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From:
Subject: Re: Need Suggestions
Date: 5 Feb 2005 16:32:01 -0700


This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.

Surnames: Welfel, Wolf(e), ?Woelfel
Classification: Query

Message Board URL:

http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/TUB.2ACI/4237.1.1

Message Board Post:

Hi Judy,
Thanks for all your hard work. The email posted for me is incorrect and even though I changed it in "my info" it keeps showing up wrong. My email is:
feel free to email me there.
I don't know how much older Mary was, but I believe a good number of years. It is quite possible she was born in Germany. Supposedly the family was "well-to-do", and the story is that Mary took the money and put the kids in the orphanage. My grandfather was a little boy when this happened so who knows how accurate his perceptions were, and of course he has passed now. That would argue against Mary's working as a servant, but to a little boy, a few dollars might be considered "a lot of money", and he may have been bitter about losing his home and family. The name the children were given in the orphanage was Welfel.
There is a slim possibility that they were actually lived just over the border in NJ and were in a NJ orphanage, as this is where John and James finally ended up. Just because my grandfather was born in NYC doesn't preclude the possibility of Jersey. This is such a twisty-turny story with different names and states and orphans and what not.
My grandfather, Henry Welfel's DOB was 3/25/1906, I hope this might be helpful. Unfortunately, my mother does not know if John and James were older or younger. I suspect that James might have been a little older as his sons Peter and William were born in 1924 and 1928 respectively. They are listed in the 1930 Bergan Co., NJ census, along with a John A. Welfel b. abt. 1900, and a Joseph Welfel b. abt. 1895, but oddly, no James (father of Peter and Wm). My mother vaguely remembers her cousins Peter and William. William went by the nickname "Bucky". There were also girl cousins, but she can't recall their names. This is really all that is known. My mother has not had contact with any of her NJ cousins in many years and I believe they are are passed. I hope this might help. But I am truly greatful for the time and effort you have spent thus far. Kathy

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