Sunday's Obituary - Charles Niehaus

This obituary was published in The Celina Advocate in Ohio on July 28, 1906.

OLD RESIDENT

Passed Away Last Tuesday Night at His Home in This City

   Charles Niehaus, aged 75 years, died at his home on the corner of Sugar and Wayne streets, last Tuesday evening after an illness with stomach trouble. Deceased was born in Alderburg, Germany, and for forty years, twenty-five of which were spent in Celina, he has been a resident of Mercer county.  He was greatly respected by a large acquaintance, was a kind neighbor, a devoted husband and indulgent father, and his death is mourned by a large number outside of the family circle.
   He leaves a wife and five children-- Henry and Barney, of this place, Mrs. Joe Schratz, of Pocahontas, Arkansas; Mrs. John Brock, of Coldwater, and Mrs. Ed Fetters, of Dayton.
   Funeral took place from the Catholic church on last Friday morning and interment was in the Catholic cemetery.

Charles was my 3x great-grandfather and his son Henry was my 2x great-grandfather. Charles was married to Catharina Margaretha Panschard in Germany. She died in 1874 in Mercer County. From the obituary, the family settled in Mercer County, Ohio around 1866.

I found the obituary on the Coldwater History Archive site. It's a great resource for Mercer County newspapers.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 29 - Music - Silent Film Pianist

The 52 Ancestors prompt for this week is "Music". This should be a fun prompt. Do you know of a musical relative? (According to my dad, my great-uncle Pete could play anything that had strings.) If not, what about an ancestor with a musical name? Place names can be musical as well. Any ancestors from New Harmony, Indiana or Trumpet Island, Maine? (Or take inspiration from classic rock: Chicago, Boston, Kansas... What was it in the '70s with naming bands after places?) I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Carrie Niehaus Myers was the sister of my great-grandmother Anna Niehaus Creeden. According to family stories, Carrie was a fantastic pianist and one of her jobs was playing piano at a theater during the silent film era. The 1910 census for Mercer County, Ohio shows Carrie was playing piano at a theater as early as age 17.

I was hoping to find some information on where she played, but haven't had any luck so far. Three theaters are mentioned in an article published in The Celina Democrat on September 4, 1914: The Rex and Bijou motion picture houses and The Eagle Theater. I would guess she played at one of them.

The Celina Democrat, September 4, 1914

By 1920, Carrie was busy as a wife and mother. She was married to Charley Myers and they had a 5 year old daughter named Marjorie. While she was no longer employed as a pianist, she continued to entertain family and friends for many years.

#52Ancestors is a series of weekly family history prompts developed by Amy Johnson Crow.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 7 - Valentine

This week's 52 Ancestors prompt  is "Valentine". Is there a love story in your family tree? Maybe a couple was married on Valentine's Day or you have a valentine that one ancestor gave to another. Maybe you have an ancestor named Valentine. 

I wish I knew the stories behind some of my ancestors' marriages, but I don't have any love stories or Valentines that have been passed down. Nobody named Valentine either! I found one Valentine's Day marriage in my family tree and it's for Bertha Rose Niehaus and Joseph Frederick. Bertha was the sister of my great-grandmother Anna Niehaus Creeden.

This newspaper article about their wedding was published in the Celina Democrat on February 17, 1911. I noticed that my great-grandmother isn't mentioned in the article. She gave birth to my grandfather 2 days before the wedding, so was probably recovering from the birth. 

There was a lot of information in this article. The wedding took place in the Catholic Church of Celina (Immaculate Conception) at 6:30am and was celebrated by the Rev. Fr. Ernest Hefele. The bride was attended by a younger sister, Miss Carrie Niehaus and the best man was a brother of the groom, Clarence Frederick. A wedding breakfast was served at the home of the groom's parents after the ceremony.

The groom was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Frederick and worked at the furniture factory. He was a pitcher for the local baseball club. The bride was the third daughter of the Infirmary Director and Mrs. Henry Niehaus. She was a graduate of both the Parochial and Public High Schools and taught school in the county,. She resigned her position in West Jefferson the month before the wedding. They lived in a home purchased by the groom on Lisle street.

Several years of the Celina Democrat are available on the Chronicling America site. They always listed their marriage notices under "Cupid's Victims" which is a tad quirky, but makes them easy to search for!

#52Ancestors is a series of weekly family history prompts developed by Amy Johnson Crow.

Workday Wednesday - Street Commissioner

The 1900 Atlas of Mercer County, Ohio published by J. E. Hamburger & Co. contains a picture and short biography of my 2x great-grandfather, Henry Niehaus. When the atlas was published, he was the Street Commissioner of Celina, Ohio.

Henry was born in 1854, so he would have been 46 or younger when the picture was taken. This is by far the best picture I've seen of him.

The biography reads: HENRY NEIHAUS was born on the twenty-fourth day of September, 1854, in Amt Wildeshausen, Germany. On the twenty-fifth day of January he was united in marriage to Anna (Rohrer); to them were born the following named children: Katie (deceased), Waldburga, Agnes, Anna, Bertha, and Caroline. He is at present serving as street commissioner of the village of Celina, Ohio.

Another small mention of Henry gives his middle initial as "H" and says that he "keeps clean the streets and crossings". I haven't been able to find out how long Henry held the position of Street Commissioner. The 1900 census is the only one that gives "Street Commissioner" as his occupation.

Friday's Faces From the Past - Niehaus Sisters

From left to right: Agnes Niehaus, Roger Zimpher, Anne Niehaus, Charles Creeden, Bergie Niehaus, Frank Adair of Celina, Ohio

Charles and Anne were my great-grandparents. I'm not sure when this was taken, but I would guess around 1905. This is one of the earliest pictures I have of Charles and Anne and they look really young here.

Sunday's Obituary - Anna Marie Rohrer Niehaus

MRS. NIEHAUS DIES FRIDAY

At Home of Daughter, Mrs. Charles Creeden

Mrs. Henry Niehaus passed away at 3:15 o'clock Friday afternoon at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Charles Creeden, North Walnut street, with whom she had been making her home for the winter.
She had been seriously ill for several days. Her death occurred at the age of 87 years.
Funeral announcements and further details will appear in Saturday's paper.

The obituary was published in the Celina Daily Standard on October 28, 1938.

Anna Rohrer was my 2x great-grandmother. She was born in Philadephia, PA on July 13, 1851.  She married Henry Niehaus on January 25, 1881 in Celina, Ohio. Their daughter Anna was my great-grandmother.

Fearless Females - Trading Card

March 29 — Create a free Fold3 Memorial Page or a Genealogy Trading Card at Big Huge Labs for a female ancestor. Tell us about who you've selected and why and then post a link to what you've created.

I created this card at Big Huge Labs for my great-great-grandmother, Anna Rohrer Niehaus. I chose Anna for the card partly since I had a nice portrait picture of her, but mainly since I had so much fun tracing her family with my Niehaus cousin Marj! We still have some mysteries to solve with our Rohrer family, but we have learned a lot.

Anna's parents Albert Rohrer and Walburga Fischer were from Ellwangen, Germany. They were listed in Reading, PA in the 1850 census with their first child, Albert and a baby daughter Hannah that was born in Pennsylvania. Anna was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1851. By 1860, Anna's mother had remarried to William Gisler and the family was living in Auglaize County, OH. We don't know what happened to Anna's father or her sister Hannah. Another mystery is that we're not sure what happened to Anna's brother after 1880.

In the 1880 census, Anna is living with her brother Albert in Mercer County, OH. Anna married Henry Niehaus in 1881 and they had six daughters in Celina, OH. Anna died in 1938 in Celina. Her daughter Anna was my great-grandmother.

Once again, in honor of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.

Wordless Wednesday - Nice hat!

This picture was labeled "Henry Niehaus' sister - Fetters". My 2x great-grandfather was Henry Niehaus, so I was curious about which of his sisters this might be. I had married names for all of them, except Catherine Niehaus, born in 1871. I found one match for a marriage between a Fetters and Niehaus: Edwin Elmer Fetters married Katie Niehaus on August 29, 1894 in Montgomery, Ohio. Katie was also born in 1871, so looks like a good possibility that she is the Mrs. Fetters pictured here with her hat!

Sunday's Obituary - Henry Niehaus

This is an obit card from the Mercer County Library in Ohio.

NIEHAUS, HENRY
3-16-23
W. Logan St.
Wife - Anna Rohrer/Mar. Jan. 25, 1881
Age - 68
Died - Wed. Mar. 14, 1923
Born - Sept. 25, 1854 in Luxemburg, Germany
Family - Mrs. F.E. Adair, of Cork, Ark., Mrs. Agnes Eagle, Mrs. Charles A. Creeden, Mrs. Joseph Fredericks, Mrs. Charles Myers of Celina, 7 grand ch.
Funeral - Immaculate Conc. Cath. Ch.
Burial - Catholic Cem.

Henry Niehaus was my great-great-grandfather. He came to the US with his family at the age of 10 or 11 from Wildeshausen, Germany and lived most of his life in Mercer County, Ohio. I don't know whether the birth place of Luxembourg given in the obit card is correct or not, but that was also reported by his wife on his death certificate. Henry and Anna Rohrer had six daughters: Katir, Walburga, Agnes, Anna, Bertha and Caroline. He was a Street Commissioner in 1900 and a newspaper article in 1912 mentions Henry Niehaus as the Director of the County Infirmary. Thanks to Marj for sending me the obit card.

Fearless Females - Shining Star

March 18 — Shining star: Did you have a female ancestor who had a special talent? Artist, singer, actress, athlete, seamstress, or other? Describe.

This photo was a fun discovery from my father's slide collection. It shows my great-grandmother Anna Niehaus Creeden with three of her paintings, two of which I hadn't seen before. I knew that she used to paint, but the only painting we still have is the blue one with the boats in the upper right of the picture.

The photo of the painting pictured above was in the same set of slides and the painting is signed "A. Creeden".

These are a bit blurry, but I attempted to crop the paintings from the top photo.

It is too bad that the family didn't save more of her paintings, but I'm glad we have the one and the photos were a nice surprise. I wish some of that drawing and painting talent had passed down to me!

Once again, in honor of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.

Surname Saturday - Niehaus

My Niehaus family came to the US from Wildeshausen, Oldenburg, Germany.  While I have some information on the names and dates in the family tree, I don't know too much about their life in Germany.  They came to the US in 1865 and settled in Mercer County, Ohio.

My 3x great-grandfather Charles (Carl Theodor Heinrich) Niehaus was born in 1831 in Wildeshausen and died in 1906 in Celina, Ohio. His occupation was listed as a Handwerker which translates to manual laborer or craftsman. His son Henry came to the US with his family at the age of 10 or 11 and lived most of his life in Mercer County, Ohio. On the 1900 census, Henry's occupation is given as Street Commissioner. A newspaper article in 1912 mentions Henry Niehaus as the Director of the County Infirmary. Henry and his wife Anna Rohrer had six daughters: Katir, Walburga, Agnes, Anna, Bertha and Caroline.

Agnes, Anna, Bertha, and Burga Niehaus in the early 1900's in Celina, OH

My great-grandmother Anna Niehaus was the first generation born in the US. She was born in Celina, Ohio on April 11, 1888 and married Charles Creeden on November 27, 1907. According to my father, Anna was the Matron of the Mercer County Jail when Charles was Sheriff in the 1920s. He also said that she was quite the sharp shooter and at one time met and did some shooting with Annie Oakley!

Anna and Charles had three children: Carl Edward (1908-1912), Robert Frank (1911-1995), and Mary Mae (1914-1999). Anna and Charles raised my father after the death of his mother in 1934.

I am lucky to have several nice pictures of my Niehaus family. Carl and Robert are pictured on the far left in my blog header. The second picture from the left is a family portrait of Anna, Carl, Robert, and Charles in 1911. Mary Mae is the young girl with the umbrella.

Once again, thanks to Marj for sharing her information on the Niehaus family. Marj is the granddaughter of Anna's sister Bertha. Thanks also to Heather of Leaves for Trees for her tip on using Excel for ancestor graphics.

Wordless Wednesday - Two great-great-grandmothers!

Anna Rohrer Niehaus and Mary Ann Matson Creeden, 1919

Pictured are two of my great-great-grandmothers in Celina, Ohio in 1919. I sure would love to know what they'd been talking about!

Wordless Wednesday is a daily blogging prompt used by many genealogy bloggers to help them post content on their sites.

Fearless Females - Movie

March 22 — If a famous director wanted to make a movie about one of your female ancestors who would it be? What actress would you cast in the role and why?

Sheriff Creeden and his wife Anna

I would choose my great-grandmother Anna Niehaus Creeden. She was born in 1888 to German born Henry Niehaus and Anna Rohrer Niehaus who was also of German descent. In the 1920's, Anna took an active role as Jail Matron of Mercer County, Ohio while her husband Charles Creeden was the County Sheriff. She had a reputation as being an excellent sharpshooter and one family legend says that she knew Annie Oakley and did some shooting with her. They lived during some exciting times with prohibition, major bank robberies, and Klan uprisings. Another family story says that Anna helped defend the new courthouse during a mob riot. They had some tragedies in their life too, from the death of their first son Carl when he was only four years old and later the death of their daughter-in-law after childbirth. For the actress, I'm thinking Sandra Bullock due to her independent spirit and German ancestry.




=======================================================================================================
Once again, in honor of  National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month..

Fearless Females - Social Butterfly

March 17 — Social Butterfly? What social organizations or groups did your mother or grandmother belong to? Sewing circle, church group, fraternal benefit society or lodge? Describe her role in the group.

I don't know if my mother's ancestors belonged to any social organizations. I remember my mother being involved with school activities as I grew up, but I don't think she belonged to any formal organizations. My father's family was involved in groups associated with their church. The newspaper clipping below lists my great-grandmother Anna Niehaus Creeden as an officer for the ladies auxiliary of the Knights of St. John in 1936. This group was affiliated with the Immaculate Conception Church in Celina, OH. Several of my father's female ancestors were members.

Late update: I found out that my mother was a member of Alpha Iota Sorority while she was at Goldey College!
=======================================================================================================
Once again, in honor of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month..

Anna Creeden - Sunday's Obituary

 This is from the November 9, 1968 Lima News.




Anna Creeden was my great-grandmother. I was still in grade school when she died, but I remember her visiting us in Florida. My Dad was raised by his grandparents, so he had a close relationship with Anna.

Funeral Card Friday - Anna Rohrer Niehaus

Anna Rohrer Niehaus was my great-great-grandmother. She was born in Philadelphia, PA on July 13, 1851 and her parents were John Rohrer and Walburga Fischer both from Germany. She lived in Celina, OH and was married to Henry Niehaus. She died in Celina at the age of 87 years on October 28, 1938. Much thanks to Marj B. for sending me the funeral card!

Wordless Wednesday - Niehaus sisters

Agnes, Anna, Bertha, and Burga Niehaus in the early 1900's in Celina, OH

Anna was my great-grandmother and was married to Charles Creeden.