Christian Krueger and Maria Ringler
On a trip to Vermilion County in July of 1997, I was anxious to find out whatever I could about my elusive German ancestors, the Ringlers and Kruegers. While I did find more pieces of the puzzle, there are still many pieces missing.
My grandmother Ethel Reynolds was the daughter of Marie Krueger. Marie’s parents were Christian Krueger and Anna Maria Ringler. I searched through different years of the census and found very few Kruegers or Ringlers beginning with the 1880 census. Christian and Maria’s marriage license revealed that they were married in 1875, but not the names of their respective parents. The Ringlers on the census were from Hessen-Darmstadt. A Vermilion County birth register entry for an unnamed child born to Christian and Maria listed Christian’s birthplace as “Backer” and Maria’s as “Brunesbergen.” [Note: Later, I found that Christian was born in Böken and Maria was born in Bromskirchen.]
I spent the first few days of my trip in Rossville and finally on the last day of my visit went to the courthouse in Danville to see what I could find about my German families. Christian’s death certificate from 1915 revealed that he was born in 1844 in Germany and his parents were Adolf Krueger and mother unknown. Anna Maria’s death certificate showed she was born in Germany in 1850. Her parents were John Ringler and Anna Miller. [Note: Later, when I found Maria's baptism entry in the Bromskirchen parish register, her parents were listed as Johannes Ringler IV and Anna Maria Müller.] On Christian’s death certificate, it said he was divorced, while Anna Maria’s said she was a widow.
After asking the clerk where divorce records were held, I went across the street to the other courthouse. After a security check and waiting to be taken back by an other clerk into the office, I searched through the divorce card file. There, I found a card for a divorce for “Christopher” and “Mary” Krueger in 1912. The clerk went upstairs to find the actual divorce papers. These papers revealed that papers were served on “Christopher” in February of 1912.
Maria’s attorney’s initial filing stated that “on the 18th day of April, A.D. 1875, she was lawfully married to the defendant, Christopher [sic] Kruger, with whom she lived as a true, loving and affectionate wife, until the 16th day of September, A.D. 1894 when, without any just or reasonable cause as hereinafter setforth, he deserted her.”
Christian replied that he did not desert Maria and on the contrary she was:
“…guilty of extreme and repeated cruelty toward the defendant, in this, that she is a woman of great austerity of temperature and very frequently indulged in violent sallies of passion and used toward the defendant obscene and abusive language without any provocation whatever, refused to prepared the defendant’s meals, and perform much other household duties as it was incumbent upon her to perform, so that the defendant was compelled to leave the complainant and at no time ever deserted her.”
And furthermore, Christian responded that he had divorced Maria in 1901 in St. Louis, Missouri, and that in 1905 they had signed an agreement settling all property disputes!
But when the case came before the judge, the judge found “it has jurisdiction of the parties and the subject matter of this suit. And the defendant [Christian] having withdrew his answer, a default was thereupon entered against him and a decree pro confesso entered against said defendant.”
I imagine that in 1912 being divorced was scandalous, which explains why Maria was listed in the Danville City Directory as “widow of Christ” and why her death certificate said she was widowed.
