Military Monday: Mexican Expedition, 1916 - 1917

Rosina Hoffman Eiler's family was located two years ago with details added over time. Rosina, the wife of John Eiler, was the daughter of immigrant Margaret. I have just been entering some 1930 census data for Rosina's children and found something new to me. In the columns for Veterans I have seen more than "WW" which stands for World War and which we now call World War I, but the notation of "Mex" was new. It is on a page in Red Oak, Montgomery County, Iowa, where much of the family still lived in 1930. It was on the line for Henry L. Hixenbaugh, husband of Rosina's daughter Lizzie. That seemed to indicate the Mexican episode in which U.S. troops chased after Pancho Villa. The 1930 Census Enumerator Instructions provide the details.

"Mex" is the abbreviation to be used for the Mexican expedition. Further the instructions state: "Persons are not veterans of an expedition, however, unless they actually took part in the expedition. For example, veterans of the Mexican expedition must have been in Mexico or Mexican waters at the time of the expedition..."


Henry L. Hixenbaugh was not the only person on the page with that notation which might imply that a local unit was sent to the border. A website of the Iowa National Guard has more information and a link to a digital copy of an old publication that contains photos and names of the men in each unit of the guard involved in the Mexican Border Service 1916-1917. The Iowa guard was called up in late June 1916, trained about a month at Fort Dodge in Des Moines, then were transported by train to Brownsville, Texas. Guard units were entrusted with securing the Mexican border while regular troops pursued Villa. In December 1916 and January 1917 the Iowa Battalion consisting of three regiments of infantry and other troops returned home.


Henry served as a cook in Company M, 3rd Infantry, a unit from Red Oak as might be expected. He must have had many interesting stories to tell of his time on the border. Council Bluffs newspaper accounts at Ancestry.com show a Henry Hixenbaugh of Red Oak as interested in fostering a baseball program and politics serving as a councilman during the 1940s and 50s. Probably he was Lizzie's husband.

Iowa Troops in Mexican Border Service, 1916-1917, photographed, compiled and published by Dick Dreyer, Iowa City, Iowa

Rosina Hoffman Eiler in 1900

The Rosina Hoffman who married John Eiler in 1872 in Stephenson County, Illinois, appeared to be Rosa, wife of John "Iler," in the 1880 U.S. census in Keokuk County, Iowa. A 1900 U.S. census looks even more like it has to be our Rosina Hoffman.

Her name is listed as Rosina H. Eiler, perhaps with the H. standing for Hoffman. Her birth is stated to be in Switzerland in Jan. 1854. The baptism record of our Rosina Hoffmann in Oetwil am See, Canton Zurich, Switzerland, gave her birth date as 8 January 1854.¹ Immigration information is also on this census stating that Rosina H. Eiler arrived in the U.S. in 1864. Our Rosina appears on the passenger list of 25 June 1864 at New York City, New York, on ship Goeschen from Havre in company with her grandmother and uncles Christian and John.² She and John Eiler had been married for 27 years according to the census which matches the marriage record from Illinois.

With such an exact match for what already appeared to be the right person, I believed when I found this one that we definitely had our Rosina. She and John lived in Red Oak, the county seat of Montgomery County, Iowa. It is in the southwestern part of the state not far from Council Bluffs. He was an engineer for the CB&Q Railroad (Chicago, Burlington & Quincy). They had ten children, all living. John is listed at the bottom of one page, Rosina and seven of the children on the next page.³ Be sure to click on the page images to see them larger.

Next I'll add information from Iowa state census records, one of which has someone else special on it.


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1. Kirchenbuch, 1644-1875 (Oetwil am See); microfilm no. 996,487 (Salt Lake City, Utah: FHL (Zürich Staatsarchiv)), 1836-1875, p. 123, baptism register for 1854, no. 2. Also Kirchenbuch, 1600-1920 (Oberglatt, Zürich); microfilm no. 996,482 (Salt Lake City, Utah: Staatsarchiv, FHL), Book 4, p. 14.
2. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, NY, 1820-1897, microfilm publication M237 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives, ), roll 242; Goeshen, 25 June 1864, Rosena Hofmann, list 598, line 103. Also Staatsarchiv des Kantons Zürich (State Archives of Canton Zurich), Passerteilungen in Zürich nach Amerika und Australien 1848-1870 (Passports Issued in Zurich to America and Australia), downloadable publication online ( : accessed 16 April 2007).
3. 1900 U.S. census, Montgomery County, Iowa, population schedule, Red Oak City, Enumeration District (ED) 112, sheet 5A&B, dwelling 104, family 105, John Eiler household, digital image, Ancestry.com ( : accessed 11 March 2009), citing National Archives microfilm publication T623, roll 450.

Rosina Hoffman Eiler in 1880

When I found what appeared to be the marriage of Margaret's daughter Rosina Hoffman in 1872 (see Rosina married John Eiler) I looked for the couple in the 1880 census. I found a John "Iler" with wife Rosa. He was born in Hessia Darm[stadt] and she was born in Switzerland. He was a farmer and they were listed with two sons, Frederick and George. The location was Clear Creek Township in Keokuk County, Iowa.¹ They were in eastern Iowa not very far from the Illinois locations of other Hoffman family members. Here is the census page (remember to click on the image to see it larger) with a detail of the "Iler" family. Note that the census taker spelled John's name as it sounded just like the Stephenson County Clerk in the marriage record. It should be written as Eiler. I'll continue with the census records in the next post on Rosina.



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1. 1880 U.S. census, Keokuk County, Iowa, population schedule, Clear Creek Township, Enumeration District (ED) 159, sheet 185D, dwelling/family 61, John Iler household, digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 March 2009), citing National Archives microfilm publication T9, roll 349.

Rosina Hoffman married John Eiler

We hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas! If you've had a chance to read the newsletter, you'll have seen that we finally learned what became of Margaret (Hoffman) Blumhardt and her daughter Rosina Hoffman.

In March I found a marriage listed in the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763–1900, provided by the Illinois State Archives (http://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/archives/marriage.html). It took place in Stephenson County, just east of Jo Daviess, and the place where Margaret lived in 1880. The bride was Rosina Hoffman, the groom John Eiler, the date 14 December 1872. Eventually I determined this to be the right couple as detailed in the newsletter.

I wrote to the Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) at Northern Illinois University, the one covering Stephenson County, for a copy of the marriage record. They sent copies of the license with the minister's return and the separate affidavit. Click on the images to see them larger.


This is the license. In the affidavit below, you will see John's surname spelled "Iler" and Rosina's first name rendered some other way, written by a clerk no doubt, but it does contain John's signature.



I'll have more about this couple in future posts.