Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Semi-Random Research

Randy Seaver, at Genea-Musings,
1)  We're going to do a little bit of Semi-Random Research tonight...
2)  Go to your family tree database of choice (you know, like RootsMagic, Reunion, Ancestry Member Tree), and determine who the very last person on your list of names is.
3)  What do you know about this person based on your research?  It's OK to do more if you need to - in fact, it's encouraged!
4)  How are you related to this person, and why is s/he in your family tree?
5)  Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blogpost, or in a Facebook Status post or Google+ Stream post.


Thanks to Randy for this weekends challenge!

The last person in my database is William Young.  He was born about 1849 in Germany (Baden?) and he died 9 August 1874, in Cambridge, MA.  William was the first husband of my 3rd Great Grandmother Margaret Ann Hazlett b. abt 1851 Co. Tyrone, Ireland - d. 6 March 1905 Cambridge, MA.  They married in Cambridge on the 3 Apr 1873.

Before William died, he and Margaret had one daughter Martha Young born 5 Mar 1874 also in Cambridge.

I know very little about William.  From his marriage record  we get his age as 24, making his birth abt 1849 in Germany.  His marriage record lists his father as Frank and mother as Thekla.  There are no parents listed on his death record.

Tonight I went to Family Search and entered his parents names in the search.  I didn't think I would find anything, as I had done this before with out luck.  But SURPRISE!  I found a possible brother for William.

The first entry I found was a death record for a Christian Youg born about 1844 in Germany.  He died 8 Jun 1878 in Boston, MA.  The death record lists his parents as Franz and Thekla.  It also says that Christian was a widow.

Thekla seems not to be a very common name.  Searching Family Search for it brings up few results.  I wonder if it is a shortened name?  Frank and Franz may or may not be the same person, but it is common for names to be changed or spelled very differently after people immigrate.

I checked the 1870 USA census and found Christian living in Boston with the family of Louis and Catharine Grity.  They are both listed as born in Baden, as is Christian Young.  He is shown to be 26 years old, widowed and his occupation is a teamster.  This all matches the death record.

A quick check of the 1865 MA state census and the 1860 USA census does not show Christian or William.

I think they likely immigrated about 1870, but I will go back and check the census records more carefully.

One more look on Family Search turns up a marriage record for Christian Young to Fredericka Slaupein on 16 Jan 1873 in Boston.  This time Christians parents are listed as Francis and Thekla.


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