Sister-Sister

I've been making some great discoveries revolving around the family of Albert Heinrich Holzgraefe and Anne Marie Sophie Kassebaum. The previous post describes the discovery of the maiden name of one of Albert's daughter-in-laws. I've also been looking into the maiden name of his other daughter-in-law, Karoline Kahle. While this research has been going on, I've been puzzled by the lack of information on Albert's oldest daughter, Justine Caroline Wilhelmine. I had a birthdate and that's all. 

More research on the Germany side of things has revealed many helpful insights. For instance, most of the Holzgraefes in my line have lived around Herford since the 1600s at least. Eventually expansion was necessary and the younger sons were more prone to be forced to find employment elsewhere. After getting married and starting a family, Albert and his wife moved a few miles north to a town called Bergkirchen. This is where Henry August and Fredrich were born as well as Caroline Schnake (It seems that Karoline Kahle was from Hannover). In Bergkirchen, Albert was able to save up enough money to help fund the emmigration of his sons. But what happened to Justine Caroline Wilhelmine?

Knowing that the family name was unique in Bergkirchen, I did a search in FamilySearch for any Holzgraefes. I found 2 marriages which seemed promising. One was for a Anna Catharina Holzgraefe to Christian Friedrich Fegel (oo 10 January 1847) and the other was for a Justine Wilhelmine Holzgraefe to Christian Friedrich Fegel (oo 9 January 1848). I also found a birth record for a Emilie Ottilie Fegel (*1 August 1847) with parents Anna Catharina Holzgraefe and Christian Friedrich Fegel. This was all very facinating, but I needed more proof to connect these individuals to my tree. 

The digital records didn't have enough information so I went to the films. Lucky for me, the Family History Library at my University hapens to have the very film I needed. So, I looked up the marriage records for '47 and '48 and sure enough found the two Holzgraefes marrying the same man one year apart from another. The church record also noted that both Holzgraefe brides were daughters of Albert and Anne Marie Sophie Kassebaum. They were sisters. The record also mentioned that Anna Catharina H. was born 29 April 1819 in Hiddenhausen and died in September 1867 (probably in Bergkirchen). When I scrolled over to the other marriage record I found that her sister, Justine Caroline Wilhelmine H. was born 19 September 1821 in Hiddenhausen, Westfalen. 

It appears that Anna Catharina H. died shortly after giving birth and that her husband, Christian Fegel, married her sister after her death. Little Emilie was raised by her Aunt/step-mother. Nothing has been found regarding Emilie yet. 

The moral of the story is: Secondary sources may not have all the information you need, but they can lead you to the primary sources that do.