Uh Oh... Birth before Marriage.

In my excitement to find August and Margaret in the same household, I went searching right away in the 1850 US Census. Unfortunately, I did not find them and I may have found out why. According to John's headstone he was born on 9 May 1853[1]. Click here to view headstone.

 And according to Cuyahoga County marriage records Augustus Reynaudt and Margaret Dible were married on 23 November 1854[2]. A full 18 months after John’s birth. No wonder I couldn't find them as a married couple in 1850!

Cuyahoga County Marriage Applications 1854-1855

Cuyahoga County Marriage Records 1789-1997

Despite the fact that I know the marriage date for August and Margaret I really couldn't glean any other information from either of these records. I attempted to look for the officiants name (S. McAdams) in the Cleveland Pastors and their Churches website hoping my search would connect me to a German Lutheran or Catholic church in Cuyahoga county. But unfortunately, he couldn't be found. Probably because there are more than 30 churches that served the German populace in the city of Cleveland alone. The name of the deputy clerk on the marriage application wouldn't be helpful because they would have been a government representative rather than a clergyman associated with a specific church with searchable records.  It looks like this line of inquiry is at a dead end for now.

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[1] Findagrave Memorial for John A. Requadt, Memorial No. 71050001. Findagrave (Accessed on 22 November 2014)

[2] Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1997," index, Cuyahoga County, FHL microfilm No. 877914.

Our good friend John A.

I love it when something that made no sense suddenly makes sense. This is one of those times. In the 1870 census, right after Margaret is listed, John A. Myerhoff is listed with the occupation of a Fireman on a Railroad Engine. He was born in about 1853 in Ohio.

His occupation is very common among the family as Andrew was a locomotive engineer for the Union Pacific Railroad according to his death Certificate and his obituary.

And as we saw from the death certificates from the last post, both William H. Myerhoff and George Ladd Myerhoff were associated with the railroad in some way. William was a retired railroad engineer for the Nickel Plate (more commonly known as the New York, Chicago, and St. Louis) Railroad, and George was a retired railroad engineer on the Southern Railroad.

But here's the really interesting thing, I found a death record for a John A. REQUADT on 4 May 1913 that was born on 9 May 1853 whose mother is Margaret Deible and whose father is..... August Requedt!!!

This information corresponds perfectly with the 1870 census record as the approximate birth year, occupation, and mother all match. Therefore, the father of John A. Requadt, Charles, and at least Caroline is August Requadt. But another nugget of information is hidden in the death record. John was born in Ohio, not Michigan so it is plausible that the marriage record for August and Margaret is in Ohio. It is also possible that a 1850 census record could possibly be found for the August Requadt family. However, if they were not yet married perhaps August and Margaret can be found individually in Ohio with their parents.