Sunday's Stories, 52 Ancestor Weeks, Week # 2, Margret (Marguarita) Zinkann Ruthig.

Copyright 2014, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

This is week 2 of my participation Amy Johnson Crow's, once a week challenge to blog about one ancestor a week, tell their story, biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on that one ancestor. More about the challenge can be found at her Blog, No Story Too Small.

Last week I wrote about Katharina Ruthig Gerth.  Today, I am going to chat about her mother, Margret.  Her name has been found recorded in records or indexes as:   Margaretha Zuikann, Margarita and Margaret.  Again, being of German heritage, the spellings are found any number of different ways.

Margret (Margarita) Zinkann was born on Mar 27, 1831 in Germany, her parents were, well, there is a problem, I am not sure.

At one time I had believed her father to be John Zinkan(n) and Eliza Norgang (also found spelled  Nahrgang) Zinkan(n).  Then, another researcher contacted me and they swore that Margaret's father was one Henry Zinkan(n) and  Anna Catherine Nahrgang Zinkan(n).  I believe this researcher sent me some kind of proof, except, you guessed it, I do not seem to have a copy of same attached to my data base at this time, which means, it probably is back in SE Michigan in a pile.  (Please no lectures, I am not perfect, I get busy with real life, and, I fail to get everything recorded correctly.  Yep, imperfect.)

If you search at RootsWeb.com, you can find an entry for Henry and Anna Zinkann that lists Margaret as their daughter.  (This same researcher has a child William born 1855 as a son of Margaret and Valentine Ruthig, I have a child William as well, but, born in 1873, SIGH.)

I have no record of Margaret on the 1842 census in Canada.  A review of the records available (Upper Canada, probably not the correct area, but, hey, I looked anyway, ya never know what surprise you might get!)  at FamilySearch found nothing for Zinkan(n) or Ruthig (Rudig).

Margret married Valentine Ruthig\Rudig, son of Johannes (John) Ruthig and Maria Eva Molder in 1847 in Hamburg, Wilmot Township, Wellington District, Upper Canada.  My source for this marriage is Don Walker and Fawne Statford-Devai, compiler, "Marriage Registers of Upper Canada/Canada West" (Delhi, Ontario: NorSim Research and Publishing, 1997.  I do not have a digital copy of the entry in their compilation attached to my data base.  The data I extracted follows:

"Valentine Ruthig and Margaretha Zuikann were married by Rev. Schuler, witnesses to the marriage were Peter Rotherwel and Frederick Krinkze.  They were married by the Minister of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Hamburg in 1847."

Here is a screen capture from FamilySearch of their indexing of the 1851 Canadian census:

It is a bit difficult to read, but, you will note there is a Margaret Zinkan listed. Our Margaret is married to Valentine Ruthig by now, and indeed appears with him on the 1851 census:

"Valintine Ruthig, born Germany, age 28; Margaret Zinkan, born Germany, age 22; Mary, age 3, born Canada; John, age 2, born Canada."  (From the  1851 census, Easthope Township, Perth County, Ontario, Canada, extracted by Moi.)

Note it says she is Margaret Zinkan, that is because in this area of Ontario, many of the brides were recorded with their maiden names stated.  Yes, we do have a gold mine of data here!

So, is the Margaret Zinkan indexed above, the bride of Valentine?

Here is the 1851 census, what do you think?  Note:  This image has been cropped and edited for use here.  The full page is NOT shown.  They are down at the bottom of the page.

I have yet to locate Valentine and his bride Margaret on the 1861 Canadian Census.

Let me correct that to, I have never found them on the 1861 census UNTIL now.  Many hours after starting this post, as I was about to schedule it, I tried ONE more time.  At the Library and Archives of Canada site.  I searched ruth* and val* And, lookie see what popped up!

Search Results: Census of 1861 (Canada East, Canada West, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia)
Digitized page of Census of 1861 (Canada East, Canada West, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) for 4391951_00301
Census Year: 1861
Item Number: 1941430
Surname: Ruthey
Given Name(s): Vallentin
Age: 40
Province: Canada West (Ontario)
District Name: Perth
Sub-District Name: North Easthope

Vallentin  RUTHEY.   Really?  WOW!

Here is a bit of the 1861 census, just a screen capture for now.

The data I extracted from the 1871 census is:

North Easthope, Perth County, Ontario, Canada: Valentine, age 48, born Germany, Lutheran, of German heritage, farmer; Margaret, age 40, born Germany, Lutheran, of German heritage; John, age 18, born Ontario; Elisabeth, age 17, born Ontario; Catherine, age 15, born Ontario; Josephine, age 13, born Ontario; Margaret, age 11, born Ontario; Henery, age 9, born Ontario; Louise, age 7, born Ontario; Annie, age 5, born Ontario; Helen, age 3, born Ontario; Hedwig, 10 months old, born May, born Ontario.

I do not seem to have a image of the 1881 census entry for Valentine and Margaret, but, here is the index entry from FamilySearch for this family:

Valantine Ruthig, "Canada Census, 1881"
Name: Valantine Ruthig
Name Note:
Gender: Male
Age: 59y
Birth Year: 1822
Birthplace: Germany
Marital Status: Married
Occupation: Farmer
Ethnicity: German
Religion: Lutharian
Head of Household Name: Valantine Ruthig
Born During Last Year:
Event Place: Easthope North, Perth North, Ontario, Canada
District Number: 172
Sub-District: D
Division: 1
Page Number: 10
Household ID: 825827
Family Number: 48
Digital Folder Number: 4467152
Image Number: 00579
GS Film number: 1375907
Affiliate Film Number: C-13271
  Household Gender Age Birthplace
Valantine Ruthig M 59y Germany
Margret Ruthig F 50y  Germany
Henery S Ruthig M 19y Ontario
Louisa Ruthig F 17y Ontario
Anna C Ruthig F 15y Ontario
Helena C Ruthig F 13y Ontario
Hedwig K Ruthig F 10y Ontario
William H Ruthig M 7y Ontario

Margaret and Valentine had 12 children: Mary, John Henry, Elizabeth, Katherina, Josephine, Margaretha, Heinrich (Henery) Peter Valentine, Louisa, Anna Caroline, Helena Caroline, Hedwig Marie Katherine, and William Heinrich.

Margret died on Aug 12, 1889 in New Hamburg, Waterloo County, Ontario, Canada at age 58, and was buried in Riverside Cemetery, New Hamburg, Waterloo County, Ontario, Canada.

This is her death record, please note I have digitally removed other death records on the same page, retaining only that of Margaret.  No parent's names are recorded.

My wish list for Margret/Margaret, birth record (any record actually) showing her parent's names (would require more work to determine where in Germany she was born).  

A copy of her marriage record. 

1861 census information, which must be indexed/written so horribly that I will only find by a line by line search.  See new information found, hot off the presses, err, internet.  One small victory for Carol!

Look for copies of the 1871 and 1881 census reports in my queue of images and documents that are not linked, or procure same.  

Lutheran church records from Ontario.  Any newspaper articles, obituaries, marriage notices, anything would also be welcomed with happy dances and little yelps of joy.

And, of course, what researcher would not desire a photo of the ancestor?  So, my wish list would include a photo of Margret.

* Additional source data can be obtained by contacting me, see the right hand column for a yahoo email address.

** 52 Ancestors Weeks Button courtesy of Amy Johnson Crow.

*** I use many resources to research, FamilySearch.org is a free site.  Ancestry.com is a pay site for which I pay, no discounts, etc. The Library and Archives of Canada site is a free site.  None of these sites have asked me to review them, or use them.  See my Disclaimers page for further details.

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Sunday's Stories, 52 Ancestor Weeks, Week # 1, Katherina Ruthig Gerth

Copyright 2014, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

I am behind in THE Trip, THE Encore' posts, I am behind in The Book of Me, Written by You, so, I don't really need another meme challenge to join into, but, I am going to anyway.  Amy Johnson Crow, whose blog is No Story Too Small, has started a once a week challenge to blog about one ancestor a week, tell their story, biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem — anything that focuses on that one ancestor.  It will be a bit of challenge for me personally to find 52 ancestors that I have not already blogged about. I mean, I have been writing here at Reflections for almost 5 years.  But, I am going to give this a shot anyway.  I miss blogging more about my genealogy, so, committing to the project may force me back to one of my major afflictions in life, family history.  I am going to try to post these on Sunday, thus the name, Sunday's Stories.

Wish me luck!

Katherina Ruthig, daughter of Valentine Ruthig\Rudig, and Margret (Marguarita) Zinkann, was born on March 26, 1854 in North Easthope, Perth County, Ontario, Canada.   She was baptized in the Lutheran church in North Easthope, Perth County, Ontario, Canada on April 25, 1855.

According to Pastor August Deichmann's obituary in the church records of St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church in Pigeon/Linkville, Huron County, Michigan Katherine was confirmed April 18, 1869 in Canada.

Katherina married Peter Gerth, son of John Gerth and Barbara Schich on Feb 10, 1874 in Canada. I have yet to locate that marriage in Canadian records, the date was derived from his death notice in church records in Huron County, Michigan.

Katherina and Peter emigrated to the United States on March 27, 1894.

They had 12 children: Mary, Edward Conrad, Emma Maggie, Henrich (Henry) Peter, Johann (John) Heinrich, Lurina Catharina, Katharina Josephine, Martha Anna, Lilly Anna, Alma Rebecca, Peter Andreas, and Louise Friederike.

She died on Oct 27, 1915 in Linkville, Huron County, Michigan, at age 61, and was buried on Oct 31, 1915 in St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church Cemetery, Pigeon/Linkville, Huron County, Michigan.

You may have noticed her given name on her death certificate is spelled with a "C", not a "K".  And, it is Catherine, NOT Katharina.  This is a German family, spellings are seldom the same for any one person from their birth to their death.

Katherine's given name is found spelled many ways, in the 1861 census for North Easthope Township, Perth County, Ontario, Canada her name is spelled Catarina.  In the death records of Huron County, Michigan her name is spelled Catherine.

A copy of Katherine's newspaper obituary was given to the compiler (original newspaper source unknown to the compiler), the original was written in German and has been translated by a family member:
     "October 28, in the morning at 1 o'clock A.M., Mrs. Katherine Gerth, maiden name Ruthig, died after a long illness.  She was born 1854 in North Easthope in Canada and married in 1874 to Peter Gerth. Out of this marriage they had 12 children, three of died very early. Three sons and six daughters survived her and also 21 grandchildren. Four grandchildren died earlier.  She also leaves 3 brothers and 6 sisters.  Her age was 61 years, 7 months and 2 days.  She was buried on Sunday by the Protestant Lutheran Church of St. Paul's in Linkville, in the cemetery of the congregation.  She was a very devoted member of this congregation for 20 years."

Pastor August Deichmann of St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church of Pigeon/Linkville, Huron County, Michigan wrote quite lengthy entries at the time of a person's death.  Thanks to a family member, as well as family and friends in Germany we have the following translation from the original German entry:
     "On October 31, 1915, Mrs. Katharina Gerth, whose maiden name was Ruthig, was buried by August Deichmann.  She was born on March 26, 1855, in North Easthope in Canada and was the legitimate daughter of Valentin Ruthig and his wife Margarethe, whose maiden name was Zinkan. She was baptized in the Lutheran church in North Easthope on April 25, 1855.  After she had been taught the tenants of the Church, she was confirmed on April 18, 1869 in the Lutheran church in New Hamburg. She maintained true to her confirmation vows and remained an active member of the Lutheran Church for the remainder of her life.  On February 10, 1874 she entered holy matrimony with Peter Gerth, to whom she was a faithful and conscientious wife during the forty-one year marriage.  The marriage produced twelve children, of which two died at young ages, and to their great sadness, their eldest son died about one half year before she died.  She is survived by three sons, six daughters, and twenty-one grandchildren, while four grandchildren have already died.  Although she was healthy for most of her life, she developed an inner illness that caused her much pain.  In order to relieve this pain, she underwent an operation approximately four months ago, through which the source of her illness could only be partially removed because it was determined that in addition to gall stones, she had liver cancer.  Her recovery occurred slowly so that she could only go home approximately four weeks ago.  But instead of allowing herself to recover and to grow stronger, she took on more and more, so that the hope for recovery had to soon be given up, and she prepared herself willingly, with confidence, for her end.  She had to endure much pain at the end, but through it all she remained true to her faith in Him, who would soon free her from her suffering. After she had take Holy Communion one last time, her health worsened visibly and on last Thursday morning at one o'clock, she passed away gently. In addition to her deeply faithful husband, her nine children and twenty-one grandchildren, she left behind three brothers and six sisters, of which most came from long distances to pay their respects for the beloved sister.  She lived sixty years, seven months and two days.  She rests in the peace of the Lord and the eternal light illuminates her."

Katherine has a memorial at Find A Grave.

My wish list for Katherina:  Documentation for birth, baptism, confirmation, marriage. And, even though there is a photo of her headstone at Find A Grave, personally I find it pretty much impossible to make out the inscription, so, to finish off my wish list for her, I would like to have a photo of her headstone that I can make out the inscription.  I have her death certificate and her will.





* Additional source data can be obtained by contacting me, see the right hand column for a yahoo email address.

** Button courtesy of Amy at her original post for this challenge.

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