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VON KRASSOW

Elisabet Concordia C. von Krassow

(June 23, 1819—March 20, 1886)

The following is information on our ancestor, Elisabet Concordia C. von Krassow.

Elisabet, or Elise as she was called, was the daughter of cavalry captain Carl Vilhelm von Krassow, and Gustava Eleonora Leijonsköld. Some research shows Gustava to have been a Baroness; a member of a noble family originally from Pomerania and Mecklenburg.

For information on the ’nobility’ of the Von Krassow family and the Leijonsköld family, see my Swedish Nobility? and More on Von Krassow pages, then come back here.

This is just a rough draft. Some of the following is also within the Who was Lindsfelt? page.

Elise is called a “Baroness (or Lady) in a book called Den introducerade svenska adelns attartavlor (by Gustaf Elgenstierna, Stockholm, 1925-36, found in Vol. V, p. 37b.), wherein it says:

“Adolf Frederik Lindsfelt, born 1806, May 9, in Gothenberg; sergeant of army’s navy Jan. 1 1822; ensign of Hallands battalion Apr. 19, 1825; Lieutenant at the same place Sept. 8, 1833; chamberlain Jan. 7, 1840. – Married May 25, 1835 at Nya Skottorp in Skummeslova town (Hall) to Elisabet Concordia C. von Krassow, daughter of cavalry captain Carl Vilhelm von Krassow, and Baroness (or Lady) Gustava Eleonora Leijonskold, number 53. – Son: Carl Adolf Washington, born Sept. 4, 1835.”

This selection from that book was provided by letter from the “Svenskt Biorgraftskt Lexikon” in Stockholm

Elise came to America with Adolph; they left Sweden on September 27, 1842. She came back to Sweden in 1850 with her three girls. In 1851 she moved to Hasslovs Parish in Halland. In 1858 she got a certificate for moving back to America and the pastor gave her all the baptism certificates for the daughters born in America. (Source: St. Sure v. Lindsfelt)

I note that she is listed in the 1850 US Census. In the 1850 US Census he is listed as living in Wisconsin as “ V.S.” St. Sure, and 30, Physician, born in Norway. His wife is listed as “Elizabeth” St. Sure also age 30, born in Poland. The V.S. may be a misread by whomever typed it in from the original handwritten.

Sidenote: As to listing of “Norway” and “Poland”; I surmise that those may be the names of the countries that had sovereignty over the physical location in 1850 but that there may have been a different sovereign at their individual births.

“The cause of the emigration of the Lindsfelt family is that Adolf Frederik Lindsfelt [on December 11, 1844] by the court of Hoks harad was judged to two hours in the iron collar at the pillory in the district after that five years of penal servitude at a fort. Because he was a chamberlain to King Carl XIV Johan he is now called “former”. [On] March 1, 1853 [Mrs.] Lindsfelt got the king’s permission to be divorced from her husband with support of the judgement of 1844. A. F. Lindsfelt seems to have done some bankruptcy crimes for which he go the hardest punishments. In all the divorce papers is not told where A.F. Lindsfelt was born, only the year and the day of his birth.” Click here [sts0224.jpg] for image of the source of this information.

For additional information on the Von Krassows, also see http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~corpusnobiliorum/krassow.html

DIVORCE

The divorce of Adolph and Elise was a subject in the dispute involving he Adolph’s estate; the matter went to the Wisconsin Supreme Court (see my Supreme Court Case page for a copy of the decision; which contains a lot of great facts).

Cousin “P” explained a bit about this; I summarize from her email to me: The children of Elise, principally William, did not want Adolph's estate to go to his third wife, Olive Washburn of Wisconsin, who cared for him in old age and survived him. Ultimately Elise's children won and the divorce, which was granted in Sweden by an ecclesiastical court after an 11 year wait, was declared invalid in the US. The case was decided by the Wis. Supreme Court in about 1890. She does not have a copy of the divorce proceedings from Sweden, but it is her understanding that Elise's grounds for divorce were that Adolph had been “sentenced as a cheater and that he had absconded from the realm”. She says that family lore has it that she was trying to get some of her money back or out from under the cloud of his conviction, that perhaps he gave her other reasons as well. She continued that his conviction must have been a terrible humiliation to his in-laws in the first place. What is interesting is that in the meantime, evidently assuming he was already divorced, Adolph married a second wife, Elizabeth Sabine, in Ohio on his way back from the war. This technically made him a bigamist as well, though probably not intentionally. So Elise's & Adolph's adult children got his property and evidently begrudged poor Olive even the linens from the beds. Olive did manage to get the small widow's pension, however. It is kind of a sad story, and it sounds like it was a very nasty dispute. There were no other children by the other two wives, at least none that survived. (Olive would have been too old). When Elise went back to Sweden with the girls, and eventually back again to the US one of the girls stayed behind in Sweden and married there. That was Josephine, as she was called, the second oldest child. Her name appears to have actually been (Adolphina Fredericka......) with Josephine as one of the middle names. Josephine married a man we believe to be also her uncle, (Adam) Eberhardt von Krassow, who went by Eberhardt. (See more on this at the Josephine page.) Family lore has it that she married her uncle because her guardian was squandering her money and marrying the uncle would keep it in the family. Josephine and Eberhardt themselves immigrated to the U. S. in 1898 through Denmark. Cousin “P” is descended through them, all on a female line. Their daughter, (Anna) Elisabeth Concordia Elivra Edith....von Krassow Coleman was Cousin “P”’s great grandmother, whom she had the privilege to know into her 20s, and who lived to see her great-great grandchild, Cousin “P”’s son. She went by Elizabeth, the s changing to a z at some point.

REMARRIAGE

Cousin P explains that Elise had also remarried prior to her death to a former Prussian officer by name of Henry Schmidt, later changed to Smith. She was known as Mme. Smith in her later years. She had remarried to Henry Schmidt/Smith at least by the 1870s and was living in Waukesha for some time.

DEATH AND BURIAL

The information provided by cousin J shows that there is a marker at the Wildwood Cemetery that says “Mother June 21, 1819 - Mar 17 1886”, yet another record from Cousin V. shows that she was buried in another Cemetery. It is conjecture, but, perhaps the Wildwood marker does not contain her remains but just is a marker put there by William to have a ‘whole’ family; certainly his role and position in the estate challenge was one arguing that Elise and Adolph were never legally divorced.

In 2006, Cousin P shared with me that she had not been able to find any obituary for Elise to date in Waukesha papers, so she wonders if she, perhaps she died elsewhere. She had remarried to Henry Schmidt/Smith of course by the 1870s and was living in Waukesha for some time. Often no death notices were printed years ago but she certainly considered herself a noteworthy person, so it surprised me to find no mention of her death at all in the Waukesha papers.

OTHER INFO

Cousin “P” Elise was a von Krassow, a noble family originally from Pomerania and Mecklenburg. She had French ancestry on another line.

[Sidenote: I see a posting from an apparent cousin which I will identify as “CGG” that is from November 13, 2005 and lists the following information: “ ID: I14367 Name: Adolphus F. St. Cyr 1 Sex: M Residence: Sweden 1 Marriage 1 Elizabeth von Krassow Children Charles W. St. Sure b: 6 SEP 1835 in Sweden Josephine St. Sure Sources: Title: Launcelot Granger of Newbury, MA and Suffield, Conn - A Genealogical History by James N. Granger Author: James N. Granger Publication: Hartford, Conn. ; Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainarb Company; 1893 -- Reprinted by Higgison Book Company, Salem, MA Note: Also check the NEHG Register, Vol. 11, Jan 1857 And in The Essex Antiquarian, Vol II, #2, Feb. 1898 Note: Good Repository: Note: Reprint in Possesion of [CGG] Call Number: 0-8328-0611-0 Media: Book Page: 487 ]

I admit this is a poor summary, but, with your help, I hope to make this a much better website.

Thanks, Montie [email protected]

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