Vonderheide Wyoming Home

Home of August and Anna Vonderheide (1920-1925)
Village of Wyoming, Hamilton County, Ohio

I've always been fascinated by this house.  Research has shown that my great-grandfather, August Vonderheide, moved into it sometime in 1920.  It is the residence listed in the phone book as their home from 1920-25.  It makes sense that they would have wanted to move into a bigger home at this time because it coincides with the marriages and the starting of new families, all of whom initially lived there.

My grandmother and grandfather, Virginia Vonderheide and Roy Ryan, celebrate their wedding day there on September 1, 1921.  Virginia's brother, Val, also moved in with his wife, Clara Wheeler about that time. My mother, Virginia, and Val's daughter, Dolly, were born while living in that home.

I've always cherished my grandparent's wedding pictures. I recently upgraded my photo-editing software to Photoshop Elements 10 and decided to try my hand at layering these treasurers over the one picture I have of the home.  Here are the results:

Roy Ryan and Virginia Vonderheide Courting

Wedding Guests:  Top Row: Ray Ryan, Virginia VDH, Roy Ryan, August VDH, Anna VDH, Rose Gross Ryan, Clara, Emma Woermann, Victor Becker, Ed Woermann, Julius Gross, Henry and Joe VDH  Bottom Row: Florence Ryan, Josie Turner, Aunt Sophie, Ceal VDH, Emma Huff and Woermann Children

Wedding Day:  Virginia and Roy, September 7, 1921

Of course, their marriage led to the inevitable birth of my mother, Virginia, on July 17, 1922.  Here she is pictured on the porch with her father and grandparents.

Anna, Virginia (baby), Roy, August 

I'd love to show you what the house looks like in 2012.  The address of this home is 416 Springfield Pike, Wyoming, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati with many large, stately, restored homes). However, in the 1960s, this property was combined with a couple of others and torn down. Replacing it is a very sterile, uninteresting building that houses the Wyoming Board of Education.

Current home of the Wyoming Board of Education

I want to acknowledge my Vonderheide cousins who had a copy of the house in their collection and made it available to me.

Update:  A reader suggested that I combine pictures 2, 4 and 5.  What a great suggestion!  From right to left I now have my grandparents courting, getting married, and their first-born child, my mother.  Love it!

1940 Census - I Said I Wouldn't Do It!

1940 Census Documents

As all genealogists know, the 1940 Census was released to the public on April 2nd.  Volunteers will be working diligently over the next few months to create an index so that it is searchable by name.  Until then, you must have a pretty good idea of where your ancestors were living in 1940 so you can identify the Enumeration District.  You can then scan through the digital images in an effort to find your ancestors.

I knew my ancestors were living at the same address as 1940 as they did in 1930.  After all, it was the Great Depression, and I think most people were happy to be able to survive in their same home.  I knew there were a few pieces of information I'd not collected previously, such as their annual salary, home value and years of education completed.  But I even had a pretty good idea of that information.

After reading that the National Archives reported that there were 37 million "hits" in the first 24 hours, I just had to see what I was missing.  The first thing that surprised me was the clarity of the digital images. The second thing was the ease with which I was able to find my relatives without having done my homework and researched their Enumeration District.

So what new information did I get?  Not much.  I was surprised to see in print that the highest level of education among all four of my grandparents was 9th Grade.  Both grandfathers only had the opportunity to attend school through 7th Grade.  Both grandparents owned homes worth between $6000 and $6700.  One had an annual salary of $1600 and the other a salary of $1900.  All of their children were staying in school longer.

The biggest surprise was discovering that my Great-grandfather, August Vonderheide, had already sold his home and moved in with his son's family.  Even my aunt was under the impression that he still was living in his large home in 1940.  It had been sold to a dentist and his much younger wife who shared the home with a live-in servant.

It was fun finding my husband, soon-to-be 76 years old, in the Census.  His parents were having a more difficult time.They were paying rent of $15 and had an annual salary of $926. He had graduated from high school, but according to my husband, his father was also going to school.

I'm sure I'll find myself scanning through more of the Census when I'm bored with whatever is on television.  I guess I'm glad I gave in and checked it out.  I'll be interested in reading about the really surprising discoveries I'm sure some of my genealogist friends will make about their families.  In ten years, I'll get to see what the 1950 Census has to say about me.

More Vonderheide Pictures

After my initial posts on August Henry Vonderheide and his wife, Anna Moser, I was contacted by Val and Cindy Vonderheide of Wichita, Kansas. They read of my interest in the house in Wyoming that had been torn down and replaced with the Board of Education. They dug through their family pictures and sent me several priceless pictures, including a picture of the house.

416 Springfield Pike, Wyoming, Ohio

They also had several pictures of a young August and his wife, Anna -- some copied from very old tin-type pictures. In the second picture, August is in the middle. We are unsure of the identity of the other two.

























In an earlier post, I had mentioned a newspaper article on the occasion of August's 80th birthday that said that August was the first clerk in the first Kroger store started by B.H. Kroger. Val and Cindy had a picture -- August is on the right, and we believe that it is Barney Kroger on the left.



They also had an additional picture of the Valley Shoe Store that appeared to be taken earlier than other pictures I have.


A long-time former mayor of Elmwood found this picture of August in his shoestore and sent it to me.


Here is a picture of Anna and August as a young married couple.


Thanks to Val and Cindy, I have enough pictures to perhaps put together a photoshow at a later date. For now, let me end this post with a picture of the entire family: Anna, August, Virginia and Val.


Note: Should you want copies of any of these pictures for your own library, you should be able to "right-click" on the image and save it to your computer.

Before I Move On . . .

I have a few pictures that I've not been able to fit easily within other posts -- but I don't want to move onto a new topic without including them. Here are some of my favorites.

This picture is taken at Virginia and Roy Ryan's home at 6385 E. Galbraith Rd. before the porch was enclosed. I don't ever remember seeing my great-grandfather dressed casually. He always looked sharp. I'll have to check with my brother, Tim, to see if he recognizes the car. (Tim just called. He said that G-Grandpa is standing in front of Charles McCafferty's 1953 Green Ford. He also said the car in the garage on the right is a 1956 Buick Grandma had. I have no idea how he does this).


Pictured from left to right starting at the top: Val VDH, Sr., Roy Ryan, Clara VDH, Dolly VDH, Val VDH, Jr., August VDH, Gus VDH, Bob VDH, Virginia, Virginia VDH Ryan, and Evelyn.


The picture above contains Hansen and Ryan grandchildren pictured with Roy and August. From top to bottom, and left to right: Carol, Bill, Roy, Patty, Pam, August, Peggy, Terry, Diane and Jim.


Evey, Mary Ellen and I worked to identify all of the cousins pictured. Bottom row: Kathleen, Evelyn, Chuck, Mary Ellen, Bill, Carol. Top row, it is Diane, Tom Karen, Roy, Jim, Patty, Tim. Lesson learned -- label your pictures!


This picture shows Anna Vonderheide holding her granddaughter Virginia (my mother) with Roy and August. I just hate it that that house was torn down.

Finally, here is a picture of August Vonderheide. His parents made the right decision to come to America.

Elmwood Place -- The Move to Ohio

The 1900 Census shows 26 year-old August, 23 year-old "Annie", and 9 month-old Virginia living on Holman St. in Covington, Kentucky. August's occupation is listed as a "shoe cutter". By 1903, the family had relocated to Elmwood Place, Ohio. August went into business for himself, opening the Valley Shoe Store. One of the Vonderheide grandchildren sent me this picture taken in 1903. You can see August looking out the door of the store. I would love to know who the others are -- we speculated that the little boy might have been son, Val, because he would have been three years old in 1903. I don't know who the couple is on the left (August's parents were both dead by then). It could be Anna pictured on the right, but I just don't know.


The family lived above the store. Aunt Evelyn thinks that Anna must have helped out in the store, because she recalls that they had help looking after the children. She also told me that this picture was of his first store location and that his second location was much bigger and a couple of blocks north.

I have a copy of a newspaper article published in 1953 when August was 80 years old. It has a great summary of this first-generation immigrant's accomplishments.

One of Elmwood's most interesting business personalities, Mr. A. H. Vonderheide celebrated his birthday recently. He was 80 years old on September 1.

Mr. Vonderheide was born in Germany and at the age of 7 came to this country with is parents and twin brothers. He had a sister who had passed away before the family came to the United States.

He recalls that his first employer was Mr. B. H. Kroger of the Kroger Grocery and Baking Company and he was the first clerk employed in the first store Mr. Kroger opened. Later he learned the shoe business and was promoted to foreman of the cutters in the sample room of the shoe factory.

In 1903 he bought the shoe store at 5911 Vine Street in Elmwood Place from Mr. John Imwalle and operated a successful business until he retired a few years ago. After his retirement he enjoyed a vacation in Florida.

In the year 1917, during his career as a shoe business man, Mr. Vonderheide, with a few more business men from Elmwood Place, organized the Inter-Valley Building and Loan Association of which he is now the president.

He is a charter member of the Catholic Order of Foresters and of the Elmwood Eagles. He also a past governor of the Elmwood Moose.

Mr. Vonderheide's wife died March 7, 1931. He has two children, Val and Virginia, eight grandchildren, two of them now serving in the United States Navy and two served in the Navy in previous wars. He has 14 great-grandchildren of whom he is very proud. Everyone is wishing Mr. Vonderheide many more hale and hearty years.

August died in 1959 at the age of 85. At the time of his death he was living with his son and daughter-in-law, Val and Clara, in a home they shared at 922 Springfield Pike in Wyoming. At the time of his death, he already had 26 great-grandchildren with more to come. I was 10 years old. So what do I remember? I remember a proud man who loved his large family. I also remember that as each new great-grandchild was born, the gift from Great Grandpa was a savings account booklet in your name with a deposit of $10. (Was there a lesson in this?) Here is a picture of Roy and August (poor quality) that was extracted from a family video from Easter, 1952. Notice the cigar in August's hand.

Here is a four-generation picture of August, Virginia, Virginia and me. What a fortunate heritage I have!

Anna and August

Anna was a beauty. She was the only daughter of Friedrich and Francisca Wocker (see earlier post).
She grew up on the same block as Mother of God Church, living at times with her mother and father at 218 W. 6th Street and at times next door at 216 W. 6th Street with her grandparents. August was living down the street in a house that has since been torn down.

Anna was born on September 23, 1876 in Covington, KY to Friedrich and Francisca Moser. She was baptized on October 1, 1876 at St. Aloysius Church.

I am confused by the marriage record for Anna and August. I have a very clear record for their marriage that states that they were married by a judge on March 2, 1897. I have record from Mother of God Church, written in Latin that is difficult to read.



I know they were married at Mother of God, but I can't read the month, the day is the 9th, and the "dispensation" column to the right says something in Latin that is quite blurry. I know the witnesses were John Casper Deye and Joseph Vonderheide.

Both children, Virginia and Val, were born in Covington. They lived on Holman Street. I know I've posted this picture of Virginia before, but as it is one of my favorites, I'm posting it again.


I'm hoping to get a picture of Val Vonderheide as a child that I can add to this post.

August Henry Vonderheide - The Early Years

August von der Heide (as it is written in German), was the youngest child of Heinrich (Henry) VDH and Catherine Kamphake VDH. He was born in the town of Holdorf, in the former Duchy of Oldenburg, on September 1, 1873. He had older twin brothers and a sister who died as a young child.

There was a lot of turmoil in Germany. By the 1880s, nearly 80% of the town of Holdorf had emigrated, mainly to the United States. As mentioned in an earlier post, it was hard to make a living because of inheritance laws, etc. and most families had nothing to look forward to. They were never going to be landowners and lived in the service of the landowner whose land they farmed.

One historical fact that was very significant was that Germany was not "Germany" until 1871 when all of the German city-states and principalities were unified as one. This process was the result of a series of events that took place between 1848-1871. Here is one source you can check:
http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/history/ Scroll down to the section on Otto von Vismarck and the Wars of Unification.

From this same source, I've included a map that shows the unification process over time. Note the location of the Duchy of Oldenburg in northwest Germany.


One of the greatest fears of parents was the mandatory legal service of six years required of all boys when they reached the age of 18. This whole idea of loyalty to "Germany" was a completely new concept. Records of earlier German immigrants always include references to "Oldenburg", "Bavaria", "Pruessen", etc. Even on Census records, immigrants often didn't refer to themselves as coming from Germany.

So off they came to America in hopes of opportunity that did not exist in Germany. August arrived in 1881 when he was only eight years old. New immigrants found comfort in new neighborhoods with other German immigrants who shared their language and their faith.

There were two very large German parishes in northern Kentucky -- Mother of God and St. Aloysius. For reasons I don't understand, the Wockers and Vonderheides were members of St. Aloysius Church, despite living on the same street as Mother of God. I have a copy of August's First Communion Certificate from St. Aloysius. At that time, children did not make their First Communion until the age of 13.


If you could read the printed parts of the certificate, you would recognize that it is in the German language. Obviously, this new family of immigrants had settle in to their new home and church by 1887, when young August made his first Communion.

The German Connection

Virginia Vonderheide Ryan was the first-born child of August Henry Vonderheide and Anna Catherine Moser. August (great-grandfather to me) emigrated to the United States from Holdorf, Germany in 1881. He was only eight years old. August had two older twin brothers, Joseph and Henry, who were born in Holdorf in 1870. One sister, Elizabeth, was born about 1872 and died in infancy. I've not been able to find a record of her baptism.

The von der Heides, as the name was written in Germany, were part of a large migration of Germans from northwest Germany to the United States. Germans from this area started leaving around 1830 and continued to leave in great numbers through 1880. In a lecture delivered by Franz-Josef Tegenkamp before the Oldenburg Genealogical Society in 1997, one reads that ". . . if one is to take the three parishes of Damme, Neuenkirchen, and Holdorf, which together made up about 10,000 people, about 8000 left." Of this number, 95% of the emigrants went to the United States. You can read the entire lecture by clicking on http://www.heimatbund-om.de/om-english/tegen.htm

What would prompt people to leave the land of their birth, parents and siblings for a new country with a different language and customs? Actually, there wasn't much of a choice. All of the villages in the southern part of Oldenburg were overpopulated. There was "scanty soil and no fertilizer, little farms on which every farmer had four to six hireling-families. Forty or fifty people lived on one farm, and the farm had to feed them all. People needed to have a second job for having a little income."

The main reasons for emigration were:

1. The pressure from the farmer

• the hireling had to help any time the farmer wanted him to
• the hire-rent was too high
• the hireling had no chance to have fertile soil

2. Bad harvests because of strong, cold winters
3. Six years of military service required, especially for the hireling-sons
4. The wish of independence and the hope for a better future

http://www.heimatverein-steinfeld.de/history/emigration.html

Our von der Heides, typical of the time, came to Cincinnati because of "chain migration". Other von der Heides and friends had already emigrated to Cincinnati. They came by way of Baltimore, landing in Maryland on June 30, 1881. From here they made their way to Cincinnati (probably by train) and settled in the Cincinnati area, living on both sides of the river.

Unfortunately, within 8 years of their arrival in Cincinnati, Herman Heinrich VDH, known as "Henry" in the United States, was dead. His funeral was held at St. Paul Church in Cincinnati. For whatever reason, his widow relocated to Covington, Kentucky. There our family history really took shape as my g-grandfather August met and married Anna Catherine Moser. The next several posts will tell the story of Anna and her family.

Virginia Vonderheide

Virginia Vonderheide was the first-born child of August Henry Vonderheide and Anna Catherine Moser.  She was born on May 1, 1899 in Covington, Kentucky.  Her place of birth is listed on the Covington birth record as 1711 Holman Street.  Her father's occupation is listed as "shoe cutter."

Virginia Elizabeth was baptized at Mother of God Church in Covington and her Godparents were listed as Gerhard Woehrmann and Elizabeth Vonderheide.

Mother of God Church played a big role in the early Vonderheide family history -- both Anna and August lived on the same street as the Church and got married there.  I visited it about a year ago and it still serves a vibrant, active congregation -- many of whom live in the suburbs and choose to drive to this historic Church.

On December 23, 1900 the Vonderheides added a younger brother, Val to the family.  It wasn't long before the family relocated to Elmwood Place, Cincinnati. August Vonderheide opened a shoe store there.  Anna occasionally worked in the store.  The family eventually lived in that beautiful home on Springfield Pike.  Aunt Evelyn said that a relative, who she believed was named "Mary", assisted in the care of Virginia and Val.  Life was good for this young family living the American dream.

It was traditional in the early 1900s for children to make their First Communions at the age of 13.  Here are the First Communion pictures of Virginia and Val.

As a young woman, Virginia was uncomfortable with her rather pronounced "overbite".  These were the days before orthodontia and you had no choice but to live with it.  Both Aunt Evelyn and my mother have told me that Virginia was actually glad when she had to get dentures, eliminating this problem for the first time in her life.  Here is a picture of Virginia when she was about 16 years old.

Luckily for us, Virginia must have taken a second look at "that old Roy Ryan" leading to the next chapter of her life.  I will discuss the young wife and mother in the next post.