Maria Nichols, from Prussia to Minnesota (52 Ancestors #19)

This is another article for the series in which I'm participating, "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks", a challenge by Amy Johnson Crow on No Story Too Small.

Maria [Mary] Nichols was my second great-grandmother.  She was born about 1863 in Prussia.  She made her way to Fillmore County, Minnesota where she married Charles Schunke.  They had eight children.  She died of heart disease in 1896 at age 33.  Oh my.  I previously wrote about Maria’s daughter Lillian Schunke Eisenman who died at the early age of 26.

Coincidence or tragic family medical history?

Future Research

• Locate emigration, marriage and death records
• Track cause of death and age of descendants.

Sources

• Obit:  prgrage family tree on ancestry.com, with permission
• 1885 Minnesota State Census Fillmore County, Ancestry.com