When I first became really interested in researching family history, my efforts were focused mainly on my own Foltz surname and its origins. At that point in time, we knew back to my 2nd great grandfather, Charles Edward Foltz. But I had no information on his parents.
Week 15: Brick Wall
Charles and Matilda (Stafford) Foltz tintype wedding portrait, 1872, Illinois.
A lot of what we knew about the Foltzes started with Charles and his wife Matilda Stafford and their five sons. This family portrait, which had been distributed amongst all, or almost all, of the descending lines, really encapsulated what being a Foltz was all about.
Black and white family portrait with Charles William “Bill,” John Edward “Ed,” George LeeRoy “Roy,” James Walter “Pap,” and Benjamin Harrison “Harry” standing (left to right) and their parents Charles “Chas” and Matilda “Mattie” (Stafford) Foltz seated, circa 1893, Kansas.
This was the Foltz family unit, and it didn't seem like the Foltz history stemmed back any further than this generation. Clearly, it must have (that's how evolution works), but little to nothing was known of Charles' upbringing or who came before him.
Black and white photo of Charles Edward Foltz seated at train depot, 1903, Little Rock, Arkansas. On the back of photo is written “Grandpa Chas. Edward Foltz - 1903 - Depot in Little Rock, Arkansas.”
My main quest was to determine the country of origin for the Foltz family prior to their arrival in the United States as well as when that had occurred. Obviously, the name appears to be Germanic, but finding that out definitively was my top priority.
I had a starting point, and that was given to me in Charles' obituary which surprisingly mentioned both his exact birthdate and place: 31 August 1848 in Hagerstown, Maryland!
Frankfort Daily Paper, “OBITUARY,” 29 October 1921, Frankfort, Kansas. The obituary was found during research done by Barbara at the Historical Society of Marysville, Kansas. Debbie Russell posted on Ancestry.com.
Note his obituary made no mention of any family members surviving or preceding his death aside from his wife and children photographed in the family portrait above, lending more credence to the idea that their nuclear family was all that remained important to Charles. Perhaps he was an only child? Maybe orphaned, even?
Also, it painted a picture of Charles that the man always seemed on the go -- as it gave five different locations of residence throughout his life across four states. Even his son's homes were spread out across the country, so the family immediately gave off a vibe of not really having any true "roots."
I knew I would have my work cut out for me by dealing with the sheer volume of localities alone, not to mention that the saying passed down in this family was, "You don't want to go looking into the Foltzes, you never know when you'll find a horse thief."
Well, a horse thief would have made a good story, in my opinion! But unfortunately, none have turned up…yet.
My hunt began around the early 2000s, when I was in high school and had absolutely no clue there was a "proper" way to perform genealogy research. My dad's sister had always been dubbed "the family historian," but right around this time, my dad's interest in it had peaked, so he began posting on Foltz surname message boards with queries. A lot of long, lost cousins started coming out of the woodwork, and we all began piecing together Charles and Matilda's descendancy chart.
Somewhere in the mix of this, I piggybacked off of the conversations he had struck up. And without knowing the importance of locality research at the time, I basically began doing it anyway! I located a source on one of the message boards who had ties to Hagerstown, Maryland (where Charles had been born in 1848), and not only did he give me the name of a local Hagerstown historian, he also had some notes on the Foltz family that she had already provided him (even though he wasn't of relation to us)!
What he shared really blew me away. Reportedly, the Hagerstown historian had been in touch with a Foltz descendant who was still in possession of an old Foltz family bible (boy, would I love to know who this was and where this bible is now). The bible not only listed Charles, born in 1848, but also gave the names of his parents, a sister, and the shocking revelation that his father had been married on three different occasions, and Charles had a handful of half-siblings from those two other unions!
Now, if we skip ahead a couple decades, I can say I still haven't come anywhere close to locating that original bible. But the clues held within, led me down a trail that panned out in some ways and fell flat in others.
Probably the most surprising detail from the alleged bible that was incorrect was that Charles' father, John Foltz/Fultz, had been married three times. In fact, after lots of further research, I discovered he had been married FOUR times!
Daily Mail, “DEATH’S DOINGS.,” 1 April 1893, Chewsville, Maryland.
Don't pay too much attention to John's obituary, though, because while it was correct in noting the number of times he was married, it was also riddled with plenty of other errors such as the sequence of said marriages and the children begot from each. For example, Charles' biological mother was Caroline Sager, not Miss Linebaugh as the record would indicate.
So, while John had been my brick wall on my paternal line for many years, I am happy to say that wall has been continuously crumbling as I pick away at it. And with having four wives, there's a bunch to chew on!
The Herald and Torch Light, “MARRIED,” John Foltz and Mary Bowersmith marriage notice, 25 March 1874, Hagerstown, Maryland, p.2; database with images, Newspapers (https//:www.newspapers.com : accessed 13 Sep 2016).
But I am still left with my original questions of what the Foltz country of origin was and when the migration occurred. So, now onto my next venture: proving the parents of John Foltz/Fultz, born 29 October 1817 in Maryland or Virginia.
There are currently three strong pairs of candidates based on timing and locality. It's likely DNA will help narrow down the choices, but much more traditional research needs to be done first. As of yet, I have not run across any online user-generated trees that look fully fleshed out around this branch or generation. They mostly each appear to assume his parents on little more than the name of Foltz being in the right place at the right time.
The horse thief hunt continues…
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