & Freitag families In the United States, the Feitag named morphed into Fiday. There were many records with at least three versions of the spelling: Feitag, Freitag, and Fiday, along with a variety of spellings of these names. The passenger list from Hamburg had their name spelled Freytag which is pronounced the same as Freitag. Freitag in German means “Friday.” 1854_Hamburg List for J. Freytag (see last line above) Joseph Fiday died 16 Apr 1895 and was buried at Saint Johns Cemetery in Joliet. [3] Henrietta die...