Michigan Research Group

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Comment by Debra Van Sant on July 28, 2009 at 10:09pm

I am researching the Weitenhagen, Retter and Bangerter families of Lenawee County, Michigan. Carl Weitenhagen, Minnie Retter and Matilda Bangerter were brother and sisters. I want to know how they connect to the Frederick Weitenhagen - Frank Weitenhagen families also of Lenawee County.

Comment by Micki Boyer on July 28, 2009 at 6:25pm

Hi Kay,
According to their children's birth certs, the parents were both born in Vermont. Don't know where they married, but could have been before they left VT. There are no records of either in VT, and just some B.D.'s that don't fit his description.

Also on both BCs the mother's name was given as Mate, probably by one of the parents.

I found some Mary Cashell's whose fathers were born in Ireland. Now, take a strong Iresh accent and say "Mary" and it might just sound like "Mattie" or "Mahty" if you only slightly roll that "R".

Less reliable is that my grandmother (who hadn't seen her mother since she was 3) gave her mother's name as Mary on the marriage register I found at Family Search's Pilot site. So, her name could be Mary.

I'm wondering if he did die as our family legend says. Or if they divorced, and if so, if she took her maiden name back. I know the legend of the way he might have died probably isn't true. He was a steam fitter at Leitelt, so there may have been an accident at work. But the kids were put in the orphanage while both parents were alive, as family letters indicate that he visited them occasionally, without any mention of whether or not Mate (Mary?) did. Maybe she's the one that died.

Where are the death certs? Where is the divorce record? Did they leave the state?

Comment by Kay Campbell on July 28, 2009 at 5:54pm

Hi Micki,
I had a quick look for the Ben and Mate in the census but couldn't find anything which matched.
You would think that if they had been both born in Michigan that they would have married there too.
I will keep an eye out for them

Comment by Micki Boyer on July 28, 2009 at 1:12pm

I just searched and found many records on other family. It was successful using both on Safari and FireFox. Still not much on the Donehues, though.

Thanks for the reminder, as I'd forgotten they had two sites and didn't know if they had finished whatever they were doing with them or not.

Comment by Micki Boyer on July 27, 2009 at 6:43pm

Hi Kay,
Well, Firefox may be the reason it came up the way it did. I have Safari and can try that, and can also use Netscape. Microsoft got competitive against Mac and stopped writing code for Explorer for Mac some time back.

I can give you the names and dates of the children, but I already have tons of information about them ... they were my grandmother and great uncle. Almost everything I have I got from them except the orphanage info about two other families that wanted to adopt them.

It's their parents and beyond that I can't get past. All I know is the Father was Benjamin (Henry? middle name) Donahue, Sr. I know Ben Jr's mid name was Henry.

Mother was Mate Cashell (Cashel). They claimed to be married and both born in Vermont.

Some Census records that may be theirs suggest she was born in Massachusetts. But, that could also be info for the foster parents, or misinformation that they gave as their best recall.

Thanks.

Comment by Kay Campbell on July 27, 2009 at 5:47pm

Pleased to be able to help. Micki, you dont need need a password or ID to access http://pilot.familysearch.org.
After selecting your region, scroll down to Michigan and choose the one you want. Type in the name and then select the one you want to get the image.
However I cannot do this in Firefox and have to use Explorer.
Can you give us the names of the children and dates you have
cheers
Kay

Comment by Mallory Hall on July 27, 2009 at 10:52am

Oh thanks so much for reminding me us about PILOT.familysearch.org. I had a geat genealogy discovery this morning thanks to you :)

I believe both sites have the same information but the searching is more efficient or "smarter" right?

Comment by Micki Boyer on July 27, 2009 at 10:25am

I'm not sure whether I'm searching on the pilot site or the older site. Seems to me I tried the pilot site many months ago and needed an access ID and password, which I wasn't qualified to get. I've been searching something on FamilySearch but can't be sure which site. Obviously everyone else is able to search there, so I don't know where the ID and password came in.

I'll look up the pilot site specifically and see if I have better results than last time. I've got Ben and Margaret's info (name on bc was Maud), and Ben Jr's info but just can't find proof that their parents existed under the names they gave on the birth certificates, anywhere.

Thanks for the reminder, as I'd forgotten they had two sites and didn't know if they had finished whatever they were doing with them or not.

Comment by Kay Campbell on July 27, 2009 at 3:41am

For Micki,
Have you looked at
http://pilot.familysearch.org
The Michigan births, marriages and deaths are on line with original images . I did find several references to Benjamins childrens' births
Kay

Comment by Earline Hines Bradt on July 23, 2009 at 6:16am

Some of my early French-Canadian ancestors came to Michigan in the 1700's and founded Bay City, named after Baie St. Paul, quebec, where they originated from.
Still more of my Scottish and Irish ancestors came to the Detroit area in the 1800's, most crossing the river to Sandwich, Ontario the rest remaining in the Detroit area.

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