New development concerning the ancestry of
Anna Maria Christina Wolfe (1828-1908)

by Conrad Terrill, 17 March 2018
 

Frank Schmidtmeier, of Ireland, a descendant of Anna Marie Christina Wolfe's mother's sister, Friederike Dorothea Hüls-Moseke, has recently pointed us to an item on a German web site which translates as "Emigration from Lippe to the USA",¹ maintained by Naturwissenschaftlicher und Historischer Verein für das Land Lippe e.V. (Scientific and Historical Association for the District Lippe). The item concerns a 21-year-old woman named "Wilhelmine Wolf," from Sabbenhausen, who sailed on the brig (a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts) "Reform," arriving in New York City on 28 June 1848. It was easy to then find the passenger list on Ancestry.com.² Wilhelmine was travelling with 20-year-old Friederike Wolf, and just above them on the list was a Maseke family of four: Arend, 37, farmer; Louise, 28; Anna Maria, 5; and Wilhelmine, (1/2)?. We can identify Wilhelmine and Friederike Wolf as Anna Maria Sophia Christina/Wilhelmina Wolf born 31 Jan 1828 and her sister Friederica Wolf born 27 May 1829, daughters of Johann Arnd Wolf and Christine Hüls-Moseke. And we can identify "Arnd Maseke" from baptism and marriage records found on Ancestry.com. Johann Arnd Huels or Moseke was born 3 May 1812, son of Johann Arnd Huels and Anna Maria Moseke, and married Pauline Florentine Groene on 12 June 1842. We did not previously know of this baptism record, but it makes Arnd Moseke the youngest brother of Christine Hüls-Moseke. So Wilhelmine and her sister Friederike were travelling with their uncle and his family. The German web site concerning emigrants from Lippe tells us that Pauline was also known as "Louise," and that their children, Anna Marie Wilhelmine (Anna) Moseke and Wilhelmine Moseke were born 10 Aug. 1842 and 2 Oct. 1847, respectively, in Sabbenhausen. The web site also informs us that Arnd later changed his surname to "Scheermeier." We have not been able to determine what became of this family, nor do we know what became of Friederike.

All of this helps greatly to confirm that our Mary (Wolfe) Ells was indeed Anna Maria Sophia Christina/Wilhelmina Wolf, of Sabbenhausen, born 31 Jan 1828, since we now know that she came to America at about the right time. Her year of immigration on the 1900 US Census was off by two years, but this is not unusual. It's difficult to remember such a date 52 years later. If the story is true that Conrad Ells first saw her at the port of immigration, then he met her in 1848, not 1850. Still, they were married in 1850, according to the 1850 US Census.


Footnotes:
1.) Emigration from Lippe to the USA, http://www.lippe-auswanderer.de/AuswandererLippe-USA/html/frames.htm.  Find: Wilhelmine Wolf * 1827 (u) Sabbenhausen (?), and Friederike Wolf * 1828 (u).
2.) New York ships' passenger lists, "Reform," from Bremen, Germany, arrived at New York on 28 Jun 1848, NARA microfilm series M237, roll 73, image 666.