Searching for Anna

Anna Spreen is my Great-great-great Grandmother on my father's paternal side. One of my goals has been to find her maiden name and where she was from. When I started my journey to become a professional genealogist, I decided that Anna and her husband Fredrick Spreen would be my project for the quarter. There were a few things I knew about her and several records that we had with her name on them. One of the biggest clues I had was that she listed her birthplace as Hannover, not just Germany or Prussia like her husband. Going on this, I figured I would start with what I had and take a look at all the different records I had for Anna.

Records of Anna

The following is a summary of the documents that I had easy access to at the beginning of my research. There were also several newspaper articles from Quincy area newspapers where Anna and the family were on lists of letters at the post office. Her picture, to the right, was in the Harris Bible[1] which I inherited. The titles of each source are links to FamilySearch, find-a-grave or other document sources that should be free to view, although some require an account.

1850 Census [2]
Name: Hannah Spreen
Sex: Female
Age: 40 years
Birth Year (Estimated): 1810
Birthplace: Germany
Event Place: Quincy Township, Adams, Illinois, United States
Other Individuals in household: Frederick Spreen (40), Catherine Spreen (8), Dorothy Spreen (2)

1860 Census [3]
Name: Anna Spreen
Sex: Female
Age: 50 years
Birth Year (Estimated): 1810
Birthplace: Hanover Ger
Event Place: Quincy Township, Adams, Illinois, United States
Other individuals in household: Frederic Spreen (48), Dorathy Spreen (12), John Schoup (56), Margaret Schoup (53), Louis Schoup (23), Hannah Schoup (20), Eliza J Schoup (15), John Schoup (13)

1867 Church record of daughter Dorthey's marriage [4]
Name: Louis J F Kespohl
Sex: Male
Father's Name: Hein Kespohl
Mother's Name: Auguste Kespohl
Spouse's Name: Dorothea Luise Spreen
Spouse's Sex: Female
Spouse's Father's Name: Fred Spreen
Spouse's Mother's Name: Cath Spreen
Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 15 Oct 1867
Event Place: Adams, Illinois, United States

Find a Grave [5]
Name: Anna Spreen
Birth Date: 1809
Death Date: 1869
Event Type: Burial
Event Place: Quincy, Adams, Illinois, United States of America
Cemetery: Woodland Cemetery

Anna Catherine Harris's death certificate [6]
Name: Anna Catherine Harris
Birth Date: Nov 11, 1841
Death Date: Feb 5, 1928
Birth Place: Wheeling, West Virgina
Father's Name: Fredrick Spreen
Father's Birthplace: Germany
Mother's Name: Ann Brickwede
Mother's Birthplace: Germany
Informant: A. L. Dunham

Summary of Life

Born in Hannover sometime around 1809, Anna immigrated to the United States, first settling in the Wheeling area of Virgina. It isn't known where or when she got married to Frederick, but it would be assumed that it would have been sometime around her immigration. Here she and Fred had her first daughter, Catherine Anna in November of 1842. They moved to Quincy, Illinois between 1842 and 1848 when their second daughter, Dorathy was born. In the 1850 census they show up living in Quincy. In the 1860 Census they are also living in Quincy, but this time with a second family, the Schoup Family. In 1867, their daughter Dorathy gets married to Louis Kespohl in Quincy. Sometime in 1869, Anna passes away and is buried at Woodland Cemetery. Other records from the Quincy newspapers show that she and her family were receiving regular correspondence, including letters from Germany.

Clues from the records

Even though I had the death certificate of my great-grandmother in my possession for sometime, it was the first time I had really looked at it. I had not seen that the maiden name of my Great-great-grandmother was actually listed.

A second item I picked up for the first time was the fact that there was a second family living with Frederic and his family and the wife of the family said her birthplace was the same as Anna, Hannover, Germany. I had always thought it was interesting that Frederic said his birthplace was Prussia and his wife was born in Hannover. I figured with this information I might be able to track them back to their birth families. Now with the added information that someone else listed as a birthplace as Hannover, maybe that was a relative, particuarly maybe a sister.

The records also brought up a few questions. What was Anna's actual name? She went by Hannah in 1850, in the 1860 census she was Anna and for her daughter's marriage record she was Cath. My guess was that her name was either Anna or Hannah Catherine, but I couldn't be sure which first name was correct or what order was correct since German names are known to have three or four middle names and the person doesn't necessarily go by the first name.

The birthdate also was an unknown. It most likely was as her find a grave year being correct. Census records normally go off of the age of a person and therefore could be as much as six months off in which year they were born.

Continuing the search

There are a few items of information that I need for Anna or possibly Margaret which will allow me to find where they were born. Since I have the last name, it would help to have an actual birthdate so I can search for a specific birth record. Where might I be able to find this information?

Cemetery Records
Obituaries and Newspapers
Other family members death certificates

Woodland Cemetery

Find a grave allows you to search via the plot. Looking at what other people that were buried in the plot might show further relationship with others. I found that the plot: Block 10, lot 224 belonged to Frederick Spreen.[7]

Those buried in Block 10, lot 224 of Woodland Cemetery:
Anna C. Dempsey - 1839 - 1909
Isabell Dempsey - unknown - 22 December 1865
Dora M. Kespohl - 2 Oct 1876 -2 8 Oct 1973
Dorothea L Spreen Kespohl - 1848 - 22 Mar 1929
Herman F. Kespohl - 1869 - 3 September 1950
Louis J. F. Kespohl - 1839 - 28 October 1921
John Schaub - 29 march 1802 - 18 May 1862
John Schaub - 1847 - 25 December 1911
Lewis Schuab - 1837 - 1890
Margaret Schuab - 31 March 1807 - 15 May 1887
Anna Spreen - 1809 - 1869
Frederick "Fred" Spreen - 1813 - 1 March 1895

Recognizing the Schaub family from the 1860 census, this strengthens the possibility that they are family. Anna Dempsey is John and Margaret's daughter. Dorothea Kespohl is Fred and Anna's daughter. There is no more information on find-a-grave for Anna, but Margaret has a birthdate, therefore she can be searched for in German parish records to see if her birth and baptism record can be found.

Quincy Newspaper Archive

Using the search term of "Spreen" in the search engine, I come up with 31 pages between January 1838 and December 1899. Of these, most of them were lists of letters at the post office. There are returns from 1869, indicating that there propbably isn't an obituary for Anna within this database. There is a mention of Fred Spreen's death in The Quincy Daily Journal on March 2nd, 1895.

Using the search term "Schaub" there were a total of 2 pages, both of which were for Louis Schuab's death reported by The Quincy Daily Journal and The Quincy Journal on April 12th, 1890.

Looking specifically in the month that Margaret died, I also find her obituary[8]. Even though it is short, it has a wealth of information. The year she immegrated, 1834 is given. She too settled at first in Virgina where she married her husband. Also, the year she moved to Quincy with her family, 1848. With this inforatmion, I can look for a paper trail for her and see if Anna might be also in the same place or on the same records.

Newspaper.com paper search

After not finding inforamtion about Anna in the Quincy database, I searched with simular terms for her in the newspaper.com database. Here too there isn't any good hits for obituaries or other articles about Anna. I did find another mention in Atchison, Kansas about Fred Spreen and his daughter Dora. These are good information to keep for Fred and the Kespohl family, but they don't add to the conversation about Anna and Margaret.

Margaret Schaub

With Margaret's possible maiden name and her birthdate, I search on Ancestry.com database Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1518-1921. Using the most restrictive search of "Margaret Brickwede Born: 31 March 1807", I come up with one record:

Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1518-1921
Name: Margaretha Elisabeth Brickwede
Event Type: Taufe (Baptism)
Birth Date: 31 Mär 1807 (31 Mar 1807)
Baptism Date: 03 Apr 1807 (3 Apr 1807)
Baptism Place: Badbergen, Bersenbrück, Hannover, Deutschland (Germany)
Father: Hermann Henrich Brickwede
Mother: Luica Elsabein Meesmans

This is a likely record, but how can I prove it? One is does Margaretha have a sister Anna born in 1809? Does she have a sister named Catherine? Using the place and the last name, I searched for any siblings that Margaretha might have.

Name	Birthdate	Father	Mother
Johann Gerhard Brickwede	\| 02 Sep 1790	\| Johann Henrich Brickwede	\| Elsabein Meermans
Anna Catharina Adelheit Brickwegs	\| 1 Dez 1792	\| Hermann Henrich Brickwegs	\| Lucia Elsabein Meesmanns
Hermann Henrich Brukwede	\| 29 Okt 1794	\| Hermann Henr Brukwede	\| Lucia Elsab Meesmans
Johann Henrich Brukwede	\| 29 Okt 1794	\| Hermann Henr Brukwede	\| Lucia Elsab Meesmans
Johann Hermann Brickwede	\| 16 Nov 1797	\| Horm Henrich Brickwede	\| Lucia Elsab Meesmans
Lucia Maria Elsabein Brickwede	\| 23 Jan 1800	\| Herm Henrich Brickwede	\| Lucia Elsabein Meesmanns
Anna Catharina Brickwede	\| 06 Sep 1803	\| Herm Henrich Brickwede	\| Lucia Elsabein Meesmanns
Margaretha Elisabeth Brickwede	\| 31 Mär 1807	\| Herm Henrich Brickwede	\| Luica Elsabein Meesmans
Ana Maria Brickwege	\| 22 Okt 1809	\| Hermann Henrich Brickwege	\| Lu?? Elsabein Neermanns

A total of nine children were found in this search. One meets the time frame for Anna's birthyear and two have the name Anna Catherina. Now the question is, who is Anna? Or is she not listed? Since the name Cath was used for her daughter's marriage record, that puts some conflict into her being Ana Maria, who is the correct age. We have not seen her use Maria in any record that we have found. It is possible that she is Anna Catherina born in 1803, but would she have changed her age? One way to find out is if any of these individuals can be traced forward.

Anna Catharina Brickwede

Endnotes

[1]Harris Bible Records, circa 1863-1893, family pages Harris Bible; digital images made by Lisa Dunham (owner) held by Lisa Dunham, Washington, United States, 2024.

[2]"United States Census, 1850", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M85F-4GG : Fri Oct 06 04:13:59 UTC 2023), Entry for Frederick Spreen and Hannah Spreen, 1850.

[3]"United States Census, 1860", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXHY-D35 : Wed Oct 04 20:35:19 UTC 2023), Entry for Frederic Spreen and Anna Spreen, 1860.

[4]"Illinois, Church Records, 1837-1995", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG2Y-MVTH : Sat Nov 18 03:17:12 UTC 2023), Entry for Louis J F Kespohl and Dorothea Luise Spreen, 15 Oct 1867.

[5]Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/186586017/anna-spreen: accessed February 18, 2024), memorial page for Anna Spreen (1809–1869), Find a Grave Memorial ID 186586017, citing Woodland Cemetery, Quincy, Adams County, Illinois, USA; Maintained by daveandlibby (contributor 47464433).

[6]Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Standard Certificate of Death, number 203 3112, Mrs. Catherine Ann Harris, 5 February 1928, privately held by Lisa Dunham, Renton, Washington, 2024.

[7]Frye, Lillian Harris; Parrick, Linda Kaufmann; Great River Genealogical Society (Quincy, Illinois); 1979; Quincy, Illinois, Great River Genealogical Society, Woodland Cemetery early lot owners; pg 37. Available online at: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/258125?availability=Family%20History%20Library

[8]"Death of Mrs. Margaret Schaub," The Quincy Weekly Whig (Quincy Illinois), 19 May 1887 (https://quincypublicil.advantage-preservation.com/viewer/?k=margaret&i=f&by=1887&bdd=1880&d=05011887-05311887&m=between&ord=k1&fn=the_quincy_daily_whig_usa_illinois_quincy_18870517_english_3&df=1&dt=10: accessed 19 February 2024), Margaret Schaub.