Death Certificates From the Past – Andrew and Caroline (Falk) Drone

On November 19^th I posted the death certificates of my grandfather's brother Leonard and Leonard's wife Katherine (Drone) Falk. Today, December 13^th, are the death certificates of one of my grandfather's sisters, Caroline, and her husband Andrew Drone.

Caroline was one of the family who was born in Prussia. You may notice that the informant stated she was born in Germany as well as the birthplaces for her parents. Germany was formed as a country in 1871 which was after all of them were born, but when she died the place where she was born had become a part of the country of Germany. Andrew was born in Pennsylvania and they both died in Grant County Wisconsin.

The relationship between Leonard's children and Caroline's children was a little complicated, because Leonard's wife Katherine was the daughter of Andrew and his first wife. That made Katherine both Caroline's step-daughter and sister-in-law. So Andrew was the father of Caroline's children and the grandfather of Katherine and Leonard's children. But he also was an uncle by marriage to Katherine and Leonard's children since Caroline and Leonard were siblings.

Death Certificates From the Past – Leonard and Katherine (Drone) Falk

Here is the post for today, November 19^th. Leonard is one of my grandfather's older brothers. He was born in Grant County Wisconsin and died in Mt Angel area, Marion County Oregon. His wife Katherine was also born in Grant County Wisconsin and died in Albany area, Linn County Oregon.

You may notice that Leonard's wife is listed as Dorothy. That was his second wife. Katherine died almost 30 years before Leonard did, however she was the mother to all of his children.

Ancestor Birthday - August 30 - Anna Louise Boehm - 1832 - 1901

Anna Louise Boehm was my German gt-grandmother. She was born 185 years ago, 30 Aug 1832. Her birth place was in Josephkowo, which was in Kreis Wirsitz, Posen Province of Prussia. This location is now in Poland. She was baptized at the Evangelical (Protestant) Church in the nearby larger town, Nakel. Her parents were Michael Boehm and Anna Rosina Leu. The church record noted that her parents were not married. She was confirmed at the same church on 11 Oct 1846. By that time her father was deceased.

She was married to Ludwig Falk on 24 Nov 1850, again at the same church. He was a widower with 3 young children. We know that she and Ludwig had at least 2 children before they immigrated to the United States in 1858. There may have been one or more who died young.

Anna, Ludwig and the 5 children: Rosalie, August, Wilhelmine, Charles and Caroline, traveled to Breman where they took the bark Wieland. They arrived at Baltimore, Maryland on 22 Jun 1858. I wonder how Anna felt during that ocean trip since she was pregnant at the time. Their next child, John, was born in December that year, after they had moved to Muscoda Township, Grant County, Wisconsin. They sold that property and moved east to the next county, near Avoca in Pulaski Township, Iowa County in 1865. By then they had 3 more children: Leonard, Henry and Conrad. After they had moved they had 6 more children: Albert, Elizabeth, Ida, Frederick William, Theodore and Julius (who was my grandfather.)

Both Anna and Ludwig were charter members of the St. John's Lutheran Church at Avoca when it was officially organized 1 Feb 1891. A number of Anna's children moved to Iowa and two of her children, Henry and Ida died before her. Ludwig died 31 Jan 1899 and she was living with Frederick William and his family when the 1900 census was taken. Anna died 27 Jul 1901 and was buried at the Avoca Cemetery.

My Great-grandparents in 1864

Sometimes I find it interesting to consider how old my ancestors were at certain periods of history and where they were living. Over 150 years ago, 1864 was in the latter part of the Civil War, but it would be the next year before it ended.

You might notice that my great-grandparents ranged in age from 49 to 1. They lived in 5 different states and 6 different counties. But their locations were all in the North.

Name	Age	Residence: County, State
Nathan Elias Albertson	15	Hardin County, Iowa
Mary Magdalene Hockett	9	Hardin County, Iowa
Lafayette Pierce Smalley	6	Adams County, Ohio
Rosa Ella Shipman	1	Mercer County, Illinois
Ludwig Falk	49	Grant County, Wisconsin
Anna Louisa Boehm	32	Grant County, Wisconsin
John Howard Bond	9	Linn County, Oregon
Mary Ann O’Neal	6	Davis County, Iowa

He Used a Different Name in the Civil War

August Falk, my half-grand uncle (half-brother to my grandfather), served in the Civil War as John Krause. August was born in Prussia 11 Oct 1842 to Ludwig and Marianna (Kuss) Falk. Marianna died about 1849 and Ludwig remarried. In 1858 the family immigrated to the United States: Ludwig and his second wife Anna Louisa, August, his two sisters and a half-brother and half-sister. The family settled in Muscoda Township, Grant County, Wisconsin.

August used the name John Krause when he enlisted in Company G, Wisconsin 27th Regiment Infantry 16 Aug 1862, at age 19. His future brother-in-law, August Schrader, had enlisted in that same company 4 days before. A researcher for August's family, stated that August had taken the place of John Krause for a payment of $300. and then just continued to use that name for the remainder of his life. August was wounded and met a lovely Irish nurse (Mary Ellen Sweeney) at the hospital and they were married 24 Jan 1866 in Brooklyn, NY. Later the family moved to Illinois and eventually August and Mary Ellen were divorced. August, as John Krause, died 17 Dec 1915 in the Veteran's Hospital in Danville, Illinois.

It was fortunate that one of August's half-brothers, who was living in Halsey Oregon in 1917, had his Congressman write a letter to the Pensions Department, telling the story of the change of name to try to locate August. The letter was sent after August had died, but the letter stayed in the pension file, so in the 1970s a researcher for the Krause family found the letter and was able to make the connection with the Falk family in Halsey Oregon.. So when I started researching in the 1980s the information was there for me.