The Hyphen Family Lineage

Note: Researching George Joseph Schoen.

Finding and confirming family history information for George Joseph has been something of a challenge - partly because of the multiple name usages, partly due to transcription errors, partly due to other families with similar names, and partly due to his residences around the country and what appear to be at least two marriages. His full name is George Joseph C. Schoen (as given on his birth record), and I would wager that the initial "C" stands either for Carl or Charles, his father's name in either German or English form.

The census records (both state and federal) for his father's household are fairly consistent in reporting the presence of a child born in 1890; the details reported for the child have not been consistent, or at least are not consistently transcribed. In the 1900 US Census there is listed a ten-year-old daughter Jessie. The 1905 Wisconsin State Census reports a fifteen-year-old son, Joseph. The 1910 US Census lists a twenty-year-old son, George. All listings report this person as born in Wisconsin. I believe these are all George Joseph, and that the daughter "Jessie" refers to him and is either poorly transcribed or was an error made by the census taker.

In December 1910 he married Michigan-born Julia Stern (b. 20 Oct 1888), daughter of German immigrants Gottlieb and Mary Stern. Julia's family had gradually moved across the country and settled in the Dodge Cty, Wisconsin area by 1900. Joseph and Julia had two children - Ruth (b. approx. 1912), and George P. (b. 5 Jan 1913). The WWI draft registration card gives Joseph's status as married with two children, gives his occupation as "auto mechanic" and his place of employment as his father's business (Chas Schoen & Sons, a farm implement and equipment business), and states that he served a year and a half as an Infantry Private in the WNG (presumably the Wisconsin National Guard). In the 1920 US Census the family of four is found residing in Oconomowoc, Waukesha Cty, Wisconsin.

After that, things get uncertain. The 1930 US Census listing for Julia Schoen places her and the her teenaged children Ruth and George in Rockford, Winnebago Cty, Illinois - boarding in the household of divorcee Olive Lucas. Julia gives her marital status as "married," though Joseph is not present in the listing and I have not yet found him named in any other listing that year.

In the obituary for his father (Charles Schoen Sr.) in 1932, Joseph is named as a survivor, resident in Kansas City (implied Missouri). In the obituaries for his older brothers Otto Schoen (in 1935) and Louis Schoen (in 1940), Joseph is named as a survivor and resident of California. The obituaries for Amanda (Schoen) Hoeft, his older sister, name him Joseph Schoen (or Joe Schoen) of California in 1943.

By 1940, there is a US Census listing for a Wisconsin-born George Schoen, age fifty, in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Cty, California; with him is Missouri-born wife Elsa J. Schoen, age forty-six. I've found no listing for Julia (Stern) Schoen, nor for either of their children, in the 1940 US Census. The next information I can find for George Joseph is a death record in Los Angeles Cty, California, indicating the Wisconsin-born George Schoen (with mother's name given as "Bachus," a misspelling of "Backhaus") died there in August 1963. I do not know if he and wife Elsa remained married, nor anything else of her fate after 1940. I do not have burial information at this point for George Joseph.

Julia and daughter Ruth remain unfound in records after the 1930 US Census listing. George P. Schoen, though, enlisted in the Army during WWII, and died in Ohio in December 1992 (with a death record giving his parents' names as Schoen and Stern), and is buried in a cemetery in Bath Twp, Summit Cty, Ohio, with wife Delores. I do not yet have a copy of his obituary, but I feel certain that would help narrow down what happened to his mother and sister, would name any children he'd had, and may give information as to whether either of his parents had further children.

ADDENDUM: George Joseph's obituary (naming him "Joe Schoen") names as survivors a daughter (Mrs. Ruth Blomberg of Rockford, Illinois) and a son (George Schoen of Madison, Wisconsin), along with a sister (Laura Schoen of Oconomowoc). The obituary also gives two sisters-in-law as surviving, and based on the information I have these must be Mary (Sarah) Schoen, widow of brother Leonard, and Emma (Notbohm) Schoen, widow of brother Louis. Lastly, it also gives two grandchildren as survivors, but names neither them nor their parents, so I'm uncertain as to which of Joe's children they might belong. Not mentioned is a wife at all, either preceding him in death or surviving, which suggests he either divorced his second wife, Elsa, or she preceded him in death and wasn't mentioned simply because she was neither the mother of his children nor known well to either the local Oconomowoc community or to his extended family.

[Obituary for Joe Schoen, from the Oconomowoc Enterprise, 29 Aug 1963.]

[headline] Joe Schoen, Former Resident, Dies Aug. 23

Joe Schoen, 73, former resident of Oconomowoc, died Friday morning at Hollywood, California. Funeral services were held in Hollywood Monday afternoon.

Mr. Schoen was born Feb. 7, 1890, in the Town of Ixonia, the son of Charles and Louise Backus Schoen. He lived in Oconomowoc until about 35 years ago, and since that time has lived in Rockford and California.

He is survived by one daughter, Mrs. Ruth Blomberg, Rockford, Illinois; one son, George, Madison; one sister, Miss Laura Schoen, Oconomowoc; two grandchildren; two sisters-in-law, and nieces and nephews.