52 Ancestors Challenge Week 22: "Conflict" - 3rd great grandpa, Daniel Krantzel's elusive date of death.

For this theme of "Conflict" I'm writing about unresolved conflicting information for in records.

A lot of my genealogy students and clients get all bent about "misspelled" names. I try to explain spelling is a modern convention and that there are many reasons a name might not be spelled the way you expect it to be. You kind of have to let it go already and accept that spelling never counted.

Frequently I am then asked, "Well, how do you know it is the right person then if the name is not spelled correctly?" The answer to which is you corroborate the record with other details.

And then there are times when the records just leave you stumped. Welcome 3rd great grandpa, Heinrich Daniel Krantzel...or Daniel Heinrich...or is it just Daniel..oh, wait, occasionally you went by Henry. Oh but your birth registration says Johann Heinrich Daniel Kraenzel. Ah, were you a secret agent? Forget the spelling of the last name, when did you died exactly? I don't know. I'm not sure anyone knew. And burial location? Forget that. Look at this mess...

This is his German birth registration:

What? Can't read it? Yeah, me neither. Thus I am relying upon the index which states:

Name: Johann Daniel Heinrich Kraenzel
Event Type: Geburt (Birth)
Birth Date: 21. Mai 1825 (21 May 1825)
Birth Place: Worms, Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate), Deutschland (Germany)
Father: Heinrich Kraenzel
Mother: Anna Catharina Kraenzel

How do I know this is my guy? Well, I have multiple other documents that state he was born in Worms, Germany in 1825 including his U.S. Civil War Muster Roll Abstract which corroborates his place of birth and, with a little math, places his birth in 1825.

Other records, such as the one below, the U.S. Civil War Pension Index, led me to request his Civil War pension file.

Filed beginning in October 1889 by his widow, Elizabeth Goetz-Krantzel (February 12, 1833 - August 25, 1896), it tells me Ole Danny Boy - or whatever you want to call him - had died before October 1889. Can't have a widow without a dead husband, right? Maybe.

The pension file is thick. I see pages stamped by the government ranging in date from 1889 to 1897. Among them I see two potential dates of death for Daniel. On the Application for Widow's Pension form Elizabeth reports that she is "the widow of  Daniel Krantzel, who belonged to Company B, 8th Regiment, N.Y. Volunteers...died at Cincinnati, Ohio on the 8th day of April A.D. 1877..." "...of disease..."

Also among the documents is a death certificate from the City of New York prefaced by a letter written by E. Krantzel, son of Henry D. Krantzel. E. would have to be Ernest Krantzel (October 12, 1863 - October 7, 1921), the youngest son, #4 of the couple's 5 children.

Ernest writes:

Health Department,

Sanitary Bureau

No. 301 Mott Street

Division of Vital Statistics,

New York, ________189_

To the Hon. Board of Health:

I respectfully request that the accompanying "Corrected Certificate" of the death of Henry D. Krantzel, 59 years old, who died opposite 168 Front St., on Nov 2, 1884, be filed with the original Certificate of the death of an "Unknown Man", about 55 years old, who died opposite 168 Front St., on Nov 2, 1884, said unknown man being since identified as Henry D. Krantzel.

Yours respectfully,

E. Krantzel,

Son of Henry D. Krantzel

7 St. Mark's Place

Third Stop: All Faiths Cemetery, Middle Village - Elizabeth Goetz-Krantzel

On Saturday, April 24, 2021, my Cousin Pete accompanied me to several cemeteries in which our ancestors were buried but this one, All Faiths Cemetery, was specific to my mother's side of the family. In other words, Elizabeth Goetz-Krantzel (12 February 1833, Germany - 25 August 1898, NY) is my 3rd great grandmother, not Pete's. Pete is a good soul who indulges me and my wacky genealogy excursions. I love him.

I have written about my Krantzels recently and the sketchy details surrounding the death of Elizabeth's husband, my 3rd great grandfather, Heinrich Daniel Krantzel. Elizabeth, though, I knew was buried in Lutheran Cemetery. All Faiths Cemetery is Lutheran Cemetery. Well, it was first established in 1850 by a Lutheran pastor. Since its incorporation in 1852 though, members of all faiths were permitted burial in this cemetery. Thus, the name. Elizabeth's death certificate from August 25, 1896 clearly indicated she is buried in Lutheran Cemetery. This is the cemetery though, and they are very proud to boast on their entrance sign that are "For People of All Faiths." 

I am fairly certain Elizabeth was Lutheran, though. I am Catholic, as are both of my parents, and both of my grandmothers but neither of my grandfathers were raised Catholic. Grandpa Earle converted to Catholicism. Grandpa Gardner never did, yet, his father was raised Catholic and is interred in a Catholic Cemetery. Religion in my family history was pretty fluid and most reflective of what church the family lived closest to as opposed to a commitment to any specific denomination of Christianity. But I digress - -

It was my hope that this cemetery would reveal that Elizabeth's sketchy husband was buried with her, thereby removing the mystery surrounding his death. Unfortunately though, he's not buried in this cemetery. The clerk made a great effort to find the right plot location for Elizabeth so I trust Heinrich is not at All Faiths.

I went into the office with nothing but Elizabeth's name and dates of birth and death. The clerk looked and looked for any Krantzel on record and their were none. There were, however, a few Crantzels. That's right, they are misspelled in the official plot books. That surname is spelled a dozen different ways on their records; Krantzel, Crantzel, Cransel, Crausel, etc., etc., etc.

First the clerk found an Ernest Crantzel. "Yes!! That is her son!," I exclaimed.

"He died of epilepsy," the clerk stated.

"What?!" My niece just recently had what they think might have been a seizure and the doctors asked if there was a family history of epilepsy. I know of one great-great uncle who lived in a hospital for epileptics back in the early 1900s, no relation to Ernest but also on my mother's side. I called my sister that evening as this perhaps might be of interest to her doctors.

In any case, based on the other details provided to me the plot was purchased by Francis "Frank" Krantzel, another son, to bury their mother, Elizabeth, in August 1896. Elizabeth was 63 years old, 6 months, and 13 days when she died on August 25, 1896 placing her birth at February 12, 1833 in Germany.

She is interred with her son Ernest Krantzel (12 Oct 1863 - 7 Oct 1921) and his wife, Kate Stadleberger-Krantzel ( abt. 1865 - 6 Aug 1917) in Public Lot 2, Map 5, Row 46, Grave 21. 

The grave is unmarked as are so many around them as you can tell by the nearly empty field. The cemetery, although quite beautiful in many ways, was in desperate need of a mow and the main office informed us of this before heading out to the plot. It's early spring and I suppose the landscaping crews have not begun their work their yet. It was so overgrown. Even what they call the Family Lots, owned by families in better financial circumstances than my people. Families like that of, oh say, Donald Trump who's parents, Fred and Mary Trump are interred. They don't have the fancy headstone one might expect/ Their section looks downright abandoned and unkempt as well. 

Gearing Up for a Cemetery Stomping

I am gearing up for a full day of cemetery stomping on Saturday, April 24, 2021. At present my Cousin Pete is planning to go with me. A bunch of the graves I have yet to visit are for individuals from our shared line and the few that are from my mother's side of the family (not Pete's family) are located very close to where Cousin Pete lives in Queens, NY. There are lots of things that Queens is known for but two of the biggest are its airports (LaGuardia & JFK) and cemeteries (far too many to list). 

Of the 59 of my deceased direct ancestors (grandparents, great grandparents, great-great grandparents, and 3rd great grandparents), I have 23 yet to visit. Not too shabby. I know I am blessed to be able to name all of my 3rd great grandparents. Finding records of all their deaths though, is proving to be frustrating. But anyway, on this planned cemetery stomp, I'll be visiting 12.

In the past I posted a map of my planned route through 6 or 7 cemeteries I have to visit. I have since knocked one of them out. I have also come up with quite the visual inventory of who I plan to visit, though.

There is a key to the right of each image: 

The names in White boxes are those I have yet to visit. I have plot locations for these people and I will visit almost all of them on this day of cemetery visiting. Most of them are Grandma Earle's ancestors and, again, are interred in the cemetery belt that stretches through Brooklyn and Queens.

The names in Green boxes are ones I have visited, if not very recently then at some point in my lifetime. I have visited all of Grandpa Earle's ancestors back to my 3rd great grandparents. This is in part due to the fact so many of them are buried near where I live. Grandpa's mother comes from a long line of Long Islanders.

The names in Gray boxes are ones I am working on to finding burial locations. I realize I may never be able to locate some of them. Most of them are my Grandpa Gardner's ancestors, and thus are my French-Canadians. Not only is it a long trip up to Quebec, their records are proving impossible to find. I am grateful for the Drouin Collection but I just can't find them all in there. The Drouin Collection is a French-Canadian collection of over 15 million vital records entries. If you have French-Canadian ancestry and don't know about the Drouin Collection, you need to.

The name in the Blue box I have already posted about; Elizabeth Goetz-Krantzel's death certificate says she is interred in Lutheran Cemetery (a.k.a. All Faiths Cemetery) but they have no record. I plan to interrogate their cemetery office in-person, though.

Grandpa Earle's Ancestors:

Grandma Earle's Ancestors:

Grandpa Gardner's Ancestors:

Grandma Gardner's Ancestors:

Wish me luck!

My Krantzels: I Can't for the Life of Me Figure Out These Deaths

I've got a pair of 3rd great grandparents that are all sorts of sketchy. If I have any kind of shady characteristics, I suspect I inherited that DNA from them; Elizabeth Goetz-Krantzel (12 Feb 1833, Germany - 25 Aug 1896, New York) and Henrich Daniel Krantzel (21 May 1825, Worms, Germany - unknown). 

That's right. I have no clue when or where Henrich Daniel Krantzel died but it's sketchier than that. First off, Henrich Daniel Krantzel shows up in records as, Heinrich, Henry, Daniel, Daniel Heinrich, H. D., D. H., etc. That's not terribly disturbing although it would be divine to see some consistency. It's his death that bothers me the most.

When I obtained Elizabeth's death certificate from the New York City Municipal Archives many years ago, it indicated that she was a widow. Logically I set about to find a New York City based death certificate for Daniel or Henry or whatever he wanted to call himself, prior to August 1896. Keeping in mind that his name was so fluid and I had seen so many variant spellings of Krantzel. My search was unsuccessful.

So I called Lutheran Cemetery which is indicated on Elizabeth's death certificate as the cemetery in which she was interred, thinking that the couple is likely buried together. Lutheran Cemetery is now known as All-Faiths Cemetery. Well, they have no record of an interment for a Daniel or Henry or Henrich Krantzel. They also have no record of an interment for Elizabeth either. Whaaaaaat?

Now I have made that call a couple of times over the years, thinking that maybe I'd get a different clerk who would look in some magical book somewhere and find their spot. Still no luck.

Where are these people?

I thought perhaps the former Lutheran Cemetery's records are not up to snuff so I sort out as many records as I could for this couple, which is really what a genealogist always does.

I learned that apparently H.D. served in the Civil War and that his widow, Elizabeth, filed for his pension. Now this is where is gets really shady.

I obtained the full pension file. It was huge. Apparently, Elizabeth had filed multiple times, in 1889 and 1890. Each time her appeal was rejected for what appears to be lack of details. "Yeah, no kidding, Federal Government." 

In each of Elizabeth's applications she is consistent in stating that "Daniel" was a member of the New York 8th Regiment, Company B and that he died on 8th of April 1877 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati, Ohio??? What the hell was he doing there???

Until - - there is another appeal made in 1891. This claim was also denied but it included a letter that read as follows:

To the Hon. Board of Health:

I respectfully request that the accompanying "Corrected Certificate" of the death of Henry D. Krantzel, 59 years old, who died opposite 168 Front St., on Nov 2, 1884, be filed with the original Certficate of the death of an "Unknown Man", about 55 years old, who died opposite 168 Front St., on Nov 2, 1884, said unknown man being since identified as Henry D. Krantzel.

Yours respectfully,

E. Krantzel,

Son of Henry D. Krantzel

7 St. Mark's Place

Now what the heck is this? Henry D. died November 2, 1884 in New York City? What happened to him keeling over in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1877?

I can't for the life of me figure out the death of this grandpa or the burial location for grandma. Their deaths give me grief alright. I wonder what is really at the root of all this conflicting information. Hmm. I do intend to go to All-Faiths/Lutheran Cemetery and inquire in-person. Maybe when they see my sad face they go to great lengths to search for these two in their records.