----- Original Message ----- From: Saundra Buck <sbuck@resiusa.org> To: <chasfies@worldnet.att.net> Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2001 11:46 PM Subject: Kohr family > Hi, > > I am writing again because in your email you said you "had other sources". I > am still searching for more information on Sarah Alice Wetzel Kohr Fager who > was my great grandmother. She was married to William Fager and they are both > buried at Geyers Hilldale Cemetery. She is listed in our family Bible as > being the daughter of William Kohr b. 1938, and Catherine Rahn, who are also > buried at Geyers. The problem is that I have been in touch with Bill Deimler > who is also descended from the Kohrs and on his information on William and > Catherine Rahn there is no S. Alice or Alice listed as a daughter. And > according to his information there is no Alice on the census records for the > following decades. Also, our family Bible has her birth year as 1869 and on > your website it has her birth year as 1859? On the information Bill sent me > William and Catherine had a child named Annie Rahn Kohr in 1869, but she > died before 1880. If Alice was born in 1859 she was born 3 years before Wm. > and Catherine were married in 1862. (Not impossible, but I tend to believe > the family Bible, it is very old and written in German). The other really > puzzling thing is that she is listed on our records as Sarah Alice Wetzel > Kohr, not as Sarah Alice Rahn Kohr which is how all the other children were > named using their mothers maiden name. It tends to indicate that perhaps she > had a different mother. In that case the 1859 birth year would make sense. > > HELP! Do you know who I could contact to get the cemetery records "lot > cards", or who would have the funeral records, or do you have any > suggestions of anyone else I could contact to help me solve this mystery? > Any assistance would be very much appreciated. > > Thanks, > > Saundra J. Buck, Social Science Researcher - RESI - Towson University First things first - The tombstones were recorded several years ago by a team (Zeigler, Huss and others), and where they could not determine with certainty the engravings, placed a question mark, such as in both Alice and William's case. Stick by your date as recorded in the bible, because the stone can not be accurately read. And what you see on the Cemetery Records is what I got from them. The caretakers/gravediggers are part-time workers, and do not keep records other than the actual graves; sometimes Funeral Directors are mentioned. I've gotten a single response from one of them after numerous queries, and reviewed what records they keep. Also, the Cemetery Association does NOT keep family records on the people buried there. Your best source would be the church records from which the relative was buried, and I do not know if anyone has transcribed them (presuming it was Geyer's Church, but not necessarily so). Throughout this community there are many cases where the mother died in childbirth, and the surviving child was raised by brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, church members, close friends, or whoever happened to take over. Frequently the surname of the family 'adopting' the child was used, and now try to follow that line! I've been tracking down one 'relative' through a chain of mothers dying in childbirth, and STILL don't know the right name to look for! Have fun, in spite of the rain. - Charlie Fies