Kunkel records and open questions

Looking for John’s brother and sister

John Kunkel’s earlier Indiana household gives us other names to follow. The 1860 census lists a nine-year-old Joseph and four-year-old John with Michael and Catharine. Later records follow a Joseph Kunkel and his wife Pauline through their marriage, households and his death in 1905. His death certificate names his parents as Mike Kunkel and Kate Schramm.

Together, those details strongly support Joseph as John’s brother, though none of these records explicitly calls them brothers. A marriage index for Catharine Kunkel and Alexander Kessler also gives a Schram form of the mother’s name. That is a useful lead for John’s mother, not yet a reason to replace the uncertain surname on John’s own death certificate. The original parish marriages remain to be read.

Rosa’s Allgeier family: promising, but unfinished

Rosa’s side has a similar puzzle. An 1870 Indiana household lists Rosa, thirteen, with younger Andrew and Joseph and a woman whose name is difficult to read. In 1880, Andrew and Joseph appear as the sons of a widowed farmer. The ages and place help connect the households, but the woman’s name, age and reported birthplace do not all agree.

Andrew’s 1889 marriage return names his parents as Antony Allgeier and Richardine or Rickardine Doll. Rosa’s much later death certificate instead reports a father named Andrew and a mother whose name appears Rosina-like, with Doll as her surname. We have not proved that Andrew and Rosa were siblings, and we are not choosing one parent pair over the other. Rosa’s original baptism or a family estate record could make the difference.