Week 5 – A Breakthrough Moment
Do I
have a breakthrough moment? Hmmm . . .
Not quite for this year. But I did last year! Oops, make that in 2024. I was working on a brick wall for my paternal
3x great grandparents.
I
started out using DNA to confirm the parents of my 2x great grandmother,
Dorothea Ahrendt, who married Heinrich Johann Ludwig Kludt. Dorothea was born 4 Jun 1836 in Mecklenburg,
Germany. She died 10 October 1919 in
Fruitland, Muscatine Co, Iowa. She married
John Kludt the 27th of November 1857 in Grafton, Ozaukee Co,
Wisconsin. They had six children but
only three survived to adulthood.
Her
death certificate indicated that her father was Christen Arendt but the mother
was unknown (the informant was the Reverend who was probably at the Lutheran
Old People’s Home where she resided just before her death).
Their
marriage certificate indicated that her father was J. Ahrendt. No name was given for her mother.
Well,
let’s see if I can find a birth record.
Jackpot! Found it in the
digitized Lutheran Church records from Mecklenburg. Her full name was Christina Maria Dorothea
Ahrend and her parents were Johann Christian Ahrend and Maria Elisabeth
Ahrend. Then I was able to find a
passenger list from 1854 that lists Chr. Ahrends with his family Maria,
Dorothea, Joh., and Wilhelmina. With
that information, I was able to use online church records and trace the family
back two more generations. I also found
out that Johann Christian Ahrend married Maria Elisabeth’s sister first in
1828. Her name was Maria Dorothea Arndt.
Now, I have some more questions to be answered.
- Are Johann Christian Ahrend and Maria Elisabeth Arndt related?
- Johann’s
maternal grandmother was a Kludt. Does
she tie in to my Kludt family?
