Rathkamp Family Genealogy

Add a Face to the Name

One of the things I love about genealogy is being able to make a big discovery by piecing together tiny discoveries. As I mentioned in a previous post, William and Olive Rathkamp are the only great grandparents of mine for which I have no pictures. Not a single picture that I know of has made its way through the generations. They’re also, by far, the strangest of my ancestors as I wrote here.

I discovered William and his first wife, Sophie (she passed away in 1906) , in the 1905 Minnesota State census, living in St. Paul. I’m not sure how they ended up in St. Paul, but the census states that they had lived at this address for 3 years. There is a distant branch of the Rathkamp tree that settled in Minnesota, but I’m not sure of any sort of tie there. The Wetenkamp, Finke, and Hulsemann families settled in Minnesota too, but that was in Martin, some 160 miles away. These were relatives and friends from Germany who came to America with the Rathkamp family in 1868.

At any rate, I was able to find William in the 1905 St. Paul city directory. His entry stated that he was a stock keeper for the A. Schoch grocery store. On a whim I did a Google Image search and was able to find this picture, taken circa 1905. As soon as I opened the picture I was drawn to the man on the very left in the front row. There was no doubt that this was my great grandfather.

I also sent a message to family members on Facebook and asked them, “If I were to tell you one of the people in this picture may be a Rathkamp, which would it be?” Everybody picked the same person.

So while the picture I’ve found may not hold up as evidence in court, I feel 99.9% confident that I now know what my great-grandfather looks like. Nice to meet you Willie.

The Swedes Come Out of the Weeds

In October, 2009 I wrote THIS POST about my Great Grandmother, Olive (Hassel) Rathkamp, my dad’s grandmother. Olive died in 1926, 16 years before my dad was born. Until last week she and her Swedish ancestors continued to be a complete mystery. I’ve accumulated some anecdotal evidence, but nothing concrete. I’ve long suspected her father was Charles Hassel, knew she lived in Michigan, suspected she was born in Sweden, and suspected her mother died when she was young. That’s it. Not exactly something a genealogist would hang his hat on.

I have literally had three different people listed as possibly being her mother. This death record seemed to indicate her mother was Anna (Erickson) Hassel who apparently died in childbirth on December 17, 1892 a date which coincides with the birth of Olive’s sister Ella.

Anna would have been 8 years younger than Charles and would have only been 16 when she had Olive. Not out of the realm of possibilities.

I knew I’d have much better luck finding Olive’s mom if I could find a birth record from Sweden. This was no easy task. The only thing I had to go on was Charles’ obit from 1937. This obit states that he was from Nora, Westmanlan (Vastmanland), Sweden. If this was true it would have helped. But Charles lied. Actually he probably didn’t lie. It’s amazing how facts are distorted through the lens of time. Soon tiring of finding the needle in the haystack, I decided to try my old trick of working sideways.

Iron Mountain, Michigan was an iron mining town and went through a boom during the late 1800’s. Similar to what’s happening now in North Dakota and the tar sands in Canada, workers were recruited to Iron Mountain from other areas of the world. Even today, looking through the Iron Mountain phone book, you’ll notice two distinct ethnic groups: Swedes and Italians. It’s not a coincidence that skilled miners could be found in both Sweden and Italy. These young men, searching for opportunity, ended up working together in the iron mines of Iron Mountain.

Knowing this, I started searching emigration information for some of the other Swedes that had settled in Iron Mountain. One town that seemed to show up on more than one occasion was the town of Grythyttan, Örebro, Sweden. Plugging this town into Google Maps, I soon discovered Grythyttan was only some 20 miles away from….Nora, Örebro, Sweden. Grythyttan is a small town. A small town, along with an uncommon Swedish surname would surely make my life easier. And it did.

Ancesty.com has done a nice job of integrating the Swedish Genline database. I quickly was able to find this gem: From there, I was off to the races. I now knew my Swedish ancestors were from Grythyttan and soon I was able to find Olive’s birth record too. It seems her first name wasn’t Olive. No surprise. Olive was her middle name and her first name was Ingeborg. Now that sounds Swedish.

So who is Olive’s mom? Charles married Josephine Bergquist on January 7, 1892, three weeks after Anna’s death. But it turns out Anna wasn’t Olive’s mom either. For years, I’ve had a copy of a ship’s manifest showing a Sofie and Olive Hassel coming into the U.S. in March of 1888. But because I stuck on the possibility that Olive’s mom was Anna, I dismissed this record.

It turns out that on May 17, 1884 (two years before Olive was born), Charles married Sophia Sax in Grythyttan.

The ship’s manifest was correct. Sophia was Olive’s mother. Since then, I’ve found another record. This record shows Sofia and Olive made the trip with Charles’ brother Andrew. It shows they were from Grythyttan. And it shows there destination was…Iron Mountain, Michigan.

So here’s my best guess…Charles and Sophia marry in 1884, Olive was born in 1886. Charles emigrates without his wife and young daughter, to Iron Mountain, then his brother Andrew, Sophia, and Olive are sent for. Sometime between their arrival and 1890/91, Sophia dies and Charles, finding himself unable to work in the mine and care for Olive, marries Anna. Anna dies in 1892, Charles again finds himself in a bind and marries Josephine.

My great aunt, Grace Larson often took me up to her cabin between Merrill and Tomahawk, Wisconsin. In 1974 during one of our trips “up north”, Grace and I drove up to Iron Mountain. I was 10. In Iron Mountain, we toured the Chapin Mine. While writing this post, I recalled this tour and vaguely remembered these pictures being tucked away in a photo album Grace put together for me. Grace’s sister was Alice “Pat” Rathkamp, my grandmother. Pat was married to Bill Rathkamp, my grandfather. Bill’s mother was Olive, my Great Grandmother. Olive’s father was Charles, my Great Great Grandfather. Charles and his brother worked in this mine. I think Grace may have taken me to Iron Mountain for a reason.

Rathkamp Brothers Dominate Samson

For as long as I can remember, family get-togethers on the Rathkamp side of my family have been gut-busting experiences. Every time we get together, somebody reminds me of the time one of the dogs crapped on my brand new white tennis shoes. My dad, Bill, and my Uncle Dave are both really funny guys on their own, but together it’s almost like being on the set with Abbott & Costello. Easters in our family are spent at my cousin Tim and his wife Gloria’s house. This past Easter Bill & Dave were in a story telling mood and held court for us.

I think the best story is the last audio clip, where they reminisce about their hooliganism at the Washington Park Zoo in Milwaukee. For a little background, Samson was a Lowland Gorilla who came to the Milwaukee Zoo, then in Washington Park, in 1950. Every kindergartener in Milwaukee from the 1950’s until 1981 when Samson died took field trips to the zoo. The only thing we wanted to see though was Samson. At his peak weight Samson tipped the scales at 652lbs. He was both feared and loved so hearing this story was akin to hearing that your dad and uncle once had a squirt gun fight with General George Patton.

Beatniks

Coal or Ice

Crankbusters

Bob and Bummy’s Piggybank

Zoro

The Rathkamp Hooligans Meet Samson

Circuses and Beer Wagons

I found this gem last night searching through the Google News Archives. The “young lad” is my grandfather, my dad’s dad. The article is from June 15, 1915. While it states my grandfather’s age is 10, he was actually soon to turn 6.

You can almost imagine Dr. Farrell telling his parents, “Ahhh, just rub some dirt on his face and give the lad a beer! And while you’re at it, get ‘im a haircut. He looks like a damn girl!”

Willy & Olive, What’s Your Story?

You have not been telling the truth and I’m calling you out. You’ve also been holding out on me, and I want information. Now.

My last post about Esther Rathkamp got me thinking about all the discrepancies and mysteries surrounding her parents William & Olive Rathkamp, my great grandparents. Genealogists are used to dealing with inconsistencies, usually attributed to misspellings of surnames. But Willy & Olive are off the charts.

How and why did Olive move from Iron Mountain, Michigan/ Florence, Wisconsin to Milwaukee? At some point, her sister Albina also moved to Milwaukee, marrying Albert Klatt.

Where and when did they get married? Willy’s first wife, Sophie, died in early 1906. Willy & Olives first daughter, Esther was born March 12, 1908, this leaves a window of about 18 months for them to get married, provided they were married before conception. I’ve searched online records from Wisconsin and Michigan, and visited the Milwaukee County Courthouse and have found nothing.

My grandfather’s birth certificate. William Rathkamp, my grandfather, was born in 1909. His last name is shown as “Redcamp”. There are all kinds of cases where surnames are incorrectly documented (phonetically), usually because the person verbally giving the last name is a recent immigrant. Neither Willy or Olive was a recent immigrant and it’s doubtful either had an accent. Willy was born in Milwaukee in 1878 and Olive more than likely was born in Sweden around 1886, and moved to Michigan when she was a baby. Even if they did speak with an accent, you’d think the person filling out the birth certificate would ask for the correct spelling of the last name. 1909 is well before WWI when many Germans anglicized their last names. In 1973, my grandfather had this “mistake” corrected.

Olive’s last name is also misspelled as “Hessell” instead of Hassell.

1910 US Census. Olive states her place of birth is Michigan, and that the birthplace of her parents is Norway. I believe her place of birth is Sweden, and I’m 99.999% sure her parents were also born in Sweden.

1930 US Census. William states that his parents were born in Hamburg, Germany. They were actually born south of Bremen, in what was then Hanover.

William’s WWI Registration Card states that he is paralyzed on his left side.

Olive died in 1926 at the age of 40, leaving 3 kids, including 10 year old Ann to her husband to care for. Family lore has it that she was a member of the Church of Christ, Scientist who eschewed medical care which ultimately led to her death at a young age. How and why would she have gravitated to such a radical religion?

William died in 1930 at the age of 53, leaving 3 kids, including a 14 year old Ann orphans. William’s death will be the topic for a future post.

No pictures. Of of my 8 great grandparents, William and Olive are the only ones for whom I have no pictures.

Esther Just Before Easter

Last week, my cousin Paul asked via FaceBook if I’ve dug up any “Dead Rathkamps” lately. The answer was a simple “no”. I’ve been so busy with other stuff that I haven’t really been working on any genealogy projects lately. One of my favorite nightly rituals is to log on to Google Reader and peruse a bunch of articles. Most of the feeds I subscribe to are either Tech feeds, genealogy, or history. Randy Seaver has an excellent blog whose articles occasionally catch my attention. In this particular post, Randy mentioned the addition of several Wisconsin probate and death records to FamilySearch.

I followed the link to FamilySearch and plugged in the name Rathkamp. I’ve been doing this for so many years that it’s pretty rare for me to see a name I’ve never seen before. Tonight was an exception. Right there, front and center was Esther Rathkamp. I read down a little and noticed her parents were Wm. Rathkamp and Olive Hessel. These are my great grandparents!

Genealogy can be a real SOB. You run around (hopefully with some direction) trying to either solve problems or look for clues. My experience has been that often times, you end up solving one problem, and in the process create 5 more unanswered questions. Case in point:

Problem solved: This find acknowledges and confirms the 1910 US Census where Olive states she has given birth to two children, one living.

Problems created:

Why is Olive’s name spelled “Hessel” instead of Hassell or Hassel?
Why does it show “Mother’s place of birth” as Germany? She was (I am almost certain) born in Sweden.
Are Wm. and Olive married at this point? I have NOT been able to find a marriage record for them. Wm.’s first wife, Sophie Hartmann, died 11 Jan., 1906. That’s a small, but not impossible window.
Esther died on 15 July, 1909. My grandfather, also William, was born 10 days later. I can’t imagine a mother taking that kind of pain into childbirth.

Dodge and Emma

March 13 marked the 24th year since the passing of my maternal grandfather, George Joseph Niesl. We’re all very fortunate to have family members who had the foresight to document the lives of our ancestors. My cousin Kari knew I had this recording in my possession and asked to make a copy. I thought it would be even better to digitize the recording and upload it so that everybody can enjoy it.

The original recording is an interview conducted by my uncle, George Niesl (Dodge and Emma’s son). I’m not sure when the interview was conducted, but I’m guessing possibly while George was in Milwaukee for Dodge and Emma’s 50th wedding anniversary in 1983.

Dodge & Emma Niesl Interview, circa 1983

Oma Emma

It’s not an over-exaggeration to say that if ever there was an angel on this earth, it was my Grandma Emma. Emma Nathalia (Walz) Niesl was born to Fredrich and Sophia (Bischke) Walz on May 2, 1913. Both Fred and Sophie, along with their respective families, came to America, settling on the harsh plains of South Dakota, from the Steppes of southern Russia in the very early 1900’s. While they were from Russia, both families were of German descent, their families having been recruited from Germany to Russia in the early 19th Century to settle land newly conquered by Catherine the Great, herself of German descent.

Emma and her husband George “Dodge” Niesl had 4 children, 17 grandchildren, and countless great/ great great grandchildren. She had a way of making every one of us feel like we were her only grandchild. She sang, whistled, told jokes, showed us magic tricks, cooked, told stories, made clothes, and showed to each of us a love that made us feel very special.

Never, and I mean never, would you hear her criticize or pass judgement on anybody. It wasn’t in her make up. She led and influenced by example.

Some years ago, as Emma was in the very early stages of Alzheimer’s, my aunt Sandie (Niesl) Patten interviewed Emma. I recently had these videos digitally copied and have put them on Youtube in 10 minute segments. You can see Sandie nudging her along at times, trying to keep her on topic.

But in these videos, you can also see how special my Grandma Emma was. It’s my hope that even though she is no longer with us, my kids and my family can learn from her. She made the world a much better place.

Giving Back

Since moving to Ripon a few months ago, I’ve been looking for opportunities to volunteer my time. Sometimes opportunity can show up in the most unlikely of places. During the annual Dickens of a Christmas early in December, my family and I visited the Ripon Historical Society where I met its president, Bill Woolley. I asked Bill if there was a chance the society was looking for volunteers and he put me in touch with his wife Jean.

Yesterday I met with Jean and am excited to say that I’ll be transcribing the obituaries from the Ripon Commonwealth Press and the Oshkosh Northwestern into the Ripon Library online database, administered through the Winnefox Library System.

It may not exactly be providing life-changing assistance to those in need, but I’m sure somewhere down the line there will be genealogists who will appreciate my efforts.

New Friends, New Family

Saturday was our last full day in Germany and was supposed to have been pretty laid back and uneventful. It turned out to be far from true.

During our trip, we had been communicating via Facebook with Anja Rathkamp from Delmenhorst. Anja found me on Facebook about a year ago, and while we have yet to make a “genetic connection”, if your last name is Rathkamp, we’re bound to be related. We were trying to figure out when and if we could meet on Saturday. Korey and I decided to visit with Anja for a while Saturday afternoon after leaving Sulingen and then take our time getting back to Hamburg where our flight would be leaving the next day.

Anja had other plans.

We met Anja at her apartment and spent some time visiting with her. She explained to us that her father knew we were in town and that he would love to meet us. After indulging in a Beck’s at Anja’s we got into her VW and drove to her father’s. Anja explained that her father had been a blacksmith but recently had a stroke. I guess I was expecting her father to be frail, but Werner is a hulk of a man and greeted us with a big bear hug when we met. Neither Korey or I was prepared for how emotional Werner was at seeing his “lost family” from America. Anja later referred to this as the “winkle in his eyes”.

Meanwhile, Tom Martens, the husband of my cousin Lorna, was monitoring our trip via Facebook and said, “Delmenhorst? That’s where MY family is from!!” It turns out, Tom’s German relatives run a very prosperous bakery just out of Delmenhorst, and so Anja decided a visit to the bakery was in order.

We arrived at the bakery mid-afternoon, and met Tom’s uncle Heinz Timmerman, Heinz’s daughter Kirstin, and Kirstin’s husband Hendrick. When I was a kid I worked for a short time at a bagel shop in Milwaukee, so this wasn’t my first exposure to a bakery. This however wasn’t just any bakery. Heinz had recently made the decision to relinquish management of the business to his right hand man. Under new management, several changes have been made including the addition of an adjacent cafe. In the U.S., change brought on by new ideas often causes some resentment between parties, but in this case the Timmermans have offered up their support and are very proud to still have their name on the bakery.

Following a tour where we were shown what I thought was a huge amount of very high quality bakery being produced, we sat in the outdoor cafe and enjoyed coffee and some very incredible butter kuchen.

After we said goodbye to the Timmermans, we learned that Anja had made arrangements for us to travel to meet Werner’s brother Jurgen Rathkamp and his family. As soon as we got out of Anja’s car, Jurgen came out of the door and began playing a song for us on his concertina. Jurgen’s wife Frieda had made Schnitzel, Wurst and potato salad for us. Also there was Jurgen’s son Tammo, Tammo’s wife Martina, and their two sons.

After dinner, Frieda brought out some old family pictures. One of them in particular caught my attention. Keep in mind, I haven’t yet been able to “connect” my Oeftinghausen Rathkamps with Anja’s Rathkamps. This picture seems to make the connection.

After dinner and pictures, Anja had one more stop for us. We drove to the old family farm previously owned by Jurgen, now owned by Jurgen’s older son Heinrich. It seems the agriculture business in Germany has changed much as it’s changed in the U.S. with small farms being squeezed by corporate agriculture. Heinrich decided that rather than fighting to barely make a living, he’d reinvent the several hundred year old family business and is now running what would have to be called an excavation/ recycling business.

An example of Heinrich’s innovative thinking was demonstrated when he showed us a huge pile of fluffy material. In its prior life, this material had been non-toxic insulation, removed from old buildings, shredded, and mixed with sand and Crisco. We had no idea what this could be used for, but Heinrich explained that he sells it to horse tracks where it replaces dirt and sand as a very comfortable surface for horse racing.

The sun had just gone down and sensing we needed to get going, Anja drove us back to her apartment where after a very excellent day, we said our goodbyes to our “new family” in Germany. Thanks Anja!

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