Christian Troutfetter was born Thuringen, Germany, and immigrated to the United States in the 1850s. He lived in western Hancock County, Illinois, until he moved to Thomas County, Kansas, to homestead in the 1880s. He died in Thomas County, Kansas, in 1917. Some things I have learned about research from Christian:
- people can live in one state and work in another–even in the 1870s. Christian lived in Warsaw, Illinois, and ran a butcher shop in Alexandria, Missouri.
- some passenger lists are hard to find. Christian still cannot be located on a manifest (it is assumed he immigrated with his parents, Henry and Barbara Trautvetter).
- sometimes you can stop. I’ve decided that Christian’s passenger manifest is not crucial to my research on him–and one only has so much time when things are not located easily.
- people don’t need to go to court to change their name’s spelling. Sometime after immigrating to the United States, Christian began using the Troutfetter spelling for his name. His kinfolk in Hancock County, Illinois, continued to use Trautvetter.
Charlotte Wilson says:
Today it takes about 19 minutes by car to get from Warsaw IL across the Mississippi River to Alexandria MO (according to MapQuest). How did Christian Troutfetter make the trip every day in the 1870s? By ferry, perhaps?
mjnrootdig says:
Most likely. That 19 minute trip requires crossing the River via the Keokuk, IA-Hamilton, IL bridge.