It’s nice to have crazillions of databases searchable from one interface (Ancestry.com). It’s easy to forget that not everything tha\’s available online is accessible through Ancestry, though, even when the state/county in question has opened their databases to Ancestry. Things slip through the cracks.
I looked and looked and looked and could find no marriage records for Henry Meineke and Mary Shoemaker. I found birth records for their children, which listed Mary’s maiden name, but no marriage record. It occurred to me, though, to see if Illinois had their vital records online. And they do. And look at what I found!
MEINECKE, HEINRICH–SHUMAKER, MARIA ANNA–1894-08-23 00K/0070 00010815 MC LEAN
I don’t know why they were married in McLean County[1], but that’s definitely my grandfather’s paternal grandparents. And interestingly, though the Minnesota birth index lists her as Mary Shoemaker, grandpa spelled her name Shumaker, which seems to be the way she spelled it at the time of her marriage. Also, I now have a middle name and a known variant spelling of her first name. Since I have not been able to trace her parentage, this could be helpful. Or not, as it’s a common name. But it’s a new clue, and those are always exciting.
It also narrows down her possible emigration date, as she supposedly came over not long before marrying. Another clue.
And, because I have nothing topical to illustrate this post with, I shall include some random Harriet cuteness.
She is of German extraction, at least!
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1. Actually, this is clue number 3. There’s a gap between the 1870 census (the first one that Henry shows up in, as his family arrived in the US in 1869), which puts them in Tazewell County IL, and the 1900 census, which puts them in Wright County IA. The 1890 census is useless, as most of it was destroyed in a fire. But what about 1880? I can’t find Henry, his parents, or any of his siblings in the 1880 census.
Now I can at least look for him in McLean County IL. And, I’ve got reason to believe that not all of them stayed in Tazewell County. Maybe even none of them. There are several possible candidates in the Illinois Death Index. I also need to take anther look at the Illinois voter records, because I may have enough information to start weeding down those “possibles,” too.
Unfortunately, it’s possible that the whole family was somehow missed during 1880 census. It happens.
red paper boat 