Family of August Schoth and Louise Wenzlaff

August Schoth and Louise Wenzlaff (Wentzlaff, Wenzloff) were my 3rd great-grandparents. I am descended from their daughter Johanna and her husband Adolph Sturm (see pedigree chart).

Adolph Sturm (seated) and Johanna Schoth Sturm

We are lucky that this branch of our family has had an interest in genealogy going back a few generations. I first heard of August and Louise when I was a child. I knew that their daughter Johanna had married Adolph Sturm and that Johanna's sister Henrietta had married Adolph's brother Edward.

It was not so easy to learn more about their families, though – a common refrain on this side of the family tree! Luckily for us, our grandmother had saved a letter from a cousin outlining a few generations of Schoth descendants. Using this as a starting point, we were able to learn more about the Schoth-Wenzlaff family.

In this post, I will discuss what we know about the Schoth-Wenzlaff family. Future posts will discuss the DNA evidence and possible connections to other Schoth and Wenzlaff families from Gross and Klein Jannewitz.

Schoth and Wenzlaff origins

According to the Hamburg passenger lists, our Schoth family resided in Gross Jannewitz, Lauenburg, Pommern (Pomerania), Prussia. This location is now in Poland (Janowice, Pomorskie, Poland).

Click to view map

Although Gross Jannewitz was just a little further west from the border between the provinces of Pomerania, where the Schoths lived, and West Prussia, where many of my father's Kashubian family lived, there was a significant cultural difference between the two groups. Pomerania had been Germanized for centuries already. Most inhabitants spoke German and were of Protestant religion. Almost certainly they identified as German. Whereas in West Prussia, many inhabitants still spoke the native Slavic language, Kashubian, and most were Catholics.

Unfortunately, though we were able to trace my father's family back several more generations using the Catholic church record books, very few record books from the Protestant parishes in this region have survived. There was an Evangelical Lutheran parish in Gross Jannewitz but none of the records survive today. Civil records from 1876 onward were preserved, but August and Louise Schoth and their family had already emigrated by then. From these civil records, however, it appears that the Schoth family may have been from Gross Jannewitz and the Wenzlaffs from Klein Jannewitz (now Janowiczki).

Migration to the new world

August and Louise came to the U.S. in 1872 with eight of their children. Their son Carl followed in 1874. They can be found in the New York and Hamburg passenger lists. The names, ages, and even genders of the children are mixed up, but we can be sure this was our family. The majority of records quite consistently show that the arrival date was 1872 and, even though the record itself is inaccurate, it is nonetheless quite close to the names of the children in the proper order.

Schoth family arrival: 28 March 1872, New York; ship: Hammonia

Strangely, although images of the corresponding Hamburg passenger lists were scanned, the page with our Schoth family was left out. It would have been nice to see the original handwriting. I bet it would have made more sense than what we see in the New York passenger list. Luckily for us, Gustav Schoth, though traveling on the same ship as his parents, was a young man listed separately. His entry clearly shows the correct surname as well as the village name.

Gustav Schoth departure: 13 Mar 1872, Hamburg; ship: Hammonia

It is not clear whether the family lived in Chicago when they first arrived in America, though I suspect they did. There were already other families from Gross Jannewitz and neighboring villages living there, including several Wenzlaffs. No doubt some were relatives.

At some point between 1872 and 1880, August purchased farm land in Logan county. In January 1874, daughters Johanna and Wilhelmine were both married in Chicago. It is very likely that they were living with their parents at that time. Thus August and Louise probably left Chicago after this date. They and their children Gustav, William, and Anna all lived in Atlanta, Illinois, when the 1880 census was taken. One married daughter, Fredericka Hoose, also resided in Atlanta with her family in 1880.

Children of August Schoth and Louise Wenzlaff

According to my grandmother's letter, Curt Esser (her mother's cousin) stated that August and Louise had at least twelve children. Only nine or ten have been found. Others may have died young, remained in the old country, or emigrated elsewhere. Of course, this number may have been inaccurate in the first place. Keep in mind that, without baptism records, we cannot confirm the birth dates below.

August and Louise's known children were:

• Gustav Schoth (16 August 1845 – 24 Sep 1922) – Gustav married widow Margaretta (Lang) Dennerline about 1883, probably in Logan county. They had six children: Harry, Arthur, Martha, Gus, and Ernest. In addition, Gustav had two stepdaughters, Emma and Anna Dennerline. Their family lived in Atlanta, Illinois, where Gustav was a farmer.
  
  
• Carl (Charles) Schoth (21 Oct 1847 – 7 Jan 1906) – Charles married widow Johanna (Wenzlaff) Riskowski in 1878, at St. Matthew's Evangelical Church in Chicago. Johanna was from Krampe (now Krępa Kaszubska), just a little north of Gross Jannewitz. She may have been a cousin of some sort. Charles and Johanna had three children who all died young (George, Anna, and a stillborn son). Charles' stepson, John Riskowski, died as a young adult and seems not to have had any children. Charles Schoth was a blacksmith and a teamster. They lived on Chicago's west side.
  
  
• Wilhelm (William) Schoth (15 August 1849 – 21 November 1921) – William married Hermina (Minnie) Haase in 1882 at Zion Evangelical Church in Chicago. In their early marriage, they seemed to have moved back and forth from Atlanta (Illinois) to Chicago before moving to Proviso Township where William was a farmer. Later in life, William was employed by the Adolph Sturm Company. William and Minnie had seven children: Hattie, Gertrude, Minnie, Henry, Litta, Adolph, and Lenora.
  
  
• Johanna Schoth (15 August 1850 – 2 March 1915) – Johanna and Adolph Sturm were married by a Justice of the Peace in Chicago, 1874. Adolph Sturm was a capitalist and a merchant and the owner of the Adolph Sturm Company. They had nine children: Arthur, Amanda, Gisela, Irma, Ernst, Litta, Charlotte, Grant, and Adolph (Ollie). Their family lived on the near north side of Chicago.
  
  

  

  Johanna Schoth

  
  
• Wilhelmina (Minnie) Schoth (20 November 1851 – 27 January 1915) – Wilhelmina married August Schroeder in 1874 at First Immanuel Lutheran Church in Chicago. Wilhelmina and her sister Johanna were both married on the same day. August and Minnie had six children: Marie, Frederick, George, Henry, Alma, and one more who died as a baby or young child (name unknown). August Schroeder was a blacksmith. They lived on the south side of Chicago.
  
  
• Heinrich Schoth (born about 1856) is found only on the passenger lists. I have found no further evidence of him in Chicago. I do not know if he died shortly after arrival or if his name on the passenger list was yet another error.
  
  
• Augusta Schoth (5 March 1858 – 12 December 1918) – Augusta married Martin Esser in 1888 in Chicago. They were married by a Justice of the Peace. Martin and Augusta had four sons: Martin, Arthur, Paul, and George. Martin was an upholsterer. Their family lived on the north side of Chicago.
  
  
• Henrietta Schoth (4 September 1860 – 13 May 1905) – Henrietta married Edward Sturm, brother of Adolph Sturm, in 1879. They were married by a Justice of the Peace in Chicago. Edward and Henrietta had six children: Elsa, Lulu, Adolph, Louise, Maurice, and Erwin. Edward Sturm worked for the Adolph Sturm Company. They lived on the south side of Chicago.
  
  
• Fredericka Anetta (Ricka) Schoth (23 July 1862 – 2 August 1912) – Ricka married George Hoose about 1880, probably in Atlanta (Illinois), where they lived after their wedding. George was a blacksmith who was later employed by a hardware store. George and Ricka had four children: Milton, Hazel, Oscar, and Erma.
  
  
• Anna Marie Schoth (23 July 1863 – 25 May 1919) – Anna married Theodore Esser, brother of Martin, in 1891 in Chicago. They were married by a Justice of the Peace. They had three children: Curt, Walter, and Edith. Theodore was an interior decorator. They lived on the north side of Chicago.
  
  

Death and burial information

August Schoth died in Chicago on 6 March 1896 in the home of youngest daughter Anna Esser. I do not know whether he was visiting or if he and Louise had relocated to Chicago. The missing 1890 census could have told us more. Louise died later that year, on 7 November 1896, in Atlanta. August was about 80 and Louise 76 when they died.

August and Louise were buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago. Unfortunately, no one in the last few generations seems to have known that they were buried there. Their headstones are in poor condition, with significant erosion making the engravings almost illegible. I can only hope someone will one day find photographs of the headstones taken in the 1940's or 1950's that clearly show the dates. Even so, it was a thrill to find and visit their final resting place.

August and Louise Schoth headstones, Graceland Cemetery
Section B, Lot 158, Graves 1 and 2
Photo credit: Mary Walle-Santos ©2011

The Schoth family was rather prosperous in the new world. Consider that August and two sons owned farm land and another son was a blacksmith. Two daughters married blacksmiths, two married businessmen, one married an upholsterer and one married a decorator. Not one of the men were simple day laborers or factory workers. I wonder whether they had some money when they emigrated or whether they simply made the best of the opportunities their new home afforded them.

In future posts, we will discuss each family branch in greater detail.

Notes

About the letter:

My grandmother, Irma (Thompson) Moore, at one point asked her mother's cousin Edith (Esser) Channer to tell her what she remembered about the Schoth family. Happily our grandmother saved Edith's reply. Edith, with the help of her brother Curt Esser, wrote a detailed letter outlining a good number of August and Louise's descendants. There are a few notable errors – for example, Curt states that the family was from the southern part of Germany. But nearly everything in the letter can be backed up by evidence. We are very grateful for the Esser family's contribution to our family history!

© TreeQuest: The Truth Is Out There 2019.

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