_John Charles BALIS ___+
| (1848 - 1887) m 1872
_Franklin Thomas BALIS _|
| (1873 - 1944) m 1903 |
| |_Mary Lorinda DERRICK _+
| (1853 - 1886) m 1872
|
|--Esther E. BALIS
| (1904 - ....)
| _______________________
| |
|_Bessie HARRIMAN _______|
(1878 - ....) m 1903 |
|_______________________
Line 51 Dwelling # 52 Family # 53
Balis, Thomas head age 37 m2 6 yrs WI NY WI occ: retail merchant/groceries OA
Bessie H. wife 32 m1 6 CO WI WI
Esther E. dau 5 CO WI CO
Line 53 662 Concord Ave, Dwelling # 177 Household # 203
Balis, Thomas F. Head owns/M age 47 WI IL WI occ: Miner/gold mine working on own
Bessie wife 42 CO NY PA
Esther E. dau 15 CO WI CO
Earl W. son 8 CO WI CO
Westcot, Ethel E. boarder 25 S CO Eng Eng
__
|
_John George NICKLAS ___|
| (1806 - 1884) m 1833 |
| |__
|
|
|--Carolina NICKLAS
| (1848 - 1924)
| __
| |
|_Anna Catharine BETSCH _|
(1809 - 1889) m 1833 |
|__
[766]
John and Anna Nicklas's eighth child was Carolina Nicklas, born 24 June 1848 in Lafayette County, Illinois. She married George Kreutz in 1868.
Sophia wites in Letter F:
Do you remember the Kreutz family? She was father's youngest sister, Carolyn. Uncle John, her brother, married her (Carolyn's) husband's sister, Amelia Kreutz.
George and Caroline had six children. The youngest, Earnest, was seven feet tall and committed suicide.
Line 34
George Nicklas age 54 Farmer real value $3000 personal $725 b. Hesse Darmstadt
Catharine 52 "
John 21 IL
Catherine 18 "
George, Jr 16 "
William 16 "
Caroline 12 WI
Jacob8"
Line 41
Kreutz, George age 44 farmer b. Prussia f. b. Prussia m.b. Prussia
Caroline 32 wife WI Hesse Hesse
Evalena 10 dau WI Prussia WI
Anna A 6 dau same
Caroline 4 dau "
George W. 1 son "
Geo. Nicklas age 44 b. Ger
Catharine " 42 "
Peter " 16 Penn
Elizabeth " 14 "
John " 11 Ill
Catharine " 8 "
Geo. " 6 "
Wm. " 4 "
Caroline " 2 Wisc
Name: GEORGE KRENTZ Spouse: CAROLINA NICKOLAS Marriage Date: 20 Jan 1869 County: Grant State: WI
[555]
The Christiana Thies Story
(abt 1818 - aft 1880)
2 March 2007
Dear Children,
Tonight I want to tell you about one of your great-great-great-great-grandmothers. Do you have any idea how many of those you have? If you figure it out let me know.
Christiana Thies (At least I think that was her name!) was born in a little town in Hanover, Germany called Salzhemmendorf. Salzhemmendorf is a village in Hamelin-Pyrmont district, in the province of Hanover in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is about 12 miles east of the city of Hamelin. Do you remember that town from the story of the pied piper? Perhaps he led the children through Salzhemmendorf.. Think of Christianna when you read that story. Salzhemmendorf is famous as a health resort. Hanover was the Kingdom of Hannover in the early 1800's when Christianna was born there. It became a province of Prussia in 1866 and then part of Germany after unification of Germany in 1871. When Christiana lived there her country was Hannover, not Germany.
Our Nana's sister, Aunt Dorothy White, told us that her great grandmother, Christiana, was an unwed mother and that she came to this country with two little girls, our ancestor Dorothea and a little red-headed sister. Until very recently there was a certain amount of shame involved for a woman who was not married and had children. The shame centered only on the woman and not on the man who fathered the children. This shame may have been part of the reason Christianna came to America. But the shame came with her. When our Aunt Dorothy told us about Christiana, this is how she began, "History may reveal skeletons, so adults please read before releasing to children." She was talking about her grandmother, Henrietta Dorothea. She continued, "This grandmother was a dear little lady who had the misfortune of being an illegitimate child. As I remember it, she had a red-headed illegitmate sister. When she came to this country great grandmother (Christiana) became a law-abiding citizen." Another place we can sense the shame is on the 1850 census. Christiana has married and is shown on the census with only her husband, even though Henrietta Dorthea would have been only 9 years old at the time and the little red-headed sister is nowhere to be found either.
I believe Christiana may have been a seamstress and probably supported herself that way until she married John Kalt. I think this because two of her daughters were seamstresses, Dorothy and Christiana. It was a fairly common occupation for single woman in that time as ready made clothes were scarce.
You may wonder, "How do you know she is our ancestor?" I'll tell you how I found her and why I'm sure she is your 4g grandmother and you will learn a little bit about how to do genealogy.
1) I knew your 3g grandfather's name from Nana and Aunt Dorothy and where he lived. That was Peter Nicklas. They told me Peter's wife was Dorothy or Henrietta or Harriet.
2) I looked online, found his marriage record, and ordered a copy. The Grant County, Wisconsin marriage record gave her name as Doratha L. H. Schlucke. It showed the names of her parents. Not all marriage records show that information so I was very lucky. It said her mother was Christina Colt and her father, Mr. Schlucke.
3) I have a photo album kept by Addie Nicklas, Dorothy's (or Harriet's or Henrietta's) daughter. In it I found a lovely photo of a woman named Christianna Kalt. Hmm ...Colt, Kalt, Chistina, Christiana, very similar.
4) I found a marriage record on line for John Kalde and Christine Tiece, 23 Jul 1848. Again, the spellings are a little different but similar and the date is approximately right.
5) I followed Christianna and John in the Grant County, Wisconsin census and this is what I found:
a) 1850 - Eastern Grant County -John, a shoemaker, and Christianna Colt, both born in Germany and married within the year.
b) 1860 - Hazel Green - John , a boot and shoemaker born in Saxony, and Christena Kalt, born in Hanover, and their four children, Mary J., August, Christena, and Louise.
c) 1870 - Hazel Green - John, a shoemaker born in Baden, and Christiana Kaulte, born in Switzerland, and their four children, Mary J., Augustine, Christiana, and Louise.
d) 1880 - Beetown - John, a shoemaker born in Holland, and Christine, born in Prussia, and two children, Christiana and Louise.
Notice all the different spellings of Kalt and all the different places of birth. But the names and ages of children, I omitted the ages here, make it read almost like a string of DNA. I became quite sure I had the right family. Those kinds of problems make genealogy a fun and challenging puzzle. It's a thrill to finally put the pieces together. From the census records I concluded the photo I have of Chistiana was the daughter, not the mother. The album also has a photo of August Kalt, her son, and his wife.
6) The final piece of evidence, I ordered the death certificate for Dorothy or Henrietta or Harriet Nicklas. It gave her mother's name as Christiana Thies and her father's name as ... August Thies! That's genealogy. Whenever you solve one mystery you open another. I discovered that the spelling Thies is much more common than Tiece, so I'm going with Thies.
But the Christiana Thies on Dorothy's death record is clearly the same person as the Christine Tiece who married John Kalde in 1848, and the Chistiana Kalt whose children's pictures appear in their half-sister's, Addie's, photo album. I hope you followed all that!
The fact that I have photographs of two of Christiana's children from John Kalt in Addie's photo album leads me to believe Christiana did not desert her first children even though they are not listed on the 1850 census with her. A good relationship must have been maintained between the two sets.
Here is a little bit about Christiana's children:
Dorothy or Henrietta or Harriet Schlucke is our ancestor. More about her later.
The little red-headed sister mentioned by Aunt Dorothy., one of Christiana's descendants I have correspended with believed her name was Carrie.
Christiana and John's first child, Mary Jane married William Hutchcroft from England. They farmed in Glen Haven in Grant County, Wisconsin and had three children, Lester, Oscar, and Elsie. Lester became a state health officer.
Christiana and John's second child, August Kalt, married Anna Amelia Carlton. He farmed in Bloomington in Grant County. They had three children, Albert, Leonard, and Edith. Albert became a physician and practiced in California.
Christiana and John's third child, Christiana, never married. She was a dress maker like her half-sister, Dorothy or Henrietta or Harriet. She lived over the years with various nieces and nephews and may have helped them go to college.
Christiana and John's fourth child, Louisa married Lewis Taylor in 1888 and had at least three children.
So here ends the story of your fouth great grandmother, Christiana Thies. She was born in Germany and came to America in shame as a young unwed mother with two small children. She redeemed herself by making a good marriage and raising a second, respectable family in Grant County, Wisconsin. You can be sure it was not an easy life.
Here is how you are related to Christiana Thies. Christiana had Dorothy or Henrietta or Harriet Schlucke. Dorothy or Henrietta or Harriet married Peter Nicklas and had Anna Adelaide Nicklas (Addie). Addie married Wesley White and had Helen White (Nana). Nana married Harold Stevens and had Paul Stevens. Paul married me and had Dawne. Dawne married your daddy and had...Sarah, Hannah, Timmy and Becky!
So Hooray for Christiana Thies!
Love Granny
"Thies" is from children George's and Dorothy's death certificates.
Line 37 9 Jun 1860
John Kalt age 47 Boot& Shoemaker real $300 personal $100 b. Saxony
Christena " 42 Hanover
Mary J.8 WI
August4 "
Christena3 "
Louise 5/12
Line 22
John Colt age 35 shoemaker b. germany married within the year
Christianna 32 " "
Line 31
Coult, John age 71 shoemaker b. Holland f.b. Hol. m.b. Hol
Christine 62 wife keeping house Prus Prus Prus
Christiana 21 dau dressmaker Wisconsin Hol Prus
Louisa 19 dau at home " " "
Line 17
Kaulte, John age 53 Shoemaker personal estate $150 b. Baden
Christiana 50 Keeping House switzerland
May J. 16 WI
Augustine 14 "
Christiana 11 "
Louise 7 "
[554] family tree of Robert L. Thompson
Name: JOHN KALDE Spouse: CHRISTINE TIECE Marriage Date: 23 Jul 1848 County: Grant State: WI
_Johann Jakob WINTERMANTEL _+
| (1773 - 1805) m 1795
_John Jacob WINTERMANTEL _|
| (1799 - 1879) m 1822 |
| |_Cathrina MULLER ___________+
| (1778 - 1854) m 1795
|
|--John Jacob WINTERMANTEL
| (1825 - 1894)
| ____________________________
| |
|_Salome WALTER ___________|
(1800 - 1883) m 1822 |
|____________________________
line 30 dwelling 1206 household #1187
Wintermantel, Jacob age 61 farmer value RE $400 born Baden
Salome 60 Baden
John Jacob 32 butcher Baden
Mary 28 "
William 22 "
Rosa 18 in school "
Christian 16 in school "
__
|
_Christopher ZIERKE _|
| |
| |__
|
|
|--Henry C. ZIERKE
| (1874 - 1923)
| __
| |
|_Anna BRUHING _______|
|
|__