Daughter of:
Henry Adam Geist and
Bertha "Amelia" Fricke
Wife of Henry Luther Kuck
Mother of:
Ernest Martin Kuck/Cook
Mata Louise "May" (Kuck), Crosby
Harry Walter Kuck/Cook
Maude Adele (Kuck), Maillie
Mabel Caroline Kuck
Herbert Robert Kuck/Cook
Wanda Marie (Kuck), Johnston
Caroline Wilhelmine Geist [baptism record says Wilhelmine Caroline] was the daughter of German immigrants Henry Adam Geist and Bertha "Amelia" Fricke/Fryke?. Her mother had been previously married to and widowed by Louis Theodor Schmidt prior to her marriage to Henry Geist. Caroline or Carrie as she was called, was born in Plymouth, Wisconsin and spent her girlhood days per obit in Rochester, Minnesota of which part of that time it would appear her father Henry had been away serving in the Civil War. Recently provided baptism records written in German, were found in a log book of the "Plymouth Church", whose mother church was the Sheboygan German M.E. Church (Methodist Episcopal) found on page 151-2, #11: Wilhelmine Caroline born Sept 10,1862, baptized 25 Dec. 1862 by Rev. C Shultz, Daughter of Heinrich Geist, born Herzogthum, Nassau, and Amalia Fricke born Konig, Preusen. There is a notation on that record that says Amelia "Unmarried". Per family lore, Henry Geist had stated that they had married earlier, but that for some reason the marriage never got recorded. This would explain the later recorded marriage date for Henry and Amelia Geist.
At seventeen years of age, Caroline is found listed on the 1880 US Census in the household of recent widow Henry L. Kuck in Flora, Renville County, Minnesota. It says her relationship to head of household is servant. His first wife Meta had died just weeks earlier leaving him with an infant Edward who appears as a one month old on that census and five other young children. In that era, it is highly likely that a church minister would have sent a young woman to the home to help the bereaved widow care for his many children, but with the expectation of a marriage soon to follow for propriety's sake. Two months to the day following his first wife's death, the widow Henry Luther Kuck married his servant, Caroline Wilhelmia Geist on 10 July 1880 in her parents then hometown of nearby Havelock, Chippewa County, Minnesota. Their names appear on that record as Henry Cook and Carrie Geist. Their marriage record shows the witnesses were a Flora Township neighbor Frederick Steinkamp and a Wilhelm Ruck of which one must wonder if it could be a transcription error and the name may have actually have been Wilhelm Kuck, thus indicating perhaps that Henry may have had a relative in the area. Contributor has been unable to prove that possibility.
On March 31, 1881 in Flora Township, she and Henry welcomed their first child together, spelled Ernest Martin Kuck on his Flora Township, Renville County birth record, but who would later spell his name Cook as an adult. He would be their first child of seven. The large family primarily lived on a farm in Flora Township, Renville County, Minnesota that Henry had received as part of the Homestead Act. It would appear that by about 1900 they had possibly sold the farm to Henry's son John and daughter in-law Edith (Sell), Kuck, as a later plat map lists the owner as Edith Kuck, rather than the H. Kuck seen on earlier plat maps of Flora Township, that had also matched coordinates with the property found on Homestead Act and US Indexed County Land Records under the name of Hinrich or Henry L. Kuck. Son John George & wife Edith were known by her relatives to have farmed in Flora early in their marriage. Census records would also indicate the family likely moved from the farm into the larger town of Redwood Falls about the turn of the century as they were listed per census in Redwood Falls in 1905, a short time before they migrated west to Washington State. Some other found news articles eluded to the family having moved into Redwood Falls as well. They were even enumerated in Delhi at one point, which is nearby and perhaps does not mean they had moved necessarily.
Caroline was the mother to children Ernest Martin Kuck/Cook who firstly married Caroline Almira Pratt, next married Bessie A. Buell, thirdly Emma E. McBride; Mata Louise "May" (Kuck), Crosby who married Charles "Everett" Crosby; Harry Walter Kuck, unmarried who died in his early twenties at the "Feebleminded School aka the Minnesota State Hospital, circumstances unknown; Maude Adell Kuck who married William Robert Maillie; Mabel Caroline Kuck, unmarried who died in her early twenties at Spokane's Sacred Heart Hospital following a bout of Typhoid Fever and an emergency appendectomy; Herbert Robert Kuck/Cook who married an Elma or Alma Rhode firstly, then Freida E. Linder and lastly Mildred Loveland; and lastly Henry and Caroline's youngest daughter Wanda Marie (Kuck), Johnston who married Edward Lee Johnston.
In addition, Caroline was also the step-mother to: Louis "Henry" Kuck aka Henry L. Kuck who married Emma Pauline Sell; Rose Adeline (Kuck), Rathke who married Charles Theodore Rathke; John George Kuck who married his sister in-laws younger sister Edith Ann Louise Sell; Anna Marie (Kuck), Keil who married William M. Keil; Frederick William Kuck/Cook who married Nellie Katherine Campbell and lastly baby Edward H. Kuck who died at five months of age of whooping cough.
About 1906 or 1907 Caroline, her husband, most step-children and all of her biological children headed across the United States. Per a daughter and her husbands obituaries, it was found that first they briefly settled into Moscow, Idaho, then the City of Spokane and finally purchased a farm on the east side of the small farming community of Reardan, Washington, located about fifty miles outside of the larger Spokane. Research suggests that a couple of Henry's older daughters may have migrated shortly ahead of the parents with their husbands and the husbands siblings and convinced the rest to follow as both Rathke and Keil family members also made the move from Minnesota to the Spokane area and appear to have possibly been there ahead of some of the Kuck's, but it has been rather hard to prove and mostly based on their earlier appearance in old city directories. The surrounding Palouse communities around Reardan, such as Odessa were known at the time to be settled by many people of German descent and they likely fit right in. Caroline and Henry's younger daughters appear to have married young men raised in and or who came of age in those tiny adjacent towns of Odessa, Molter and Reardan.
On 11 December 1912, approximately four years after arriving in the West and settling into Reardan, Washington, her husband died. Three found newspaper articles tell that after Henry's funeral services held from the family home in Reardan, that Caroline, along with several of the children and their spouses and even their eldest grandchild Mabel Rathke, were involved in an auto-hearse-stage accident involving the funeral party conveying the body of her late husband from Reardan into the Fairmount Memorial Cemetery in Spokane for burial. There were likely others traveling in separate vehicles as well. Apparently the hearse swerved on a curve and rolled over down an embankment on the Sunset Hill entering the City of Spokane. Step-daughter Annie Keil was most seriously hurt, but recovered quickly, while several others simply experienced bruising. Because the accident occurred on a "Friday the 13th" three newspapers were found to have carried the gruesome story and the articles appear somewhat sensationalized, with each being slightly differing accounts. It was no doubt traumatic for the family at the time, but quite telling for research purposes given all the names listed and even proving the familial ties between the Reardan farmer Henry Kuck to the Redwood Falls, Minnesota Kuck's as eldest sons Henry and John are listed as residents of Redwood Falls and as passengers in the crashed vehicle. The daughters married names and the male spouses named in the accident also exactly match both the Reardan farmer Henry Kuck's heirs on his Will & Probate papers, but also exactly match the surviving siblings/sisters on the later 1952 funeral home record of Ernest Martin Cook, leaving no doubt that not only were the Kuck's of Redwood Falls, Minnesota related to these Washington and Oregon Cook's, but that also Reardan farmers Henry & Caroline Kuck were their parents. Also to note, most if not all lines knew of the Redwood Falls connection as it had been passed down that various relatives had come from there originally, but only some lines knew that Henry and Caroline Kuck had ever been in Washington State with their children and most were not aware of how many children they actually had that had come west. Some lines did not know the name had originally been spelled Kuck. This contributor is still ardently seeking connection with any descendants that may have been passed down a photo of Henry Luther Kuck.
Various found records show that after Henry's death Caroline then did quite a bit of traveling, as she is documented as having been caring for her father at the time of his death in Waseca, Minnesota, photographed there in a four generation photo with her daughter Maude (Kuck), Maillie and toddler Evelyn Rose (Maillie), Paulson, Fraidenburg, who must have been visiting in Minnesota as the photo has a printed label saying "Waseca" in the corner. Additionally, she is found in a Kalispell, Montana directory listed as Carrie Kuck, widow Henry, living at the same address as a John Kenney and wife, who would appear to be her sister Mrs. John/James Kenney/Kanny listed on Henry Geist's obituary as a surviving daughter, although some public trees list his name as James Kenney of Paola, Montana, it is suspected they lived in Kalispel at some point, he being a bottler, distributor of the Kalispell Brewery as seen in same city directory at the same address. He is said to have been a doctor, so it may be the wrong Mr. Kenney, but it seems more likely that it is the correct people. Current contact with descendants suggests the name was actually spelled Kanny, and sister Anna Amelia' headstone reads Anna Amelia Kanny as do her Montana death records etc. Caroline also hit the 1920 US Census living in Odessa, Wa. with her youngest daughter Wanda Marie (Kuck), Johnston and son in-law Edward Lee Johnston. In another instance proof of her travels is found when an affidavit was found to have been filed at the Lincoln County Courthouse in Davenport, Washington related to her husbands will and probate papers of which she signed and sent from Orange or Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois some years after his death, possibly related to the sale of the Reardan farm, but unconfirmed and it is known that her sister Della was living in that area at the time. One obit tells she also spent time in the Trommald, Minnesota area where a sister Mrs. McCoy lived also. It would appear that by 1925 she had again followed daughter Wanda and son in-law Edward to Portland, Oregon and was going back and forth between Wanda's home and daughter Maude Maillie's in Castlerock. Different lines of descendants are in possession of a handful of photos of Caroline seen with various relatives including a cute snapshot where she is photographed with one of her sisters, either Della or Theresa as they feed chickens and on the back it would appear she had addressed a humorous note to her step-son John George Kuck regarding the chickens personalities. As mentioned above, she was in Portland, Oregon at the time of her death and it would appear that the majority of her biological children and grandchildren were mostly converging in that area with the family matriarch at that time. It would also appear some of the children spent some years going back and forth between Portland and Spokane before they settled down.
Daughter Wanda, signing as Mrs. E.L. Johnston was the informant on her mother's death certificate and both the informant and the deceased are listed at the same address of 1296 E. Yamhill, Portland, Oregon. Her death cert also lists a Spokane burial although the date of 4 February is likely the date of her funeral in Portland. Two obits tell she died in Portland, Oregon and then that after a Portland funeral service, her body was brought back to Spokane for burial, presumably near her husband as there is a headstone in Fairmount Memorial that reads Caroline W. Kuck with correct dates, although her cemetery death date is several days later than what the Oregon Death Index record states. It can be assumed the difference is an actual burial date versus death date. Given that her body would probably have been shipped back by train, it may have taken several days to gather for her funeral in Portland and still more time to get the body to Spokane for the burial.
The indoor cemetery records for that plot number spell her last name Cook, but the headstone linked with that plot number says Caroline W. Kuck and is located just yards from Henry and young daughter Mabel's graves. Her pink granite stone with floral etchings also match Mabel's headstone. Son Ernest Martin Cook is buried further across the grounds with no headstone. All indications are that following her husbands death, she too began to go by the spelling of Cook, just as their children had been doing for some years. Her father Henry Geist's obituary lists her name as Carrie Cook of Odessa, Washington and further tells she was in his home with him the day he died in Waseca, Minnesota and by the time his probate settled, she signed her name on those documents as Mrs. Carrie Cook as well. In 1924, shortly before her death, she is listed in the Portland, Oregon City Directory as Mrs. Carrie Cook. Her death certificate from Oregon State also spells her name Cook. Going forward, only her two eldest step-sons who remained in Redwood Falls, Minnesota through death retained the original spelling, but everyone who migrated to Washington State and into Oregon changed to Cook.
Caroline had several more siblings than are currently listed and linked below. Their burial places have not all yet been found, but will be be linked as soon as they are. Research continues and please feel free to contact this contributor if you know the burial places of any not listed.
BIRTH CHRISTENING RECORD:
The following record was found by a local Plymouth, Wisconsin research volunteer who was seeking records on behalf of a Geist descendant. Here is an excerpt of the email forwarded on in 2014, it reads as follows:
There is a small cemetery on land where the Fricke’s may have lived. The German Methodist Episcopal Church had a “mother” church in Sheboygan where the pastor would live and preach, and there were 3 little churches with cemeteries on the circuit. The pastor visited them whenever possible, did baptisms, marriages, and funerals. All these events were listed in a book that the pastor kept. The land where this cemetery and church existed was the “Plymouth” church. It reads as follows:
On page 151-2, #11: Wilhelmine Caroline born Sept. 10, 1862, baptized Dec. 25, 1862, by Rev. C. Schulz. Daughter of Heinrich Geist, born Herzogthum, Nassau, and Amalia Fricke born Konig, Preusen. There is a notation after Amalia, translated “unmarried”.
NOTE: The following are transcribed texts of two obituary news clippings provided by Kuck/Maillie descendants in 2015. It is known that after her husbands death she started using the spelling of Cook. The first directly below is presumed to have appeared in a Castle Rock, WA. newspaper as it states Caroline spent time with daughter Mrs. William Robert Maillie (Maude Adell) who lived there. The second clipping probably appeared in a local Trommald, Minnesota newspaper as it references Caroline's sister Louisa McCoy. Note that the first obit, only lists her biological children's names.
Obituary #1. Presumed printed in a Castle Rock, Washington area newspaper.
Death of Mrs. Caroline Cook - printed Monday Feb. 10, 1925
Mrs. W.R. Maillie returned home from Portland Sunday, where she had been called by the sad summons of the serious illness and death of her mother, Mrs. Caroline Cook, which occurred about two weeks ago. Mrs Maillie reached her mother's bedside just before she passed away. Even at that late hour her mother was interested, as she always was in the welfare of others and inquired about the friends she had made at Castle Rock when staying with Mrs. Maillie, also was solicitous about the little children.
Mrs. Caroline Cook was born at Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and spent her girlhood days at Rochester, Minnesota. She was married to Mr. Cook, who passed away thirteen years ago, at Renville, Minnesota, and has made her home with her daughter at Portland and Mrs. Maillie at Castle Rock and was expecting to be here in a few days when death came to her,Sunday, February 1, 1925. She was the mother of eight children and five step-children. Those of her children who remain to mourn the loss of their best earthly friend are Ernest and Herbert Cook and Mrs. E.L. Johnston of Portland; Mrs.Crosby of Spokane, and Mrs. Maillie of Castle Rock.
Funeral services were held at the Snook & Whealden undertaking chapel at Portland and the body taken to Spokane for burial.
(Edit Note: The above sentence mentions incorrectly that her husband had passed away in Renville, Minnesota when in fact Henry Kuck died in Reardan, Lincoln County, Washington in 1912.)
Obituary #2 Source Unknown, Trommald, Minn. appeared near the home of sister Mrs. O. A. McCoy (Louisa Theresa)of which Caroline had been staying with and living near for a time before her Portland death, so apparently the local newspaper included mention of her death. It reads as follows:
Mrs. Cook Has Gone Beyond.
Mrs. O.A. McCoy received a message last Monday bearing the sad news from Portland, Oregon that her sister, Mrs. Carrie Cook, had passed away. At this writing no further particulars have been received, but the supposition is that her death was a result of heart trouble from which she had been a sufferer for some time.
Mrs. Cook was well known here, having spent about one year in Trommald, and for a time had apartments in the building now occupied by Mr. & Mrs. Ed Rale and family. She left here for the West about two years ago, and had been making her home with her daughters who reside near Portland. Since going out west it had been said that her health was unusually good, and her sudden demise was not only a shock to her sister, Mrs. McCoy, but to her many friends here. She will long be remembered in Trommald on account of her many kindly deeds. Her gentle pleasing manner and cheerful disposition won for her the friendship and high esteem of all who knew her.
The Times extends to the bereaved ones its sincere sympathy.
*****************************************************
A special "Thanks" to all the Geist, Maillie, Pratt & Sell descendants who provided information and photos.
Henry Adam Geist and
Bertha "Amelia" Fricke
Wife of Henry Luther Kuck
Mother of:
Ernest Martin Kuck/Cook
Mata Louise "May" (Kuck), Crosby
Harry Walter Kuck/Cook
Maude Adele (Kuck), Maillie
Mabel Caroline Kuck
Herbert Robert Kuck/Cook
Wanda Marie (Kuck), Johnston
Caroline Wilhelmine Geist [baptism record says Wilhelmine Caroline] was the daughter of German immigrants Henry Adam Geist and Bertha "Amelia" Fricke/Fryke?. Her mother had been previously married to and widowed by Louis Theodor Schmidt prior to her marriage to Henry Geist. Caroline or Carrie as she was called, was born in Plymouth, Wisconsin and spent her girlhood days per obit in Rochester, Minnesota of which part of that time it would appear her father Henry had been away serving in the Civil War. Recently provided baptism records written in German, were found in a log book of the "Plymouth Church", whose mother church was the Sheboygan German M.E. Church (Methodist Episcopal) found on page 151-2, #11: Wilhelmine Caroline born Sept 10,1862, baptized 25 Dec. 1862 by Rev. C Shultz, Daughter of Heinrich Geist, born Herzogthum, Nassau, and Amalia Fricke born Konig, Preusen. There is a notation on that record that says Amelia "Unmarried". Per family lore, Henry Geist had stated that they had married earlier, but that for some reason the marriage never got recorded. This would explain the later recorded marriage date for Henry and Amelia Geist.
At seventeen years of age, Caroline is found listed on the 1880 US Census in the household of recent widow Henry L. Kuck in Flora, Renville County, Minnesota. It says her relationship to head of household is servant. His first wife Meta had died just weeks earlier leaving him with an infant Edward who appears as a one month old on that census and five other young children. In that era, it is highly likely that a church minister would have sent a young woman to the home to help the bereaved widow care for his many children, but with the expectation of a marriage soon to follow for propriety's sake. Two months to the day following his first wife's death, the widow Henry Luther Kuck married his servant, Caroline Wilhelmia Geist on 10 July 1880 in her parents then hometown of nearby Havelock, Chippewa County, Minnesota. Their names appear on that record as Henry Cook and Carrie Geist. Their marriage record shows the witnesses were a Flora Township neighbor Frederick Steinkamp and a Wilhelm Ruck of which one must wonder if it could be a transcription error and the name may have actually have been Wilhelm Kuck, thus indicating perhaps that Henry may have had a relative in the area. Contributor has been unable to prove that possibility.
On March 31, 1881 in Flora Township, she and Henry welcomed their first child together, spelled Ernest Martin Kuck on his Flora Township, Renville County birth record, but who would later spell his name Cook as an adult. He would be their first child of seven. The large family primarily lived on a farm in Flora Township, Renville County, Minnesota that Henry had received as part of the Homestead Act. It would appear that by about 1900 they had possibly sold the farm to Henry's son John and daughter in-law Edith (Sell), Kuck, as a later plat map lists the owner as Edith Kuck, rather than the H. Kuck seen on earlier plat maps of Flora Township, that had also matched coordinates with the property found on Homestead Act and US Indexed County Land Records under the name of Hinrich or Henry L. Kuck. Son John George & wife Edith were known by her relatives to have farmed in Flora early in their marriage. Census records would also indicate the family likely moved from the farm into the larger town of Redwood Falls about the turn of the century as they were listed per census in Redwood Falls in 1905, a short time before they migrated west to Washington State. Some other found news articles eluded to the family having moved into Redwood Falls as well. They were even enumerated in Delhi at one point, which is nearby and perhaps does not mean they had moved necessarily.
Caroline was the mother to children Ernest Martin Kuck/Cook who firstly married Caroline Almira Pratt, next married Bessie A. Buell, thirdly Emma E. McBride; Mata Louise "May" (Kuck), Crosby who married Charles "Everett" Crosby; Harry Walter Kuck, unmarried who died in his early twenties at the "Feebleminded School aka the Minnesota State Hospital, circumstances unknown; Maude Adell Kuck who married William Robert Maillie; Mabel Caroline Kuck, unmarried who died in her early twenties at Spokane's Sacred Heart Hospital following a bout of Typhoid Fever and an emergency appendectomy; Herbert Robert Kuck/Cook who married an Elma or Alma Rhode firstly, then Freida E. Linder and lastly Mildred Loveland; and lastly Henry and Caroline's youngest daughter Wanda Marie (Kuck), Johnston who married Edward Lee Johnston.
In addition, Caroline was also the step-mother to: Louis "Henry" Kuck aka Henry L. Kuck who married Emma Pauline Sell; Rose Adeline (Kuck), Rathke who married Charles Theodore Rathke; John George Kuck who married his sister in-laws younger sister Edith Ann Louise Sell; Anna Marie (Kuck), Keil who married William M. Keil; Frederick William Kuck/Cook who married Nellie Katherine Campbell and lastly baby Edward H. Kuck who died at five months of age of whooping cough.
About 1906 or 1907 Caroline, her husband, most step-children and all of her biological children headed across the United States. Per a daughter and her husbands obituaries, it was found that first they briefly settled into Moscow, Idaho, then the City of Spokane and finally purchased a farm on the east side of the small farming community of Reardan, Washington, located about fifty miles outside of the larger Spokane. Research suggests that a couple of Henry's older daughters may have migrated shortly ahead of the parents with their husbands and the husbands siblings and convinced the rest to follow as both Rathke and Keil family members also made the move from Minnesota to the Spokane area and appear to have possibly been there ahead of some of the Kuck's, but it has been rather hard to prove and mostly based on their earlier appearance in old city directories. The surrounding Palouse communities around Reardan, such as Odessa were known at the time to be settled by many people of German descent and they likely fit right in. Caroline and Henry's younger daughters appear to have married young men raised in and or who came of age in those tiny adjacent towns of Odessa, Molter and Reardan.
On 11 December 1912, approximately four years after arriving in the West and settling into Reardan, Washington, her husband died. Three found newspaper articles tell that after Henry's funeral services held from the family home in Reardan, that Caroline, along with several of the children and their spouses and even their eldest grandchild Mabel Rathke, were involved in an auto-hearse-stage accident involving the funeral party conveying the body of her late husband from Reardan into the Fairmount Memorial Cemetery in Spokane for burial. There were likely others traveling in separate vehicles as well. Apparently the hearse swerved on a curve and rolled over down an embankment on the Sunset Hill entering the City of Spokane. Step-daughter Annie Keil was most seriously hurt, but recovered quickly, while several others simply experienced bruising. Because the accident occurred on a "Friday the 13th" three newspapers were found to have carried the gruesome story and the articles appear somewhat sensationalized, with each being slightly differing accounts. It was no doubt traumatic for the family at the time, but quite telling for research purposes given all the names listed and even proving the familial ties between the Reardan farmer Henry Kuck to the Redwood Falls, Minnesota Kuck's as eldest sons Henry and John are listed as residents of Redwood Falls and as passengers in the crashed vehicle. The daughters married names and the male spouses named in the accident also exactly match both the Reardan farmer Henry Kuck's heirs on his Will & Probate papers, but also exactly match the surviving siblings/sisters on the later 1952 funeral home record of Ernest Martin Cook, leaving no doubt that not only were the Kuck's of Redwood Falls, Minnesota related to these Washington and Oregon Cook's, but that also Reardan farmers Henry & Caroline Kuck were their parents. Also to note, most if not all lines knew of the Redwood Falls connection as it had been passed down that various relatives had come from there originally, but only some lines knew that Henry and Caroline Kuck had ever been in Washington State with their children and most were not aware of how many children they actually had that had come west. Some lines did not know the name had originally been spelled Kuck. This contributor is still ardently seeking connection with any descendants that may have been passed down a photo of Henry Luther Kuck.
Various found records show that after Henry's death Caroline then did quite a bit of traveling, as she is documented as having been caring for her father at the time of his death in Waseca, Minnesota, photographed there in a four generation photo with her daughter Maude (Kuck), Maillie and toddler Evelyn Rose (Maillie), Paulson, Fraidenburg, who must have been visiting in Minnesota as the photo has a printed label saying "Waseca" in the corner. Additionally, she is found in a Kalispell, Montana directory listed as Carrie Kuck, widow Henry, living at the same address as a John Kenney and wife, who would appear to be her sister Mrs. John/James Kenney/Kanny listed on Henry Geist's obituary as a surviving daughter, although some public trees list his name as James Kenney of Paola, Montana, it is suspected they lived in Kalispel at some point, he being a bottler, distributor of the Kalispell Brewery as seen in same city directory at the same address. He is said to have been a doctor, so it may be the wrong Mr. Kenney, but it seems more likely that it is the correct people. Current contact with descendants suggests the name was actually spelled Kanny, and sister Anna Amelia' headstone reads Anna Amelia Kanny as do her Montana death records etc. Caroline also hit the 1920 US Census living in Odessa, Wa. with her youngest daughter Wanda Marie (Kuck), Johnston and son in-law Edward Lee Johnston. In another instance proof of her travels is found when an affidavit was found to have been filed at the Lincoln County Courthouse in Davenport, Washington related to her husbands will and probate papers of which she signed and sent from Orange or Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois some years after his death, possibly related to the sale of the Reardan farm, but unconfirmed and it is known that her sister Della was living in that area at the time. One obit tells she also spent time in the Trommald, Minnesota area where a sister Mrs. McCoy lived also. It would appear that by 1925 she had again followed daughter Wanda and son in-law Edward to Portland, Oregon and was going back and forth between Wanda's home and daughter Maude Maillie's in Castlerock. Different lines of descendants are in possession of a handful of photos of Caroline seen with various relatives including a cute snapshot where she is photographed with one of her sisters, either Della or Theresa as they feed chickens and on the back it would appear she had addressed a humorous note to her step-son John George Kuck regarding the chickens personalities. As mentioned above, she was in Portland, Oregon at the time of her death and it would appear that the majority of her biological children and grandchildren were mostly converging in that area with the family matriarch at that time. It would also appear some of the children spent some years going back and forth between Portland and Spokane before they settled down.
Daughter Wanda, signing as Mrs. E.L. Johnston was the informant on her mother's death certificate and both the informant and the deceased are listed at the same address of 1296 E. Yamhill, Portland, Oregon. Her death cert also lists a Spokane burial although the date of 4 February is likely the date of her funeral in Portland. Two obits tell she died in Portland, Oregon and then that after a Portland funeral service, her body was brought back to Spokane for burial, presumably near her husband as there is a headstone in Fairmount Memorial that reads Caroline W. Kuck with correct dates, although her cemetery death date is several days later than what the Oregon Death Index record states. It can be assumed the difference is an actual burial date versus death date. Given that her body would probably have been shipped back by train, it may have taken several days to gather for her funeral in Portland and still more time to get the body to Spokane for the burial.
The indoor cemetery records for that plot number spell her last name Cook, but the headstone linked with that plot number says Caroline W. Kuck and is located just yards from Henry and young daughter Mabel's graves. Her pink granite stone with floral etchings also match Mabel's headstone. Son Ernest Martin Cook is buried further across the grounds with no headstone. All indications are that following her husbands death, she too began to go by the spelling of Cook, just as their children had been doing for some years. Her father Henry Geist's obituary lists her name as Carrie Cook of Odessa, Washington and further tells she was in his home with him the day he died in Waseca, Minnesota and by the time his probate settled, she signed her name on those documents as Mrs. Carrie Cook as well. In 1924, shortly before her death, she is listed in the Portland, Oregon City Directory as Mrs. Carrie Cook. Her death certificate from Oregon State also spells her name Cook. Going forward, only her two eldest step-sons who remained in Redwood Falls, Minnesota through death retained the original spelling, but everyone who migrated to Washington State and into Oregon changed to Cook.
Caroline had several more siblings than are currently listed and linked below. Their burial places have not all yet been found, but will be be linked as soon as they are. Research continues and please feel free to contact this contributor if you know the burial places of any not listed.
BIRTH CHRISTENING RECORD:
The following record was found by a local Plymouth, Wisconsin research volunteer who was seeking records on behalf of a Geist descendant. Here is an excerpt of the email forwarded on in 2014, it reads as follows:
There is a small cemetery on land where the Fricke’s may have lived. The German Methodist Episcopal Church had a “mother” church in Sheboygan where the pastor would live and preach, and there were 3 little churches with cemeteries on the circuit. The pastor visited them whenever possible, did baptisms, marriages, and funerals. All these events were listed in a book that the pastor kept. The land where this cemetery and church existed was the “Plymouth” church. It reads as follows:
On page 151-2, #11: Wilhelmine Caroline born Sept. 10, 1862, baptized Dec. 25, 1862, by Rev. C. Schulz. Daughter of Heinrich Geist, born Herzogthum, Nassau, and Amalia Fricke born Konig, Preusen. There is a notation after Amalia, translated “unmarried”.
NOTE: The following are transcribed texts of two obituary news clippings provided by Kuck/Maillie descendants in 2015. It is known that after her husbands death she started using the spelling of Cook. The first directly below is presumed to have appeared in a Castle Rock, WA. newspaper as it states Caroline spent time with daughter Mrs. William Robert Maillie (Maude Adell) who lived there. The second clipping probably appeared in a local Trommald, Minnesota newspaper as it references Caroline's sister Louisa McCoy. Note that the first obit, only lists her biological children's names.
Obituary #1. Presumed printed in a Castle Rock, Washington area newspaper.
Death of Mrs. Caroline Cook - printed Monday Feb. 10, 1925
Mrs. W.R. Maillie returned home from Portland Sunday, where she had been called by the sad summons of the serious illness and death of her mother, Mrs. Caroline Cook, which occurred about two weeks ago. Mrs Maillie reached her mother's bedside just before she passed away. Even at that late hour her mother was interested, as she always was in the welfare of others and inquired about the friends she had made at Castle Rock when staying with Mrs. Maillie, also was solicitous about the little children.
Mrs. Caroline Cook was born at Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and spent her girlhood days at Rochester, Minnesota. She was married to Mr. Cook, who passed away thirteen years ago, at Renville, Minnesota, and has made her home with her daughter at Portland and Mrs. Maillie at Castle Rock and was expecting to be here in a few days when death came to her,Sunday, February 1, 1925. She was the mother of eight children and five step-children. Those of her children who remain to mourn the loss of their best earthly friend are Ernest and Herbert Cook and Mrs. E.L. Johnston of Portland; Mrs.Crosby of Spokane, and Mrs. Maillie of Castle Rock.
Funeral services were held at the Snook & Whealden undertaking chapel at Portland and the body taken to Spokane for burial.
(Edit Note: The above sentence mentions incorrectly that her husband had passed away in Renville, Minnesota when in fact Henry Kuck died in Reardan, Lincoln County, Washington in 1912.)
Obituary #2 Source Unknown, Trommald, Minn. appeared near the home of sister Mrs. O. A. McCoy (Louisa Theresa)of which Caroline had been staying with and living near for a time before her Portland death, so apparently the local newspaper included mention of her death. It reads as follows:
Mrs. Cook Has Gone Beyond.
Mrs. O.A. McCoy received a message last Monday bearing the sad news from Portland, Oregon that her sister, Mrs. Carrie Cook, had passed away. At this writing no further particulars have been received, but the supposition is that her death was a result of heart trouble from which she had been a sufferer for some time.
Mrs. Cook was well known here, having spent about one year in Trommald, and for a time had apartments in the building now occupied by Mr. & Mrs. Ed Rale and family. She left here for the West about two years ago, and had been making her home with her daughters who reside near Portland. Since going out west it had been said that her health was unusually good, and her sudden demise was not only a shock to her sister, Mrs. McCoy, but to her many friends here. She will long be remembered in Trommald on account of her many kindly deeds. Her gentle pleasing manner and cheerful disposition won for her the friendship and high esteem of all who knew her.
The Times extends to the bereaved ones its sincere sympathy.
*****************************************************
A special "Thanks" to all the Geist, Maillie, Pratt & Sell descendants who provided information and photos.
Daughter of:
Henry Adam Geist and
Bertha "Amelia" Fricke
Wife of Henry Luther Kuck
Mother of:
Ernest Martin Kuck/Cook
Mata Louise "May" (Kuck), Crosby
Harry Walter Kuck/Cook
Maude Adele (Kuck), Maillie
Mabel Caroline Kuck
Herbert Robert Kuck/Cook
Wanda Marie (Kuck), Johnston
Caroline Wilhelmine Geist [baptism record says Wilhelmine Caroline] was the daughter of German immigrants Henry Adam Geist and Bertha "Amelia" Fricke/Fryke?. Her mother had been previously married to and widowed by Louis Theodor Schmidt prior to her marriage to Henry Geist. Caroline or Carrie as she was called, was born in Plymouth, Wisconsin and spent her girlhood days per obit in Rochester, Minnesota of which part of that time it would appear her father Henry had been away serving in the Civil War. Recently provided baptism records written in German, were found in a log book of the "Plymouth Church", whose mother church was the Sheboygan German M.E. Church (Methodist Episcopal) found on page 151-2, #11: Wilhelmine Caroline born Sept 10,1862, baptized 25 Dec. 1862 by Rev. C Shultz, Daughter of Heinrich Geist, born Herzogthum, Nassau, and Amalia Fricke born Konig, Preusen. There is a notation on that record that says Amelia "Unmarried". Per family lore, Henry Geist had stated that they had married earlier, but that for some reason the marriage never got recorded. This would explain the later recorded marriage date for Henry and Amelia Geist.
At seventeen years of age, Caroline is found listed on the 1880 US Census in the household of recent widow Henry L. Kuck in Flora, Renville County, Minnesota. It says her relationship to head of household is servant. His first wife Meta had died just weeks earlier leaving him with an infant Edward who appears as a one month old on that census and five other young children. In that era, it is highly likely that a church minister would have sent a young woman to the home to help the bereaved widow care for his many children, but with the expectation of a marriage soon to follow for propriety's sake. Two months to the day following his first wife's death, the widow Henry Luther Kuck married his servant, Caroline Wilhelmia Geist on 10 July 1880 in her parents then hometown of nearby Havelock, Chippewa County, Minnesota. Their names appear on that record as Henry Cook and Carrie Geist. Their marriage record shows the witnesses were a Flora Township neighbor Frederick Steinkamp and a Wilhelm Ruck of which one must wonder if it could be a transcription error and the name may have actually have been Wilhelm Kuck, thus indicating perhaps that Henry may have had a relative in the area. Contributor has been unable to prove that possibility.
On March 31, 1881 in Flora Township, she and Henry welcomed their first child together, spelled Ernest Martin Kuck on his Flora Township, Renville County birth record, but who would later spell his name Cook as an adult. He would be their first child of seven. The large family primarily lived on a farm in Flora Township, Renville County, Minnesota that Henry had received as part of the Homestead Act. It would appear that by about 1900 they had possibly sold the farm to Henry's son John and daughter in-law Edith (Sell), Kuck, as a later plat map lists the owner as Edith Kuck, rather than the H. Kuck seen on earlier plat maps of Flora Township, that had also matched coordinates with the property found on Homestead Act and US Indexed County Land Records under the name of Hinrich or Henry L. Kuck. Son John George & wife Edith were known by her relatives to have farmed in Flora early in their marriage. Census records would also indicate the family likely moved from the farm into the larger town of Redwood Falls about the turn of the century as they were listed per census in Redwood Falls in 1905, a short time before they migrated west to Washington State. Some other found news articles eluded to the family having moved into Redwood Falls as well. They were even enumerated in Delhi at one point, which is nearby and perhaps does not mean they had moved necessarily.
Caroline was the mother to children Ernest Martin Kuck/Cook who firstly married Caroline Almira Pratt, next married Bessie A. Buell, thirdly Emma E. McBride; Mata Louise "May" (Kuck), Crosby who married Charles "Everett" Crosby; Harry Walter Kuck, unmarried who died in his early twenties at the "Feebleminded School aka the Minnesota State Hospital, circumstances unknown; Maude Adell Kuck who married William Robert Maillie; Mabel Caroline Kuck, unmarried who died in her early twenties at Spokane's Sacred Heart Hospital following a bout of Typhoid Fever and an emergency appendectomy; Herbert Robert Kuck/Cook who married an Elma or Alma Rhode firstly, then Freida E. Linder and lastly Mildred Loveland; and lastly Henry and Caroline's youngest daughter Wanda Marie (Kuck), Johnston who married Edward Lee Johnston.
In addition, Caroline was also the step-mother to: Louis "Henry" Kuck aka Henry L. Kuck who married Emma Pauline Sell; Rose Adeline (Kuck), Rathke who married Charles Theodore Rathke; John George Kuck who married his sister in-laws younger sister Edith Ann Louise Sell; Anna Marie (Kuck), Keil who married William M. Keil; Frederick William Kuck/Cook who married Nellie Katherine Campbell and lastly baby Edward H. Kuck who died at five months of age of whooping cough.
About 1906 or 1907 Caroline, her husband, most step-children and all of her biological children headed across the United States. Per a daughter and her husbands obituaries, it was found that first they briefly settled into Moscow, Idaho, then the City of Spokane and finally purchased a farm on the east side of the small farming community of Reardan, Washington, located about fifty miles outside of the larger Spokane. Research suggests that a couple of Henry's older daughters may have migrated shortly ahead of the parents with their husbands and the husbands siblings and convinced the rest to follow as both Rathke and Keil family members also made the move from Minnesota to the Spokane area and appear to have possibly been there ahead of some of the Kuck's, but it has been rather hard to prove and mostly based on their earlier appearance in old city directories. The surrounding Palouse communities around Reardan, such as Odessa were known at the time to be settled by many people of German descent and they likely fit right in. Caroline and Henry's younger daughters appear to have married young men raised in and or who came of age in those tiny adjacent towns of Odessa, Molter and Reardan.
On 11 December 1912, approximately four years after arriving in the West and settling into Reardan, Washington, her husband died. Three found newspaper articles tell that after Henry's funeral services held from the family home in Reardan, that Caroline, along with several of the children and their spouses and even their eldest grandchild Mabel Rathke, were involved in an auto-hearse-stage accident involving the funeral party conveying the body of her late husband from Reardan into the Fairmount Memorial Cemetery in Spokane for burial. There were likely others traveling in separate vehicles as well. Apparently the hearse swerved on a curve and rolled over down an embankment on the Sunset Hill entering the City of Spokane. Step-daughter Annie Keil was most seriously hurt, but recovered quickly, while several others simply experienced bruising. Because the accident occurred on a "Friday the 13th" three newspapers were found to have carried the gruesome story and the articles appear somewhat sensationalized, with each being slightly differing accounts. It was no doubt traumatic for the family at the time, but quite telling for research purposes given all the names listed and even proving the familial ties between the Reardan farmer Henry Kuck to the Redwood Falls, Minnesota Kuck's as eldest sons Henry and John are listed as residents of Redwood Falls and as passengers in the crashed vehicle. The daughters married names and the male spouses named in the accident also exactly match both the Reardan farmer Henry Kuck's heirs on his Will & Probate papers, but also exactly match the surviving siblings/sisters on the later 1952 funeral home record of Ernest Martin Cook, leaving no doubt that not only were the Kuck's of Redwood Falls, Minnesota related to these Washington and Oregon Cook's, but that also Reardan farmers Henry & Caroline Kuck were their parents. Also to note, most if not all lines knew of the Redwood Falls connection as it had been passed down that various relatives had come from there originally, but only some lines knew that Henry and Caroline Kuck had ever been in Washington State with their children and most were not aware of how many children they actually had that had come west. Some lines did not know the name had originally been spelled Kuck. This contributor is still ardently seeking connection with any descendants that may have been passed down a photo of Henry Luther Kuck.
Various found records show that after Henry's death Caroline then did quite a bit of traveling, as she is documented as having been caring for her father at the time of his death in Waseca, Minnesota, photographed there in a four generation photo with her daughter Maude (Kuck), Maillie and toddler Evelyn Rose (Maillie), Paulson, Fraidenburg, who must have been visiting in Minnesota as the photo has a printed label saying "Waseca" in the corner. Additionally, she is found in a Kalispell, Montana directory listed as Carrie Kuck, widow Henry, living at the same address as a John Kenney and wife, who would appear to be her sister Mrs. John/James Kenney/Kanny listed on Henry Geist's obituary as a surviving daughter, although some public trees list his name as James Kenney of Paola, Montana, it is suspected they lived in Kalispel at some point, he being a bottler, distributor of the Kalispell Brewery as seen in same city directory at the same address. He is said to have been a doctor, so it may be the wrong Mr. Kenney, but it seems more likely that it is the correct people. Current contact with descendants suggests the name was actually spelled Kanny, and sister Anna Amelia' headstone reads Anna Amelia Kanny as do her Montana death records etc. Caroline also hit the 1920 US Census living in Odessa, Wa. with her youngest daughter Wanda Marie (Kuck), Johnston and son in-law Edward Lee Johnston. In another instance proof of her travels is found when an affidavit was found to have been filed at the Lincoln County Courthouse in Davenport, Washington related to her husbands will and probate papers of which she signed and sent from Orange or Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois some years after his death, possibly related to the sale of the Reardan farm, but unconfirmed and it is known that her sister Della was living in that area at the time. One obit tells she also spent time in the Trommald, Minnesota area where a sister Mrs. McCoy lived also. It would appear that by 1925 she had again followed daughter Wanda and son in-law Edward to Portland, Oregon and was going back and forth between Wanda's home and daughter Maude Maillie's in Castlerock. Different lines of descendants are in possession of a handful of photos of Caroline seen with various relatives including a cute snapshot where she is photographed with one of her sisters, either Della or Theresa as they feed chickens and on the back it would appear she had addressed a humorous note to her step-son John George Kuck regarding the chickens personalities. As mentioned above, she was in Portland, Oregon at the time of her death and it would appear that the majority of her biological children and grandchildren were mostly converging in that area with the family matriarch at that time. It would also appear some of the children spent some years going back and forth between Portland and Spokane before they settled down.
Daughter Wanda, signing as Mrs. E.L. Johnston was the informant on her mother's death certificate and both the informant and the deceased are listed at the same address of 1296 E. Yamhill, Portland, Oregon. Her death cert also lists a Spokane burial although the date of 4 February is likely the date of her funeral in Portland. Two obits tell she died in Portland, Oregon and then that after a Portland funeral service, her body was brought back to Spokane for burial, presumably near her husband as there is a headstone in Fairmount Memorial that reads Caroline W. Kuck with correct dates, although her cemetery death date is several days later than what the Oregon Death Index record states. It can be assumed the difference is an actual burial date versus death date. Given that her body would probably have been shipped back by train, it may have taken several days to gather for her funeral in Portland and still more time to get the body to Spokane for the burial.
The indoor cemetery records for that plot number spell her last name Cook, but the headstone linked with that plot number says Caroline W. Kuck and is located just yards from Henry and young daughter Mabel's graves. Her pink granite stone with floral etchings also match Mabel's headstone. Son Ernest Martin Cook is buried further across the grounds with no headstone. All indications are that following her husbands death, she too began to go by the spelling of Cook, just as their children had been doing for some years. Her father Henry Geist's obituary lists her name as Carrie Cook of Odessa, Washington and further tells she was in his home with him the day he died in Waseca, Minnesota and by the time his probate settled, she signed her name on those documents as Mrs. Carrie Cook as well. In 1924, shortly before her death, she is listed in the Portland, Oregon City Directory as Mrs. Carrie Cook. Her death certificate from Oregon State also spells her name Cook. Going forward, only her two eldest step-sons who remained in Redwood Falls, Minnesota through death retained the original spelling, but everyone who migrated to Washington State and into Oregon changed to Cook.
Caroline had several more siblings than are currently listed and linked below. Their burial places have not all yet been found, but will be be linked as soon as they are. Research continues and please feel free to contact this contributor if you know the burial places of any not listed.
BIRTH CHRISTENING RECORD:
The following record was found by a local Plymouth, Wisconsin research volunteer who was seeking records on behalf of a Geist descendant. Here is an excerpt of the email forwarded on in 2014, it reads as follows:
There is a small cemetery on land where the Fricke’s may have lived. The German Methodist Episcopal Church had a “mother” church in Sheboygan where the pastor would live and preach, and there were 3 little churches with cemeteries on the circuit. The pastor visited them whenever possible, did baptisms, marriages, and funerals. All these events were listed in a book that the pastor kept. The land where this cemetery and church existed was the “Plymouth” church. It reads as follows:
On page 151-2, #11: Wilhelmine Caroline born Sept. 10, 1862, baptized Dec. 25, 1862, by Rev. C. Schulz. Daughter of Heinrich Geist, born Herzogthum, Nassau, and Amalia Fricke born Konig, Preusen. There is a notation after Amalia, translated “unmarried”.
NOTE: The following are transcribed texts of two obituary news clippings provided by Kuck/Maillie descendants in 2015. It is known that after her husbands death she started using the spelling of Cook. The first directly below is presumed to have appeared in a Castle Rock, WA. newspaper as it states Caroline spent time with daughter Mrs. William Robert Maillie (Maude Adell) who lived there. The second clipping probably appeared in a local Trommald, Minnesota newspaper as it references Caroline's sister Louisa McCoy. Note that the first obit, only lists her biological children's names.
Obituary #1. Presumed printed in a Castle Rock, Washington area newspaper.
Death of Mrs. Caroline Cook - printed Monday Feb. 10, 1925
Mrs. W.R. Maillie returned home from Portland Sunday, where she had been called by the sad summons of the serious illness and death of her mother, Mrs. Caroline Cook, which occurred about two weeks ago. Mrs Maillie reached her mother's bedside just before she passed away. Even at that late hour her mother was interested, as she always was in the welfare of others and inquired about the friends she had made at Castle Rock when staying with Mrs. Maillie, also was solicitous about the little children.
Mrs. Caroline Cook was born at Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and spent her girlhood days at Rochester, Minnesota. She was married to Mr. Cook, who passed away thirteen years ago, at Renville, Minnesota, and has made her home with her daughter at Portland and Mrs. Maillie at Castle Rock and was expecting to be here in a few days when death came to her,Sunday, February 1, 1925. She was the mother of eight children and five step-children. Those of her children who remain to mourn the loss of their best earthly friend are Ernest and Herbert Cook and Mrs. E.L. Johnston of Portland; Mrs.Crosby of Spokane, and Mrs. Maillie of Castle Rock.
Funeral services were held at the Snook & Whealden undertaking chapel at Portland and the body taken to Spokane for burial.
(Edit Note: The above sentence mentions incorrectly that her husband had passed away in Renville, Minnesota when in fact Henry Kuck died in Reardan, Lincoln County, Washington in 1912.)
Obituary #2 Source Unknown, Trommald, Minn. appeared near the home of sister Mrs. O. A. McCoy (Louisa Theresa)of which Caroline had been staying with and living near for a time before her Portland death, so apparently the local newspaper included mention of her death. It reads as follows:
Mrs. Cook Has Gone Beyond.
Mrs. O.A. McCoy received a message last Monday bearing the sad news from Portland, Oregon that her sister, Mrs. Carrie Cook, had passed away. At this writing no further particulars have been received, but the supposition is that her death was a result of heart trouble from which she had been a sufferer for some time.
Mrs. Cook was well known here, having spent about one year in Trommald, and for a time had apartments in the building now occupied by Mr. & Mrs. Ed Rale and family. She left here for the West about two years ago, and had been making her home with her daughters who reside near Portland. Since going out west it had been said that her health was unusually good, and her sudden demise was not only a shock to her sister, Mrs. McCoy, but to her many friends here. She will long be remembered in Trommald on account of her many kindly deeds. Her gentle pleasing manner and cheerful disposition won for her the friendship and high esteem of all who knew her.
The Times extends to the bereaved ones its sincere sympathy.
*****************************************************
A special "Thanks" to all the Geist, Maillie, Pratt & Sell descendants who provided information and photos.
Henry Adam Geist and
Bertha "Amelia" Fricke
Wife of Henry Luther Kuck
Mother of:
Ernest Martin Kuck/Cook
Mata Louise "May" (Kuck), Crosby
Harry Walter Kuck/Cook
Maude Adele (Kuck), Maillie
Mabel Caroline Kuck
Herbert Robert Kuck/Cook
Wanda Marie (Kuck), Johnston
Caroline Wilhelmine Geist [baptism record says Wilhelmine Caroline] was the daughter of German immigrants Henry Adam Geist and Bertha "Amelia" Fricke/Fryke?. Her mother had been previously married to and widowed by Louis Theodor Schmidt prior to her marriage to Henry Geist. Caroline or Carrie as she was called, was born in Plymouth, Wisconsin and spent her girlhood days per obit in Rochester, Minnesota of which part of that time it would appear her father Henry had been away serving in the Civil War. Recently provided baptism records written in German, were found in a log book of the "Plymouth Church", whose mother church was the Sheboygan German M.E. Church (Methodist Episcopal) found on page 151-2, #11: Wilhelmine Caroline born Sept 10,1862, baptized 25 Dec. 1862 by Rev. C Shultz, Daughter of Heinrich Geist, born Herzogthum, Nassau, and Amalia Fricke born Konig, Preusen. There is a notation on that record that says Amelia "Unmarried". Per family lore, Henry Geist had stated that they had married earlier, but that for some reason the marriage never got recorded. This would explain the later recorded marriage date for Henry and Amelia Geist.
At seventeen years of age, Caroline is found listed on the 1880 US Census in the household of recent widow Henry L. Kuck in Flora, Renville County, Minnesota. It says her relationship to head of household is servant. His first wife Meta had died just weeks earlier leaving him with an infant Edward who appears as a one month old on that census and five other young children. In that era, it is highly likely that a church minister would have sent a young woman to the home to help the bereaved widow care for his many children, but with the expectation of a marriage soon to follow for propriety's sake. Two months to the day following his first wife's death, the widow Henry Luther Kuck married his servant, Caroline Wilhelmia Geist on 10 July 1880 in her parents then hometown of nearby Havelock, Chippewa County, Minnesota. Their names appear on that record as Henry Cook and Carrie Geist. Their marriage record shows the witnesses were a Flora Township neighbor Frederick Steinkamp and a Wilhelm Ruck of which one must wonder if it could be a transcription error and the name may have actually have been Wilhelm Kuck, thus indicating perhaps that Henry may have had a relative in the area. Contributor has been unable to prove that possibility.
On March 31, 1881 in Flora Township, she and Henry welcomed their first child together, spelled Ernest Martin Kuck on his Flora Township, Renville County birth record, but who would later spell his name Cook as an adult. He would be their first child of seven. The large family primarily lived on a farm in Flora Township, Renville County, Minnesota that Henry had received as part of the Homestead Act. It would appear that by about 1900 they had possibly sold the farm to Henry's son John and daughter in-law Edith (Sell), Kuck, as a later plat map lists the owner as Edith Kuck, rather than the H. Kuck seen on earlier plat maps of Flora Township, that had also matched coordinates with the property found on Homestead Act and US Indexed County Land Records under the name of Hinrich or Henry L. Kuck. Son John George & wife Edith were known by her relatives to have farmed in Flora early in their marriage. Census records would also indicate the family likely moved from the farm into the larger town of Redwood Falls about the turn of the century as they were listed per census in Redwood Falls in 1905, a short time before they migrated west to Washington State. Some other found news articles eluded to the family having moved into Redwood Falls as well. They were even enumerated in Delhi at one point, which is nearby and perhaps does not mean they had moved necessarily.
Caroline was the mother to children Ernest Martin Kuck/Cook who firstly married Caroline Almira Pratt, next married Bessie A. Buell, thirdly Emma E. McBride; Mata Louise "May" (Kuck), Crosby who married Charles "Everett" Crosby; Harry Walter Kuck, unmarried who died in his early twenties at the "Feebleminded School aka the Minnesota State Hospital, circumstances unknown; Maude Adell Kuck who married William Robert Maillie; Mabel Caroline Kuck, unmarried who died in her early twenties at Spokane's Sacred Heart Hospital following a bout of Typhoid Fever and an emergency appendectomy; Herbert Robert Kuck/Cook who married an Elma or Alma Rhode firstly, then Freida E. Linder and lastly Mildred Loveland; and lastly Henry and Caroline's youngest daughter Wanda Marie (Kuck), Johnston who married Edward Lee Johnston.
In addition, Caroline was also the step-mother to: Louis "Henry" Kuck aka Henry L. Kuck who married Emma Pauline Sell; Rose Adeline (Kuck), Rathke who married Charles Theodore Rathke; John George Kuck who married his sister in-laws younger sister Edith Ann Louise Sell; Anna Marie (Kuck), Keil who married William M. Keil; Frederick William Kuck/Cook who married Nellie Katherine Campbell and lastly baby Edward H. Kuck who died at five months of age of whooping cough.
About 1906 or 1907 Caroline, her husband, most step-children and all of her biological children headed across the United States. Per a daughter and her husbands obituaries, it was found that first they briefly settled into Moscow, Idaho, then the City of Spokane and finally purchased a farm on the east side of the small farming community of Reardan, Washington, located about fifty miles outside of the larger Spokane. Research suggests that a couple of Henry's older daughters may have migrated shortly ahead of the parents with their husbands and the husbands siblings and convinced the rest to follow as both Rathke and Keil family members also made the move from Minnesota to the Spokane area and appear to have possibly been there ahead of some of the Kuck's, but it has been rather hard to prove and mostly based on their earlier appearance in old city directories. The surrounding Palouse communities around Reardan, such as Odessa were known at the time to be settled by many people of German descent and they likely fit right in. Caroline and Henry's younger daughters appear to have married young men raised in and or who came of age in those tiny adjacent towns of Odessa, Molter and Reardan.
On 11 December 1912, approximately four years after arriving in the West and settling into Reardan, Washington, her husband died. Three found newspaper articles tell that after Henry's funeral services held from the family home in Reardan, that Caroline, along with several of the children and their spouses and even their eldest grandchild Mabel Rathke, were involved in an auto-hearse-stage accident involving the funeral party conveying the body of her late husband from Reardan into the Fairmount Memorial Cemetery in Spokane for burial. There were likely others traveling in separate vehicles as well. Apparently the hearse swerved on a curve and rolled over down an embankment on the Sunset Hill entering the City of Spokane. Step-daughter Annie Keil was most seriously hurt, but recovered quickly, while several others simply experienced bruising. Because the accident occurred on a "Friday the 13th" three newspapers were found to have carried the gruesome story and the articles appear somewhat sensationalized, with each being slightly differing accounts. It was no doubt traumatic for the family at the time, but quite telling for research purposes given all the names listed and even proving the familial ties between the Reardan farmer Henry Kuck to the Redwood Falls, Minnesota Kuck's as eldest sons Henry and John are listed as residents of Redwood Falls and as passengers in the crashed vehicle. The daughters married names and the male spouses named in the accident also exactly match both the Reardan farmer Henry Kuck's heirs on his Will & Probate papers, but also exactly match the surviving siblings/sisters on the later 1952 funeral home record of Ernest Martin Cook, leaving no doubt that not only were the Kuck's of Redwood Falls, Minnesota related to these Washington and Oregon Cook's, but that also Reardan farmers Henry & Caroline Kuck were their parents. Also to note, most if not all lines knew of the Redwood Falls connection as it had been passed down that various relatives had come from there originally, but only some lines knew that Henry and Caroline Kuck had ever been in Washington State with their children and most were not aware of how many children they actually had that had come west. Some lines did not know the name had originally been spelled Kuck. This contributor is still ardently seeking connection with any descendants that may have been passed down a photo of Henry Luther Kuck.
Various found records show that after Henry's death Caroline then did quite a bit of traveling, as she is documented as having been caring for her father at the time of his death in Waseca, Minnesota, photographed there in a four generation photo with her daughter Maude (Kuck), Maillie and toddler Evelyn Rose (Maillie), Paulson, Fraidenburg, who must have been visiting in Minnesota as the photo has a printed label saying "Waseca" in the corner. Additionally, she is found in a Kalispell, Montana directory listed as Carrie Kuck, widow Henry, living at the same address as a John Kenney and wife, who would appear to be her sister Mrs. John/James Kenney/Kanny listed on Henry Geist's obituary as a surviving daughter, although some public trees list his name as James Kenney of Paola, Montana, it is suspected they lived in Kalispel at some point, he being a bottler, distributor of the Kalispell Brewery as seen in same city directory at the same address. He is said to have been a doctor, so it may be the wrong Mr. Kenney, but it seems more likely that it is the correct people. Current contact with descendants suggests the name was actually spelled Kanny, and sister Anna Amelia' headstone reads Anna Amelia Kanny as do her Montana death records etc. Caroline also hit the 1920 US Census living in Odessa, Wa. with her youngest daughter Wanda Marie (Kuck), Johnston and son in-law Edward Lee Johnston. In another instance proof of her travels is found when an affidavit was found to have been filed at the Lincoln County Courthouse in Davenport, Washington related to her husbands will and probate papers of which she signed and sent from Orange or Oregon, Ogle County, Illinois some years after his death, possibly related to the sale of the Reardan farm, but unconfirmed and it is known that her sister Della was living in that area at the time. One obit tells she also spent time in the Trommald, Minnesota area where a sister Mrs. McCoy lived also. It would appear that by 1925 she had again followed daughter Wanda and son in-law Edward to Portland, Oregon and was going back and forth between Wanda's home and daughter Maude Maillie's in Castlerock. Different lines of descendants are in possession of a handful of photos of Caroline seen with various relatives including a cute snapshot where she is photographed with one of her sisters, either Della or Theresa as they feed chickens and on the back it would appear she had addressed a humorous note to her step-son John George Kuck regarding the chickens personalities. As mentioned above, she was in Portland, Oregon at the time of her death and it would appear that the majority of her biological children and grandchildren were mostly converging in that area with the family matriarch at that time. It would also appear some of the children spent some years going back and forth between Portland and Spokane before they settled down.
Daughter Wanda, signing as Mrs. E.L. Johnston was the informant on her mother's death certificate and both the informant and the deceased are listed at the same address of 1296 E. Yamhill, Portland, Oregon. Her death cert also lists a Spokane burial although the date of 4 February is likely the date of her funeral in Portland. Two obits tell she died in Portland, Oregon and then that after a Portland funeral service, her body was brought back to Spokane for burial, presumably near her husband as there is a headstone in Fairmount Memorial that reads Caroline W. Kuck with correct dates, although her cemetery death date is several days later than what the Oregon Death Index record states. It can be assumed the difference is an actual burial date versus death date. Given that her body would probably have been shipped back by train, it may have taken several days to gather for her funeral in Portland and still more time to get the body to Spokane for the burial.
The indoor cemetery records for that plot number spell her last name Cook, but the headstone linked with that plot number says Caroline W. Kuck and is located just yards from Henry and young daughter Mabel's graves. Her pink granite stone with floral etchings also match Mabel's headstone. Son Ernest Martin Cook is buried further across the grounds with no headstone. All indications are that following her husbands death, she too began to go by the spelling of Cook, just as their children had been doing for some years. Her father Henry Geist's obituary lists her name as Carrie Cook of Odessa, Washington and further tells she was in his home with him the day he died in Waseca, Minnesota and by the time his probate settled, she signed her name on those documents as Mrs. Carrie Cook as well. In 1924, shortly before her death, she is listed in the Portland, Oregon City Directory as Mrs. Carrie Cook. Her death certificate from Oregon State also spells her name Cook. Going forward, only her two eldest step-sons who remained in Redwood Falls, Minnesota through death retained the original spelling, but everyone who migrated to Washington State and into Oregon changed to Cook.
Caroline had several more siblings than are currently listed and linked below. Their burial places have not all yet been found, but will be be linked as soon as they are. Research continues and please feel free to contact this contributor if you know the burial places of any not listed.
BIRTH CHRISTENING RECORD:
The following record was found by a local Plymouth, Wisconsin research volunteer who was seeking records on behalf of a Geist descendant. Here is an excerpt of the email forwarded on in 2014, it reads as follows:
There is a small cemetery on land where the Fricke’s may have lived. The German Methodist Episcopal Church had a “mother” church in Sheboygan where the pastor would live and preach, and there were 3 little churches with cemeteries on the circuit. The pastor visited them whenever possible, did baptisms, marriages, and funerals. All these events were listed in a book that the pastor kept. The land where this cemetery and church existed was the “Plymouth” church. It reads as follows:
On page 151-2, #11: Wilhelmine Caroline born Sept. 10, 1862, baptized Dec. 25, 1862, by Rev. C. Schulz. Daughter of Heinrich Geist, born Herzogthum, Nassau, and Amalia Fricke born Konig, Preusen. There is a notation after Amalia, translated “unmarried”.
NOTE: The following are transcribed texts of two obituary news clippings provided by Kuck/Maillie descendants in 2015. It is known that after her husbands death she started using the spelling of Cook. The first directly below is presumed to have appeared in a Castle Rock, WA. newspaper as it states Caroline spent time with daughter Mrs. William Robert Maillie (Maude Adell) who lived there. The second clipping probably appeared in a local Trommald, Minnesota newspaper as it references Caroline's sister Louisa McCoy. Note that the first obit, only lists her biological children's names.
Obituary #1. Presumed printed in a Castle Rock, Washington area newspaper.
Death of Mrs. Caroline Cook - printed Monday Feb. 10, 1925
Mrs. W.R. Maillie returned home from Portland Sunday, where she had been called by the sad summons of the serious illness and death of her mother, Mrs. Caroline Cook, which occurred about two weeks ago. Mrs Maillie reached her mother's bedside just before she passed away. Even at that late hour her mother was interested, as she always was in the welfare of others and inquired about the friends she had made at Castle Rock when staying with Mrs. Maillie, also was solicitous about the little children.
Mrs. Caroline Cook was born at Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and spent her girlhood days at Rochester, Minnesota. She was married to Mr. Cook, who passed away thirteen years ago, at Renville, Minnesota, and has made her home with her daughter at Portland and Mrs. Maillie at Castle Rock and was expecting to be here in a few days when death came to her,Sunday, February 1, 1925. She was the mother of eight children and five step-children. Those of her children who remain to mourn the loss of their best earthly friend are Ernest and Herbert Cook and Mrs. E.L. Johnston of Portland; Mrs.Crosby of Spokane, and Mrs. Maillie of Castle Rock.
Funeral services were held at the Snook & Whealden undertaking chapel at Portland and the body taken to Spokane for burial.
(Edit Note: The above sentence mentions incorrectly that her husband had passed away in Renville, Minnesota when in fact Henry Kuck died in Reardan, Lincoln County, Washington in 1912.)
Obituary #2 Source Unknown, Trommald, Minn. appeared near the home of sister Mrs. O. A. McCoy (Louisa Theresa)of which Caroline had been staying with and living near for a time before her Portland death, so apparently the local newspaper included mention of her death. It reads as follows:
Mrs. Cook Has Gone Beyond.
Mrs. O.A. McCoy received a message last Monday bearing the sad news from Portland, Oregon that her sister, Mrs. Carrie Cook, had passed away. At this writing no further particulars have been received, but the supposition is that her death was a result of heart trouble from which she had been a sufferer for some time.
Mrs. Cook was well known here, having spent about one year in Trommald, and for a time had apartments in the building now occupied by Mr. & Mrs. Ed Rale and family. She left here for the West about two years ago, and had been making her home with her daughters who reside near Portland. Since going out west it had been said that her health was unusually good, and her sudden demise was not only a shock to her sister, Mrs. McCoy, but to her many friends here. She will long be remembered in Trommald on account of her many kindly deeds. Her gentle pleasing manner and cheerful disposition won for her the friendship and high esteem of all who knew her.
The Times extends to the bereaved ones its sincere sympathy.
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A special "Thanks" to all the Geist, Maillie, Pratt & Sell descendants who provided information and photos.
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