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Elisabeth Kaufman Zoll: How I Found Her Date of Death

 

St. Joseph Catholic Church, Wright, Ottawa County, Michigan

I have been researching the lives of the siblings of Benjamin Kaufman in an effort to view Benjamin's life in relationship to what was happening with his family.  Benjamin had three full siblings, Elisabeth, Lewis and John and six half siblings from his mother, Catherine Omlor's, second marriage to Anthony Armock: Nicholas, Theobald, Mary, Anthony, Christian and Catherine.  This post will deal with attempting to find the death date of Elisabeth.  

Elisabeth was born to Lewis and Catherine Omlor Kaufman in Ohio in 1836. Unable to find a birth record I am relying on the baptismal record from the St. Alphonsus Ligouri Catholic Church in Peru, Ohio for an approximate birth date.  She was baptized in that church on August 9, 1836, the sponsors being her grandparents, Theobald and Elisabeth Stutzman Omlor. 


Elisabeth's father died when she was four years old and her mother remarried Anthony Armock.  The family farmed in Ohio for a few years after this marriage and Nicholas, Theobald, Mary and Anthony Armock were all born in Ohio.  Then in approximately 1849, the family followed Catherine's sister, Mary Omlor Host and her husband Henry, to new territory that had opened up in Wright township, Ottawa county, Michigan.  They bought property adjacent to Henry and Mary and the Armock's last two children were born there.  

The family is enumerated in the 1850 census living in Wright.   Elisabeth is 13 years old at the time.  No other information is given in this census that informs us as to whether or not she was attending school but in two later censuses it is noted that she cannot read or write.  

In 1859 I found Elisabeth named in a deed of sale of land in Sherman township, Huron county, Ohio.  This was land that her father had purchased just prior to his death in 1841.  In this deed Elisabeth is listed as a child of Lewis and Catherine Kaufman, her name being Elisabeth Kaufman Zoll.  

Elisabeth and Felix Zoll are enumerated in the 1860 census as living in the fourth ward of Grand Rapids City.  This census tells us that Felix and Elisabeth had been married in the year previous to the date of the census.  The census taker also noted that Elisabeth was unable to read and write. 

1870 finds Felix and Elisabeth living back in Wright township, Ottawa county, Michigan.  They have in their household three children, Ida (6), Mary (4), and Matilda (1).  Felix is farming while Elisabeth is keeping house.  Elisabeth is definitely living among family.  Households around her include her Aunt Mary Omlor Host, her Uncle William Omlor, her mother, Catherine, her brothers Teabold and Christian Armock and her sister Catherine Armock.  

Births after 1870 included Joseph who was born in June 1871 and tragically died in October of that same year.  There are also two births that are noted days apart, Peter Zoll, born on June 29, 1872 and John Zoll, born on July 1, 1872.  It is unknown if these were twins born two days apart but this is not unheard of.  Records are available that indicate that Peter Zoll lived to adulthood and married.  No further records can be found for John Zoll.  

The next indication I got that something had happened to Elisabeth was when I found an 1880 census record for Felix that named a different wife.  So the search was on to determine when Elisabeth died.  

The first document that I accessed was the FamilySearch Wiki page concerning Wright township, Ottawa county, Michigan.  On that page there was a reference to this book: Illustrated Historical Atlas of the Counties of Ottawa & Kent, Michigan (Chicago, Illinois: H. Belden & Co., 1876) in which I found this map.

Notice that on the corner of the road that runs between Henry Host's land and the land of Theobald Armock there is a small square labeled with a cross. That is a church! I went on to research the church and found a webpage full on information about how the Omlors ended up in Wright township (History of St. Joseph Catholic Church). A pamphlet has been written up about the cemetery that is attached to the church and in that pamphlet they have included the available death records for the parish dating from 1854 to 1930 although several years are missing.  Among those death records was a notation about the burial of Elisabeth Zoll: 12th of Sep. 1872, 36 years, Fr. W.A. Tilek. Ottawa county does not have an official record of her death but it is assumed that she died one or two days prior to the funeral date.

So a mystery has been solved, but we don't know how she died.  It is very coincidental that she passed away just two months after the birth of Peter (and perhaps John).  If this was a complicated twin delivery she may have perished secondary to childbirth, a not uncommon cause of death in young women of the era. 

References

Baptismal record for Elisabeth Kaufman, 9 AUG 1836, St. Alphonsus Ligouri Catholic Church, Peru, Ohio. Accessed at FamilySearch.org; https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-67D4-KP?i=16&cc=1494476&cat=1119286; page 17 of 541. Repository: Bowling Green, Ohio : Bowling Green State University. Jerome Library. Center for Archival Collections, 1990-2002; FHL film #2316450. Accessed 13 JUN 2020.

1850 U.S. Census, Ottawa County, Michigan, population schedule, page 19a (stamped), dwelling 192, family 192, Anthony Ermark household; digital image, Ancestry.com, accessed 25 April 2021, citing NARA microfilm M432, roll 361.

Huron County Deeds 1850-1875, Vol. 11, page 306, 30 acres.

1860 U.S. Federal Census, Kent County, Michigan, population schedule, Fourth ward, Grand Rapids City, page 196 (penned), dwelling 1505, family 1326, Felix Zoll household; digital image, Ancestry.com (accessed 25 April 2021); citing NARA microfilm publication M653.

1870 U.S. Federal Census, Ottawa County, Michigan, population schedule, Wright township, page 312A (stamped), dwelling 333, family 340, Felix Zoll household; digital image, Ancestry.com (accessed 25 April 2021); citing NARA microfilm publication T_132, Roll M 593_697.

Patricia Rasch Cederholm, Charlene Rasch, Alt, St. Joseph's Parish Cemetery: Wright Township, Ottawa County, Michigan, (Self-published, September 2002); Accessed at Grand Rapids Public Library, April 2021.

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