(Note: I’ve written before about Mary’s family here.)
FamilySearch is a bounty of blessings for an armchair family tree nut like me, but there are many challenges to finding the information you need. Transcription errors, lack of searchable indexes, and just knowing what to look for… it takes time and patience to be able to navigate this resource and uncover those priceless gems that are our family history records.
So I thought I’d share a few of these challenges as I turn to some of Mary’s census records. We know her stepfather was Valentine Harbold, a farmer in Menominee Falls, WI, and that their families united sometime in the decade between their arrival in America (1888) and the birth of her half-brother Walter Harbold (1896). Let’s plug the info we know into the search bar:
We plug in the broader “Menomonee” to cast a wider net of results.
Here’s the results we get:
If we’d received a lot of results (especially true with a common name) I’d have inputted a lot more info in the search bar. But there are only 6 relevant results to look at. If you continue to scroll down, the rest of the results are for Harbolds who live in Ohio or people with similar last names like Horbel, Harbelt, etc. If you see reference to a Soundex file in your research, it’s this sort of “sounds like” feature that sometimes helps find transcription mistakes, and sometimes nets unrelated results.
That World War I draft registration card, by the way, is actually for his stepson Carl Bloedel who lists Valentine as the person most likely to know his address. Valentine was 77 years old so he probably wasn’t in much danger of being drafted.
There are a LOT of censuses, both state and federal, that occurred during Valentine’s lifetime (July 1840 – 4 Nov 1926). I haven’t found his exact immigration but generally the censuses reflect that he was just an infant at the time. So we need to search for 1840-1850-1860-1870-1875-1880-1885-1895-1900-1905-1910-1920 censuses (the 1890 US census was destroyed, sadly). That’s 12 censuses to search! But the search results show just 4: 1875-1880-1910-1920. And look again at that screenshot: already we see his last name spelled Harbold/Harboldt/Harbolt. The indexes we use to search through these records were transcribed from the original documents by volunteers so these variations are as commonplace as census-taker errors.
To explain how I’ve found all the censuses from 1870 onwards: try variations like searching for just the last name and the township, or the first name if it’s fairly unusual like Valentine. Both netted me more results. You can also try searching for other family members – I tried “Bloedel” and “Barbara” (another unusual name for the time) with the residence. FamilySearch also allows you to narrow your search to specific collections which is quite useful when looking for particular info.
So here’s my pro-tip: Finally, after many search variations, I had found every census except 1895. So I searched for the last name of Valentine’s neighbor Heldt on the 1900 census and found it instantly, transcribed as “V. Herboldt”.
Family Background
I mentioned a 2013 post that spoke to what we know about Mary’s family. Since then a generous Bloedel relative shared their own research which expands what we know. A word of caution: these are considered secondary sources; every “fact” should – in a perfect world – have at least 3 corroborating primary sources before it’s truly a fact. But the research they shared does correspond to the sources I’ve found so far. There are some fantastic bios written by a Bloedel cousin here if you’d like to read more.
Let’s start with a family tree:
We know Mary’s father Michael died in Germany just before their emigration in 1888 because their youngest child Barbara was born that year. Some records indicate he died while serving in the military. Our earlier suspicion that the family traveled with Michael’s father (listed as C. Bloedel) has been confirmed by locating a biography written by Michael’s brother Charles who also came to America and settled in Fond du Lac, WI.
(Incidentally, family legend says Barbara was born on the ship coming to America but records indicate she was born in June and they traveled in September so this can only be proved – or disproved – by a birth record).
7 years later, Mary’s mother Elizabeth remarried to Valentine Harbold. Mary shared with her children that she spent some time in an orphanage during her early years in America. This raises so many questions….
Does The Census Enrich The Story?
I spoke above about finding Valentine’s census records. Although most of them were recorded before he married Elizabeth, the information within them may give us some insight into Mary’s stepfather. Though I haven’t located the earliest records, we’ve learned that he was married once before – to Elizabeth Klippel – and that at least one child was born, though there is no information about that child after the birth was recorded.
In 1870, Valentine is farming next door to his in-laws, Jacob & Eva Klippel. They are already entering their 60’s, and recently relocated from Delafield (a town west of Menomonee in the same county). In 1875 it appears they are in the same household, but intriguingly Valentine’s household is made up of 2 males, 3 females. Assuming Valentine, his wife & in-laws, who is the 3rd female? In 1880-85 they are listed as one household of 4 again.
Tragically, the missing 1890 census would have offered valuable clues as to whether or not Valentine’s first wife was still living with him. I assume she has passed away but I also haven’t located her parents beyond this census.
The 1890 census would also have told us where the Bloedels initially settled, knowing that Elizabeth was 5 years away from remarriage. The 1895 state census was taken after the families united, but leads to more mysteries as to who the 4th male might be (and assuming it is the other US-born person). Fun fact: the 1895 census was dated exactly one day after their wedding.
If you agree that we are – to some extent – shaped by life’s events, what we know about Valentine leads to some interesting theories. He seems to have spent most of his life in America; was this a welcome relief to a young immigrant family like the Bloedels? We also know he was significantly older than his second wife. Was his marriage to Elizabeth pragmatic, fulfilling his need for someone to make a home and provide children to help with his farm as well as inherit it after he passed away? Did Elizabeth marry for love, or moreso to give her children stability and a future? How did the Bloedels feel about this union? And why was Mary placed in an orphanage for a time? Were all her siblings there with her?
The 1900 census shows us that Walter Harbold has been born, but Mary is missing from the family.
Mary is living nearby and working as a servant on the Hazlett farm. Less than a year from now, she’ll be marrying Frank Struck. You can follow her in future censuses here.
By 1905 only Elizabeth’s youngest Barbara is living with the Harbolds, but 5 years later William has returned and is working as a machinist while Barbara helps on the farm. A decade later Walter has grown up and is helping his father Valentine on the farm.
Valentine passed away in 1926 but Elizabeth lived with her son Walter and his new bride in her final years. She lived long enough to meet all of Frank & Mary’s children, and was still living when Frank & Mary suffered the losses of their twins, Franz, Marie and Carl in rapid succession.
What was Mary’s mother like? Was she involved in her daughter’s daily family affairs? Did she comfort Mary during the loss of her children, or had the previous events surrounding the stay in the orphanage caused a permanent rift between mother and daughter? How was Elizabeth affected by her early widowhood and emigration to America? There are many unanswered questions, but knowing more about the lives of these family members offers a brief, intriguing glimpse.
Mary’s Siblings In Adulthood
During the later censuses, Mary’s siblings traveled far and wide, particularly her brother Carl. I haven’t located him on the 1905 census, but this was a Wisconsin state census and there’s a strong possibility he wasn’t in Wisconsin at the time. We did find William though:
William is still in the village near his family, but he’s working as a teamster and living with Jonas Barndt, a local livery owner. It would be great to find out what sort of team he drove, what he delivered, what route his service area took….?
Interestingly, William also applied for citizenship at this time; I admit I’d assumed he had automatically received this when his mother married a US citizen. In future it would be great to locate his citizenship papers.
In 1910, William is back at home with Barbara, and Mary is 9 years married to Frank Struck. But here we see their brother Carl’s adventurous spirit:
That’s right: he’s in Billings, Montana, living in a boarding hotel on S. 30th Street and working as a carpenter.
Carl also applied for citizenship while he was living in Montana.
I shared Carl’s draft card above, but here is William’s 1918 registration:
By 1920 all of the Bloedel siblings had moved away from the family homestead. Unfortunately I have yet to locate Barbara on those census records.
Definitely more curb appeal in Hardin City! 
Carl has moved about an hour east to Hardin, Montana, living in a rooming house on 4th & Center and working as a draftsman (architect). Meanwhile, William and his new bride have moved to the tiny town of Colburn, Wisconsin, where he’s taken out a mortgage to buy his own farm. Unfortunately we’ll find this is a short-lived endeavor, perhaps because the land was not good, as a early surveyor described it as “but little land fit for agricultural purposes. The surface is level and Swampy. There is Some good Pine in it – Considerable Hemlock and Fir, Birch, Sugar, Ash.”
What prompted these brothers to stray so far from home? Were they seeking work opportunities, or possessed with a desire to see new places? We see more changes in 1930, and I have to wonder if they are caused by the Great Depression?
Carl has moved back to Wisconsin (Milwaukee) and is once again living in a boarding house on the west side of 34th Street. But note that his occupation is “none”, which leads me to suspect he’s been affected by the Depression. He’s living in the home of Victor Moser, a “Knights of Pythias” fraternal member, which was an interesting diversion to read about.
William is also living in Milwaukee, renting a home (for $30 a month) on the corner of Finn Place & N. 22nd St. He and Edith (Ella?) have two daughters now, Lucille and Delores. William is a forester for the City of Milwaukee, demonstrating once again what an interesting variety of occupations the Bloedel brothers have held!
Their sister Barbara, now Mrs. Arthur Behling, is also living in Milwaukee on 41st Street off Fond du Lac Avenue. They own their home (value $6000) and Art works as a molder for the foundry.
We’ll now jump to 1940 (the most recent of public censuses) but sadly William had passed away in 1936 at the young age of 52, leaving two young daughters.
Carl is still boarding in the home of Victor Moser, but working now as a carpenter for a contracting firm. Art and Barbara are still in their Milwaukee home as well, and Art continues to work at the foundry. This would have been hard work for anyone, but especially for a 58 year-old-man. There are some neat videos of foundry workers in this era if you’re interested in learning more.
Unfortunately Carl is the only one of Mary’s siblings that I have a photo of, nor do we have photos of her mother or the Harbolds. Intriguingly, Valentine’s farm was located on “Harbold Avenue” which no longer exists as far as I’m aware. It would be great to find out where Mary grew up!
Coming up next I’ll share some other new finds related to the Struck & Bloedel family records that will continue to shed new light on our ancestors.
The Pfaff Pfamily 