The Wolf and Taphorn Families

The Wolf Family

Henry Wolf

My mother's ancestors came from Germany. Her father's name was Henry Wolf, and her mother was Anna Taphorn. Henry's parents were Joseph Heinrich Wolf and Franzisca Brüegge. Henry worked for his father in his dairy business, which was located a little north of Mt. Healthy, Ohio.

Henry Wolf died as a result of the influenza epidemic that swept the country in 1918-19. His mother died of influenza the following year. I read that this was one of the most devastating epidemics the country has experienced. It killed at least 21 million people worldwide, possibly as many as 50 million, and killed 700,000 people in the U. S. (2-3% of the population). A quarter of the U. S. population had the flu during this pandemic.
Source: Paul Recer, Associated Press, 3/21/97

The Taphorn Family

Anna Taphorn

Anna's parents were Heinrich Taphorn and Maria Feldhaus, who married on May 1, 1866 in Cincinnati at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church. He was born in Damme, Oldenburg Province, in northern Germany on May 1, 1841. He was six feet tall, had blue eyes, brown hair, a ruddy complexion, and weighed 245 pounds in his later years. Heinrich emigrated on the ship Schiller from Bremen to Baltimore, arriving on October 26, 1860, and worked as a teamster in Cincinnati. He served in the Civil War in Company A, 4th Regiment, Ohio Cavalry Volunteers from September 8, 1862 to June 24, 1865. Following the war, he continued to work as a teamster until failing health forced his retirement.

After Henry Wolf died, Anna married John Fritz. They had one daughter, and raised the children of Henry and Anna until their maturity.

Note: I read in Angus Baxter's book In Search of Your German Roots that boys were sometimes given first names in honor of a grandfather or other relative, but that these names were never actually used. The middle name was the one that would be used in addressing them. The Wolf family has two examples of that practice. Joseph Henry Wolf and his son John Henry Wolf both went by their middle names, although in one Census return the name Joseph was used instead of Henry.

This file was last updated on 7/14/2004.