Clara (Haeb) Zeltinger (1845-1926)

Clara Haeb was the sister of my great-grandfather, John Joseph Haeb.  Most of the information presented here is from censuses, obituaries and newspaper articles.

Clara was born in Germany on February 24, 1845 to John Haeb.  Her mother’s name is unknown to me.  The identity of her father is from her death certificate.  The informant was the funeral director.  This raised a question of the validity of the information.  However, even before seeing the death certificate I suspected that Clara’s father was John because her son was John Joseph, as were her brother and his oldest son. 

Clara’s obituary states that the family came to the U.S. when she was 22 (this would have been about 1867), locating in Gross Point, Illinois.  The 1900 census shows that Clara and Leonard Zeltinger had been married 27 years (abt. 1873).  The census also shows Leonard’s year of immigration as 1872, as does the 1920 census for both Leonard and Clara.  This raises questions about Clara’s date of immigration in her obituary.  So far I have been unable to find her in the 1870 census, or in any passenger lists.  If she did indeed immigrate in 1867 with her family, was she married before Leonard?  I don’t believe that her parents immigrated.  Her brother John did not come to the U.S. until 1893.

The 1880 Federal Census, shows Leonard and Clara living in Northfield, Cook, Illinois.  They had four children:  William, age 6; John, age 5; Jacob, age 3; and Mary, age 1.

By the time of the 1900 Census the Zeltingers were living in Elkhart, Indiana, where they had moved in 1886.

The 1900 Census indicates that Clara had given birth to eight children but only four were living. 

The living children in 1900 were William, age 24; John Joseph, age 24; Peter, age 18; and Leonard Jr., age 13.    

What happened to the other four children?  A search for Zeltinger in GenealogyBank turned up the following:

The Elkhart Daily Review—Dec. 26, 1896

“Jacob, 19 year old son of Leonard Zeltinger, died of diphtheria at 8:00 this morning . . ..  Mr. and Mrs. Zeltinger lost a 14 year old daughter from the same disease only a short time ago.”

The Elkhart Daily Review—Dec. 28, 1896

“Another child, a daughter, in Leonard Zeltinger’s family on South Main Street, has diphtheria.  Two children have already succumbed to the dread disease.”

The Rockford Republic (Rockford, Ill.)—Jan. 20, 1897

“Elkhart, Ind., Jan. 20—Diptheria, which has existed here for some time has subsided.  Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Zeltinger buried their 18 year old daughter Mary Tuesday, the fourth child they have lost from this disease in the last few weeks.”

Putting known information together, I have come up with the following on the four deceased children:

            Unk. Daughter, age 14, died before Dec. 24 in 1896, in Elkhart (1^st)

Jacob, age 19, died abt. Dec 24, 1896 in Elkhart (2^nd)

Clara, age unknown, died between Dec 28, 1896—Jan 20, 1897 in Elkhart (3^rd)

Mary, age 18, died abt. Jan 20, 1897 in Elkhart (4^th)

Oddly, of these four children, only Jacob appears in the Death Index compiled by the WPA, which covers years from 1882 to 1920.

Clara Haeb Zeltinger died January 31, 1926 after a two-week bout with Pneumonia, aggravated by heart disease and Asthma.