TANGLED WEB OF "WOLFS"

      John Jacob Wolf (1808) and his wife Maria Anna Lauf (1811) had three sons -- Jacob, Baltas and Peter. What is amazing to me is how many times Jacob and Maria's grandchildren married into my family of Homrich and Simon.

        Jacob (the eldest son of John and Maria) married Eva Debri and they had 4 children -- Emma, Helena, Peter and Katherina.  Jacob's son Peter (1877-1932) married Elizabeth Homrich (1991-1978). Jacob was the only one of his siblings who married into the Homrich family.

     The middle son of John and Maria Wolf was Baltas (1848-1923), who married Mary Miller (1858-1918), and they had nine children.  Four of the nine children married either a Homrich or a Simon. Adam Wolf (1890-1975) married Emma Homrich and they had 5 children -- Bernard, Matilda, Cleo, Raymond and Delores.  Then John Wolf  (1883-1969) married Oleva Marie Homrich and together they had 8 children -- Genevieve, Albinus, Clara, Bertha, Richard, Kenneth, Marie and Elmer.  Baltas Wolf, Jr. (1885-1949) married Katherine Simon (her mother was a Homrich and her father was a Simon [my 2nd great grand uncle]).  Together Baltas and Katherine had 4 children -- Leo, Geneva, Nicholas and Neola.  Then Christian Wolf  (1888-1963) married another Simon -- Caroline Marianna Simon (who was the sister of Katherine Simon) and they had a lot of kids -- 13 to be exact -- Edwin, Lawrence, Dorothy, Walter, Isadore, Norman, Roger, Sylvester, Viola, Redeatha, Rita, Genevera and Christian.

     Now, the youngest son of John & Maria, is Peter Wolf who married Catharine Meyer.   Peter and Katy (as she was known) had 8 children and so far I have found that 3 of them married into the Homrich family.  Emma Marie Wolf married Quirin Homrich (my 2nd great grand uncle).  Margaretha Wolf married Christian Homrich (son of Anton Homrich).  The youngest child Joseph married Katharina Homrich.  Now to add just a bit more to the confusion (if your head is not already spinning -- I think mine is!) Joseph and Katharina Homrich Wolf had 5 children -- Florence, Frank, Veronica, Matilda and Lorene.  So now these kids are the great grandchildren of John and Maria.   Well, two of these kids -- Veronica and Matilda -- also married a Homrich.  Veronica Wolf married Edmund Homrich while Matilda Wolf married Leander Homrich.

See how much fun my genealogy research is!

The Dilemma

For awhile now I have been contemplating including my research and stories of my German ancestors, beginning with my Grandma Theresa who was married to Grandpa Charlie in this blog.  Would that confuse people?  Maybe those people following the Irish ancestry don’t want to hear about the German ancestry.  What should I do?

          Well, about six weeks ago, I did encourage my son to start his own blog – not on genealogy – but on something that interested him.  I do believe that blogs need to be about your passions.  Well, he graduated with a degree in Creative Writing and his passion is fiction – books, movies, TV shows.  After giving him the advice that he needs to make the theme general enough so that he would have stuff to write about, I decided perhaps to follow my own advice.  

          So, from now on, I will be incorporating information about the Nebgens, the Homrich’s, the Simons, etc., along with the Sherlock’s and Chambers.  After all, the two families assimilated almost 100 years ago. 

Grandpa Charlie married Grandma Theresa on 23 March 1918 in Crown Point, Indiana.    Charlie Sherlock was 17 years old and perhaps was trying to be independent from his mother Bridget, stepfather Joseph and 5 year old brother Joseph.  Theresa Nebgen, on the other hand, was the youngest of 3 daughters.  Her oldest sister Helen had gotten married in 1917 to Albert Cedargreen.  I can’t tell whether her older sister Ann was already married in 1918 or was to be married shortly.  Theresa also had an older brother Emil who wasn’t married yet.  Needless, to say, whether it was young love or a chance to escape, Charlie and Theresa married in 1918.  Of course, I am sure that they were deeply disappointed when their parents told them they would have to live back with their own families for awhile.  Knowing my grandparents, I am sure that didn’t set well with them. 

          It is rather interesting that in the 1920 census, Theresa is listed as Theresa Sherlock and married while living with her parents, while her spouse Charlie was listed as “single” and he was living with his mother and step dad.  Fifty years later in March of 1968, we celebrated the 50^th Anniversary of Charlie and Theresa.  I was in the 7^th grade and remember the anniversary Mass celebrated at St. Genevieve’s Catholic Church in Panorama City, Los Angeles, California and the party that followed at Uncle Eddie’s and Aunt Dolores’ house.  Their 3 sons, daughter-in-laws, and 14 grandchildren and a few great grandchildren celebrated Grandpa Charlie’s and Grandma Theresa’s 50 years together. 

Note: Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Theresa are on the left in the above photo. My Dad, their son, Donald, is 2^nd to the far right.  The photo was taken in the Cocoanut Grove in Hollywood, California in 1946. 

Unrelated Note: For anyone who may be interested, my son’s blog in which he analyzes fiction is at alltherobots.wordpress.com.