Elizabeth’s Journal

Found Karls in 1860 and 1870!

When I got into this family history project early last year, I pretty quickly found when the Karls came to America—they arrived in New York City on 27 May 1850. But the next time I could find any documentation of their presence in Ohio was in the 1880 US Census. I had information from other people that some of the children had married in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and had children there, or died there, but I had no proof.

I finally decided that three things were possible: 1) they weren’t in Tuscarawas County (v. unlikely); 2) they were there but living in someone else’s household, so they wouldn’t turn up in the index; 3) they were there but recorded with a different spelling of the last name. So Saturday evening, while Dale and Glen were off at The Backyard hearing Jimmie Vaughan and Buddy Guy play, I went through one of the townships within Tuscarawas County page by page by page by page. It paid off—I found the households of the first two children of Johann and Elisabeth Karl, John J. and Peter. Each had different spellings of the last name.

Then Sunday evening, I went through the 1860 Census, again looking in townships of Tuscarawas County where family members had been recorded in later years. I had to start somewhere, right? And on the third township—I FOUND THEM! They were listed with a last name of “Caroll”. I can’t describe how pleased I was that my slogging through these census pages was worth it. And it sure was nice to be able to do it from the comfort of my own home rather than having to be sitting in front of a microfilm reader in a windowless government building somewhere.