Michael Schiele, Republican candidate for Trustee of Harrison township, has few equals in Clay county, all things considered. He is honorable, liberal, well qualified, and always has a kind word for every one he meets. In fact, there can be nothing truthfully urged against him.
“Town and Neighborhood,” Clay City Reporter (Clay City, Indiana), 14 March 1890, p. 3, col. 1.
CLAY CITY
Mrs. C. E. Fesler accompanied her aunt Mrs. Mills to Brazil last Monday – F. A. Horner, Eli Coopridger, D.W. David and Mr. Sedgwick went to the Capital on court business last Monday – Counterfeit silver coins are said to be numerously circulated in this community – Mrs. Nellie Bagott accompanied by her little daughter went to Brazil Monday – Daniel Kambler, an old citizen and for many years a resident of this township, died last lweek at the home of his sone in Wayne county, Illinois – John Schiele, of Olney, Illinois, has been visiting his brother Michael Schiele – Will Schultz thinks of relocating on Eel river, having an eye to the Connely farm – Last Sunday, two youths of this locality found a stranger lying by the railroad tracks, supposed to have been drunk, who proceeded to rifle the helpless man’s pockets. It was a bold, dastardly trick, and the young men were recognized by a lady who will identify them when the occasion demands.
“Clay City,” Brazil Democrat (Brazil, Indiana), 24 October 1889, p. 8, col. 2.
“John Schiele, of Olney, Illinois, has been visiting his brother Michael Schiele.” – It is only one sentence but it finally confirmed a relationship that has long been suspected. Both men were born in Germany, and died before death certificates were mandatory. Two census enumerations gave evidence to a possible relationship, but not definitive proof. In 1860, John was living in Michael’s household in Wadsworth, Medina County, Ohio. Since the early census records did not include relationships among household members, these relationships can only be inferred. Michael later moved to Clay County, Indiana, where he appeared on the 1870 census. John was no longer a member of Michael’s household, but he too had made the journey from Ohio and was living in the same Clay County township.
Now that it is known that John and Michael were in fact brothers, perhaps more evidence revealing their family origins in Germany may be not too far behind.
©2013 copyright owned and written by Deborah Sweeney
Post originally found at: https://genealogylady.net/2013/11/12/a-brother-visits/
The neighbors and friends of uncle Michael Schiele, to the number of 117, assembled last Sunday at the residence of that sturdy old farmer citizen, near this city, and gave him a genuine surprise dinner on the occasion of his 60th anniversary.
“Clay City,” Brazil Democrat (Brazil, Indiana), 5 November 1891, p. 2, col. 2.
Terre Haute Tribune, 14 February 1922, p. 2
MRS. ELIZABETH SCHIELE
By Special Correspondent
CLAY CITY, Ind., Feb. 14 – Mrs. Elizabeth Schiele, aged 78 years, died very suddenly of heart disease, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. John Yeagerlehner, near Clay City. The deceased was a widow of the late Michael Schiele, a prominent farmer of Harrison township for many years. She is survived by two sons and three daughters, Sylvester of Chicago; Reuben of Clay City; Mrs. John Schwartz of Barrington, Ill.; Mrs. Dina McQuery and Mrs. Lavina Yeagerlehner of Clay City. There also survives two brothers and a sister, Rev. Wm. Kriedler of Coal City; Joseph Kriedler of Illinois, and Mrs. Sarah Comstock of Ohio. The funeral will be held Wednesday afternoon. Interment in Greenwell Cemetery.
Elizabeth with her daughter Nancy, Mae & Jack Fouts (Image courtesy of Jane Riley)
Elizabeth was the daughter of Isaac and Anna (Haldeman) Krieble. She was born on 3 April 1844 in Pennsylvania, possibly in Worcester Township, Montgomery County. She was the tenth of thirteen children. Within the next few years, the family moved to Montville in Medina County, Ohio. By 1860, the family moved again, this time settling in Owen County, Indiana. Elizabeth had a relationship with a man named James McCoy, whether as a married couple or not is unknown. Elizabeth gave birth to her daughter Nancy on 16 April 1866. Ten months later, Elizabeth became the second wife of Michael Schiele. Michael and Elizabeth were the parents of eight children: William, Sylvester, Doretta, Susan, Lovina, Nathan, Andrew and Charles. Michael died in 1897, leaving Elizabeth a widow for almost 25 years. They are buried together at Greenwell Cemetery, Harrison Township, Clay County, Indiana.
Photograph courtesy of John C. Monk
©2013 copyright owned and written by Deborah Sweeney
Post originally found at: https://genealogylady.net/2013/10/26/sundays-obitua…rieble-schiele/
Everyone’s family history can be thrilling. There are skeletons in most family closets. Roscoe and Gladys, like most people, had theirs as well. Several babies were born out of wedlock, an uncle became a counterfeiter, another aunt was locked away in the state mental hospital, several people divorced, and various scandals abounded. As the family researcher, I have found many of them, but I am sure I have not found all of them yet. One very interesting story makes a good post for Thrilling Thursday.
Nancy with her first husband, Theodore Walker, circa 1888 (Image courtesy of Jane Riley)
Nancy Mae McCoy Schiele was the oldest daughter of Elizabeth (Krieble) Schiele. Nancy later adopted the surname of her stepfather Michael Schiele. Rumor has it that she was Elizabeth’s illegitimate daughter, born eleven months prior to Elizabeth’s marriage to Michael, although Michael was not likely the father. Michael’s first wife gave birth to twins girls two months after Nancy was born. Mary Schiele died in childbirth along with one of the babies. According to legend, the father is believed to be James McCoy. No record of this man has been found thus far. Neither has a marriage record been found in either Clay or Owen counties. Now, it may be possible that Elizabeth and James were married, but the record has been lost. Nancy was conceived in the summer of 1865 after the Civil War had officially ended. Much like the years preceding her birth, Nancy’s life was filled with turmoil. One of my father’s cousins, a son of Clarence Yegerlehner, wrote to me in 1995, “My Dad says that Nancy must have been quite a person – especially for those days – she was married 2 or 3 times (for that time, I’m sure considered rather immoral.) One of the men she went with wanted to marry her – she refused – and he took a gun and shot her – I don’t think he killed her – merely wounded her.”[1] This was the first reference to the shooting that I had come across.
Later I found a write-up in the History of Clay County by William Travis.[2]
I hadn’t thought about this story much until recently when I became connected with some of Nancy’s descendants. I started to do a little more digging. This month I found a couple contemporary newspaper clippings about the incident.
Brazil Register, 28 February 1884
A TRAGEDY
A Young German Near Clay City, Shoots His Sweet-Heart and Himself
CLAY CITY, Ind., February 25. – Yesterday about 11 o’clock a terrible tragedy was enacted one mile of north of town. Louis Oberndorfer, a young German, shot Nancy Schiele twice, the balls going through her arms and lodging under her shoulder blades. He then fired two balls into his own breast, then followed the girl down stairs and tried to shoot her as she ran toward the stable. Failing in this he went up stairs and shot himself again in the bowels, the ball lodging in the back near the spine. It seems that Oberdorfer had wanted to marry the girl, and had been refused yesterday; in the absence of the girl’s parents he procured a revolver with the intention of ending her life if she refused him again, and the above was the result. It is thought the girl is not dangerously hurt, but the young man is thought to be fatally wounded. At last accounts they were both resting tolerably easy. (Brazil Register, 28 February 1884, p. 1, col. 5.)
Because the event was so tragic and amazing, multiple papers in the region wrote about it.
Attempted Murder and Suicide
CLAY CITY, Feb. 25th, 1884
In a fit of madness yesterday, about 10 o’clock, Louis Oberdorfer attempted to murder Miss Nancy Schiele for refusing to marry him, by shooting her twice, one shot each entering under each arm and lodging under the shoulder blades. She, with the assistance of young sister, eight years old, succeeded in escaping from him, when he shot himself three times, one shot entering his right breast, another the left breast, and another passed through the stomach. His wounds are considered mortal, while Miss Shiele is seriously wounded, but not considered fatally by her physicians, although she will probably be a cripple for life.
Oberdorfer is a young German, 23 years old, has been in this country 18 months, and for the past six months has made his home at Mr. Michael Schiele’s house, who is one of our most prosperous German farmers, living one mile north of town.
The sad affair created great excitement as all parties were highly respected and such results were never thought of. The young lady is unable to lie down, but is resting easy as possible in a sitting position. Mr. Oberdorfer is provided with a comfortable room and bed in the house of Mr. Schiele, and at the last reports this morning was still alive, receiving good attention from the family and his friends. At the time of the shooting Mr. Schiele and the rest of the family were away from home with the exception of Miss Nancy and two younger sisters and Mr. Oberdorfer. (Clay County Enterprise (Brazil, Indiana), 27 February, 1884)
Two details from this article jumped out at me. The first is that after Oberdorfer shot his daughter, Mr. Schiele allowed Louis Oberdorfer to remain in the household. The second is that this article mentions that two younger daughters were also home at the time. The eight year old was Lovina, my great grandmother and Roscoe’s mother.
And just in case, you thought the story was over….it does have a tragic ending, at least for Louis.
Louis Oberdorffer, the attempted murderer and suicide, was removed from the residence of Mr. Schiele, last Thursday afternoon, to town. It was hard to convince him that the number of men who went to assist in his removal was not a mob wanting his life. He seemed to continually grow better until Sunday forenoon, when he suddenly began sinking and died about 12:30 o’clock, having lived probably two hours over a week from the time of the shooting. He was buried on Monday.
©2013 copyright owned and written by Deborah Sweeney
[1] Duane Yegerlehner (Indianapolis, Indiana) to Deborah Sweeney, letter, 30 October 1995; privately held by Deborah Sweeney, Elk Grove, California, 2013.
[2] Travis, William, A history of Clay County, Indiana : closing of the first century’s history of the county, and showing the growth of its people, institutions, industries and wealth (New York: Lewis Publishing Company, 1909), 484-485.
My grandfather’s middle name was Schiele. It was a common custom in the past to saddle a child with the maiden name of its mother as a middle name. My grandfather was the “lucky” child in the family who got Schiele as his middle name. Have I mentioned that my grandfather hated his name and preferred to be called “Jake”? My grandparents continued the tradition and gave my grandmother’s maiden name to my uncle John, hence John Foster Yegerlehner. I hope my uncle didn’t dislike his middle name as much as his father detested his.
Regardless, Schiele was the surname of my grandfather’s maternal grandmother. Schiele is German. My family always pronounced the name Shē – lē. Two syllables, both with long e. I have seen it spelled phonetically as Sheely in old census records and on Michael’s naturalization papers. I don’t really know what the name means or where exactly my Schiele family comes from in Germany. I found one definition for Schiele that is quite funny (or tragic) “one who was crippled; one who squinted.”¹ I picture some near-sighted Germans wandering about the forest, running into stuff. If you can’t see very well, I am sure you could very easily cripple yourself, walking into things.
Naturalization paper for Michael Schiele, Clay county, Indiana, 1866
All humor aside, my great, great grandfather Michael Schiele is a bit of an enigma to me. In many ways, he is one of my earliest and most prolonged brick walls. Why? He is from Germany. His branch is one of the most recent branches of my family to land on North American soil and therefore, more difficult for me to trace. Until recently, there have not been many German records available to search, either in a library or online, and they are usually in German. I have always wished that I knew how to read German, especially when one wants to read old German records. Michael also did me the disservice of dying before 1900. So no death record! And so far, I haven’t been able to locate an obituary either. He did leave two biographies in Clay county history books which have provided me with a wealth of clues and some bread crumbs.
In The History of Clay County, Indiana by William Travis (1909), there is a very nice biographical sketch of Michael within the write up of his son, Reuben Jacob Schiele. In addition, the book’s section “Memoirs of leading and familiar home people” includes a separate biography just for Michael. These biographies are written after Michael’s death and they provide a lot of good information which I have mostly verified. Travis gives Michael’s birthplace as Wittenberg, Germany. Wittenberg is a city located in the Saxony area of Germany. The only problem is that other sources give Michael’s nativity as Württemberg which is located in the area now known as Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. These two cities are nowhere near one another and I have been told that there are also multiple locations that have used these names in the past. Some even better and more tantalizing clues are in Charles Blanchard’s Counties of Clay and Owen, Indiana (1884). This biography gives information on Michael’s parents. It opens with “MICHAEL SCHIELE, farmer and stock-raiser, was born, November 2, 1831, in Germany, and was the fourth child born to Michael and Mary (Smith) Schiele, both natives of Germany”. Oh woe is me! A SMITH! 
I keep hoping someday that a database will come online with German birth and marriage records that will reveal more about my Schiele family (AND that I can read in English). I do know when Michael was born and I know the names of his parents. I know all the names of his children and grandchildren. For now, that is enough.
Notes:
Wed (postmark June 24, 1942 8:30 PM)
Dear Mother-
Hope you are home all OK. We just got home and pretty tired, had a big day we had to shoot 22 platoons this A.M. and there are about 84 men to each platoon and besides that there was near 400 to examine.
I got real “writey” last night – wrote to Uncle Wes and Mom. Lentz was catching up on his writing so I thought I’d do the same.
It really got cold here last night – had to get under cover but it warmed considerable today-Didn’t get any mail from home today. Hope you stop that as soon as you get there because I don’t like to
(page 2) have to send it back.
Lentz didn’t take my white suit-it was in a paper cover and we just missed it at least that is what he said. But he did take the raincoat.
We ate at the Famous Café last night the food was OK but the service was poor had to wait about one hour. Don’t know where we will go tonight. I just go along because I don’t do the driving.
I’m unusually hungry tonight so will ring off and get some eats-
Love Daddy
©2012, copyrighted & written by Deborah Sweeney
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