The Marriage of Edward Scheel and Mary Culver

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Transcription of above certificate:

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Left-hand Column:

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Date of Marriage: January 26, 1898

Groom's Full Name: Edward C. Scheel

Residence of Groom: 627 Elm St. [Buffalo, NY]

Age: Twenty-three

Color: White

Occupation: Art Imporium [?]

Single or Widowed: Single

Birthplace of Groom: Buffalo, NY

Father's Name: Charles H. Scheel

Mother's Name: Elizabeth Klien

Number of Groom's Marriage: One

Bride's Full Name: Mary Culver

Residence of Bride: 37 East Ferry St. [Buffalo, NY]

Age: 26

Color: White

Single or Widowed: [widowed crossed out]

Maiden Name if widowed: [blank]

Birthplace of Bride: City [meaning Buffalo, NY]

Father's Name: Frank

Mother's Maiden Name: Burk

Number of Bride's Marriage: [Ink scribble]

Name of Person performing Ceremony: Albert W. Allen

Residence: 594 W. Ferry St. [Buffalo, NY]

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Right-sided Column:

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State of New York

County of Erie

Certificate and Record of Marriage

City of Buffalo -- Bureau of Vital Statistics

I hereby certified that Edward E. Scheel and Mary Culver were joined in Marriage

by me in accordance with the laws of the State of New York, at 37 East Ferry

this 26th day of January 1898

Signature of Witnesses in Marriage: Henry Robinson, Robert Brown

Signature of Person performing ceremony: Albert W. Allen

This marriage certificate contains a lot of wonderful information for genealogical purposes. First, by listing the parents, it provides a link between generations, and a confirmation of parentage. Next, the addresses are a huge bonus -- they are important when you are trying to establish the bloodlines and there are many common names. Since Charles and Edward are quite common, and Scheel was not an uncommon name in Buffalo at the turn of the century, I can match up families by the address on this certificate with those on the census records, and confirm families. Lastly, I have the bride's maiden name which allows me to open a new branch in the family tree.

Who's Who -- The family of Charles Scheel (b. 1898)

I'll be posting one family per Who's Who, and also putting a special label each post. This should help everyone (including me!) keep all the ancestors straight!

I'm sorry that I don't have any pictures (yet) for this family, but as soon as I do, I'll post them!


Charles Edward Scheel (b. 1898) married Margaret Platts (b. 1902)
[exact date of marriage unknown at this time]

Children:

Kenneth Norman* -- "Ken" (b. 1933)
Sally (13 May 1935)

For those of you interested in how I fit into this, Ken is the father of my wonderful hubby, Ed.

Getting Some Attention!

Woo Hoo! This blog, along with my other family blogs (see side bar), merited a mention in George G. Morgan's "Along Those Lines... " (11/16 post)! Check it out at http://ahaseminars.livejournal.com/ or use the link in the side bar under Favorite Websites.

George Morgan is an well-known genealogy speaker, writer and teacher. His column, "Along Those Lines..." was featured on Ancestry.com for many years, until he recently moved it to this new blog. George and Drew Smith host "The Genealogy Guys" weekly podcast, which I listen to religiously, and which also was an inspiration for starting my blogs.

It's truly an honor to be mentioned in George's blog and I was so excited when he personally emailed me back to let me know he was posting a link to my blogs. I've been walking on air all week!

Edward C. Scheel's WWI Registration

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Charles E. Scheel registered for the WWI draft at the same time his father, Edward Scheel, did. Again, thanks to Ancestry.com, I was able to find his draft card and post it above. The front of the card is on the left and back on the right.

Front of Card:

Serial Number: 6127 (upper left corner)
Order Number: *298 (upper right corner; * is unreadable number)
Name: Edward Christian Scheel
Address: 2619 North Avenue, Niagara Falls, Niagara (County), NY
Age in Years: 43
Date of Birth: December 15th, 1874
Race: White (box checked)
US Citizen: Native Born (box checked)
Present Occupation: Warehouse Manager
Employer's Name: Measurements (?? -- my guess)
Place of Employment: 349 3rd St, Niagara Falls, Niagara, NY
Nearest Relative: Name: William & Caroline Scheel
Address: Baltimore, MD
Signature affirming above answers: Edward Christian Scheel

Back of Card:

Height: Tall (box checked)
Build: Slender (box checked)
Color of Eyes: Blue
Color of Hair: (unreadable)
Obvious Physical Impairment: No
Signature of Registrar: John C.... (last name unreadable)
Date of Registration: Sept. 12th, 1918

The historical background of the draft cards helps to put all this information in context. This excerpt is from Warren Blatt's excellent web page at http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/wwidraft.htm:

On May 18, 1917, the Selective Service Act was passed, authorizing the President to temporarily increase the military establishment of the United States. The Selective Service System was responsible for the process of selecting men for induction into the military service, from the initial registration to the actual delivery of men to military training camps.

Under the office of the Provost Marshal General, the Selective Service System was made up of 52 state offices (one for each of the 48 states; the territories of Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico; and the District of Columbia), 155 district boards, and 4648 local boards... The average district board had jurisdiction over approximately 30 local boards, each with an average registration of 5000 men. Local boards were established for each county or similar subdivision in each state, and for each 30,000 persons (approximately) in each city or county with a population over 30,000.

During World War I there were three registrations:

The first, on June 5, 1917, was for all men between the ages of 21 and 31.

The second, on June 5, 1918, registered those who attained age 21 after June 5, 1917. (A supplemental registration was held on August 24, 1918 for those becoming 21 years old after June 5, 1918. This was included in the second registration.)

The third registration was held on September 12, 1918 for men aged 18 through 45.

Using the historical background above, I can see that Edward and Charles registered for the draft during this third registration period. This would make sense because they were not age-eligible in the other two registration period with Edward being to old and Charles too young.

Charles Scheel WWI Draft Registration

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Ancestry.com has now digitized and made available the WWI draft registration cards. I was able to find several members of my family. From the Scheel family, I was able to locate the one for Charles Scheel, whose birth certificate I posted in the previous blog, and his father, Edward Scheel. I will post the one for Edward Scheel in the next blog.

Because these uploads come out so small, and this particular card isn't that clear to begin with, I'll transcribe it below. The front of the card is on the left and back on the right.


Front of Card:


Serial Number: 1150 (upper left corner)
Order Number: 1419 (upper right corner)
Name: Charles Edward Scheel
Address: 2619 North Avenue, Niagara Falls, Niagara (County), NY
Age in Years: 19
Date of Birth: November 17th, 1898
Race: White (box checked)
US Citizen: Native Born (box checked)
Present Occupation: Shipper
Employer's Name: American Sales Book Co, Ltd.
Place of Employment: Highland Ave, Niagara Falls, Niagara, NY
Nearest Relative:
Name: Mary Scheel (mother)
Address: 2619 North Ave, Niagara Falls, Niagara, NY
Signature affirming above answers: Charles Edward Scheel


Back of Card:


Height: Tall (box checked)
Build: Medium (box checked)
Color of Eyes: Blue
Color of Hair: Brown
Obvious Physical Impairment: No

Signature of Registrar: Frank H. O'Neill
Date of Registration: Sept. 12th, 1918




Besides being a document that my ancestor filled out, this registration card gives us a physical description of my grandfather at age 19, an address where he lived in Niagara, and employment information.

Shameless plug for Ancestry.com since they have provided a lot of what I'm posting: It's my favorite pay-for-access site and has proven to be worth every penny. I find a lot of stuff on there, and they are adding more all the time. My local Family History Center (another great place!) has a membership and you can access Ancestry.com for free from them. I like my membership since I can access it from anywhere I have a computer and at any time.

Charles Scheel Birth Certificate

First, let me apologize for the pink in the middle of the document. Evidentially red ink is part of the colored paper they use to stop forgeries. It's suppose to turn up as the word "VOID" printed multiple times if xeroxed. Unfortunately, if the document gets wet, like this did in transit, the red masses into these pink blobs.

This is the birth certificate of my husband's grandfather, Charles Scheel, from the City of Buffalo, Bureau of Vital Statistics. This means that Charles was born within the city limits of Buffalo. Otherwise it would have come from the county offices.

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In case you can't read the image or the writing:

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Name of Child: Charles Scheel

Sex: Male

Color: White

Date of Birth: Nov. 17, 1898

Place of Birth: 37 E. Ferry St.

Father's Name: Edward C. Scheel

If out of wedlock, write OW: (blank)

Father's Residence: 37 E. Ferry St.

Father's Birthplace: U.S.

Age: 24

Occupation: Merchant

Mother's Name: Mary Culver

Mother's Name before Marriage: (ditto marks)

Mother's Residence: 37 E. Ferry St.

Mother's Birthplace: U.S.

Age: 25 years

No. of Mother's previous Children: 0

How many now living: (blank)

Date of Report: Nov. 18, 1898

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Besides giving me Charles' birthdate, this document gives us very important other information. First, it verifies his mother's maiden name. Prior to my receiving this document, I had guessed it was Culver from 1900 Census when Mary's mother was living with them. However, there were often re-marriages, so Mary's mother could have had a different last name than Mary's maiden name.

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Next, it tells me he was born at home, and the address of that house. If I get inspired, I can actually look at purchase records, the mortgage info and title information for the house. In addition, since families often lived at the same residences for more than one generation, it's possible to find other ancestors or relatives using just the address.

Blog Introduction

This blog tracks my discoveries while researching my husband's SCHEEL family line. I will be posting photos, documents, stories and anything else I can find! It is a way of sharing this information with other family members as well as allowing others to contribute, correct and discover us!

While there are a lot of Scheels, this blog mainly focuses on the ancestors and descendants of Charles and Margaret Scheel of Niagara Falls, NY. Most postings will be on ancestors due to privacy and security issues.

Comments, corrections, inquiries and contributions are all gratefully accepted.