My great-grandmother, Elizabeth Julia Dunzinger is my mystery. I've found a few tidbits over the past couple of years but still haven't figured out where she was born or who her parents were. Elizabeth was born on 12 April, 1854, probably in New York, died on 24 December, 1929 in Dodgeville, Lee County, Iowa at age 75, and was buried on 26 December, 1929 in Franklin Township, Des Moines County, Iowa. An older family history book notes that she was born in "either Kingston or New York". Everyone assumed that Kingston was the town not too far from Burlington, Iowa. I have since found two Dunzingers in Kingston, New York but not of the correct age to be her parents. A written request to their local genealogical society has not yet been answered after 3 months.

Elizabeth was commonly known as Lizzie. Her middle name is listed as Juliana on their marriage license. Her last name has been seen spelled as Dunsinger, Duncenger, Duensing, Daninger or Donzinger in various documents. Family stories say she was born in New York and raised by her grandparents, who moved her to Burlington, Iowa after the death of her parents. These stories say she was employed by relatives in the Charles Wagner boarding house in Burlington. Charles Wagner was proprietor of the Valley Street Boarding House at 413 and 415 Valley Street in Burlington. She is found in the 1870 Census listed as Lizzie Dunsinger, 17, Servent in the Charles Wagner household with 22 other individuals listed as boarders, not counting the Wagner family. A news article was found in the papers of a grand-aunt with the notation ?These people were relatives of Grandma Panther? referring to Elizabeth Dunzinger. The article talks of Ziegelmuellers and Wagners who emigrated from Wemding, Germany, which is in the Donau-Ries district of Bavaria, Germany, arriving in America at New Orleans before traveling up the Mississippi by river boat. We?ve found Dunzinger, Wagner and Ziegelmueller families in Wemding, Bavaria. As of this writing, we have not yet found Elizabeth?s birth records or her parents in America.