DNA Links William Q. Smith, Philip Schmidt, and Elisabetha Schmidt
On Friday, February 22, 2019 I received the following email from cousin Pat Petty through Newspapers.com:
Trevor, my name is Pat Smith Petty. My great-grandfather is Philip Schmidt, the brother to your ancestor William Q. Smith. William was born Wilhelm Schmidt in Ramsen, Bavaria, Germany. They immigrated together on the ship "Progress" on 19 May 1854. I don't think your family knows this yet since DNA proved results from their sister Elisabetha matched my family members this early January. It is quite amazing since I could not find Wilhelm after the day they got off the boat. I'm following the clips for the Smith family. Pat in Puyallup, WA. I've been an Ancestry.com member for years & my tree is Pat's Smith-Terlinde Tree.
Pat Petty provided the evidence. Descended from Philip Schmidt, her DNA test matched a stamp for Alice Burgess, who is descended from Elisabetha Schmidt. Pat connected with Alice, who wrote:
Dear third cousin Pat,
What a surprise a little spit can do. My name is Alice Burgess, maiden name Fink, l am 90 years old mother of Norman. I lived in Germany until 1963 when I married Glen Byron Burgess Jr. In Germany I worked in a Notary office, lived nearly 3 years in Rome, Italy, then worked in a Travel Agency in Munich, Germany.
My grandmother Anna Stark, born Kolmer always told stories of her family and I was all ears, so was my cousin Ruth. Oma spoke of her two uncles - brothers of her mother Elisabeth Schmidt who married a Kolmer. According to her, the two brothers Johann Philip and Wilhelm left Germany as young men and according to her they did not want to be drafted - rich people could pay the government money to avoid the drafting of their son(s). They also wanted to be free. The brothers told their sister once they had established themselves and payed back the money for the ship voyage or the distant relatives they would let the mother and sister follow them. There was a letter from Chillicoth Ohio in which they described the voyage. I understood they had to bring their own food. Fights broke out among the Irish. There was a picture of the two brothers but with moving it has disappeared.
After the war, maybe in 1946 or so my cousin Ruth and I, who had studied English in school, wanted to use it so we asked Oma if she still had an address fore the relatives and we wrote a letter to Ohio. There came an answer and we got in touch with a cousin of Oma living in California with her husband. She was the daughter of Wilhelm, her name was Laura, married to a Herbert McDade, living in Baldwin Park. Uncle Herbert wrote the most interesting letters and introduced us to the National Geographic Magazine. They had a daughter Martha in Pasadena and a son around San Diego. Martha lags married to Norman Hume no children. Norman Hume worked for the city of Los Angeles, was a graduate of Cal Tec. They moved to Sacramento when Ronald Regan became governor and was employed with the sanitation department. We visited the couple once in Pasadena and also in Sacramento. They came twice to Danes - he on business. On a trip to Europe they stopped in Worms while Norman and I visited my parents and siblings. Martha wanted to see the lineage Ramsen where the grandfather came from. My brother took us - at the time it was a tiny village - nothing to see or do.
Through Martha I also met a Ruth Campbell(?) and her husband Arthur. They lived in State Washington. While I was living in Munich and worked for the Travel Agency I received a letter. They were on a one year trip to England, Italy and wanted to meet me. I arranged a hotel stay, they wanted to eat Bavarian food and attend a concert. It was summer so the only concert I could book was in the Castle Nymphenburg in Munich.
Martha's brother in Southern California had two girls who were about the age of my cousin Ruth' s daughter. I encouraged Marianne to start a friendship - it did not last.
When I came over there - I took a cruise- I stayed with some other relatives in Caroll Gables - I do not remember the name anymore - later correspondence fizzled out - there was not much interest or in common. They had a girl who should be around 6o years now.
My grandmother Anna Kolmer born Schmidt married a Stark and had three children - my mother, a sister Alice and a brother Tobias. Oma was one of 4 girls and two brothers.
I had a brother who passed away in 2017 and a sister who turned 84 this week.
Well this maybe wee confusing but I wrote down what I know.
There is a photo of Martha and Norman taken in my parents front yard in 1975 the year of their Golden Wedding Anniversary.
Dearest regards,
Alice
Alice is descended from Elisabetha Schmidt. The Aunt Laura McDade she mentions was born Laura Estelle Smith, the 9th child of William Q. and Mary K. Smith, who married Herbert McDade and moved to California.
And finally, there is also a DNA stamp tying Philip and Elisabetha to William through the match between Pat Petty and cousin Roberta Jordan, a Great Granddaughter of William’s. So the 3 Schmidt siblings are bound by their DNA giving us proof of their relations.