Carl Frederick ILGNER -- Father of Maria Rosina (ILGNER) HEGWER
Here's a summary of my latest research.I hope you are all as excited as I am!It is a long post but I think it's important to show the process and my sources.Enjoy!
A.ILGNER/ ILGNAR/JLGNER/JLGNAR/JIGNER surname
Maria Rosina ILGNER’s surname seemed well established in several sources (i.e., 1,2, 3, 4) and that she and Carl Benjamin HEGWER came from Kunitz, Liegnitz, Silesia.There are some genealogies that give her surname as “Traugott,” but I have found no records to that effect.I suspect they were assuming that a surname had been used as her eldest son’s given name.There are some genealogies that use “Schletz,” but they appear to have merged her name with that of her son-in-law.
I have talked with several German language/genealogy “experts” locally and they have all agreed that the ILGNER/ ILGNAR/JLGNER/JLGNAR/JIGNER spellings would have been basically equivalent, especially in that timeframe.For simplicity, I will use ILGNER here unless quoting directly from a source.
B.ILGNER early immigration in Wisconsin
Benjamin SCHOEN/SCHöN and his wife (Anna) Rosina JLGNER immigrated to Wisconsin in 1841 from Pfaffendorf, Liegnitz, Silesia.(4, 5, 6)There are relatively few immigrants from Liegnitz among this greater Old Lutheran listing.They settled in Grafton, which is near Mequon and other towns where the HEGWERs lived.The given names of their children are very similar to those of the HEGWER/ILGNER offspring.At that point in my research it appeared reasonable that the two ILGNER women were related.
C.HEGWER and JLGNER on same passenger list
A passenger list of the “Flying Dutchman”, arriving in New York on 28 July 1853 from Staadt, West Indies, shows C. JLGNER, 74, going from Prussia to Wisconsin and traveling with T. HEGWER, 19, going from Wisconsin to Wisconsin.Also, A. JLGNER, 27 is traveling with them from Prussia, as is A. ROWE (?spelling?), 30.The three going to Wisconsin are listed as being in husbandry.(7)
The age and initial of “T Hegwer” is consistent with that of Carl Traugott HEGWER, the eldest son of HEGWER/ILGNER.It was common for families in America to send an older son to Europe to accompany later immigrating family members to America.At this point, I was pretty sure that C. JLGNER was related to Maria and I became even more vigilant for ILGNER surnames.
D.ILGNER probate
I checked the following film only because it said Ozaukee County and it was already at a local regional family history center so I would not have to pay to order it!I was surprised to find that FHL #1309213 has an index listing for Carl ILGNER, 77, died 1856, probate packet A84 (footnote 8 below).The age is consistent with that of the immigrant on the “Flying Dutchman” who was traveling with T. HEGWER.Ozaukee County is consistent with the HEGWERs at that time.The year and packet number led me to ordering the next film, which took a month to arrive….
FHL# 1320207’s probate packet number A84 is for the probate of Carl Frederick ILGNER and it is a genealogical goldmine (footnote 9 below) for HEGWERs!The “packet,” as filmed, is about 93 images of various handwritten documents including a will, witness statements, receipts, and a brief inventory.The images are clear and most fairly easy to read.There appears to have been a bit of a dispute between the executor (J. Andrew SCHLETZ) and at least one of the other legatees, thus explaining the unusual number of witness statements and the detail.
There is no doubt that Carl Frederick ILGNER was the father of both Maria Rosina (ILGNER) HEGWER and Anna Rosina (ILGNER) SCHOEN.It lists his grandchildren and most of the spouses at that time.It includes a comment that Traugott was his favorite since Traugott had gone to Germany to bring him to the USA.A timeline for Carl Frederick ILGNER’s movements for the short time he was in Wisconsin can be extracted.
E.CONCLUSIONS
We now have at least one name one generation further back in the HEGWER pedigree.We have an additional location to search for leads.We have a whole new line of “cousins” with whom to connect and, perhaps, they will have more information for us.
F.SOURCES
1. Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church of Freistadt.Freistadt and the Lutheran Immigration.Mequon, Wisconsin: Freistadt Historical Society, 1998 reprint of 1989 edition, p. 35.
2. Filby, P. William (Ed.), Passenger and Immigration Lists Index (First Ed.), Volume 2, Detroit: Gale Research, 1985. p. 1267 & p. 1488.
3. www.immigrantships.net; “Brig Caroline,” Hamburg to New York, 27 Aug 1839.
4. Smith, Clifford N.,Nineteenth-Century Emigration of “Old Lutheran,” from Eastern Germany (Mainly Pomerania and Lower Silesia) to Australia, Canada, and the United States. McNeal, AZ: Westland Publications, 1980, German-American Genealogical Research Monograph No. 7; p.4. (Note: Frey on pp. 22-23 and Schoen on p. 19)
5. Filby, p. 1488.
6. Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church of Freistadt.Freistadt and the Lutheran Immigration.Mequon, Wisconsin: Freistadt Historical Society, 1998 reprint of 1989 edition, p. 50.
7. Ancestry.com, New York Passenger lists database, downloaded February, 2006.
8. Wisconsin, Ozaukee County, Index to Probate Files, ca 1849-1900.FHL #1309213.
9. Wisconsin, Ozaukee County, Probate Files A50- A72, A77-A86.FHL# 1320207.(Note: packets are not in a strict numerical order; keep going, A84 is near the end.)
More Replies:
-
Re: Carl Frederick ILGNER -- Father of Maria Rosina (ILGNER) HEGWER
Louis Hegwer, Jr 9/08/06