As I mentioned in my article, A Wealth of Knowledge and Information, today I am focusing on my Kautz side of the family tree.
John Jacob Kautz is my great-great-grandfather and the last generation I have a photograph of in the Kautz side of my family tree. He was born in July of 1828 in Baden-Baden, Germany to parents, Christian Kautz and Anna Marie Pfeiffer.
John, known as “JJ”, was raised on a farm in Germany and had a common-school education. In 1848, he entered the army at the age of twenty and was involved in the rebellion against Prussia. He came to the United States in 1849 and spent two years in Erie County, New York farming and lumbering. He arrived in Turner Junction, later known as Winfield, Illinois, by 1851 where his brother was already living. In 1852, his parents followed him, bringing along his future wife, Saloma Hansel.
JJ and Saloma were married on January 20, 1855. They are pictured in photograph above. Over the next fifteen years, they had six children: Christian L (my great-great grandfather), Mary, Louise, Caroline, Charles and Henry. By 1882, he owned 208 acres of land. In fact, the entire area around them was owned by Kautz relatives and continued to be so for generations.
Saloma died sometime before 1900 and on February 27, 1904, he remarried to Christine Ripper Eitenweller. John Jacob died on July 18, 1916 in West Chicago. As this is the oldest generation of the Kautz family that I have photographs of, this is where this segment ends. However, I have much more information on the Kautz family that ended up in Dupage County, Illinois.
Do you need help researching your family tree?
You have a really nice collection of Kautz family photos. A treasure for you I’m sure.
regards,
Theresa (Tangled Trees)
Thank you Theresa.
These are definitely treasures to me. They are also the only family that I have pictures for! Just the fact that they were almost lost to us forever makes them even more valuable to me.
Thanks for checking them out!
Kelly