Genealogy: Which Henry Frederick is My Relative?

A 22 year Burke resident, Cindy Rufener Bennett has been researching her fascinating family tree for 11 years.  Her house is full of census records, old photographs and genealogy magazines.  Her children are used to weekends spent tromping through cemeteries, and stories gleaned from Civil War records.  She has started this blog to document her genealogy journey, and hopes others will find it interesting and instructive.

A common problem in genealogy is sorting out people with the same name. I spent several hours last week trying to decipher which Henry Frederick, born in Ohio in 1834, should be in my family tree. Was it Henry #1, who married a woman named Ellen and had 3 children:  Charlotte, James M. and Ulysses S. Grant ? Or Henry #2, who married a woman named Martha and had 5 children:  Robert, John, Walter, Thomas and Henry?

The first rule of genealogy is work backwards from what you know. The second rule is to document everything, and the third is to be wary of undocumented information. I have an undocumented family tree, written by an unknown person, at an unknown time, which puts Henry #2 and his family in my tree. I found Henry #2 and family in census records spending their lives in Paulding County Ohio, several counties away from the rest of my documented Frederick family. A quick census search found another Henry, Henry #1, and his family spending their lives in Summit County, Ohio near many of my Frederick relatives.  Further investigation was warranted.

Knowing that the Henry Frederick I wanted to find was the child of Jacob Frederick and Margaret Rasor Frederick, I searched for his Ohio Death Certificate. I was fortunate to find Henry’s death certificate, naming these parents, on familysearch.org. While the certificate revealed that Henry Frederick died in 1915 and was interred at the East Akron Mausoleum, it did not mention a wife or children. The East Akron Mausoleum is in Summit County, Ohio – near my known Frederick relatives. Next, I searched for the death certificate of the wife named in census records, Ellen Frederick, and found that she was also interred in the East Akron Mausoleum! The case for Henry #1 was getting strong.

A search for the death certificate of Henry #2, the Henry already in my family tree, was a bit more time consuming. Henry #2 disappeared from census records after 1900 – which leads me to believe he died prior to the 1910 census. A search of the Ohio Death Records 1908 – 1953 database on familysearch.org was negative (Ohio did not require official death certificates until 1908). However, I did find a Henry Frederick on another familysearch.org database, Ohio Deaths and Burials, 1854 – 1997, which draws its information from family records, church records and civil registration. The death record for this Henry Frederick states he was born in 1834 (right!) and died in Paulding County, Ohio in 1901. While the record did not list a wife or children, it did identify the parents of this Henry as Daniel Frederick and Christine Strawer. This is clearly the wrong Henry but is this Henry #2?  Did this Henry have a wife named Martha as listed in census records and my family tree? 

A search on findagrave.com found Henry Frederick, born 1834 and died 1901, buried in the Ice Cemetery in Paulding County, Ohio with his wife, Martha, born 1835 and died 1922.  There is even a picture of the gravestone – perfect proof! A quick search for other “Fredericks” buried in this cemetery finds Henry A. Frederick, born 1876 and died 1891, a perfect fit with the son of Henry #2 listed in census records, and in my family tree. I have found Henry #2, and he is definitely not the right Henry.

So, why do you suppose someone put the wrong Henry in my family tree? Not knowing who did it, or when, I can’t speculate. What this exercise does show is the importance of documenting your family tree, and of not taking the work of others for granted! In short, if it isn’t documented, it isn’t done.

Finally, the fourth rule of genealogy, answering a question will lead to more questions!  Why did my Henry Frederick name a son Ulysses S. Grant Frederick? Did Henry serve in the Civil War? Or was he just a fan? Born in 1834, Henry would have been 27 years old when the war began in 1861. Stay tuned………