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First Generation
1. Charles MUNTZ was born about 1818 in Mecklenberg,
Germany.
He died on 18 Oct 1862 in Elgin, Kane County, IL. He was buried
in Elgin, first in Channing Street Cemetery but later moved to Bluff City Cemetery.
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The record I have made here of my great, great grandfather Charles Muntz's
first wife being Auguste and their immigrating from Germany in 1852 requires
explanation, because it is only a probability - though a strong one I think -
until hopefully someday corraborated or refuted.
We know - from a biographical sketch about his son, Henry Muntz, Sr., in an 1878
Kane County history book - that Charles brought his family to the US about 1853
from Mecklenberg, Germany. We also know - if family notes are correct - they
were from the town of Marlow in Mecklenberg and probably landed at Ellis Island.
A search of "Germans to America - Lists of Passengers Arriving at U.S.
Ports" (Vol. 4 for 1850-1855), lists as arriving from Hamburg, Germany into
New York on 9/30/1852, on the ship Johanna Elise, the following apparent family
(birthdates in parentheses assume ages shown in the record were as of 1852):
Carl Muenz (1820) - a farmer
--- Auguste Muenz (1817) - female:
--- Sophie Muenz (1847)
--- Heinrich Muenz (1850)
--- Minna Muenz (1847) - female
I believe there is a very good chance the Carl above is our Charles - with his
family - because: (1) Sophie and Heinrich (Henry) have same names and virtually
matching birth years as family and other records show for Charles' two oldest
childre; (2) Carl's birthday is only 4 years later than an undocumented family
estimate of Charles's; and (3) Minna, because she is listed last in the record,
may well be the youngest of the 3 immigrant children, and been 5 months, not
5 years as recorded, old. This would match her up with Charles' 3rd child, Amelia
i.e. Minna a nickname.
Auguste, then, would be Charles' first wife (name otherwise unknown). It's reasonably
possible she died giving birth to their 4th child, Bertha, in 1854, and Charles
remarried Mary Maiden? prior to their having in 1861 his 5th child, my great
grandfather, Albert Charles "A.C." Muntz.
A family note suggests Bertha was born in Germany in 1854 - but only one or the
other can be true if the family immigrated in 1852 or 1853.
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I also found two records either of which, though not both, might include our
Charles (Carl) as a baby and the family he grew up in (whom we otherwise know
nothing about). Without corroboration to decide between these records, I judge
here to NOT include these folks (who would be Charles' parents and two siblings
in one case, and just his parents in the other) in my Muntz family tree here
- other than to use one record to estimate our Charles was born in 1918, a compromise.
The first of these two records is from the recently digitized 1819 census taken
in Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The youngest of 3 children in an apparent family of
5, from Marlow, is Carl Münz. The five (using some German words from the
census) are:
Johann Münz - born 5/1888 - a Tischlermeister born in Lüdershoff
Dorothea Münz Kaplon - born 8/13/1783 - wife, born in Kirchbaggendorff
---Friedrich Münz - born 8/12/1810 in Marlow
---Christian Münz - born 7/8/1813 in Marlow
---Carl Münz - born 8/9/1818 in Marlow
I would speculate that Kapon might be Dorothea's maiden name - can't be sure
though.
The 2nd record is from a familysearch.com IGI (International Genealogical Index),
showing a Carl Muenz with parents as follows:
Johann Eberhard Muenz
Elizabeth Bredt
---Carl Muenz - born 5/14/1816 and christened in Evangelisch, Solingen, Rheinland,
Preussen.
I favor the first, Münz family as of our baby Charles because it is from
Marlow. But I hope corroboration someday confirms one of these families - either
- is related to us. Both Münz and Muenz, I'll add, are acknowledged alternative
spellings of Muntz in name dictionaries. Charles MUNTZ and Augusta? were married
before 1847 in Germany?. Charles MUNTZ and Augusta?
had the following children:
Charles MUNTZ and Mary were married maybe
1858 in Elgin, Kane County, IL?. Mary was
born in 1835 in Wurttemburg, Germany. Charles MUNTZ and Mary had
the following children:
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