Ettie Schelske

When I set out to find my genetic past 4 years ago I only knew what my mom had referred to my great grandparents as "Etta n' Otto", like they were Siamese twins, or one person...almost (it sounded like 'bread n' butter' to me). So I joined Ancestry.com and started a tree, first me, mom, grandma Nichols, and then great grandma "Etta". In looking for records to find out who this woman was I came across census reports that had her name listed as Ettie, Addie, Etta, and added them to my collection of information. Then I was directed toward something that suggested that her name was something else. On Ancestry.com they have a 'One World Tree' that you can check out. It directs you to other genealogy sites on the web. I came across 'Jane's Genealogy Jigsaw' on the free pages at Genweb.There I found an 'Amy Amoretta "Ettie" Irish who was the daughter of Justus and Delila, and she had been married many times...but no Otto, hmmm. Then I looked at the other children listed for Justus and Delila and found two names that I remembered was mentioned in my grandmother's memoirs, Francis "Frank" and Fanny (thank you, grandma and also to my cousin Geraldine for organizing grandma's hand written notes into a book). So decided to contact Jane and discuss the information she had there and it turns out indeed it was the 'Ettie' I was looking for! Most of the information I have about the Irish family came from her. Thank you, Jane. :)

Amy Amoretta Irish was born in Orleans Co., New York on May 26, 1854. She had 5 siblings. A brother named Eugine, born about 1846 and a sister Amanda Elizabeth born about 1848 (Not much is known a them, I assume they died young. They are found in the 1850 federal census New York, but disappear after that). A sister Mary Adelaide, born in 1852, New York. She died when she was 19 of Lung Fever. Francis Arabella, born in 1857, New York, died in 1927. And Fanny Sylvanna, born in VanBuren,Michigan in 1859, died in 1941.

Harry Slack

Ettie was married several times before she found Otto. Her first marriage to Arthur Everett in 1871 at the age of 16. They had twins, Isadore and Elanora Everett. They died young, Isadore at 6 mos., Elanora just short of her 2nd birthday. Ettie and Arthur divorced in 1875. Ettie's second marriage to Lorenzo McDougall in 1877, they had a daughter named Mertie in 1878 and after her birth she disappears, no death record found yet. And I don't know when Ettie and Lorenzo divorced yet. Another marriage in October of 1882 to Benjamin Slack, they had a son named Harry born in 1885. Nothing is known yet about Harry beyond 1930, he was last found in Washington state. Ettie's last marriage was to Otto Schelske in March of 1889.They remained together until Ettie's death of a heart attack on November 21, 1921. She is buried in Kalkaska Co., Michigan, Oliver Twp. Cemetery next to Otto who died in 1938.

Otto's Kin

Finding records for Otto Schelske was a challange from the beginning. In finding records with his name badly mangled and on occaision spelled correctly. I found them easy enough in census reports but the marriage record below took some imagination and took over a year to find.


Marriage record of Otto and Ettie or according to the record, Olls Salska & Ettie Eust...(click on image to enlarge)

On Otto and Ettie's marriage record, Otto's parents names are listed as father: L. Salska and Millie Decamp? The bit of information that made me know this was for sure the family I was looking for was a witness, listed as Delilah Irish, Ettie's mother. Later was found another bit of infomation by searching for Otto's uncle Fred's death certificate. Informant on uncle Fred's certificate was his son Albert. He said that Fred's father's name was Ludwig Schelske, and mom's name was Wilemina Hickof or possibly Dickof or Aickof. My guess is that Otto's, father's name was Ludwig, after his father. So the known pedegree for my Schelske line is Ludwig, Ludwig, Otto, Delilah (my grandma), Doris (mom) , and then me...