Carl Ruthz a.k.a. Carl Rutz a.k.a. Charles Rutz

Carl Ruthz
aka
Carl Rutz
aka
Charles Franklin Rutz

December 7, 1820 - January 30, 1912

Emigrated from Charbrow, Pomerania (German: Provinz Pommern) a province of the Kingdom of Prussia (now Charbrowo, Poland)

He Identified Himself as German

Per a 1842 newspaper article:
Before 1834 he had worked in Darmstadt, Germany
Carl Ruthz was in Frankfurt in 1833 at the time of the "1833 Frankfort Student Revolution"
He worked from 1834 through 1839 for an employer in Strasbourg, France and Colmar, France
In 1839 he was extradited from France to Germany on Hessian government false charges

updates:
July 7, 2022 - added information about Carl Ruthz during 1834 to 1838 to page title.
February 22, 2019 - Added section about Carl Ruthz and Charles Ruthz newspaper articles
May 17, 2018 - Possible Carl Ruthz (aka Charles Rutz) sister added to owen-rutz.us/rutz_genealogy/Carl_Ruthz.htm: Carolina Rutz/Ruetz/Ruhtz, born in 1832 in Pomerania
October 10, 2017 - updated owen-rutz.us/rutz_genealogy/Name_Analysis.htm with newspaper example of Ruthz
October 16, 2016 - added photo of Augusta Kielmann - source and date unknown
October 16, 2016 - added Augusta Kielmann obituary from Hermanner Volksblatt newspaper - May 28, 1915
June 4, 2014 - added satellite photo of grave location for Auguste Rutz and picture of grave's headstone
June 4, 2014 - added satellite photo of grave location for Caroline Ruthz
February 09,2014 - Added the date 9/6/1854 that the Aeolus left Bremen Germany
August 19,2013 - Added pictures from John Hoffmann's trip to Charbrow
April 21, 2012 - The Rutz and Ruthz derivation from Hroş and Hroşz web page is updated
August 06, 2010 - added Phyllis Gross paper. Updated 8/11/2010
February 05, 2010 - added notes about Herbert Papstein's efforts to conserve east German (e.g. Pomerania) historical information
February 05, 2010 - noted 51 days Aeolus took for Bremen to New Orleans trip
November 29, 2009 - updated the "analyzing the names" page.
November 29, 2009 - added a copy of a post regarding Rutz's originating from Pomerania.
November 29, 2009 - added notes about how the 1890 US census was destroyed by fire.
August 10, 2009 - replaced the page about the 1848 German Revolution with a page on German Immigration.
August 07, 2009 - added link to US citizenship application
August 06, 2009 - added Caroline Rutz 1827 - 1854 page with death info from Gasconade County Historical Society
August 06, 2009 - added line on main page for Caroline Rutz 1827-1854 3rd child who died at approximately age 2 weeks
August 06, 2009 - updated the family tree to version 4 with latest updates (Infant Rutz 1854-1854)
July 17, 2009 - added 1860 US Census for Auguste Rutz, adoptive mother's name
July 17, 2009 - added birth dates for Auguste's children from 1910 US Census and 7th child
July 16, 2009 - updated the family tree to version 3 with latest updates (Carl Friedrich Kielmann, Maria Martha Malvina Kielmann, etc.)
July 16, 2009 - added a page for Maria Martha Malvina Kielmann
July 15, 2009 - put Augusta's place of birth (Pomeron) on the main page
July 15, 2009 - added a page for Carl Friedrich Kielmann (because his birth certificate lists Augusta's place of birth as Pomeron)
July 11, 2009 - new Civil War info added to main page
July 11, 2009 - added John's email on how to pronounce Rutz to the "name analysis" page
July 10, 2009 - added John's email to the "name analysis" page
July 09, 2009 - rephrased language about the incorrect ages given on the 1860 US census
July 09, 2009 - more ramblings on the names-analysis page.
July 08, 2009 - formatted first page into centered table
July 07, 2009 - added Civil War information and corrected family tree data
July 06, 2009 - added family tree data
July 05, 2009 - corrected William Rutz's wife's and children's names
July 04, 2009 - added Augusta Rutz web page
July 03, 2009 - updated the Charles Rutz Farm page June 07, 2009 - website created

The Charles Rutz Family Tree

Carl Ruthz is the name that was written on the passenger list of the Aeolus in 1854.
(the "h" in Ruthz is a rare form of the name - the more common form being Rutz without the h)
After he immigrated to the United States, he used the name Charles Franklin Rutz.
Born: December 7, 1820, in German Bohemia (per the 1910 US census).
Last place of residence in Europe: Charbrow, Pomeron
Died: January 30, 1912, Crawford County, Missouri
Buried: Oak Hill, Missouri
Last Residence: On his farm located between Owensville, Missouri and Cuba, Missouri

Here are some thoughts about the names: Analyzing the names

Father: unknown
Mother: unknown

Wife #1:
Caroline Ruthz
Caroline Ruthz's maiden name is unknown.
born: 1827 (per Aeolus passenger list) in Germany?
died: December 3, 1854 (after they had arrived at New Orleans on November 14, 1854).
married: to Carl Ruthz around 1846-1847 (assuming Wilhelm was born about a year after they were married).

Chidren:

Son:
Wilhelm Ruthz (aka William Rutz )
born: January 15, 1848, in German Bohemia (per the 1910 US Census)
died: January 30, 1920
Married June 7, 1874 to Caroline E. Baumbach (b: March 21, 1853 or 1854)
5 sons and 1 daughter
Charles F. b: abt.1875
Elizabeth b: abt.1877
John W. b: Jan 1883
Henry E. b: Jun 1884
Lewis (Louie) F. b: Mar 1890
Walter L. b: Jul 1894

Daughter:
Auguste Ruthz (aka Augusta Hermine Rutz-Sengenberger-Kielmann
Born: June 11, 1850 in Pomeron
Died: May 23, 1915
Married: October 7, 1872 in Gasconade Co., Missouri to
Friedrick Louis Kielmann (b: June 10, 1845 in St. Louis, Missouri)
Children:
John William
F. Louis
Augusta D., b. July 1878
L. Amelia, b. September 1879
Julia, b. July 182
Maria Martha Malvina Kielmann b. May 26, 1886, Gasconade County
George, b. July 1882
Carl Friedrick b. March 11, 1891, Gasconade County

Infant:
born: unknown
died: December 17, 1854 (2 weeks after its mother Caroline had died).

Sister (perhaps? - being researched)
Carolina Rutz b.1832 was 12 years younger that Carl Ruthz and lived 19km away when she was having children
23andMe DNA matches suggest Carl Ruthz b.1820 and Carolina Rutz b.1832 where brother/sister
From: Kurt Denke
Hello, Owen.
I saw your name among my husband's (Kurt Denke) DNA matches and your surname stood out.
Kurt's 2nd great grandmother was Carolina Rutz (or Ruetz, or Ruhtz), born in 1832 in Pomerania.
We don't have a birth record for her, but her children were born in Sassin (now Sasino, Poland) near the Baltic coast.
The parish was called Ossecken.
She later immigrated to Wisconsin.
Do you happen to know where your Rutz ancestors originated?
Kurt's tree is here: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/82846599/family/pedigree?cfpid=48468428857&selnode=1
If it won't display for you, I can send you an 'invitation' by email.
Thanks!
Pam

Sailed from Bremen Germany on September 6, 1854 to New Orleans, Louisiana on the ship Bremen bark AEOLUS
Arrived in New Orleans on November 14, 1854.
The November 14, 1854 Aeolus Passenger List
See lines 162 through 165 on Page 5
Carl Ruthz lists Charbrow as their origin before they emigrated.

I assume Charbrow is Charbrow, Pomerania .
The birth certificate of Augusta's 8th child (Carl Friedrick Kielmann) lists Pomeron as Augusta's place of birth.
I don't know how long the Carl Rutz family lived there. With over-population and the numerous crop failures taking place in central Europe at the time, there was a lot of moving around.
But, because Augusta was 4 years old, they must have lived there at least that long.

Oil painting and information about The Bremen bark AEOLUS

German Immigration to the U.S.

The definitive history of Hermann Missouri

Wife #2: Mary Ann Reed b: 1835 in Morgan Co., Indiana
Married: 26 Nov. 1858 in Brush Creek, Gasconade Co., Missouri

Children:
Solomon D. b: 1859 in Brush Creek Twp., Gasconade Co., Missouri
Samuel Albert b: JAN 1861 in Oak Hill, Crawford Co., Missouri
Elestina "Alice" b: ABT 1865 in Crawford Co., Missouri
Louisa b: ABT 1867 in Crawford Co., Missouri
Alvina b: 1869 in Crawford Co., Missouri
Ellen "Ellie" b: 1871 in Crawford Co., Missouri
Ella Rutz b: 1872 in Crawford Co., Missouri
Etta "Attie" Rutz b: ABT 1875

Note the following 2 newspaper articles refering to an individual as Carl Ruthz in a German newspaper and as Charles Ruthz in an English newspaper. The name of Carl Ruthz is rare. The individual in the newspaper articles is about the same age as Owen Rutz's great-great-grandfather.

Kemptner Zeitung
A Bavarian Germany Newspaper
1842-04-22 page 267

Uplifting News

Darmstadt, Germany

The newspaper reporter for "Haut-Rhin" writes from Colmar, France:

The French military police have accompanied Carl Ruthz, upholsterer from Darmstadt, Germany, from the prisons of Colmar, France to the German frontier.
Carl Ruthz had worked from 1834 through 1839 (until the moment of his capture) for an employer in Strasbourg, France.
He was industrious and of good character, and his absence caused a touching scene between his comrades and his employer.
At a short distance from the city, the prisoner was greeted by about 15 friends who were waiting for him in a hostel.
They served him a toast, and when they parted painfully, Carl Ruthz thanked them for the friendly guidance.
They sang a farewell song composed by one of the singers.
What is Carl Ruthz's difficulty which motivated this melancholy affair, after which he spent three months in our city (Darmstadt, Germany)?
We know the following: Carl Ruthz was in Frankfurt in 1833 at the time of the "1833 Frankfort Student Revolution".
He took a lively interest in it, and he, like several young people wound up in the matter, fled to France, where he remained until the year 1839.
He thought he would be able to return to Darmstadt, Germany, but after some time he was forced to give up again to evade investigation by the police and returned to Colmar, France, where he worked until a legal problem involving his former Darmstadt, Germany employer occurred.
The French government did not want to extradite Carl Ruthz on the basis of political issues.
So, the German government of Heffen-Darmstadt, Germany requested extradition of Carl Ruthz by fabricating a charge of forgery.
Carl Ruthz had ordered products from a manufacturer in the name of his Darmstadt, Germany employer.
The required goods were, this is certain, paid for by the defendants; it is also true that Carl Ruthz's employer allowed Carl Ruthz to use his name, so that the employer would get the goods as quickly as possible.
What is the problem with that?
The French newspaper thinks that the mistake of having used another person's name remains and must be legaly resolved.
But Carl Ruthz had permission of the owner of the Darmstadt, Germany firm to use his employer's name.
The German government's forgery charge was a ploy to have Carl Ruthz extradited from France to Germany.
So what offense is Carl Ruthz guilty of?

https://www.jstor.org/
Gardeners Chronicle
April 16, 1842
page 259

It is stated that the French authorities sur-
rendered, on the 4th inst., the police of Hesse Darm-
stadt, a political refuge, implicated in the revolt of the
Frankfort students in 1833, on an application from the
Government of that duchy. Charles Ruthz, the refugee
in question, had resided, it seems, in France since his
emigration and earned a subsistenence by working as a jour-
neyman upholsterer, at Strasburgh and Colmar. The
Hessian Government, having no chance of obtaining
his extradition by claiming him as a political offender,
founded a demand to that effect on an alleged charge of
forgery, and the French Government, deceived, it is said,
by the strategem, ordered him to be delivered up.--

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurter_Wachensturm
Frankfurter Wachensturm

The Frankfurter Wachensturm (German: charge of the Frankfurt guard house) on 3 April 1833 was a failed attempt to start a revolution in Germany.
About 50 students attacked the soldiers and policemen of the Frankfurt Police offices Hauptwache and Konstablerwache to try to gain control over the treasury of the German Confederation to start a revolution in all German states.
However, because the plot had been betrayed to the police, it was easy to overcome the attackers.
The attack was organized by students, most of them members of the Burschenschaft (a liberal student fraternity)

In June 2010, Phyllis Gross (great, great, granddaughter of Charles Rutz 12/7/1820) gave me a 3 page paper of what she remembered Lewis Rutz, Sr. (her grandfather) telling her about his family history.
"One year when we were having the annual wood cuttings for Grandpa, I asked him if he would sit down and tell me about his life. And he did. He told stories about his grandpa and great grandpa and about his life and I wrote. Later I put it in story form. I have never tried to verify any of the facts. I just put down what Grandpa told me. It was a great experience for me. I hoped he enjoyed telling it. Phyllis"
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3

In 1979 Kay Busch (a descendant of Samuel Rutz) traveled to the last farm that Carl Ruthz had lived on. It was currently owned by Lewis F Rutz, a son of William Rutz (Carl Ruthz's first son). She met with Lewis along with several other grandchildren of "Charley". The following is Kay's notes from that meeting.
Kay Busch 1979 Interview

In July of 2009 Owen Rutz contacted a professional genealogist to assess the historical records available in Charbrow, Pomerania.
Keith Spillar's research

Charles Rutz applied for US citizenship in Hermann, Missouri on May 17,1855

Charles Franklin Rutz
U.S. Census Data
1860 - 1910

In the 1860 US Census, Charles "Roots" listed his birth country as Germany.
His age is listed as 37 instead of 39
Mary Ann's age is listed as 35 instead of 25
The story is that Charles wanted to disguise his identity because he skipped-out of the Prussian military.
US Census 1860 Charles Roots

This is a page from the 1870 US Census.
This is NOT Charles F. Rutz of Brush Creek.
This Illinois Charles Rutz is the same age as the Missiouri Charles Rutz.
They are not the same person.
US Census 1870 NOT Charles F Rutz of Missouri

This is a page from the 1870 US Census.
It lists Charles and his family with the last name of Root.
Charles is 49 yeaers old and Mary Ann is 34 (their correct ages).
It lists Prussia as the "country of foreign birth" for Charles and William.
US Census 1870 Charles Root of Missouri

This is a page from the 1880 US Census.
It lists Charles and his 7 children, but Mary Ann is not listed.
The place of birth is listed as Germany.
William is listed as living at a different location with Caroline, their 2 children and 2 servants.
US Census 1880 Charles Rutz of Missouri

The 1890 US Census was destroyed by a fire.
Almost all of the original 1890 population schedules were destroyed or badly damaged by a fire in the Commerce Department in 1921.
Records enumerating only 6,160 individuals (less than one percent) of the schedules—survived.
None of the 1890 records from Missouri survived.

The 1900 US Census, Oak Hill township, Missouri: Charles F. Rutz.
The census lists the birth place for Charles, his father and mother as Germany.
He was born in 1820 and that he came to the US in 1855.
It lists 1855 as the year he immigrated to the United States.
What strikes me as a little bizarre is that Williams wife, Caroline E.
has the same first name as William's mother and came from Germany the
same year as William and his family.
US Census 1900

The 1910 US Census, Oak Hill township, Missouri: Charley F. Rutz
Birth Place: German Bohemia.
Father's Birth Place: Germany
Mother's Birth Place: German Germany (not Prussia?)
It lists 1855 as the year he immigrated to the United States.
Note that this census shows Lewis and his wife Ruth living at William\Wilhelm's home.
US Census 1910

German Bohemia is the most specific location ever given for where Charles (and William) were born.

The Heritage Quest database. My source for US Census records:
Heritage Quest web Site

German Bohemia (German: Deutschböhmen; Czech: Nemecké Cechy)
was a region in Czech Republic established, for a short period of time, after the World War I.
It included parts of northern and western Bohemia once largely populated by ethnic Germans.
Important population centers were Liberec (Reichenberg), Ústí nad Labem (Aussig), Teplice (Teplitz-Schönau),
Duchcov (Dux), Cheb (Eger), Mariánské Lázne (Marienbad), Karlovy Vary (Karlsbad),
Jablonec nad Nisou (Gablonz an der Neiße), Litomerice (Leitmeritz), Most (Brüx) and, atec (Saaz).

UNION MISSOURI VOLUNTEERS
Gasconade County Battalion, US Reserve Corps, Missouri Home Guard
Organized by authority of Gen. Lyon June, 1861.
General orders: Guard the Pacific Railroad bridges.
Disbanded September, 1861.

The 768 soldiers in the Missouri Home Guard are listed at the CWSS database:
The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System database

In March 1861 the Missouri Constitutional Convention of 1861 voted 98 to 1 to stay in the Union but not supply weapons or men to either side if war broke out. The security of a large munitions depot became an immediate flash point. On April 20, 1861, eight days after the start of the war at Fort Sumter, a pro-Confederate mob at Liberty, Missouri, seized the Liberty Arsenal and made off with about 1,000 rifles and muskets. This set the stage for fears that Confederates would also seize the much larger St. Louis Arsenal, which had nearly 40,000 rifles and muskets—the most of any slave state.

Union Captain Nathaniel Lyon hastily raised a militia, gained control of the arsenal (which was under the command of Peter V. Hagner), and started sending all but 10,000 rifles and muskets to Illinois. Lyon's militia had been recruited from German immigrants and members of the Wide Awakes political organization. The Germans in particular were unpopular with many native-born Missourians with Southern backgrounds, who deeply resented their anti-slavery views.

On May 10, Lyon forced the surrender of the 669 militia under General Daniel M. Frost. The men refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Federal government. As a result, Lyon decided to march the prisoners to the arsenal through downtown St. Louis before providing them with a parole and ordering them to disperse. This lengthy march was widely viewed as a public humiliation for the state forces, and immediately angered citizens who had gathered to watch the commotion. To add to the insult, Lyon placed the captured militiamen between two lines of armed German Home Guards.

Tensions quickly mounted on the streets as civilians hurled rocks, paving stones, and insults at Lyon's troops. The heavily German Home Guard units were particularly targeted by the mob and shouts of "Damn the Dutch" were hurled at them from the crowd.[1] Exactly what provoked the shooting remains unclear, but the most common explanation is that a drunkard stumbled into the path of the marching soldiers, and fired a pistol into their ranks, fatally wounding one German soldier, Captain Blandowski. The volunteers, in retaliation, fired into the crowd, killing some 20 people, some of whom were women and children, and wounding as many as 50 more.

The incident sparked several days of rioting and anti-German animosity in St. Louis. On May 11, another incident occurring at the intersection of 5th and Walnut streets saw German Volunteers fired at from windows and once again return fire into the mob. Col. Henry Boernstein, publisher of the Anzeiger Des Westens a prominent German Language newspaper in St. Louis and commander of the 2nd Regiment of Missouri Volunteers, remarked in his memoirs that he gave several of his men leave to visit their families on the morning of May 11 and that, “Most of them did not return…until it grew dark, with clothing torn, faces beaten bloody, and all the signs of having suffered mistreatment…Two of them never returned and they were never heard of again.”

Rumors spread throughout the city that the Germans were planning to murder the American population of the city which caused many of the wealthy citizens of St. Louis to flee to either Illinois or the Missouri Interior.

Eventually the installation of martial law and the arrival of Federal Regulars to relieve the German volunteers would bring the situation to a conclusion but the impact of the Camp Jackson Affair left its mark on St. Louis permanetly.

Nativism, mistrust of the Federal government, slavery, and states rights issues all played roles in provoking the incident. The Affair polarized the state between Union and Confederate supporters. Previously most Missourians had advocated neutrality. However the Camp Jackson Affair forced most Missourians to take a side. Some former Unionists, including former Governor Sterling Price, now advocated secession. But ultimately the actions of Lyon and the St. Louis German community did much to ensure Missouri's continued loyalty to the Union. And in the years following the war, the Germans would gain a reputation as "saviors of Missouri."

Captain William Rodney Massie:
"The lower Missouri was alive with boats from 1850 to 1865. There were between two and three hundred. As many as fourteen would leave St. Louis in a single day. Pilots were scarce and they didn't average more than a single one to a boat. In traveling between here and Kansas City, you were never out of sight of a boat, and they were loaded with freight and passengers like a bush with blackberries. Indians? Well, I guess so! I knew all the great western chiefs, Sitting Bull, Rain-in-the-Face, and Red Cloud. I knew 'em before Bill Cody did, and I was in that country when he came up there and got to be a scout.

Apparently the Rutz surname may have originated in southwest Germany, Landkreis Sudwestpfalz. But, it is interesting to note a concentration of Rutz surnames in northeast Germany, Landkreis Uecker-Randow.

The oldest Rutz in the RootsWeb WorldConnect database is Philips Rutzs (the s suffix probably means: son of Rutz), 1530-1592, Asbach, Germany. Asbach is also in southwest Germany, about 240 km north of Sudwestpfalz.

Another old Rutz in that database is Gorius Rutz, 1553 - ????, Nesslau, St. Gallen, Switzerland (northern Switzerland).

An interesting tree I found ended with Carl Friedrich Rutz's (b.1770) son Johann Friedrich (b.1809). Unfortanately there where no data on Johann's decendents or date of death.