Henry Ernest Forth

Henry Ernest Forth - The Early Years

My great grandfather, Henry Ernest Forth, was a brick wall for me for many years! My grandmother had told me her father's surname wasn't really Forth and that he was from Germany. She didn't know her grandfather's name at all, just her grandmother's first name, Frederica.


A rather serendipitous event involving my cousin, Bill Forth, led me to find Henry's brother, Charles, and family records that indicated the Forth family had emigrated from Germany to Buffalo before making their way to Muskoka in Ontario, Canada.


Finally, in November 2014, I found Henry's actual emigration papers online and the brick wall crumbled.


My grandmother was certainly right about her father's last name - it wasn't Forth! Henry Ernest Forth, known as Harry to the family, was actually born Heinrich Friedrich Christian Fodt on August 4, 1862, in Lelkendorf , Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Henry was the youngest of six children born to Adolph Joachim Friedrich Christian Fodt/Vauth and Johanna Friederica Sophia Jäger/Jaeger. The surnames Forth/Foth/Fodt/Vauth/Voth have been used at various times and in various places throughout the history of our family. I will attempt to use the correct name where it fits historically. To understand the metamorphosis of the Forth family name, click here!

Life for the Fodt family cannot have been easy in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.Christian was recorded as a Knecht (farmhand) on his marriage record in 1852 and an Arbeistmann (workman) on the birth records for all of his children. With the repeal of serfdom in 1820, landowners were no longer responsible for those who worked their land. The newly-freed workers were paid very low wages and didn't necessarily have any place to live as the landowners were not required to house their workers. These people were extremely poor and had few prospects for a better future. I wonder how they even managed to save enough money in order to emigrate to America!


What motivated the Fodts to depart Mecklenburg is unknown. Perhaps it was their poverty and perhaps it was the fact they felt they had no ties left in Mecklenburg. I found death records for both of Christian’s parents, his mother, Friederica Sophia Elisabeth Struwe, in 1860, and his father, Christian Bernhard Vauth, in1862.

In 1864, the Fodt family consisted of:

Adolph Joachim Friedrich Christian Fodt, 35

Johann Carl Friedrich Fodt, 12

Friedrich Carl Johann Wilhelm Fodt, 9

Christoph Carl Ernst Ludwig Fodt, 4 

Johanna FriedericaSophia Jaeger Fodt, 37

Maria Christina Mina Fodt, 11 

Wilhelmina Johanna Sophia Fodt, 6

Heinrich Friedrich Christian Fodt, 2 

The Fodts departed Hamburg on October 24, 1864 aboard the sailing ship Deutschland, bound for New York City. Their name was recorded on the Hamburg Passenger List as Foth rather than Fodt. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to travel with such a young family in the area known as steerage or between decks on a sailing ship. It would have been crowded, noisy, smelly and disease-ridden. Weather in October and November in the North Atlantic is generally quite stormy and only the really hardy and desperate would have crossed at that time of year. Seasickness was rampant and diseases such as cholera and typhoid fever were common on the ships.  

On November 29, 1864, the Foths arrived at Castle Garden Immigration Centre on the lower end of Manhatten Island . According to the immigration record, all family members were accounted for when they arrived. What happened to the family after they arrived is uncertain. Friederica appeared in the 1869 Buffalo City Directory as Mrs. Frederika (sic) Foth, widow, living at 229 Mulberry Street. City directories are usually prepared a year in advance, so it is likely that Friederica was actually living in Buffalo in 1868. Somewhere between the end of November 1864 and 1868, Christian had died. Whether he died of disease or calamity is unknown. There is no way of knowing whether Christian even made it to Buffalo or why the family ended up in Buffalo. I located an emigration record for Friederica's brother, Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Jaeger. He and his family emigrated to Buffalo in 1863. It seems logical that the Fodts followed family to Buffalo. I believe Christian's daughter, Wilhelmina, also died before 1870.

Friederica has been spelled many different ways throughout various records - Fredericka, Frederica, Fredereca, Friederike, Frederike and she was also known as Rica and Rike. I have chosen to keep the spelling consistent with earliest record, which is Friederica, whenever possible.

Five children and Friederica were confirmed in Trinity Old Evangelical Lutheran Church in Buffalo. The fact that Wilhelmina does not appear in the confirmation book adds support to the supposition that she had died before being confirmed. Friederica had already been confirmed in the parish church of Schorrentin, in Mecklenburg, so I don't know why she was confirmed again. Everyone in the Fodt/Foth family had been baptized in the Schorrentin church.


According to the Evangelical Lutheran Church record for the parish of Trinity Old in Buffalo, Friederika (sic) Johanna Sophia Foth married Friedrich Carl Johann Kaÿser on May 10, 1870. Friedrich was a mason from Sarmstorf, a village in the same parish where the Fodt family attended church. I have reason to believe Friedrich and Friederica may actually have been cousins as Friederica’s maternal grandfather, Joachim Diederich Sählof, had married a Sophia Elisabeth Dorothea Kaÿser in 1793 in the Schorrentin parish church. Friedrich emigrated to Buffalo about 1853 with his first wife, Johanna Maria Magdalena Christiana Wulbrandt, also known as Marie Wollbrand, and their son, Johann. Another son, William, was born about 1854 in Buffalo, as were their two daughters, Sophia Elisabeth and Caroline. 


The 1870 US Federal Census for Buffalo listed a Frederick Kaiser, a stone mason, age 50, married to Frederike Kaiser, age 43. Fred was listed as a widower and Friederica was listed as a widow. Children listed included Sophia Kaiser, age 12, Ernst Kaiser, age 10, Henry Kaiser, age 7 and Caroline Kaiser, age 5. The three elder children were attending school and the youngest, Caroline, was still at home. Sons Charles, age 18, and Frederick, age 15, did not appear on this census record and I have not yet located them on any other 1870 census record. 


Also missing on this census were Friederica’s two daughters, Mina and Wilhelmina. Mina would have been 17 and could have been working, likely as a servant somewhere, or could have been married by this time. Wilhelmina would only have been 12 so it has been inferred that she had died before 1870. Although one of Wilhelmina's middle names was Sophia, I know that the Sophia listed on the census was the daughter of Frederick Kaiser as she was on the 1865 New York State Census with Frederick and her death record indicated her parents were Frederick Kaiser and Marie Wollbrand. On the 1900 census record, Friederica stated that she had borne 6 children, 5 of whom were still living, so it makes the most sense that Wilhelmina had died young. 

On the 1880 US Federal Census for Buffalo, Fred Kaiser, age 60 was recorded as married to Fredereca (sic) Kaiser, age 53 and the family lived at 255 Maple Street. Children listed included Sophia Kaiser, age 22 and Carrie Kaiser, age 15 as well as two step-sons, Earnst (sic) Fort, age 20 and Henry Fort, age 18. The transcription says Fort but the actual record looks as though it says Foot. Fred was listed as a plasterer, the girls "at servace" (sic), Ernst a teamster and Henry a farm laborer. 


The 1900 US Federal Census for Buffalo listed a Frederick Kayser (transcribed incorrectly as Kayler), age 80 and a Fredericka (sic) Kayser, age 72, living in a rental house at 306 Peach St. The 1905 New York State Census listed Friederica only as living with her son, Fred C. Foth, and wife Agusta (sic) at 174 Rose Street.


Friederica was listed in the 1904, 1905 and 1911 US City Directories for Buffalo. In the 1904 directory she was listed simply as Mrs. Fredericka Kaiser at 62 Cayuga, but in 1905 was listed as Fredericka, widow of Frederick Kaiser at 277 Cherry Street (son Ernest was also living at 277 Cherry Street in 1905) and in 1911 she was listed as widow of Frederick at 40 Kilhofer (sic) Street. The 1910 US Federal Census for Buffalo listed a widowed Fredericka Kaiser, age 82, living with her son, Frederick Voth (sic), and his family (wife Augusta and daughter Florence, transcribed incorrectly as Florina) at 40 Kilhoffer Street.   


What makes the records of 1905 and 1910 interesting is that I have found another 1910 US Federal Census record for Frederick Kaiser living in Cleveland, Ohio, with his widowed daughter Sophia Baehr. Frederick stated that he was married for the second time and had been in that marriage for 40 years. This would be correct as he had married Friederica in May of 1870. I suppose the question to be asked is why did Friederica record her status as a widow when her husband was still alive?


I found several different newspaper articles regarding Frederick Kaiser and it appears that he was a man of questionable character. On September 13, 1873, the Buffalo Courier recorded that Frederick Kaiser acknowledged that he had maltreated his wife, Frederica (sic), and was fined five dollars. The next year, the Courier reported that the Superior Court had fined Frederick Kaiser one hundred dollars on February 21, 1874 for cruelty to animals. And later that year, on October 21, 1874, Frederick Kaiser was “mulcted to the tune of ten dollars for an assault and battery on Henry Johnson”.  These articles suggest a man with a terrible temper and certainly may provide a reason why Friederica recorded herself as widowed when she was merely separated. It was not uncommon, at this time, for women to refer to themselves as widowed if their husbands had left them. The articles also indicate the extremely low value of women at this time in history. Fred's fine for maltreating his wife was half that of the assault on a man and one twentieth of the fine for an assault on an animal!

Frederick Kaiser died December 2, 1912 in Cleveland, Ohio. On his death record, he was recorded as a widower which, by that time, he was. Friedericke (sic) Kaiser had died November 3, 1911 at 40 Kilhoffer Street, Buffalo, from lobar pneumonia. She was recorded as a widow. Her father was recorded as Christian Kaiser and no information on her mother was given. According to my research, her father was Johann Christian Jaeger, who may well have gone by the name Christian. Kaiser was certainly not her maiden name, but the informant likely had no real information about her family. The informant was her daughter-in-law, Augusta Schultz Foth.

So just how did Heinrich Friedrich Christian Foth become Henry Ernest Forth? As stated earlier, there are few records for Henry in New York. His brother, Carl, joined the army and his life can be followed somewhat through US Army records before he emigrated to Muskoka as Charles Forth. Brothers Frederick Foth and Ernest Foth, as well as sister Mina Foth, remained in Buffalo.

My belief is that Henry emigrated to Canada either with his elder brother, Charles, around 1882 or perhaps a little later around 1885. As his brother used the name Charles Forth, it would likely follow that Henry would use the same surname and so it is reasonable to assume that he took the surname Forth when he emigrated to Canada. As to why he used the middle name of Ernest, who knows? He may have wanted to remember his brother Ernest by using his name. I have found no official document for Henry that records Henry Ernest as his name, but my grandmother said that was her father's name. On the death record for Lucy Scott Forth, she was listed as Mrs. H. E. Forth. In the World War II War Memorial Book in Ottawa, Sergeant Roy Kitchener Forth's parents are listed as Henry Ernest and Lucy Ellen Forth.  
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