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I have worked on my family history for a very long time (since the 1970s) and have come across many roadblocks (many of which remain unsolved). However, about two years ago I pushed through one and was finally able to confirm that Margaret "Rigler" was really Margaret Reigle (it's possible that the spelling of her surname at birth was Riegel but was later changed). Margaret and her husband, Joseph Steigerwalt, Jr. happen to be my great-great-great parents. Some of the only records I had for many years were the death certificates (yes, there were TWO) of their son, Conrad Steigerwalt (my g-g grandfather). Not only did both of Conrad's death certificates (a handwritten one and a typed one) state that his parents were "unknown", but they each listed different places of death! I took a chance and back in 1990 (yes, pterodactyls were still flying then), I was able to locate the poor home where he died. Fortunately, they had a record of him in their logs (written in French as the poor home was run by Carmelite nuns)! Of course, he was of German heritage (which means that there are a few gabazillion ways to spell every surname) and all of the names were butchered:
Gosh, isn't that nice?! Although I had come across his parents a few times over the years, I was never able to confirm it until twenty years later, on February 10, 2010, when someone corrected the spelling of Conrad's surname on the 1850 U.S. Census. He's listed on that census, along with his parents, under the misspelled surname of Sizerwalt! Not only were his parents listed, but so were some of his siblings. Furthermore, I had finally located the place where he was born (again, his death certificates had only listed that he was born in Ohio.
During the Summer of 2011, I was working on this line again and came across a fantastic discovery! Conrad's mother's name was really Reigle (which has nearly as many spellings as Steigerwalt), her father was Johann George Riegel/Riegle (the spelling changed during his lifetime), and his father was Simon Riegel who fought in the American Revolutionary War!! Wow! Could it get better than that? Well, it did, Simon's father, Johannes Riegel, also fought in the Revolutionary War too . . . and there appears to be a lot of other fascinating documents on Simon's ancestors! I never thought I'd be able to push my heritage back to the Revolutionary War as my paternal heritage is 100% Sicilian and those lines came to the United States at the very end of the 1890s and the beginning of the 1900s. Some of my maternal line traces back to Ireland around 1830 before they disappear into the ether.
The only problem is, I've now hit ANOTHER roadblock that I can't push through. I would very much like to join the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) but can't PROVE (with documentation) my descent from Simon. Other descendents of Simon Riegel have been able to join both SAR and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) but through some of Simon's other children. No one has yet joined through my ancestor, Johann George (Simon's son). The problem is that I simply can't prove with documentation that Margaret is George's daughter. UGH! While I can connect some of George's other children to him, I also can't connect Margaret to her brothers and sisters. Triple UGH! I mean, just how many Riegle, Reigle, Riegel, Reigel, Rigler, Riggler, etc., etc. and Steigerwalt, Stiegewalt, Steigentwalt, Siegenwald, Stigerwalt, Stigerwald, Stigenwalt, Stiegerwald, Sizewalt, Stigenwalt ad nauseam family members can possibly live in the vast metropolis of Tymochtee, Wyantdot County (previously Crawford County), Ohio between 1820 and 1880 (when Margaret died)?! (Actually, Tymochtee looks like a very beautiful farming community - according to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2011 all of Wyandot County has a total populaion of just 22,692. In 1850, the County had just 11,194 people!
Even given George Reigle's esteemed status as a Justice of the Peace for TWENTY YEARS, one would think he had left a paper trail a mile long. Wrong! I can't even find a will for him. (Note: I had previously written to the Wyandot County Courthouse and told they couldn't find a will for George. A few days after I posted this page [on June 21, 2012], I found an index that states he did leave one - I've just written to the courthouse again!) - here's a copy of his listing on the index.
Of course, I can go on and on about the nightmares associated with this genealogical nightmare but that's not the point of this and related pages. In posting these pages, I am taking the very unusual step in posting everything I have on Margaret and her father, George. (Note: As a rule, I stopped posting most of my data online as I have found that that many people simply copy things and then don't communicate with me or offer to share their materials. Some of these materials have been very difficult for me to obtain as I've had to pay government agencies to send me a copy, or I've spent a lot of time and effort acquiring them. If you find them useful, PLEASE contact me! I LOVE to share my materials with relatives! Leave a message for me on Find-A-Grave and I'll respond). With this in mind, I'm making my data available on the two individuals I can't connect with documentation (and I have a lot more on their siblings and spouses that I haven't posted here). Also, I had a bit of a problem creating these web pages and ended up manually editing them (as most automated programs that covert genealogical data into HTLM don't allow documents to be attached and I've found other limitations). As a result, there may be a few errors here but, hopefully they're small ones.
As an incentive, I'm offering a REWARD of ONE DOLLAR hard U.S. currency to anyone who can solve this mystery! Thanks for your help!
Name |
Born |
Died |
||
Father | Johann George Riegel | born 3 Apr 1787 | died 21 Jan 1857 | |
Daughter | Margaret Riegle | born 7 Jan 1813 | died 18 Aug 1880 |
All you need to do is to make ONE connection that confirms that Johann George is Margaret's father and that the documentation must be acceptable as proof of this relationship in order for me to qualify for membership in the Sons of the American Revolution! Can't be easier than that!