Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Genealogy Puzzle: Tillie Gernet, Wife of Franklin Shimer

Last week, I came across a genealogy puzzle and solved it after following a series of clues across the internet. I wanted to write this post about solving that puzzle to show the wide range of resources and techniques available to genealogy researchers on the internet.

This all began when started tracking down the maternal side of my Shimer family lineage. I've never been so thankful that my line of Shimer's is fond of family names and using the mothers maiden name as a middle name for the children of the relationship. Because the maiden name and/or family names are essential to tracing maternal ancestry.

From History and Genealogy of the Shimer Family in America Volume I, Page 97.





Allen R. Shimer provided a good starting point, which you can see in the image above. You can access a easy to use ebook of Volume I and Volume II of the History and Genealogy of the Shimer Family in America provided by the Library of Congress. Just select which format you would like to view the ebook with, I thought their "Read Online" option worked pretty well, but there are many options. Keep in mind there are six volumes of family history written by Allen R. Shimer, which can be purchased from Higginson Book Company ($87 Hardcover, $75 Softcover). There are alternate options to purchase the books, but you want to make sure you are getting all six volumes.

Moving on, the genealogy puzzle is tracking down Tille Gernet, Franklin Schantz Shimer's second wife, and mother of my Great-Great Grandfather, Charles Nathan Shimer.

Tillie Gernet is a unique enough name, and I love unique names, they are easy to find in historical records. I primary use ancestry.com because it provides easy access to many different historical databases as well as information from other members. I am always careful to independently verify the work of other members though, too many people casually add information even when it is contradictory to the facts or should actually be connected to other people who are similar to the person you are researching.

I had no trouble finding information on Tillie after she married Franklin Schantz Shimer. She actually lived with her son Charles Nathan after Franklin passed away in 1900 until her death sometime after 1930 (I am still looking for information on her date of death and location) However, I was unable to find any information on her or her family prior to 1880. (Random Fact: The 1890 Census was significantly damaged in a fire in 1921, which really sucks)

1900 Census Edited to See Information on Charles and Tillie Shimer

The 1900 Census provides us with the information that Tillie and Charles had been married for 21 years, since roughly 1879. The 1880 Census confirms they were married before 1880, as that is the first source showing Charles and Tillie living together when Tillie was 28 and Charles was 50. Charles' first wife died in November 1878, so the 1879 marriage date makes sense.

1880 Census Edited to Show Information on Charles and Tillie Shimer

When I looked closely at the 1880 Census, I saw that Tillie's brother in law, George, lived with Charles and Tillie at the time of the census.George's last name shows up as Gernact in ancestry's search terms, but if you look closely, it could be Gernant. This is the first clue I had that the Gernet name may be one of those names which is commonly misspelled or spelled phonetically or however the person prefers to spell it.

Another thing to consider is the ethnic and cultural make-up of the region, which at the time, was almost entirely descended from early German settlers. The descendants of those settlers came to be known as the Pennsylvania Dutch. So the Anglicization of German names was likely an ongoing process, considering Pennsylvania German was still commonly spoken prior to WWI.

So bottom line, Tillie's maiden name was not set in stone. On the 1880 Census, you can also see another Gernact (Gernant?) family below the Shimer family. Since census workers likely went door to door to collect this information, so it is likely the Gernet family had roots in the region. I originally through John and Hannah could be the parents of Tillie and George, but further research into that line quickly disproved that notion.

Another thing that bothered me about Tillie Gernet was her first name. I figured it was likely a nickname or a variation of her legal name. This created another problem, her parents would have likely used her given name on any census forms while she was still her their household. So both Tillie and Gernet were only an indication of her name on prior documents, awesome.

I tried several searches using variations of the name Gernet in the Upper Milford Township and Macungie, PA region. No luck, ancestry.com is a nice tool, but it isn't perfect. I was pretty much ready to throw in the towel and devote myself to another Genealogy task when I stumbled across the most vital clue yet.

I started doing research on Christ Lutheran Church of Lower Saucon in anticipation of writing a post on the history of the Church and the early settlers who are buried in the old graveyard. Including the oldest Shimer grave in America, that of Jacob Shimer (14 June 1734 - 6 June 1764).

(The below images are slightly off as google no longer hosts the full preview of the book on google books)


My research into Christ Lutheran Church led me to a google ebook on the History of Lehigh County, PA. The ebook had a long section on the history of the Shimer family in the region so I started to skim over it. The above paragraph gave me nothing new, but...



...HOLY TILLIE GERNERD OF BREININGSVILLE BATMAN! I pumped that information into ancestry.com and BAM...


..Catillia Gernerd of Upper Macungie, PA with a Trexlertown, PA post office, which is close to Breinigsville, PA. You can also find her on the 1860 Census, which shows her post office as Breinigsville, PA.

And to further confirm that we have solved this puzzle, Catillia has an older brother named George (Seen in the 1880 Census as the brother in law living with her and Franklin) and her father is named Nathan (Franklin and Tillie's only son is named after his Grandfathers, Charles and Nathan)

And its just that simple...

2 comments:

  1. Nice work! The fact that you recorded this online was so helpful, that I'm commenting on it three years later. I had no clue there were other volumes by Allen R Shimer! A while back I had done some research tracing my line back towards Jacob Sheimer, and thought I may be one of the descendants of Samuel that Volume 1 references as unknown. I had sketched it back Jacob<-Samuel<-Isaac D<-Elias Nelson<-Corydon. But the census data I was using left serious questions, for example I was confused by Corydon's census data about the birthplace of Elias, and Elias's census data seemed to say he was from MD but I kinda guessed his mother was from MD, and I couldn't seem to pin point Isaac D's birthplace. So on my initial DL of Volume II I just started "thumbing" thru and BINGO page 197 (page 63 of the pdf) its right there plain as day and on page 199 my great grandfather shows up in the 6th generation list. I guess that makes my 9th generation. The church/gravestones, post was super helpful to, planning to swing by there in late April if the snow is melted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad I could help you James! It's been a while since I've been able to do any research. I am glad my old work is still helping people learn about our family :)

      Delete