How an old debt helped me put a big crack in a brick wall

My third great grandfather Frederick Herman Barth was born in Hanover, Germany in 1816. I had very little information about his parents or anything about him before he moved to Canton, Missouri. There was also confusion about his wives, and the family stories didn’t provide much more than the fact that they came to Canton from Maryland after immigrating from Hanover.

When I began researching this branch recently, I started with what I’d been told – that he and his wife Elizabeth and at least one child Malinda (my gg grandmother) immigrated to the US (probably into Baltimore, MD) around 1840. They first settled in Allegany County, Maryland (not far from Baltimore) where three more children – John, Henry and Charley were born.

Cumberland is just by the A in Maryland above

The 1850 census listed Frederick and Elizabeth and kids first briefly in Quincy, Illinois where he worked as a gunsmith. He immediately began buying land across the river in Missouri just north of Canton (he first bought 50 acres 8 miles north of town).

They moved there in 1851 when Henry was one year old[1]. Soon after, I believe Elizabeth and son John died. Frederick remarried to Mary Catherine Pustav and had one more child Caroline. They later bought a place in Canton at the corner of Washington and Third, two blocks from the Mississippi River and the railroad tracks.

In 1853, daughter Malinda married Nicholas Giegerich, my great great grandparents. Frederick and his wife and 3 remaining children lived in Canton and farmed the 50 acres north of town.

In May 1870, Frederick died at the age of 54. His death was probably sudden because he left no will. His eldest son Henry was 20, Charley was 18 and Caroline was 14. Charley and Caroline lived at home with their widowed mother and Frederick’s mother Mary. Their older sister Malinda and her husband Nicholas Giegerich lived two houses down.  Henry may have been living on the farm.

With no will, Nicholas was appointed administrator of Frederick’s estate. Probate should have been straight forward with just the house in town and 50 acres that his widow and children would inherit (typically a wife gets everything and then the children split it equally after she dies).

This is where it gets interesting – and confusing. Thanks to FamilySearch releasing an experimental search engine[2] of their digitized but unindexed wills and deeds, I discovered a treasure trove of documents relating to the Barths.

The first was dated 4 months after Frederick died. That September, Adam and Christopher Barth arrived in Canton. They were Frederick’s brothers and claimed to be his heirs.

Both were well-to-do farmers in Allegany County, Maryland, where Frederick had first settled and most of his children were born. They apparently provided convincing proof of their claim because Nicholas Geigerich paid Adam and Christopher $260 ($130 each) for their share of the value of his two properties (the house in town and 50 acres).

One month later in November 1870, Mary Wahl (maiden name Webber), also from Allegany County, presented a claim against Frederick’s estate. One of the documents I found identified her as his niece (it took me three times reading the document to catch the word “niece”, so it pays to read carefully[3]).

Nicholas settled with her for $65, half what Adam and Christopher each got.

Six months later, in May 1871, Conrad Kramer from Highland County, Virginia (about 90 miles south of Allegany County) claimed that two of his sons Anthony and Phillip (both now in their 20s) were also Frederick’s heirs. No relationship was given, but on June 24, Nicholas Giegerich paid them $130 ($65 each), the same amount he paid Mary, specified in the contract as 1/5 share of the value of Frederick’s two properties (suggesting there were only five heirs).

Finally in April, 1872 Nicholas announced he was closing the probate by placing a notice in the local paper.

So how is it that Frederick’s younger brothers, niece and the Kramer boys were his heirs, apparently taking precedent over his own wife and children? It’s unusual for siblings to inherit an estate with a wife and legitimate children in the picture, especially when one of the children was still a minor.

Frederick and his younger brothers Christopher and Adam were born in Hanover in the (then) Kingdom of Hanover (now Saxony, Germany): Frederick in 1816, Christopher in 1820, and Adam in 1823. Christopher and Adam came over before Frederick, around 1830 according to Adam’s obituary, and settled in Cumberland, Maryland. Frederick is said to have come over with his wife and children (at least Malinda) around 1840[4]. Malinda would have known her uncles well, having lived near them when she was a child (she was about 7 when she came to America and 17 when they moved to Canton). And I suspect they kept in touch with each other and that Nicholas contacted them when Frederick died. In fact, Frederick’s great granddaughter Lilli Wagner said that she’d heard “them” (presumably her grandmother Malinda and her great uncle Henry) speak of Maryland at times.

I haven’t verified Mary Webber in the census or who her parents were. According to the documents, she, too, lived in Allegany County and by November 1870 had married Joseph Wahl.  Identified as Frederick’s niece, her mother was probably one of Frederick’s sisters who then married a Webber, although Mary may be Frederick’s wife Elizabeth’s niece. I found no Webbers in the 1850 census there, but the June 1870 Allegany County census has two possible Mary Wahls: Mary E. b. 1842 Maryland, parents born in Hessen; and a 2^nd Mary, also born 1842 in Maryland, parents born Darmstadt. However, if she was Frederick’s sister’s daughter, her parents should have been listed as born in Hanover. Until I determine the maiden names of either of these women and of Frederick’s wife Elizabeth, I can’t tell which is Frederick’s niece (if at all).

Anthony and Phillip Kramer were born in 1844 and ‘48 in Virginia about 90 miles south of Allegany County during the time Frederick lived in Maryland. Their father Conrad Kramer, who submitted the claim for them, was the same age as Frederick and born in Germany. They were the only children of Conrad’s born[5] before Frederick moved away. I have found no Barth connection yet, so perhaps they were related to Frederick’s wife or Frederick was their Godfather.

My current theory is that Frederick borrowed money around 1849 from his brothers, sister, and Conrad Kramer to move to Missouri and purchase land there, secured with open-ended promissory notes against any land he bought. It’s curious, however, that 3 of the 5 heirs were young children when Frederick likely borrowed the money, so I’m not sure why their parents assigned repayment to their children rather than themselves.

I am excited that I uncovered some important relatives to Frederick and helped clarify some confusing family stories, but there are still major questions pending:

1. Who were the Barth brothers’ parents?
2. Why were these people named as heirs of Frederick?
3. Who were Mary Webber Wahl’s parents?
4. How were the Kramer boys related to Frederick?
5. What was Frederick’s first wife Elizabeth’s maiden name?

I’ll update this article and post when I learn anything new.

[1] according to Henry’s obituary.

[2] FamilySearch restricted access shortly after I did this research. I requested login access. Hopefully they will release it to the public again soon.

[3] Tip: read old handwritten documents out loud.

[4] likely after that year’s census was taken because I can’t find them listed

[5] Conrad had other children born before Frederick left, but they were all deceased by the time of Frederick’s death.