A BIRTH MYSTERY SOLVED (June 2015)
Vegetating doesn’t seem to work for me, so I have decided to continue with Messages because there are many more stories about the family that I am still thinking about and have to tell. Therefore, for a selected few, I’m going to write under the title of Messages because I want to get these stories on paper.To begin, I want to go on record about the trip Jerry offered to take me on to two places to try and find any clue into why my great grandfather, Charles Kuhnert’s first child, Charles Jr. (Minnie and Josie’s oldest brother), would be born in Belvedere, Boone County in 1851 while all the other children of the family, Louis, August, Minnie, and Josie, were born in Woodstock, McHenry County. I thought maybe the McHenry County Historical Society would have more information and maybe the Boone County Historical Society in Belvedere could tell me.
According to the Old Settlers History of McHenry County records, Charles Kuhnert arrived there in 1848 so Jerry and I started with the McHenry County Historical Society hoping they would have any record of Charles Kuhnert. They had only what I had so there was no clue there. Off we went to the Boone County Historical Society in Belvedere for any clue there for the birth of Charles Jr.
First I had to transport myself to 1850. How did people travel in this area from one place to another? Were there roads? Did they always go by horseback and if not, did they go in buggies or wagons? I kept thinking of the old western movies that show families in Conestoga wagons.
Picture this era when I tell you this story. The next date I have is two years after 1848 and Charles, in 1850, is in Watertown, Wisconsin. The question has always been: If he was in McHenry County in 1848 why did he go to Watertown? We know that the Buena Vista Hotel, owned by the Wiggenhorns, was well known in the German community for the German intellectuals who had gathered there after leaving Germany at the time of the turmoil. Was that the reason?
Or did he go there to find a wife? How did he know that the Wiggenhorn family had unmarried daughters? These questions will never be answered but what I really wanted to find was some record of why, after he married Mena Wiggenhorn in Watertown in 1850, was their first child born in l851 in Belvedere, Boone County and the others born in McHenry County after he returned and bought property? I hoped there would be some clue in Belvedere.
Jerry raised the question: why would Charles not travel directly to Woodstock from Watertown instead of traveling through Belvedere, which is further west? In Belvedere we contacted the Boone County Historical Society hoping they had the answer. They found nothing under Charles Kuhnert but they inadvertently supplied us with information about the hotels in the town at that time. As you all know, on record Mena’s father was the owner of this known most famous German hotel in Wisconsin called the Buena Vista. Was this a connection?
Since the historian had no record of Charles Kuhnert in Belvedere, I asked to see what hotels were there at the time. As it turned out there were quite a few. It immediately rang a bell with me. They must have stayed in one of the hotels but why even go to Belvedere?
In genealogy when one is dealing with records that cannot be found, one has to put the known in perspective in order to come to a conclusion.
Surprisingly, in 1850 there were several hotels in Belvedere and with the help of the historian giving me some copies from the files I soon learned why. Belvedere was a stagecoach stop. In 1850 the railroad didn’t exist so now I knew Charles Kuhnert and his pregnant wife were traveling by stagecoach and landed in Belvedere because Belvedere was a stagecoach stop. The account in the paper said McHenry County didn’t have any stagecoach stops. The paper also said that sometimes the stagecoach would be days late and if the weather was bad the roads were impassable and people would have to stay in the American House, a hotel in Belvedere.
Obviously Charles had a dilemma. He either had a wife who couldn’t continue with the journey to Woodstock because she was too far along in her pregnancy and was having problems, or the stagecoach was late, or the weather could also have caused the roads to be impassable. He had to make a decision. He remained at the stagecoach stop in Belvedere and I would imagine this is why Charles Jr. was born September l851 in Belvedere.
When conditions permitted them to travel, since there was no stagecoach stop in McHenry County it is hard to envision how the three traveled to Woodstock as their final destination. However, I found a notation in Boone County History that the road to Woodstock was past the old Andreas Cemetery so one can imagine the route they took from Belvedere to Woodstock but it must have been an arduous one in some kind of buggy.
Therefore, in spite of not having definite proof, I believe that Charles Jr. was born when his parents were traveling to Woodstock from Watertown (via Belvedere) on the stagecoach. Any number of reasons could have delayed them in Belvedere. This is the only explanation for his birth there. I believe I have solved that mystery.
According to the Old Settlers History of McHenry County records, Charles Kuhnert arrived there in 1848 so Jerry and I started with the McHenry County Historical Society hoping they would have any record of Charles Kuhnert. They had only what I had so there was no clue there. Off we went to the Boone County Historical Society in Belvedere for any clue there for the birth of Charles Jr.
First I had to transport myself to 1850. How did people travel in this area from one place to another? Were there roads? Did they always go by horseback and if not, did they go in buggies or wagons? I kept thinking of the old western movies that show families in Conestoga wagons.
Picture this era when I tell you this story. The next date I have is two years after 1848 and Charles, in 1850, is in Watertown, Wisconsin. The question has always been: If he was in McHenry County in 1848 why did he go to Watertown? We know that the Buena Vista Hotel, owned by the Wiggenhorns, was well known in the German community for the German intellectuals who had gathered there after leaving Germany at the time of the turmoil. Was that the reason?
Or did he go there to find a wife? How did he know that the Wiggenhorn family had unmarried daughters? These questions will never be answered but what I really wanted to find was some record of why, after he married Mena Wiggenhorn in Watertown in 1850, was their first child born in l851 in Belvedere, Boone County and the others born in McHenry County after he returned and bought property? I hoped there would be some clue in Belvedere.
Jerry raised the question: why would Charles not travel directly to Woodstock from Watertown instead of traveling through Belvedere, which is further west? In Belvedere we contacted the Boone County Historical Society hoping they had the answer. They found nothing under Charles Kuhnert but they inadvertently supplied us with information about the hotels in the town at that time. As you all know, on record Mena’s father was the owner of this known most famous German hotel in Wisconsin called the Buena Vista. Was this a connection?
Since the historian had no record of Charles Kuhnert in Belvedere, I asked to see what hotels were there at the time. As it turned out there were quite a few. It immediately rang a bell with me. They must have stayed in one of the hotels but why even go to Belvedere?
In genealogy when one is dealing with records that cannot be found, one has to put the known in perspective in order to come to a conclusion.
Surprisingly, in 1850 there were several hotels in Belvedere and with the help of the historian giving me some copies from the files I soon learned why. Belvedere was a stagecoach stop. In 1850 the railroad didn’t exist so now I knew Charles Kuhnert and his pregnant wife were traveling by stagecoach and landed in Belvedere because Belvedere was a stagecoach stop. The account in the paper said McHenry County didn’t have any stagecoach stops. The paper also said that sometimes the stagecoach would be days late and if the weather was bad the roads were impassable and people would have to stay in the American House, a hotel in Belvedere.
Obviously Charles had a dilemma. He either had a wife who couldn’t continue with the journey to Woodstock because she was too far along in her pregnancy and was having problems, or the stagecoach was late, or the weather could also have caused the roads to be impassable. He had to make a decision. He remained at the stagecoach stop in Belvedere and I would imagine this is why Charles Jr. was born September l851 in Belvedere.
When conditions permitted them to travel, since there was no stagecoach stop in McHenry County it is hard to envision how the three traveled to Woodstock as their final destination. However, I found a notation in Boone County History that the road to Woodstock was past the old Andreas Cemetery so one can imagine the route they took from Belvedere to Woodstock but it must have been an arduous one in some kind of buggy.
Therefore, in spite of not having definite proof, I believe that Charles Jr. was born when his parents were traveling to Woodstock from Watertown (via Belvedere) on the stagecoach. Any number of reasons could have delayed them in Belvedere. This is the only explanation for his birth there. I believe I have solved that mystery.