Exploratory Data Analysis : Charles Schaeffer (c1853-????)

Charles Schaeffer (c1853-????) was Corinne's materIal 3rd-great grandfather.  What follows is an exploratory analysis of the biographical data I have discovered about him.

1. Vital Records

     Charles was born circa 1853 in Louisiana¹, according to census records.  I believe that he was born in New Orleans to an emigrant German family.

     1.1. Birth Certificate

          Without his parents' names and an exact date of birth, it will be difficult to locate any record of his birth.

          1.1.1. Birth Notice in Newspaper

                Without an exact location or date of birth, it will be impossible to locate mention of his birth in a local newspaper.

          1.1.2. Bible Record

               I am unaware of any surviving family Bible record for the Schaeffer family. Will continue to reach out to extended family in hopes that one can be located.

          1.1.3. Baptismal Record

               Without an exact location or a date of birth, it will be difficult to locate any baptismal record for Charles.

          1.1.4. Adoption Record

                There is no indication that Charles was adopted.

     1.2. Marriage License

          Charles married Mary Victoria Rieber before 1872, possibly in Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana.  I have not yet located a copy of their marriage record.

          1.2.1 Marriage Notice in Newspaper

               Once I have an exact date of their marriage, will search out contemporary newspaper accounts to see if mention was made of their nuptials.

          1.2.2. Anniversary Notice

               Both Charles and Mary were deceased before their 25th wedding anniversary.

          1.2.3. Divorce Decree

               There is no indication that Charles and Mary were divorced, though a thorough search of the court records in Vanderburgh County, Indiana needs to be completed. 

     1.3. Death Certificate

          The exact date of Charles' death is unknown, as is his whereabouts after the 1883 murder of his wife.  One possibility was that he remarried and died in Louisville, Kentucky.

          1.3.1. Obituary in Newspaper

               Without an exact date of death, I am unable to search for an obituary for Charles.

          1.3.2. Funeral Home Records

               Once I have an exact date of death, will search to see if there are funeral home records of his funeral available.

          1.3.3. Tombstone Photograph

                Once I have located Charles' final resting place, will attempt to obtain a photograph of his tombstone.

2. Census Records

     2.1. Federal Census Records

          2.1.1. 1880 Federal Census

               On June 2, 1880, Charles was enumerated as the head of household in Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana¹, as Charley Schaeffer, age 27, born in Louisiana. His occupation was listed as a varnisher.  Both his father and mother were born in Germany.

          2.1.2. 1870 Federal Census

               On June 17, 1870, Charles was enumerated in the Peter Schaeffer household in the 8th Ward of Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio², as Charles Schaeffer, age 17, born in Louisiana.  His occupation was listed as a varnisher.  Both his father and mother were of foreign birth.

          2.1.3. 1860 Federal Census

               On June 26, 1860, Charles was enumerated in the Peter Schaeffer household in the 11th Ward of New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana³, as Charles Schaeffer, age 7, born in Louisiana.  He had attended school within the year.

     2.2. State Census Records

         The State of Indiana conducted state census in 1853, 1857, 1871, 1877, 1883, 1889, 1901, 1913, 1919 and 1931.  These, however, were merely for the purposes of legislative apportionment.

          No state census records in Ohio are known to exist.

          There are no state census records in Louisiana during the period they lived there.

     2.3. Agricultural Census Records

          There is no evidence that the Schaeffer family were anything but city dwellers.

3. Military Records

     3.1. Draft Registration

          I have not located any records indicating military service for Charles.

     3.2. Pension Records

          Not applicable.

     3.3. Service Records

          Not applicable.

4. Land Records

     4.1. Deed Records

          Deed records need to be thoroughly searched in Vanderburgh County, Indiana to see what records might mention Charles.  Will add this to my "to-do" list for my next research trip.

     4.2. Plat map / county map

          Plat maps in Vanderburgh County, Indiana will need to be searched to see what might be relevant to my search for Charles.

5. Supplemental Records

     Supplemental records available for research on Charles include city/county directories, court records and will and probate records.  Will add these to my list of "to-do" items for my next research trip.

Sources :

1. Charley Schaeffer household, 1880 U.S. census, population schedule, Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, ED 87, SD 1, page 6, dwelling 57, family 68; National Archives micropublication T9, roll 317, page 452B.
2. Peter Schaeffer household, 1870 U.S. census, population schedule, 8th Ward, Cincinatti, Hamilton County, Ohio, page 77, dwelling 367, family 648; National Archives micropublication M593, roll 1211.
3. 1860 U.S. census, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, population schedule, Ward 11, New Orleans, page 253, dwelling 1795, family 1952; digital images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 April 2014); National Archives, Washington, D.C.

This post was developed as part of the series relating to Building My 2011 Research Template, an attempt to systematically document and source the details of my ancestors' lives. Comments regarding this template and the conclusions drawn in this article are welcomed.

Wehrly Family Photos

Used my Flip-Pal scanner a couple of weeks ago and was able to scan some photographs from cousin Judy (Wehrly) Solms that were in an album her mother had made.  Her brother, Frank Wehrly had told me about the photos and we were able to spend an afternoon together. Frank & Judy are my second cousins once removed. The photos were glued in an album, and I was able to stitch the family photograph together.

Frank & Kathryn (Migron) Wehrly family
Back row : Janice, Paul
Front row : Judy, Frank Sr., Kathryn, Frank Jr.

Several other photos I was able to scan in full.  It was good to be able to scan these and then share them digitally.

 

Frank & Kathryn (Migron) Wehrly in Ft. Recovery, Ohio

Frank's parents were Alva Monroe & Emma C. (Yaeger) Wehrly.  Alva was the younger brother of my great-grandmother, Barbara Isabel (Wehrly) LeMasters.

Alva M. & Emma C. (Yaeger) Wehrly

This photograph was of several members at a reunion in 1960.

Wehrly Family 1960
Hollis & Betty, Lisle & Cora, Frank & Kathryn, Norval & Mary & Grandma W.

These are the children of Alva & Emma and spouses.  Lisle married Cora Baldauf, Frank married Kathryn Migron, Mary married Norval DeLauter and Betty married Hollis Steen.

There are more photographs to sort through and scan, but it was nice to see these distant family members I had never seen before.

Tracing the Tree Up and Down

If there is one thing that working with my autosomal DNA results has taught me – it’s that I need to be sure to work my family tree both up and down. 

While the goal for most people pursuing genealogy seems to be working the tree up, as in “how far back did you go”, when working with autosomal DNA matches and trying to make connections it becomes quickly apparent that you also need to work your tree down as well.

For example, there are several matches that are 3^rd and 4^th cousins on my 23andMe Relatives page.  I’ve been working on contact them all, making a spreadsheet, trying to figure out where we match, etc.  The hope is that I can connect with as many of these new cousins as possible.  Because many of these matches don’t have a very complete family tree, working “up” it is hard to make a match to my tree if I haven’t worked my tree “down” because the surnames in our files never match.

Does that make sense?  How many branches of my public Ancestry tree (and my database for that matter) are simply taken back generation to generation with just my direct ancestors?  More than I would like to admit.  Yet those are the places where I am likely to make a match.  Rarely did those early American families only have one or two children – often there were a dozen or so – and that is where I need to do some work.

I need to begin to take my far reaching g-g-g-g grandfather’s family and work them forward as much as possible in order to meet in the middle with some of these closer DNA matches.  Otherwise, it will be nearly impossible to figure out just how we are connected.

Looks like I have my work cut out for me!