Children followed quickly - John was born in 1827, Peter in 1829, and Nicholas in 1831. Their last child Henry was born on December 24, 1833. Henry was my great-great grandfather.
According to a family story, Eva died a week after Henry was born. Parish records for Confeld confirmed this story - Eva died nine days after giving birth, on January 2, 1834 when she was 27 years old.
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| Death Record of Eva Schuh |
When Henry was born, John was six, Peter was four, and Nicholas was two. Who took care of Henry and his brothers when Mathias was farming? Confeld was a small community of a few hundred people and family members were nearby, so the likely candidates are grandmothers and aunts. Mathias married again, but not until December, so the brood was motherless for almost the entire year.
Wonderful, but sad history. I didn't realize Defunct meant dead, it was a word my parents used often to describe something no longer in existence. (The defunct Bull Moose Party, or the old Ford is defunct.)
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