Prior to 2002, I had wrongly guessed that Maria might be the widow of Lawrence (or Lorenz) Schmerbaugh of Menominee Twp, Jo Davies Co., Illinois. Lawrence's wife's maiden name was Soul. That connection was based on some circumstantial evidence (Lawrence died about the right time) and some transcribed Jo Daviess Co. land records. However, the children of Lawrence and Maria Schmerbaugh shown in censuses never matched up with the children of Maria Schmerbaugh Nicklaus from Maria's first marriage (as named in her estate documents and other sources). So with the Dubuque, Iowa marriage record which shows her name as Maria Klaus and her husband as Michael, the theory linking her to Maria Soul and Lawrence Schmerbaugh is thrown out.
Children from Maria's Schmerbach marriage are identified on ``quit-claim'' legal documents and the like which were processed upon the death of Balthazar and Maria. Dennis Nicklaus has copies of these documents. These documents showed that there were 4 different children from Maria's first marriage who had claims on her estate. George Nicklaus bought out all their claims, for the most part. The children named were Christian, Wener (Werner?), and Mrs. Feranne Steffes. The quit-claim documents show another daughter had married a Klinkhammer, but the daughter had died before Maria because there is one quit-claim style document from a lawyer representing 4 Klinkhammer children (John, Herman, Joseph, and Mary) who had an inheritance right to the estate. Apparently these Klinkhammer children were grandchildren of Maria's. The daughter who married Mr. Klinkhammer and died turns out to be Catherine. (Catherine married Joseph Klinkhammer in 1885 in Dubuque and she died before 1895 in Heron Lake, Minnesota.) In the 1880 Census (Butler County, Iowa), for Balthazar Nicklaus Christian and Catherine Smearbaugh are listed as step-children of Balthazar Nicklaus, living in Balthazar and Maria's household.
I have put Elizabeth as Maria's middle name because she is named as Elizabeth in her Butler Co. death record (which also has her death date incorrectly listed as Nov. 25). I've otherwise only seen her named Mary (or Marie) E.
Sources for this individual: @S174@ @S8@ @S175@ @S70@ @S12@ @S15@ @S14@ @S345@
