Oehlke

[Roy G]

Sorry about this, but its one of those complex crazy requests for info about an individual (now deceased) that seems to have moved about a bit. I have opted to place the details on the London Rootschat page, but it could equally be Kent (Greenwich), Essex, Germany, or the USA.  So here goes.

My friend's grandfather was Fritz Karl Reinhardt Oehlke, husband of Laura Grace Rogers born Camberwell 1894.  They married in Rochford Essex very late 1914 or first quarter of 1915 (FreeBMD) perhaps in order to legitimize the birth of their now deceased daughter Wilhemena (b Lambeth 1914).  A family story suggests that as Fritz was a German citizen in his early 20s, in 1915 he was in Essex on route to an internment camp in Ireland.  I suspect this line of enquiry, for it may have just been presented in that way to explain his subsequent disappearance.   Mother and daughter are known to have remained in the UK after the war, but nothing else is known of Fritz.

So my quest is to find out more about him, where he came from, where he went, and if there was any family tie with the only other UK Oehlkes from Germany who lived nearby in Greenwich?

Subsequent sightings on indexes to paying websites I do not subscribe to (so have not read) possibly place Fritz in the USA (March 1915 Chicago Tribune, and April 1915 Daily Review Illinois) so it crosses my mind that he was actually from a German family who had settled in the USA some years earlier and soon after his marriage, Fritz returned to America without his new wife and child.     

Are there any helpful Rootschatters out there that could dig a little deeper for me?

Regards and thanks in advance. Roy G

[KGarrad]

As far as I know, there were no Internment Camps in Ireland in WW1?

Possibly the Isle of Man?

Have you considered that he may have returned to Germany after the war?

[Roy G]

Thanks for the Irish Info, the IOM is a possibility, as is a return to to Germany by an obscure route. 
I was however, hoping that someone would do a quick look up on the USA newspapers for me.  It seems rather unusual that reports about an otherwise mundane German citizen should be newsworthy in the USA unless there was also a family or work connection over there.

I do not have a subscription that enables me to look up the entire texts of what may be a report on his marriage in The Daily Review, Decatur, Illinois, dated Apr 9 1915 (My Heritage), or a report that appears on page 3 of the Chicago Tribune dated 16 March 1915 (Fold3.com) that might be describing him as a German Embassy Chauffeur.

Roy G

[KGarrad]

as is a return to to Germany by an obscure route.

Not sure what you mean by this?

There are no Oehlke (or Ohlke) passengers on passenger list to USA, 1890-1960.
And no passenger lists for travel from UK to Europe at all!

[lizdb]

What occupation does he give on the marriage cert? (That might give a clue as to whether he was likely to bve travelling)

And who is his father? ( then you can investigate his wider family and see if it ties up with the ones in Greenwich or not)

The marriage was 1915 -

Jan/Feb/Mar 1915
Rochford
Ref 4a. 1030
Laura G Rogers / Fritz K R Oehike

[Roy G]

Sorry KG the word "Obscure" was used thinking you meant during the war and not "after it" as you wrote, which I discovered after a second reading.

My friend is awaiting copy marriage certs Lizdb, I'll know more then.  I also have to ask her a lot more questions, for I feel there is more to my understanding the story than she has given me so far

Still bugged by the American newspaper reports though!  WHY?
Roy G

[Annette7]

The item in the Daily Review, Decatur, Illinois on 9 April 1915 is actually just a 'news' item.

Headed 'ENGLISH GIRLS WED GERMAN PRISONERS

London - Four German prisoners in the transport Royal Edward at Southend taken ashore under escort and married at the registry office to 4 Englishwomen to whom they had been engaged'.

One of the couples is:
Fritz Karl Reinhold Oehlke, chauffeur, 21 and Laura Grace Rogers of 321 Lancaster St., Southwark

The case of the engaged girls aroused the pity of a philanthropic worker and as a result of her negotiations the authorities gave permission for the weddings to be celebrated at Southend registry.

Afterwards the grooms returned to the transports and the brides went their way.

Annette

[lizdb]

 They married in Rochford Essex very late 1914 or first quarter of 1915 (FreeBMD) perhaps in order to legitimize the birth of their now deceased daughter Wilhemena (b Lambeth 1914). 

Im not spotting the birth in the indexes for this child. Have you got her birth cert? Is Fritz named as the father?

If he is the father, then he could not have been in custody (or if he was, he sneaked out, or was not actually behind bars but was working locally in Lambeth area or wherever Laura was living, probably under curfew) at the time of her conception.   Alternatively, the baby could have been someone elses and Laura was a single parent before the whorlwind romance with Fritz, but either way she must have met him somewhere. 

Intriguing.

[KGarrad]

Laura Grace Rogers died 1981 Worthing?

(according to Ancestry trees, and FreeBMD?!)


And Wilhelmina married under the Oehlke surname in 1936, and died in 2004.