An 1887 Suicide in Coffman's Harmony Township Barn

The first two images I have had for some time, it is just now that I sat down, put them together and realized what the solution was--at least in part.

20 September 1887 letter [partial] written by Noentje Lena Ufkes
 of Basco, Hancock County, Illinois

In 1887, great-great-grandma Noentje (Grass) Ufkes writes a letter to her husband's sister's family in Nebraska. Must of the letter is local news of fellow Ostfriesens. Noentje mentions that Dirk Frieden shot himself in the barn of Enne Kofffman and that an "English" girl is mourning. Frieden does not appear to have been a relative, but the nature of his death piqued my interest.

There is no indication in the letter of precisely when the shooting took place, but it is reasonable to assume that it took place relatively close to when Noentje wrote the letter, maybe as early as the spring of 1887, but probably (an assumption) not before 1887.

Quincy Daily Journal mention of Fayen suicide
from 6 September 1887

The Quincy Daily Journal of 6 September 1887 contains a mention of an event that most likely is the one to which Noentje is referring.

The the last name of the landowner is the same, but the other names are slighly different. However, it would be odd for there to have been two Coffman farmers both of whom had men shoot themselves in their employer's barn in September of 1887.

Newspapers are notorius for getting the names of low-Germans incorrect, so I concluded that the names as written in Noentje's letter were correct. However, there is an A. K. Coffman living in Harmony Township, Hancock County, Illinois, in 1880 and enumerated as a farmer.


While I did not perform a manual search of all the entire area near where Noentje Ufkes lived and did not come close to searching all of "near Carthage," I believe this is the individual in whose barn the suicide took place.

1880 U S Census, Hancock County, Illinois,
Harmony Township, Enumeration District 71, page 8D

The name matches the newspaper account. The last name is the same as the one in the Ufkes letter and Harmony Township is adjacent to Bear Creek Township in which Ufkes was living in 1887. It also seems probable that this A. K. Coffman is the one to whom the newspaper is referring seven years later. In fact, the farm on which Ufkes lived is on the extreme eastern border of Bear Creek Township--which borders Harmony Township. A plat map would confirm how "close" to the Ufkes family Coffman lived (or at least owned property), but it really doesn't matter where in Harmony Township he lived in the context of this problem--as it's all close to where Ufkes lived and close enough that any news would have reached the family fairly quickly.

Especially news of the suicide of an apparent fellow Ostfriesen.

But what of Enne Koffman to which Noentje Ufkes refers?

My working premise is that Noentje "translated" A. J. Coffman's first name (or perhaps his initials) to the closest low-German name she could. English speaking census takers translated names when taking the census. It is not a stretch to imagine German language letter writers doing the same thing, especially when the letter was written entirely in German.

At least now I know where the suicide took place. I still have more research to do on this event in local papers to see if there's any mention of the story behind the newspaper's use of the phrase "killing the farmer and marrying the widow" or Noentje's mention of "English" girl who is mourning.

The Quincy, Illinois, newspaper reference is not local, but finding it will help me search local papers which are not digitized and will require a manual search.

Genealogical Lessons:

• Don't assume the newspaper is wrong.
• Anyone can translate any name--even in atypical directions.
• Newspapers a distance from the event may still contain a mention of the event. In this case that allowed me to get a date I could use to search other papers. 

An 1893 Baptism at Immanuel Church Brings Two Questions

It is always fun to locate things you "already have."

The Ufkes family  has published several genealogies since the 1950s and is one family that's very proud and knowledgable about their heritage. However nowArchives.com that allows users to browse images, I decided to search for as many relatives as I can in the digital ELCA records that are on Archives.com. (More information on these records can be seen here.)

The entries below are from the baptismal entry for Friedrich Janssen Ufkes, born in Bear Creek Township in 1893.

Baptisms from Immanuel Lutheran Church, Harmony Township, Hancock County, Illinois, pp. 30-31; digital image from Archives.com

Friedrich Janssen, child of Joh. Ufkes and Lina geb.Grass, born in Bear Cr[eek Township] on 8 October 1893 at 10 a.m. Baptised on 15 October 1893 with sponsors A. Mueller, Fr. M. Rosenboom and Mina Geissler, pastor B. Geissler.

Baptisms from Immanuel Lutheran Church, Harmony Township, Hancock County, Illinois, pp. 30-31; digital image from Archives.com

Friedrich was not named for one of his sponsors as happens in some churches and ethnic groups. The Ostfriesens were strong practicers of using family names for children, which was the case wth Friedrich.

On my list is to detemine who the sponsors are. Mina Geissler probably is the wife of the pastor. I'm not certain about the other two, but based upon what I know about the well-documented Ufkes family they don't appear to be relatives.

Even when you think you know everything, there's still more questions.

E. Ufkes in the Ostfriesisches Stutbuch (Ostfriesian StudBook?) from 1911

I've mentioned various types of agricultural publications before but they've always been in English. This is another item that I located on Hathitrust. 

This one is not.

It is the Ostfriesisches Stutbuch from 1911.  This listing indicates the breeders of the horses listed and the owners at the time the directory was published. As with other directories it does confirm that a person with a specific name was living in a certain location at a certain point in time. 

The two references from the 1911 publication indicate E[ielt] Ufkes of Wiesens was the breeder of two horses listed. I neglected to copy a legend with the abbreviations, but I'm reasonably certain that the "V" stands for the male horse (with "Nr." being a registration number) and the "M" being the mother horse. 

The clues here are pretty minimal, but it does indicate that Eielt was probably still living in Wiesens in 1907 and 1908 when the horses were born and that he probably knew the owners (assuming there were no intermediate owners). As Ufkes was not the owner listed, it is always possible that he was not living in 1911. 

I'm not certain I need to translate the remaining portion of the entry, but I wish I had copied the abbreviations.

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Note: I had a response on G+ that included the following translation:

6229 Ferida
born 1907, brown, white forehead hair, both hind feet white.
Father: Tello, Mother: Feige
Owner: A. Goeman, Visquard, Emden County.
Breeder: E. Ufkes, Wiesens.

6887 Feige I.
born 1908, white/gray horse, little star, left behind the ball of the foot white.
F: Tello, M: Feige
Owner: J. Georgs, Damhusen, Emden County
Breeder: E. H. Ufkes, Wiesens.

An 1887 Suicide Causes an "English" Girl to Mourn

[note: I've blogged about this letter before in February of 2008, but this is something of an update]

This is part of a letter written by Noentje Lena (Grass) Ufkes on 20 September 1887 to a relative of her husband's family in Nebraska. The original is in the possession of a member of the Nebraska family that received the letter. This is the only part of the letter that mentions a recent suicide.

Starting with the word "Dirk" in the first line, it basically indicates that Dirk (can't read last name--Frieden?) shot himself in the barn of Enne Koffman and that an "English girl" is in mourning.

Noentje was living in Bear Creek Township, Hancock County, Illinois and was from the Wiesens area of Ostfriesland, Germany. The Ufkes family was also from that area of Germany as well. Because of those common connections, I am assuming that either the suicide victim or the barn's owner had some connection to the Hancock/Adams County, Illinois, area or to the Wiesens area of Ostfriesland. [Lesson/reminder: include your "reasons" as to why you think things--just be certain to clearly mark off your commentary as your commentary and not part of the actual document. There's nothing blatant in the letter that indicates the geographic connections I've mentioned--those connections are based upon my perceptions.]

The names of Dirk and Enne make it fairly clear to me that there's an Ostfriesian connection (those are Ostfriesen names)--it is just determining what that connection is. 

It's been a while since I've tried to find out more about this reference in Noentje's letter. Maybe it's time to try again.

A Church in the Distance

How closely do you look for clues in the backgrounds of pictures?

When the below was enlarged, there was a faint shadow as shown in the oval:

photo of Frederick Ufkes (1893-1960), taken near Basco, Illinois; digital image (c) 2013 Michael John Neill

Had I not known where the photograph was taken, the church would have been a clue. It is the Immanuel Lutheran Church east of Basco in Hancock County, Illinois. The church is in close proximity to the farm on which Fred spent his entire life.

Are there clues lingering in the background of your pictures?
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Reminder: Copying and publishing or posting pictures from the websites of others is not only considered bad form, it's also unethical, illegal, and an indication that the copier was too lazy to bother and ask if they could use the image.

That Photo With the Vague Back

This is the front of the photograph whose back we posted a few days ago. Fortunately I knew one of the individuals in the picture without the identification on the back.

This is the reverse side of the photograph as published in an earlier blog post:

I'm not exactly certain who wrote on the photo, but here is what the back says, along with some annotations.

Geos' Tena
Freds Tena Nov 1986 di
Bert's Margaurite
Tena myself & Tena 3
Ufkes inlaws left.
1982

The photograph was apparently taken in 1982 and is of Tena (Janssen) Ufkes, Tena (Bruns) Ufkes and Margaurite (Wetterich) Ufkes. The three were sisters-in-law and were married to brothers George Ufkes, Fred Ufkes, and Bertus Ufkes--hence the phrase "Geos' Tena" and "Freds Tena."

The "Nov 1986 di" reference after "Freds Tena" is an apparent reference to her date of death of November of 1986.

I'm not certain where the photograph was taken, but if I had to bet, it was probably in July of 1982 at the Ufkes reunion.

Sometimes without knowing a little bit about the family it makes it difficult to really understand what the person meant--especially when the clues on the item are a little cryptic.
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Note: Tena (Janssen) Ufkes, wife of Fred, is my great-grandmother.

A Nice Stitching Job on the Ufkes Brothers Picture

This image has been optimized for web display, but the original scan was done at 600 dots per inch. It was on my  Flip-Pal  by creating two separate scans and stitching them together. I don't think the "seam" is visible at all--the "light" areas on the back are also present in my original. The scans have not been altered except to be stitched together. It's my last "practice" attempt before an actual trip to scan photographs tomorrow. It is always good to practice and know how use the equipment.

This photograph is of the seven Ufkes brothers--sons of Johann and Noentjelena (Grass) Ufkes. Based upon the ages, it was probably taken in the 1910s--most likely somewhere in Hancock County, Illinois, where the family was living. I am fortunate enough to have one of the originals of this photograph obtained from my grandfather John H. Ufkes, whose father is shown in the picture. I'll have to update this with a list of who is who in the picture--although it's been published several times with individuals identified.

We'll have a longer post with my suggestions for using the  Flip-Pal , including a few minor things to keep in mind and watch out for. But I have been very pleased with the performance of this little piece of equipment.

No more picture posts for a while!

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Note: I am an affiliate of the Flip-Pal manufacturer. However, I am not compensated for any review other than readers who choose to make purchases through affiliate links on my site---and my  Flip-Pal  and bag were not provided to me by the company.

A 1917 Baptism

Chances are the actual baptismal certificate for my grandfather is long gone and I'll never see it. It likely was destroyed in a 1923 house fire which destroyed the family home. I never really thought about looking for the church record of Granddad's baptism.

Granddad Ufkes was one of those Germans with four names: a first name, two middle names, and his surname. Granddad was the oldest in his family and the only child to get a German name. He was named for his Grandfather Ufkes, who had the exact same name as he did. Both grandfather's Anglicized first names were John, but the Ufkes grandfather had a High German name (Johann) and his maternal grandfather had a low-German name (Jans).  To the Ostfriesen ethnic community Johann and Jans were different.

Granddad's younger siblings were all given "English names."  Born in 1917, he was arrived before the First World War brought an end to the use of the German and Platt names that had been passed down for generations.

Baptismal entry for Johann Heinrich Friederich Ufkes, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Basco, Hancock County, Illinois; digital image, Archves.com. 

The entry really isn't all that noteworthy. The information about his birth and the names of his parents are all details I have known forever--in fact, his mother lived long enough to see me graduate from high school, nearly seventy years after Granddad's birth. His parents are listed correctly as Fred[rich] and Trientje Janssen Ufkes and the indication is that he was born on 27 January 1917 in Bear Creek Township. His baptism was 22 days later on Sunday, 18 February 1917. His sponsors were his father's brother Eielt Ufkes and his wife Antje. The name of the sponsors and the date of his baptism were the only pieces of information I did not already have.

Granddad's brother's baptism is recorded a few years later in 1923 and that's the last entry for the family in the Immanuel Lutheran Church record book. His three younger siblings are not there. The reason they are not there is simple, but it took longer than it should have for the reason to dawn on me.

It was one of those things that never made sense, but was never questioned. My grandparents lived on the Ufkes "homeplace," west of Basco and maybe a half a mile from Immanuel Lutheran Church where Granddad was baptized in 1917. Yet my Grandparents didn't attend the rural church. They, Grandad's mother, and my family attended the Lutheran church several miles north in Carthage. I always thought it odd that despite their proximity to the "south church," they went to church in town. Granddad's mother lived in Carthage my whole life and I lived north of Carthage, so it going there for us made perfect sense to me.

The story, which I learned sometime later, was that Fred Ufkes wanted his children to learn English, which was spoken in the town church while the south church continued to have services in German.

When I remembered that story, I knew exactly why the younger children were not listed in the records of the south church. They were born after the family had transferred their membership to the town church. I had it in my head that the transfer happened during the First World War, but it did not as my uncle was born in 1923.

The timing of the family's transfer probably was not the war. It most likely was the fact that Johann Ufkes, Fred's father, died in 1924. There are no entries for the Fred Ufkes family after that time. Johann was an early council member of the south church and it was where all his children were baptized and confirmed and it was in that church cemetery where Johann's wife Noentje and infant son were buried. It seems more reasonable that there was a wait to leave the church until the grandfather passed away in 1924.

Post Card From 1878

This card was written to Herman Harms of Tioga, Hancock County, Illinois, by his brother-in-law, John Ufkes in 1878.

Dear brother and sister in law

At first our greetings. We hope you all are in the pink. We are also doing very well now. Come to visit us, if you are able to do so. Jann and Langmann (?) are also willing to once visit you. Write in return very soon..

Greetings John (?)

[the writer was actually John Ufkes of Basco, Hancock County, Illinois]

The reverse side of the card showing the "postmark" of Basco, Ill.

Who are four of these people?

I only know who one of the people in this photo is.

The young lady on the far right is Tena/Trientje Janssen Ufkes (1895-1986).

Tena was born in Bear Creek Township in February of 1895 and died in Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois, in 1986.

I do not know who the others are in the picture. This photograph was one that my grandparents had. Tena's son John H. Ufkes (1917-2003), was my grandfather.

Any suggestions as to who the others are would be greatly appreciated.

World War 2 Old Men's Draft Registration Card

It's worth noting that some of the "military" records are for men who never saw service--draft registrations come to mind very quickly.

This card is for Frederick J. Ufkes, who registered for the "old men's draft" in 1944. The 48 year old is my great-grandfather.

So when you are looking at those military records, think about draft cards as well.

(this is for Nancy U--her Granddad).

John Ufkes 1872

On 4 September 1872, my ancestor John H. Ufkes was in Franklin County, Nebraska, where he initiated a homestead claim. I've written about this claim before, but thought I'd post his signature here.

This is one of the earliest records we have of John in the United States.

Fritz or Fred?

This is a partial list of the expenses in the accounting of the guardianship of Ommo Fooken, etal, in Hancock County Circuit Court in 1917. The documents were really copied because I needed a sample to show my trip attendees how to use the digital scanner while at the Family History Library last May.

I'm glad now that I scanned the documents. The last line on this image indicated that the guardian bought two bushels of clover seed from my great-grandfather, styled as Fritz J. Ufkes. I knew he went by Fritz as a youth, but figured by this point in time (he was married and had a child by the date of this document) he would be shown as Fred. Actually in an entry from 1918, he is styled as Fred Ufkes when he is paid $9 on Feburuary 28, 1918 for hauling sand for a dam that was built on the Fooken farm.

His brother Eielt was the guardian of the Fooken children. Their mother was Lena Ufkes one of Fred and Eielt's two sisters. Lena and her husband Poppo died while the children were small.

Habben Family Found in 1880 Mortality Schedule at Ancestry.com

I already knew they were there, but it was nice to find them in just a few clicks.

The image contained in this blog post contains part of the 1880 mortality census schedule for my aunt Christina Habben and her son Harm. They died in Harmony Township, Hancock County, Illinois. Interestingly the entry indicates that she had been in the county for 12 years and son Harm for 10 years.

I've also included the search results page for Christina from Ancestry.com as well. I really wish they would not use the word "city" on the results, but I realize that database administrators have to pick some word to use. The problem is that the political jurisdictions smaller than county are not always cities, sometimes they are townships. There is no town of Harmony in Hancock County.

The 1880 mortality schedules provide information on:

• gender
• marital status
• place of birth
• age
• month of death
• cause of death
• census year
• and location
• how long in the county

Remember that mortality schedules are a "census of the dead," and only are for those deaths that took place in the 12 calendar months before the census date. So the 1880 mortality schedule not deaths for all of 1880. It is deaths in the 12 months preceding the date of the 1880 census--1 June 1880.

The 1850-1880 United States Mortality Schedules can be searched here.

These records were microfilmed by the National Archives years ago and have been available there at at the Family History Library for some time as well.

Christina was a sister to Johann Ufkes (1838-1924), my great-great-grandfather.

Could your Ancestors Read What they Signed?

It never really dawned on me until just now. Just how literate was your ancestor?

The clipping in this blog indicates that my ancestor did not learn to read English until he was 60 years of age. By this point in time, he had

• become a citizen
• married
• bought and sold a mill
• bought and sold several pieces of real estate

All without being able to read English. I know John could easily read German, so literacy wasn't a problem. And there is also a very good chance that others in his neighborhood here in the United States could read English if he needed it and there probably was at least one local lawyer, bank clerk, etc. who could speak and read German.

But it makes the point. Even if your ancestors were literate, what documents did they sign that they could not read? And what if they had no one nearby to help them translate?

Just a little food for thought.

And a reminder that when John naturalized in the 1870s, there was no language requirement. Just stating a fact--we try to avoid getting political here. Although readers of the newspaper clipping will note that it indicates John indicates he was a Republican, but does not express himself against Woodrow Wilson or the present administration. Maybe John was just a little bit of a politician, like two of his grandsons.

Making a Chronology

Order is good. I took a little time to organize the materials in John Ufkes' cancelled homestead application file from the National Archives.

• 19 August 1871 John Ufkes filed a declaration of intent to become a citizen in Hancock County, Illinois. The copy of the declaration contained in his homestead application file is dated the same day.
• 4 September 1871 John pays $13.80 to enter his claim for the northeast quarter of section 4 in township 3 range 15 in Franklin County, Nebraska. The property was 151.87 acres and the claim was entered in the Lowell, Nebraska, land office.
• 20 November 1873 William Briggs claims John Ufkes has abandoned his claim.
• 29 Dec 1873 Is the summons date on which John Ufkes is to appear if he wants to defend his claim. Ufkes does not appear and on this date the claim is cancelled by the Register.
• 17 Jan 1874 The publisher of the Adams County Gazette says that for four weeks in November and December of 1873 he published notice for John Ufkes to appear at the hearing on 29 December.

Doing this is more than a simple exercise. Fully analyzing this information requires me to put it into a complete chronology of John's life. Two other dates are crucial here--John's immigration in March of 1869 and his marriage in Hancock County, Illinois, on 3 March 1874. John is known to have been in Adams and Hancock Counties in Illinois shortly after his arrival in the United States (staying with family).

Based upon the dates in his homestead file, John should be in Illinois in the 1870 census. To date, despite numerous searches, he has not been located in that record. Based upon the homestead application, he was in Nebraska on 4 September 1872, but how long he had been there and how long he stayed after that date is debatable. On 20 Nov 1873, Briggs claims John had abandonded his homestead--probably indicating John had been away from it for some time, perhaps all of 1873.

Family tradition was that John thought Nebraska was "too wild" and not a place to raise a family. His sister and her husband moved to Franklin County, Nebraska, shortly after the 1880 census. John returned to Hancock County, Illinois, where he married and remained for the remainder of his life (except for a few years when he farmed near Golden, Adams County, Illinois).

Homestead Applications Include Proof of Citizenship

It will be a while before I get the entire file on the website, but I have posted one image from John H. Ufkes' homestead application from Franklin County, Nebraska.

The image included with this post is his Declaration of Intent filed in August of 1871 in Hancock County, Illinois, where John originally settled.

Of course, this is not a copy of the actual declaration, but rather a handwritten copy included in his pension file. If the dates are correct, John must have had a copy made the day he filed the intent as the "copy date" is the same as the date on the declaration.

Only citizens or those who had filed a declaration of intent could apply for homestead lands. John started the homestead application on 4 September 1872.

We'll be posting more from the file as time allows.

Do Not Forget Rootsweb

I will be honest. It has been a while since I searched at the RootsWeb General Search at Rootsweb. Searching today for my mother's maiden name of Ufkes caused me to locate a a cancelled homestead application for my great-great-grandfather in Nebraska.

The specific page I found was located under the set of web page search results, which searches web pages at Rootsweb.

The actual reference to John is on the GenWeb page for Franklin County, Nebraska, where the property was located. That website has a search engine, but searching for Ufkes on that site's search box did not locate the reference to John H. Ufkes. These search boxes are on many GenWeb county sites and I am now wondering how many are not searching the way we think they are.

We'll post more on John's homestead claim as information is obtained.

Married in 1916

It is not often one finds out the time their great-grandparents were married. This clipping from one of the Quincy, Illinois, newspapers in 1916 mentions my great-grandparents wedding.

Gossip columns contained all kinds of information, including information about the fact that Mrs. Hattie Garrelts property sold well at her sale.

These newspapers were put online by the Quincy, Illinois Pubic Library and mention many of the outlying towns, including ones outside of Adams County, Illinois, where Quincy is located.

Ancestry.com and Genealogy Bank also have some newspapers as a part of their collections.

Age no Bar to Education

The Quincy Daily Journal of 1915 makes reference to John H. Ufkes, "a good old German farmer" learning English at the age of 60.

This clipping is one of several I have found using the Quincy, Illinois, newspapers that are online for free at the Quincy Public Library's website. I am still making discoveries using the scanned images of these newspapers.

If great-great-grandfather can learn English at the age of 60, I probably can learn how to use the remote that comes with the digital cable (grin).