The Dallas Journal, Volume 49, 2003 Page: 10

Lindley/Heisel Bible Library Research Project
"Kulengen," and he disembarked at New Orleans.'00 As with Adam Heisel, we located a naturalization record for
Conrad Heisel dated 13 February 1862 at Superior Court, New York City. This Conrad Heisel was living at 3
Laight Street in New York City, employed as a tailor, was "about" 27 years old and listed his former nationality as
"King Wurtenburg." He stated that he arrived 25 December 1856 (one month later than the passenger list
information) into the port of New Orleans. The witness to his naturalization was George Wandel, probably a
workmate, who also was a tailor and who lived at 87 Avenue "A" in New York City.'0' Once again we questioned
if this was the "right" Conrad Heisel because, as will be seen, we located Conrad Heisel on the 1860 U.S. census in
Sumter County, Georgia. So, as with Adam Heisel, the question remained why Conrad Heisel appeared to be settled
in Georgia only to uproot himself and move to New York City where he became a U.S. citizen?
Conrad "Hisal" appeared on the 1860 U.S. census in Sumter County, Georgia living with the family of
Samuel Cohen, a tailor, from Prussia.102 After being unable to find Conrad Heisel in 1870 in Georgia, we knew that
he had died in Chicago, Illinois, so we began to search there hoping that he had headed that direction. We searched
under every spelling of"Heisel" that we could think of to no avail. Finally we looked for him with the surname of
Conrad, and there he was! He had married, and the couple was enumerated on 13 July 1870. He is listed on the
census as "Conrad, Haisel" in the 16"' Ward of Chicago.103
Unfortunately we could not find a marriage record for Conrad and Barbara Heisel as those records were
destroyed in the Chicago fire of 1871. So we still do not know Barbara Heisel's maiden name.
We were unsuccessful in finding Conrad Heisel on the 1880 U.S. census Soundex, so we turned to the 1880
U.S. census enumeration CD-ROM set published by the Family History Library to try to find the family. Again we
were challenged by the misspellings of the surname Heisel. In desperation we narrowed the search to men with the
given name of "Conrad" living in Chicago. We were lucky to find Conrad "Heison" without too much effort. The
family now included a daughter Emma, and they were enumerated on 12 June 1880.104
We were forced to skip the 1900 U.S. census since we do not have the Soundex for that census at the Dallas
Public Library. Because the 1910 U.S. census is not indexed for Illinois, we turned to the microfiche "Cross Index
to Selected City Streets and Enumeration Districts" for Chicago.05 This wonderful set of microfiche is another
underutilized resource. Based on requests to the National Archives for 1910 census data, the Archives staff
prepared a cross-reference of street addresses to enumeration districts for thirty-nine U.S. cities. If researchers are
looking for families in these cities and have a street address (or even a street name), this set of microfiche is an
invaluable finding tool. It can narrow an impossible search to a manageable one! The index includes not only large
cities like New York City and Chicago, but also smaller urban centers like Canton, Ohio, Grand Rapids, Michigan
and San Antonio, Texas.
We had verified that Conrad Heisel lived on Larrabee Street from 1868 to 1881 using the city directories,
and we also knew that he was still living on Larrabee Street when he died in 1914. The Heisel family lived at 431
Larrabee for many years, but the death notice found in the Bible gave two different addresses for the Conrad Heisel
family (1631 and 1630 Larrabee). Had they moved from 431 Larrabee Street, or had the houses been renumbered?
We started with 1631 Larrabee on the cross-index microfiche. Odd-numbered addresses for 1600-1739 Larrabee
Street were in enumeration district 986. However when we checked the census for the 1631 address, the Heisel
family was not there. We went back to the microfiche and learned that even-numbered addresses for 1600-1739
Larrabee were in enumeration district 991. Back to the census we went and found the family at 1630 Larrabee.06
The 1910 census revealed that Barbara Heisel had given birth to two additional children who had not
survived. Depending on when they were born and died, perhaps either or both appeared on the 1900 U.S. census
that we were unable to search.
According to the death notice in the family Bible, we knew that Conrad Heisel died in April 1914, but we
did not know when his wife Barbara Heisel died. The library does not have the Soundex for the 1920 census for
Illinois, and one does not exist for the 1930 enumeration. So we turned to the Internet for help.
Generation No. 2
We used the online services of ProQuest available through the TexShare Library system to find Emma
Heisel on the 1920 census still living at 1630 Larrabee Street. Her mother Barbara Heisel must have died between
1910 and 1920, because Emma Heisel was living alone when she was enumerated on 1 March 1920.107

10 The Dallas Genealogical Society