52AncestorsFB

Week 1 Prompt: First

I’ve decided to participate in my first 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge. Since this was my first-ever post for the challenge, that was going to fit the first theme. However, when I randomly picked a number from 1 to 63 (covers six generations on the ahnentafel), up popped number 14, which corresponds to my great-grandfather George Rottman, who has his own first-related story.

I’ve written about George many times over the last ten years, but I’ve never shared the story of his first marriage, which we never knew about.

In 2012, I was conducting research in Cedar Rapids (Iowa) newspapers and came across two news bits regarding a George Rottman:

  • “Lola Rottman has been divorced from Geo. Rottman by a direct decree entered of record upon default of defendant.”1
  • “Mrs. George Rottman is visiting her mother for a few days at Perry, Iowa.”2

Was this referring to my George Rottman? I had studied the area and the family quite extensively and had never come across another George Rottman, so I was leaning toward this being him, but I needed more information to come to a conclusion. I asked my mom if she knew anything, but she’d never heard of George being married before.

I obtained the divorce record referred to in the first newspaper notice. It stated that George was a white American, age 27, with no prior marriages. His wife Lola was a white American, age 23, with no prior marriages. They were married on 1 October 1903; the divorce was finalized on 15 April 1909. The reason for divorce was habitual drunkeness.3 My George was born in 1882, so he would be 27 in 1909.

I was unable to locate a marriage record for them in Linn County. But a random search on Google turned up an interesting item in a document full of transcriptions of marriage notices found in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, newspapers. The notice, under the heading of 2 October 1903 reads: “A wedding permit was issued yesterday to George Rottman and Lola Miller, both of Edmond.”4 The date lines up with the divorce record, and at this point, I didn’t know what Lola’s maiden name was, so I wasn’t sure if this was them.

I decided to obtain the marriage record anyway. While there is no mention of parents or birth place for the bride or groom, two of the witnesses, Oliver and Nellie Cole, are found living in Cedar, Johnson, Iowa, in 1900, providing a connection to Iowa (Johnson County borders Linn County to the south).5

Oliver and Nellie “Kohl” are later found in Galena, Cherokee, Kansas, in 1910.6 George and Lola’s first son was born in Parsons, Labette, Kansas, which borders Cherokee County on the west. Oliver O. Kohl and George H. Rottman are found in the 1905 Parsons city directory, living at 2125 Johnson Avenue (now Main Street) and 2214 Crawford Avenue respectively, within a few blocks of each other.7 Neither are in the 1903/1904 or 1906 Parsons city directory. George, Lola, Oliver, and Nellie were living in Edmond (outside of Oklahoma City) at the time of the marriage, so I checked the 1903 directory for Oklahoma City, but found nothing. The 1901 directory for Iowa City also lists residents in all of Johnson County (starting on page 213), but I did not find Oliver Cole/Kohl or George Rottman living in Cedar or anywhere else in the county.

By 1906, George and Lola are back in Iowa.8 Another son is born in 1907 in Iowa. Then we have the two newspaper notices in 1908 and 1909 (mentioned above) placing them in Iowa.

My George is nowhere to be found from 1895 to 1914, when he appears in Chicago and marries my great-grandmother Anna Stoffel.9 I cannot find him in the 1900 or 1910 federal censuses, nor in the 1905 Iowa state census. Him not showing up in the 1905 Iowa census would certainly be explained if my George is the same George that married Lola, as they were living in Parsons, Kansas, in 1905.

There was still plenty of work to do to determine whether or not these were the same man. I could explore the witnesses further. I could see if the divorce file still exists and contains information that would help determine if this is my George. I did follow Lola and the two sons and know their fate (not sharing because descendants are still living). I added a few items to my to-do list and put the project away.

In 2017, I found a DNA match on Ancestry that listed Lola as an ancestor, with no husband. Without going into the details (I do know the identity of the person and it fits with my research, but protecting privacy here!), suffice it to say, this provided pretty good evidence that the George that married Lola, was the same George that married my great-grandmother. So, it looks like my great-grandfather had a secret first family. My mother knew nothing of this, and I suspect that my grandmother didn’t either. She had all sorts of notes about family members (hers and my grandfather’s), immediate and distant. I believe that if she’d know she had two half-brothers, they would have been part of those notes. While I feel like I need additional evidence for this conclusion, I’m pretty sure I’m on the right track and that George was married first to Lola Miller, then second to Anna Stoffel.

Sources

  1. “Equity Court,” Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, 22 April 1909, p. 2, col. 3.
  2. “Marion News” Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, 7 December 1908, p. 2, col. 1.
  3. Linn County, Iowa, Record of Divorces, vol. 1, unpaginated, entry no. 286, Rottman v. Rottman; FHL microfilm 2,293,645.
  4. “1903 Marriages – Oklahoma County, Oklahoma,” USGenWeb, Oklahoma Archives (http://files.usgwarchives.net/ok/oklahoma/vitals/marriage/marr1903.txt).
  5. Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Territory, Marriage Record 7:76, Rottman-Miller, 1903; FHL microfilm 2,168,718, item 3. Also, 1900 US census, Johnson County, Iowa, population schedule, Cedar, p. 16A (stamped), enumeration district (ED) 74, dwelling 46, family 46, Oliver Cole.
  6. 1910 US census, Cherokee County, Kansas, pop. sch., Galena, p. 8A, ED 20, dwell. 179, fam. 180, Oliver Kohl.
  7. Parsons City Directory (Sioux City, Iowa: R. L. Polk, 1905) 134, 193.
  8. Cedar Rapids City and Business Directory (Keokuk, Iowa: n.p., 1906), 317.
  9. Cook County, Illinois, marriage certificate no. 656006 (1914), Rottman-Stoffel; Cook County Clerk’s Office, Chicago.