Handwritten Notes and the Wise Family - Part 3

Part 1 of this series discusses the possible family of Peter and Christina Wise of Wayne County, Ohio and Miami County, Indiana.

Part 2 includes scanned images of two handwritten notes made by my grandmother that shed some light on two of the probable children of Peter and Christina, those being John Wise and Eliza Wise Hoffman. That post dealt primarily with the search for Eliza.

This post will discuss the family of Eliza Wise Hoffman. The numbers within square brackets [x] indicate sources or notes that can be found at the bottom of the post.

[Note added February 17, 2008: Please see the post Eliza Jane Wise Hoffman (1842-1920) for the complete, updated information on Eliza and her family.]

The first issue to resolve should probably be the name of Eliza's husband, which is probably Anthony. Referring to the census records in Part 2 we see that he was listed as A. W. Hoffman in the 1870 census. In 1880 he was Andrew W. and in 1900 he was listed as Anthony W. In the Miami County marriage records online [1] he is Anthony Hoffman. In the Ohio Death Record of his daughter Minnie Fluke [2], her father's name is listed as Anthony Wayne Hoffman (and her mother is Eliza Jane Wise).

Eliza Jane Wise was probably born in May 1842 [3] in Wayne County, Ohio [4] and probably died between 1920 and 1930. [5] She married Anthony Hoffman on October 14, 1861 in Miami County, Indiana. [1]

Anthony Wayne Hoffman was born in March 1839 [6] in Ohio. He probably died between 1900 and 1910. [6]

Eliza Jane Wise and Anthony Hoffman had five known children:

1. Minnie Hoffman was born on 08 Dec 1861 in Gilead, Miami County, Indiana [2] died on 18 Jun 1937 in Orange Township, Ashland County, Ohio [2] at age 75, and was buried in Ashland City Cemetery, Ashland County, Ohio. [7] She married Perry M. Fluke about 1882-83. [8]

Perry M. Fluke was born on 08 May 1856 in Orange Township, Ashland County, Ohio [9] died on 05 Mar 1925 in Orange Township, Ashland County, Ohio [9] at age 68, and was buried in Ashland City Cemetery, Ashland County, Ohio. [7]

Minnie Hoffman and Perry M. Fluke had three known children:

i. Kelsey Fluke, son, was born in Oct 1885 in Ohio. [10] No additional information. He is not in the 1910 census with his parents and he doesn't show up in other census searches.

ii. Florence Fluke, daughter, was born in 1887 in Ohio. [10] She was listed in the 1910 census with her parents. My grandmother's note had Florence Sites with an arrow pointing from her name to "Mansfield." A Florence and Harry D. Sites was found in the 1920 (page 2b) and 1930 (page 3b) census records. They are living on South Mulberry Street in Mansfield, Madison Township, Richland County, Ohio. There isn't enough information to determine that the Florence Sites in those census records is the daughter of Minnie and Perry Fluke, but Florence's mother is listed as born in Indiana, Florence is of the right age, and they are living in Mansfield. Florence Sites is not listed in the SSDI but Harry D. Sites is listed at ancestry.com in both the SSDI and Ohio Death Records, which shows his date of death as 21 Mar 1967 in Mansfield, Ohio. The census records show that Florence and Harry Sites had two children, William born about 1918 and Robert born about 1919.

iii. Helen Rose Fluke, daughter, was born on 25 Apr 1894 in Orange Township, Ashland County, Ohio [11] and died on 30 Oct 1918 in Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio [11] at age 24. Her married name was Lersch. The informant was Leo L. Lersch of Ashland, Ohio. Cause of death was pneumonia with contributing cause being influenza.

The family of Minnie and Perry Fluke was found in the following census records:
1900 Ashland County, Ohio (Orange Township page 2b). Household of Perry M. Fluke.
1910 Ashland County, Ohio (Orange Township page 246). Household of Perry M. Fluke.
1920 Ashland County, Ohio (Orange Township sheet 10a). Household of Perry M. Fluke.
1930 Ashland County, Ohio (Orange Township sheet 8b). Household of Minnie Fluke.

2. Dayton Hoffman was born in 1863-64 in Indiana. [12] In the Indiana Marriage Collection at www.ancestry.com there is a record of a Dayton Hoffman marrying Mary Smith on 01 Feb 1890 in Miami County (Book C5A page 50). Dayton has not been found in the census records beyond those where he was listed with his parents, in 1870 and 1880. However, a Helen Hoffman born in 1892 and an Ester Huffman born about 1900 show up in later census records with other family members.

• 1900 Wabash County, Indiana (Arnold Street, Roann, Paw Paw Township page 240a) household of Anthony W. and Eliza J. Hoffman: Helen O., granddaughter, Mar 1892, 8, born Indiana.
• 1910 Wabash County, Indiana (Paw Paw Township page 254) household of Aaron T. and Jennie Gidley: Ester Huffman, niece, female, white, 10, born Indiana.
• 1910 Wabash County, Indiana (Pleasant Township page 284) household of John and Effie Wertenberger: Helen Hoffman, niece, 18, born Indiana and another niece, First name illegible Hoffman, age 10 or 12, born Indiana
• 1920 Wabash County, Indiana (Roann, Paw Paw Township page 6b) household of John and Effie Wertenberger: Helen Hoffman, niece, 27, single, teacher in public school.

3. Effie Hoffman was born in Jan 1867 in Indiana. [13] She graduated from Roann High School in 1884, with the first graduating class. [14] She married John Wertenberger about 1887. [13]

John Wertenberger was born in Mar 1873 in Indiana. [15] They did not have any children but the census records show that various family members lived with them at different times. John died between 1920 and 1930 (Effie is listed as a widow in the 1930 census).

Effie and John Wertenberger were found in the following census records:

1900 Wabash County, Indiana (Pleasant Township, page 266a) household of John Wertenberger.
1910 Wabash County, Indiana (Pleasant Township, page 284) household of John Wertenberger.
1920 Wabash County, Indiana (Roann, Paw Paw Township, page 6b). household of John Wertenberger.
1930 Wabash County, Indiana (Ward 3 Roann, Paw Paw Township,
page 223) household of Effie I. Wertenberger

4. Ella Hoffman was born in 1868 in Indiana. [16] The only record I've found for Ella, other than the census records where she was listed with her parents, is that she graduated with the class of 1888 from Roann High School. [14]

5. Jennie Mae Hoffman was probably born in May 1872 in Indiana [17] and probably died between 1910 and 1920. [18] She married Aaron Gidley on 22 Aug 1896 in Wabash County, Indiana. [19]

Aaron Gidley was born on 11 Jun 1844 in Miami County, Indiana [19] and died on 05 Mar 1923 in Roann, Wabash County, Indiana [19] at age 78. Jennie was his second wife and he had three children by his first wife, Emma Shively. [19]

Jennie Hoffman and Aaron Gidley were the parents of one son:

i. Wayne William Gidley was born on 03 Nov 1898 in Indiana [19]. Wayne was a 1916 graduate of Roann High School. [14] He was enumerated in the household of Effie I. Wertenberger in Wabash County, Indiana (Roann, Paw Paw Township, page 223) in the 1930 census: Wayne W. Gidley, nephew, 29, single, Salesman in a "Day" Store.

The family of Jennie and Aaron Gidley were found in the following census records:

1900 Wabash County, Indiana (Church Street, Roann, Paw Paw Township, page 241a) household of Aram Gidley.
1910 Wabash County, Indiana (Paw Paw Township, page 254) household of Aaron T. Gidley
1920 Wabash County, Indiana (Chippewa Street, Roann, Paw Paw Township, page 241) household of Aaron Gidley.

Sources and Notes:
[1] Online data, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~berta/micmg/w.html ~ downloaded January 24, 2008. Miami County, Indiana Marriages 1850-1920: Eliza J. Wise to Anthony Huffman on Oct 14 1861 Bk C-1 p201.
[2] Death Record of Minnie Hoffman Fluke. FamilySearch Labs Online Database (http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/), Ohio Death Records 1908-1953 downloaded January 24, 2008.
[3] Eliza was 28 in the 1870 census, 35 in 1880, 58 and born May 1842 in 1900, 65 in 1910.
[4] Death Record of Minnie Hoffman Fluke. FamilySearch Labs Online Database (http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/), Ohio Death Records 1908-1953 downloaded January 24, 2008. Father given as Anthany Wayne Hoffman and mother was Eliza Jane Wise.
[5] Eliza is listed in the 1920 census but was not found in 1930.
[6] Anthony's month and year of birth was given as March 1839 in the 1900 census. Eliza is listed as widowed in the 1910 census.
[7] Online data, Ashland City Cemetery Records Online downloaded January 24, 2008. http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/oh/ashland/cemeteries/ashlandcem.txt?cj=1&o_xid=0002530104&o_lid=0002530104.
[8] They had been married 18 years in the 1900 census (Ashland County, Ohio page 2b) and 27 years in 1910 (Ashland County, Ohio page 246).
[9] Death Record of Perry M. Fluke. FamilySearch Labs Online Database (http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/), Ohio Death Records 1908-1953 downloaded January 24, 2008.
[10] 1900 Federal Census, Ashland County, Ohio (Orange Township page 2b). Household of Perry M. Fluke. Kelsey H., son, b. Oct 1885; Florence, daughter, born Jan 1886; Hellen, daughter, forn April 1894.
[11] Death Record of Helen Rose Fluke Lersch. FamilySearch Labs Online Database (http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/), Ohio Death Records 1908-1953 downloaded January 24, 2008. Father given as Perry M. Fluke born Orange Twp., O. and mother was Libby Hoffman born Gilead, Ind.
[12] Dayton Hoffman was age 7 in the 1870 census and 16 years old in the 1880 census.
[13] 1900 Federal Census, Wabash County, Indiana (Pleasant Township, page 266a). Enumerated in the household of John Wertenberger: Effie, wife, Jan 1867, 33, married 13 years, no children, born Indiana
[14] Roann High School Graduates 1884-1962. http://www.rootsweb.com/~inwabash/grads/roann-hs.html downloaded January 24, 2008.
[15] 1900 Federal Census, Wabash County, Indiana (Pleasant Township, page 266a). John Wertenberger, head of household, Mar 1873, 47, married 13 years, born Indiana.
[16] Ella was 2 years old in the 1870 census and 12 in 1880.
[17] Jennie was 8 years old in the 1880 census, 28 in 1900 (born May 1872), and 35 years old in 1910.
[18] Aaron's marital status is listed as widowed in the 1920 census.
[19] Ancestry World Tree. Family Record of Aram [sic] T. Gidley downloaded January 23, 2008. online at http://trees.ancestry.com/pt/person.aspx?pid=-1562371906&tid=4585402

The next, and final, post in this series will discuss what information was found on the John Wise family as well as what additional research remains to be done.