Hi Amanda,
Reading over your e-mails again, I'm not sure I'm too clear on everything you're saying. I will start from the beginning of my story and you can see if there are parelells or anything helpful about it . My great-grandfather was Adolf (sp. ?) Tutas and his wife was Caroline. I have recently found out that they came from Poland, which at the time was Prussia, but near the Russian border. They had at least a dozen children of which my grandmother was the youngest of these; she was born in 1910. Adolf and Caroline settled in Wisconsin. Caroline did die shortly after my grandmother was born, possibly a suicide. So she did die young, as did your ancestor.
The story has always been that Adolf was in the Prussian army (at the time Poland and Germany were Prussia) and he had had some kind of trouble there that made him have to leave the country. We're not sure what. Maybe he killed an officer, even. He was said to have been a very violent man. My father met him at least once. However, apparently my aunt either possesses or has seen a copy of his military papers and there does not seem to be a confirmation of this.
The children did split up after the mother died. My grandmother, for instance, eventually went to live with her sister who was married. My grandmother did mention visiting a sibling once in Ohio or Kentucky. She was definitley the youngest, being born in 1910.
We know that my Tutas ancestors were born in Poland near Russia, and that the name could be Russian. It is also thought that my great-grandfather's (Adolf's) mother was Jewish as her name we think was Berkowitz or Berkowski, something like that.
So many parts of your story seem to paralell my own, except for the Ohio bit. However, I also know that Adolf and Caroline left children in Prussia before they came to the US. Thus, could your ancestor be one of those children? Or maybe Adolf and your ancestor were brothers or something and it was actually their father who had the military difficulties? I am a hundred percent sure, however, that Adlof and Caroline lived in Wisconsin. As I said, my dad once visited their farm. So if your ancestor just went straigth from the old country to Ohio, it may not be the same, although the stories are shockingly similar.
If any of this sounds familiar to anyone looking for info on Tutas ancestors, please contact my aunt at
bunsworth@masonwells.com She may have the info. you seek.