Three Generation Photo 1944

Photo of three generations of my family. Jacob Gilde, my great grandad; Bob Vogel, my father; and Catherine Gilde Vogel, my grandmother.

Vogel Cousins 1937

First cousins Bob Vogel and Ed Vogel in June of 1937. Bob was nine and Ed is almost a year younger.

Vogel Family in 1928

The entire Vogel family as of 1928 is pictured in this studio portrait. They are front row from left: Mary Vogel Graf, Bob Mutsch, Wilma Folmer Swigart, Frank Folmer, Pauline Folmer Wehinger, Joe Wilhelm, and Frances Mutsch Besch. In the second row from left are: Barbara Vogel Folmer, Michael Vogel, Catherine Vogel with Robert Vogel, Katherine Vogel, Michael Vogel, Eva Basting Vogel with Mildred Vogel Weber, and Nicholas Vogel. The back row is Jake Folmer, Joe Mutsch, Pauline Vogel Mutsch, Henry Vogel, Rose Vogel, Nick Wilhelm Jr. Johanna Vogel Wilhelm and Nick Wilhelm Sr. This photo was provided by Edward Vogel, son of Nick and Eva Vogel. Edward was born November 5, 1928 after the photo was taken. My Dad, Robert Vogel was born in January of 1928. Those birth dates place the date of the photo some time in the middle of 1928.

Michael Martin Vogel

My great grandfather Michael Martin Vogel brought his family to Mansfield, Ohio from Temesvar, Austria-Hungary in 1905. Born in October 1857, Michael Vogel was 48 years old when he left his home to make a new life for his family. According to a family calendar publication put out in the 1930’s he was born in Kreuzstatten, which is now Cruceni, Romania. His wife, Katherine was from nearby Weissenheid, now Tisa Noua, Romania.

The 1929 photo at the right is Great Grandpa Vogel holding Edward Vogel, son of Nick and Eva Vogel; and my dad, Robert Vogel.

The Ellis Island records show that Michael brought Paula, Nicholas, Barbara, and 4-year-old Michael Vogel, my grandfather, on the SS Slavonia, which arrived in New York in December of 1905. One interesting fact is that he sent two of his daughters to Mansfield earlier in the year. Maria, 17, and Johanna Vogel, 13, arrived in August of 1905. They traveled with a Barbara Them along with her 5 children under the age of 11. Barbara Them listed my great aunts and another 11-year-old girl as her nieces. Barbara joined her husband, Michael Them. My father said he knew a number of the Them family members in Mansfield, but had no indication that they were a relative. The Them family was from Fibisch.

In the US Census of 1910 the Vogel family was living at 46 Richland Ave. Great Grandpa’s occupation was listed as a laborer in a lumberyard. Johanna, 18, and Pauline, 16, were working in a cigar factory that was operating in Mansfield at that time. Nick, who was 14, was also working in a shop. Barbara, 12, and Michael, 10, were at home. Maria died of tuberculosis in March 1906 at the age of 18.

In 1911 Michael Vogel Sr and Katherine became US citizens. The citizenship certificate also named the minor children as citizens: Nicholas, 15, Barbara, 13 and Michael, 11.

By 1920 Michael Vogel Sr was working as a carpenter and lived at 285 Sturgess. My grandfather, Michael, 19, was the only child still at home. He was working as a laborer at a factory. I believe it was Westinghouse. The other children were all married and many of them lived nearby.

The 1930 US Census placed Michael and Katherine Vogel at 62 Mendota St. They were there in the early 30’s when my mother moved to Mendota St with her parents. She lived there until she was eight and remembers “Mr. and Mrs. Vogel” from long before she met my father.

In 1930, according to the census, my father was with his parents and older sister Mary living at 79 Wood St., a house Dad still remembers fondly. Twenty-nine-year-old Michael Vogel was draftsman at Westinghouse. Catherine’s sister Teresa, 16, was living with them at the time of the census.

Great Grandpa Michael Martin Vogel died April 28, 1935 at the age of 77. His wife, Katherine, lived until July 26, 1945 when she passed at the age of 83.

Leitenberger Gilde Wedding 1934

The Mansfield News Journal carried a wedding announcement for Anthony Leitenberger to my grand-aunt Teresa Gilde Leitenberger. The couple was married in June 1934 with my grandparents Michael Vogel and Catherine Gilde Vogel serving as the best man and matron of honor. Here is a photo of the two couples, which was in my grandmother’s album.

The newspaper said that a wedding dinner for 60 relatives was served at the home of Anton and Theresia Keipp, aunt and uncle of the bride.

Nick Eichof

On his extensive website about the migration of the Danube Swabians, Dave Dreyer describes the link between villages in the Banat and cities in the United States. This link is clearly evident when studying the recorded references to Nick Eichof, the older brother of my great-grandmother Catherine Eichof Gilde.

Nick Eichof came to Mansfield, Ohio in April of 1903 via the Bremen to Baltimore shipping route. His wife Magdalena followed the following January. They are the first members of the Vogel side of my family to arrive in the United States. Nick’s name appears in a number of subsequent ship manifest records for Setschan residents immigrating to Mansfield. This includes the July 1907 listing of the SS Kaiser Wilhelm when Jacob Gilde, my great-grandfather; Anton Keipp, his brother-in-law; and four other men from Setschan arrived at Ellis Island.

Nick was the oldest son of Anton and Theresia Eichof. Three of his sisters followed him to Mansfield: Catherine Eichof Gilde, Theresia Eichof Keipp and Catherine Eichof Schemine. According to Catherine Schemine’s passenger manifest, Nick paid for her ticket. Dreyer mentioned that prepaid tickets were frequently used to bring family members to the United States. A record also exists of Nick Eichof returning to Setschan for a visit in 1911.

In 1927 Nick’s parents Anton and Theresia Klopp Eichof joined their children in Mansfield. Anton died in 1931; however, Theresia lived primarily in the Schemine home at 332 Harker St until 1952. She was 94 when she died. Both of these great-great grandparents are buried in the Mansfield Catholic Cemetery. The 1927 immigration was mentioned in Theresia Eichof’s obituary.

Another record which links Nick Eichof to my family is a transcription of a declaration of intent to become a U.S. citizen which was found on the Richland County USGenWeb site. Under Nick Eichof’s name on 9 December 1906 was John Leitenberger. John’s son Tony married my grandmother Catherine Gilde Vogel’s sister, Teresa in 1934.

Nick was a full time farmer and had a large family. The 1920 U.S. Census listed him in Springfield Twp with eight children. He was born 25 Oct 1887 at Setschan, Austia-Hungary and died in Lexington, Ohio 11 April 1956. His wife Magdalena died 27 March 1963.