Friday, September 15, 2023

The Story of Two Hedwigs and Their Mothers (Who are Sisters), Research Report, the As It Is Series

Copyright 2023, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

This continues a series of posts, done in hopefully an efficient (make that speedy fast) manner to share some research on the ancestors. This is NOT intended to be the end all to end all report. It's a work in progress, to show you what I have found, right or wrong. Kind feedback is welcomed via comments.

Let’s begin - -

This is the story of Hedwig and Hedwig.  It's a bit convoluted, and I pray I can tell it in such a way that it makes sense.

We shall begin with the grandparents of Hedwig and Hedwig, Valentine Ruthig/Rudig and his wife Margret (Marguarita) Zinkann Ruthig.

This chart shows them with a daughter, Josephine.


This chart shows Valentine and Margret, with their daughter Anna.


To state the obvious, Josephine and Anna are sisters.

In 1884 both Josephine and Anna have babies, almost one month apart to the day.

Here is Josephine with her daughter, Hedwig.  You may note that this child has two maiden names in my data base. Hold that thought, we will get back to that.


Here is Hedwig's birth record, daughter of Josephine and William Seyler, born on September 28, 1884.  The date is important.

(Note:  I do digitally edit many of my documents, in this case I deleted other records on the same page, so that it is easy and clear which record I am highlighting and using.  Originals in most cases have been maintained elsewhere on my computer hard drives, but, not linked to my database.)


Here is Anna and her daughter, Hedwig.  We note that this child has the same birth and death date.


Here is the birth record of Hedwig, daughter of Anna and Henry Heldman, born AUGUST 29, 1884.  Look closely at the name of the doctor and we find a small notation "born dead".  


OK, so, we have established that sisters, Anna and Josephine, both have daughters they name Hedwig in the late summer of 1884, about one month apart.  Sadly, Anna's baby Hedwig does not survive.

Cut to 1888 and we find that Josephine Ruthig Seyler dies as well, leaving several young children, Anna, Leander, William and Hedwig.  Hedwig is the youngest, barely 4 years old.

Research tells us that:

Anna is found on the 1891 Canadian Census of Wilmot Township, Waterloo County, Ontario in the home of her aunt and uncle, Fredrich and Louisa Ruthig Schmidt (Schmitt).  She is shown as their adopted daughter.  

Leander is found on the 1891 Canadian Census of Waterloo Town, Waterloo North, Ontario in the home of Louis and Melinda Oswald.  Leander is stated to be their adopted child.

William is found on the 1901 Canadian Census of New Hamburg, Waterloo South, Ontario, Canada in the home of Daniel Seegmiller, and is shown as his adopted son.

Hedwig is adopted by her aunt and uncle, Anna Ruthig Heldman and Henry Heldman.  She appears with them on the 1891 Candian Census of Wilmot, Waterloo County, Ontario, Canada as their Adopted SON (ooopsie).  

All of Josephine's surviving children (one had died in 1880) appear to have been adopted by other family members.  No research has shown why, but, it is not uncommon for the father to not raise his motherless children.

It is the "adoption" of Josephine Seyler's, Hedwig, by Anna and Henry Heldman that I used for the justification to have Hedwig, born September 28, 1884 use the maiden name of "Seyler Heldmann". 

Here we see both Hedwig's, under Anna as a mother:


Many researchers whose work I found while researching the two Hedwigs have confused the two.  Tis easy to do, I had muddled the relationships for years, till I reviewed all the documents and found that little "born dead" notation on the birth record of the Hedwig born in August of 1884.

We also find this about Hedwig born September 1884 in our research:

Hedwig Seyler. ******************. This may be the last time her birth name is used in a record.
in the 1891 Census of Canada
Name Hedwig Seyler
Gender Male
Marital Status Single
Age 6
Birth Year abt 1885
Birth Place Ontario
Residence Date 1891
Residence Place Wilmot, Waterloo South, Ontario, Canada
Relation to Head A S
Religion Lutheran
French Canadian No
Father's Birth Place Ontario
Mother's Birth Place Ontario
Division Number 2
Household Members (Name) Age Relationship
Henry Heldman 32 Head
Anna Heldman 25 Wife
Irving Heldman 5 Son
Hedwig Seyler 6 A S. (Adopted son? Sigh)
Enumeration District 123
Page number 34

Hedwig Heldman
in the 1901 Census of Canada
Name Hedwig Heldman
Gender Female
Race White
Racial or Tribal Origin German
Nationality Canadian
Marital Status Single
Age 16
Birth Date 28 Sep 1884
Birth Place Ontario
Residence Date 1901
Province Ontario
Residence Place Canada
Relation to Head of House Daughter
Religion Lutheran
Months at School 10
Can Read Y
Can Write Y
Can Speak English Y
District Waterloo (South/Sud)
District Number 122
Sub-District Wilmot
Sub-District Number 4
Dwelling Number 80
Family Number 80
Household Members (Name) Age Relationship
Henry Heldman 42 Head
Anna C. Heldman 35 Wife
Hedwig Heldman 16 Daughter
Irwin Heldman 15 Son
Irena Heldman  2 Daughter

Hedwig Heldman
in the 1921 Census of Canada
Name Hedwig Heldman
Gender Female
Racial or Tribal Origin German
Nationality Canada
Marital Status Single
Age 26
Birth Year abt 1895
Birth Place Ontario
Residence Date 1 Jun 1921
House Number 59
Residence Street or Township 51 Frances N
Residence City, Town or Village Kitchener (city)
Residence District Waterloo North
Residence Province or Territory Ontario
Residence Country Canada
Relation to Head of House Daughter
Father's Name Henry Heldman
Father Birth Place Ontario
Mother's Name Anna Heldman
Mother Birth Place Ontario
Can Speak English? Yes
Can Speak French? No
Religion Lutheran
Can Read? Yes
Can Write? Yes
Months at School X5-27
Occupation Clerk
Employment Type 2 Wage Earner
Nature of Work Dry Goods B
Income 800
Out of Work? No
Duration of Unemployment 0
Duration of Unemployment (Illness) 0
Municipality Kitchener
Enumeration District 136
Sub-District Kitchener (City)
Sub-District Number 24
Enumerator G. P. Blood
District Description Centre Ward - Polling Division No. 6 - Commencing at the intersection of King Street with the centre of the main line of the Grand Trunk Railway; thence along King Street to Young Street; thence along Young Street to Ahrens Street; thence along Ahrens Street to the centre of the main line of the Grand Trunk Railway; thence along the some to the place of beginning
Line Number 22
Family Number 73
Household Members (Name) Age Relationship
Henry Heldman 62 Head
Anna Heldman 55 Wife
Hedwig Heldman 26 Daughter
Irene Heldman 22 Daughter
Edward Heldman 19 Son
Henry Heldman 15 Son
Edward Klein 44 Boarder

Hedwig Heldmann ****** Shown as Step-daughter.
in the 1931 Census of Canada
Name Hedwig Heldmann
Gender Female
Marital Status Single
Age 46
Estimated Birth Year abt 1885
Residence Date 1931
Home in 1931 Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Relation to Head Stepdaughter (Step Daughter)
Can Speak English Yes
Can Speak French No
Can Read and Write Read and Write
Class of Worker Wage or salary worker
Enumeration District Waterloo North
Sub-District Number 0027 - Kitchener (City)
Household Members (Name) Age Relation to Head
Henry Heldmann 72 Head
Annie Heldmann 65 Wife
Edward Heldmann 29 Son
Hellen Heldmann 27 Daughter-In-Law
Robert Heldmann 2 Grandson
Herbert Heldmann 6/12 Grandson
Hedwig Heldmann 46 Stepdaughter (Step Daughter)

Hedwig reportedly married a Henry Steiner.  No marriage record has been found for Henry and Hedwig in the Canadian records available at Ancestry.com.  References to her marriage in 1940 to Henry were found at Ancestry dot com family trees, but, online indexes stop on 1938.  No additional research has been done as of this writing to locate more about Henry.  I did not find a memorial for him at Find A Grave, at least not one I could identify as his.

Hedwig, does have a memorial at Find A Grave # 219041814.  The memorial indicates that Anna and Henry Heldmann are her parents.  As of this writing, no obituary has been searched for or found for Hedwig.



* Disclaimers, I use Find A Grave, Ancestry dot com, FamilySearch, several newspaper subscriptions, free sites, such as Virginia Chronicles, Virginia Chancery Cases online at the Library of Virginia and more to research my ancestors.  I pay for subscriptions, full price.

** My judgements may or may not be correct.  Transcriptions may or may not have errors.

*** Links, URL's, for the most part will not be included henceforth on my posts, as so many of them change and then I have to come back and try to re-discover and relink.  Frankly folks, I have no desire to spend my limited time here on this side of the sod with those kinds of do overs.  As researchers, or just members of the internet community, sites such as Find A Grave are easy to find, some are free to use and with the information I am sharing with you, hopefully, you can duplicate the research/findings. That said, I have seen memorials at Find A Grave be removed.  If you have questions, I suggest you leave a nice comment for me. OR find the method I have outlined on my blog for contacting me.

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