Gathering Leaves

In my book Gathering Leaves, in the chapter titled Brick Walls and Puzzle Pieces, I talked about how I found the parents and family of my maternal grandfather’s mother, Helen Spiegel. From census records and city directories, I was able to assemble the family of my great-grandmother as it was before she married my great-grandfather in 1901, and I also was able determine what became of her parents and siblings to at least the end of the 1920s. Yet, I recently found information while visiting the Family Search Records pilot that brought into question or conflicted with some of the information that I found previously. One of the databases hosted by the Records Pilot site provides access to images of death certificates issued by the state of Texas between 1890 and 1976. Here I found three death certificates that each contained some information that was not only contradictory but also confusing.

One death certificate, the one for my great-grandmother, Helen Spiegel Dobbs, contained a minor, yet understandable mistake. My grandfather, James M. Dobbs, signed the informant’s box for the certificate, dated 17 April 1950. Each certificate contains a section that lists the parents of the deceased. On my great-grandmother’s death certificate it lists her father’s name as "Mr. George C. Von Spiegel", birthplace Germany and lists her mother’s name as "Kathyrn ?", birthplace Germany.  It is interesting that the last name is listed as "Von Spiegel" and not "Spiegel", because I have seen the surname in this form only one time previous. This was in an announcement that appeared in the September 9, 1901 edition of the Atlanta Constitution stating that Marietta-native James M. Dobbs and Miss Helen Von Spiegel were recently married in New York City.   However, the problem on the death certificate is that Helen’s mother is listed as "Kathryn". Her mother’s name was Sophie and her stepmother’s name was "Katherine". This is an understandable mistake because Sophie died about 15 years before my grandfather was born and the woman that he would have known as his grandmother died was he was in his early twenties. This mistake is minor when compared to the mistakes that appear on the other two death certificates.

First, a little background of what I know of my great-great-grandfather, George C. Spiegel, from other records. The earliest record that I have found of George C. Spiegel is in the US Census of 1870 for Savannah, Georgia. Here George is listed as a 31-year-old cigar maker who was born in Sachsen (Saxony, Germany) along with his wife, Sophie, age 24, who was born in New York and his one-year-old son, George, who was born in Georgia. From here, I estimated George, Sr.’s birth date as about 1839 and this date is consistent with later census records. The family next appears in the census of 1880 in Dallas, Texas, where George C. Spiegel, cigar maker, age 41, along with his wife Sophie, age 34, and five children, George (11), Cassia (10), Nellie (8), Charly (3), and August (1). Both George and Cassia are listed as born in Georgia and the other children are listed as born in Texas.

From the 1870′s to the turn of the century, George C. Spiegel is listed in a number of Dallas city directories. In 1875, he is listed as a cigar manufacturer residing at 610 Wood. In 1878, he is shown with the same occupation residing at 616 Wood. In 1884, his residence is listed as 1011 San Jacinto. At this address is listed George C. Spiegel, cigar manufacturer, and George E. Spiegel, cigar maker. This is last place where the name "George E. Spiegel" appears. In the 1886 Dallas city directory is listed "Spiegel, George C.", cigar manufacture, residing at 1101 San Jacinto,   but George E. Spiegel is not listed. In the 1890 Dallas City directory, George C. Spiegel, cigar maker, is listed with Nellie and Cassia, whose occupations are listed as sales ladies, residing at 343 San Jacinto.  In 1901, George C. Spiegel, cigar maker, and Nellie Spiegel, sales lady, are listed at the same address.

In the 1880′s, German-Americans made up the largest emigrant population in Dallas. They had a least one German language newspaper and German societies that celebrated annually the Maifest and Oktoberfest. The name George Spiegel shows up a few times in the Dallas newspaper in the association of the German-American Club and the Cigar Maker’s Union.

The 1900 US Census for Dallas, Texas shows that at 343 San Jacinto resided the family of George C. Spiegel, born October, 1839, cigar maker, who emigrated from Germany in 1850. His wife’s name is now listed as Kate, born March 1860 in Germany. The other occupants are listed as daughter Nellie – born June 1874 – occupation saleswoman, son Eddie R. – born October 1888, and son Hans – born June 1890. The married column on the census records shows that in 1900 George C. and Katie  had been married 13 years prior. This would indicate that they were married around 1887 and sure enough, "Dallas County Marriage Book J" published by the Dallas Genealogical Society shows that a George C. Spiegel and Katherine Grenback were married in 1887. When I first found this marriage record, I did not make the connection between the entry found the 1900 census and made the assumption that the person marrying Katherine Grenback was the son, George Spiegel, and not my great-great-grandfather, George C. Spiegel.

I did locate George E. Spiegel in 1900. He is single and living in a boarding house in Huntsville, Texas. His occupation is listed as cigar maker. His age is 30-years-old, born Georgia, June 1869 – father born Germany, mother born New York.  Also in the 1900 census, I found a Charles Spiegel living in Carbon County, Wyoming. He is a railroad worker. His age is listed as 24-years-old – born in Texas in July 1875. It lists his father birthplace as Germany and his mother’s birthplace as New York.

In 1901, my great-grandmother, Helen Spiegel married my great-grandfather, James M. Dobbs. They were married in New York City (which is still a puzzle as to why they were in NYC, while other accounts say they were married in Mexico City). My grandfather, James M. Dobbs, Jr. was born in Dallas, Texas on 4 July 1902 and shortly thereafter, they moved to Atlanta, Georgia.

The 1910 US Census for Dallas, Texas presents a bit of a problem because George Spiegel is nowhere to be found.

In the 1910, I did find a Charles J. Spiegel, age 38, saloonkeeper, born in Texas, both parents born in Germany, with his wife Selena and 3 children. I could assume this be the same person as the "Charley Spiegel" found in the 1880 census, but if he was 38 years old in 1910 then his year of birth would be about 1872 and not 1877 as he is listed in 1880. I think that this "Charles J. Spiegel" is probably the same as the Charles J. Spiegel who is found in the 1900 census listed as a farmer, age 28, in Lavaca County, Texas. He may also be the same as the "C. J. Spiegel" whose 18-year-old daughter, Pearl Spiegel, was murdered in San Antonio in 1917. Her death certificate shows that she was born in Lavaca County, Texas in 1898.

In addition, in the 1910 census is shown a Katie Spiegel, age 50, married 22 years and having two living children. Her residence is a country club in Dallas and her occupation is listed as "house keeper".  This is all consistent with previous information for Katherine Spiegel: that she was born about 1860, was married about 1888, and had two children, Eddie and Hans. However neither George C., George E., August, Eddie, nor Hans are found in the 1910 census. I found no record for August Spiegel after the 1880′s. Helen, of course, is married now and living in Georgia. Her sister Cassia (Catherine) is assumed to be also married, but her married name is unknown.

Moving forward to 1920, George C. Spiegel appears for the last time in the census records. He is listed in Dallas, Texas as age 86 along with Kate age 60 and Hans Paul age 30, occupation mechanic. The only inconsistency here is George’s age. This would make his birth year about 1834 and not 1839. This record also shows that George emigrated from Germany in 1851 and was naturalized as an US citizen in 1860. For Kate it shows that she emigrated in 1876 and became a citizen in 1882.

In the Texas State Death Index, I found listed a George C. Spiegel who died in Dallas county in 1925 and a Katherine Spiegel who died in 1922 in Tarrant county. Tarrant county is the county next door to Dallas and where Fort Worth is located.  Lastly in the 1930 census for Dallas, Texas I found only Hans P. Spiegel, age 40, a salesman for Radio Corp., listed with his wife, Ella, age 30 along with two step-sons, Francis Christenot, age 16 and Jerome Christenot, age 14.

At this point, I was fairly satisfied that I had a complete picture of the family of Helen Spiegel and her father, George C. Spiegel. That was until I visited the "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976" collection at the Family Search Record Pilot and found three death certificates that contained conflicting and confusing information and two other death certificates that did contain supporting information.

As I have already mentioned above the 1950 death certificate for my great-grandmother contained an understandable and easily explained mistake where my grandfather listed as the name of his mother’s mother as "Kathryn ?". This is understandable because the woman he would have grown up knowing as his grandmother was actually his mother’s stepmother.

The second death certificate I found was for a "Mrs. Katherine Spiegel" who died 26 Jan 1924 in Dallas, Texas.  It gives her age at death to be 68 years and her birth date is listed as 17 March, 1855. This is a difference of five years for what is previously known as Katie Spiegel’s birth year. It also shows that she was married at the time of her death. The informant section is signed by George C. Spiegel and the problem is in the section that should list the parents of "Mrs. Katherine Spiegel". Instead, it states that her father’s name is "Geo. C. Spiegel" and that her mother’s name is "Kate Greuloch". This makes no sense and it appears that the elderly Mr. Spiegel had misunderstood the question and that instead thought it was asking for his and her names. In a way, it is a good thing that this mistake was made, because fifteen years later when their son, Hans Paul Spiegel, died in Dallas, Texas the informant on his death certificate was his brother Edward R. Spiegel and for the parents of Hans he listed "George C. Spiegel" and "Katherine Greuloch".  One thing that this tells me is that Katherine’s maiden name was not "Grenback" as listed in the Dallas Genealogical Society’s marriage book, but was instead "Greuloch" (probably a result of a transcription error from the original records).

The third death certificate found is the one for a "Mr. George C. Spiegel" who died in Dallas on 18 October 1925. It listed his occupation as "Retired Cigar Manufacturer". It states that he is a widower. The birthplace is listed as Germany. For his parents it lists their birth place as Germany, but for the names of both parents it states "Informant don’t know". The cause death is listed as heart disease with senility as a contributor. By all appearances this is the death certificate of the 80-something years old, cigar maker, George C. Spiegel of Dallas, Texas. The only problem is that  on the death certificate it lists his age at death as 54 years and the date of birth is listed as 29 October 1870! The informant is a bit of mystery; there is a signature, but the name of the informant is not typed. The signature is hard to decipher: is it "Mrs. C Will Mass"? While it is possible that this is the death certificate for the son, George Spiegel, who was born about 1869 in Georgia and would have been about 54 years old in 1925; the information on the death certificate leans more towards it being the death certificate of the eighty-something George C. Spiegel – "Retired cigar manfgr", born in Germany (not Georgia), "Senility" listed as a contributory cause of death. What is unfortunate is that the informant did know the names of George’s parent as this would have been a major breakthrough for me, as I also do not know the names of my great-great-grandfather’s parents.

So, who is the informant on this death certificate with the name spelled "Mrs. C Will Mass"? One thing that is not accounted for is the listing in the Texas Death Index of a Katherine Spiegel who died in 1922 in Tarrant County, Texas.  I wondered if this was a death certificate for my great-grandmother’s sister, Catherine (Cassia) Spiegel. I cannot find the actual death certificate associated with this index listing.

I did however find another Texas death certificate which I believe solves the mystery of who "Mrs. C Will Mass" was. The death certificate is dated 12 June 1958 and was issued in El Paso County, Texas. It is for an 87-year-old woman named "Catherine Maas". It gives her birth date as 14 March 1871, birthplace as Georgia, and her father’s name as "George Spiegel". Unfortunately, for the mother’s maiden it states "Unknown".  The informant name is listed (typed and signed) "Anna Maas Misenheimer", who I assume to be most likely Catherine Maas’s daughter.

As, I mentioned above I did find a death certificate for my great-grandmother’s, half-brother, Hans. He died 25 September 1939 of a heart attack at age 49 and his occupation is listed as "Automobile Salesman". I was not, however, able to find a death certificate for her other half-brother, Edward R. Spiegel. What I did find was the death certificate that provides a possible lead on the family of this half-brother. This was the death certificate for a "Mary Katherine Barrett" who was born 27 August 1923 in Dallas, Texas, who died at age 45, 15 June 1969 in Mansfield, Tarrant, Texas, and whose residence was listed as Alvarado, Johnson Co., Texas. It lists her parents as Edward Robert Spiegel, Sr. and Mary Ethel Fortenberry. The informant on this record is her brother, "E. R. Spiegel, Jr."

For more information on Texas death records see Importance of death records in genealogy and life by Donna Streetenberger.