Can someone help me "Jump the pond" on my brick wall

Question

I have found a possible parent connection on an ancestry tree, but have no current subscription to find or verify sources. 

Elizabeth "Mary, Lizzie" Koehler aka Kahlal 
B.)Jul 1851 in Galveston, Galveston, Texas, USA

D.) 2 Sep 1909 in Galveston, Galveston Co 

Possible parents 
Father - Johann Valentin Koehler 1826-1906
Born in Leusel bei Alsfeld, Hesse, Germany
Died inTexas

Mother-Elisabetha Kathrina Schlitt 1811-1894
Born Leusel, Hessen Germany 
Died in Texas

Comments

Do you know the county and city in Texas where each of the possible parents died?

Do you know what year each of them died and where they were buried in Texas?

---

It is possible they died in Dewitt or Galveston, Father maybe 1906  and Mother maybe in 1894.

That is the only information i could scrape without a current subscription

Answer 1

I found them in my beloved Online Heritage Books. The brother-in-law of the 1880 census (Frederick Schlitt) gave me the maiden name of Elisabeth. And then I only checked if there is an OHB for the town you need. And here it is. The German version of the main page says it has BMD-entries from Leusel of the years 1633 to 1874. This is the entry for Elisabeth Schlitt, who married Valentin Köhler. 

General information about the OHBs: Those are transcriptions of all entries that are findable in the church books about a person. So you can usually say: What is in those entries, can be confirmed by the church book, when there is no information about anything, it is probably not findable in the church books. 

Congrats, your journey to Germany is now as easy as it could possibly be. 

Edit to add: The locations given in the OHB are using the current naming, to have it historically and geographically correct, go here.

Comments

This also deserves a Best Answer star.

---

AFAIK the best answer star can be changed

---

Thank you so much for your help - this is wonderfull information!!!

Answer 2

Volentine Koehler, Head, United States Census, 1880

Household Head age 54 born Germany, wife, Elizabeth Koehler 69, born Germany, granddaughter, Elizabeth Frederick 13, born in Texas, Frederick Schlitt, brother-in-law 73 born Germany.

Volentine or Valentine's occupation is Farmer.

Comments

Thanks for the lead - where is this family unit living in 1880?

---

They were living at Precinct 1, DeWitt, Texas during the 1880 United States Census.

Answer 3

There is also an 1860 census page for this family.  It lists Elizabeth (the daughter) as 6 years old, ie, DOB 1854, and born in "Hessia D", ie, Hesse-Darmstadt.  Even knowing that I had to resort to a different search to find her on Family-Search.  I have attached the 1860 census to her page on Family-Search.  I did not create the other family members. If you think this is the right Elizabeth, you can do that.

The ancestry entry you asked about shows her parents as Johan Valentin Koehler and Elizabetha Katharina Schlitt. Valentin re-married Sophie Schorlemmer 15 Aug 1895 in DeWitt. He appears in 1860,70,80 and 1900 censuses there.  His Texas death cert shows death in Meyersville, Dewitt, Texas on 3 April 1906.

If you want full citations, let me know.

Comments

Hi Edward,

I found 2 existing profiles on Familysearch for Johan Valentin Koehler. I merged them and found all of the same records I had seen on Ancestry, plus the Texas Death Record, and added them to the profile.  It is here: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LJ5P-G9R

The existing profile had parents for Valentin, but no sources. I haven't tried to research them. Also, if you search on familysearch you will find lots of DeWitt County tax records for Valentin(e) Ko(e)hler. 

If you have more questions, let me know.