We have a lot of information handed down through the family concerning Henrietta Fluxton Goas.
Family tradition states that she was from "Huddleberg" where she lived with her wealthy grandparents. Her mother had married her father against her family's will, and when her husband died, they took in Henrietta but not her mother. When Henrietta was 14, her mother came for a final visit with her second husband before they were to come to the U.S. and Henrietta decided to go with them. So Henrietta came to the United States in 1852 with her mother and stepfather Weber on the ship Tennessee and landed in New Orleans before coming up the Mississippi to St. Louis.
Various maiden names have been given for her. It has been stated that her grandparents adopted her and their name was Boskey. Her husband gave her maiden name as "Puxton" on the death record of their daughter Mary Goas Hargett. Henrietta gave it as Fluxton for her marriage certificate, so that is what I use. That I have never heard of nor seen any name quite like Fluxton is a puzzler, but not one I can see how to resolve.
It is said that she was working as an interpreter at a hotel in St. Louis and met Lewis Goas there, who was working on the steamboats.
They were married on July 19, 1857 in Jefferson County, Missouri, just south of St. Louis. Since it is most usual for a young woman to get married in her own neighborhood, when I decided to try to find her family, Jefferson County is where I started.
There are several Weber/Webber/Weaver families in Jefferson County in 1860. One family is even in Meramec township with Henrietta and Lewis, but they were suspect because the census said they had had children born in Missouri before 1850. A check of the 1850 census confirmed they were there before 1852.
Another family had a wife old enough to be Henrietta's mother, and the birthplaces of the children generally fit the 1852 immigration.
Page No. 25/541They stated they were from Prussia, which did not appear to meet our criteria, but the complicated politics in Germany/Prussia at the time were a leading reason for Germans to come to the United States at that time. This didn't rule them out. I decided to investigate this family further.
Central Township, County of Jefferson, State of Missouri
5th Sept 1860 by Albert G. Haile
P.O. Hillsboro
line 30, 183/184 Fr. A. WEBER 43 M Do[Farmer] 800/100 Prussia
Amelia 38 F "[Prussia]
Agnes 17 F "[Prussia]
August 15 M "[Prussia]
Alwena 11 F "[Prussia]
Adolp 8 M "[Prussia]
William 5 M Mo
Christoph 2 M "[Mo]
In 1870 they stayed put:
Page No. 32
Central Township, County of Jefferson, State of Missouri
16 July 1870 by Sam A. Reppy
P.O. Hillsboro
line 6, 225/237 WEBBER Augustus 53 "[M]"[W] Farmer 1500/658 Prussia
Amelia 45 F"[W] Keeps House do[Prussia]
Augustus 23 M"[W] Works on farm do[Prussia]
Elvina 20 F"[W] No Ocupation do[Prussia]
Adolph 18 M"[W] Works on farm do[Prussia]
Wilhelm 14"[M]"[W] do[Works on farm] Missouri attended school
Christopher 12"[M]"[W] do[Works on farm] do[Missouri] attended school
Sarah 9 F"[W] At home do[Missouri] attended school
Emma 6"[F]"[W] do[At home] do[Missouri]
Agnes had married Charles Heller in Jefferson County in 1866. By 1868 he has remarried Johanna Kasten. We can assume Agnes passed away before December 1868.
In 1880 this Weber family moves to St. Louis:
Page No. 44
S.D. 1
E.D. 165
St Louis, St Louis, State of Missouri
23rd June 1880 by GH. Wesseling
Watson Road
line 23, 316/344 WEBER August WM 63 M Farmer Prusia Prusia Prusia
Mollie WF 57 Wife M Keeping House Prusia Prusia Prusia
August WM 35 Son S Farm laborer Paralized Missouri Prusia Prusia
William WM 25 Son S Farm Laborer Missouri Prusia Prusia
Gustave WM 23 Son S At Home Missouri Prusia Prusia
Sarah WF 19 Daughter S At Home Missouri Prusia Prusia
Emma WF 17 Daughter S At Home Missouri Prusia Prusia
Here, things get complicated. The missing 1890 census being one problem, and everyone running off and getting married another. I managed to track them all down except for August. Since he was noted as paralyzed in the 1880 census, I imagine he didn't live very much longer.
One thing I noticed was that starting in 1880, several of their children noted that they and their parents were born in "Saxony" or "Sachsen". Prussia was dropped entirely and Germany substituted in all other cases. We can assume this was because of the political changes wrought throughout this period in Prussia and Germany. For obvious reasons, I found the "Saxony" reference heartening. Henrietta put her birthplace as "Saxony", "Baden" and "Germany" in various censuses. The whole issue is complicated by the fact that there are multiple Sachsen provinces, principalities and regions in Prussia and Germany. Heidelberg is found in Baden.
In 1900, I found August widowed and living with his daughter Alvina "Lena" Weber Horschmann in St. Louis:
State Missouri
City of St. Louis, 2nd Ward
s.d. 11, e.d. 20, Sheet No. 3B
Fourth June 1900 by Geo H. Marquard
1812 North Ninth Street
line 74, 44/60 HORSCHMANN John Head WM June 1848 51 M 28 Illinois Germany Germany Cooper yes/yes/yes Owns House Free of mortgage
Lena Wife WF Oct 1848 51 M 28 5/5 Germany Germany Germany unknown immigration no/no/yes
CURRAN Mamie A Daughter WF Aug 1873 26 Wd 4 0/0 Missouri Illinois Germany yes/yes/yes
HORSCHMANN Edward Son WM Sept 1875 24 S Missouri Illinois Germany Machinist yes/yes/yes
Mathilda Daughter WF Dec 1878 21 S Missouri Illinois Germany Envelope Maker yes/yes/yes
William Son WM Oct 1880 19 S Missouri Illinois Germany Stove Mounter yes/yes/yes
Theresa D. Daughter WF Jan 1887 13 S Missouri Illinois Germany at School 9 months yes/yes/yes
WEBER August Father in Law WM Oct 1817 82 Wd Germany Germany Germany 1852/47/Na yes/yes/no
line 82, /61 TOWNSEND Arthur Head WM Mch 1879 21 M Missouri Ohio Missouri Clerk (Comm) Rents House
Mamie Wife WF Mch 1881 19 M 0/0 Missouri Germany Illinois
Notice August's immigration imformation: arrived in 1852. The coincidences are now mounting.
Ancestry.com has recently augmented its immigration records, so I thought I would try to find them. I've tried to find our 14 year old Henrietta and the Tennessee many, many times, but with no luck. This time, I was looking for this Weber family and hoping Henrietta would be tucked in with them.
I tried several combination of searches before I tried: New Orleans / Weber / 1852. Simple, to the point, and effective:
List of all Passengers taken on board the Ship Elizabeth Dennison where of Carpenter is Master, at the Port of Antwerp + Bremen and bound for New-Orleans
Printed and Sold by J.B. Steel, No. 60 Camp Street, New-Orleans
32. F. Aug. WEBER 35 1*** Heidg ----- [farmer] 4
33. Amel. "[WEBER] 30 *1** do[Heidg]
34. Emil. "[WEBER] 14 **1* do[Heidg]
35. Agns. "[WEBER] 8 **1* do[Heidg]
36. August. "[WEBER] 7 **1* do[Heidg]
37. Ang. "[WEBER] 6 **1* do[Heidg]
38. Albert "[WEBER] 3 **1* do[Heidg]
39. Edwina "[WEBER] 1/4 ***1 do[Heidg]
Ship Elizabeth Dennison
Carpenter
Antwep, Brement
23d October 1852
pg. 404
AND THEY HAVE A 14 YEAR OLD.
For comparison, this is the family as they would have appeared in 1852:
F. August 35
Amelia 30
Henrietta A.F.L. 14
Agnes 9
August 7
Alvina 3
Adolph 3/12
No genders are noted on the manifest for children, but an adult "Emil." was noted as a female. On their daughter's death certificate, Henrietta's husband noted her name as "Henrietta E. Puxton". The "E." still fits if her second name were Amelia, which can also be spelled Emilia, which I believe they did for the manifest.
There are now simply too many coincidences to ignore. The final one being that the family's residence was listed as "Heidg". Clearly this means "Heidelberg".
I believe this is our Henrietta, whose second name must be Amelia.
The ship is not the Tennessee, but there was also a steamboat on the Mississippi that was launched in the 1840s called the Tennessee. It's entirely possible that there was confusion as to which ship she was talking about - the one on which they crossed the ocean, or the one on which they arrived in St. Louis. Or, more simply, "Dennison" sounds a lot like "Tennessee".
So far, unfortunately, of the 3/6 available death records of Amelia's children that I have seen not one has even noted her first name, let alone her maiden name. Especially disappointing was that Lena Weber Horschmann's husband didn't know Amelia's name even though August came to live with them following Amelia's death. If John Horschmann didn't know it, I feel it's unlikely anyone else who would be reporting information for these death certificates would either.
I have also seen a tradition noted by other descendants of Henrietta Fluxton Goas that she traveled with "half-siblings Lena and August". That, too, fits this family. Alvina's name is given alternately as "Alvina/Alwina" and "Lena" on census records. There is obviously some confusion on the manifest with the youngest children. The ages are correct, but the names are wrong and imply the wrong gender. Mistakes of this nature are very common on census and other similar records. That the names of the parents and the eldest two Weber children are correct, as are the ages, strongly suggests that this is the same family.
To find Amelia's maiden name and have it match one of the names in the family tradition would be ideal, but I don't think we're going to get that lucky. And, frankly, even if it didn't match I'd probably still be convinced that Amelia Weber is Henrietta's mother. Henrietta's own death certificate was filled out by the local minister, C.E. Welch, and not a family member. He did not know her parent's names.
For me, it rests with that Ship Elizabeth Dennison manifest. August and Amelia Weber and family were in Jefferson Co., MO in 1860, as was Henrietta. They arrived in the U.S. in 1852 via the port at New Orleans, as did Henrietta. That they had with them the 14 year old child I had hoped for, and by the time I got to the record expected, was the final necessary coincidence to convince me this is the Weber family with which our Henrietta traveled and are her mother and step family.
