Finding the Link

I searched for Kathryn Lorenz on Ancestry.com where I have all of my family trees. The only information I found was that she was living in Remsen, Iowa in the 1915 and 1920 US Censuses. In both, she was living with John DeViche. So I now had John’s actual last name.

The answer to whether they were married or not, came in the 1920 Census where Kathryn was listed as his cousin. I was excited to have another last name to track that might bring me closer to who Kathryn was.

My mom’s uncle Mike Winney, Lou and Mabel’s son, had done an extensive research project on the Winney side of the family so I looked in the book he created for family members. I was a little bummed to find no DeViches who had married into the Winney side.

However, I noticed that Mike had no information on Lou’s mother, Elizabeth Jane Wellman Winney, beyond her name, so I turned my attention there. 

I struck gold when I put the name Elizabeth Wellman in the Ancestry.com search bar. The 1880 US Census came up as the first result. With anticipation, I clicked on the link and saw my great great grandmother’s name. She’s listed as age fourteen and a granddaughter living in the house of Henry Gaus and his wife Stephania.  in Bloomington, Wisconsin.

Was I really on the verge of discovering a new family line? I admit to getting goosebumps at the thought.

My excitement bloomed into euphoria when I scanned down a few lines. A Katie Lorentz, 5 years old, is also listed as a granddaughter. This must be my mystery Aunt Kathryn Lorenz. Yes – I found the link! 

Seeing her name on this Census line was a huge breakthrough for solving the mystery of how we were related. This proved that she and Elizabeth were either sisters or cousins. Either way, I knew Kathryn was family. But how?

I was a little sad to think that Kathryn had been lost to the family for so many years. I’d wondered what had happened to her after reading the third letter she sent in September of 1921, where she wrote only a few excited lines, “…Monday, Sep 12th will be the happy day”? 

What momentous and joyous occasion had to be moved to an earlier date for “certain reasons”? I could only guess at the possibilities for the occasion and why it was moved, but I was incredibly curious about the real details.

Convinced that those secrets would be locked away forever, I turned my attention back to the Census, scouring for more clues about Elizabeth and Kathryn. Why were they living with their grandparents, and not their parents. Who were their parents? And if they were sisters, why did they have different last names?

Angeline Heuertz is also living with Henry and Stephania in Bloomington. She’s 23 years old, and Henry’s stepdaughter. Three different last names in one house with varying degrees of relationship. Knowing that the Wellman and Lorenz families are connected kept the frustration of not knowing how to a minimum. And now I had a new family name to look into: Heuertz. 

This wasn’t going to be as easy as I thought! 

Click here to read Part 5 of Kathryn’s story.