Influencer: Carl "Charlie" Freidrich Strandt

 This week's prompt is "Influencer." I wasn't sure how to interpret it until I learned that Carl Strand's Uncle Charlie Strandt used to visit the Strand farm in Allegan and bring Hershey chocolate bars with him to hand out to Carl and Mildred's children. It was a tasty treat and one that was well received. Carl Strand is also known for handing out Hershey chocolate bars to grandchildren. Could Carl have been influenced by his Uncle Charlie? Let's find out.

Carl "Charlie" Freidrich Strandt was born in January 1860/1 in Teschendorf parish of Mecklenburg, Prussia, in present day Germany. His parents were Carl Friedrich Theodor Strandt and Dorothea Auguste Sophie Schroeder. Dorothea was the first wife of Carl Friedrich Theodor. Unfortunately for both Carls, Dorothea died soon after. Records don't indicate when exactly she died, so no way to know if her death was connected to giving birth or if it was unrelated. Some records indicate the birth of Carl was in 1860, others 1861. Same with Dorothea's death. It was either 1860 or 1861. Either way Carl Friedrich Theodor remarried on December 6, 1861 to Wilhelmina Gley. 

Carl and Wilhelmina had 2 daughters, Carolina and Wilhelmina before immigrating to America with their children in October 1871. They were headed to Chicago to meet other Strandt relatives. This is from notes in the Strand family Bible. Charlie was around 10 years old. In 1876 Charlie's Half-brother, William Frederick Strandt was born in Chicago. The only Strandt child born in America.

The 1880 Federal census finds Charlie living with a family as a farm laborer in Naperville, Illinois. On January 7, 1888, at the age of 27, he married fellow German immigrant Margarethe Schirmer. The 1900 Federal census finds them renting a house on 8441 Sangamon St in Chicago, Illinois. This address is where they will spend the next several years. They have a son and daughter. Margaretha notes on the census she has given birth to 4 children, with only 2 surviving. Charlie is a shipping clerk at a wagon works factory.

In 1910 Charlie has the same job, same address. He now owns though, instead of renting. He also notes he is a naturalized citizen. An addition has been made to the family. Son George Strandt was born in 1901. 

1920 brings much of the same. Charlie owns his home, free and clear. Same job. On August 27, 1929 Margarethe passes away. In 1930 Charlie and son Arthur still live at the same address. They have a radio to listen to.

1940 finds Charlie living with his daughter, Freda and her family in Elmhurst, Illinois. The census notes he has an education through the 8th grade, which was quite common for the time. 

Charlie dies on August 4, 1945. He was 84 years old. 

I know from newspaper articles found, and family stories, that Charlie and Margarethe would travel and visit friends and relatives. There are several stories of the "Chicago relatives" coming to visit the Strand farm in Allegan. With son, George, being born in 1901, the same year as Carl, they must've found a lot to talk about.  

Charlie is remembered as being tall by those who knew him, and his grandson remembered him as also being a kind man. Carl Strand didn't seem to take too kindly to too many people but the fact that he allowed his uncle Charlie, and cousin George, to visit shows that Carl must've thought highly of them. Or at least, thought they might think the way he thought. Perhaps Carl saw Uncle Charlie passing out the Hershey bars and decided to take up the same habit. Either way, I think it's neat that both men had the same habit of passing out chocolate bars. 

Here is a picture of Uncle Charlie and his family. Charlie is standing up in the back, with the hat on. His wife Margarethe is standing next to him. Son Arthur is seated directly in front of Charlie, and sister Freda is next to Charlie, looking like Princess Leia. :) The other people are assumed to be other Strandt relatives. (the picture is colorized from Ancestry's service)

How Uncle Charlie fits in:

Carl Friedrich Theodor Strand (1834-1914)

His sons Carl F. Strandt "Uncle Charlie", and William Frederick Strand. Charlie and William were half-brothers. Same father, different mothers.

Charlie's son, George, was a 1st cousin to Carl Strand, son of William. 

It's also interesting to note that with Charlie Strandt I sometimes found the last name spelled Strand, with no "t". It seems that in Scandinavia the name is spelled with no final "t.". In Germany it was spelled with a final "t". The spelling of the name depended on the census taker or person taking the information down it seems. 

John Knach Conors

 For Father's Day weekend I decided to write about my 2x great grandfather on my Dad's side of the family. His side has been a bit harder to research. I haven't found as many records, and, the history is a bit more convoluted, as you'll see here.

John Knach was born March 28, 1863 is what is present day Poland. His sister Catherine was born the next year in Posen, Germany. Today, it's Poznan, Poland. Either way, the area that John and his family lived in is land which was fought over and went back and forth between Poland and Prussia/Germany. IT's no wonder that the father, Martin, decided to bring his family to America. 

Sometime in 1872 John, his father, 2 sisters, and brother came to Nobel County, Indiana. I haven't found them on a passenger list, but they all list Germany/Poland as their birth place. In 1873 John's sister Frances is born in Indiana. I haven't been able to figure out who John's mother was. On some of his records he lists an Emma Grice as his mother. But on other documents a Mary Ann is listed as his mother. I do know that his father was married twice. I found a note that said his father had a Polish wife and an American wife. That when the American wife died the Polish wife came over. I just haven't figured out which was which. 

On the 1880 census John lives in Green, Nobel County, Indiana with his father Martin, mother(step?) mother Mary Ann and siblings on a farm. John's father is listed as being born in Poland, as is John. 

In February of 1888 he marries Mary Viola Bellegraph. Mary is also from eastern Prussia. On October 8, 1889 Mary and John become parents to Anna Beulah Conor. Anna is my great grandmother who goes on to marry Frank Thompson. John and Mary are living in Grand Island, Nebraska. At some point they decided to leave Indiana and head to Nebraska. Also, John has changed his last name from Knach to Conor. I haven't been able to figure out why he did this, or when. Also, Conor is spelled different ways over the years. From Conor to Coners to O'Connor. One of the reasons I've run across is that when the family moved to Nebraska there was a large Irish Catholic population there and to fit in, John changed his last name. The Knach and Bellegraph families were both Catholic so this could be a possibility but no one really knows for sure. 

In 1892 a son is born to John and Mary in Michigan. In 1895 a daughter is born to them in Grand Island, Nebraska. The family has moved back again. 1902 finds the family back in Michigan again. My dad says he always heard that the reason the family came back to Michigan was because the barn burned down in a fire. I'm not sure if this is the first or second time they came back to Michigan. On the 1900 census John's profession is listed as Laborer, and his father's birth place is listed as Ireland! John was really trying to fit in, I guess.

The 1910 census finds John and Mary living in Hopkins, Michigan on a farm that is mortgaged. 8 of their 10 children are living with them. The 2 oldest daughters have moved out. On this census John lists Indiana as his father's birth place. 

On December 24, 1917, Mary files for divorce from John. She says there are 12 children in the family. Extreme Cruelty is the reason given. On June 12, 1918 the divorce was granted. John contested it. 

*interesting to note that my 2x great grandparents on my maternal side were also divorced in 1918/1919. Both times the wife filed and cited "cruelty" as the reason. Both cases were contested, but granted ultimately. 

On the 1920 census John is living on a farm he owns, but is mortgaged with 3 of his 4 youngest sons in Hopkins. He lists his, and both his parents' birth places as USA. 

I haven't been able to find John yet, in the 1930 census. He passes away September 7, 1938 in Michigan at the age of 75. Cause of death is listed as Uremia. Hyper trophy of the prostate with a urinary tract infection. 

I haven't been able to find any pictures of either John or Mary. So far. He definitely led an interesting life, completely reinventing himself and his family history on every census it seems. The ever changing information made it quite hard to tract him down. I spent hours looking for an Irish connection, and trying to find his birth certificate in Indiana at first. It wasn't until I found him connected to people with the last name of Knach/Knack/Knauch that I finally figured out his story. And I've still yet to figure out who is mother truly is, Emma or Mary Ann? His descendants seemed to have kept that alive as many of his sons spell the last name of Conor different ways. From Conor to Coner to Coners to even O'Connor. 

Life is never dull in the Conor household. 

#Beginnings

 I thought I would begin with our first Strand(t) ancestor to come to America: Carl Friedrich Theodor Strandt. Carl was born March 27, 1834 in Teschendorf, Mecklenburg, Prussia. His parents were Christian Friedrich Strandt and  Caroline Friederike Elisabeth Gley. This is in present day north eastern Germany. It would have been part of East Germany after World War 2. At some point he marries his first wife, Dorothea Schroeder. Dorothea has a daughter from a prior relationship. Whether a marriage or born out of wedlock, we're not quite sure yet. Carl and Dorothea have a child together. Carl Friedrich Strandt is born in January 1861. Dorothea dies soon after. On December 6, 1861 Carl marries for a second time. This time to Wilhelmine Marie Friederike Gley.  Carl is 27 years old and Wilhelmine is 20. Wilhelmine was born in 1841 and also lived in Teschendorf Mecklenburg. Her parents were Johann Friederich Gley and Adolphina Carolina Friederica Ahrndt. Carl and Wilhelmine have 2 daughters: Caroline is born in 1864 and Wilhelmine Johanna Dorothea Strandt born February 8, 1868. The family lives in Teschendorf, Mecklenburg. 

On October 27, 1871 the family begins their journey to America. They sail from Hamburg to Liverpool England. They sail on the ship "Hansa" and are in steerage, the cheapest class available. It is Carl, Wilhelmine, Carl F, Carolina and Wilhelmine. Also with the family is Dorothea's daughter from the previous relationship. She is listed as a servant. She's about 13 years old. From Liverpool the family transfers to another ship, the Minnesota. Carl lists Farmer as occupation. The ship stops in Queenstown, Ireland and then sails to America, landing in New York City on November 17, 1871. Almost a months' journey from leaving Hamburg.

The family settles in Chicago, Illinois. On February 15, 1876 William Strandt is born. William is the father to Carl Strand, our grandfather. The 1880 census finds the family living in Downer's Grove, DuPaige, Illinois. William and Carl are still at home. Dorothea's daughter has moved out, and there is no trace of daughters Carolina and wilhelmine. I can only guess that they died sometime after arriving in Chicago. I also can't find proof of their deaths either. Whatever happened to the two daughters is a mystery.  

In 1898 William moves to Allegan and marries Mary Pulsipher. Mary's uncle gives the couple land upon which they built their house and raised their children. A farm that became very important to their son Carl Strand later in life. 

I'm not sure why William came to Allegan from Chicago but I discovered his aunt was living in Allegan with her family. His mother Wilhelmine had a sister who lived in Allegan with her family. They actually came to America first, before Carl and Wilhelmine. I'm guessing on one of his visits to see his aunt is when he met Mary and decided to stay and marry her.

After William marries, Carl and Wilhelmine move to Allegan too. In 1910 Wilhelmine dies at the age of 69 from chronic bronchitis. Carl follows and dies in 1914 at the age of 79 of bronchial pneumonia.  His occupation was listed as Farmer.

Carl's oldest son Carl F. stayed in Chicago where he went on to raise his family and Strandts live in the area still. Aunt Joyce says she remembers the Chicago relatives coming to visit sometimes when she was little. I also found a bit in an Illinois newspaper mentioning Carl and Wilhelmine traveling to Illinois from Michigan to visit family and friends. 

One interesting note on the Strandts. It was always assumed that the Strandts were German. However, when DNA tests came back there was actually very little German DNA but a whole lot of Scandinavian DNA. I assumed the Scandinavian DNA came from the Henrickson side, but there was just SO MUCH of it, and so very little German. Especially if William had been full German. Aunt Joyce was gracious enough to take a DNA test and her results came back a lot for German but also for Sweden and Norway. I've traced Mary Pulispher's ancestry back to England and Ireland. Mildred Bellingar's ancestry goes back to Germany and England. That leaves the Strandts for being Scandinavian and not so much German. The area that they lived in at one time was controlled by Sweden. It was very close to the Baltic Sea. Also, "Strandt" is a very popular and common name in Norway and Sweden. I'm guessing that at some point the Strandt's came from Norway or Sweden and settled in Germany. Carl was born in Germany but I'm guessing his parents were born in Norway or Sweden. Of course, there could also be Scandinavian ancestry from Wilhelmine's side too. Or both of them could have been more Scandinavian than German. It's definitely a mystery and one I plan on doing more research on.