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.