Autobiography of Agnes Panther Miller

My sister called me and said she had a box of Mom's stuff for me. I went over and found a small box of things that she thought I'd like. I thanked her and we talked about some of the papers I had recently digitized. I mentioned that if she ran across any additional paperwork or photos, she should let me know. I'd scan them in and return them to her.

She went and found a spiral notebook and handed it to me. She asked me to scan it in but she would like it back. I opened it and saw an amazing thing. It was a short autobiography, handwritten by my mother to her two oldest grandsons in about 1990. These were the only two grandchildren that had been born by that time. It appears she wrote it up for them but then stashed it in a drawer. I don't know if she forgot about it or was unhappy with the way it turned out.

I gladly took it and got it scanned in that same day, all 13 pages. Thirteen pages doesn't sound like a lot but for one person to write it out longhand, that's pretty impressive. There is no real new genealogical information and the information about her grandfather, Aloys Panther wasn't correct. She said he came through New York when he actually came through New Orleans. Regardless, it provides more detail about her early life that I didn't have.

DNA Testing and Distant Cousins

The story about my great-grandmother, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Dunzinger Panther is that she was born in 1854 in New York City and after the death of her parents when she was two years old, her grandparents brought her to live with family in Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa. I found her in the 1855 New York State Census as one of two children of Andrew and Fanny Dunzinger along with her sister Mary A. Dunzinger. It says she was born in 1854.

She's found in the 1870 US Federal Census living as a servant in Burlington in the Charles and Walburga Wagner household. I found her in the 1905 Iowa State Census where it states that she had been in Iowa for all except two years of her life.

Andrew Dunzinger is found prior to immigration to America, in Wemding, Bavaria, as is the Wagner family. So logic follows that this would mean that the family she was brought to live with would have been the Wagners.

Family Reunions - Panther Family Reunion 2016

Do you have a family reunion scheduled for this year? If you are related to the Panther family you do!

If not, you should organize one! Why? To get back in touch with your relatives, to share information about what you've been up to and to learn what your relatives have been up to. And, for genealogists, the most important reasons: To share family history information about your ancestors and to learn stories and obtain copies of photos and documentation that you don't already have. Just imagine, you have a family reunion and a distant cousin brings along the baptismal certificate for your grandmother! Or a photo of the old family home in the family's home country!

2013 - Most Popular Posts of the Blog's First Year

I'm trying to come up with a good subject for my next blog post but nothing is inspiring me, so... I'll give you the most popular posts on my blog this year.

The most popular post this year, narrowly beating the second place entry is "What Constitutes Proof?" This post is a rundown of everything I know about Elizabeth "Lizzie" Juliana Dunzinger, my great-grandmother. I've found quite a bit of circumstantial evidence pointing to Andreas/Andrew and Fanny Dunzinger of New York and Wemding Bavaria to make me believe they are her parents. I'm hoping to find concrete proof of this. It got quite a few of the visits due to it being mentioned in the Genealogy Guys and the Genealogy Gems podcasts.

Coming in second is my post titled "Who Finds Who?" It tells the story of the discovery of my great-great-great-grandfather's grave and it's near discovery by my cousin's son, who had literally tripped over it but still didn't find it. As another one of my cousins described it, "unbelievable, awesome, spooky and hilarious all rolled in to one!"

Coming in at a solid third was the report of my initial discovery of Elizabeth Dunzinger, "Elizabeth Dunzinger Possibly Found", describing how I found her and what I found, along with follow-ups on some research in Wemding.

Have a subject you think will make a good blog post? Do you have a research question you'd like an answer to? A research technique to let people know about? A branch of our shared family tree you'd like posted? Drop me a message!

--Matt

What Constitutes Proof?

Lizzie Dunzinger as a young lady.

An updated article has been posted here.

As anyone who has been aware of my genealogy research knows, my big mystery is my great-grandmother, Elizabeth Dunzinger. I've put a lot of time and effort into finding her, as you'll see in the evidence collected below.

I am going to list all the documentation we have on Lizzie (as she was known most of her life). I'm interested in your opinion. Does all this together consistute proof that we've found her parents? If not, where do we go from here to prove it? Please comment below or email me your thoughts. Thank you!

The family story passed down through the years says that Lizzie was born in New York in either 1854 or 1856. Her grandparents brought her to Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa to live with relatives after her parents died when she was about three years old.

In this list, I will talk about only facts about the documentation and facts about what we know, not my beliefs on what is true.

Trip to Southeast Iowa

I drove my mother to southeast Iowa last weekend so she could visit her sisters and old friends. While she was busy, I got busy with genealogy research.

I took photos at St. James cemetery in St. Paul, Lee County, Iowa. I took a list of graves from Find-A-Grave that didn't have photos posted. I started near the back of the cemetery, going grave by grave, checking the list to see if a photo was needed. If so, I took the picture and moved to the next. Once I got home, I added those I needed (most of them - I'm related to 40% of the people in this cemetery) to my database and posted them all to Find-A-Grave. The percent photographed showed 24% when I started. It now shows 42% photographed.

While taking the photos, I set up my GoPro Hero3 camera to take time-lapse photos of the clouds and sunset. I think the video is pretty stunning:



The thing I was most excited about on this trip was my visit to Sts. John and Paul Church in Burlington. They allowed me to page through the old books.

Elizabeth Dunzinger's Death Certificate

I received an official certified copy of Elizabeth Dunzinger Panther's death certificate from the State of Iowa Department of Vital Records.

 

On the certificate, you'll notice that her father and mother are listed as "No record". It lists her birth date as April 12, 1854 and her birth location as New York City, New York. I believe this lends a little more weight to the argument that the Elizabeth Dunzinger found in the 1855 New York state census is her, but doesn't yet confirm it. I have a request in with the State of New York Department of Vital Records for a birth record of Elizabeth Dunzinger born on April 12, 1854. Prior to 1857, the records are not indexed and they require an exact date to search. I submitted April 12, 1854 as her birth date to them about two weeks ago. They say they respond in 6-8 weeks. We'll see what they can find for us.

Doing a bit more thinking about Elizabeth's life, I suspect we will find very little about her in the records of St. Mary's in Dodgeville (stored in West Burlington) but I do have someone there taking a look for me. I think it's more likely we'll find information about her early life at St. John's in Burlington. I have an appointment set up to view their original church books in about a week and a half. You know I'll be enjoying that visit! While the trip is still not set in stone, the current plan is to bring my mother to visit her sisters October 3-6. I plan on visiting St. John's to view their records on that Friday. You know I'll let everyone know what I find.

Lesson: Even if you think you've looked everywhere for the elusive ancestor's records, re-read everything you have on them. Really think about where you'll find something about them. All this time, I've been focusing on Dodgeville's records when in fact, we should be able to find her in Burlington's records. Close to each other, sure, but they are not the same jurisdiction. I'm hopeful I'll find a little more about her at St. John's Church in Burlington, then, hopefully, find her birth record on the correct date in New York City.

--Matt