Three generations of John Wagners Detailed

Three generations of John Wagners: What do we know and how?

This post will be devoted to getting straight the various generations of John Wagners out there who are a direct line to August. There are three of them (plus his brother J Harry). Here is what we know and can surmise:

In 1801, a John (probably Johann) Wagner was born in Baden, Germany. A year later, his future wife Caroline was born, also in Baden. There are many Johann Wagners documented in Karlsruhe, Baden. I can't separate them at this point. We do have the 1860 census:

Here we see that John was a stone mason, that he lived in the 20th ward of Philadelphia and was 59 years old.  Son John was 38.

We pick up the story in the 1870 census: 

Son John is now 49; original John and Caroline have probably passed on. Their death certificates have not yet been located, but certainly they exist. Their son John (father of August and the 3rd John) is 24 (putting his birth at 1846).

Now on to the 1880 census. 

Parents John and Louisa are empty nesters now, living at 3548 Germantown Road, in the back. They are 58.

Son John has married Elizabeth; they are each 35, and have two children, John Harry, and Louis. These are August's older brothers.  August came along in 1881. The family lived on N. 29th Street.

Almost all records of the 1890 census were destroyed in a fire. City records may remain, but are not yet digitized. They will be forthcoming.

We have a record of John's death certificate, dated 1899. He is buried at Ivy Hill Cemetery along with Louisa. Louisa died in 1884.

Now to 1900, a year where the census started asking more detailed questions: 

John and Elizabeth (ages 54 and 55) are shown with their four children, Harry, Louis, August and Amelia. They live at 2462 N 31st Street and own their own home. John reports that he has lived in the US for 52 years, which is close to the 1850 date of immigration we assume. Parents were born in Baden, children all in the US. John calls himself a wagon builder, Harry is a lawyer, Louis a painter and August a salesman. From her on in, we enter the modern era and data comes easier.

We have census data for each decade up to 1940.

John died in 1925; Elizabeth in 1927.

And here is a photo of the 4th John (Harry) Wagner, a lawyer and August's brother (thanks to Aunt Mildred for the ID):

Apparently this Harry's son (also Harry) was the law partner of Uncle Richard. And I think there is yet another John Harry in the next generation.

I think this is enough data to digest in one sitting. There are certainly gaps: I have a record of a 5 year old John Wagner emigrating from Havre aboard the Duchess d'Orleans but that is sketchy. Could be another John Wagner. And I cannot prove that all of these three generations arrived together. But I worked back from John, father of August. If indeed John came in 1850, he had to come with his parents, John and Louisa. And if John and Caroline are the grandparents, it is logical that they came at the same time. So far, the links to John and Caroline are only through the census. We will need a ship's manifest or German data to prove this. All of these people were born in Baden, a very popular birthplace for German-American immigrants.

Last, I must admit that Louisa's maiden name of Steiner is second hand information. Many people have these Wagners as a part of their tree, and when they cite information that looks genuine, I take it. That's how I got Steiner. It could change. 

Immigration Points for the Wagners

Immigration and the power of exponential growth

When I started this research, I was trying to answer one narrow question: when and from where did my family first enter the United States? From that has sprung all of these people and all of this history.

But today I wondered how far I have come in answering that question.

To start, I should mention the challenge of exponential math. This never occurred to me when I began this search.

Descendents grow exponentially going backward. For every generation back, each person has two parents. So depending upon how many generations we are talking about, the formula for # of people is:

2 to the power of x, x being the number of generations.  So I have 

2 to the first parents 
2 to the 2nd grandparents
2 to the 3rd great grandparents, etc.

The way I have things organized in my mind, each of us has 4 lines of family, two from our father and two from our mother. This assumes we make a new tree for each of our grandparents. At least this is the way I have chosen to organize things. 

For my grandmother's parents, for example, the family I knew best as a child, I call that the Ellis/Krumm tree and to date that tree has 1,000 people and about 300 photos in it, not to mention all sorts of other source materials. These people are the ancestors of my grandmother on my mother's side, and are one of four lines in my family.

How this plays out with the Wagners

Now I started out thinking that I would deal strictly with Wagners in this tree.  I knew that the Rubrechts ran deep, and that scared me a little. But it did not take long for me to be dragged into the Rubrecht quagmire, partly because the Wagner side ended fairly quickly with an 1845 immigration from Germany (I am now finding that it may have been even later, in 1868). Data is conflicting,

The Rubrechts/Kellers are another deal entirely. Without looking very hard, I was able to go back 8 generations multiple times. Here's what that means:

If Ed is 8 generations down from the original families (and there are lots of them), he has

2 to the 8th

direct parents/grandparents. That comes to 256. This does not count siblings, inlaws, cousins, etc. which makes number counts in these trees really high.

But we have eliminated half of them (the ones from his mother's side). Virginia's family would be another tree (or two trees, really). We are down to 128. 

If I had stuck with the Wagners, this would be easy. That would take numbers down to 16 for the four generations living here after immigration. I know that the Wagners immigrated in the 4th generation up from Ed (August's parents were immigrants). I have data on the Wagners going back to the 6th generation, but the last two were in Germany. We know definitively that August's parents came here from Baden. So that line has a limited number of grandparents, at least American ones.

Even the Rubrechts have a manageable line so far. They go back 6 generations only and I have not found the immigration point yet. The names are Rubrecht and Fusselman and so far are all Pennsylvanians. 

But John Rubrecht married Sarah Keller (Alice's parents), and the Keller line runs very deep in American history.  Not only can I find data going back 8 generations, but I can find that data for multiple branches. The  Millers, Kellers, Klines, etc are very well documented. 

I could find no one in that entire line who married outside of the German heritage. and virtually no "recent" immigrants. There might be some, but I have not found them yet. And the further back I go, the less likely that people married outside of their church/ethnic circle. (Now I know why all three of my children had blond hair!)

Here is a quick view of the Keller tree, for example, which would be Alice Rubrecht's grandfather Joshua Keller's tree:

It's hard to read, but I am making the point that just from that one great great grandparent, we have 6  grandparents from the 8th generation. The Miller tree looks similar (that would be Joshua's wife, Elizabeth). 

I'm trying to figure out a way to display these trees that are easy to see.  Working on that. 

Summary

The Wagners immigrated from Baden Germany in the mid-19th century. August's family was 100 % German.

The Rubrechts go back in Pennsylvania history for 6 generations, but the immigration point has not been found. 

The Kellers/Klines/Millers (and more) immigrated from Germany, but 4 or 5 generations before the Wagners did. Because each generation doubles in numbers of grandparents, we have a very large number of potential immigrants in this trail. It will take time to document all of them. So far, they all look to be German.

And last, here is Paul's SAR application, which shows at least one line of Revolutionary War activity for the Kellers. I think there are more.

Grave Photos of Alice and August Ancestors

Where Are They Now?

Since I began this research last year, I have changed my attitude about graves and graveyards completely. Where I once found them to be sterile space, all but ignored, I now find them to be hallowed ground and respect that they are enduring symbols of lives well lived. And too often, grave stones are all we have left to remember a life.

Quite remarkably, many grave stones of Wagners and Rubrechts not only survive and are documented, but they have been photographed by Grave tenders from many organizations, primarily Find A Grave. In this post, I'll print photos of the graves I have found:

August Wagner and Alice Rubrecht

August and Alice were buried in the Rubrecht family plot at Immanuel Leidy Cemetery in Souderton.

They are buried alongside their infant son John (1909) who lived for one week.

Alice had four brothers, and two of them are in Souderton: Morris (and his wife May), and Luther, who died young:

Alice's brother George Keller Rubrecht became a pastor and lived in the midwest most of his adult life. He is buried in Lincoln, Nebraska along with his wife at Wyuka Cemetery:

I have not yet located brother Paul's grave, nor that of his wife, but they died in Philadelphia. They may be in Souderton, but I have no documentation as yet.

And of course, Alice's parents are in Souderton as well:

Most of you are aware that Alice's family goes way back in American history. With little effort, I was able to find graves of her grandparents,great grandparents and beyond. Alice's mother's parents: Joshua S. Keller  and Elizabeth Miller Keller (St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery in Orwigsburg):

Joshua parents' graves are also located (Daniel Keller and Catherine Schmidt Keller) in St. John's Cemetery, Berks County:

And, Elizabeth Miller's parents are buried in Berks as well, at St. John's Cemetery in Hamburg (Peter Miller and Elizabeth Kline Miller):

Peter Miller's parents were Revolutionary War participants:

George Miller (1754-1815) and Susannah Alspach Miller (1765-1824). They are buried in Hamburg, Berks County

Following is the inscription on Susannah's grave: In Memory of Susan Miller - Consort of George Miller - She was born Dec'br 31th AD 1765 - died March 10th 1824 - aged 58 Years 2 Months & 9 days - Farwell Children dear......

According to these cemetery records, George's parents are also buried there with the following information:

Johann Jürg (Hunter George) Muller was born on March 21, 1721 the son of John and Mrs. Muller in Baden-Durlach, Germany.

Johann Georg Muller emigrated from Feldkirchen near Neuwied in the village of Gonnersdorf . The Furst Wied Archives in Neuwied, notes the emigration, 
April 24, 1744 of Johann Georg Muller with his wife and 2 children from 
Gonnersdorf on the ship Aurora. They arrived in Philadelphia, Pa on October 8, 1744.
The name on the ship's Manifest was Johan Jorg Muller

Johann married Anna Margaretha about 1753 in Windsor Twp., Berks Co., Pa.

Johan Jorg Muller had five children, George Miller, Philip Miller, Jabob, John and Magdalena. 

And Susan's mother is buried in Berks also at the St. Paul's Smoke Chirch in Edenburg, Berks.

Her inscription reads (in German): translation - Here rests Maria Dorothea Rauschin - she was born 20 Dec'br 1744 - died the 27 July 1803 – was old 58 year 7 months 7 days - she lived with Henrich 34 years in marriage begat 8 sons 2 daughters

- Deborah (Vetrone) Long 

And believe it or not, researchers have found Maria's mother's grave as well:

Anna Margaretha Klein Reber 1720-1787, buried in Zion's United Church of Christ Cemetery in Shoemakersville Berks, with the following inscription:

Inscription:

Dieser im Gott ruhet de

Mitschwester Namens

Margaretha REBERIN

Wurde gebohren

1720

Sie zeugte in 43 Jahr

iger Ehe 13 Kinder

dasso ---------------- lebens

5 Sohn u. 6 Toch

Sie Starb nach 3 Jahrigen

im 1----------------- 27 Sept

1787

Ihres alters ------------

So I count graves for 6 generations beyond Alice Rubrecht. Remarkable. Enough of the Rubrechts for awhile . . .

The Wagner side came to the States generations later; August had two brothers and a sister.

Older brother John is buried in St. Paul's Episcopal Church graveyard in Elkins Park along with his wife Annie:

Louis is buried at Mt Moriah Cemetery in Yeadon. I know quite a bit about this cemetery since many of my Ellis ancestors are buried there. Once a proud shrine, the cemetery was orphaned, had no owner, and is now a ward of the state. It is terribly overgrown, but a volunteer organization has made great inroads to restore it. Part of the cemetery contains military graves, and that section is kept well.  Mt. Moriah is an interesting story in its own right. I have visited there twice and dug around looking for stones. The organization tending it is very devoted.

August's sister Amelia died in Philadelphia but I have not located her grave site.

August's parents John and Elizabeth are buried at Ivy Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia but I have no photo of their stones as yet.

Most of the ancestors mentioned above had children and grandchildren, brothers and sisters, and many of them probably have photographed graves. In time, we will fill in more blanks.