28 March 2023

Brick Walls and Loose Branches: Stumpf Men with Unknown Parentage

This post and the last post are lists of Stumpf boys and men who have brick walls.

Mixing Metaphors

In the previous post, I listed several Stumpf boys who disappear from the records.  I don’t know what happened to them.  They are on the other side of the brick wall, meaning coming forward in time they disappear.

This blog addresses this side of the brick wall, going back in time and hitting a wall.  Mixing metaphors, I have a list of unconnected branches that I don't have enough information to graft them onto the main Stumpf family tree. 


Line drawing showing how to trim branches or sticks and insert them into a tree stump.
Graphic on how to graft a branch onto a tree.  Looks easy enough.
From www.wikigreen.org via Eric Blazek

Note: In this list, I skipped all the women with unknown parents: the unmarried Stumpf mothers who had children that got the Stumpf name and families with Stumpf mothers with other surnames.

Here is a partial list of Stumpf men, sorted by village and estimated date of birth.  

When estimating date of birth with known birthdate of child, I assumed only the man was at least 18, so my estimations are the earliest he would be born.  He could easily be 5 years older than my estimate and maybe up to 20 years older.

Many are husbands and fathers, one joined the military, and two completed WWI draft registration cards in the U.S.  Do any of these match up with the boys from the other list?  Maybe one.

Kathreinfeld

Franz Stumpf married to Eva Klein

  • Their first kid was born in 1843 in Kathreinfeld puts an estimate of him being born before 1825.
  • Franz will be the topic of a future post.

Franz married to Anna Rein

  • He was born about 1848 in Kathreinfeld; their first known kid was born in 1876 in Kathreinfeld.
  • This Franz will also be mentioned in a future post.

My Johann married to Katharina Hoffmann

  • He was born in Kathreinfeld, estimated in 1838 based on age at death; his wife was born in Klek; their children were born in Kathreinfeld and maybe the first one in Klek.
  • I wonder if this is the son of Johann [Michael] and  Anna Maria Putz born in Kathreinfeld in 1841.
  • The church books have been searched for their marriage and has not been found.  The prevailing theory currently is that the marriage happened in the years of missing records in Klek, the dreaded Gap Years.

Jakob

  • He was born about 1843 in Kathreinfeld and joined the 29th Infantry Regiment in 1864.
  • 1843 is just as the Gap Years are starting.

Johann married to Theresia Krieger

  • Their two kids were born and died young in Kathreinfeld, the first in 1863.  This puts an estimate of him being born before 1845.

Jakob married to Anna Meckl

  • He was born about 1852 in Kathreinfeld; their first kids were born in Kathreinfeld.

Michael married to Anna Budo

  • He was born about 1856 in Kathreinfeld and died in 1937.  
  • There is a big mausoleum in Kathreinfeld cemetery with their names on the entryway.  It is about the only thing you can see in the Kathreinfeld old cemetery because it was so overgrown.  When we visited in 2009, there was path to the entrance.  The coffins appeared to have been opened and vandalized - or junk was thrown in the mausoleum.
The Michael Stumpf & Anna Budo Mausoleum
in Kathreinfeld in 2009.  Note the horrible overgrowth!
Photo by Trish Stumpf Garcia.


Johann married to Margaretha

  • His son Peter was born in 1883 and died in 1886 in Kathreinfeld.  This puts an estimate of Johann being born before 1865.


Klek

Nikolaus married to Anna Holz

  • He was born about 1862 in Klek.

Johann married to Juliana Podvin

  • He was born in Klek; his wife and kids were born in Großbetschkerek.  Juliana was born in 1872, so he is likely this age or older.

Caspar married to Eva Kolleth

  • He was born in Klek and married in Belgrade in 1925; their kids were born in Großbetschkerek. His wife was born in 1903, so he is likely this age or older.
  • To-do List: look for Belgrade 1925 marriages.  
    • FamilySearch only has records for the Armenian Apostolic Church in this timeframe.
    • MyHeritage doesn't have Serbian records.
    • Ancestry doesn't have needed Serbian records.
    • Ok, scratch that.  It looks like this would be an archives search.


St. Georgen

Nikolaus married to Katharina Klaszki

  • His son Ladislaus was born about 1889 in St. Georgen puts an estimate of him being born before 1871.

Johann, Michael married to Katalin, and Julianna married to Bernad Bichler (siblings)

  • Michael born about 1878 in St. Georgen and immigrated to the US in 1909. 
  • The siblings, Johann and Julianna also seem to have also immigrated to the US.


Stefansfeld

Martin married to Maria Anna

  • His son Nikolaus was born in Stefansfeld in 1853.  That would put Martin at being born before 1835.

Nikolaus married to Margaretha Merle

  • Their first child born in 1879 in Stefansfeld puts an estimate of him being born before 1861.

Nikolaus married to Margaretha Schirmann

  • They married in Stefansfeld; their kids were born in Stefansfeld starting in 1874.

John 

  • He was born 15 Mar 1887 in Stefansfeld and immigrated to the US.  He completed a WWI draft registration card in Chicago.

Josef

  • He was born 18 Feb 1894 in Stefansfeld and immigrated to the US.  He completed WWI draft registration card in Sebewaing, Michigan.

Peter married to Anna Rettinger

  • Anna died in 1944 in Stefansfeld.  No clues as to age.


Karlsdorf

Johann married to Elisabeth Farkas

  • His son was born in Karlsdorf in 1902.  Johann would have been born before 1884.
  • Johann is probably from somewhere other than Karlsdorf.


Kühlenburg/Lazarfeld

Peter married to Margaretha Rumber

  • His son Bernhard was born in “Kühlenburg” according to the Lazarfeld family book by Repp (2008).  No dates associated with the entry, so no idea when Peter was born.  Also, not sure why this information is in the Lazarfeld family book.

Some Thoughts on Who These Men Were

They are mostly many generations after the immigration of Jakob and Melchior in 1764 to Austria-Hungary.  Some of these might be young men moving to a different village to get married and raise their families, but not all.  Many of these are falling in the gap years of Kathreinfeld or St. Georgen, i.e. mid-1840s to 1870s.  I know I have families in the database with unaccounted for children in those years as well.