Kuck Family History: The Life of John, Mary Meyer Kuck, Elizabeth Brandau Kuck and Elizabeth Mackus Kuck aka Mrs. Blank.

 

John Kuck

John Kuck was born in Adolphsdorf, Germany on 5 December 1836 to Hinrich and Anna Gerken Kuck. He was the eldest of eight children, only four surviving to adulthood. After immigrating to America and working his way west over a period of years practicing his harness making skills, he ended up in Galena, Illinois where he married Mary Mayer on 31 May 1860. Her surname is alternately spelled Meyer some of the time in her brief record trail. See her picture below. At the time of their marriage, John was 23 and Mary 18 according to their marriage certificate.

Mary Mayer Kuck

Shortly after their marriage they moved to Lansing, Iowa where John opened up his first harness shop. They quickly started a family and daughter Anna, named after paternal grandmother, was born in 1862 and Henry, named after his paternal grandfather, was born in 1863. In 1864, the family of four made their final move to Charles City, Iowa where John would open up a harness shop again. Over the 13 years, five more children would be born to John and Mary; Lydia in 1866, George in 1868, Emma in 1869, Edward in 1870, John in 1873 and an unnamed infant that died at birth in 1877.  Life was good for the family and the business was prosperous. John became a well respected figure in town.

John Kuck Harness Shop, Charles City, Iowa

But just as this family of eight was at its best, disaster struck in the form of a diphtheria epidemic. In modern times, it is considered a mild disease if symptoms present at all thanks to vaccines. But in those times, it started off as a sore throat and fever but can progress to thick great coating on the throat and nose, a barking cough, swollen lymph nodes, paralysis, and can eventually block airways causing the victim to asphyxiate. Just a year before in 1878, Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Alice succumbed to the disease. It is unknown who brought the disease home but since it spreads through contact and air transmission, it was inevitable that it would pass through the family.

Eldest daughter Anna aged 17, named after John's mother Anna Gerken Kuck, would be the first to succumb to the disease on 14 December 1878. The following week 9 year old Emma would die on 21 December, the following week 2 year old Eddie on 28 December, young Lydia, aged 12 on 1 January 1879 and finally John aged 5 on 3 January. In just four weeks, five of the seven surviving children were dead. It must have been a devastating blow for the family. Indeed, it was said that mother Mary's broken heart contributed to her death four and a half months later on 31 May 1879, 19 years to the day of her marriage to John, at the age of 42 years old. Her grave marker followed by five smaller grave markers in Riverside Cemetery in Charles City is a sobering view. The newspaper reported that 75 teams of horse pulled buggies attended her funeral.

Because of Mary's early death and thus small paper trail, she is a genealogical equivalent of a brick wall on my family tree. I know she was born in Switzerland on 7 January 1837 going off her age listed in her death announcement. Switzerland is also listed in the 1860 and 1870 Census records. Beyond those few records, I have little information on her. I don't know where in Switzerland she was born, what year she immigrated to the United States nor who her parents were or if they immigrated with her. Mayer/Meyer is a common name among German/Swiss immigrants as was Mary. I have been off and on again searching for her parents for nearly 25 years and doubt at this point that I will ever know their names, but it won't be from lack of trying.

After Mary's death, John was left with only two sons, Henry aged 16 and George aged 10. His parents were both deceased back in Germany at this point and though he had two brothers and a sister in the area, I'm sure he needed help in his home life which is why less than a year later, he married Elizabeth Brandau on 22 April 1880. On a note of interest, John's younger brother Frederic Kuck, would marry Elizabeth's older sister Katherine Brandau. It is through this union that a descendant gave me most of the pictures I have of John and the single one I have of Mary.

John and Elizabeth would have three children of their own; Bertha born in 1881, Clara born in 1883 and Paul born in 1888. John was 43 at the time of their marriage, Elizabeth was only 22, but he still outlived her. Although no cause of death was listed, she died after a relatively brief illness in 1910 at the age of 53. John had given up his harness business 12 years earlier, selling it to his younger brother Frederick and so was retired. At age 73, he was probably lonely without a wife or children in the home which probably explains his marriage to Elizabeth Mackus aged 63 the following year in July. When John died, his obituary listed her name as Mrs. Blank. I spent lots of wasted hours looking for Blank surnames until I finally found her actual name listed in John's probate file. I assume now that the reporter didn't know and put Blank in as a place holder and then forgot about it.

That marriage, for all intents and purposes, was fairly short lived. Three years later on 27 October 1914, a gas light malfunction caused John to be overwhelmed by fumes from which he never fully recovered. He would die two years later on 1 November 1916 and was buried between his first and second wives in Riverside Cemetery in Charles City. He was one month shy of his 80th birthday.

As one might expect, being pretty wealthy from a successful career, with three wives, one living, and children from his previous two marriages, life after John was a mess according to his probate file. But that is a story for another day.