Emelia Kujawski Hartung - My Great Grand Aunt (1876-1944

Today's Blog Post is about my Great Grand Aunt, My Great Grandmother Ottilie's sister on my mother's side - Emelia Kujawski.  She is the 2nd daughter of John and Mary Kujawski. 

Ottilie is my Grandfather John Schoenewald's mother.

The Scrapbook Pages - The story is typed below after the images for better reading:

Family Chart:

Highlight of her life with Sources:

• 1894 Passenger List for Emelia and Ottilie
• 1896 Marriage Certificate and Picture - Minnesota
• 1897 Passenger List for John, Mary, Ida and Emma (jher parents and siblings)
• 1900 Census - Minnesota
• 1902 Family Picture of Carl and Emelia with his parents & Siblings
• 1905 Census - Minnesota
• 1910 Census - Idaho
• 1920 Census - Idaho
• 1930 Census - Idaho
• 1940 Census - California
• 1942 City Directory - California
• 1944 Headstones for both - California
• Newspaper Articles - Idaho

Children of Carl and Emelia:

• Ida (1899)
• Amelie (1901
• Hannah (1903)
• August (1904)
• Bertha (1907)
• Walter (1908)
• Herman (1910)
• Carl (1911)
• Zelma (1915)
• Oscar (1918)

 Siblings of Carl:

• Johanna (1875)
• Wilhelm (1877)
• Helena (1878)
• August (1880)
• Ida (1881)
• Edith (1882)
• Ema (1885)

 

Emelia's Story 

In 1894, at the age of seventeen, Emelia joined her sister, Ottilie, on a journey to America traveling on a ship named "Stuttgart".  They arrived at a port in Baltimore, Maryland.  Ottilie was getting married and needed a chaperone to travel with her. Emelia had every intention to return home to Germany after Ottilie was settled.  Sometime during her visit in America she met Carl Hartung, fell in love and married on 23 Oct 1896 in New Auburn, Sibley, Minnesota. Carl came to America in 1874 from Germany/Prussia. Both Emelia and her husband learned the English Language and stayed in America for the rest of their lives. Emelia was born on 16 Dec 1876 in Westprussen, Germany to John and Mary Kujawsky.

In 1897, a year after Emelia was married, her parents and two younger sisters joined them in America to live. How exciting to have her family with them and not so far away. The 1900 census listed a daughter, born in 1899, named Ida. It also listed her parents, John and Mary, as living with them. Her husband, Carl, was renting a farm in the township of Dryden not far from New Auburn where her sister, Otillie, was living and both Carl and his father-in-law, John, were working the farm together.  Neither John, nor Mary could speak English. When her sister, Ottilie had her 2nd Child in the fall of 1900, Johann Herman (my Grandfather), Emelia signed the birth certificate as a witness.  Another daughter, Amelie, was born in 1901 and then sometime around 1903 Emelia and Carl moved to Nez Perce, Idaho. Just before the move, a family picture was taken about 1902 with Emelia, Carl, his parents and siblings. Emelia sister, Ida, was married and living in Sandpoint, Idaho in 1905 which was about 200 miles from Nez Perce, Idaho. John and Mary, Emelia's parent did not go to Idaho with them and moved in with Ottilie and her husband, Adam, in New Auburn, Minnesota according to the 1905 Census.

 Carl and Emelia bought a farm in Leland County outside of Nez Perce Idaho a few miles from another family with the same surname of Hartung.  Could this other family be related? Odd are high since Carl's parents and siblings had also moved from Minnesota to Idaho around 1902. Carl's cousin, Jacob ?, was listed in the same household as Carl on the 1910 Census and working the farm. Carl and Emelia had 5 additional children born while in Idaho. Her parents, John and Mary were in their sixties by this time and had moved to Sandpoint, Idaho to live with their daughter, Ida (Emelia's sister) and her husband, Philip Willi. Since her parents were now only a couple hundred miles away, it gave Emelia the opportunity to visit her parents more often. The year 1910 also brought sorrow, Carl's 29 year old brother died of Typhoid Fever. In 1911 another son was born, Carl Jr., 1915 brought them a daughter, Zelma, and by 1918 their last child, Oscar, another son, was born. Emelia and Carl had a total of 10 children. By this time, the two eldest girls had left home. Emelia's father died in January 1913 and her mother died in March of 1916.

Eight children were listed living at home on the 1920 census in Nez Perce, Idaho. Carl was still farming. It was common when all the Children were old enough to do chores, they would work along side their father in the fields or help with the cooking and cleaning of the home.  Since seven of the children were five and older, they were probably busy learning life skills as well as their school education.

The 1930s found Carl and Emelia living in the Village of Kendrick in Idaho, about 60 miles from Nez Perce. Both Carl and Emelia were in their fifties and had sold the farm.  Carl was working as a carpenter in the home building industry along side his son, Herman, who was 18, living at home, a carpenter apprentice. The three youngest children were still living at home. Close by were a couple of other Hartung families who may be related. Maybe part of the same families who had lived in Nez Perce when Carl and Emelia did? Or Carl and Emelia's children and their families?

Two of their daughters, Johanna and Zelma, married men from California. Johanna in 1927 and Zelma in 1930. Both daughters made California their home.  The other children were spread throughout Idaho, Washington and Oregon.

In 1935 Carl and Emelia were still living in Kendrick; however by the 1940 census, they had moved to Richmond, Contra Costa in California living with Laverne Strom, a widow, age sixty. Carl was Laverne's gardner as well as a carpenter in the construction industry.  Emelia was a housekeeper. Their ages were listed in their mid sixties. Richmond was not far from either of their daughters who lived in California.

Emelia and Carl were living in Richmond California when she died on 28 October 1944.

Carl continued to live in Richmond California until his death on the 29th of October,1960.

Both Emelia and Carl are buried in the cemetery located at El Cerrito, California.

Things to research:

·       Why did Emelia and Carl move to Nez Perce, Idaho?
·       Did Emelia move to Nez Perce first or did her sister, Ida, move to Sandpoint first?
·       Who else lived there or near?
·       What was Jacob's last name (the cousin who was living with them) in 1910?
·       1930 Census in Idaho - are the other Hartung's listed related?
·       1940 Census in Richmond, CA - who is Lavern Strom? (her husband was John P. Strom)?
·       1942 City Directory in Richmond, CA - are the other Hartung's listed related?
·       The Surname "Neumann" is on Carl Hartung's side of the family. Artur Neumann witnessed the marriage certificate. It may be his mother's maiden name.
·       Land map showing their farms in relation to the Schoenewald's farms.
·       Her life in Germany / Prussia

Thanks for stopping by......Families Matter - Past and Present