Saturday, March 23, 2013

Surname Saturday: Last Name Unknown (Possibly Breuning)

Oh, I'm not liking this Surname Saturday, the blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers. I have next to nothing for you because here in the fifth generation, there's a big ugly brick wall. Mom has worked on it and another researcher has too. Now it will go on my To Do list and I'll take my best shot in rotation. I can almost feel the other genealogists who've tried this line before having a good laugh at this beginning intermediate who will undoubtedly stumble around a lot as I try to find Chicago and German records. I'll be looking for my 2nd GGM, Anna Mary (?) Zeller who married my 2nd GGF, Charles William Zeller. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

He's a short look at all that we've got.

1. Diane Kelly Weintraub

2. Francis Patrick " Pat" Kelly
(1916 - 2007)
3. Virginia Williams, living and loving it

4. John Lee "Lee" Kelly (1892 - 1969)
5. Helen Gertrude Zeller Kelly ( 1894 - 1985)

10. Gustav William "Gus" Zeller (1858 - 1927)
11. Moretta Workman Zeller (1859 - 1946), everyone called her "Ma"
They had these 5 children:
Charles Sample Zeller ( 1880- 1966)
Adelbert "Burt" Zeller ( 1883 - 1947)
Gustav William "Gus Jr." Zeller Jr. (1884 - 1964)
5. Helen Gertrude Zeller Kelly ( 1894 - 1985), that's Grandma Kelly there:)
Anna M. Zeller ( 1882 - 1882)

20. Charles William Zeller ( 1829 - 1901)
21 Anna Mary (possibly Breuning/ Browning/ Bruning) Zeller (1834 - 1906)
See that "Bruning" I put in there? I sort of remember that name when I just got started doing genealogy but failed to take even a scrap of a note about the source! The name stuck in my head and so I entered it this week on Mom's Ancestry tree while preparing this post and some leaves started shaking at me. I checked out Ancestry member trees and a couple had Browning. I then changed it to the more German Breuning and got nothing. I then translated "brown" into german and saw that it was "braun" so I entered Brauning as her surname. Still nothing. I'm still confused.
This couple were both born in Werttemburg, Germany. They immigrated and settled in the little town of Frostburg, Allegany County, Maryland. Mom believes there were relatives in the area and a search of local records turns up a number of other Zeller families, although their exact connection mystifies us.
After 1878 when the last of the children was born in Frostburg, and before 1886 when Henry died in Chicago, the family moved to Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. All the children except Gustav are buried in the Chicago area. The local Cumberland, MD newspaper mentions Anna Mary's death in the issue printed on 17 Sept 1906 and says she and her husband were residents of Frostburg 22 years ago, making their moving date about 1884. Good tip from a local newspaper! Too bad it didn't give a maiden name.
Charles was a confectioner and his wife, Anna Mary, was a diabetic. Go figgure! Charles ran a very popular sweets store in Frostburg until he moved to Chicago. I wonder if he realized the wider potential of his success in Frostburg and decided to move to the larger market Chicago would promise?
In checking the 1870 US Census Mary Ann is listed as being a milliner. Seems to me I remember Grandma Kelly telling a story about a milliner. Maybe Mom remembers better that I do.
In the 1900 census they are living in Chicago, he's 71 and working as a baker. It says that he was naturalized in 1851 and Anna Mary did the same in 1852. He owns his house free of mortgage.
They had these 11 children:
Charles Zeller (1855 - ?)
10. Gustav William Zeller (1858 - 1927)
Gotlieb Zeller (1861 - 1889)
George Zeller (1862 - 1931)
Delbert Zeller (1865 - after 1910)
Frederick Zeller (1869 - 1932), he and John are twins
John Zeller (1869 - 1945), he and Frederick are twins
Henry Zeller (1870 - 1886)
William Zeller (1872 - 1906)
Daniel Zeller (1875 - ?)
Annie Mary Zeller (1878 - ?)

That's all I have, sad to say. But wait, don't go. I have a photo, well not of Anna Mary. Bummer.


20. Charles William Zeller ( 1829 - 1901)
Husband of Anna Mary.

10. Gustav William Zeller (1858 - 1927)
 
 
Just an observation, but you'd think that if there is this fine photo of Charles William Zeller that there'd be a fine photo of his wife, Anna Mary. He predeceased her so, well, wouldn't you think she'd had her picture made if her husband did? Sure would kike to find a cousin who has that!

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/03/surname-saturday-last-name-unknown.html

2 comments:

  1. Some thoughts that popped into my head when I was reading this:
    Breuning could also be BrĂ¼ning, Bruning or Bruening.
    Do you know Charles William's parents names? Children were often named after their grandparents so eliminating the father's family may leave you with clues to the mother's family.
    I noticed that you have a different naturalization date for her (1852) than her husband (1851). As married women were naturalized with their husbands, and children with their fathers, this suggests she was not married when she was naturalized. Did you find his naturalization papers? It may specify when he came over.
    There is a 3-4 year gap between their naturalizations and the birth of their first child, which makes it likely that they married in the US. Did you find their marriage record?
    Did you find his passenger records?
    Also, I just watched a great presentation on this topic by Kory Meyerink that you may be interested in as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB5x1SYYy4I

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    Replies
    1. Oh! Thank you so very much for putting your good knowledge behind this! I'm saving all of what you wrote so that when I get back to this family I have it as reference:) Will try all of the variations on Breuning, that's an excellent thought. Do not know Charles' parents names but will look at naming traditions in conjunction with that pursuit. Yes, I noticed the naturalization dates too and thought it odd but as you say, if they wern't married at the time they were naturalized that would explain that:) I bet they were not! And thanks too for the YouTube link! Cheers, Diane

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