DeViche Women

The Mystery of Aunt Kathryn Part 6
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The Mystery of Aunt Kathryn Part 6

Who is Henry Gaus?

During my initial search on his name, nothing came up except for the 1880 US Census record so I knew there was probably another spelling of his last name. I went back to the actual image of the record and saw that the writing could be interpreted as Gaus or Gans. Since nothing came up for Gaus before, I searched for Henry Gans and bingo!

There is a 1900 Census record for Henry Gans, still living in Bloomington, WI. And who is still living with him? Angeline Heuertz, 34 years, and Kate Lorenz, 23 years. His wife, Stephania, had died in 1897 so it’s just the three of them now.

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The Mystery of Aunt Kathryn Part 4

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.

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The Mystery of Aunt Kathryn Part 3

A Thread to Follow

In the next letter, Kathryn mentions only one name on her side, “John also is enjoying the best of health. He is taking his after dinner nap.”

They are obviously living together, and there seems to be an air of intimacy reserved for family, so I assumed that John was her husband and made a note to search “John Lorenz”.

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The Mystery of Aunt Kathryn Part 2

January 2018

The 2017 holiday season renewed my interest in the vintage letters I had inherited. Visiting my side of the family for Thanksgiving, and my husband’s side for Christmas really hit home that I needed to share what I had with anyone who was related to the letter writers, no matter how distant. 

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