The Quincy household, family notices and unresolved passenger-list identities.
Louisa’s parents: Henry Bickel and Anna Budde
Louisa Maria Roling’s parents were Henry Bickel and Anna Budde. They married in Adams County, Illinois, on November 13, 1860. When Louisa died in 1934, her death certificate named Henry and “Anny Budde” as her parents.
By 1870, Henry and Anna were living in Quincy with Pauline, Louisa, William, Martin and Michel. Henry worked as a stonecutter. The census taker wrote their surname as Beckel and listed Henry as 45, born in Prussia, and Anna as 33, born in Oldenburg.
The death register and newspaper place Anna Bickel’s death in Quincy on October 12, 1901. The newspaper named her late husband Henry and their daughter Louise Roling of Moberly, tying the notice to our family. Her funeral took place October 15 from the family home at 518 Sixth Avenue South, followed by burial at Greenmount Cemetery. Four sons and two daughters attended.
Anna’s notice also named two nieces, Mrs. John Ahern and Mrs. William Schlagenhauf. A 1911 obituary for Eva Stephens Ahern names her mother as Mrs. William Uecke and Mrs. William Schlagenhauf as her half-sister. That makes Eva a strong candidate for the niece in Anna’s notice and gives us a family to follow. Exactly how these women were related to Henry and Anna still needs to be established. Quincy Daily Journal, June 3, 1911, page 3.
We’re still working out how Henry and Anna came to America. An Anna Budde arrived aboard the Ottilie in 1860, and a Joh. Heinr. Bickel associated with Langula appears on the Agnes passenger list in 1848. Both are worth following, but the ages, birthplaces and immigration dates don’t all agree. We can’t yet say these were Louisa’s parents or use those records to name their German parents or hometown.
Sources for Louisa’s parents
Adams County Marriage Record, vol. 1, November 13, 1860, Henry Bickel and Anna Budde; original register image (FamilySearch access may require sign-in). Louisa Maria Roling, Missouri death certificate 23687, July 15, 1934, informant Flora Roling; copy preserved in the family research collection. 1870 U.S. census, Quincy Ward 4, Adams County, Illinois, p. 11, stamped 531, dwelling 80, family 97; original image preserved in the family research collection.
Anna’s death and funeral: Quincy Daily Herald, October 12, 1901, page 8, “Found Her Dead in Bed”, and October 15, 1901, page 4, “Funeral of Mrs. Bickel”. The death register and newspaper give October 12, 1901, while Henry and Anna’s joint grave marker reads October 13. Her reported age and address also vary across the newspaper, death register and census records. We have kept these differences visible rather than choosing one version without further evidence. The October 12 notice says five children but names six; the funeral report explicitly gives four sons and two daughters.
Migration leads: published Ottilie passenger-list transcription, June 11, 1860, and Agnes passenger-list transcription, November 27, 1848. The original passenger images have now been inspected. On the Ottilie, Anna Budde is listed as 21 years and 3 months old, a servant, with Oldenburg in the country column, New York as her destination and second-cabin accommodation. The Agnes entry gives Joh. Heinr. Bickel’s age as 20 and his residence as Langula. Neither passenger has yet been tied to Louisa’s parents. These entries do not establish their German parents or birthplace. The 1870 census does not identify household relationships; Louisa’s death certificate names her parents. Original Ottilie images: arrival header and Anna Budde’s passenger page, oath dated June 11, 1860, NARA M237, roll 201. Ancestry may require sign-in and a subscription.
In the newspapers
William Bickel’s 1928 obituary named a sister, “Mrs. J. F. Roling, of Salisbury, Mo.” It did not give her own name. The notice also named his surviving brothers Fred, Martin of Keokuk, Iowa, and Henry of Peoria, Illinois. These are the newspaper’s reported relationships and places; the notice alone does not identify Henry with another particular Henry Bickel record.
Iowa City Press-Citizen, September 10, 1928, p. 2, fifth text column: “William Bickel Dies on Sunday” — read the original page.
The September 11, 1928 funeral notice, in the same newspaper, p. 2, fifth text column, reports arrangements planned for the following day. It does not confirm that the funeral or burial occurred.
Paulina’s family near Liberty
Pauline’s 1882 marriage record names her parents as Henry Bickel and Anna Budde. A 1921 obituary offers a promising account of her later life. Paulina Bickel Felsing died at her home near Liberty, Illinois, on September 1. The notice names her husband William, children Flora Rottmann and Henry Felsing, and daughter Mira Rottmann, who had died about eight and a half months earlier. Its four brothers and one sister closely match the family named when Anna Bickel died in 1901.
There are differences we have not settled. Paulina’s obituary calls her father Martin rather than Henry and places her sister, Mrs. Frank Rolin, in “South Bend, Mo.” Its August 25, 1860 birth date also differs from the census ages. We are keeping those details as printed rather than treating this promising family match as proof of every name and date.
A small piece of Quincy to follow
A property record takes the Bickel search back before Henry and Anna’s marriage. In July 1851, a Henry Bickel bought the western half of a lot in Quincy’s Williams Addition. In 1884, John Henry Bickel and his wife Anna signed a deed concerning that exact same parcel. The repeated piece of ground strongly connects the early purchaser with Louisa’s family.
There is still a gap in the story. An 1861 index records Henry Bickel and his wife conveying the parcel to Hermann Brocherding, so we cannot assume Henry owned it continuously for thirty-three years. Another entry links him to a lender named Zachariah Bickle. That is a useful person to follow, but the record does not say they were related. Henry’s German parents remain unknown.
Records behind these additions
1851 purchase: Adams County deed book 11, pages 368–369, instrument 3003, executed July 18 and recorded October 20. 1884 quitclaim: book 100, page 541, instrument 3517, January 12. Both concern the western half of Lot 3, Block 3, Williams Addition. The later deed names Anna as wife; its $25 consideration is not a property valuation.
1861 index entry: instrument 3749, deed dated October 28, entry November 6, Henry Bickel and wife to Hermann Brocherding, $250. The wife is unnamed and the full deed remains unread. 1851 mortgage entry: instrument 3987, October 20, Henry Bickel to Zachariah Bickle, same parcel. The mortgage itself remains unlocated. FamilySearch access may require sign-in or an authorized location.
Pauline Bickel’s marriage, October 12, 1882: Adams County marriage register, volume 1, page 182, license 2359; FamilySearch digital film 7734523, image 544. The original names Henry Bickel and Anna Budde as her parents; a copy is preserved in the family research collection. This does not resolve the conflicting details printed in the 1921 obituary.
Anna’s date comparison uses civil death entry 8177, the October 12 newspaper linked above and Henry and Anna’s joint grave marker. October 12 and October 13 remain competing reported dates.
Martin’s wedding record names his parents
When Martin J. Bickel married Laura Hochgrafe in Quincy on February 9, 1905, he was living in Keokuk, Iowa, and working with granite. The marriage register names his father as J. Henry and his mother as Anna, née Budde. It is a useful earlier record linking Martin to Henry and Anna’s family.
The register calls this his second marriage, but does not name his first wife. It also leaves a few differences to explain: its date is 1905, not the 1904 found in some family trees, and its age entry does not agree with the December 1867 birth date used elsewhere. Martin’s later death record gives different parental information. We are keeping these disagreements visible.
Read Martin’s marriage source and remaining questions
Adams County marriage register, volume 7, license 15541, marriage February 9, 1905; returned February 13. FamilySearch DGS 7734524, item-relative image 57. The original reads “Anna nee Budde”; “nee” means her maiden surname, not the middle name Mae shown in the index. The father’s entry is J. Henry, without a separately repeated surname. Martin’s age is 37 in the age next birthday column, which conflicts with a December 3, 1867 birth. His 1932 death record’s father M. J. Bickel and unknown mother remain conflicting reports.
A separate Cook County birth index names George Morton Bickel, born September 17, 1890, to Martin John Bickel and Ada Maggie Goodapple. A held Quincy parish baptism names George Michael, with the same birthday and parents Martin Bickel and Ada Gutapfel. This is a promising comparison, not a settled identity: Morton versus Michael remains unresolved, and the civil original requires an authorized FamilySearch location. Neither record establishes Henry’s German parents.