The Great Merger: Holzgrafe and Schurmeier

In searching for records of my second great-grandfather, Henry Louis Holzgrafe, I came across a very interesting situation. I can find Henry Louis in every US Census for which he was alive...except the 1870 census. At the time, he was about 10 years old and should be found with his family still. His father, Fredrich Holzgrafe, had passed away in 1867 at the early age of about 39 years. Henry Louis was only 6 years old at the time, although some accounts say he may have been younger. His mother, Caroline, was now the widow-mother of four young children. At about the same time as the death of Fredrich, another couple suffered a similar loss nearby. Henry Schurmeier, father of four, lost his wife, Wilhelmine in 1866. The two families, one fatherless, and the other motherless must have known each other well, for on 13 February 1868 Caroline Holzgrafe married Henry Schurmeier. The two families merged together. The list of children now included Henry jr., John, Hanna, and Wilhelmine from Henry Schurmeier and Louis, Ferdinand, Matilda, and Henry from Caroline Holzgrafe. Henry and Caroline eventually had two of their own: Fred and Ben.

Marriage Certificate for Henry Schurmeier and Caroline Holtzgraefe

Here comes the interesting part. In the 1860 census, we find both families separate and complete. In 1870, after the great merger, we find every one there...with a couple errors. First off, the surname is recorded somewhat awfully by the enumerator and appears as Shermin instead of Schurmeier. Then, all the children are listed with no last name, an indication that all had the same surname as the head of the household which was not true. In the 1870 census, there was no place to record the relationship of the individual to the head of the household; however, we do find written vertically aside the names of Matilda (Holzgrafe) and John (Schurmeier) the word "Twins". Indeed it can be found that they were about the same age, but why would they list them as twins? Also (and here's the big mystery) we find a 10 year old Charles in the household...but no Henry Louis. I searched long and hard everywhere I could think of for Henry Louis in the 1870 census with no luck.

Then it hit me. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong and I wasn't sure what it was, but Henry Schurmeier and Caroline both knew what it was. Perhaps they wished to avoid paying extra taxes or perhaps they wished to keep this merger a secret. For whatever reason, it seems as though whoever reported the family's information to the enumerator lied. If you think about it, everything would work out just fine...except for the fact that each spouse had a child about the same age. There was no way around the awkward questions so they simply said that Matilda and John were twins. Also, why would you name two of your children Henry? So, after reporting the oldest son, Henry Jr, whoever was reporting this to the enumerator had to make up a name for Henry Louis. Since both Henry and Louis were now taken, Charles made it on the census and stayed. There never was a Charles Shermin. It was Henry Louis all along! Very curious. Why would they pretend the merging of the two families never took place? By the 1880 census, all of Caroline's children had left the home and kept the surname Holzgrafe (Except for Matilda who married a Bertram and eventually had 11 children).

Considering all the evidences, there is no doubt in my mind that the 'Charles Shermin' reported in the 1870 census is in fact Henry Louis, my second great-grandfather.