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

Now what the heck is this? Henry D. Krantzel died November 2, 1884 in New York City? What happened to Daniel Krantzel who keeled over in Cincinnati, Ohio on April 8, 1877? And how is Ernest writing that letter on New York City, Department of Health, Vital Statistics letterhead?

Daniel's death causes me grief alright. I can't for the life of me figure out what exactly is going on here. Is someone trying to defraud the government? Or is this poor widow denied a benefit she was entitled to because, I don't know, she's mentally impaired in some way, so much so she can't recall when and where her husband died? Needless to say the widow did not receive the pension because obviously the U.S. government wasn't going to dish out any dollars to a veteran's widow if they couldn't figure out where and when the veteran died.

What I do know is that whatever his name might of been, he existed.