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Family of Fredericka ZEH GRAF (1843 - 1914)
I may have made a small crack in one of my brick walls this past week while traveling in Minnesota and being able to do some research there. I am looking for information on the parents of Fredericka ZEH, primarily more info on her father.
The following is "family history" with some confirmation from other sources. Fredericka ZEH was born in (Wurtemberg) Germany on 10 Jan 1843. She came to the United States with her parents in 1852 (unconfirmed) via New York, settling in Philadelphia. In May 1864 in Philadelphia, she married Emil GRAF (my wife's great-grandfather). He had been in the hospital there due to injuries instead of being with his unit at Gettysburg (most of which did not survive). Emil and his new bride went to his home in Marine Mills, Washington county, Minnesota. They lived there until 1879 when they moved to Nobles county, Minnesota. Shortly after the 1910 census, they moved to St. Cloud Florida, where Fredericka died in April 1914. She is buried back in Nobles county, MN.
Fredericka's mother was Christina B. ZEH, maiden name unknown. Also known as Christine B., her mother was born 25 Oct 1813 according to her tombstone (in Nobles county MN). She and two sons (Fredericka's brothers) moved to Minnesota from Philadelphia some time before the 1880 census. Her brother Charles T. ZEH was born 17 Mar 1851 and died 20 Aug 1899 and is buried in Nobles county also. Her brother Frederick (b. 29 Sep 1844) lived until Aug 1918. He is also buried in Nobles county MN.
Fredericka's father is a real unknown. Family history has stated that his first name was Frederick. He supposedly left the family while they were living in Philadelphia to "find a better place for the family to live" and was never heard from again. Lately, I have seen some indications that his first name may not have been Frederick, or at least he was known by some other names.
Now for some of the more recent discoveries. In the death records at the Recorders Office in Nobles county, the entry for Fredericka has an interesting entry in the columns for her parent's names. Listing her mother first, the entry is "Schermeyer & ___________ Zeh." I am guessing that Schermeyer may be Christina's maiden name. (I have not had much luck with any searches on this, but I have just started.) In the same record book, the entry for Fredericka's brother Frederick leaves the mother's name column blank and lists his father as M. ZEH.
Another discovery on this trip was an article on Emil GRAF (husband of Fredericka) in the "Memorial Record of Southwestern Minnesota" published in 1897 by The Lewis Publishing Co of Chicago. On page 218, it first refers to Fredericka's parents as Frederick and Barbara ZEH. Christina's middle initial was B, but this is the first time I have seen her referred to by this name. Later in the same paragraph it states "the mother [Christina] and other members of the family came to Mr. Graf's and she died at age of 76 years. She had five children, three of whom are yet living." This is the first mention of any siblings in addition to Fredericka, Frederick, and Charles.
I am looking for more information on Fredericka's parents, especially her father, and her two previously unknown siblings.
The following is "family history" with some confirmation from other sources. Fredericka ZEH was born in (Wurtemberg) Germany on 10 Jan 1843. She came to the United States with her parents in 1852 (unconfirmed) via New York, settling in Philadelphia. In May 1864 in Philadelphia, she married Emil GRAF (my wife's great-grandfather). He had been in the hospital there due to injuries instead of being with his unit at Gettysburg (most of which did not survive). Emil and his new bride went to his home in Marine Mills, Washington county, Minnesota. They lived there until 1879 when they moved to Nobles county, Minnesota. Shortly after the 1910 census, they moved to St. Cloud Florida, where Fredericka died in April 1914. She is buried back in Nobles county, MN.
Fredericka's mother was Christina B. ZEH, maiden name unknown. Also known as Christine B., her mother was born 25 Oct 1813 according to her tombstone (in Nobles county MN). She and two sons (Fredericka's brothers) moved to Minnesota from Philadelphia some time before the 1880 census. Her brother Charles T. ZEH was born 17 Mar 1851 and died 20 Aug 1899 and is buried in Nobles county also. Her brother Frederick (b. 29 Sep 1844) lived until Aug 1918. He is also buried in Nobles county MN.
Fredericka's father is a real unknown. Family history has stated that his first name was Frederick. He supposedly left the family while they were living in Philadelphia to "find a better place for the family to live" and was never heard from again. Lately, I have seen some indications that his first name may not have been Frederick, or at least he was known by some other names.
Now for some of the more recent discoveries. In the death records at the Recorders Office in Nobles county, the entry for Fredericka has an interesting entry in the columns for her parent's names. Listing her mother first, the entry is "Schermeyer & ___________ Zeh." I am guessing that Schermeyer may be Christina's maiden name. (I have not had much luck with any searches on this, but I have just started.) In the same record book, the entry for Fredericka's brother Frederick leaves the mother's name column blank and lists his father as M. ZEH.
Another discovery on this trip was an article on Emil GRAF (husband of Fredericka) in the "Memorial Record of Southwestern Minnesota" published in 1897 by The Lewis Publishing Co of Chicago. On page 218, it first refers to Fredericka's parents as Frederick and Barbara ZEH. Christina's middle initial was B, but this is the first time I have seen her referred to by this name. Later in the same paragraph it states "the mother [Christina] and other members of the family came to Mr. Graf's and she died at age of 76 years. She had five children, three of whom are yet living." This is the first mention of any siblings in addition to Fredericka, Frederick, and Charles.
I am looking for more information on Fredericka's parents, especially her father, and her two previously unknown siblings.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by George L. Porterfield on
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Sorry for not responding right away. It is a shame when "having to work for a living" gets in the way of hobbies such as genealogy.
I had checked many of the sources that you suggested. None of them turned up any information on the birth place or ancestors of Fredericka Zeh or her parents. Every place I looked that had a "place of birth" entry for Fredericka or her parents only stated Wuerttemberg (or nothing).
As I mentioned, I spent the week of 16 August in Minnesota and I was able to do a lot of research while there. I had indicated that I may have found a small crack in this brick wall. It is starting to look like the new found info that Fredericka had two additional siblings that I did not know about might be the opening to a lot of info. It has made me re-look at some data that I had previously passed over because names did not match up. For example, the 1885 Minnesota Census lists a Christina Zeh in Nobles County MN (age 72, born in Germany) in the household of Christian and Catherine Gommel. [Elsewhere this is spelled Gammel.] I had discounted this entry before under the premise that Fredericka did not have a sister named Catherine. Now, I have to reconsider that, especially since this same "household" is found in the 1880 U.S. census in Philadelphia. And the daughter (Clara C.) of Christian and Catherine Gammel, later married Otto Knipps. The Knipps family were always "close friends" of the Grafs since the time that Emil Graf and the Knipps family were competing brewers in Washington County, MN. Both families moved to Nobles County at the same time.
So my brick wall is opening up some. I plan on spending some time this week end updating my genealogy database with what I have learned over the past 2 weeks. Then can produce a FGS which will give everyone a better idea of what info I have and what I am still missing. (I did not put everything in my original post, since I thought it was getting too long already.)
More to follow. -
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Permalink Reply by Kate Steere on
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Hi George-
I noticed that Emil was involved the Indian and Civil Wars, in the 1860s. On Ancestry, I see that he was mustered out on January 9, 1862, and there seems to be a small photo of him, and a woman, possibly Fredericka attached to his profile on Ancestry?
I also noticed a Christina Bar Zeh on the Wuerttemberg, Germany Emigration Index, she was born in Eglosheim, and her application was in January of 1852, she was listed as Wife. I also see a Christoph, Fr F Zeh who made an application in Jan 1852, He was also from Eglosheim, could this be her husband?
Here is a link to information on the Index:
http://www.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=3141&enc=1 -
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Kate:
Yes, that profile on Ancestry is the Emil Graf(f) that is my wife's great-grandfather. In fact, she provided the picture to the person that posted it. I am a little confused about the 1862 date however. Emil, in his own auto-biography states he was in the Army until 1864. There is some other evidence to support that including a discharge date of 29 Apr 1864 on the 1890 Veteran Schedule. (I will provide a copy of Emil's auto-biography soon, but he did have a tendency to stretch the truth sometimes.)
I have seen those entries for Christina Bar Zeh and Christoph, Fr F Zeh on the Wuerttemberg Emigration Index, but I have no other info that would back that up. I very likely is the right couple, but I can't be sure without more info.
More later. -
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Hi George-
I am curious if you have done a thorough look at the Philadelphia City Directories, pre 1880. I find that there is a John Zeh, listed as blacksmith as early as 1847. I did find an 'M. Zeh' in some years but I also found a Michael. If you are interested, I will post sections of the directories that include the Zeh family. -
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Fredericka ZEH always stated that her birth date was 10 Jan 1843.
Based on some of the recent new info, I want to go back and look at the passenger list for the ship Samuel M Fox, which arrived in New York on 13 Mar 1852 from France. The is an entry for a family of 7 (as I recall) which looks like ZEH to me when I look at the images. (These entries are indexed under Reg however.) I find the next line down in the passenger list. It is for Johann Schermeyer, b. 1820, from Bavaria. That is the same last name that I found in the Nobles County Death Register as the name of the mother of Christina ZEH. -
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Kate:
Although I am only 2 hours from Philadelphia, I have not been able to get there often to do research. The last time I was there, I was concentrating on a different line for the limited time that I had. Guess I need to find some more time for a research trip there.
George -
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Hi George-
I have access to Footnote, which has many years of the Philadelphia City Directory, I wanted to check if you had the pages before I gave you information you already had. :) -
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Hi George-
I'm attaching some segments of the Philadelphia City Directories- I will add another reply with more segments-
Kate - Attachments:
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Zeh_1857_Philadelphia.jpg, 20 KB -
Zeh_1858_Philadelphia.jpg, 17 KB
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Zeh_1859_Philadelphia.jpg, 24 KB
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More segments, if there is a year you are interested in, let me know and I will try to find it, the 1880 directory is interesting as there is a Christiana, widow living at the same address as a Frederick.
Kate - Attachments:
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Zeh_1870_Philadelphia.jpg, 95 KB
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Zeh_1879_Philadelphia.jpg, 66 KB
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Zeh_1880_Philadelphia.jpg, 118 KB
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Kate:
Thanks for pulling these images. The 1880 directory is the most interesting. It shows a Christiana ZEH that I believe is the correct person. It also shows a Frederick ZEH, laborer, living at the same address.
However, when I look at this address in the 1880 census, there are two families listed. The second family is Henry and Christine Hattman, plus Christiana ZEH, age 66 (exact match) born in Wuerttemberg and listed as mother. I suspect the "relationship to head of household" should have been mother-in-law and that Christine Hattman is the daughter of Christiana and therefore the sister of Fredericka. This would be one of the two additional siblings that I learned about last week.
Frederick ZEH is not at that address for the 1880 census because he moved to MN that year. He is listed in the household of his sister and brother-in-law (Fredericka and Emil Graf) in Nobles County MN. His last name is mis-spelled as AH.
The Charles ZEH, file maker, in the 1880 directory is probably one more of Fredericka's (previously known) siblings. In the 1880 census he is at the same address as in the directory and all the details match with when I already knew about him. He is married (wife is Maggie, age 26, born in Philadelphia of Irish parents) and they have one child (Charles, age 4, born in Philadelphia). The 1895 census for MN list both Charles (father and son) in Nobles County MN, the next entry after Emil and Fredericka Graf. The details for both Charles in the MN census match up, but there is no mention of Maggie. (The 1895 MN census does not give marital status.)
I noticed that there is no mention of Charles in the other directory images. I am beginning to see some evidence that different ones of Fredericka's siblings may have moved back and forth between MN and Philadelphia.
I am learning more about Fredericka ZEH, but so far no new information on her father. And one lead on her parents birth place and immigration info, but I need another source to confirm that data.
I will let you know if there is another specific year of the directory that might be helpful.
Thanks,
George -
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Interesting info on the meaning of Zeh. My wife says she preferes the second meaning ("tough") instead of the one about remarkable toes. :-)>
My wife's mother says the name was always pronounced to rhyme with "say" or "hay." I have seen various misspellings the lead to other suggested pronunciations (or at least what the census taker, etc. heard) of AH, SEE, and LAH.
George -
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hi George-
I thought I'd try 'googling' the name Frederick Zeh, and there is a book, titled An Immigrant Soldier in the Mexican War, written by a Frederick Zeh, he was born circa 1826 I'm curious if he was a relative of your Zehs?
Kate -
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