UPDATE: Added a fifth child, Phillip, born in 1875 but have no other information.

Agatha Schneble, Max Laskowski’s wife and grandmother of Mary, came from Dayton, Ohio. Her parents were Fred “Fredolin” John Schneble and Victoria Schwartz. They are buried in St. Patricks Cemetery in Bay City, Michigan.

Fred was born January 1846 in Germany and arrived in the United States shortly after in 1849. The arrival date is based on information from a census and I have not found a passenger list for him yet.

He appears to have lived for most of his life in the Dayton, Ohio area until 1900 when he appears on the census in Gaylord, Michigan. He lived out his remaining years in Gaylord where he passed away on January 7th, 1908.

Fred and Victoria were married in 1870 in Ohio (presumably Dayton area).

Victoria (maiden name Schwartz) was born in Dayton on November 6th, 1848. As mentioned above, she married Fred in 1870 and they moved to Gaylord some time before 1900.

Some time after Fred passed away, Victoria moved to Bay City and appears on the 1910 census with two of her daughters (Cecilia and Julia) living with Max and Agatha at 917 21st street. (Hmm, where I have heard of that address before…)

Her parents appear to be Max and Cecilia, who immigrated from Germany also. I have a request in to the Dayton Public Library for a copy of Cecilia’s obituary who passed away in 1903, if one exists. If this information is good, then Max and Cecilia Schwartz would be Mary’s 2nd great grandparents.

Victoria passed away February 13th, 1912 in Bay City, Michigan.

Fred and Victoria had five children I could find:

Phillip Jacob Schneble, born May 1 1875
Matilda P. Schneble, born September 1878
Agatha Cecilia Schneble, born 15 Sep 1880, died 9 Nov 1962
Cecilia A. Schneble, born Dec 1883
Julia A. Schneble, born Nov 1889

Max and Agatha (or Agnes) Laskowski are the parents of Louis Francis Laskowski and the grand parents of the Mary Laskowski clan (my wife). I have uncovered some good stuff on Max and have only a little on Agatha at this time.

For starters, I have found a birth registry record for Max as shown below. It appears he was born in an area called “Rathstube, WestPrussia, Prussia, Germany” on March 1, 1879. This information agrees as best it can with census records and the birth date noted in his obituary. Rathstube is now known today as Radostowo in Poland, a city about 80 miles east of Danzig (German), or Gandsk as it is known in Poland. I also have a passenger list that lists him at the age of 5 with his parents coming over in 1884. The children on that list as well as the parents name for the most part agree with the census information and the birth registry information, so my confidence level is high on this information.

Unfortunately, the 1890 census records in the United States were destroyed in a fire in January of 1921, so I do not have that record available. Notice that his middle name is shown as Franz, the same as his dads first name. Franz appears on the US information as Francis. I have also seen Max’s name appear as Max J Laskie on his Railroad Retirement board card and as Max J Laskowski in his obituary and Max John Laskowski on his WWI registration card.

Perhaps the most interesting information is a passenger list from the ship “Fulda” that arrived at Ellis Island on April 19, 1884. On that list are the following names (with ages): Frz Laskowski (46), Elise (41), Anna (20), Maria (18), Johann (15), Sophia (4??), Conrad (7), Helene (6) and Max (5). We know that Franz Laskowski married Elizabeth Nitkowski, so those names match up. I also have a list of names from a family reunion back in 1971 that for the most part agrees as follows (in descending order by date I presume from the family reunion doc): Anna (vs. Anna), Mary (vs. Maria), Josephine (maybe Sophia??), John (vs. Johann), Cora (vs??), Helen (vs. Helen), Max (vs. Max) and Barbara who was born later in 1884 in the United States. To me the match is too close not to be the correct one. On the census records it was noted they immigrated in 1884, which also agrees. Here are the passenger list documents and the family reunion document.

Maybe, at some point, I can get more information to corroborate. I am not sure yet about Cora and Conrad. It is possible the person recording the passenger list just made a mistake. If only I had the 1890 census record.

More updates on Agatha (Schneble, born in Dayton, Ohio), and also on the Stanchak side in the future.