Another Clipping--this one with a date

This obituary was split over different parts of the newspaper as well. Fortunately this time the item of interest was located near the date of the paper, so that information was preserved.

This is actually something I have never taken the time to translate and I actually should. It is a letter written from F. J. Goldenstein (of Golden, Illinois) to the Ostfriesische Nachrichten in 1913. The newspaper was dated 20 March 1913 and in it Goldenstein writes of the death of his father-in-law Bernard Dirks, who died in Coatsburg, Adams County, Illinois, on 2 March 1913.

Goldenstein was to die himself in Golden, Adams County, Illinois, on 29 March 1913, just over a week after this letter was published. This had to be difficult on his wife Anna Goldenstein who lost her father and husband in the same month.

There are other clues in the letter as well. Goldenstein mentions Fritz Gerdes and Heinrich Dirks coming to the funeral of Bernard Dirks.

Foche and Anna Goldenstein are my great-great-grandparents.

United States Marine Corps Muster Rolls 1798-1940

Ancestry.com has added U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1940 to their list of searchable databases. I actually think they have updated this offering as I remember searching it before.

The first image shown is for Chris Goldenstein, shown as a Corporal in November of 1927. This listing gives his hometown of Golden, Illinois. This would have been helpful if there had been several Chris Goldensteins who were in the Marines. Fortunately there were not. And the town of Golden, Illinois, was not named for his family in case anyone was wondering.

Not all the listings provide the name of the "home." Searchers will have to search every muster listing to ferret out all possible clues. Mr. Goldenstein's listing from December of 1931 does not provide as much information. Uncle Chris was not a career marine. His brother, Jurgen was.

Two of the muster listings for Jurgen are included here in this blog post. There are numerous muster listings for Jurgen given the amoutn of time he was enlisted in the marines.

The first shows Jurgen at Quantico and the second shows him stationed in China.

The U.S. Marine Corps Muster Rolls, 1798-1940 can be searched at Ancestry.com.

1870 era immigrant trunk

I've had this trunk for a while and am still trying to locate Altje on the passenger manifest when she immigrated.

Altje was born in 1848 in Wrisse, Ostfriesland, Germany, the daughter of Johann Luken Jurgens Goldenstein and his wife Tjode Anna Focken Tammen.

Altje Goldenstein was married to Hinrich Schuster on 28 August 1870 in Adams County, Illinois.





She has not been located on the 1870 census, but Hinrich is apparently enumerated in 1870 in Northeast Township, working as a hired man in the household of Habbe Osterman. It is possible that Altje immigrated after the date of the census and married Hinrich upon her arrival.

The destination listed on the trunk is "Keokuk Junction. Ills"---a reference to the town now known as Golden, Illinois.

Altje was a sister to Foche (Frank) Goldenstein, my great-great-grandfather

1885 Colorado Census

I've found my 3rd great-grandfather's sister living with her son and his family in Denver, Arapahoe County, Colorado, in the 1880 census.

L. U. Albers is listed as a merchant in the image shown here which is a partial copy from the 1880 Census (page 157A of Enumeration District 7). The family had only lived in Colorado a few years as all the children, including the youngest who was two years old, were listed as being born in Illinois.

Antje Albers, shown in the second image, is listed as L. U.'s 69 year old mother. Antje's maiden name was Antje Ehmen, born in 1811 in Wrisse, Ostfriesland, Germany. Her brother Johann Goldenstein (1814-1891) was my third great-grandfather. He remained in Wrisse and did not emigrate.

Historykat has released the 1885 census for Colorado and my next goal is to try and find her in that record.

1921 Murder or Suicide in Kansas City?

My great-uncle, Henry Goldenstein, died on 7 July 1921 in Kansas City, Missouri. I had never bothered to get a copy of his death certificate until recently when the Missouri Death Index came online at the Missouri State Archives.



The death certificate indicates he died at the Midwest Hotel in Kansas City and that the cause of death was suicide.
The family back home in Illinois was convinced that he was robbed and murdered. Tradition has it that an inquest was held into his death when his body was returned to Illinois for burial.
My goal is to learn more about this inquest. There are several things I am going to do as a part of this search:

• Attempt to obtain coroner's records for Jackson County, Kansas, where the death took place.
• Attempt to obtain corner's records for Adams County, Illinois, where the body was sent to and where the burial took place.
• Attempt to locate newspaper accounts of this event in newspapers in the Kansas City, Missouri, area as well as in Quincy, Illinois (the Adams County, Illinois county seat) and Golden, Illinois (where the burial took place).

I'll keep you posted and suggestions are welcomed.