MORE ABOUT THE MAN OF MYSTERY (March 2016)
Much has been written about Charles Kuhnert, the father of my grandmother Minnie, but there is a period of his life that is in question and has never been solved.
Family legend has him coming to the U.S. when he was twenty years old, which would be around 1840. I found a ship’s record with a Charles Kuhnert, age 19, that arrived in July 1840. I believe that is our Kuhnert but Andrew Cuda, our family philosopher, doesn’t agree with me. Andy has found a Carl Kuhnert in Hamburg, Germany after 1840.
I must tell you that Andy has told me that he will continue with my research when I’m gone. I’ve already given him my program of names and he has helped me recently so I give him credence to doubt my above information. Nevertheless, that is not the only mystery period that needs solving.
The next record that I have of Charles Kuhnert is 1848 when he appears in the History of McHenry County book as an old settler arriving August 10 of that year. So far I have no record of where he was between 1840 and 1848. If I’m right, those eight years he had to be somewhere, but where? Since there is no census I haven’t been able to find him anyplace. So which one of us is correct, Andy or me?
The occurrence that interests Andy the most is the appearance of Charles in Watertown, Wisconsin when he married Wilhelma (Mena) Wiggenhorn, whose father was the proprietor of the Buena Vista Hotel. (Mena of course became the mother of Grandma Minnie.)
This hotel was known to be one of the finest German hotels in the Midwest. It was the meeting place of many well known Germans who had fled Germany because of the war and turmoil there. Among them were the German intellectuals and philosophers of the time. In fact, Andy was able to find one that he had studied in his academic career. Unfortunately I have forgotten his name and I no longer have the book to check it, but I do remember the reputation of the hotel and why it received such a reputation.
So I ask you this question. Why did Charles Kuhnert go to Watertown? This is the mystery. He must have known about the hotel, but did he go there to be with the famous men and then just incidentally marry one of the Wiggenhorn women? Or did he go there to find a wife?
Germany was very class conscious in this era. McHenry County was a farming area and Charles Kuhnert never farmed to my knowledge. He was always a tradesman. This was borne out when he bought land in the small village of Centerville, now called Woodstock, when he returned to McHenry County. That will lend more probability, but maybe not. He soon became a naturalized citizen in 1854 and proceeded to buy land. From then on through his life I was able to trace him.
His whereabouts from the time of l848 until his death in 1895 can all be documented, but Charles Kuhnert’s family in Germany still remains a mystery. So many more anomalies to be discovered. I leave them all to Andy, our family philosopher genealogist.
Family legend has him coming to the U.S. when he was twenty years old, which would be around 1840. I found a ship’s record with a Charles Kuhnert, age 19, that arrived in July 1840. I believe that is our Kuhnert but Andrew Cuda, our family philosopher, doesn’t agree with me. Andy has found a Carl Kuhnert in Hamburg, Germany after 1840.
I must tell you that Andy has told me that he will continue with my research when I’m gone. I’ve already given him my program of names and he has helped me recently so I give him credence to doubt my above information. Nevertheless, that is not the only mystery period that needs solving.
The next record that I have of Charles Kuhnert is 1848 when he appears in the History of McHenry County book as an old settler arriving August 10 of that year. So far I have no record of where he was between 1840 and 1848. If I’m right, those eight years he had to be somewhere, but where? Since there is no census I haven’t been able to find him anyplace. So which one of us is correct, Andy or me?
The occurrence that interests Andy the most is the appearance of Charles in Watertown, Wisconsin when he married Wilhelma (Mena) Wiggenhorn, whose father was the proprietor of the Buena Vista Hotel. (Mena of course became the mother of Grandma Minnie.)
This hotel was known to be one of the finest German hotels in the Midwest. It was the meeting place of many well known Germans who had fled Germany because of the war and turmoil there. Among them were the German intellectuals and philosophers of the time. In fact, Andy was able to find one that he had studied in his academic career. Unfortunately I have forgotten his name and I no longer have the book to check it, but I do remember the reputation of the hotel and why it received such a reputation.
So I ask you this question. Why did Charles Kuhnert go to Watertown? This is the mystery. He must have known about the hotel, but did he go there to be with the famous men and then just incidentally marry one of the Wiggenhorn women? Or did he go there to find a wife?
Germany was very class conscious in this era. McHenry County was a farming area and Charles Kuhnert never farmed to my knowledge. He was always a tradesman. This was borne out when he bought land in the small village of Centerville, now called Woodstock, when he returned to McHenry County. That will lend more probability, but maybe not. He soon became a naturalized citizen in 1854 and proceeded to buy land. From then on through his life I was able to trace him.
His whereabouts from the time of l848 until his death in 1895 can all be documented, but Charles Kuhnert’s family in Germany still remains a mystery. So many more anomalies to be discovered. I leave them all to Andy, our family philosopher genealogist.