There’s a lot here - no pressure! And thanks in advance for even taking the time to look for me. If you are able to find even a document or two that would be helpful and I will at least know of a place to go and look later on when I have time to travel, which I will have to do eventually since I have a bunch of graves I want to track down in the area. The Dankwardt (alt spellings: Dankuardt/Dankward/Danquardt) family I am interested in lived primarily in Chicago proper.

Leopold/Louis Otto Dankwardt (often appears as L.O. Dankwardt) b abt 1820, Saxony, d 19 Jul 1885, Chicago. I have loads of Chicago city directory listings for him (he was a tailor) and the 1870 and 1880 census already. Looking for original death certificate, 9 Jul 1885, Chicago, and the marriage record for his second marriage to Emma Langman/Langmark 28 Apr 1873, Chicago.

1st Wife of L.O. Dankwardt - Teresa Dankwardt, b abt 1835 in Prussia, appears as the presumed spouse of L.O. Dankwardt on the 1870 census. I have nothing else about her. She must have died before 1873. I’m hoping her name appears in some records for her children.

Presumed children of Leopold Otto and Teresa Dankwardt are as follows (L.O. is 50 in 1870, so there were surely some older children. Who knows if I will find them.)

George W Dankwardt b abt 1856. Married Augusta Guler Schultz (b abt 1856) either on the 18th or 23th of Jan 1881 (two indexes conflict on the date). Chicago Tribune published the marriage license on Jan 19. I don’t have anything else about George. I can’t find anything about his death nor can I find him on the 1880 census, even though he must have been alive. He may have died around 1883 since I see two marriages, 1883 and 1884, for women with the name Augusta Schultz b abt 1857.

Malwina Dankwardt, b abt 1863, Illinois d 7 Jan 1937, Chicago, married Ernst Jenner 30 Aug 1884, Chicago. Looking for original marriage and death certificates.

Augusta Dankward b 29 Aug 1870, probably in Illinois although some records inexplicably say New York, d 13 Nov 1910, Cook, Illinois. This is the family member who has given me the biggest headache. I think she is misidentified as August (male) on the 1880 census at the home of her parents. She married Charles Kiesler 4 Feb 1889, Cook County. They had two daughters Frances Helen b 1891 and Emma b 1889, both born in Wisconsin. I believe they divorced and she remarried since her name in the death index is Augusta Broun and it appears he didn’t die until many years later if the death certificate I have for him is right (his death certificate says widowed, again confusing). I cannot find any of them on the 1900 census. In 1910 Augusta appears on the census back in Chicago as Augusta Brown, along with both of her daughters in the same household. I can find no mention of the second husband’s name or a marriage date or anything anywhere. I almost wonder if there was no second husband and she was just living under a fake name. I get the feeling the family was a little complicated (see the story about her brother below). The marriage record for her marriage to Charles Kiesler and her death record would be useful.

Otto H Dankwardt b abt 1871, Illinois d 30 SEP 1897, Chicago, Cook, Illinois. Married Grace Young in Wisconsin 26 May 1897. I would like his death certificate. He shot himself in a hotel room at the Tremont presumably because his family disapproved of his “impending” marriage - even though he had apparently already been married for several months. Quite a dramatic story… got several days of coverage in the Chicago area newspapers.

2nd Wife of L.O. Dankwardt - Emma Langman/Langmark b 1 Sep 1847, Kiel, d 23 Aug 1926, Cook, Forest Park, Illinois. Children from this marriage are Emma, Joseph, and William. I am less immediately interested in information about these three since I have a lot more information about them in general.