SUSANNA BOEHM (c. 1775 - 1848)

 SUSANNA BOEHM (c. 1775 - 1848)

Poor Susanna - she has been a mystery person as far as parents or childhood information.

Growing up, I was told she was the daughter of Abraham BOEHM/BEAM or that her father was not known. Her mother was named Barbara. It was almost like her life started when she married Jacob RESSLER.

There is another Susanna RESSLER in the family that overlaps some of the same years as my Susanna's life. I have been stumbling over that Susanna for years. Any time I asked questions or looked for documentation that was the Susanna I was directed too. It got very frustrating because that Susanna did not fit with my Susanna. She has been a brick wall.

I was at the genealogy library in Vincennes, IN last month. I got off on a rabbit trail (that never happens to you right?) and looked up Susanna BOEHM on Ancestry. Sure enough, the other Susanna popped up. I scrolled through the first 3 or 4 pages just to see what I could find. 

Suddenly, a family tree popped up that had possibilities. Could this be my Susanna?

I still need to do more research, but it is possible her parents were Johann Balthasar BOEHM and Barbara (last name?). He shows up in records as Balthasar BOEHM and may have been a saddle maker. If this is the correct Susanna BOEHM then she may have been born in 1770, instead of 1775 as my family says. That would make her closer in age to Jacob RESSLER, who was born about 1767. 

Notice this Susanna has a mother named Barbara. And nowhere in this tree is there an Abraham old enough to be her father - although she may have a younger brother named Abraham.

Jacob RESSLER and Susanna BOEHM married in 1793, and proceeded to have numerous children, starting in 1794 with John RESSLER.  I was aware of 8-10 children, but according to this tree there are 15-16 with several who died young. However, according to this tree, Susanna was 50 when she had her last child - which is questionable. So more research needs done.

Per my grandma, Susanna was blind when she died, which may or may not be a helpful clue.

I always take those family trees as clues, not gospel. Depending on their documentation, and what documentation I can find I will piece together the history based on available facts.

My point is simply that I was excited to find something that may get me on the right track for the correct Susanna. With this information, I may be able to connect her to her actual parents, and grandparents.

Time will tell as I have time to work on it. 

Finding family trees on any website is great but consider it a clue to be proved or disproved - do not think that it is correct just because someone took time to put it together.

My family has many, many repeat names - both from parents to children and from those children to their own children. Unless the details are carefully combed through, it is easy to be looking at the wrong person completely. Or end up combining information from more than one ancestor into one ancestor profile. 

The Susan/Susanna I was constantly finding was from the approximate years of 1820 -1910, which is not even really close to my Susanna. Yes, they had overlapping years and may have even known each other since they are from the same local. But can I say that with 100% certainty? Absolutely not.