Unable to locate..

 As you may recall from my last post, I am searching for the death information regarding Robert Wuerz.  I found a death notice in a newspaper.  I sent a request to Madison County, Illinois for a record search.  I received the reply today.  

"After searching all available records in our office we are unable to locate the death record for Robert Wuerz that you are requesting." 

Below is the letter.

Letter from Madison County Clerk regarding a death record search.

Now I must decide where to look next.  I may try another county in Illinois or possibly see if there is a record in the county in Missouri where the burial was to take place.  

And such is the nature of genealogical research. 

As always, I will keep on searching.

There you are Mr. Robert W. Wuerz...

 I finally found the correct Robert W. Wuerz.  Robert Wuerz is my husband's 2nd great-grandfather.  He is the birthfather of Conrad Francis Wuerz, my husband's great-grandfather.  We didn't have much information regarding him at all.  His Granddaughter, Marion Inez Wuerz Schaal, my husband's grandmother, didn't know anything about him.  Her father, Conrad, was raised by his step-father James Fraser and there was never any real mention of his birth father.  I have been searching for him for years.  I got distracted a few years ago by who I thought was him but it turned out to be the wrong Robert Wuerz.  Here's how I finally located him.

As I tend to do, I just randomly picked a person to work on.  A few months ago I was working on Robert Wuerz.  I did a search on Ancestry.com in the Missouri Wills database.  My husband's family lived in Illinois just across the river from St. Louis, MO so I often expand the search into that state.  I looked for "Wuerz" and came across a will for a Conrad Wuerz but it wasn't my husband's great-grandfather.  

Right there in the will it says, "I also give and bequeath to each and every one of the children of my deceased son Robert W. Wuerz, the sum of One Dollar"

Well, there we have him!  Robert W. Wuerz the son of Conrad Wuerz.  Robert had passed away by the time Conrad wrote this will in 1908.  This fits the information I already have.  Robert's wife Annie remarried in 1902.  We know that Robert was gone by this 1908 document, is it possible he died before 1902 when Annie remarried?  I decided to search Newspapers.com for any information, limiting the dates to 1901-1902 as I believe he had to have been alive in 1901 as Annie gave birth to a second son in 1902 before she remarried; however, I do know that it's possible that the second child was her new husband's.  

CLIPPED FROM

Daily News-Democrat

Festus, Missouri

09 Jan 1902, Thu  •  Page 2

There it is!  Robert Wuerz died the Friday before January 9, 1902.  I pop over to timeanddate.com and look at the calendar for 1902 and figure out that the Friday before was January 3, 1902.  I now have a supposed death date for Robert and can now look for more documentation for Robert.

I tried to search specifically for Alton, IL newspapers for an obit from there but came up empty.  I'm not sure that the papers for that time period for Alton are online yet.  I'm now requesting a search for a death record for Robert Wuerz from Madison, County, Illinois County Clerk.  And now we wait to see what information they may have.  

 I know I'm on the right track now.  Since I've added Conrad Wuerz as the father of Robert Wuerz, the DNA has been connecting appropriately with the descendants of Conrad.  

Apparently, Robert was less than truthful on his marriage license when he married Annie Lawless.  As far as I've seen, he was not born in Chicago, IL and his parents' names were incorrect as well.  

As always, I will keep on searching.

Pardon me...wrong Robert Wuerz

It happens to all of us eventually.  We think we have the right person and we set off researching and detailing their life, searching back further and further until...you realize you are not searching the right person after all.  It's easy to do with common named ancestors and when there are cousins and uncles and even brothers with similar or same names. 

I recently realized that I was chasing the wrong Robert Wuerz on my husband's family tree. The Robert Wuerz I was chasing was an interesting fella with some newspaper articles of the illegal variety and came from a wealthy family.  Turns out this guy is not our guy.  The Robert Wuerz I'm looking for is my husband's 2nd Great Grandfather.  

So here is what I do know about our Robert Wuerz.  

Robert Wuerz was born sometime between 1873 and 1876 in Chicago, Illinois.   He married Annie Lawless 16 May 1898 in Alton, Madison County, Illinois.

I ordered their marriage record from Madison County.  From this document, I see that his name is Robert Wuerz, lives in Granite City, his occupation is Bookkeeper, his age at his next birthday is 25 years and he is white.  Born in Chicago, Illinois.  Fathers name Robert Wuerz and mother's name May Law? *name is so hard to read.  This is his first marriage. 

For Annie we see her name is Annie Lawless, lives in Alton, age at next birthday is 19 and she is white. Born in Jerseyville, the father is William Lawless and her mother's maiden name appears to be Ritter (but it Minard, so I'm not sure why this is incorrect).  This is her first marriage.  

They were married by the Justice of the Peace.  I cannot read the Justice's name.  I do know that Annie's family was Catholic however they were not married in the Church, at least not in the records available for the Church her family went to, St. Peter and Paul, Alton, Illinois.

 

1899 City Directory for Alton, Illinois.  He is listed as Robert W. Wuerz (wf Annie) lab, r 618 Summit.  

Now I have a middle initial.  W.  It doesn't seem to help in my search though.  

29 June 1900  Their son Conrad Francis Wuerz is born.  I do not have a birth record for Conrad but I do have his baptism and it lists his father as Robert Wuerz. While digging through the Church records for St. Peter and Paul I came across the baptism of another child of Robert and Annie!  I do not know what happened to this other son.  

Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield Sacramental Records, 1853-1975 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018.
Original data: Accessed 16 Dec 2020

Joseph Shaffer Wuerz born on 12 May 1902 and baptized on 21 May 1902.  

Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield Sacramental Records, 1853-1975 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018.
Original data:  Accessed 16 Dec 2020

The odd thing is that Annie marries James Frasier on 20 Aug 1902 in Alton.  Three months after this baby, Joseph was born and Baptised!  

Ancestry.com. Illinois, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1800-1940 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

Original data: Marriage Records. Illinois Marriages. Various Illinois County collections.
Accessed 16 Dec 2020

The only other record I have located with Robert Wuerz in it was the 1901 City Directory where he is listed the same as in 1899. 

What happened to Robert Wuerz?  Did he die?  Did Annie and he get divorced?  And now, what about this baby Joseph?  There has been NO indication of this child at all!  Did he also pass?  


So I am still at a loss with what happened to Robert Wuerz.  Grandma Marion only provided me the following  information, "My Dad was born a Wuerz but raised a Frasier."  I have found evidence of her father, Conrad actually using the Fraiser last name until he had to use Wuerz legally when he got married.  She never knew or she never told me what happened to Robert and definitely nothing about this baby Joseph.  

As usual, more questions than answers. Y'all got any ideas?

Wordless Wednesday...Conrad F. Wuerz

Conrad Francis Wuerz 1900-1973
Cody's Great Grandfather
Copy of photo in possession of Marion Wuerz Schaal