My Trails into the Past

Because the timeline worked so well last month documenting G.W. Lancaster, I have decided to create a timeline first of what I know about Matilda Wollenweber. Then I can work on filling in any missing information. Some of the documents will need to be revisited as I do not have up-to-date links to them. Some may only have a microfilm number. Matilda Wollenweber is my husband’s paternal great-grandmother. Her daughter, Matilda Davey married Joseph Norman Gorrell, who were his grandparents. Matilda “Tillie” Wollenweber Timeline 1859    Matilda was born on 27 August 1859 to Ludwig Wilhelm Wollenweber and Philippina Veringer. She was baptized by Carl Ludwig Daubert, nearly a year later, on 22 July 1860 at St. Paul’s Evangelical Church in Louisville. [1] COMMENT: From a Wikipedia article, St. Paul’s German Evangelical Church was the first German Evangelical Church to be established in Louisville, being founded in 1836 by Rev. George Brandau. [2] She was baptized in the fir...

It’s February and time to move on to another genealogical couple, this time, my husband’s paternal 2x-great-grandparents, Frederick Henry Davey (1853-1915), and Matilda “Tillie” Wollenweber (1859-1885). Introduction Frederick Henry Davey was born on 10 October 1853 in Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania, the only child of Thomas Davey and Mary Nicholas born in the United States. He married Matilda “Tillie” Wollenweber on 26 June 1878 and they had four children: Fred James, Matilda “Tillie”, William Edward, and Leon Thomas. Matilda “Tillie” Wollenweber was born on 27 August 1859 in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, to Ludwig “Louis” Wilhelm Wollenweber and Philappina Margaretha Voehringer. She was the oldest child of five. She died on 1 November 1885 in Carthage, Jasper County, Missouri. Fred married her sister, Julia Wollenweber on 28 July 1887. They had one son, George Thomas Davey. Julia divorced Fred in 1892. He married Angeline McDonald Grace on 16 Mar 1898 in Jasper Coun...

The Legacy Family Tree Webinar’s presentation, given by Ute Brandenburg, titled The Emperor’s New Code was about the implementation of civil records in some of the western parts of Germany that came under Napoleon's rule, beginning in the 1790s. Previously, most vital records were kept by the priests in the Catholic or Lutheran churches. After Napoleon’s fall in 1814, many parts of Germany returned to the churches recording vital records, but other parts retained the civil registration. My husband’s paternal ancestors were from Kusel in the Pfalz. There is a gap in church records found on FamilySearch that coincides with Napoleon’s rule. Sure enough, I found civil registrations of marriages and deaths for several Wollenweber and Emerick families. But They are in French I do not know how I found some records many years ago. I don’t have access to my notes. I took photographs of the microfilm, locating the records probably by looking page by page for the two surnames. However, ...

Ludwig Wilhelm Wollenweber (1822-1873), my husband’s 2x-great-grandfather, had interactions with the courts while living in Louisville, Kentucky. It mostly had to do with his occupation of selling liquor. Newspaper articles give us some clues. Court record minutes give us the proceedings, but not the details. In the 1860s, Louis ran a saloon at 90 West Market Street, between Third and Fourth Street. Here is a map showing the Market Street between Pearl & Fourth Street. Not sure why Third was called Pearl here. [1] His saloon was often the place for meetings. The Second Ward Democratic Club held their meeting at Wollenweber’s. [2] He was an inventor and manufacturer of cures. An ad for his “Celebrated Stomach Bitters,” is here: [3] He received patent no. 132,424 for a “Medical compound” made up of “angelica root, calamus root, gentian, herb absinthe, Peruvian bark, orange peel, nutmegs, cloves, laurel leaves, and anise seed, all added to a one-fourth barrel of soft water, previo...