Discovery of Theodore Haág’s First Marriage, to Auguste Müller, and the Birth of their Son, Charles Theodore Edward Haag
In January 2013, taking advantage of some free credits on FindMyPast [1], I did a search for some of the unusual names in my family tree, one of them being that of my great grandfather, Theodore Haág. To my surprise in the Westminster Baptisms database I found a reference to an 1852 baptism in London of a Charles Theodore Edward Haag. My Theodore had arrived in London in 1851 and so it was possible that this could be his child.
When I looked at the transcription of the record, I was amazed to find that the child’s father was indeed Theodore Haag. Here is what the FindMyPast transcription showed:
• First Name: Charles Theodore Edward
• Last Name: Haag
• Collections from: United Kingdom
• Country: England
• Category: Vital Records (Birth, Marriage, Death)
• Record collection: Births & baptisms
• Record set: Westminster Baptisms
• County: Middlesex
• Year: 1852
• Mother's Given Name: Augustsa
• Father's First Name: Theodore
• Birth Year: 1852
• Parish: St John The Baptist, Great Marlborough Street
• Baptism: 30 May 1852
• Birth: 03 Mar 1852
I suspected that the baby’s mother’s name might be “Augusta” rather than “Augustsa” but I wasn’t able to access a copy of the original record. However my second cousin, Karen, in England was able to print and e-mail me a copy of the original and this is what it said (with question marks indicating a couple of illegible words):
- BAPTISMS solemnized in the Parish of St. John Baptist, in the German Church, Savoy Strand [2] in the County of Middlesex in the Year 1852
- When Baptised - 1852, May 30th
- Born - March 3rd, 1852
- Child’s Christian Name - Charles Theodore Edward
- Parents Names-
Christian - Theodore / Augusta [not Augustsa]
Surname - Haag
- Abode - Compton place, Brunswick Square
- Quality, Trade, or Profession - Musician
- By who the Ceremony was performed - Rev d Dr. Scholl // Sponsors. Mr (?) Chs. Jacobi & (?) Mother of the child.
The the fact that this Theodore’s profession was musician meant that this is definitely my Theodore. His musical career as a violinist and orchestra leader is well documented in the 19th century British newspapers, many now available on
line [3]. But because of early deaths of parents leaving minor children in two generations, we didn’t even know of the existence of Theodore until I discovered him through my family history research.
Looking up Compton Place [4] on the map, I found that it is within steps of a route I have taken many times to and from friend Marion’s friend’s apartment on Judd Street in London, not knowing that my great grandfather had once lived so close by!
Now that I had the baptism of a previously unknown child of Theodore’s, I checked on FreeBMD [5] on the internet and found the following entry for a March 1852 birth:
- Surname - Haag
- Given Name - Edward
- District - St. James
- Volume - 1a
- Page - 304
Could Edward Haag be the same person as Charles Theodore Edward Haag?
I ordered the birth registration from the General Register Office in London [6] at a cost of ₤ 9.25 ($15.14 CAD) and it arrived about 17 days later providing the maiden name of the mother, Auguste Müller. Here is the information contained on the certificate:
Registration District: Saint James Westminster
1852 BIRTH in the Sub-District of St. James Square in the County of Middlesex
1. When and where born: Third March 1852; 10 Queen Street, Regent Street
2. Name, if any: Edward HAAG
3. Sex: Boy
4. Name and Surname of Father: Theodor HAAG
5. Name, Surname and Maiden Surname of Mother: Auguste HAAG, formerly Müller
6. Occupation of Father: Musician
7. Signature, Description and Residence of Informant: Auguste Haag, Mother, 10 Queen Street, Regent Street
8. When registered: Thirtieth March 1852
9. Signature of Registrar: James Roberts, Registrar
When Theodore had arrived in London from Berlin via Bremen on the Magnet in 1851, the “List of Aliens” that the ship’s captain was required to provide shows that Theodore had signed the list as “Theodor Haag and Wife”. Until now, the earliest wife I knew about was Mary Margaret Reynolds (my great grandmother), mother of their five children born between 1857 and 1868. But according to the UK 1861 census [7], Mary Margaret was born about 1839 which would mean she was only about 12 in 1851, somewhat young to have been the “Wife” listed on the Magnet. The discovery of Edward Haag’s birth registration, with Auguste Müller as the mother, has provided the solution to this previously unsolved mystery.
A sad postscript was the discovery shortly afterwards on the LDS website [8], by my second cousin and fellow researcher, of a Carl Edward Theodore Hagg, and the following data:
- Burial date - 16 July 1852;
- Burial place - St James, Westminster, Middlesex;
- Birth date - 1852;
- Age - 0.
This name is also shows up on FreeBMD . With the details provided there - Deaths, Sep 1852; Hagg, Carl Edward Theodor; St James Westminster; vol. 1a; page 209 - the certificate has now been ordered and should arrive soon from the General Register Office.
Among the remaining questions:
- Where is Theodore and Auguste’s marriage certificate?
- Who and where were their parents? And siblings, if any? All I know of Theodore’s family is that his father was said to be Gustav Haag, a major in the Austrian army, deceased by the time of Theodore’s 1872 third marriage, to Sarah Underwood.
- Who is Charles Jacobi, shown as sponsor at Edward’s baptism?
- And what had happened to Auguste when by 1857 Theodore had started a new family with Mary Margaret Reynolds?
And some possible ways to find answers:
- Take advantage of free databases when they’re available.
- Search for your ancestors names under various spellings; for example, Haag, Haág , Hague, Haig, and even Hagg!
- Find a research buddy somewhere in the world, possibly by means of Genforum [9] which is where I found my second cousin.
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7 http://search.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=8767 or http://www.findmypast.co.uk/search/census/1861/person
