Week 5: So far away..... All the way from Germany to be exact

I want to start off by thanking my mother in-law who's been so willing to answer questions, listened to my endless stories of what I've found till she was probably bored out of her mind, and went out of her way to get me information that I otherwise would never have had. I hope you know how much it means to me to me!! Part of that information I will be using in today's story.

Back in November she showed me this pic, one she had shown me before, but this time I had time to plug the names into my Ancestry tree. That weekend every free moment was spent trying to learn more about their interesting family.

Photo of Fred. Wm Mulsow Family 1908

Back Row-Charles R, Fred, Oscar G, Walter F, John H

Front Row-Irma I, Effie, Mother Mary Jane, Father Frederick, Sarah E (Lizzie), with Nina knelt in front

Frederick Wm Mulsow was born Oct 18, 1841 in Klinken, Mecklenburg Schwerin, Germany to John Mulsow and Sophia (Harbrecht) Mulsow.  At the age of eleven Frederick, along with his parents, would come to the United States and settle in Sandusky, Ohio where is mother would pass away. In around 1857 he would move to Eudora, KS with his father and work as a stonemason.

Around that same time a young girl around 7-8 yrs old named Mary Jane Reel had moved from Pennsylvania to Eudora with her father, a blacksmith, named Samuel Jeramiah (aka Jerry), as well as her older brother Peter, and step mom Polly. Mary Jane's own mother, Abby McCauley had died in a landslide when Mary Jane was only 2 yrs old and Peter 4. In 1863 Mary Jane's father would be killed while trying to warn Lawrence, KS that well-known renegade southern sympathizer Quantrill and several hundred of his followers were on there way. I will go into more detail in another post when I spotlight him. Mary Jane and Peter were now orphans at just 12 and 14 yrs old. They had 3 half siblings, with the youngest one being born shortly before their father died. It was said that their stepmother was quite hard on them and two years later the courts would hand over guardianship of Peter to a local dr's family. For reason's not known Mary Jane continues to live with her stepmother, but by the next census taken she is living with a family as a housekeeper. Around this time the stepmother had also remarried.

Frederick was older than Mary Jane. I've read that he had watched her grow up in those 7 years after her dad died with so much sadness and sorrow and living with a stepmother who wasn't the kindest. He would buy her candy and tell her jokes trying to cheer her up. What started out as a friendship would eventually lead to more and in Oct of 1870 when Frederick was 28 and Mary Jane was 20 they were married.

Marriage License

They would go on to have 10 children all born in the Eudora and Baldwin vicinity and not only that but 9 would marry spouses of the area as well with son Fred being the only one moving away when he went to college, attended medical school, and became a doctor of medicine in Iowa.

Their children are as follows

• Effie Josephine 1871-1949
• John Harmon 1873-1965
• Walter Franklin 1876-1956
• Oscar Grinman 1878-1956
• Frederick Wm 1882-1973
• Sarah Mellissa 1886-1972
• Mary Jane 1888-1953
• Charles Richard 1889-1970
• Irma Inger 1891-1964
• Nina Dean 1895-1979

One afternoon in June of 1919 Frederick was driving his buggy about a half mile from home when something frightened his team. When they took off, his buggy was tipped throwing him out on his head. He was picked up unconscious and taken to his house, but would die several days later at the age of 77. 

Frederick, Mary Jane (who passed away 3 years earlier in 1916), nine of their 10 children and their spouses are all buried in the Askren Cemetery in Woodson County, KS. 

Frederick and Mary Jane Mulsow were my husband Henry Morgan's great great grandparents. The line down goes as follows:

Frederick & Mary Jane Mulsow

-Daughter Sarah Mellissa m. Warren F Arnold

--Son Ray Arnold m. Edith Budd

---Daughter Linda Arnold m. Richard Morgan

----Son Henry Morgan