Lena Funk Hoffman 52 Ancestors Week #2: Challenge

Lena Funk Hoffman: A Records Challenge

            My maternal great-grandmother, Lena Funk Hoffman, has proved to be a true “brick wall” for me genealogically. Proving her parentage and identifying her siblings has been a challenge.

 I can find reliable records for Lena following her 1889 marriage to William Henry Hoffman, including census records and state and federal death records. These materials, along with information on her grave marker, state that she was born on February 12, 1869 and died on October 23, 1944. However, beyond her birthdate, her life before her marriage is a murky mystery.

            Even her name presents questions. Some records show her maiden name as “Funk”. Others add an “e” at the end to read “Funke”. I know that her family lived in Blue Earth County Minnesota in the 1870s and 1880s. The 1870 federal census lists a family I believe is hers. The record shows the household was headed by a Prussian immigrant named John Funk. The family included his Ohio-born wife Catherine, and their five children, William, Sophia, Mary, all born in Iowa, and Charles and infant Lena, both born in Minnesota. Unfortunately this census has a transcription error: their surname is listed electronically as “Frenke” even though the spidery handwriting of the actual census record clearly reads “Funk”.

            The only other pre-marriage census record I have found is an 1885 Minnesota state census, showing a family headed by a Charles Funk. His age corresponds to the 1870 John Funk, and his birthplace is again listed as Prussia. However, there is no wife, and only three children remain in the household: Charles L, age 19, born in Iowa, Amelia, age 17, born in Minnesota, and Lena, age 15. Charles’ birth year corresponds to the 1870 entry. However, Amelia wasn’t listed on the 1870 census.

            I have searched for death records for Lena’s probable mother Catherine, and for any sign of the lost siblings William, Sophia and Mary, but had no luck. I have tried tracing the family back into Iowa, where the older children were born according to the 1870 census. No luck. No records of Catherine’s marriage to either a John or Charles Funk in Ohio either.

            To further complicate things, other descendants of Lena’s have posted family trees on Ancestry with contradictory information, but with no records linked that support that information. For example, one tree lists Lena’s mother as Dorothy Muellerliele without one shred of information explaining where they discovered this name. The same tree states Lena’s father is John N. Funk, with no support for the addition of the middle initial “N”. Other trees provide variations on Lena’s middle name. Some list her as “Lena Hellena” (yes, Helena with two ‘l’s). Others show her as “Lena Henriette” or “Lena Henrietta”. At least everyone is in agreement that her middle initial is likely an “h”.

            I will keep searching. The Blue Earth County Historical Society has been a marvelous resource in my research on other family members. I am hoping that a visit there next year will help break my Lena Funk Hoffman brick wall. I will begin by looking for my great-grandmother’s obituary, hoping against hope that it will list the names of her parents and siblings. Until then, Lena Hellena Henriette Funk Funke Frenke will remain one of my greatest genealogy challenges.