Margaret Schaumburg's Maiden Name and Parents
Research Note by Wesley Johnston (last updated 23 Jul 2012)
Contents
1 - Working Backward from her Death (13 Feb 1939)
2 - 1930 Census
3 - 1900, 1910 and 1920 Censuses
4 - Marriage of John Henry and Margaret (22 Aug 1875)
5 - 1860 and 1870 Census
6 - Conculsions
1 - Working Backward from her Death (13 Feb 1939)
Margaret was the wife of Johannes Konrad Schaumburg, who went by the name John Henry Schaumburg in America. She died 13 Feb 1939 in North Saint Paul, Minnesota. FamilySearch has the following death record information for her at https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FDDZ-NCH
Name: Margaret Or Maggie Schaumburg
Death Date: 13 Feb 1939
Death Place: North Saint Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota
Age: 82
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: John Schaumburg
Father's Name: Philip Adler
Mother's Name: Sophie Scharnherst
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: I09979-8
System Origin: Minnesota-EASy
Source Film Number: 2243121
Reference Number: 12754
Her birthplace is not given. Her age computes to a birth in 1856 or 1857. Her parents are given as Philip Adler and Sophie Scharnhorst.
I consider birth and parent information on death records to be dubious information, particularly if the informant had never known the parents of the deceased. So confirmation is necessary.
Thus, I searched to find a Philip Adler and wife Sophie in the 1870 census (since John and Margaret had married by the 1880 census), when Margaret would have been 14. And I found only one such family, in Baltimore, Maryland (search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=7163&path=Maryland.Baltimore.District+3.102).
Philip 56, born Baden, Wheelwright
Sophia 46, born Baden
Lizze 18, born Maryland
R. N. 14, born Maryland
Philopena 11, born Maryland
This family does have a 14 year old daughter, named R. N. Adler, born (like her siblings) in Maryland. So the name is not correct, and as we will see the birth state is not correct. Margaret's first son was named Philip Schaumburg, so that there is reason to believe that this Philip may have been a close relative. But Margaret simply is not in this family in the census.
I cannot locate this family in the 1860 census, although the children were all born in Maryland. And I cannot find a Maryland marriage for either Philip and Sophie nor for Margaret. Nor can I find (also in FamilySearch) any Schaumburg death in Maryland.
2 - 1930 Census
In the 1930 Census, John Henry and Maggie are in the rooming house of M. C. Pendleton at 132 Chestnut Avenue in Long Beach, California.
J. H. 75, born Germany, age 21 at first marriage
Maggie 73, born Wisconsin, age 20 at first marriage
So this shows her born in Wisconsin. Calculating back, she was born about 1857 or 1856, and she married about 1877 or 1878.
3 - 1880, 1900, 1910 and 1920 Federal Censuses; 1885, 1895 Minnesota Censuses
All of the censuses show her born in Wisconsin.
1880 - Springfield (Brown County) - http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=6742&path=Minnesota.Brown.Springfield.030.1
1885 - Germantown (Cottonwood County) - http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1058&path=1885.Cottonwood.Germantown.3
1895 - Germantown (Cottonwood County) - http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1058&path=1895.Cottonwood.Germantown.11
1900 - Germantown (Cottonwood County) - http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=7602&path=Minnesota.Cottonwood.Germantown.71.1 - This census also shows her and her husband both married for 24 years.
1910 - North St Paul (Ramsey County) - http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=7884&path=Minnesota.Ramsey.New+Canada.0020.27 - This census also shows her and her husband both married for 35 years. Both are shown as having been married only once.
1920 - North St Paul (Ramsey County) - http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=6061&path=Minnesota.Ramsey.North+Saint+Paul.3.13
Thus every census that shows her as the wife of John Henry Schaumburg shows her birthplace as Wisconsin.
4 - Marriage of John Henry and Margaret (22 Aug 1875)
The couple married at Winona, Minnesota, but now a new wrinkle appears when her maiden name is transcribed as Boller and not Adler. The transcription is at https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FDXW-NLS
Groom's Name:John Schaumburg
Bride's Name:Maggie Boller
Marriage Date:22 Aug 1875
Marriage Place:Winona, Winona
Indexing Project (Batch) Number:M75156-7
System Origin:Minnesota-EASy
Source Film Number:1377819
Reference Number:412
I have not yet obtained the image of this record to determine whether the name Boller is how I would read the surname. But I strongly suspect that Boller is a mis-reading of Adler. If you put the ol of Boller together into one letter, it is a d, and the initial A could have been mistaken as a B. Further, the record image itself may be of a record that was the transcription for the state of a county record, so that the error could have been introduced in the creation of the transcript for the state's copy. I will obtain this image in March 2013 and be able to know more at that time.
5 - 1860 and 1870 Censuses
Margaret appears as the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Adler in the 1860 and 1870 censuses of Germanton (Washington County), Wisconsin.
1860 - http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=7667&path=Wisconsin.Washington.Germantown.26
1870 - http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=7163&path=Wisconsin.Washington.Germantown.9
6 - Conclusions
6A-Boller is probably a mis-reading of handwritten Adler.
This is explained above in section 4. Further to this, there is no indication that she was ever previously married, since the 1900 and 1910 censuses both show her and her husband married the same number of years. In addition, the 1910 census explicitly states that she was only married once.
6B-Margaret was the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Schaumburg, born at Germantown, Wisconsin.
All records point to her birth in Wisconsin, and the only such Margaret is the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth in the 1860 and 1870 censues.
6C-The Philip Schaumburg in Baltimore may have been her Uncle.
It seems very likely that the death record informant was under the belief that her son Philip had been named for the Philip Schaumburg found in Baltimore in the 1870 census AND that this was the father of Margaret. But since we know that he was not the father of Margaret, then it seems like that the very specific information about Philip Schaumburg and Sophie Scharnhorst on Margaret's death record meant that Philip was her Uncle, who would have been her father's brother.