Fred Schleiniger: Uncle Charles and an Interconnected Family Tree

Fred died.

It was the first thing I found when I began to research his life, after concluding that our Fred Schleiniger in the photo was indeed the Fred Schleiniger from the Schleiniger family of New Orleans we examined in the last blog post.

His his notice of death appeared in a September 30th, 1952 edition of Massillon, Ohio's The Evening Independent:

Fred Schleiniger, who had resided with his cousin, Mrs. Fred Snyder of 432 7th St NE, died suddenly early Monday evening in the Massillon city hospital, apparently of a heart attack. Mr. Schleiniger ... collapsed while at work Monday morning and was taken to the hospital in the ambulance ... he died at 6:15 pm. A native of St. Louis, Mo., he had resided in Massillon the last 34 years. He was a member of Massillon lodge No. 441. Surviving are a Miss Louise Schleiniger, sister, of New Orleans, LA, and two brothers, Alvin and Charles Schleiniger, both of New Orleans.

While I was still harboring small doubts that it was the same Fred (how did he get to Ohio?) the notice of death confirmed it - survived by a sister Louise, and two brothers Charles and Alvin.

Fred Schleiniger's draft registration card
I was also discouraged to see that it appeared Fred died single, with no kin to return his photo to. But I was still interested in acquainting myself with the man in the photo, and his life before his death, so I searched a bit more.

Fred Schleiniger was born on February 15th, 1894 in Missouri, and spent much of his formative years in New Orleans. When he was but 23, he registered for the draft and listed his address as 313 S. Solomon St. New Orleans - an address that doesn't appear to exist anymore. At the time, he was single and worked as a clerk.

I can't be sure he was ever drafted, but we do know that three years after he registered, he was living in Ohio with the Bretz family. Louis Bretz, a widow and listed as Fred's cousin, was living with his two daughters Hattie (29) and Eva (30), along with Fred, who was working as a garage salesman.

I'm happy I found Fred, but I'm confused as to where the surname Bretz comes from. If Louis and Fred are cousins, it would mean one of Fred's aunts or uncles married into the Bretz family - but that surname was nowhere to be seen in the family tree I put together. Perhaps Louis' wife was the blood-related cousin of Fred? So I do some digging and find out who she was.

By searching for Hattie's birth record, I find that she was born to Louis Bretz and Louisa Albrecht - a surname that is still no where to be seen in the Schleiniger/Zimmerman family tree. Moreover, Louis and Louisa don't seem to have any ostensible ties to the New Orleans area.

I search a little further into Louis Bretz and Louisa Albrecht, and I find a marriage certificate for their son Charles, who married Katharine Keim in 1909.  Katherine's parents were Conrad and Katharine Keim.

Conrad Keim...

How do I know that name?


Then I remember - Keim was Elise Iber's maiden name. And Charles' young bride Katharine was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where Elise lived. There is too much of a coincidence here for Conrad Keim, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, not to be related to our Elise.

A little digging returned a death notice for Katharine (or Catherine) Keim - Charles' bride's mother (I know, I know... too many Katherine Keims) - from the June 11, 1929 edition of The Courier - News from Bridgewater, New Jersey. It lays out the connection:

C.E. Keim Dies in Garwood: The funeral of Mrs. Catherine E. Keim, 76, wife of Conrad Keim, who died Saturday of old age infirmities at her home in Garwood, was to be held this afternoon at 2:15 o'clock from St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Center Street, Garwood, followed by interment in Evergreen Cemetery, Elizabeth. Mrs. Keim was born in Germnay and came to America 43 years ago and had lived in Garwood since 1897. She was a member of St. Paul's Church and its Ladies' Aid Society and was also a charter member of the ? Women's Lodge 3 of Elizabeth, and served for a number of years as its president and its treasurer. Mrs. Keim leaves besides her husband, four children: Mrs. Anna K Waters and Mrs. Charles W Bretz of Garwood, Conrad H. Keim of Garwood, and Mrs. Elise K Iver of El Mora. Also three grand children: Arthur K. Iver, Anna Iver, and Walter W. Keim. 

From this it would seem that our Elise Iber is the daughter of Conrad and Katherine/Catherine. In other words, she is the sister-in-law of Charles Bretz.

If you're a little confused, here is a family tree that may help out:


'Uncle Charles' is Charles Bretz
It's still unclear how Fred fits in with all of this. I couldn't find any relation between his Schleiniger or Zimmerman families to the Bretz or Albrecht families, and maybe we'll just have to leave it at that. But this new discovery gives us some exciting information about the other man in the photo: 'Uncle Charles' is definitely Charles Bretz.

I am also excited to have another lead with returning Elise's photo. Though  I reached out to a few men who I believed were descendants of Elise's son, Arthur, I was met with silence. In addition, I couldn't find any record of her daughter Anna's life beyond a 1940 census, during which time her and her husband Carl Goger were in their 40s and did not have any children listed along with them. Elise's descendants were a dead end for this project, but with this new lead I have new potential families to research.

Who was Uncle Charles Bretz?

Charles was born in Massillon, Ohio, to Louis Bretz and Louisa Albrecht around 1887. He married Katharine Keim in 1909, and one year later the 1910 census shows the young couple, ages 23 and 21 respectively, living in Jackson, Stark, Ohio.


Eight years later, in July of 1918, the photo of Charles and Fred is taken, most likely in Ohio. Because Charles is quite older than Fred (about eight years), I would assume Charles is on the left and Fred is on the right. What do you think?

Ten years later, in 1920, Charles appears in Garwood, New Jersey - he is living alone in a rented home, but he is still married to Katharine. Katharine doesn't appear in any census data - I thought perhaps if they moved back to Katharine's home town of Elizabeth (of which Garwood is a suburb) then she may appear in census data with her parents - but no, Conrad and Katharine Keim the elders are living alone.

In 1930, one year after Katharine's mother's death, the two live together again, still in Garwood. They're 45 and 41, but no children are listed on the census... it would seem that Uncle Charles is a dead end for finding someone to return Fred and Charles' photo to - from both the 1930 census and the death notice, we can assume Charles and his wife never had any children.

This is all getting to be a little too much! Now we know that Fred Schleiniger, Charles Bretz, and Elise Iber were all a part of the same (albeit distant) family, which explains why all their photos were together at Miss Pixie's: they all originated from the same album.

With all the dead ends I've been met with in regard to Elise and now Fred and Charles, it's getting difficult to determine who these photos should belong to. Here's until next time.







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