Friederike Schneider of Kassel

I have been researching my Schneider family from Kassel for some time now. I have some information about the parents that I received from the Fulda Archives but not much else. Andreas Lips Schneider is the father, but I have no additional details about him. He married Friederike Wilke around 1830, according to the baptism record of their daughter Anna Catharina Schneider. The record includes a side note stating that they were married on 8 July 1830. However, I have not yet located the marriage record. In the record below, you can see where it notes the parents’ marriage under the birth and baptism dates, which legitimized the birth.

Anna Catharina Schneider’s mother was Friederike Wilke, originally from Luechtingen, Westfalen, Germany. According to Friederike’s burial record, she was born in Kassel on 24 August 1792 and passed away on 5 January 1847. The record also states that she was the wife of Andreas Schneider, a day laborer. In some records, Andreas’s name is listed as Andreas Lips Schneider, but most records omit “Lips” and simply use Schneider as his surname.

This is most of the information I had regarding the Schneider family, and I hadn’t spent much more time researching them until recently. When I received the 1855 Wehlheiden, Kassel, Germany Census, I discovered a Friederike Schneider, aged 27, and her daughter Juliana, aged 5, living with Heinrich Brand and his wife Catherine (born Schneider).

I knew I needed to research Friederike Schneider to see if I could find a connection to Andreas and Friederike Schneider, the parents of Catherine, the wife of Heinrich Brand. I was fairly certain they were related since they lived together in the 1855 census. In 1855, Friederike was 27 years old, and Juliana was 5 years old.

The first thing I did was search for a baptism record for Juliana to see what I could learn. I found a baptism record for Magdalena Schneider, born 24 June 1849 and baptized on 30 June 1849. She is listed as the illegitimate daughter of Friederike Schneider, but no father is mentioned. The record also states that Friederike is the daughter of Andreas Schneider and Friederike Wilke, and that Magdalena Bach was her godmother.

I believe that Magdalena from the baptism record is the same person as Juliana from the census, with Juliana being her nickname. A further search of baptism records from that time did not turn up any additional baptism records for a daughter of Friederike Schneider.

I continued searching for additional baptisms of children born to Friederike Schneider and quickly found the baptism record for Heinrich Joseph Schneider, who was born on 28 December 1851 and baptized on 31 December 1851. He was listed as the illegitimate son of Friederike Schneider. The record also notes that Friederike was the daughter of Andreas Schneider and Marie Agnes Wilke.

Heinrich Joseph’s godfather was Heinrich Brand, who later married Catherine Schneider, the woman Friederike lived with in the 1855 census. This raised the question: Is Marie Agnes Wilke the same as Friederike Wilke from the other records? I wasn’t sure, so I decided to continue searching for more information.

Unfortunately, Heinrich Joseph died on 3 January 1853.

I found one more child born to Friederike Schneider: Conrad Schneider, who was born on 14 October 1853 and baptized on 30 October 1853. He was listed as the illegitimate son of Friederike Schneider, and the record states that Friederike was the daughter of Andreas Schneider and Maria Agnes Wilke. This is the second time I found the name Maria Agnes Wilke in the records. Unfortunately, Conrad died on 1 January 1854, which is noted in his baptism record.

In the 1864 Wehlheiden Census, Heinrich and Catherine Brand are listed with their three children—Wilhelm, Friedrich, and Heinrich—as well as a foster child, Christina Schneider, who is 11 years old. This Christina Schneider appears to be the same child as Juliana, who lived with the Brand family and her mother in the 1855 Census.

I conducted another search for death records to try to determine what happened to Friederike Schneider, the mother of Juliana. I found Friederike’s death record, which clarified several questions. She passed away on 20 February 1858 at the age of 30. The burial record indicates that she was a factory worker from Kassel and the daughter of Andreas Schneider, a day laborer, and his wife Maria Agnes Friederike Wilke from Luechtingen, Westfalen, Germany. This confirms that Maria Agnes and Friederike Wilke (a name that had appeared in several documents) are the same person.

Additionally, I discovered that Friederike had a sister, Catharine Brand born Schneider, with whom she lived in the 1855 Wehlheiden Census. Katharine is also the aunt of Magdalena, who lived with them as well. However, I have not yet located Friederike’s baptism record.

Chistina still lived with the Brand family in the 1864 census as a foster child and was 14 years old. I have not located her confirmation, or a marriage record for her yet to verify that this is the same child who lived with the Brand Family and her mother in 1855.

During this research, I also discovered a new sibling of Anna Katharine Schneider: Maria Theresia Schneider, who was born on 6 November 1830 and passed away on 28 April 1833. Maria Theresia was the daughter of Andreas Schneider, a day laborer from Kassel, and his wife Maria Agnes Wilke from Luechtingen. I had encountered this record before but wasn’t sure if Maria Theresia was a sister to Katharine, as the mother’s name was listed as Maria Agnes instead of Friederike.

I still need to search for the marriage record of Magdalena Schneider to learn more about her, possibly her father’s name, and to confirm whether this is the same Magdalena who lived with the Brand family in 1861 and 1864. This research highlights the importance of continuing to search for family members in new records, as each one often reveals new information that helps expand the family tree.