The hand-written notes of my great aunt Marie Boehmer (nee Betz) in reply to my father’s queries about our family history. I believe these were written some time in the 1970’s.

Arrival records documenting the entry of the Joseph Pfaller family at U.S. Immigration and Customs, Baltimore, Maryland, on July 11, 1855.

This page from the book “Schantz and Johnstown,” published by the Schantz Memorial Committee in 1913, discusses the founding of Immaculate Conception Church in Cambria City, Pennsylvania, and lists Alois Betz as one of the founders.

The 1860 Federal census for Cambria county, Pennsylvania, documented Alois Betz living in Yoder Township with wife Josepha and sons William and Frank.

An 1861 list of licensed retail merchants for Cambria City, Pennsylvania shows A. Betz having paid a license fee of $7.

On September 29, 1864 the Ebensburg Alleghanian printed a list of draftees for Cambria County. A “Lewis Betz” appears on the rolls for Cambria Boro.

A page from the Ebensburg Democrat-Sentinal, 1866, showing that “Alose” Betz had his interest in a house on 1/2 lot sold for $5.46 in unpaid taxes.

The 1870 Federal census for Cuyahoga county, Ohio shows Alois and Rosina living in ward 6 with three of the six children they would eventually have together, along with four children from their previous marriages.

The hand-written deed by which George Kolbe, administrator of the estate of Joseph Keller, conveyed the property at the corner of Marion and Sked streets in Cleveland to Alois and Rosina, June 5, 1873.

The birth record of Alois and Rosina’s youngest child, my great-grandfather Edward R. Betz, on July 19th, 1876.

The 1880 Federal census for Cuyahoga county, Ohio documents Alois Betz and his wife Rosina living at 37 Marion Street, Cleveland, with their very large household.

This series of pages from Cleveland city directories published between 1873 and 1891 reveals quite a bit about the changes in Alois’ and Rosina’s household over the period.

The hand-written record of Alois’ death at age 63, of bronchitis, April 12, 1891.

Archived records of the settlement of Alois Betz’s estate in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, around 1892.

This tattered clipping from a Cleveland newspaper, February 26th or 27th of 1891, tells the story of the death of Peter Schneider, the father of my great-grandmother Lena Betz, at the age of 39 in an accident involving a streetcar.

The official record of the death of Peter Schneider, my great-grandmother Lena Betz’s father, in an accident with a motorized streetcar.

Alois Betz’s wife Rosina passed away on September 23, 1899 while residing with her son Edward and his wife Lena at 35 Marion Street, Cleveland.

The 1900 Federal census for Cuyahoga county, Ohio, documents Edward R. and Lena Betz living at 35 Marion Street in Cleveland, along with brothers Louis and Conrad.

By the time of the 1910 census the family of Edward R. Betz was residing on Trent Street in Toledo, along with mother-in-law Frances Schneider and her son Robert.

Edward R. Betz’s wife Lena Betz, nee Schneider, passed away on August 2nd of 1923, preceding her husband by 24 years.

Record documenting the marriage of Joseph Boehmer to Edward R. and Lena M. Betz’s daughter Anna Marie Betz in 1926.

Edward R. Betz passed away on December 22, 1947. His death certificate gets his date of birth and age wrong by five years.