Re: Frank Etzel
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In reply to:
Re: Frank Etzel
Bernadette Etzel Witham 1/26/05
Bernadette:
Preparing information to send to you is taking longer that I thought – hopefully I’ll get it in the mail in the next couple of days.
BTW, your grandfather Frank Etzel’s father, Adolf, according to his death record, was actually named Ludwig Adolph Etzel, born in Bavaria Germany.His occupation:butcher (he was also trained as a tanner by his father, who was also a tanner).His father (your great grandfather) was George Frank Etzel, born in Germany; his mother (your great grandmother) was Barbara (Hafner) Etzel, born in Germany.
His youngest son, Louie A. Etzel, as he was known, was actually also named Ludwig Adolph Etzel, according to his death record, same name as his father.
That said, there were three persons named “Frank Etzel” living in Vail, Iowa, in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.Your grandfather Frank Etzel had a cousin, probably about the same age, also named Frank Etzel, and an uncle, known as “Uncle Franz” whose naturalization papers show the name Frank Etzel.
I am sending you copies of two pictures identified by someone in our family as “Frank Etzel”: one is of a 20-30 year old man I would guess:we know Frank Etzel survived the Klondike Gold Rush:he came back once for a visit, didn’t like what he saw, and turned around and went back north, the story goes: this picture could have been taken around that time.The other is of a preteen aged boy, with his sisters, probably taken before his younger brothers were born.There may be a third picture of him, at about 2 years old or so, but only his parents Adolf and Mary are identified in that picture.
I now think that your grandfather Frank Etzel may have been born between 1878 and 1882, rather than between 1882 and 1891, based on these pictures and the birth date information of his siblings.There are no birth records for any of these Etzel children:date information is from gravestones and death records.
This family tree is taking a bit more to sort out than I anticipated, but I think I’m getting close, thanks to your inspiration!
Dorothy Lueck