One Year Later: The Ratzman Family

Nearly a year ago I wrote about the usefulness of writing reports to yourself as a way of helping to move your research along. In that post I noted that

Of my Ratzman ancestors, I know very little. I have traced back to my second great-grandfather, though I only have his and his wife's names. Perhaps they are my focus for the year so that I can catch them up to the others. 

While I did not make them my primary focus for my 2017 research, I did greatly expand my knowledge of my Ratzman ancestors over the course of the year.

My first family summary writeup was less than a single page with only two sources. I had identified only the following individuals:

1. Edward T Ratzman (? - ?) and Alice Sailer (? - ?)
1. Gordon Edward Ratzman (abt. 1907 - ?) and Margaret Boelter (abt. 1908 - ?)

 After completing my end of year update, I know much more. My current summary is a little over five pages with fifty source citations. Not that the number of pages and source citations necessarily means better research!

I now have documented the following Ratzmans:

1. Charles Ratzman (abt 1858, Pomerania - July 1921, Appleton, Wisconsin) and Fredericka Holtz (24 December 1860, Mecklenburg - 1 February 1938, Appleton, Wisconsin)
1. Anna Ratzman (December 1881, Wisconsin - ?)
2. Elnora Ratzman (February 1883, Wisconsin - ?) and Howard W Russell (abt 1883, Ohio - ?)
3. Edward Theodore Ratzman (10 March 1887, Appleton, Wisconsin - 2 December 1946, Appleton, Wisconsin) and Alice Sailer (abt 1887, Wisconsin - ?) and Leone F Kasten (25 June 1898, Appleton, Wisconsin - 1 August 1980)
1. Gordon Edward Ratzman (29 July 1907, Wisconsin - 7 March 1998, Appleton, Wisconsin) and Margaret Anna Augusta Boelter (20 June 1907, Neenah, Wisconsin - 19 December 1973, Appleton, Wisconsin)
1. Alyce Ann Ratzman (25 October 1929, Appleton, Wisconsin - 12 November 1998, Lady Lake, Florida)
2. Gordon Edward Ratzman (22 February 1931, Wisconsin - 17 November 2014, Menasha, Wisconsin)
3. Barbara Ratzman (? - 4 June 1933, Appleton, Wisconsin)
2. Howard Ratzman (abt 1919, Wisconsin - ?)
4. Elmer Stephen Ratzman (12 April 1893, Appleton, Wisconsin - 1 January 1966, Wisconsin) and Elsie M Bosser (24 July 1892, Appleton, Wisconsin - ?)
5. Lynda Ratzman (August 1896, Wisconsin - ?) and Harold G Holverson (abt 1891, Neenah, Wisconsin - ?)

Among my next steps for the Ratzman family is a trip to Wisconsin to spend time exploring what is not online.

On the Need to Preserve

Once a week I go to the local historical society and volunteer for an hour, usually working among the shelves of books helping to organize and index what is there. Lately I worked with several shelves of genealogy and history periodicals dating from the early 1920s through the 2000s. 

Due to years of being stored in non-archival conditions, the earliest volumes, and even those from the 1960s and 1970s, are deteriorating. The paper is dry, the bindings fragile, and there is definitely evidence of insect and mouse damage. While the journals are not completely focused on the society's local and state focus, they are important to preserve in an accessible manner. 

The questions remain:

• What do we do with books and items that may prove useful at some point in time?
• How long do we keep items which will deteriorate over time, such as periodicals, newspapers, and paperback books?
• If another repository has a copy of an item, should we also have one?

If storage space was unlimited and money not an object, then we could keep everything for all time.

A New Start in a New Country

Migration is a factor in most, if not all, family trees. Whether moving from region to region, country to country, or continent to continent, the human family does not stay in one place across the decades, centuries, or millennia. My research found that my ancestors immigrated to the United States mostly in the 19th century. The following list summarized those immigrants I have identified to date.

Maternal Line

Edouard Alma Desjarlais, my 2nd great-grandfather, immigrated to the United States from Québec, Canada in the 1870s. He was born in Canada around 1866, and married my 2nd great-grandmother Azama May Joubert, who was also born in Canada. Edouard worked in a variety of occupations. He was a worker in the cotton mills in Warwick, Rhode Island, in the 1880 census, a fruit peddler in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in the 1900 census, and a foundry laborer in North Adams, Massachusetts, in the 1910 census.

Joseph Varin, my 2nd great-grandfather, immigrated to the United States from Canada in the late 1800s. He was born in Canada in the early 1860s and married my 2nd great-grandmother Georgiana Gagnon on 20 March 1885 in Southbridge, Massachusetts. Georgiana was also born in Canada in the 1860s.

Paternal Line

August William Boelter, my 2nd great-grandfather, immigrated to the United States from Germany likely in the 1880s. He was born in Germany in 1879 and married Anna A Schmidt in Wisconsin around 1907. The censuses show he lived in Neenah, Wisconsin, for most of his life, working as a brewer (1910), a creamery deliveryman (1920), a sporting goods salesman (1930), and a lunch counter waiter (1940).

Franz Cziske, my 3rd great-grandfather, immigrated to the United States from Prussia in 1866, passing through New York City on the way to Wisconsin. Born in Prussia in 1835, he immigrated with his wife Justina and their infant daughter Martha. Justina was born in Prussia around 1841. Franz was a farmer in Harrison township in Calumet County, Wisconsin.

John E Schubert, my 3rd great-grandfather, immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1845, passing through New York City. Likely born in Bavaria in 1840, he married Matilda Luscaine in Wisconsin in 1862. Matilda was born in Prussia around 1841, immigrating to the United States around 1855. John was variously employed as a mason, in the 1850 census, as a saloon keeper, in the 1860 census, as a moulder, in the 1870 census, and as "dealing drug and groceries," in the 1880 census.

John A Strelow, my 2nd great-grandfather, immigrated to the United States from Prussia around 1882. Born in Prussia in 1878, he married Minnie Schroeder around 1899. Minnie was probably born in Brandenburg, Germany, around 1884, and immigrated to the United States around 1887 with her father, John Schroeder, and mother, Marie. John was a dairy farmer.

As I continue to work back in time, I know I will find more international immigrants in my family. Documenting them and attempting to determine why they decided to uproot their lives and move to a new country across the sea is a wonderful research challenge.