In Search of the Schulte Line, Part 9: We've Come to Our Census

In December of 2006, I wrote a post about Fred and Elisabeth Hebert. At the time, I had no idea who Elisabeth was, nor did I realize, in pursuing the question of her identity, that I was actually in search of the Schulte line. All I really knew then was that she was an aunt of the brothers Paul and Alfons Koenig, who had immigrated to this country with the Hebert home as their stated destination.

In that post, I shared the 1930 census, in which Alfons Koenig was listed with the Heberts. I also shared a 1920 census, about which I was uncertain. The Heberts listed in 1920 didn't seem a perfect match to mine, and with no Koenig sharing their home, I had plenty of reason to question it. One thing I thought might help: to find Fred in the 1880 census with a brother named Frank. And that's almost what I did.

The family of Charles and Philomena Hebert
1881 census of Quebec, Canada
(click to enlarge)

I found him in the 1881 census with a brother named Francois. The marriage record of Fred to Elisabeth Schulte gives his parents' names, which makes me confident that I've found the right 10-year-old Fred Hebert (that name was at least as common in Canada as in the United States!). The births of Fred and two siblings in the U. S. nicely pins down a time-frame of the family's moves between the two countries. And the Canadian-born brother Francois is the right age to be the same brother Frank who was enumerated with Fred in the 1920 census in Detroit.

I'd searched for Fred in the 1910 census before, but due to the number of Fred Heberts I didn't find anything conclusive. There was a likely-looking one in Colorado, but that seemed a bit out of the way. For quite some time, it appeared to be an unanswerable mystery.

However, the record of Fred's marriage to Bertha Schultz gave me more information to work with. Fred and Bertha were both residents of Detroit according to their marriage document, which was dated January 14, 1911. Detroit, then, seemed like the logical place to look for Fred in the 1910 census. And in the marriage record--in both his marriage records, in fact--his name was given as Alfred, not Fred. So back to the census I went.

This time, I found a widower named Alfred Hebert, appropriately aged 39, boarding at 1207 Bellevue Avenue and working as a painter for an automobile company. His father's birthplace was listed as New York, which didn't jibe with either the 1920 census (Canada) or the 1930 census (Massachusetts), or for that matter, the 1881 census (Quebec). But never mind that! Because, just four doors down at 1181 Bellevue, the widow Bertha Schultz was listed. And she wasn't alone either--she had three children!

Alfred Hebert and neighbor Bertha Schultz
1910 census of Detroit, Michigan
(click to enlarge)

Bertha's son Harold was 6. She had an 8-year-old daughter whose name I'm not sure of--it looks like Lenora or Lenna to me. It was her oldest daughter Ella, age 13 in 1910, who assured me I'd found Bertha again in the 1900 census, this time with her previous husband William. Ella was listed also at age 3. Both Bertha and William had been born in Michigan, but their parents were all born in Germany. William was working as a paperhanger. They lived on Williams in Detroit.

William and Bertha Schultz
1900 census of Detroit, Michigan
(click to enlarge)

William Schultz later worked as a painter. He and his family had moved to the Bellevue address by the time of his death, which occurred February 23, 1910, just two months before the 1910 census was taken. He died of locomotor ataxia at the age of 38. I found his death certificate at Seeking Michigan.

Death certificate of William Schultz

As usual, dear reader, our little treasure trove of documents answers some questions and raises others. I leave you to ponder the more obscure ones at your leisure. As for me, I find myself wondering where Bertha disappeared to. There were just two years between Fred's marriage to her and his marriage to Elisabeth Schulte. What happened there? I found no death record for Bertha at Seeking Michigan, so... divorce?

But that's a project for another day. We are in search of the Schulte--not Schultz--line. And we are all waiting on the edge of our seats for Part 10, aren't we? So we'll finish up today's post with one last thought: Cheryl (and anyone else interested, of course!), you'll find a printable PDF of today's Fred Hebert and Bertha Schulte documents at The Vertical File.