Frederick and Marie:
A Genealogical Study in the Preponderance of Evidence
Please note this page is a work in process and will be updated as I feel motivated to do it. It's a challenge, but I love it.
This is a case study on using “Preponderance of Evidence” in genealogical research. Sometimes you just don’t have the exact record you need to prove your summarizations, so you have to research the collateral lines of your ancestors and hope the facts and theories you accumulate are correct. Like all research, a person must be open to new facts that arise and can totally change your research direction.
My study is about a man, Frederick Roth, his wife Marie Grasset and their children, whom I consider to be my ancestors on my mothers paternal side. The man, Frederick Roth, was born in “Germany” around 1822-25. He was also known as Fred and other surnames as Rhodes, Rhoades and Rodes. I found Frederick, as I will call him, in the 1850 Federal Census for Lancaster, Erie County, New York. In this census he is 25 years old and works as a blacksmith. He is recorded as living with Mary, age 21, born in Canada, who is most likely his wife and then a daughter by the name of Mary age 1, born in New York. Although there isn’t a birth location entered on this census of Frederick, and after reviewing how other birth locations were recorded on the page, I feel comfortable to say that Frederick was born in Germany. The birth place for each person along with Frederick’s occupation is a common thread that is an important key to my research of this family.
Here is the 1850 census of Frederick and his family:
I also found this marriage abstract in the North America IGI records on the FamilySearch.org web site:
The above marriage is for Frederick Rhoades and a Mary Graslet. The marriage date is 9 July 1848 in the town of Clarence, Erie County, New York. Clarence is next to the town of Lancaster which is where the 1850 Federal census was recorded. Without having an actual copy of the marriage record, it is my belief that there was a transcription error when Mary’s surname was recorded for the IGI submission. I have researched the surname Graslet and did not come up with an alternative match for Mary. Maybe the double “ss” in her surname looked like an “sl” and was transcribed accordingly.
This next image is of sheet of paper that was found in a minute record book in the Clarence, New York town clerks office. Although this still isn’t a first person document, it does give the correct spelling for Mary’s surname which is Grasset. This image does add more weight to the IGI record as it helps to confirm there was a marriage between Frederick Rhoades and Mary Grassett. But, it does throw into doubt the year the marriage occurred. As you can see, the year of the event has been crossed out on most of the entries and the entries lower down on the sheet don’t even have a year recorded:
Both the IGI record and the marriage on the sheet above are abstracts of an original document. I will continue to look for the original in hopes that it will verify both the correct names and dates. For now, I have almost the same date from two different sources.
The entry below Frederick and Mary is a Jacob Rhoades age 24 married to Susan (Werner). Based on a family tree at Ancestry.com, Jacob is the son of Henry John Rhodes a Mennonite from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Census records for Jacob show he was born in New York. My Frederick was born in Germany. Could there be a connection? I will have to do more research on this possible connection.
Before I had the copy of the marriages from the minute book, I used the information from the 1850 census and the IGI marriage record, to confirm that Frederick Roth (Rhoades) and his wife Mary Grasset (Graslet) are who I believe them to be. I first contacted several researchers in the Erie County area and requested assistance in finding the actual marriage record that would support the IGI submission. Unfortunately, like many other IGI records, the submission did not include a source or a citation for the marriage. Although there wasn’t a marriage record recovered, the researcher was able to assist me and provide 2 baptism records for children born to a Frederick Roth in Erie County, New York.
The baptism records are from Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church in Williamsville, Erie County, New York. Williamsville is located in the vicinity of both Lancaster and Clarence in Erie County. The travel distance from Lancaster to Clarence or Clarence to Williamsville is approximately 10 miles. The researcher told me that Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, at that time, covered both Williamsville and the southern area of Clarence Township in Erie County, which would include Lancaster. I have one IGI record and 3 others records, all claiming a relationship with Frederick Roth. All records are from the same vicinity in Erie County. Those records are the 1850 United States Census for the Township of Lancaster, County of Erie, New York; the IGI marriage submission from the FamilySearch.org website (although not proven); and two baptismal records from Saints Peter and Paul Catholic church in Williamsville, Erie County, New York. Now I can update with a fourth record which is the abstract found in the town of Clarence, New York minutes book record.
Of course there are issues with the baptism records for the two daughters. The first record is for a child named Maria whom I believe is my direct ancestor. Maria was born on the 26th of April in 1849; she was baptized a year later on the 26th of April 1850. I think the distance Frederick and Maria would have had to travel back in 1850 accounts for the reason why she was baptized a year after she was born. The parents in this record are Friderici Roth, a Lutheran, and Maria Bouché. Here is a copy of the baptism record:
The other record is for the child Aemilia Margaret Roth. Aemilia was born on the 15th of November 1850 and baptized on the 20th of April in 1851. Aemilia’s parents are Frederick Roth, a non-catholic, and Maria Gressat. Looking at the two records, the only consistency between them is the father, Friderici Roth, a non Catholic or Lutheran, and the mother’s given name of Maria.
So are these the same families and are Maria and Aemilie sisters?
Pondering the baptism records
With the the information from the baptismal records I set out to certify that Maria Roth is my ancestor. I searched the 1850 Federal Census in New York State for men named Fred. I used Fred so the results would give me both Fred and Frederick as given names. I didn’t specify anything else, other then locations which were Williamsville, Concord and Lancaster. Each gave me returns, but only Lancaster gave me a match. The match was the original Frederick Rhodes I already had. So what about all of Erie County? I did another search for Erie County and Fred, but with open spelling for Rhodes and I received 69 returns with Frederick Rhodes being the first one. Then I did the same search with Roth being an exact spelling where I received 34 returns but no matches. Is this the definitive answer that there were not any other Fred’s or a Frederick Roth, Rhodes or Rhoads living in Erie County who could be the father in the baptism records? No, but I feel confident that there was only one Frederick Roth living in this area at the time the two girls in question where born.
Now the biggest question yet, is the mother, Maria Bouché or Maria Grasset? The mother’s surname in the record for Maria is Bouché which can also be spelled Boucher and is a far cry from being Grasset (Gressat) as it is in the other record for Aemilie, but I will explain why I believe this is the same woman. To help achieve a proper understanding, I will present to you the research and steps I have taken to reach my conclusion.
The family lore I had been given
Before I ever found the census record, IGI and marriage abstract or received the baptismal records for the daughters of Frederick Roth Maria Grasset, I started my research on this branch by gathering any oral and written history I could find. Well, there wasn’t any oral history that wasn’t already written down. So with the written history that was given to me by my mother, I set out, using historical documents, to try to prove or disprove the written family lore.
The written family history I have was compiled by Alois Schmitz in 1990 (age 72) and given to a Schmitz researcher in 1992. Another compilation was written by Louise Schmitz Lick (age 84 in 1985), she gave it to my mother sometime in the 1980’s. The compilations suggest that Frederick Roth was born in 1822 in Germany. He was a Civil War veteran and served as a General during the war. Also from the compilations, it is written, that he had three wives, their names were Melissa Grasseth, born 1828 in Canada, Mary Busch who died in childbirth, and Mary Waite whom he married 14 January 1869 in Faribault, Rice County, Minnesota.
Frederick Roth had the following children: Mary Roth, born 27 April 1849 at Buffalo, New York (Lancaster, Williamsville and Clarence are suburbs of Buffalo). Peter Roth, born 1853 in Illinois and Adeline Roth was born 1855 in Wisconsin. The rest of the daughters, Matilda Roth born 1857, Elizabeth Roth born 1859, Josephine Roth born 1862 and Louise Roth born in 1867, were all born in Minnesota. Here is the first page of one of the compilations:
The eldest daughter, Mary Roth, married Nicholas Colling and they are my direct ancestors. Adeline Roth was said to have married a "Negro" named Mr. English. Then we have Matilda Roth, she married Chief Red Cloud of the Ogallala tribe of the Sioux Nation. There was no other information for the rest of the children. Other than my own ancestor, I haven’t been able to verify the last two marriages/relationships. Although Matilda may have married a Native American, I doubt very much it was “THE” Chief Red Could of the Sioux Nation.
A few years ago I made contact with a person who was researching his ancestor Peter Roth. Whether his Peter Roth and the Peter Roth in my family tree are the same, and the son of Frederick Roth, we are in disagreement. His family lore about Frederick Roth doesn’t match mine. His family lore states that Peter Roth was the son of a fur trader born in Germany. My Peter Roth is the son of a blacksmith who was born in Germany. My Frederick Roth could have been a fur trader because he settled in an area of Minnesota that was originally settled by Alexander Faribault, a fur trader and a friend of the Indians. The Frederick Roth who was the German fur trader was to have married an Indian woman who was the daughter of Chief Little Crow of the Sioux Nation. My Frederick Roth, as was stated earlier, married a French Canadian woman Mary Grasset in New York. It is possible for the German fur trader to have married a Native American woman, after all, they were living side by side in the early 1850‘s in Rice County. As far as Mary Grasset having Indigenous North American ancestry, it has not surfaced yet. It will be interesting to see how it turns out and to discover who Peter Roth really is. Both my sister and I have had our DNA tested and neither one of us have Indigenous American DNA. I have one remaining cousin on this side of my family, and her father was Native American, so her DNA test results would not help to verify if there was any Native American DNA on this line of my family. My DNA test has a match with a descendent of the claimed German fur trader, Frederick Roth.
A short history on the Native American men, Chief Red Cloud and Chief Little Crow, although from different tribes of the Sioux Nation, they were both involved in the Sioux uprising in the mid 1860’s. Referring back to the relationship of Matilda and Red Cloud, he was born in 1822 while Matilda was in born in 1857. This would have made him 25 years old when Matilda was born. If she were to have married him at the minimum age of say 16, in the year of 1870, then he would have had to have been around 41 years old when and if they married. Suffice it to say, Red Cloud lived in Montana and Wyoming area while Matilda was in Minnesota as late as 1880 and still unmarried. For my part, I firmly believe that Matilda was not married to Red Cloud. From what I have been able to find out about Chief Little Crow, he was born in Minnesota around 1810 to 1812 and died in 1863. He very easily could have had a daughter that was married to a German fur trader because Chief Little Crow is said to have had 4 partners with whom he had many children. This is still open to debate.
Pondering the lore
I will start with my ancestor Catherine (Katie) Colling and her siblings. They were the children of Mary Roth and Nicholas Colling; my direct ancestors from the family lore. Catherine Colling, my great grandmother, was born 25 March 1882 in Marystown, Scott County, Minnesota. Catherine and all of her siblings, except for the two eldest brothers, were born in Scott County, Minnesota. The oldest boys were born in Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota.
I have confirmed, at least for the children born in Scott County, through both baptismal records and birth registers from Scott County Vital records, that the names of their parents were Nicholas Colling and Mary or Maria Roth. For the record I will note, that in some of the baptismal records, Mary’s surname was spelled Rotch and not Roth.
The above record is the baptismal entry for my greatgrand mother Catherine Colling. Catherine or Katy was born 20 November 1882 Marystown, Scott County, Minnesota.
This is an image of the batismal record for my great aunt Mary Colling, sister of Katy Colling. Mary was born 2 October 1890 in Scott County, Minnesota. Her parents are the same as Katy's, Nicholas Colling and Mary Roth (Rotch).
Lastly, Monica Colling, another sister of Katy Colling, she was born 13 May 1893 in Scott County, Minnesota. Her parent's names are Nich Colling and Mary Ann Roth. Suffice to say, I feel I have established a connection here with three children of Nicholas Colling and Mary Roth.
In this 1895 Minnesota state census record, we have Nic Colling, age 50, born in Germany, wife Mary, age 48 born in New York and their children, among those are the girls in the above mentioned baptismal records. Kathe age 13, (born 1882) Mary 4, (born 1890) and Monica 2, (born 1893). Other children from this record are John, Anna, Peter, Lizze, Frank, and Maggie. All of the children were born in Minnesota.
Most census records for the children of Nicholas and Mary Colling, including Minnesota State and Federal censuses, the children state that their father was born in Luxembourg or Germany. Nicholas Colling was born in Harlange, Luxembourg. The information given for their mother’s place of birth is almost always New York.
Another document I would like to present, is a copy of the death certificate for Katie Colling. Although this is not a primary source, it still confirms the previously mentioned records that her parents are Nicholas Colling and Mary Roth. The informant who signed the death certificate was her husband Charles B. Schmitz. Catherine Schmitz died on 10 January 1852. She was living in the village of New Market in Scott County. Cause of death was Septicemia.
Charles Benedict Schmitz, husband of Catherine Colling. Here is the marriage certificate to support the death certificate. Charles, or CB as he was called, and Katie were married on 23 October 1900 at St. Mary's Church of the Purification in Marystown, Minnesota.
The witnesses who were present at the marriage of CB and Katie, and who's names appear on the certificate, were their siblings, Valentine Schmitz and Margaretha (Margaret) Colling. Val and Margaret were married on 11 June 1907 in Marystown, Scott County, Minnesota. A witness for Val and Maggie was Maggie's brother, Michael Colling.
1895 Minnesota state census for the Schmitz family. Matthias Schmitz and Sophia Schaufler from Helena, Scott County, Minnesota, listed here in this census with their children. Namely two of their sons, Charles age 20 and younger son, Valentine age 12.
At this point, with the data that I have compiled, I believe beyond a reasonable doubt, that the parents of my great grandmother Catherine Colling Schmitz were Nicholas Colling and Mary Roth. I will move back a generation to Mary Roth and her siblings. I will start with the information I have been able to find about Mary’s siblings and work my way back to her as she is the oldest child.
While doing my study on this family it became apparent how important vital record registration was. Unfortunately, registration of births and deaths in Minnesota did not start until 1870. The recording of marriages started in 1853 which is prior to the time that Minnesota gained its statehood. I don’t know if church records are available for the place where my Roth ancestors were living, let alone what church they would have attended, if they did attend at all. The Roth family settled in Rice County, Minnesota by Cannon Lake. The settlement they were living in went through various name changes until finally settling on Warsaw. The catholic churches in Rice County were part of The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. The Archdiocese archive does have all the church records on microfilm but the cost of research is rather prohibitive. I hope some day the records are scanned and made available through a genealogy research source.
The search:
The children of Frederick Roth and Maria Grasset
Louise Roth
Using the family lore, I will start with Louise Roth who was born in 1867. Unfortunately, I have no further information for her. She is mentioned in the family lore compilations but I haven’t been able to place her in any historical records. There is the possibility that Louise is the Maggie Roth living with Frederick Roth in 1880 Federal Census for Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minnesota. The are various possibilities for Louise/Maggie which I will explore those later in this journey.
Josephine Roth
Next in age is Josephine Roth. Josephine is believed to have been born in 1862 in Rice County, Minnesota. In the 1870 Minnesota Federal census for the Township of Warsaw, Rice County, Minnesota we find Josephine Rhodes, 11 years old, attending school and born in Minnesota. Her parents are of foreign birth and she was living at the home of Mr. Louis Prospect.
The next record I have for Josephine is the 1875 Minnesota State Census. In this census record she is found as Josephine Bush age 13. She is living at the home of Mr. Peter Bush in the Village of Warsaw, Rice County, Minnesota. In this record Josephine was born in Minnesota; her mother was born in New York and her father was born in Germany.
I'm taking a step back 10 years to the 1865 Minnesota State census. In this census we find Josephine as the youngest daughter of Frederick and Mary Roth. This census shows that Frederick and his family are living closde by to a Peter Bush and his family. This is the same Bush family that Josephine is living with in the 1875 census. Is there a connection between the Bush and Roth family? This is what I'm trying to prove.
After reviewing this census and other records, I am positive that this is the same Peter Bush and family that Josephine Roth is living with in the 1875 census. Also, in the 1870 census, the Peter Bush family is living close to the Louis Prospect family with whom Josephine is living.
I’m not sure why Josephine was living in different households after 1870, but for whatever reason, the Roth family has spilt up and are not recorded, as family, in any census records going forward.
The family Josephine is living with in the 1875 Minnesota State census, Peter, Amelia and son Peter Bush, is the same family that was living next door to Frederick Roth’s family in the 1865 Minnesota State Census. I believe, based on this these records and on more research, that there is a connection between Peter and Amelia Bush and the Roth family.
One connection I found, which doesn't actually give names but does you a little insight to the Roth family. It's a newspaper article from The Minneapolis Tribune on 23 March 1876. Here the transcribed article:
The Minneapolis Tribune
Thursday, March 23, 1876
SOCIAL SKIRMISH.
_________________
All About the Possession of a Fifteen Year Old Girl
________________________________________
At a late hour yesterday afternoon a motley crowd assembled at the Municipal Court, but the principal interest seemed to center in Armstrong English and his wife, a white woman, and a sister of Mrs. English, a young girl some fifteen years of age. The father of Mrs. English and the girl, seemed to be present in the flesh and great indignation, and insisted upon some punishment being meted out to English for keeping the girl. He insisted upon “some shustice,” but the court officers assured him that the only remedy in the case was a writ of habeas corpus, which the Municipal Court could not issue, and the only justice, in view of the indignant parent, was in the shape of a threat to shoot his son-in-law, Armstrong English. In this condition of things the meeting broke up, and the procession moved from the court room.
The facts are as follows: The girl had been living at Faribault until about five weeks ago, when her grandfather wrote to Mrs. English, requesting her to send for and take care of her younger sister. Mrs. English consented to the arrangement, and has since given the girl a home, while the father is said to have desired her to engage as “clerk in a beer saloon.” English and his wife opposed the father in engaging the girl in this kind of service and hence the noticeable demonstration of yesterday, which failed, however, to come to any kind of a head in court, whatever it may do outside.
__________
This is a fascinating article to me. Did my 3 times great grandfather really want to put is daughter to work at a saloon? The article never did say what Mr. Armstrong English did to the 15 year old girl that had her father so upset. Armstrong English is a name from the family tree that I received from my mother and refers to his wife as a "white woman". I guess because the 15 year old girl is considered a minor, they don't give her name or the names of her parents and grandfather? Josephine was born in 1862 so the age of the girl in the newspaper also fits. But wait, there's more.
A few weeks later, after the above news story broke we find this one:
The Minneapolis Tribune
Monday Evening, May 1, 1876.
“Mixed Goods”
A Female Fight That Contributed to the City Coffers.
Armstrong English is a colored man, vested by certain constitutional amendments with all the rights and privileges of his more lily-complected brethren, exercised his prerogatives by marrying an Anglo-Saxon wife, nee Roach, of this city. Mr(s). English has a sister named Josephine, a girl about fifteen years of age, who had been living at Faribault. Several weeks since Mrs. E. persuaded her sister to remove to this city, and offered a home in her own house, which offer was accepted. Several days since, her father, who lives on High Street, attempted to persuade the girl to leave her swarthy brother-in-law’s residence and live with him. Mrs. English objected to this for a season, but finally permitted the girl to go. Repenting of having permitted her sister to leave her, yesterday Mrs. English went to her father’s house and tried to induce the girl to return to the English mansion, but Mrs. Roach, who, by the way, is step-mother to the two, refused to permit her to leave, and force was attempted, on the one hand, to drag the girl out of the house and on the other to keep her, the stepmother and sister tugging each at an arm. Finally, as if by mutual consent, the two women let go of the girl, and fell to fighting, as only women know how to fight. Hair-pulling, scratching, biting, clothes-rending, —and above all, screaming and scolding were the more salient features of the warfare. Before the time for throwing up the sponge two officers stepped in and marched off the belligerents. English, hearing of the arrest of his wife, repaired to the lock-up and attempted to rescue her by force, but instead thereof, he too was caged for the night. All the parties were before the Municipal Court this morning, Mrs. English being fined $10 and Mrs. Roach $5 for disorderly Conduct. English was discharged with a gentle reprimand.
Okay, I'll admit it, sounds like some of my ancestors were a little on the rough side. I also need to say how uncomfortable I felt reading this article and the words they used in reference to Armstrong English and his wife. It's not right, but I guess that was the way it was back then. Have we really progressed? (Sorry for the editorial).
This article gave me some really good information to work with. Mrs English, spouse of Armstrong English, had the maiden name of Roach. It mentions the name of the girl from Faribault as being named Josephine, again matching the family history. Mrs. Roach is their "step mother", which is true and I will share further in my research.
Based on the two articles above, I'm able to connect the following people to Faribault, Minnesota. Carrie (Adeline) Roth, her sister Josephine, and the grandfather who sent the letter from Faribault. Mr. Roach (Roth), is the father of Mrs. English (Carrie or Adeline) and Josephine. Although, in the articles the surname is recorded as Roach, I am certain that a phonetical record and not how the name is actually written. (Marriage record for Carrie Roth supports this believe).
So at this point, I had let Josephine cook. Basically, I don't research a person/family for a while (a year or two) and then go back and see if a search bring up any information on a particular person or family. That's just what happened. with Josephine, no information was appearing for her so I left her alone and then one day, I got a hit. A marriage record for 1921, in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington.
The record I found from the Washington State marriage license records lists the following: On 21 February 1921, Josephine Carson with (Kittson) written above the surname Carson, age 49 years, married Thomas D. Dempsey, age 59. Both Josephine and Thomas have been married twice before and the both live in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington and were married in Chehalis, Lewis County, Washington.
The record also has the state of birth for the couple, Thomas was born in Iowa and Josephine was born in Minnesota. Josephine is a housewife and Thomas is Plumber. Frederic Roth and Mary Bush are listed as Josephines parents.
I also found a copy of the marriage return that need to be filed at the court house. It has all the same information, but is a second source to confirm the first.
