Questions from an 1880-era Letter

In “Father Comes to Visit in the 1880’s and Sponsors Two Grandchildren,” my “non-immigrant” relative’s visit to his immigrant daughter is documented in materials from the 1880s. Johann Gerhard Grass was not a late-in-life immigrant who stayed in the United States. He returned to his homeland. But there’s more to the letter than his short stay in the United States.

There were two documents that provided evidence that Johann Gerhard Grass was in the United States for some time in the 1880s (his daughter’s letter and his presence at his grandchildren’s baptism). He died in December of 1888 in Wiesens, Ostfriesland, Germany. (At least according to Grass’ entry on page 82 of Die Familien der Kirchengemeinde Wiesens: (1642-1908), written by Gerd Kroon in 2004). The lives of Johann’s two children in the United States (Bertus Grass and Noentjelena (Grass) Ufkes) have been fairly well documented and most of Noentje’s older grandchildren were knowledgeable about their immigrant ancestors. Given that these two children lived in the same general area, Hancock and Adams Counties in Illinois, it seems likely that if Johann had immigrated, he would have settled near them and that family members would have known about it.

In addition to providing evidence about Johann’s time in the United States, the Ufkes letter raises several other interesting questions–not all of which are related to Noentje’s father, Johann Grass:

• How was the house moved from the Klass Garrels (Claus Garrelts) farm to the Ufkes farm? This may take a little work on my part, but I have an idea of how it might have been done.
• How far from the Ufkes farm from the Claus Garrelts farm? This is answerable on land records and perhaps a county atlas from the time period.
• When did Johann Grass arrive in the United States? This will require a search of passenger lists using a variety of sites. 
• Where did Johann Grass land upon his arrival in the United States? Same as question above.
• When did Johann return to Germany? This is going to be more difficult to answer as I would need emigration records from the United States and immigration records into Germany.
• And the question I was asked by a reader: “Was Johann actually at both the baptisms?”

That last question is a good one and one that I’m not ready at this point to answer. Based upon the letter from his daughter it’s pretty clear that he was physically present at the 1883 christening. It should also be noted that the child was named for Gerhard. In some cases, sponsors at baptisms were sponsors by proxy and a reader wondered if that might have been the case at one of these baptisms. It’s possible. In reading other records from that church, I don’t remember seeing that phrase used to describe a sponsor.

However–I didn’t read every christening entry and I was not looking for that phrase when I was reading the entries. I only read names in christening entries of those who were family members. However, since I’m related to nearly half the church congregation, I did look at a high proportion of entries. But since I was not looking for a proxy notation at the time, I might not have noticed it as I was more focused on names, dates, and relationships.

So that’s another question I have to answer. It is important to remember when answering the proxy question that I remember that I am dealing with a Lutheran congregation from northern Germany in the later part of the 18th century. What the Italian Catholic procedure for proxies was in the 1500s is not going to prove anything–although it would indicate that there was a time and place where the practice was in place.

One letter, so many questions.