Ethel = Etel = Oertel Language Barrier In Handed Down Family Stories

By Teresa Martin Klaiber 2020

I remember my great grandmother, Nellie Clara Kautz Martin as short and plump with an apron on working in the kitchen in their house in Ironton, Ohio to make the perfect dinner just for me.  How I wish I had asked her to tell me about our family.   I also had no idea I was getting an appendicitis attack that would, at the age of 9, end up in surgery two days later.  My great grandfather got a bit gruff, but humored me by cranking the Victrola with its huge horn. He thought I was a bit spoiled when I could not eat her lovely meal.  My memory of her will always be in that kitchen, on that day, lovingly fixing that meal for just the three of us. Other family members say she spent the majority of her time in the kitchen. 

Nellie Clara Kautz Martin wearing an apron & holding compiler’s father John Geer Martin.  Taken in 1924

Nellie’s own grandmother, known to us as Mary Ann Kautz had come over from Germany in 1848 after marriage to Johann “George” Kautz.  Mary Ann’s maiden name according to the “little black book” where my grandfather wrote down the family history was written as “Ethel.”  A great granddaughter, Lillian Rose Kautz Holley said the family pronounced it more like “Etel.”. Mixed dialect and migrations along with handed down oral history quickly skewed her maiden name. 

George and Mary Ann Kautz first settled in Sullivan County, New York where there was plenty of lumber and stone.  They sold property in Sullivan County in 1876[i] and migrated to Cameron County, Pennsylvania, another area with a large lumber supply.  In their 70’s they moved to Scott Township, Marion County, Ohio.  George died in 1888 and is said to be buried in Miller Cemetery at Kirkpatrick in that county.  Mary Ann Kautz in her late years resided with daughter Mary Elizabeth Kautz Lyon.  Mary Ann, as the family called her, died 20 February 1908.  The Marion county death register lists her as Mary Ann Kautz born in Germany, cause of death “old age.”   Her parents are listed as “Ethal George” and “Johna.”  While I don’t like assumptions, at this point, I would say daughter Mary Elizabeth was the informant.

Mary Elizabeth, was the youngest of eight children, born  7 April 1858 in New York and we can assume heard German in the household growing up.  I was so hopeful that I would glean further information on Mary Ann’s life when I found her obituary in the Marion Weekly Star and also the Daily Mirror.  “An Aged Resident Dies at Kirkpatrick. Mrs. Mary Ann Kautz Succumbs to old age. Funeral service will be conducted from the home Saturday afternoon. Mrs. Mary Ann Kautz, aged 90 years died at her home near Kirkpatrick at 10 o'clock Thursday evening. Her demise was due to old age. She had scarcely ever known a sick day in her long life and her death was apparently without suffering. She simply slept away. The deceased was born near Hamburg Germany. She had been a resident of Marion County for about 18 years. There are six children living. They are Mrs. Elizabeth Lyons near Tobias, Mrs. Rose Bessmer of Kansas, Mrs. Margaret Bliss of Los Angeles CA, Mssrs Richard, John and Fred of Florence, WV. Funeral services will be conducted from the home at 1 o'clock Rev Mr. Cole of Kirkpatrick to officiate. The remains will be interred in Miller Cemetery near Kirkpatrick”.

I stumbled (yes not every research step is scientific) upon others saying their family spelled their surname Etel, Ertel and Ehrtel,  in Low German dialect. In High German Dialect Ertel becomes Ortel or Oertel.   Pronounced in German the “r” is basically undetectable.

Like a flower bud beginning to blossom, slowly, with the generosity of many volunteers, German Lutheran records are being transcribed and available at online genealogy sites.

Tintype Mary Ann Etel Kautz aka Anna Maria Oertel Kautz

It was an “ah hah,” “do a jig” discovery to find the marriage (heirat) of Georg Kautz 11 May 1841 in the Kirchenbucher for Baden in the city of Kork, Muchenschopf stating her parents as Johann Oertel and Margaretha.  Her birth (24 April 1813) and baptism have also been transcribed in Muchenschopf.  Further research shows that it was her grandfather who was a Georg Oertel.

It is the story and the journey, not just the dates that make up my ancestor’s lives.  Lillian Rose said “Great Grandmother Mary Ann Ethel settled in New York state and was pregnant with my grandfather and was not sure he would not be born on the boat but waited and was born in Freemont..."  Lillian’s grandfather is this compiler’s 2^nd great grandfather (Johann) John Kautz.  He was born 14 October 1848 in or very near Freemont, Sullivan County. He appears on the census in Sullivan County, New York in 1850 along with his two older brothers George Johann (George) and Frederick George (Fred) who both were born in Muchenschopf.  Both of the elder brothers baptism (taufe) is recorded in the Lutherische Kirchenbucher for Muchenschopf.

John Kautz (son of Mary Ann and Georg Kautz) worked both in lumber and in stone, building his own home after migrating to Salt Lick, Bath County, Kentucky.  My husband, another couple, and myself took a wonderful drive to Fremont Centre and Callicoon in Sullivan County, New York where John was born and lumber still appears to be a mainstay.  I felt at home in Sullivan County, still full of timber and a bit of pioneer adventure.  John followed his parents to Cameron County, Pennsylvania then migrated to Boyd County, Kentucky where he worked at the Normal Planning Mill and eventually settled in Salt Lick, Bath County.

Johann (John) George Kautz s/o George and Anna Maria/Mary Ann Oertel Kautz

  Lillian Rose[ii] was proud of the beautiful furniture our ancestor also made. The dresser is made of tiger maple and totally pinioned.  Lillian was born six years after the death of Mary Ann.  She was a warehouse of knowledge remembering John and Elizabeth Grosholz[iii] Kautz and full of memories of Salt Lick, Kentucky.

Kork is now a suburb of Kehl in Baden-Wurttemberg. Mary Ann’s obituary states she never had a sick day.  Knowing that she made the trip from Baden to America pregnant and then migrated from New York to Pennsylvania to Ohio and having eight children says a lot about her strength.  Her picture portrays her as a tiny, slim lady. I am glad I could visit all the places she lived in the United States. I am sad that any tombstones marking her and her husband have disappeared from Miller Cemetery.  When I visited Miller Cemetery in the 1990’s many stones had been pushed over a hill and were buried in dirt and weeds.   It was a sad moment but I was there to honor their memory. I doubt, at 71 I will ever visit their fatherland.  From Etel to Oertel, my genealogy journey has shown she was a strong woman.

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[i] NY, Sullivan, Dbk 75-552

[ii] Lillian Rose Kautz m Thurman Hobert Holley. She was b. 26 Dec 1914 in Bath Co., kY d 4 Mar 2012 Roane Co., Tn. When I visited with her along with another cousin Barbara Martin Strosnider she was living in Huntington, WVA.

[iii] Elizabeth Groszholz was born 2 September 1848 Memprechtshofen, Kork, Baden, Germany

Train Accidents Took Many Loved Ones

compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber
November 2010

We are curious creatures. By that I mean, we as researchers, when looking for specific items in newspapers, always end up reading a zillion other articles before getting to the subject of our search.

And just about every newspaper in America in the early 1900's carried articles of train wrecks or people hit by trains when on the rails. As I was scanning an article about a family member in the Ashland Daily Independent I noticed a tiny one paragraph item telling of the death of yet another person killed by a train.

"9 April 1931 Tom May Killed By Train Today. The body of Tom May, 30, of Alphoretta, KY., was found badly mangled lying on the railroad tracks near Dinwood at 7 o'clock this morning. It is not known what train struck May and is not known how long he had been dead."

Alphoretta is located in Floyd County, Kentucky but the spelling is often confused with Alpharetta which is in Georgia. Alphoretta is just off Route 80 on Dinwood Road with just a few scattered homes.

Curious creature that I am I decided to view the death certificate for a few more details. The Floyd County death certificate was delayed. But the information shows that Thomas Jefferson May was younger than the Ashland paper had said. He was born 10 January 1910, the son of Clark May of Alphoretta. He was an engine oiler in a local gas plant. The tracks belonged to Chesapeake & Ohio and the doctor comment was "supposed to be accidentally struck by train."

The 1930 Federal census for Alphoretta, Floyd County, shows a large family. His father is listed as Beverly L. C. May and his mother [who was not listed on the death certificate] was Dollie. Tom is listed as 20 years old and doing farm labor.

The C&O, B&O and N&W rails along with many short lines crisscrossed Eastern Kentucky providing passenger service, mail and industrial hauls. When I transcribed the entries for Scioto Division Norfolk & Western RailRoad Life And Limb 1895-1928 I stopped many times because of the graphic details written by the physicians. While the book is based out of Scioto County, Ohio some of the rail workers and passengers were Kentucky natives. And not all entries ended with death.

Everett Short, a carpenter from Fallsburg, [Lawrence County] Kentucky bruised his foot and fractured the phalanx of his left great toe on 23 November 1916.

J. D. White of Fullerton [Greenup County] mashed his nail off his right thumb while working at the planing mill in March 1915. That had to be painful. Another Greenup resident, A. B. Callihan also bruised his right thumb at the joint while either working for N&W in Portsmouth or just standing at Grant Street in Portsmouth in 1922. The details are not clear and the injury, while reported to Roanoke, was not bad. These small incidences of course did not make the local newspapers.

I love the sound and rhythm of the trains as they follow the ribbon of the Ohio River. The power of the engines and the visual of industry flowing into our state by these majestic pieces of machinery always leaves me in awe. I even wonder about the spray painted graphics, known as tagging, on the cars these days. Where was that done and how many miles has it traveled since some one tagged it?

When I was a little girl we followed US #23 beside the rails to Portsmouth, Ohio where I sat by the hour on Waller Street, at my grandmothers, playing with my father and uncles O gauge railroad. I cherish the Christmas pictures of them as children playing with the train under the Christmas tree. We now have a rather large O gauge layout, thanks to my father, that his great grandchildren enjoy at our house. Both my grandsons are being given a small wooden train set for their 2nd birthdays this month from us. It makes me smile when they say "choo choo." Many happy hours of play.

[Nellie Kautz Martin of Ashland KY with grandson Henry Kautz Martin Jr at Henry Kautz and Clara Page Geer Martin home Portsmouth, OH about 1936]

But the reality is that many loved ones either working for or traveling and simply crossing the tracks have given their lives in the name of this powerful industry. it is part of our Eastern Kentucky history and it leaves me in awe.