Will the Real August Kroening Please Stand Up?

Setting the Record Straight

I feel it is time to correct an error that I see commonly repeated in online family trees regarding my branch of the Kroening family in Marathon County, Wisconsin. There are two men called August Kroening living in Marathon County during the same time frame and I have seen crossover between these men on several family trees.  (There is also a 3^rd August Kroening in Shawano, Wisconsin who gets tangled up in this situation, as well as another August Kroening who is in Niagara, NY and then in MN, and yet another who lived in Milwaukee.) I also sometimes see August Kroening listed as Gustav or August Gustav.

All of these Augusts are “German” or “Prussian” and they are all within a 10 year time span for birth dates. To further complicate the issue, many members of these men’s families share common names for the time. You will find Frederike or Ricka, Wilhelmine or Mina, Carl or Charles, Frederick or Friedrich in almost all of these families.

SO – let me explain which one was my direct ancestor and how I know…

August Kroening #1 was my 2x great grandfather on my father’s side. He was born Johann Friedrich August Kroening in Wierzbiecin, Zachodniopomorskie, Poland, in 1852. He was the oldest known child of Johann F. K. Kroening and his wife Johanna Frederike Charlotte Wendorf.

August left the port of Hamburg on 16 May 1868 with his parents and 4 siblings. He arrived in New York on 2 June 1868 aboard the “Borussia”. The Kroening family made their way to Wisconsin presumably right away. Brother Ernst was born in Wisconsin in August 1869, followed by John in 1874. John was certainly born in Kirchhayn, Washington County, Wisconsin, but the exact location of Ernst’s birth is unknown at this time.

Johann (John Sr.) Kroening and his family appear in the 1875 Wisconsin Census in Jackson, Washington County, WI. This census lists only the heads of family by name, the other members appear as numbers in the male or female columns. By 5 November 1878, John filed his first papers to become a US citizen in Marathon County, Wisconsin. In the1880 US Census, the family was living in Mosinee, Marathon County, Wisconsin – Including 25 year old August who was still unmarried at that time.

August met and married Katherine Newmeier Mahoney in about 1881. Their first child, Louisa, was born in June of 1882. August, his father John, and his brother Carl/Charles all were granted citizenship on April 18, 1882 in Marathon County. The 1885 Wisconsin census showed August living near his parents in the town of Cleveland, Marathon County, WI. Heads of house are the only people named, the other members are numbered. August’s household had 2 males and 3 females, with 2 people of foreign birth. Those born outside the US were August and Catherine. The 3 remaining people were daughter Louisa, son Joseph, and Catherine’s daughter from her first marriage, Margaret Mahoney.

August is seen again in the 1900, 1905, 1910 census records living in Cleveland township, Marathon County, WI.  There is no Wisconsin Census after 1905. August died February 1918 and is buried at the Zion Lutheran Cemetery north of Stratford, Wisconsin. His death and funeral is recorded in the register at Zion Lutheran Church.

August was a farmer and lumberman in the Stratford, Marathon County, Wisconsin area throughout his life. He appears to have lived a quiet life and was rarely in the newspaper.  I wish to make it clear that at no time was August Kroening #1 located in Brown County, WI,  living in Wausau, WI, Niagara, NY, or Minnesota. At no time did August’s parents live in any of these places either. This family settled in Washington County for a period of about ten years and then moved to Marathon County where they remained in the Stratford/Fenwood/Rozellville area all of their lives. Further, I have never found any record where August was listed as “Gustav” or any variation of that name.

August Kroening #2 was born 9 April, 1857 in Luebzin, Pommern, Prussia according to his passport application in 1906. He immigrated in 1881 – much later than August #1. August #2 lived and worked in Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin until his suicide in February 1908. August #2 applied for his citizenship in 1882 and it was granted 10 April 1888 in Marathon County. This August was an alderman, street commissioner, and held several positions in other organizations. This August was frequently mentioned in the Wausau papers and he is also frequently referred to as “August F Kroening. I assume that these two men are so frequently confused because of their close proximity during their lifetimes.

The rest of the August Kroening men can be traced in their respective communities throughout their lives as well. I will leave it to the descendants of those men to document each piece of their lives. This case serves as a great example of how easy  it is to start tracing the wrong family tree. I can only guess that these errors were made by simply taking information from another tree which was in error, or by attaching records that were found in searches without fully investigating the source material.

So please – do your own research, check facts and sources before you add them to your tree, and don’t trust “hints” just because they appear on your tree. These things are meant as suggestions – not facts.