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Once upon a time in West Prussia
there was a man named Fredreich Schittkowski. He married a young lady
named Wilhelmine Minnie Reschke. Here is where the story is supposed to go "and they lived happily ever after" but not this time. Their marriage
was one of arrangement, not love. Minnie was in love with "the boy next
door", he was a boy on the farm closest to the one her parents had.
Because Frederich's family was rather well off for the area, he was
able to offer a sizeable dowrey. Wilhelmine was, for all purposes,
"sold" to Frederich. Acording to what has been passed down, Fredreich
deceided to leave lovely Western Prussia to come to America (reportedly
to avoid conscription -- rather like the draft). It seems he did not
want to serve in the Kaiser's army. With Hermann Charles, age 5, and
little Adolph Bernhardt, at age 3, in tow, they set off for the
challenges of starting over in a new land. They arrived in America
about 1886 on the SS Eider. I have not yet discovered if they came through New York or Baltimore.
Where Did They Live?They are found in Cleveland, Ohio and showed up in the City Directory around 1889. They lived at that time on Fourth Avenue (that street is now Thackery Avenue). It was there that Georg Schittkowski was born and there he died 14 months later. He is buried in the center of Cleveland, in the Erie Street Cemetery across the street from Jacob's Field. There were more children born here in Cleveland, Louise, Wilhelmine (Minnie), Martha, Emily, and Fredreich Wilhelm. There was a stillborn child between Emily and Freddie that is buried in Lutheran Cemetery.The family also lived on Holmden Avenue on Cleveland's "South Side", where my grandmother told me, as children they would run to the train tracks and steal coal off the train coal cars to put into the furnace to heat the home. They finally settled in a 3 bedroom home on West 20th Street.
The Name ProblemOn May 20, 1918, the finalization of the name change from Schittkowski to Schell was granted by the Probate Court of Cuyahoga County. Included in the action was Friedrich, Wilhelmine Sr., Herman, Bridget, Adolph, Augusta, and Wilhelmine Jr. After years of mutilation to the family name, they finally changed it to SCHELL. The variations, or misspellings which is what they really are, of the original name follow:
The women of the family took advantage of this situation to make certain first name changes, also. Wilhelmine Sr. became Minnie Sr. and Wilhelmine Jr. became Minnie Jr. Having been christened Auguste Emilie, she deceided to take Emily as her first name.
ReligionWhile living on Fourth Avenue, the Schittkowski family joined the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church at the corner of East 30th Street and Prospect Avenue. This is where Georg and the girls, Louise and Wilhelmine Jr., were baptised. It is also here that I found a record of Georg's death. This church is also where Wilhelmine Sr.'s brother Wilhelm Reschke married Pauline Wolf.When they moved to the Holmden Avenue address, they changed churches to one closer to home. St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church was located on Scranton Avenue. This is the church that the rest of the children were baptised, confirmed, and even some of them married. This is also the church that presided over the deaths of Frederich and Wilhelmine Sr.
Speaking of the Children....I suppose that this would be a good place to list the children.
Each of the names leads to another page for each person and more information on their individual families. As I uncover more information, I will be updating all impacted pages, so please bookmark theses pages and return to them often. |
| Please check out the Schell Message Boards. This is a place for posting queries, Bible records, all kinds of goodies relating to the Schell family. You might also like to subscribe to the SCHELL-L Mail list. |
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Last revised:04 Feb 2005