I think the most significant is the 1860 Census of Butler Township.. Apparently the village of Gordon. Here’s the Shultz Family as they are listed.



Shultz, Valentine 47 (1813) Prussia

Mary 46 (1814) Prussia

Mary 17 1843 Prussia

John 15 1845 Prussia

*Suzanne 12 1848 Prussia

Mathias 11 1849 Prussia

Catherine 6 1854 PA

Barbara 2 1858 PA



By 1870 Census we see Valentine is dead and most of the children have died, married, or moved on. There are two new kids with widowed mother Mary in that next census. I’m confident it is the same family because they have a lot of the same neighbors as in 1860 and Gordon is a tiny village. So, they are in the same house as the decade earlier.



I had still expected to see the 2 year old Barbara, now 12, with the mom, but she could have died. Catherine already as a 16 year old would be out working as a live-in domestic…if not already married. Son, Mathias we will see has married a Lizzie, and Suzanne is with your Evan Thomas. John not noted anywhere in the county, and Mary is probably under a married name that we have no way of discovering unless we get lucky.



Here’s the much smaller family in Gordon, Butler Township, Schuylkill, PA of 1870



Shultz, Mary 52 Prussia

Peter 9 PA

Christiana 6 PA





Now some analysis.



I found death records for Valentine in 2 separate places …



1.) Records of St. Joseph/St. Mauritius (German) Cemetery Tombstone Transcription

Scholtes, Valentine b. 1818, d. 1863 (I made a copy for you)



2.) Deaths from the Pottsville Miner’s Journal. (Newspaper)

Schultze, Valentine, 46 Butler Twp., died 5- 20 – 1864 native of Germany.



Note his last child is born the year of the death… it falls logically that we see no younger children than this… can’t have any more once you’ve died. So it helps lock in the 1870 census family as his. Also his age in 1864 (46) …and more over wife Mary’s age would also prohibit further children. Seems they pushed the limits of child bearing years.



Daughter Susan’s marriage to Evan Thomas Jones fits pretty neatly into the chronology. She marries 18 Feb 1868…4 years after he father’s death… so she helps her mother a few years, then marries….and therefore not in this 1870 census with Schultz family. Still cannot locate her and Evan in 1870…hiding from census takers.. I’ve scanned the entire USA for hours. No luck.



Additionally, Susan’s obit mentions she was “of Fountain Springs” “prior to her marriage”, and that is even more in the proximity of Gordon/Butler Township than saying Ashland. Upon marriage she seems to reside in William Penn, Girardville, and Centralia.



This is the only possible Schultz family to possibly match up. The dozen or so other families with the name just don’t align. I’ve eyeballed them all very closely, and they cannot fit. So despite the enigmatic “Mother’s name Emma” on Susan’s death record… I feel this is truly her parents and family.



Realize that the informant, daughter Lizzie Jones Kerr could not name Valentine by first name, did get the Shultz and then had “Emma” recorded on what should be Susan’s maiden name. Line for her first name was left blank.. so I sense confusion.. or she just did not know.



Back to the Schultes family…



The youngest Schultz girl, Christina also can be traced a bit. I find a matching marriage license to her year of birth and other known data. I have a copy for you. She marries a John Reichwein who is 25, residing in Butler Twp. Christine Schultz was born 7-5-1863 and resides in Ashland, and by occupation a servent. Marriage July 27, 1887 by R. A. Watta?



In 1880 census… I locate both the unmarried Christine and the brother Matthew.



Christie Schultz is 17 and a servent in Mahanoy City (down the road)

She is with the Wadlington Family. She is born PA, father Prussia, Mother Bavaria.



Schultz, Mathew 26… PA, Prussia, Prussia

Lizzie 21 Prussia, Prussia, Prussia.



After 1880 Christie Schultz Reichwein as well as he spouse John seem to disappear... of course 1890 has no census and by 1900 anything could have happened.. his death, her remarriage???



Matthew we do have a record. He dies and is buried in the same cemetery as his father Valentine.





* Records of St. Joseph/St. Mauritius (German) Cemetery Tombstone Transcription

Mathias Shultes geb. 12.26.1850 gest. 5.28.1887 36 years, 5 months, 2 days



*************