Monday, May 26, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #17 ~ Anna Zaugg Meier/Meyer

Written for Amy Johnson Crow's Challenge 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. (click on the icon in the sidebar for details at Amy's blog) 

I said I was going to write about Jacob Zaugg Sr's children and I'm trying to get back on course with this post.

To date we've had:
Lizzie
Christ
Jacob [my direct ancestor]

So next up is Anna ~
 
First just the facts:

Name: Anna Zaugg
Born: 01-Mar-1827, Eggiwil, Bern, Switzerland
Married: Jacob Frederick Meyer on 28-Jul-1853, Wayne County, Ohio
Died: 30-Mar-1903, Wayne County, Ohio [Find-A-Grave memorial]



Anna is the 4th child and I have most of the basics about her.  As I've reviewed her details I was interested to notice that she married on July 28, 1853.  She and her family did not arrive in this country until May 30, 1853 and just a short 2 months later the family is in Wayne County, Ohio and Anna is marrying there.  I wondered at first if her future husband was someone she met on the boat coming over, but according to the 1900 census, Frederick states his year of immigration at 1836.  I have found possibilities for him in the 1840 & 1850 censuses of Wayne County, so that seems valid to me.











One thing I need to straighten out is the name and identity of her husband.  The marriage record here gives his name as "Jacob Frederick."  Both his grave stone and the "Zaugg Book" give his name as Fred.  That doesn't bother me as I have many ancestors who liked to use their middle names - and often didn't seem to care in which order they listed those names!  However in trying to pin down the census records, I find both a Jacob and a Frederick living in the households.  Even in 1860, after their marriage I find them living with a man I believe is Frederick's father (Jacob) there is also a younger man named Jacob in the household.

Here is the record - and based strictly on the order that the people are listed I'm identifying Frederick and Anny as the married couple and the younger Jacob as an unmarried son and brother of Frederick.  The thing that puzzles me is that if Jacob Frederick Meyer had a brother named Jacob, why was he also given a first name of Jacob?



I'm not sure how much time I'll spend puzzling over this - given that they are collateral relatives.  But each time I write a post for this challenge I find these anomalies that I've never fully chased down.