The Travels of My Ancestors

 While waiting for paint to dry, literally, I fired up my computer and surfed my way to a genealogy site. The day before I had watched a YouTube video about using DNA to solve genealogy brick walls and thought it might be worth a try for the longest and thickest brick wall in my family tree, finding the parents of my third great grandmother Mary Meyer Kuck, wife of John Kuck. However I got a bit distracted. Remember how I discovered not to long ago how digitized historical papers were being digitized and online where they weren't before. That was the case during some of the life of John and Mary Kuck and after doing a quick search, I found that indeed, their local newspaper was digitized and now online and free to search. In less than an hour, I doubled the knowledge I had on this family, perhaps the family I know the best in all my tree. It just goes to show how little I actually know.

I'm not sure why I always assumed that John Kuck left Germany at age 16 and just never went back. Both his parents were alive when he left home.  Eventually all his siblings came over and joined him in Iowa. But I always assumed that the journey was always too hard or too long for my ancestors to have returned to their home country for a visit but the article above set me straight. It was published in April 1874, 21 years after his arrival. At the time of this visit, his father had been dead 10 years and his mother for two years. Looking back through his family, only brother Dietrich Kuck remained back in Germany and returned with John on his return. So it seems to me that as the eldest living son, he possibly went back to sell the family possessions and escort his younger brother back to America to live with their two other siblings. 

The above article showed up in July of 1874, the same month his younger brother Dietrick immigrated to America. 

That wasn't all the traveling that he did. I first became aware of Homeland, Georgia in the court papers due to the lawsuit over his estate after he died. It noted that he owned land there that had to be sold in order for his estate to be divided among his heirs. Why Homeland was a question I wondered for many years but thought it was mostly likely due to relatives of his second wife living there. I wrongly assumed that perhaps he purchased land on their behalf but never went there often. But the newspaper diligently reported him frequently going there after he retired, especially over winter. He might very well have been the first snowbird in my family tree.

Here is another article showing that he frequently went to Homeland to visit with "relatives".

The bias of believing my ancestors didn't travel still carried on to the next generation. If you recall, five of John and Mary's children and Mary herself, all died within a few months of each other due to diphtheria. Of the two surviving children, one stayed behind and took up John's entrepreneurial bent (my 2nd great grandfather George) and the other went west and became a noted saddle maker out in Oregon, a place I only recently visited for the first time last fall. Henry seemed to have been comfortable in his life and left no record of his father out there. In fact, it was a surprise to the historians I talked to when I knew about Henry's father and I have since been asked to write up a family history for the museum that Henry's son Ernest would build. So I assumed that perhaps Henry traveled out west and just stayed out there. But again, a newspaper article I found proved that assumption false. 

The article above mentioning Henry Kuck's return home was written in 1899 so well before cars or planes. I'm guessing he came much of the way by train over a period of days and can't imagine what a trip it had been to see his brother and father. But it couldn't have been so bad since it did say he brought his wife too. 

I guess the lesson in all this is that I need to stop assuming my ancestors didn't travel much after they made their initial grand journeys to get to where they lived. They obviously did and now I have proof. 

Transcriptions:

John Kuck left Monday by the way of Cincinnati to New York, whence he will sail for Germany on the 1rst of May. He will be gone about three months. Bon voyage. During his absence his brother will have charge of his business. - 23 Apr 1874 - Charles City Intelligencer

John Kuck returned last Friday from Germany. He looks as if the familiar scenes and faces in "the Fatherland" have had a good effect on him. - 30 Jul 1874 - Charles City Intelligencer

 John Kuck left yesterday afternoon for Homeland, Ga., where he will spend the next few weeks, having land and other interests there. Mr. Kuck's harness shop will be closed during his absence. - 15 Jan 1914 - Charles City Intelligencer

John Kuck, the veteran harness maker, returned Sunday morning from a several months visit with relatives in Homeland, Ga. Mr. Kuck also has land interests in the south which he goes annually to look after. - 2 Mar 1914 - Charles City Daily Intelligencer

 Henry Kuck, son of John Kuck of the Mill Company' is home from the West. He has been visiting his brother George at Marble Rock and both Kucks drove to this city yesterday. He will spend some time with his father here before returning. Mrs. Kuck is with him, the two little Kucks being left in The Dells, Oregon, where Henry is mayor of the city and a leading citizen and business man. Henry went west several years ago. He had energy and a will to succeed. He has. The city where he lives is almost as large as this and he is recognized as its head. He is well and prosperous. His business in that country is harness and saddlery. Kuck says they sell more saddles than anything else, it being a great country for horseback travel. - 5 Dec 1899 - Charles City Press