Albert Elling's Baptismal Certificate

Thanks so much to the beautiful aunt (You know who you are!) who shared this  with me - the baptismal certificate of my grandfather, Albert Elling.  

The first Bible verse above the handwriting reads:

"For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid which is Jesus Christ." Corinthians 3:11.

Translation of the handwriting:

Albert Louis Johann born on 28 January 1888 in Henry County, Ohio

Son of Fritz Elling and Maria born Rohrs

On 28 February, 1888 at the house of the parents.

Printed banner - In the name of the Triune God (could not read right side)

Witnessing the Christening were

L. Bockelman, H. Miller

C. Bostelman, H. Meyer

Johann Harms

L. Damman, Pastor  (Louis) 

I'm sure the photos are very significant, although very hard to see in this copy, even with a magnifying glass.  The top has the ship sailing toward the light around the church.  On the left is Jesus with the lambs, a chick with her hens, and an angel pouring the living water over a child.

On the right side is Christ on the cross with lilies suggesting his Resurrection, a duck with its ducklings and finally the tree in the Garden of Evil with the snake and the skull.  Some passages are just too blurry to read, but I'm sure they all have a connection to baptism.

What a treasure! 

Anna Marie Engel Fuhrhop Elling, Immigrant

After her husband, Johann Friedrich died in 1871, Anna Marie Engel (called Mary or Marie) continued to live with her son, Fritz, and his youngest sister, Anna. By the 1880 census, Anna was gone from the home and Fred Elling, 26, farmer, was named as Head of the Household with Mary, age 67, his mother, keeping house there. Another person was living with them - Henry Elling, age 16, laborer, born Ohio, parents born in Prussia. No relationship was stated, so I really don't know who this is.

The communion records, 1885 - 1891, of St. Paul Lutheran, Napoleon Twp. show Fritz and Marie Elling and Marie Elling taking communion there, not always on the same dates, but usually twice a year. (Fritz had married in 1884 another Marie.)

Sometime between 1880 and Mary, the immigrant's death in 1893, a case went to court to declare lunacy for Mary. The records are sealed in probate court so I couldn't look at them, but it is my speculation that Fritz was having his mother declared senile and himself named as trustee for her.

The image above shows the Death Register from the records of St. Paul Lutheran, Napoleon Twp.

The Deceased: Elling, Anna Marie Engel, the legitimate wife of Fried. Elling

Day of Death: March 24, 1893

Buried: March 28, 1893

Cause of Death: Weakness of Old Age

Age: 79y 5m 24d

"Estate": 4 children, 17 grandchildren and her Bible verse, Romans 6:23

Pastor Louis Dammann

She actually had five children, but at her death, the record states four...another support for the idea that son Henry died early at the age of 16. I believe the other children were all alive at the time of their mother's death.

Fritz Elling's Memorial Photo, 1927

This photo was taken to memorialize the death of Albert Elling's father, Frederick "Fritz" Elling. A copy of this photo was given to me by one of my dad's cousins who remembered it hanging on the wall during her childhood. Having a postmortem photo or a memorial photo of a deceased family member was most popular in the nineteenth century, but the practice carried on among some cultural groups into the early twentieth century and it appeared that our group of German ancestors thought it important.

Fritz Elling died on July 9, 1927, and he and wife Mary were buried in the cemetery by St. Luke Lutheran Church, Wauseon, which is located along Rt. 108 heading into Wauseon from Napoleon. 

 His photo in the picture was cropped by the photographer from the family picture presented earlier on this blog. Of significance in the photo are the clock with hands showing the time of death - 6:20; the German phrase beneath the photo - "Rest in Peace"; and the white lilies along the bottom of the photo signifying the Resurrection. The banner, "Father," was prominently displayed and it appeared that some flower arrangements from the casket were arranged here, as well.

The story appeared first on my previous blog, Elling Family News, on March 1, 2009.

Mary Rohrs Elling

Mary Rohrs Elling and her immigration record

My great-grandmother, Mary (Marie, Maria) Rohrs Elling, the daughter of Wilhelm Rohrs and Catherine Kirchoff, was born on December 9, 1862, in Germany. I do not know the village of her birth at this point. According to her daughter, Minnie, her mother talked about life in Germany and her departure from Bremen to America alone when she was thirteen. Mary spoke of dancing on the boat as the steamer crossed the ocean. Mary was an only child, according to Minnie, and her first job in America was as a housekeeper for the Demaline family.

Finding Mary's immigration record was complicated by the fact that Mary, or whoever talked to the census enumerator, reported several different dates on the census records. In the 1900 census, Mary's immigration date was given as 1868 which didn't fit Minnie's story of her mother coming to America at age 13. In 1868, Mary would have been 6 years old. In 1920, the immigration question was asked again and Mary or someone in the family reported 1875 as the immigration date. That seemed much more likely!

I found the only immigration record for a Mary Rohrs that fits all the criteria and that was in September of 1876. She was 13 (her birthday was in Dec.) and she departed from the port of Bremen, Germany, on the ship, the Rhein, arriving in New York City on September 23, 1876, having traveled in steerage to the U.S. Steerage was the cheapest passenger accommodations, usually at the bottom of the ship and near the rudder. She probably traveled with someone or a family, but it is really not possible to tell who from the ship's list. Her name on the ship's list above is #4, indicated by the arrow.

I could find no Demaline family in Henry County by the 1880 census, but I did find a seventeen year old Mary Rohrs working as a servant for the Charles and Mary Cochran family who lived on Superior Street in Toledo. Dr. Cochran was a retired physician. It is likely that she worked as a domestic until her marriage.

Mary was 21 years old when she married the 31 year old Fritz Elling. They lived many years in Freedom Township, Henry County, and were members of the St. Paul Lutheran Church, Napoleon Township, during this time. Later they moved to a farm near Deshler and Westhope and finally to a farm about four miles north of Liberty Center and then east for a short distance into Fulton County. After Fritz's death, Mary sold the farm and lived around with her children.

Mary Rohrs Elling died on March 8, 1947, the immediate cause of death being pulmonary edema due to mitral stenosis. She was apparently living at the home of Henry Elling at the time of her death as that is the place of death and he reported for the death certificate.

Her obituary appeared in a March 1947 edition of the Northwest Signal:

" MRS. MARY ELLING DIES

Mrs. Mary Elling, age 84, passed away at Holgate at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 8th, following a heart ailment. Her body was removed to the A. F. Wesche and Son Funeral Home.

She leaves five sons, four daughters, 50 grandchildren and 47 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services, conducted by Rev. John Melchert, were held on Tuesday, March 11th, 1:30 p.m., at the Henry Elling residence in Holgate and 2:00 p.m. at St. John's Lutheran Church in Holgate. Interment was made in St. Luke's cemetery in Clinton township."

This post originally appeared on a previous blog, Elling Family News, on March 8, 2009.

Frederick Elling, Sr. - New Information

(This post originally appeared on my previous blog, A Face to the Sun, on August 24, 2012.)

 My great-grandfather, Heinrich Friedrich Elling (known as Fred or Fritz) lived much of his adult life in Fulton County, so the search for his obituary led me to the Wauseon Public Library.  I couldn't get to a microfilm reader the day of my visit, but the helpful library manager offered to look up the obituary for me, and today I received two of them.

 Fred died on July 9, 1927, and you can read about him and this memorial photo on a previous post.

The first obituary appeared in the Democratic Expositor on July 14, 1927:

"FRED ELLING, SR. DIES
Fred Elling, Sr. of Swan Creek township, died Saturday night about six o'clock.
He had leakage of the heart for about twenty years.  Mr. Elling laid down for a few minutes and soon was dead.  Cause of death was heart failure.  
He leaves a wife, four boys and five girls."

The second obituary appeared in the Wauseon Republican on the next day, July 15, 1927, with a vivid headline and a slightly different scenerio:

"DROPPED DEAD
Fred Elling, Sr., 74, a farmer of Swan Creek township, died suddenly at his home southeast of Delta, Saturday evening.  He was in his usual health and was talking to his wife when the summons came.  Coroner N. C. Wright was called and announced that death was due to heart failure.  Mr. Elling was the father of nine children, 4 boys and 5 girls." 

I am still searching for Fritz's wife's obituary and that of his mother.  My next stop will be the Delta Public Library for those, as they did not appear in the Wauseon papers.