Abraham Fickeisen and Margaretha Mueller

What the census data tells us

Raising their family. Over a period of twenty years, Abraham and Margaret had 12 children, 6 boys and 6 girls. According to the census data, the dates of the original 12 children are:

It's not quite as certain where the children were born. One probable path, according to my mom, was New York City -> Albany -> Syracuse -> Erie -> Ashtabula -> Wheeling -> Pleasant Ridge (Lawrence Twp.), Ohio. My most probable estimate is that the first four children were born in Syracuse, NY, Eve was born in Wheeling, (West) Virginia, and the rest were born on Pleasant Ridge in Washington County, Ohio.

I think that the census data in Table 1 is consistent with what my mom believes. Notice that the reported birthplace of the middle children Adam, Eve, and Anna, changes for the three censuses. I tend to believe the 1870 Census for the following reasons. The 1860 Census had mostly the first six children (although Eve inexplicably isn't mentioned), and they probably just said that they had come from New York. However, why Catherine, the first child, is shown as being born in Ohio in the 1860 Census is a mystery. At the time of the 1880 Census, only Adam remained of the children born in New York. So they may have just said that all the children were born in Ohio. However, at the time of the 1870 Census, there was the greatest mix of children born in the three locations New York, Virginia and Ohio. If we trust the 1870 Census, it shows that the first four children were born in New York. Eve is shown as being born in Virginia in the 1870 census, but remember that West Virginia was then part of Virginia. All of the other children are shown as being born in Ohio.

Created by Jim Andris, March 19, 2000.