Contents
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Showing both families — every line on the page. Pick a side to hide the other
family's ancestors; Earl, Kristin and their three children stay on either way.
Person · Elsie Lena Kretschmar Peterson
The record
- HHomethe fan · what changed · open questions
- MMigrationbirths and deaths on a map, by decade
- TTimeline609 entries · 5 eras
- PPeople290 cards, by generationElsie Lena Kretschmar Peterson
- LLines13 surname pages
The evidence
- DDocuments896 thumbnails, filterable
- SSourcesS1–S1207, with where each is cited
The findings
- How the wall came downProeger line
- The glass patentsProeger line
- How the Caffey half was closedCaffey line
- What the DNA saysits own page
- Four routesMigration
- The asymmetryLines
- Open questions20 questions
- Add to this recorda form, read by Earl
How to read this record
Every claim is tagged
Most family trees flatten everything into the same confident typeface. This one does not.
The three research tags below are the whole point of the exercise: they say what a document
proves, what the weight of evidence suggests, and what nobody has found yet. A fourth marks
what the family stated directly, where no document has been retrieved at all — it is kept
separate on purpose and is never quietly promoted to confirmed. A fifth, added on
13 September 2026, marks biological evidence: a DNA result is not a document, and it is not
testimony either. Two further labels mark where this page withholds information
rather than lacking it.
ConfirmedAttested by a document that was actually retrieved and read — a census sheet, a
government index, a grave marker, a family-written obituary.
ProbableStrongly supported but not nailed down: a user-contributed tree, a masked index field,
or a chain of consistent circumstances. Believable, not proven.
Not foundSearched for and not located. This is a statement about the search, not about the
person — the record may well exist somewhere unsearched.
Family testimonySupplied by the family and recorded on their word — no document has been retrieved for
it. Note the diamond rather than the dot: this is provenance, not proof, and it stands
apart from the three record tags above S24.
DNA evidenceBiological evidence consistent with a claim. It corroborates origins; it does
not by itself establish a person or a link. Note the bar rather than a dot or a diamond:
no DNA result on this page is ever counted as confirmed, because no document
was read for it S46.
Living — withheldThe person is living. By the privacy rule for this page, name and relationship are
shown, and at most a year the family has already published. Full dates of birth, ages,
places of residence and record identifiers are held back.
Research in progressA branch that is actively being worked on. The node exists in the structure so the
shape of the family is honest; the detail is simply not in yet.
- Born
- 18 January 1883
- Parents
- Julius Franz Kretschmar & Lena
- Married
- Christian F. Peterson
- Sources
- 7
Research status
Research status: CONFIRMED — added 24 September 2026 from a record that names the parents; entered in the family tree the same day.
Life in the order the records give it
Birth1883
Born
18 January 1883, Germany; Elsie in the 1900 household, the census entry now attached to her in the tree
S228Death1953
Named as Elsie Peterson in her father's obituary index
S296; died
11 November 1953Census1940
🆕 In 1940 she and Christian F. Peterson, 62, rented a place on
Fincher Lane, Precinct 6, Travis County; she was 57
S716. This census, like the 1950 one, gives her birthplace as Texas; the card keeps Germany, from her 1900 household. added 26 September 2026.
Family parents, marriages, children, siblings
Marriage1902
🆕 She married
Christian F. Peterson, a farmer born in Louisiana of Danish parents, about 1902–03. In 1910 they farmed near Creedmoor, Travis County, and she had borne five children, all living: Ruth, Arthur, Lawrence, Annie and Julius
S573; in 1920 the family also had Willie, probably the same son as Julius, and Nannie
S574; in 1930 Nannie and Edna were at home
S575; and by 1950 she and Christian lived in Austin
S576. The 1950 census says she was born in Texas, against Germany in the three earlier censuses. added 25 September 2026.
In the record
Generation 4 — Kristin's great-grandparents and their siblings
- S2281900 U.S. Federal Census — Fritz Kretschmar household, Justice Precinct 6, Travis County, Texas. Ancestry record 44341807; ED 117, sheet 21B, lines 78–86 (indexed "Kutzschmer"). Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. Fritz, 48, born Germany, immigrated in 1883, naturalized, married 21 years; Lena, 45, born February 1855, mother of 8 children, 8 living; Lizzie (Aug 1879), Clara (Aug 1881) and Elsie (Jan 1883), born Germany; Charlie (1886), Minnie (Mar 1888), Willie (October 1890) and Max (c.1895), born Texas. 🔑 Fritz is Julius Franz Kretschmar, born c.1851–52. ⚠ His card's 1868–1940 cannot stand against this sheet and [S230]; the card dates are under review and are not changed here.
- S296U.S., Newspapers.com™ Obituary Index, 1800s-current — Franz Kretschmar. Ancestry record 6597875. Index entry only — no image was examined, read 22 September 2026. Probable Indexed: Franz Kretschmar, born 20 Jun 1851, Germany; died about 1946; residence Elroy; children Charley, Will, Max, Lizzie Rojas, Clara Semff, Elsie Peterson, Minnie Reininger. Machine-indexed from his obituary. It independently gives the surname Semff. The daughters' married names are Probable.
- S5731910 U.S. census — Justice Precinct 6 (Creedmoor), Travis County, Texas, ED 89, sheet 21B. Ancestry record 144450270. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Christian Peterson, 32, farmer, born in Louisiana of Danish parents; Elsie, 27, born in Germany, married 7 years, 5 children born and living; Ruth 6, Arthur 5, Lawrence 4, Annie 2, Julius 1, all born in Texas.
- S5741920 U.S. census — Creedmoor, Travis County, Texas, ED 122, sheet 7B. Ancestry record 93582855. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Christian Peterson, 42, farmer; Elsie, 37, born in Germany; Ruth 16, Arthur 15, Lawrence 13, Annie 12, Willie 11, Nannie 5. Willie, 11, is probably the Julius of 1910.
- S5751930 U.S. census — Precinct 6, Travis County, Texas, ED 227-54, sheet 13A. Ancestry record 60656345. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Christian F. Peterson, 52, farm labourer, first married at 24; Elsie, 47, born in Germany, first married at 19; Nannie 15, Edna 9. This census gives Elsie's immigration as 1890; the family's passenger list is dated October 1883.
- S5761950 U.S. census — Austin, Travis County, Texas, ED 256-117B, sheet 1. Ancestry record 189579121. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Christian F. Peterson, 72, born in Louisiana; Elsie L., 67, keeping house. This census says Elsie was born in Texas; the three earlier censuses all say Germany.
- S7161940 U.S. census, Precinct 6, Travis County, Texas, Fincher Lane, ED 227-8, sheet 8A. Ancestry record 157060608. Image examined, read 26 September 2026. Confirmed Christian F. Peterson, 62, born Louisiana, and his wife Elsie, 57, born Texas; renting at $10 a month; both in rural Travis County in 1935. The index reads “Effie”.