The answer to who the John Gronewold was that contested the 1880-era Dawson County, Nebraska, homestead claim of Cornelia Albers wasn’t found in Nebraska.
It was found in Illinois. That’s where Gronewold and many of the other Ostfriesen homesteaders who ended up in Dawson County originally settled.
And Gronewold was not just a nosy neighbor with no other connection to the family. He was an in-law.
In October of 1870, John H. Gronewold married Antje Siefers in Adams County, Illinois. She was actually Antje (Ehmen) Sievers, widow of Anton C. Sievers and the daughter of Tonjes Ehmen who died in Adams County, Illinois, in 1864.
Tonjes had a sister, Antje (Ehmen) Albers. That’s the Grandma Albers to whom Cornelia Albers (the woman too young to file a homestead claim in 1883 but who did so anyway) eventually assigned her claim in 1884.
John H. Gronewold would have been somewhat familiar with the Albers family as the matriarch was his wife’s aunt. Cornelia Albers (the young woman who filed the homestead claim) would have been his wife’s first cousin once removed. The families shared the connections of kinship and ethnicity and had also been fairly close neighbors in Adams County, Illinois, and in Dawson County, Nebraska. Gronewold’s marriage into the family is what eventually caused him to know Cornelia’s age. It’s even possible that members of the family mentioned that she technically filed her claim before she could legally do so.
After legal maneuvering, Gronewold dropped his contest to the homestead claim of Antje and Cornelia Albers. What happened next is not known.
John Gronewold apparently died in 1889 and is buried in the American Lutheran Cemetery near Gothenburg. There is no mention of a spouse on his tombstone.
Antje (Ehmen) Sievers Gronewold died in July of 1894 and is also buried in the American Lutheran Cemetery–as Antje Sievers. There is no mention of Gronewold on her tombstone.
It looks like I need to check local records in Dawson County, Nebraska. There may be more of a story here than I originally thought.
Lessons:
- Don’t assume a woman never married again just because she’s listed on a tombstone with her first husband’s name.
- Completely research a family in their previous areas of residence.
- A fair proportion of the time there is a connection between people who interacted legally. It just takes time to find out what that is.
Doris Friedl says:
I will be buried with my first husband. My second husband is buried with his first wife. Two different cemeteries. Sometimes pre-planning doesn’t work.
Cindy Abrams says:
My mom is buried with my dad, she remarried after my dad died but she is buried with my dad’s last name. My stepfather was buried with his second wife.