Kleinhans / Petitjean Family
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Most of the Kleinhans family members who farmed were not commercial farmers but rather simple farmers who relied on their farms to feed and support their families as people had for hundreds of years. Some of them may have been able to grow some extra produce to sell, but not like a commercial farm. Some had side jobs such as sawmill laborer, farmhand/threshing laborer, and carpentry to make extra cash.
Also, anytime a person listed their place of work as "radiator factory" in a census it was almost certainly Harrison Radiator since it was at one point by far the largest employer in Niagara County and likely Western New York as well.
Partial 1908 Royalton Town Map from Historic Map Works (closest map to 1892)
Census
1890 Somerset, Niagara County pop. abt. 2,000
In the 1892 NYS Census for Somerset was Charles and Lena (Kleinhans) Small with daughter Annie. Charles was employed as a laborer.
1890 Lockport City pop. abt. 16,000
In the 1892 New York Census Thomas and Louise (Jago) Harper married for 4 years with children Jessie and John, and Rovenia (sic) Harper were living in Ward 3, Lockport (nearly the entire west side). Thomas was employed as a laborer.
In the 1892 New York Census Gilbert and Agustia (sic) (Kleinhans) Richardson were living in Ward 3, Lockport (again nearly the entire west side). Gilbert at 24 years old was employed as a molder/mold maker. Oddly there were two people listed between them, Jane and John Winne with no indication of who they were.
1892 Royalton pop. abt. 4,600
In the 1892 New York Census, 2 years before Frederick (Sr) died, Frederick (Jr) was listed as a carpenter (see 1900 Niagara Falls below), and William was listed as a farmer. In the 1908 map above W(illiam) Kleinhans is shown at the Akron Rd. property near Mud Creek owning his now-deceased father Frederick's farm. William married Mary Huth in 1892 and she was pregnant with their first child which might have prompted Wilhemina and Ferdinand to move back to Fisk Rd. (see next column)
On the map above J(acob) Miller's farms are on the left where they were in 1875. On the right are H. Kleinhans and Mrs. M. Kleinhans where August Kleinhans' property was in 1875 being his son and widow respectively. Just to the south of them is the Lindeke/Lindke property that Fred Lindke seemingly inherited by 1938.
The 1908 map above may not have been exactly accurate. It was published in 1908 but it could have taken a year or more to draw. Even though there's a Garjow on Fisk Rd., Minnie and her family were on Foote Rd. by 1900 (see below) and in 1910 they were on Lewiston Rd.
The Yagow/Jagos weren't in the same census district as Frederick, but they were in the same 1892 New York Census near the Latsch and Volker families on Fisk Rd. again as in 1860 and 1875. Ferdinand Yagow (sic) was 53 and Minnie was 43 with children Martha, John, Ella, and Anna. The older children Louise, Augusta, Lydia, and Fred had left home. Rose and Frank weren't born yet.
Also in the same census was 82 y.o. Dorah Yagow, living by herself just a house or two from Ferdinand and Minnie. Her husband Christian/Carl must have died sometime after the 1880 US Census.
There is a Christian Yagow (d. 1881) and his wife Hanna Dorothea L Kindermann Yagow (d. 1886) on Find A Grave interred in Saint Jacobis Lutheran Cemetery, Bergholtz, Niagara County. However, they had a son named Frederick (d. 1930) who is not in the census for Ferdinand's family, and the mother died in 1886 before the 1892 NY Census Dorah Yagow was in. So it seems unlikely they are the same Yagows. No gravestones are in Find A Grave for Christian/Carl and Dorah/Dorothea Jagow or the brothers Ferdinand, Augustus, William, and David.
There's something odd about the 1892 New York Census. Just before the Yagow/Jagos in the census is the family of Fred Kleinon (71), Minnie Kleinon (61), Fred W Kleinon (25), and Julies Kleinon (23) all born in Germany and of course farmers. Was this an odd coincidence, a mistake, another unknown Kleinhans' family, or one with a similar name? They're not on any map shown here. They only show up in a search in the same 1892 census. They don't match up with anyone in the August Kleinhans branch. Barring the chance they were a family, the census taker might've been confused or jumbled his written notes afterward.
note- They were a real family because they were also in the 1880 US Census as Rudolph Kleinnod (58), Minnie Kleinnod (48), Julius Kleinnod (10), and Frederick Kleinnod (12). Judging by their neighbors it looks like they were on Fisk Rd. as in 1892.
note- The 1875 US Census has Frederick Klinough (53), Wilhelmina Klinough (43), Fred Klinough (6), and Julius Klinough (5). So we don't know their actual surname but it was likely not Kleinhans.
The satellite image above roughly outlines the current boundaries of the 8629 Akron Rd parcel near Mud Creek with power lines running through the outside of the southwest corner.
8629 Akron Rd., Royalton, NY built in 1876
See Frederick and William Kleinhans' homesteads on the main page.
Frederick's obituary in 1894 states William was living at home. The 1908 map (see above) and 1938 Royalton Town Map show the farm was owned by W. Kleinhans. After William died in 1946 and about 90 years of Kleinhans ownership, the property was sold to another family. William's son Richard might've lived at the farm for a time but by 1950 he was renting an apartment in Lockport (in 1968 he was at 51 Genesee St.)
William and Mary's grandchildren (Norman Kleinhans' seven children) likely visited their farm at various times. Between nearby Mud Creek and ponds around, their kids and grandkids likely had a lot of fun fishing and swimming when they weren't driving mom/g'ma crazy. Also, Richard, born in 1903, was a teenage uncle for a time to his brother Norman's oldest children.
1900 Royalton pop. abt. 4,800
In the 1900 US Census, 5 years before Mary (Huth) Kleinhans tragically died, William Kleinhane (sic) is listed as a farmer with his wife Mary, and his children Suzanne, Norman, and Agnes. William owned his house and farm with a mortgage presumably for property improvements. Mary's record states she was 28 years old, born in June 1871 in Germany, married for 8 years with 3 children, immigrated in 1886, and could read and write English.
Also in the 1900 US Census, Ferdinand and Wilhemina "Minnie" Jago were listed right after William Wruck in Royalton meaning they were neighbors. Ferdinand was listed as a 62-year-old farmer renting the farm he was living on. Minnie was listed as his 50-year-old wife of 32 years (so they married about 1868) and having carried 12 children with 10 still living. Ferdinand and Minnie were listed with three (3) sons and two (2) daughters, and Ferdinand's mother Dora at 89-years-old who listed her occupation as a landlord.
On the 1908 Royalton Town Map (see map above in the lower right corner) "W. Wruck" can be found near present-day Foote Rd. along Tonawanda Creek in south Wolcottsville. So unless W. Wruck owned another piece of land elsewhere, Ferdinand and Minnie were renting a farm close by on Foote Rd in 1900.
In 1907, just seven (7) years later Ferdinand died and his widow Minnie was left with five (5) children and no husband. Sons Fred and John were older so they may have helped until they got married and left home sometime later. Daughters Anna and Rosa were teenagers when their father died, and Frank the youngest would have been 10 years old. By the 1920 US Census, Minnie was living with her daughter Elnora (John) Lindke in Newstead, NY until she died there in 1928.
note Minnie with her sons John and Frank were living together on Lewiston Rd. in 1910 after Ferdinand's death.
1900 Town of Lockport pop. abt. 2,600
In the 1900 US Census for the Town of Lockport Lydia (Jago) & William Mittlestadt and Fred Mittlestadt (William's brother) were living in a rented home somewhere near Leete Rd. and Niagara Rd. west of the Niagara County Jail today. The census looks like it says Stone Rd. but Stone Rd. doesn't connect to Mountain Rd. or Niagara Rd. and the only neighbors' names that match are near Leete Rd. William and Fred were employed as farm laborers. Lydia and William were only married for about a year.
1900 Akron, Newstead
In the 1900 US Census for Newstead Mary (Kleinhans) and Nelson Newton were living in their home in the Village of Akron with their daughter Perl. Nelson was working in stone dressing (most likely in a quarry, there were stone quarries in the nearby Town of Clarence). Nelson passed away in 1902 at 44/45 y.o. from pneumonia.
1900 City of Lockport
In the 1900 US Census for the City of Lockport 20 y.o. Martha Jago was employed as a domestic servant for Thomas Cosford and his wife at 152 Pine St. Martha may well have had help getting a domestic servant job in Lockport from her 2 older sisters Louise (Jago) Harper and Augusta (Jago) Richardson who both lived in the city. By 1910 Mary was married to Herman Brown and living in Newfane on a farm.
1900 Somerset, Niagara County pop. abt. 1,900
In the 1900 US Census for Somerset was Charles and Lena (Kleinhans) Small with daughter Annie. Charles was employed as a farm laborer. Charles died in 1903 in Somerset before his daughter was married. The Knights of the Maccabees, which Charles was a member of, published a eulogy for him. (see obituary)
1900 City of Niagara Falls pop. abt. 19,500
In the 1900 US Census for Niagara Falls Fred (Jr) and wife Gadon (sic) Kleihans (sic) with 5 y.o. son Fred was living at 1708 Sixteenth St. before owning a grocery store. Fred (Jr) was employed as a (house) carpenter as he was in 1892 at his father's house (see above).
👇 Click on the map below to open Google maps, and click on a marker to see the location/info about one of Frederick's children or grandchildren.
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