The Name Game

While looking at my Margraf tree today I noticed a hint for my Great Great Grandfather Philipp Margraf.  I clicked on it and it was a record from the Wisconsin Birth and Christenings Index, 1826-1908.  This index must have been added recently.  I already had a date of birth for Philipp, so I wasn't immediately excited about this record, but then I viewed it.  This record gave me two gigantic pieces of information, both of his parents full names.  This whole time I've had his parents listed as John Margraf and Anna (maiden name unknown).  This birth record told me that his father's name was actually Mathias, and John is his middle name.  It also told me Anna's maiden name, Keil.  Now, there is a bit of conflicting information.  I was able to find the birth record for Phillip's youngest brother as well.  I had him listed as Matthew John Margraf, but the birth record told me that his name is actually Mathias John Margraf Jr.  It all makes sense!  However, Mathias Jr's record has Anna's maiden name listed as Keilen.  She was born in Germany and I believe she married Mathias and took his name before immigrating to America, so I don't know that I'll ever determine the correct last name, but it's still a lot more than I had.  At least they are close.  So, thank you ancestry.com for the amazing hint!!!

Holy Genealogy Batman!

For the past four years I have been researching my genealogy off and on, but lately I have been working on it non-stop.  I went back up to Wisconsin at the end of February for my mom's birthday and my parents took me to Monroe, WI for the first time.  That is where my mother was born and the majority of her ancestry lies.  It was incredibly fascinating.  I was able to go to the local cemetery and find the headstones for just about all of her relatives that lived and died in Monroe, which gave me some dates that I couldn't find elsewhere.  I took pictures of all of them, and my husband thinks that is totally creepy.  I guess he just doesn't get it.  I've also found findagrave.com to be a huge help.  I uploaded all of my photos to there and actually fulfilled 4 different photo requests.  Go me!

My current project is writing out the descendant list (not sure if there is a more technical name for it) of John and Anna Margraf, my Great Great Great Grandparents that immigrated here from Prussia.  It is A LOT of work!  I need to call my dad this weekend and see if he can fill in a lot of blank spots in more recent generations since it's hard to find records on living people.  Here's how it starts, just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about:

Descendants of John Margraf

Generation No.1

1.  JOHN¹ MARGRAF was born in 1836 in Prussia and died sometime between 1890-1900.  His parents were also born in Prussia.  He was a Stone Mason in Schleisingerville, WI, which is present day Slinger, WI.  He married ANNA (surname unknown) (location and date unknown).  ANNA was born in July of 1848 in Prussia and immigrated to America in 1868.  Her parents were also born in Prussia.  Her second marriage was to George Iberl on March 30, 1900.  The 1900 census states that she was the mother of 11 children, of which only 4 were still living.

Children of JOHN MARGRAF and ANNA  (Prussia + Prussia)

2.         i.    NICKOLAS MARGRAF, b. 1873, IL d. 1888

3.         ii.   JOHN MARGRAF, b. 1876, WI d. 8 July 1964

4.         iii.  PHILIPP MARGRAF, b. 4 Nov 1878, Washington Co., WI; d. 1959, WI

5.         iv.  PETER MARGRAF,  b. Apr 1883, WI d. 1910, WI

6.         v.   MATTHEW JOHN MARGRAF, b. 11 Jan 1890, WI

Generation No. 2

2.  NICKOLAS² MARGRAF (JOHN ¹) was born 1873 in Illinois.  He died at the age of 15 in Slinger, Wisconsin in 1888 and is buried in the old St. Peters Catholic Cemetery.

3.  JOHN² MARGRAF (JOHN ¹) was born in 1876 in Wisconsin and died 8 July 1964 in Green Bay, WI.  He made his living as a Car Smith for the railroad in Green Bay.  He married ROSA DANIELS, daughter of JOSEPH DANIELS and CHRISTINA, on 11 Sep 1900 in Brown County, WI.  Rosa was born 20 May 1875 and died 3 Nov 1964, both in Brown County, WI.

More about JOHN MARGRAF and ROSA DANIELS   (Prussia + Belgium)

-ROSA’s lineage:

            JOSEPH DANIELS  (b. Apr 1849, Belgium; d. Unk.)

            CHRISTINA (b. Apr. 1854, Belgium; d.Unk.)

           

            Children of JOHN MARGRAF and ROSA DANIELS

            7.         i.   EMIL PHILLIP MARGRAF, b. 21 Feb 1902 d. 16 Nov 1985

            8.         ii.  RAYMOND MARGRAF, b. 15 June 1904

            9.         iii. ARTHUR MARGRAF, b. 12 May 1907 d. 13 Jan 1972

            10.       iv.  IRENE MARGRAF, b. 1911

            11.       v.   EVELYN MARGRAF, b. 1916

            12.       vi.  ROY JOHN MARGRAF, b. 12 Sep 1917 d. 17 Mar 1994

            13.       vii. JOHN MARGRAF, b. 1920

4.   PHILIPP² MARGRAF (JOHN ¹) was born 4 Nov 1878 in Washington Co., WI and died in 1959.  He worked various jobs in his life time.  One was at the Stork Brewery in Slinger, WI.  He married KATHERINE SCHERR  at the end of 1900 or early 1901, daughter of CASPER SCHERR and HELENA BLUM.  She was born in Sep 1881 in Wisconsin and died in 16 Dec 1957 in Slinger, WI.

     

         More about PHILIPP MARGRAF and KATHERINE SCHERR:                                                                                       -KATHERINE’s lineage:

                        i. CASPER SCHERR b. 1835, Prussia; d. 10 Apr 1899, Wash. Co., WI

                                    ii. JOHAN SCHERR b. 1804, Germany; d. 31 May 1858, Polk, WI

                                    ii. CATHERINE DINSCHEN b. 1806, Prussia; d. 1 June 1883, Polk

i. HELENA BLUM b. 28 Oct 1839, Germany; d. Nov 1912

                                    ii. PETER BLUM b. 1807, Prussia; d. 26 Jan 1896, Hartford, WI

                                    ii. AGNES OTTO b. 20 Apr 1816, Prussia; d. 30 May 1897, Hartford

        

            Children of PHILIPP MARGRAF and KATHERINE SCHERR (Prussia + Germany)

            14.       i.       FRANK MARGRAF b. 31 Aug 1901, WI d. 17 Jul 1974, Slinger, WI

            15.       ii.      HELENA MARGRAF b. 6 Apr 1903, WI d. 24 Dec 1980, Slinger, WI

            16.       iii.    CHARLES MARGRAF b. 26 Oct 1904, WI d. 30 Dec 1968, Richfield, WI

            17.       iv.     CONRAD MARGRAF b. 27 Apr 1906, WI d. 15 Jan 1969, Lake Geneva

            18.       v.      DOROTHY MARGRAF b. 2 Jun 1910, WI d. 22 Oct 1987, Hartford, WI

            19.       vi.     PETER MARGRAF b. 20 Aug 1911, WI d. 8 Oct 1983, Menomonee Falls

            20.       vii.    ANITA MARGRAF b. 29 Feb 1916, WI d. 26 Jan 2000, Slinger, WI

            21.       ix.     LAVERNE MARGRAF b. 25 Sep 1917, WI d. 11 May 1970, WI

            22.       viii.   NORBERT MARGRAF b. 29 Jan 1924, WI d. 28 Dec 1995, Tucson, AZ

           

5. PETER² MARGRAF (JOHN ¹) was born in April of 1883.  He died in 1910 and is buried

in St. Peter Catholic Cemetery in Slinger, WI.

6. MATTHEW² JOHN MARGRAF (JOHN ¹) was born 11 Jan 1890 in Washington Co., WI

(death unknown).  He moved to Chicago, IL sometime between 1910 and 1917.  He was an

auto mechanic, but eventually made his living as an auto salesman for Ford in Chicago, IL.

His fir

            Children of MATTHEW JOHN MARGRAF and GRACE  (Prussia + ?)

            23.       i.   EDWARD J. MARGRAF, b. 1919, Chicago, IL

        

Generation No. 3

7.  EMIL³ PHILLIP MARGRAF (JOHN ²,JOHN ¹) was born 21 Feb 1902 in Green Bay, WI and died 16 Nov 1985 in Green Bay, WI.  In his early years he worked for the railroad.  He married LILLIAN MANSEE 2 June 1928, daughter of FRED MANSEE and ANNA ALVINA FICK.  She was born 24 Aug 1900 in Shawano Co., WI and died 12 Aug 1981 in Green Bay, WI.

            More about EMIL PHILLIP MARGRAF and LILLIAN MANSEE

              -LILLIAN’s lineage:

                        i. FRED MANSEE b. 2 Jul 1868 Pella, WI; d. 31 Dec 1957 Pella, WI

                                    ii. JOHN MANSEE b. 8 Mar 1837, Prussia; d. 26 Feb 1919, WI

                                    ii. AUGUSTA b. 22 Jul 1840, Prussia; d. 16 Dec 1928, Pella, WI

                        i. ANNA FICK b. 1 Jun 1872 Kewaskum, WI; d. 28 Jun 1941, Pella, WI

st wife was Grace (b. 1894  d. Unk.) (Surname Unknown).  His second wife was Mary

V. (b. 1903. d. Unk.)(Surname Unknown).

Margraf: John Margraf

Margraf Tree, starting with my dad.  You can click on pictures on this page to view them larger.

As far as the Margraf name is concerned, I have only gotten as far back as John Margraf, who is my Great Great Great Grandfather.  The oldest record I have containing information on John Margraf is the 1880 census of Schleisingerville, Wisconsin, which is now Slinger, Wisconsin.  It lists John Margraf as a white male, age 44.  It states that he was a Stone Mason and that he was born in Prussia, as were his parents.  It lists his wife as Anna, a white female, age 32.  Her occupation states "Keeping House", and her and her parents were also born in Prussia.  Then, it lists their children.  There is Nickolas, age 7, born in Illinois and attending school; John, age 4, born in Wisconsin; and Philipp (my Great Great Grandfather), age 2, born in Wisconsin.

I do not have a census record for 1890, and on the 1900 census record Anna Margraf is married to George Ubel.  It says that Anna was born in July of 1848 and immigrated to America in 1868.  It also says she was the mother of 11 children, of which only 4 were still living (how sad).  Listed with Anna and George are three of her children, all with the last name Margraf (incorrectly spelled Margraft on the census).  They are Philip (spelled with only one p at the end this time), born Nov. 1878, Peter, born April 1883, and Martin, born Jan. 1890.  The Wisconsin Historical Society Vital Records Index has a marriage record for Anna Margraf and George Iberl (it's obviously spelled wrong in one of the records), in Washington County on March 30, 1900.  So, I'm going to assume that John died sometime between Martin's conception in 1889 and Anna's marriage to George in 1900.  My current goal is to find out John's exact birth date and date of death as well as Anna's maiden name.