Soots and Riley Family Histories

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Peter Roth and Anna Barbary Miller

Peter Roth and Anna Barbary Miller

by | Jul 23, 2021 | 1850, 1860, Anna Barbary Miller Roth, Federal Census, Indiana, Last Will Testament, Peter Roth, Roth, States

Peter Roth Headstone St Mary’s Catholic Church Cemetery

 

Catholic Record of Anna Barbara Roth’s Death and burial. On this day 1 October 1887 was buried at age of 77 years before death received all sacred Sacraments. Father Alphonse Munischina.

 

Peter Roth burial record

St Mary’s Catholic Church Lanesville Indiana Parish burial record of Peter Roth, On this day 31 March 1888 was buried Peter Roth in the age of 71 years before death he received all sacred Sacraments Father Alphonse Munischina.

I became very interested in researching my great grandfather Peter Roth Jr. born in 1854 or 1850, depending on the record, when my favorite great uncle John Leo Roth died in 1970.  During the probate of uncle John’s estate, the attorney discovered 14 half-siblings from his father, Peter Roth Jr’s first marriage. We knew his five siblings from his father’s second marriage to Louisa Fuchs Futterer, my great grandmother. We also knew of his half-sister, Louisa’s daughter, from her first marriage. I do not recall my parents or my grandmother ever talking about my great-grandfather. Peter was a widower when he married my Great Grandmother Louisa Fuchs Futterer, a widow. My research led to looking for his children and parents. I found his parents Peter Roth Sr, born in 1817 in Germany, and  Anna Barbara Miller Roth, born in 1811 in Germany according to the 1860 census.  The subjects of my post today are my great-great-grandparents Anna Barbary Miller Roth and Peter Roth Sr.

The first record that I find is the 1860 census for Harrison County, Indiana, and they are living in Franklin Township in the tiny town of Lanesville. My cousin Lois had been researching family history for a while, and she had shared with me the information on their hometown and the misspelling of the surname in the the1860 census, Boath instead of Roth. The 1860 census has Peter Roth Senior 43, his wife Anna 52 and daughter Ann M 8, son Peter 6, daughter Rosina 3, Adam Michaels or Nichols 19, a laborer and on the next page Mary Miller 12 years old.  Interesting Peter Jr had siblings! Questions that arise from this census are who is Adam Nichols and Mary Miller.
1860 Federal Census Lanesville Indiana Roth family start on line 35.

Peter Roth Family 1860

 

In 2015 we decided to visit Louisville, Kentucky, New Albany, Lanesville, Corydon, and French Lick, Indiana. We stayed at the Sheraton in Jeffersonville, Indiana, for the beginning of the trip. The Sheraton is right on the Ohio River, and it was easy to have the hotel shuttle drop us off in Louisville, Kentucky, for the day. We then toured through New Albany and then onto Lanesville, Indiana. Our Lanesville stop is where my grandmother was born and raised on the family farm that was 3.5 miles southeast of Lanesville.  Saint Mary’s Catholic Church and cemetery at Lanesville is where my great-great-grandparents are buried and some of their children and grandchildren. The church is where my grandmother was baptized, christened, and attended school. I had researched before our visit, and we drove straight to the farm after arriving in Lanesville. It was a grand feeling to step onto the land where she was raised.

 

 

We stayed at West Baden Springs Hotel in French Lick for my 65th birthday. We drove through southern Indiana from Lanesville to Corydon, and of course, we went to The Frederick Porter Griffin Center genealogy Library there. I did find a short transcription of the heirs in the will of Peter Sr, born 1817, my two times great grandfather.  These were names I had never heard of before and left me with more questions than answers. There was also a transcription of a newspaper clipping about the death and burial of one of his grandchildren, Rosa Roth. A couple of years later, I found a copy of the original will on Ancestry,

Peter Roth Sr will Date August 11th, 1883

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Transcription of heirs of Peter Roth Sr as follows:  Peter Roth Jr shall pay to my heirs as follows Christian Mikel, heirs Catherine Michael, now Smodle heirs, John Michael, Adam Michael, Mary Miller, now Hahn, Emma Roth, now Wagner heirs the sum of one hundred dollars, additionally shall I and my wife die consuming all my personal property and there being debts against my estate I direct that each of the above-named heirs shall pay their proportional part of this debt, Peter Roth Jr to pay one-seventh part of said debt.

St Mary’s Catholic Church and Cemetery in Lanesville, Indiana

His wife is referred to as Barbary Roth, so I started researching Barbary Miller as we think that was her maiden name because of St Mary’s Catholic Church Records. I have never found Peter and Barbary in the 1850 census, so I started looking for Barbary Miller in the 1850 census. She is in the 1850 census in Floyd County, married to Mathias Miller. She has Mary Miller, Adam, and Christopher Nickles in the same household. The ages match Mary Miller and Adam Nickles in the 1860 census when she is now married to Peter Roth Sr.  Who is Mathias Miller and his 5 children in the 1850 census, Christopher 16, John 14, Mathias Jr 12, Eleanor 8. Then we have Christopher Nickles, 16, and Adam Nickles, 8. Everyone is born in Germany except Mary Miller, 1-year-old and born in Indiana. I have not found the Miller family again except John Miller, possibly.
                                       Barbara Miller and Mathias Miller Marriage Certificate 14 February 1848

 

1850 Federal Census New Albany, Indiana and the Miller family starts on line 6.

I found a Peter Roth of the correct age in a Kentucky census for 1850, and he was listed as a Carpenter in the household of Joseph Steinbach, also a Carpenter, and they are 33 and 34 years old. I am not sure he is the correct one, and then in the 1860 census, it says he’s married to Barbary and a farmer in Harrison County. He lives on a farm next to Christian Bach, and later Peter Roth Jr marries Christian Bach’s daughter Anna Barbara Bach. Peter Roth‘s will lists Mary Miller, now Hahn, Christopher, and Adam Nickles, John Michaels, and Emma Roth, now Wagner, as heirs. Possibly Emma by a previous marriage?  I did find her marriage certificate to Wagner and Mary Miller’s marriage certificate to Hahn.

For many years I thought that Peter Roth Senior and Barbara Miller Roth were married in Germany. I do not think that is true, and it is still a mystery where Peter emigrated from and who his parents were. On Barbary Miller’s marriage certificate to Mathias Miller, her name is Miller, and she marries Mathias Miller, possibly an in-law.
Barbary dies before Peter and is buried at St Mary’s Catholic Church Cemetery, without a headstone. St Mary’s Catholic Parish Registry Book has her death as recorded by the Priest.
I take away from this research many questions: 1. Who are Peter Roth’s heirs?  2. Where are the other members in Anna Barbary’s household in the 1850 census?