Czech Records: Franz Josef Ott

And here is the record for Josef Ott and Anna Strunz’s son, Franz Josef Ott. Franz Josef Ott, who went by Frank or ‘Frankie’ after coming to America, was Anna Marie Ott Spohr’s younger brother.

Franz Josef Ott
Czech Birth Records, Book VI Putschirn, page 79
Photographs IMG_0523 through IMG_0527, and IMG_592 through IMG_0600
Photographs of birth records taken by Steven and Amy Chidester in the Czech Republic in February 2008 (copies of photographs in the possession of Stephanie Chidester Bradshaw). Translated on 21 May 2008 by Sister Gunhild Stefano who offered a weekly German translation service at the family history center in the Milwaukee first ward building of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Transcribed by Stephanie Bradshaw.

"Born 9 June 1877, Baptized 10 June 1877, [name of pastor], name of child: Franz Josef, Catholic, Male, Legitimate,
Place and House Number: Putschirn Number 15
Midwife: Anna Wurzberger in Altrohlau [or Altrenlau?] testified
Father: Josef Ott a miller from Kohling Number 69 old/6 new, the legitimate son of Ignaz Ott a cottager in Kohling Number 69 and Johanna born Meisner of Kohling Number 29.
Mother: Anna Strunz from Imligau Number 8 in the district Elbogen, the legitimate daughter of the deceased Anton Strunz a home owner in Putschirn Number 15 and Katharina born Möckl from Imligau.Witnesses: Franz and Rosina Böhm in Putschirn, ___? married couple”

And like his older sister, Anna Rosina, we have a birth certificate for Franz Josef Ott that has been passed down in the family:

German family document 002
Spohr family documents in the possession of Beverly Monk Spohr of Lee’s Summit, Missouri as of 2006. Scanned copies of the documents are in possession of Stephanie Chidester Bradshaw [numbers were assigned to each document by Stephanie Bradshaw in order to keep track of which translation referred to each document]. Translated and transcribed on 14 February 2008 by Stephanie Bradshaw.

“District Eger Register Book VI Page 79
District Karlsbad Number 224 no[?]
Birthplace Putschirn N. 15
Baptismal Certificate
Day, Month, and Year of
Birth Baptism
9 June 10 June
In the year 1877
seventy seven
Name
of the baptismal witness Of the child
Anton Weigl, Ca____[occupation] Franz Joseph
Religion
Catholic
Legitimate or Illegitimate
Legitimate
Father
Josef Ott, Miller from Kohling N 69 old/6 new. Legitimate son of Ignaz Ott, Cottager in Kohling N 69 and Johanna nee Meisner from Kolhing N 29.
Mother
Anna nee Strunz from Imligau N 8 Elbogen district. Legitimate daughter of Anton Strunz, Cottager in Putschirn N 15 and Katharina nee Möckl from Imligau.
Godparents
Franz and Rosina Böhm ___ ___ in Putschirn
Midwife
Anna Wayberger[?] ___ ___
Given of the Minister’s Office from Lettlitz on 14 April 1890.”

Czech Records: Anna Rosina Ott

Now I will post the records that were found for two of Josef Ott and Anna Strunz’ children, Anna Rosina Ott and Franz Josef Ott.

We have a rather interesting conundrum with my 2nd great grandmother, Anna Marie Ott Spohr, and her sister, Anna Rosina Ott. From our family history that was passed down through the family, we knew that Anna Marie was a twin. Anna Marie came here to the United States, but I always wondered if her twin sister, Anna Rosina, stayed in Europe, or may have possibly also come to America. And before Anna Marie had my great grandfather, Carl John Spohr, she had twin boys who were stillborn. (I always wondered about the possibility of me having twins, since I knew that twins ran on both my mother’s and my father’s side of the family – with the Otts and Spohrs on my mom’s side; and with my dad’s father, John Leo Chidester, being a twin himself – and on Michael’s side of the family, with his uncles being twins). And my mom said that her mother, Beverly Monk Spohr, specifically remembers Anna Marie Ott Spohr (who she and my grandpa both referred to as ‘Grandma Spohr’) telling her that she was a twin herself, and that she also had twins.

When I was first starting to do genealogy years ago, I remember finding different spellings and name variations for Anna Marie’s and her twin sister’s names on handwritten family notes. At one point I had recorded that one sister was named Anna Marie, and the other was named Marie Anna. And another spelling I found for the twin sister’s name was Anna Rosean. But when I found the old German records at my grandparent’s house, I knew I had found the correct spelling for my great, great grandmother’s twin sister’s name, it was very clearly written on an official birth/baptismal certificate: Anna Rosina Ott. And her birth date was the same as Anna Marie’s, so it had to be her, the twin sister. It didn’t seem odd, either, that my family had this birth certificate, even though Anna Rosina was not our direct ancestor, because they also had a similar birth certificate for Franz Josef Ott, Anna’s younger brother. So it was reasonable that they kept copies of the birth certificates of their siblings. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a birth certificate for Anna Marie, and I just figured that her certificate had been lost or destroyed.

So, when my parents went to the Czech Republic and found the birth book for the town of Putschirn, they were excited to find the birth record for Anna Rosina Ott, but perplexed that there was no record of a twin sister, Anna Marie Ott (or for any other sister who was not a twin, for that matter).

When reading the birth record, my parents figured out that it said that Anna Rosina Ott was an illegitimate child. And there was an extra note written below the birth record that explained that Anna Rosina was “legitimized” by the marriage of her father, Josef Ott, to her mother on 22 September 1874 (1 month and 12 days after Anna Rosina was born).
They started wondering why Anna Marie Ott wouldn’t have appeared in the records – if she was Anna Rosina’s twin, she would have been right there on the same page. And the German Catholic records are so extensive, that it’s highly unlikely that they would have recorded the birth of one twin, and accidentally omitted the other twin. So, we got to thinking that maybe Anna Marie Ott really was Anna Rosina Ott. But why would she tell her granddaughter-in-law (my Grandma Bev) and other family members that she had a twin sister? The only possible reason we could think of for creating a story like that was that maybe she was attempting to hide the fact that she was born out of wedlock, by changing her name from the one on the record that said she was illegitimate (although, if this were the case, logically she would have told people that the illegitimate child was an older sister, because if a twin sister is illegitimate, then the other twin would be too). But there is clearly no twin listed in the records. Even stillborn children were recorded in these birth books, so there would really be no reason to have the records for only one twin. But we just can’t really figure out any really good reason for her to have created a story like that. So, I guess for now, I will continue to list Anna Marie Ott and her twin sister, Anna Rosina Ott, in my genealogy file, until (if) we ever find anything more conclusive to prove that there was or was not a sister.

Anna Rosina Ott
Czech Birth Records, Book VI Putschirn, page 68
Photographs IMG_0511 through IMG_0522, IMG_0608 through IMG_0614
Photographs of birth records taken by Steven and Amy Chidester in the Czech Republic in February 2008 (copies of photographs in the possession of Stephanie Chidester Bradshaw). Translated on 20 May 2008 by Sister Frieda Kindt who offered a weekly German translation service at the family history center in the Milwaukee first ward building of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Transcribed by Stephanie Bradshaw.

"Born 10 August 1874, Baptized 10 August 1874, [name of pastor], name of child: Anna Rosina, Catholic, Female, Illegitimate,
Note in Latin: Legitimized per marriage of father, see Putschirn VII page 8.
Note in German: Josef Ott is well known and it is recorded that he is the father of the child. Graslitz on 22 September 1874. [signed by the pastor and witnesses,] Robert Ott witness, Alois Dörr witness.
Father: Josef Ott miller and carpenter (house builder) born in Kohling Number 69 old/8 new, legitimate son of the deceased Ignaz Ott cottager in Kohling Number 19 and Johanna born Meisner in Kohling Number 29.
Note: Josef Ott child's father.
Mother: Anna Strunz born in Imligau Number 8, Elbogen district, daughter of the deceased Anton Strunz, cottager and day laborer in Putschirn Number 15 and Katharina born Möckl of Imligau. Witnesses: Rosina Behm housewife of Franz Böhm, day laborer in Putschirn."

And following is the birth certificate that our family had for Anna Rosina Ott – I believe that the Czech birth registry books were the original birth records, and that the certificates were copied from the information in the books. So, it’s not surprising that this certificate gives us no new information after looking at the birth book.

German family document 008
Spohr family documents in the possession of Beverly Monk Spohr of Lee’s Summit, Missouri as of 2006. Scanned copies of the documents are in possession of Stephanie Chidester Bradshaw [numbers were assigned to each document by Stephanie Bradshaw in order to keep track of which translated was related to which document]. Translated on 14 February 2007 by Sister Gonhild Stefano who offered a weekly German translation service at the family history center in the Milwaukee first ward building of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Transcribed by Stephanie Bradshaw.

“N. Exh. 225 main office of the area:
Karl
District:
[Stamped 1888] Putschirn
Baptism
Looking at the document from 1888 we find in the birth and baptism document for Putschirn book/volume VI page 68 certified, that
Anna Rosina Ott
The daughter of the couple Josef Ott, Miller and Carpenter: born in Kohling no. 68 old/6 new, son of Ignaz Ott living in Kohling no. 69 and Johanna born Meisner from Kohling, and Anna born Strunz born in Imligau no. 8 district Elbogen, married daughter of Anton Strunz living in Putschirn no. 15 and of Katharina born Mockl in Imligau.
on 10 August 1874
one thousand eight hundred and seventy four
in Putschirn no. 15
born in the church of Zettlitz on 10 August from Constantine Winter, chaplain of the Catholic church baptized her. And the godmother Rosina Behm the wife of the worker [paid by the day] Franz Behm and the witness was Anna Warzberger proved midwife in Altrohlau.
Certificates of those and the signature of those that did this and next to it the seal of the priest.
Given by the priest of Zettlitz
on 14 April 1890
[stamped and signed by the chaplain]
printed and sealed at _pis Warnsdorf”

Birth Records from the Czech Republic

So, this is a real treasure. These are the records that my parents were able to photograph from a birth/baptism record book in an archive in the Czech Republic – I don’t believe these records have ever been microfilmed or been made available to the public other than for those who can travel to the Czech Republic and go to the archives in person. So when they found these records, I was ecstatic.

After returning from their trip, having some of the records translated, and sorting through the many papers to piece them together like a puzzle, we learned that the birth record of every child in the book not only provided a birth date and location and the names, residences (often with specific house numbers), and occupations (for males) of the child’s parents, but it also provided that information for the child’s paternal and maternal grandparents too. So, when you find one birth record for an ancestor, you also get information about that ancestor’s parents, and 4 grandparents. And, if the child happened to be born out of wedlock, it seems that they felt a need to include extra information (to make up for the fact that the mother had had the child illegitimately and the name of the child’s father was not often recorded), so they threw in a 4th generation for illegitimate children. The German Catholics sure knew how to keep records!

The other thing we realized is with so many names provided by each birth record, we could potentially connect many of the other residents of the town to the family because they were cousins. Unfortunately, due to time constraints and language limitations, my parents only had enough time to search through the book – taking digital photographs of each record containing a surname that they recognized, and they also didn’t realize until later that there would have also been a separate book for marriage records, and a third book for death records. (So, now it is our goal to somehow get photographs of every page of that birth record book, along with the pages of the marriage and death record books too, and to be able to go through every record to see who was related – someday, hopefully). But it is so exciting to have the records that we do have, and to be able to go through each of those.
First, I’ll give a list of the relatives we’ve found in those Czech records so far, and then I’ll try to show how they are related with some pedigree charts and family group sheets.

(You can click on each chart to zoom in and read it.)

I’ll post the actual photographs and translations of the birth records for these ancestors too, but this post is already pretty long, so I’ll include them in a separate post next.

A Few Spohr and Schaefer Papers

Here are a few papers that I copied while at my grandparents’ house when I was younger:

This handwritten pedigree chart is of my grandpa, Carl John Spohr Jr. It just shows his relationship to the Spohr and Breinl ancestors that were mentioned in the letter from Nonnie Schaefer that I posted earlier.

Here is a handwritten family group sheet showing the family of Ludwig Spohr and Anna Marie Ott, my great, great grandparents.

And this very sparse family group sheet just shows the relationship between my great, great grandfather, Ludwig Spohr, and his sister, Amelia Spohr. It also mentions that Amelia married William Schaefer. (I have found several different spelling variations for the name ‘Amalie’ in different records, and a few even refer to her as ‘Molly.’)

These handwritten notes give little clues about the Spohr family and their relationship to the Schaefer family. It also mentions some of William Schaefer’s and Amalie Spohr’s children.

And this document is pretty cool – the U.S. citizenship certificate for my great, great grandfather, Ludwig Spohr (who went by ‘Louis’ after coming to America). [I remember that this document was very frail when we first found it. In subsequent visits to my grandparents’ house I have never been able to locate the original document again, which makes me wonder if it still exists or not.]