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- BIOGRAPHY:
Ambrose Mettling was born on 28 Apr 1832 in Alsace, Engenthal. He died on 27 Jan 1900 in Indiana, Harrison,. The cause of death was Bright's Disease. He was buried in Indiana, Harrison, Old St. Peter's Cemetery. He married Elizabeth Lutz on 7 May 1860 in Kentucky, Jefferson, Louisville.
Ambrose immigrated on 7 Mar 1854. He emigrated on 7 Mar 1854 from Engemthal, Alsace to Louisiana, New Orleans. He was naturalized on 10 Oct 1864 in Indiana, Harrison.
Ambrose Mettling was the sevemth child born to Pierre Mettling and Marie Anne Müller in the town of Engenthâl in western Alsace, a town of white stucco and red roof tiles strung out in the valley between terraced hillsides rising more than 500 feet above the valley. The town was inhabited primarily by Alsacian-speaking Roman Catholics. Alsacian is technically, a German dialect that is considered "mutually understandable" with German. The official language of the area, however, was French and French was surely a second language for most of the inhabitants. The Mettling men were traditionally woodworkers and cabinet makers, and there is a family tradition that they were annaully allotted a tree with which to pursue their crafts. In the feudal system, of course, the forests were held by the elite and cutting trees was tantamount to poaching if done without a specific grant or permission. When Ambrose was about eleven years old, in 1843, the family moved into a new home in Engenthâl. which remains standing today. A few years later, his oldest brother, Joseph, immigrated to the United States, settling first near Louisville, Kentucky. By then, his brothers--Pierre, Augustin, the first Jean Baptiste, and Alois--had died, and his older sister, Elisabethe, had given birth to an illegitimate son. Ambrose followed Joseph to the United States, boarding the ship, Elvira Owen in Le Havre, and landing at the Port of New Orleans on March 3, 1854. He left behind brother Seraphin, who had just married, his brother Antoine, and two sisters, Theresa and Marie Anne. On 19 April 1857, in Floyd County, Ambrose married Elizabeth Ritter. We can find no additional records concerning her, but we presently attribute John William Mettling, born 24 April 1859 to her. Formerly, this boy was thought to have been an illegitimate child of second wife, Elizabeth Lutz. A girl, Catherine, born about 1858 does not appear on the 1860 census, but is in the household in 1870 and it is unclear who her parents were. She does not appear in records after 1870. Elizabeth Ritter probably died in childbirth or slightly after, leaving Ambrose a widower with an infant. Two Ritter men, Jacob and Nicholas, both giving their origin as Prussia, were naturalized in Floyd County in 1853 and were, possibly, related to Elizabeth. Nicholas Ritter was probably the man, age 24, born Prussia, in Ward 8, Louisville, Kentucky census for 1860 with wife, Mary, born France, and son, Ambrose, born 1858 in Indiana. He had married Mary Gobe [sp? probably Goff} on 16 Feb 1858 in Floyd County, Indiana. By 1870, they had added Jacob, Lulu, Nick, Anna, and Chris. On 7 May 1860, in Louisville, Kentucky, Ambrose married Elizabeth Lotz [spelling per transcript of church record, but henceforth spelled Lutz]. They appeared together on the 1860 census for Louisville, Kentucky as Ambrose Midling, wife Elizabeth, son John. Elizabeth gave her age as about 21 on that census, as well as on the marriage record. Ambrose gave his occupation as "confectioner" on this census. A confectionary is, literally, a candy shop, but at that time and place, and without further information, it isn't possible to know whether this occupation was pursued in a shop or on the street with a pedlar's cart, as so many foodstuffs were purveyed at the time. Ambrose had taken up land in Taylor Township, Harrison County, Indiana by 1860, just "around the corner" from his brother, Joseph. It isn't certain why he was not occupying the land. Sometime between the 16th of July in 1860 and the 24th of August in 1862, Henry and Elizabeth had made their way to Canada where their son, Henry, was born on that date. Although the reasons for that journey have, by family tradition, been to avoid the warfare--and family tradition had them accompanied by another Mettling brother--the facts "on the ground" do not support such a situation. Indeed, they had returned before October 10th of 1864 when Ambrose' citizenship was finalized in Harrison County, Indiana, well before the Civil War had ended. It's quite possible that they had returned upon Joseph's accidental death in early 1863. Ambrose is also said to have spent time in northern Indiana in the few years between 1860 and 1864. The true reasons for the trip to Canada are a matter of speculation. Two possibilites are under investigation--that Ambrose was pursuing the traditional woodsman's occupation and operating a saw mill, or that they were there because that is where Elizabeth's family lived. In all events, they had taken up residence on the property in Harrison County by the time Josie was born on August 3rd, 1865, Delia on July 20th , 1867, and George on April 2nd, 1871. Catherine, born about 1858 is in the household undifferentiated from the other children when the census was taken on July 6th 1870. Elizabeth gave her origin as Hesse Kassel on the 1870 census. She died of smallpox , probably in 1873. One family tradition had a possible daughter dying at the same time. Was this Catherine? Terry Mettling made a determined search of the Corydon Democrat for a hint of her death and found only a reference to two persons having died of smallpox. On November 18th, 1874, Ambrose married Mary L. Russell, a widow with at least one child, by Justice of the Peace, Isaac Tahler, in a civil ceremony in Harrison County, Indiana. Mary gave her age as 45 on the 1880 census, her son, Henry C. as age 16. Mary gave her place of birth as Ohio, her mother's place of birth as Wurtemburg. Her son, Henry, was reported as being born in Indiana, his father in Pennsylvania. There is nothing at all to suggest that Ambrose and Mary had any children together. Was it a marriage "of convenience," giving Mary and her son (then only about ten years old) a home, and Ambrose a wife to care for his five children.? The 1880 census, dated June 15th shows Mary and her son in Ambrose' household. On June 19th , 1882 , in a a Catholic ceremony, Ambrose married Christina Graf, daughter of Peter Adam Graf and Christine Barbara Weber. Although one would suppose that this would mean that Mary had died, the Church would not have recognized the Civil Marriage, so ending that union with a divorce or annulment would not have disallowed a Catholic marriage. There is a tiny reason to believe that divorce is what happened. On the 1900 plat map for Taylor township, the original property owned by Ambrose on the 1860 plat is shown as owned by "M. L. Mettling". Was this Mary L. Mettling? The initials do not fit anyone else, and the property designated in Ambrose probate records was several miles away. Ambrose and Christina had six children, although two seem to have been still born. The surviving children were Ambrose Thomas, Dora Catherine, Anna Margaret, and Nicholas Andrew. According to her grandson, Joseph Norbert Schuler, Christine claimed to have been married several times, but I have found nothing to confirm that. Her grandson, Norbert, recalled his Grandma Chritine, and reported that she had always walked with a cane. Ambrose died the 27th of January in 1900 in Harrison County, Indiana. The cause of death was listed as Bright's Disease. At the time, that diagnosis covered all forms of acute kidney failure, regardless of cause, but was thought, at the time, to be caused by alcoholism. There are family stories that suggest that Ambrose had a problem with alcohol. The stories were taken seriously enough that many descendants elected to be complete "teetotalers". Christina would live on until 1936. Ambrose' estate, although it included a farm, was so heavily mortgaged at the time of his death that the probate court declared his estate bankrupt. Although the true facts will never be known, Ambrose' family fragmented shortly after his marriage to Christina. It appears that both Elisabeth Lutz and the widow Russell were of Protestant persuasion, so Ambrose' older children were raised in that faith, even though Ambrose had been raised as a Roman Catholic. Ambrose apparently returned to Catholicism when he married Christina. In 1882, when they married, Henry was 20, Josie was 17, Adelia was 16, and George was only 11. While Christina was not a child-bride, being about 30 years old, she may not have been prepared to manage a houseful of teenagers, a situation that can be stressful, even when they are your very own children! It is certain that there were some stresses just in the course of living. It should be recalled that Ambrose and Christina, both immigrants, were from different European cultures, were both transplanted into a new place and culture, and at this time, Ambrose no longer had any close relatives of his own within easy reach. Ambrose' older children had been raised Protestant, had attended English speaking schools, and identified themselves as Americans. There could not help but have been intense stresses on the family. The story, as it was told to me, was that on a given Sunday, the parish priest had been a guest for Sunday dinner where the wine flowed more than freely. With Ambrose and Christina ocercome by a large meal and too much wine, left the priest to be entertained by the daughters, and he is said to have made sexual advances toward Adelia, who resisted, but was not believed by her father. She and Henry "ran away" at that time. Adelia went to live with "Aunt Kate Funk", and Henry found work as a hired hand with a neighbor. (I suspect that it was with the Russell family.) Within the year, Henry was married to Nina Russell, and a short time later, Josie was married to Peter Graff, Christina's brother, John had gone to work for a farmer in Kentucky, leaving only George, who would marry in 1890, at only 19. Christina would report, years later, that she did not get along with her sister-in-law (Josie). Having reported the bare bones of the story, I should also report that there are some strange inconsistencies. As it was told to me, Henry would have been younger than the sister, and he was supposed to be only 14. Adelia was younger. Only Catherine (born 1858) was older. Is the story attached to the wrong wife and wrong sister? The truth is that we don't know who Catherine was or what happened to her. Certainly, if she was Elizabeth Ritter's daughter, then Mary Russell was mother #3 for her. Catherine was sixteen in 1774 shortly after Ambrose married Mary.
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1832 - 1900 (67 years)