Kartholl Family Home Page

The Family Name
Today the name is commonly spelled "Kartholl", but in various records and transcripts it hasn't always been like this. Earliest records found to date show the name of Kartholl appear in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1852. The arriving family had just lost its patriarch. In the following few decades records indicate a presence in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in Peru, Indiana, and in Delphos, Ohio. Known spellings of the name include Cartholl, Carthols, Carthow, Catholl, Corthol, Kartholl, and Karthol. Some of these may have been the result of poorly written documents, but some are clearly spelled differently on the originals that still exist.

The Origin
The records found so far indicate the origin of the American branch of the Kartholl family to be Germany, Prussia, and Wurtemberg (a/k/a Württemberg). This does narrow it down, but not as much as one would hope. So far we have not found the manifest of the ship bringing the original Kartholls to America. There should have been quite a few since so many showed up in Fort Wayne, Indiana at about the same time. Here are some of the names we would expect to find on the manifest: Frank or Francis, Joseph (there should be two), Anthony (there should also be two), Caroline, Elizabeth, and Theresa. Also, to this date, we have not found any evidence of the name "Kartholl" in any Internet accessible site in Germany. Records indicate that at least three of the early immigrants never made it to Fort Wayne alive. According to accounts collected in a book titled "Valley of the Upper Maumee River" (published by Brant & Fuller in 1889) as well as cemetery records from Fort Wayne, Anthony, Francis and Joseph died in July 1852 within a day of each other. Elizabeth, Theresa, and Anthony were still fairly young at this time. Caroline was the widow of Joseph (see also the 1897 directory of Fort Wayne, Indiana). The young Joseph settled in Peru, Indiana, owned a drugstore and later married Henrietta Geves. Anthony started working for a railroad company and maried Matilda Kalbacher. They too lived in Peru, Indiana for a number of years before moving to Delphos, Ohio.

Connected Families
Without knowing the exact family roots in Germany, the best approach at this point seems to be examining the connections made in the early years in the United States. The first generation in the US married mostly Germans themselves. Known surnames are:

Anthony marries Matilda Kalbacher in 1869,
Theresa marries Othmar Ehinger in 1867,
Elizabeth marries Frank Fink in 1870, and
Joseph marries Henrietta Geves.