This chapter starts with John Kunkel and Rosa Algeyer in Indiana and the records used to explore the generation before them. Their later Missouri connections bring in family memories and newspaper leads that still need careful comparison.
The family line
John Kunkel and Rosa Algeyer married in Dubois County, Indiana, on November 20, 1877. Their original county record distinguishes the wedding from the earlier marriage license, issued on October 1. Rev. Benedict Brannert performed the marriage. Rosa’s surname also appears as Allgeyer in the family research.
The original 1880 census places John and Rosa in Jackson Township, Dubois County. John is recorded as a 24-year-old farmer under the spelling Kunkle. The household includes Michael Kunkle, 72, identified as John’s father, and Catharine Kunkle, 68, identified as his mother. Adam Kunkle, 67, is listed as John’s uncle. This record documents the next generation of the family, while Catharine’s maiden name remains unproved.
People, places, and stories
Chariton Courier county-payment notices name a John Kunkel in bridge and lumber work from 1902 through at least 1922. They offer context for the family sawmill story, but the recovered notices do not by themselves establish that the contractor was this John Kunkel or that he operated a sawmill.
The family’s earlier immigration route is still unresolved. An original passenger list records John Mich. Kunkel, a 33-year-old farmer, arriving at Baltimore from Bremen aboard the Clementine on July 28, 1840, with Cincinnati as his destination. The passenger’s identity has not yet been securely connected to Michael Kunkle of the 1880 Indiana household. His residence on the manifest is read approximately as “Habersdam,” and no ancestral hometown should yet be assigned from that spelling.
Photographs and documents
People’s stories can be linked to photographs and documents, with names, dates when known, captions, and the source of each item. Uncertain identifications will be labeled clearly.
Newspaper stories
A planned section for newspaper clippings and stories connected to a particular person or family.
Contributors will be asked to identify the person or family, newspaper name, publication date, page number when known, and the source or link.
An upload form is not available yet. Submissions will be reviewed for identification, privacy, and permission to share before publication. An uploaded clipping will not be treated as permission to republish it.
Sources and confidence
Sources and how to read them explains how records, recollections and unresolved questions are presented.
K1. Dubois County, Indiana, marriage book 3, page 329: John Kunkel and Rosa Algeyer; license dated October 1, 1877, marriage dated November 20, 1877. The dates come from a preserved copy of the original license and marriage return. The county’s official marriage index also lists the November 20 wedding date and book/page locator.
K2. 1880 U.S. census, Jackson Township, Dubois County, Indiana; enumerated June 18, 1880; Supervisor’s District 1, Enumeration District 168, page 21, dwelling 121, family 122, rows 9–15, digital image 160. A crop of the original schedule is preserved in the family research collection. It explicitly identifies Michael and Catharine as John’s father and mother, and Adam as his uncle.
K3. Chariton Courier county-payment notices: July 11, 1902, page 1; November 18, 1904, page 4; November 5, 1909, page 9; October 13, 1922, page 1. These are leads for comparing the contractor with the family’s John Kunkel, not a completed identity proof.
K4. Baltimore passenger lists, NARA M255, reel 2, list 51: Clementine, July 28, 1840. The original divider and passenger page were inspected in the existing research. A published transcription is also available. The passenger remains a separate candidate; adjacent passengers are not assumed to be his family.
Research questions
What was Catharine’s maiden name? Can original records connect the 1840 passenger with the Indiana household? What evidence can identify the newspaper’s bridge contractor and test the sawmill recollection? The earlier German hometown and older ancestry remain unresolved.
Privacy
Personal details about living relatives are left out of this draft.