Wolterman Genealogy - Week 27

Last in the line of known Riegers is my husband’s 4th great-grandfather Joseph Vincent. He was born in 1755 in Dewangen, Jagstkreis, Wuerttemberg, Germany. I do not have any knowledge of his parents or siblings.

On 20 October 1783 at the age of 28, Joseph married Catharina Appinn at the Catholic church in Dewangen. Catharina was 27 at the time. They had the following children, all boys: Joannes born 1784; Joseph born 1786; Franciscus born 1787; Joannes Balthasar born 1798; and Joannes born 1800.

Catharina died in 1811 at the age of 55. Joseph was 69 when he died in 1824. This is all the information I have on the Reger/Rieger family male line.

Wolterman Genealogy - Week 26

Joseph Rieger, my husband’s 3rd great-grandfather, was born 9 February 1786 in Dewangen, Jagstkreis, Wuerttemberg, Germany. He was one of 5 sons born to Joseph Vincent and Catharina (Appinn) Rieger. He was baptized in the Catholic faith on 10 February 1786.

On 19 February 1817, when he was 31, Joseph married 17-year-old Ursula Strobel at the Catholic church in Huettlingen. This town was a distance of 7.5 km from Dewangen. They had the following children: Veronica born 1818; Maria Anna born 1820; Joseph born 1822; Anton born 1824; Caspar born 1828; Maria Theresia born 1829; Johannnes born 1832; and Victoria born 1837. All of the children were born in Germany.

As I mentioned in the last post, I have not been able to find the passenger list for this family, but I believe they came to the United States after 1850. I can’t find them in the 1850 federal census. I found one reference to a Joseph Rieger arriving in Philadelphia in 1852, but it is just an index so I can’t be certain it is the correct person.

Joseph died on 5 January 1858 in Cambria, Pennsylvania. He was 71 years old. Ursula lived to be 83, passing on 14 February 1883 in Carrolltown, Cambria, Pennsylvania.

Wolterman Genealogy - Week 19

Nordlohne, Germany

This week’s post is about my husband’s 3rd great-grandfather, Albert Herman Lutchel. Albert was born in 1813 in Nordlohne, which is a village in the Lower Saxony county of Bentheim. Germany. His parents are unknown at this time. Sometime before 1848, Albert made his way to America.

On 20 February 1848, he married Anna Adelheid Dauenberg in Cincinnati, Ohio. On 5 September 1850, Albert purchased land in District 7 of Dubuque County, Iowa where he established his farm. He and Anna had the following children: Herman Bernard born 1850; Anna Maria Elisabetha born 1852; Anna Catharina born 1853; Maria Sophia born 1855; Anna Maria born 1857; and Elisabeth born 1859.

Albert died 15 March 1859 in New Vienna at the age of 46, when his youngest child Elisabeth was just 8 days old. Anna was left a widow with children ages 9, 7, 6, 4, 2, and a newborn. On 26 July 1859, Anna married Johan Wilhelm Pottebaum at St. Boniface Church in New Vienna, Dubuque County, Iowa. She and the children moved to Johan’s farm in nearby Liberty Township. They had a son, Henry, who was born in 1860 when Anna was 42 years old. Anna died on 26 February 1861.

By the 1870 census John had remarried and the census shows that his and Anna’s son Henry was living with him and his new wife, in addition to three children he had with the new wife. None of Albert and Anna’s 5 children (their daughter Anna Catharina died at the age of 10 in 1863) remained in the household of their stepfather. One can only imagine how terrible it must have been for them to lose both of their parents so young, and to then be separated from each other.

This post marks the end of the Lutchel family line in my research.

Wolterman Genealogy - Week 16

My husband’s 5th great-grandfather was Mathias Woerdehoff, who was born in Hegensdorf, Westphalia, Germany in 1709. At this time I do not know anything about his parents or siblings. On 25 January 1735 he married Anna Maria Rinschen in Hegensdorf.

Mathias and Anna Maria had the following children: Johannes Georg born 1735; Johannes Antonius born 1737; Johannes Theodorus born 1739; Adam Joseph born 1742; Anna Maria Catharina born 1744, died before 1750; Franziskus Henricus (whom I wrote about last week) born 1747; Anna Maria Catharina born 1750; and Maria Elizabeth born 1752.

On 18 October 1775, Mathias passed away in Hegensdorf at the age of 66. Anna Maria lived the rest of her life in Hegensdorf, and was 76 when she died on 24 April 1787.

This marks the end of the Woerdehoff line in terms of documentation that I have found on the family.

Wolterman Genealogy - Week 15

Franziskus Henricus Woerdehoff was born in Hegensdorf, Westphalia, Germany on 14 March 1747. He was the youngest son of Mathias and Anna Maria (Rinschen) Woerdehoff. On 24 January 1775, Franziskus married Catherine Margaretha Bickmann in Hegensdorf.

Franziskus and Catherine had the following children: Johannes (whom I wrote about last week) born 1775; Alexander born 1777, Angela born 1779; and Anna Maria born 1783. Catherine died in Hegensdorf on 1 November 1808 at the age of 56. Franziskus was 62 when he died the next year on the 26th of July.

Wolterman Genealogy - Week 14

My husband’s 3rd great-grandfather was also named Johannes Woerdehoff. He was born to Franziskus Henricus and Catherine Margaretha (Bickmann) on 10 March 1775 in Hegensdorf, Westphalia, Germany. Located in a wooded and hilly area in northwestern Germany, this village may also be referred to as Hegensdorf, Paderborn, Nordrhein-Wesfalen. Paderborn indicates the administrative district that Hegensdorf is located in, and Nordrhein-Westfalen refers to the state. Hegensdorf is one of the oldest villages in the district, and was first mentioned in a document in 975. The local Catholic church is St. Vitus, which dates back to at least 1353.

St. Vitus Catholic Church

In the 1800s, the average population in the village was 450. About 100 of those residents left in that century to head to America and other locations. Included in that number were Conrad Woerdehoff, whom I wrote about last week, and his wife and children.

On 24 November 1808, Johannes married Anna Maria Isabella Josepha Ruether in Hegensdorf. They had the following children: Johannes Conradus (Conrad) born 1810; Vitrus Everhardus born 1812; Johann Herman Aloysius born 1816; and Anna Maria Christina Theresia born 1820.

Having lived his entire life in Hegensdorf, Johannes died at the age of 53 on 7 May 1828. His youngest child was only 8 years old at the time. His wife Anna Maria died 13 April 1835 at the age of 48.

Wolterman Genealogy - Week 13

As recorded in the records of Holy Cross Parish in Hegensdorf, Westphalia, Germany, Johannes Conradus Woerdehoff (AKA Conrad) was born 6 December 1810. He was the oldest child of Johannes and Anna Maria (Ruether) Woerdehoff. The Woerdehoffs of Wesphalia were farmers, not landowners. That fact most likely contributed to Conrad’s later decision to emigrate to America, though he was the only one in his family to leave Germany.

St. Birgitta, Weiberg

He married Catharina Margaretha Wübbeke (whose name also may be shown as Wibbeke)) on 18 November 1843 at St. Birgitta in Weiberg, Westphalia. He was 33 and Margaretha, as she was known, was 22.

Their first 5 children were born in Germany: Johann Wilhelm in 1844; Aloysius Louis in 1848; Elizabeth in 1851; Mary in 1853; and Herman Conrad in 1855.

On 13 April 1857, a travel pass from the Royal Prussian government was issued to Conrad, granting permission for him and his family to emigrate to the United States. The pass indicated that Conrad was 5’6” in height with blackish hair and blue eyes, and was only valid for 40 days. The Woerdehoff family of 7 sailed from Bremerhaven aboard the sailing packet Ernestine the latter part of April 1857. There were 309 passengers on board the ship, which arrived in New Orleans on 17 June 1857.

Ernestine sailing vessel

The Ernestine began its life as the U.S. ship Columbus, built in New York in 1834. These boats were called packets because their original purpose was for shipping mail and freight. In 1847, the Columbus was purchased by a Bremen firm, which renamed her the Ernestine.

Ernestine passenger list

While the passenger list showed that the final destination of the Woerdehoffs was St. Louis, the family instead continued traveling up the Mississippi River to Dubuque. Many German immigrants entered the United States through the port of New Orleans and traveled by boat on this same route because they had heard of German settlements in Iowa, with the additional attraction of Catholic churches being built there.

possible photo of Conrad ~1860

Conrad purchased 40 acres of virgin land from the U.S. government in July of 1857. It was located in Section 9 of Bremen Township, Delaware County, Iowa. He built a log home and planted crops, gradually increasing his holdings to 120 acres.

While the family became some of the first members of St. Boniface Church in New Vienna, they joined St. Francis Xavier Parish in Dyersville when that church was completed in 1862. They worshipped at St. Francis until Saints Peter and Paul parish was constructed in Petersburg in 1868.

Margaretha and Conrad had 5 more children who were born on the family farm: Margaretha in 1858; Anton in 1860; Bernadine in 1860 (Anton and Bernadine were twins); Catherine (whom I wrote about in Week 12) in 1862; and Henry in 1866.

Conrad and Margaretha's children 

Conrad died of pneumonia on 1 May 1870 at the age of 60. He is reportedly buried at St. Francis Cemetery in Dyersville, though there is no tombstone for him. Quite probably there was no money to purchase a stone. His widow, with 9 children still at home, managed to keep the farm and even pay off the mortgage. Margaretha died on 7 March 1893 at the age of 72. She is buried in the cemetery at Saints Peter and Paul.

Margaretha Wübbeke Woerdehoff

Wolterman Genealogy - Week 11

Johann Hermann Bernard Determan, my husband’s 4th great-grandfather, was born about 1745 in Lower Saxony, Germany. I have no information regarding his parents or any siblings he might have had. On 30 April 1777, he married Anna Gertrude Knoop in Lengerich. He was 32 and since Anna was only 17 it is possible that she was not his first wife.

Their son Johann Wilhelm, who was the subject of my last post, was born 24 August 1778 in Lingen. The only other child I have a record of is Johann Gerard Jakob, who was born 25 July 1780 in Lingen.

Johann Hermann died in Lingen on 19 September 1802 at the age of 57. His wife Anna was just 52 when she died on 30 March 1812, presumably in Lingen.

This marks the end of the Determan line in terms of documentation that I have found on the family.

Wolterman Genealogy - Week 10

In the last post I talked about Bernhard Clemens Determan. This week his father, Johann Wilhelm Determan, is the topic of discussion. Johann was born 24 August 1778 in Lingen, Germany. Lingen dates back to 975, and today has a population of about 57,000. It is the largest town in the district of Emsland in Lower Saxony.

Johann was the son of Johann Hermann Bernard and Anna Gertrude (Knoop) Determan. He married Anna Maria Koelker on 24 September 1801 in Recke, Germany, which is about 39 km (or 24 miles) from Lingen. Johann was 23 and Anna Maria 20 at the time of their marriage.

They had the following children: Christina Elisabeth born 25 April 1803; Johann Henrich born 28 June 1804; Hermann Bernard born 6 November 1807; Anna Maria born 13 August 1808; Bernhard Clemens (whom I wrote about last week) born 17 May 1815; Kathleen Friederike born in 1816; Benedict Richard born 14 June 1821; Herman Bernard 8 July 1823; Maria Caroline born 30 October 1826. Of the 10 children, at least 8 of them came to America and lived and died in Iowa.

Johann died in Germany 18 March 1837 at the age of 58. It is unclear when his wife Anna Maria passed away.

Wolterman Genealogy - Week 9

Bernhard Clemens Determan, my husband’s 2nd great-grandfather, was born 17 May 1815 in Hestrup, a parish in Lengerich which is a municipality in the Emsland district of Lower Saxony, Germany. His parents were Johann Wilhelm and Anna Maria (Koelker) Determan. He was their 5th in a line of 10 children.

Lower Saxony region, with Lengerich indicated
by the red star

Clemens, as he was commonly known, married Maria Anna Sander in Lengerich on 3 February 1841. They came to America aboard the ship Leontine in 1845, departing from Bremen and arriving in New Orleans on 7 January 1845. The Leontine was a three-masted ship of 758 tons built at Vagesak for D.H. Watjen & Co. She was first launched on 19 April 1844. The ship master was Wilhelm Johann Ariaans. Traveling with them were their children: Johan Bernard Joseph born 9 August 1841 in Lengerich; and Johan Clemens born 29 August 1843 in Lengerich. There were other Determan relatives onboard the ship as well, and a 19-year-old man named William Wolterman. I’m not sure if he fits anywhere in the Wolterman tree or not.

The family first settled in Galena, Illinois. The family grew by two more children in Galena: Mary Caroline born 13 April 1846; and Friedrick Wilhelm born 5 November 1847. By 1849 the family had relocated to Hampshire Township in Clinton County, Iowa, where Clemens established a farm. The following children were born here: Rosanna born 28 May 1849; Benedict born 18 October 1850; Mary born 1 February 1853; Heinrich born 10 June 1854; Herman born 9 Jan 1856; and Steven Bernhard born 14 December 1859.

Hampshire Township 1865

Determan land 1865

The Clemens Determan farm is noted above by the red star. It was northwest of the original settlement of Lyons. Lyons was established by Elijah Buell, who arrived in the area on 25 July 1835. It was then platted as a village in 1837, a few years before Clinton County was officially created. It grew into a city, and in 1894 was included in the northern portion of the city of Clinton. The 1860 census for Clinton County was 18,938.

Determan home and barn

Clemens donated some of his farmland for St. Boniface Church to build a Catholic school in order to ensure that German would be taught. Later a dance hall, a saloon, and a shed for the horses were constructed as well. At one time 30 children attended the school, most whom were Determans or relatives of them.

Maria died 1 January 1860 at the age of 43 in Lyons, Clinton County, Iowa, just a few weeks after giving birth to Stephen. Her death certificate indicates Dropsy as her cause of death.

A few short months later on 29 April 1860 Clemens married Maria’s niece, who had the same name - Maria Anna Sander. Talk about confusing! Reportedly, Maria #1’s brother Johann Heinrich Sander, his wife Maria Anna (Vanderhar) and their daughter Maria #2 had been working on the Determan property at the time. Maria #2 was 22 and Clemens was 45 when they married. Clemens fathered 10 more children with his second wife. They were listed in the previous blog post, which can be found here.

Clemens and Maria #2 Determan's children

Clemens died at the age of 66 on 23 May 1881 in Clinton County, Iowa. He is buried in St. Boniface Cemetery in Lyons, Iowa. Maria #2 died 8 July 1884 when she was just 47 years old. Her youngest child was only 5 at the time. In the 1885 Iowa census Louie, Anthony, John, Maria Catherina, and Leo were all living with their older half-siblings, with Rosanna being listed as the head of household. She was 36 and had never married, but indeed became a mother nonetheless with the passing of her step-mother.

Wolterman Genealogy - Week 6

The last Woltermann male about whom I have information is Geert Jans Woltermann, my husband's 5th great-grandfather. What I do have on him is very limited. I know nothing about his parents, or when he was born.

On 22 November 1765, Geert married Hindertje Michels. The marriage took place in Weener, Ostfriesland, Germany. As I mentioned in the last post, they had at least one child - Jan Geert Woltermann.

To date I have found no records on the death dates of either Geert or his wife, Hindertje.

Wolterman Genealogy - Week 5

The father of Gerrit Jans Woltermann, who I wrote about last week, was Jan Geert Woltermann. Jan was born 24 October 1761 in Mohlenwarf, Lower Saxony, Germany to Geert Jans and Hindertje (Michels) Woltermann. He was baptized 25 October 1761 in Hannover, Germany. While he undoubtedly had siblings, I have not yet found any records for any brothers or sisters.

Weener, Germany

On 6 May 1781 Jan Geert Woltermann married Gepke Boelen in Weener, Lower Saxony, Germany. The town of Weener is on the Ems River near the border of the Netherlands. Gepke Boelen was born 20 March 1760 in Tichelwarf, Ostfriesland, Germany. They had the following children: Gerrit Jans born in 1792, Jan born in 1797, and Hindertje born in 1804.

Jan Geert Woltermann died 8 July 1816 in Tichelwarf, Ostfriesland, Germany at the age of 54. It is unclear when his wife Gepke passed away.

Wolterman Genealogy - Week 4

First, let me mention that the Woltermann families were members of the Lutheran Church in Germany. Their town of Stapelmoorheide was located in Church District V. To date I have been unable to identify which church they worshipped in. Perhaps it was the Cross Church in nearby Stapelmoor, which is one of the oldest churches in Ostfriesland.

Cross Church

Johann (John) Gerhard was the subject of last week’s post. This week I’ll be talking about his father, Gerrit Jans Woltermann. Gerrit was born 21 November 1792 in Stapelmoorheide, Ostfriesland, Germany to Jan Geerds Woltermann and Gepke (Boelen) Woltermann. His brother Jan was born 6 October 1797, and brother Hindertje about 1804 in the same town.

On 29 March 1829, Gerrit married Helena Jans Boze in Hannover. Helena was born in Brual, Emsland, Germany, which is 4 km from Stapelmoorheide but 260 km from Hannover. Why were they married in Hannover? The Cross Church in Stapelmoor would have been much closer since it was just 3.5 km away.

Gerrit and Helena set up their household in Stapelmoorheide, where son Johann (John) Gerhard was born on 24 June 1829. (Maybe they married in Hannover because Helena was 6 months pregnant at the time of their marriage?) Their daughter Antje was born 16 September 1832. Antje married Johann Eugene Williams around 1852, and they had three sons: Wilhelm born in 1853, Heinrich born in 1857, and Johann born in 1862. Unfortunately, Antje died on 23 October 1865 at the age of 33.

Gerrit and Helena made the decision to leave their homeland in 1869. His brother Hindertje had died in 1828, and his brother Jan in 1859, With the passing of their daughter Antje in 1865, perhaps they felt there was nothing keeping them in Germany. Especially since their son Johann had emigrated with his family in 1868.

When Gerrit and Helena left Germany, their daughter's three sons accompanied them. I have no information on whether Antje’s husband Johann was still alive at that time or not. He was not listed as being on the ship with them. Gerrit was 77, Helena 70, Wilhelm 17, Heinrich 12, and Johann 6. They traveled aboard the bark "Olbers".

bark Olbers

A bark (or barque) is a sailing ship of three or more masts, having the foremasts rigged square and the aftertaste rigged fore-and-aft. The journey from Germany to the United States on one of these sailing vessels could take anywhere from five to eight weeks, depending on the winds and weather. Passengers typically had to bring their own food, bedding, and pots and pans. Due to close living quarters and poor sanitary conditions, travel for the elderly and children was particularly hazardous.

The "Olbers" was named for Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers (1758-1840), who was a famous physician and astronomer from Bremerhaven. It was built by J.C. Tecklenborg in Bremehaven and delivered to its owner, a shipping company named D.H. Watjen & Co., on 23 May 1863. Its gross tonnage was 894, the length was 151.5’, the beam was 32.1’ and the draft was 20.8’.

Herman Dieke was Master of the "Olbers", which sailed from the Port of Bremen to Baltimore, Maryland. There were 392 passengers on this particular passage. In notes that were transcribed by the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild, it is noted that the Woltermann family was from Stapelmoor, Ostriesland, and that the three children were the grandchildren of Gerrit. It also states that Helena was the second wife of Gerrit, and that her maiden name was Boose/Boze. So far I have seen no records to indicate that Gerrit was married prior to his 1829 marriage to Helena. Most importantly, it is also recorded that Gerrit died on the journey and was buried at sea.

The "Olbers" arrived in Baltimore on 20 July 1869. Helena somehow got herself and the three children from Baltimore to Forreston, Ogle, Illinois where her son Johann (John) and his wife Anna and their children had been living since leaving Germany the previous year. In the Forreston 1870 census, Helena was in the household of John and his family, and so was her grandson Johann. I have found her other grandson Wilhelm living with another family in Forreston as a hired hand, but I don’t know where Heinrich was residing. He would have only been 13 at that time. In the 1880 census Heinrich was living with brother Wilhelm and his family in Forreston, and Johann was a farm hand living with an unrelated Forreston family.

By 1880 Johann (John) and Anna had moved to Carroll County, Iowa and Helena went with them. She died after 1880, probably in Wheatland Township, Carroll, Iowa. It is unclear where she was buried. I do not see a burial listing for her at Saint Bernard Cemetery in Breda, which is where her son and some of his family were laid to rest.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 51

Since the writing prompt for last week was Naughty, it makes sense that this week’s would be Nice. I searched through the names in my family tree, looking for one that would be fun to write about. I found an Edgar Allan Poe, but first of all that was probably not a nice name to grow up with, and second he was a very distant relative by marriage only.

Then I found the name Rudolph Kemper, my paternal 4th great-uncle. Since it is just days before Christmas, I thought it might be fun to take a look at him. Rudolph was born about 1825 in Germany, the son of Henry William Kemper (my paternal 4th great-grandfather) and an unknown mother.

Henry arrived in Louisiana aboard the ship Mississippi on 23 December 1846, accompanied by his children: Anna Mary Kemper age 23, Herman Henry Kemper age 11, and Catherine Mary Kemper age 9. As Rudolph was 21 when the family left Germany, he either remained behind or had already traveled to America. I am assuming that Henry’s wife died in Germany prior to their departure.

The name Rudolph derives from two stems: hrod meaning fame, and olf meaning wolf. So in translation the meaning would be fame-wolf. In the United States we are all much more familiar with the name being associated with a famous reindeer. As the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer did not appear until 1939, Rudolph Kemper did not have to bear the bullying of other children laughing and calling him names. It would be interesting to know, though, if he did Americanize his name once he came to his new homeland. Did he go by Rudy? Or perhaps Rolf?

On my maternal side of the family, I have a 1st cousin 4 times removed who is named Rudolphus Orth. He was born in Germany in 1812. His brother John Orth named a son Rudolph Orth in 1845. So I have had a few fame-wolfs in the family.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 45

While I have some photographs of male ancestors that I have collected over the years, I do not have one that I think qualifies for the writing prompt Bearded. Instead, I’ll talk about the three brothers who all looked very similar, right down to their stylish mustaches.

My maternal second great-grandparents, Joseph Henry Metz and Barbara (Karch) Metz of Insheim, Germany had nine children, four of whom were boys. The youngest boy, who was also the baby of the family, was my great-grandfather Peter Metz.

One child, Magdalena, died in Insheim, Germany when she was just two months old, but I believe all of the other children lived and died in the Cincinnati/Covington greater area following their emigration to America.

Nicholas, Barbara, Anna and Elisabeth

For three of the four boys, I have been able to locate photographs. The oldest child was Nicholas Metz, who was born in Insheim on 8 August 1842 and died in Cincinnati on 26 February 1920. He arrived in America in 1866, traveling with his mother and five of his siblings aboard the Fulton. By the 1870 census he was living in Cincinnati with his mother and three brothers, Joseph, John, and Peter. Nicholas married Carolyn Blanner, and they had four children: Magdalena, Rosa, John, and Mary. The photo shows him with his sisters Barbara Metz Zimmer, Anna Maria Metz Radenheimer, and Elisabeth Metz.

Joseph and Rosina

Joseph Metz was born 2 October 1853 in Insheim and he died 25 September 1925 in Cincinnati. He was on the same ship as his mother and siblings, arriving in America in 1866. In 1877 he married Magdelena Germann, and they had five children: William, John, Joseph, Elizabeth, and Helen. Joseph is pictured with his sister Rosina Metz Strassel.

Peter Metz (my great-grandfather) was born in Insheim 30 May 1862 and died in Cincinnati on 4 February 1935. He was only four years old when he arrived in America with his family. On 3 November 1887 he married Bridget Maher, and they went on to have five children: Helen, Mary (my grandmother), Alice, Stella, and Walter. He and Bridget are pictured, probably in the 1920s.

Peter and Bridget

What struck me first in looking at the photos is how much the three men resemble each other. The second thing I noticed is that they all wore their mustaches the same way. I have never seen a photograph of their father Joseph Henry Metz as he died of a bee sting in Insheim at the age of 43. It would be so interesting to see if his sons looked like him. And if he, too, favored wearing a mustache.

Nicholas, Joseph and Peter

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 20

The writing prompt for this week, Another Language, stumped me for a bit. I don’t speak another language, and outside of a few German words carelessly thrown out by my father, no other language was ever spoken in our house. I don’t remember any of my grandparents speaking anything besides English.

truck of one of my Swiss cousins

However, when I traveled on my genealogy trip to Germany and Switzerland, language became a huge issue for me. Luckily most of the people I encountered spoke English. In both of the small hometowns I visited I was provided with a translator. The new relatives I met, with the exception of a couple of teenage girls, could only talk to me through the interpreter. That worked out pretty well, until the evening I spent alone with two cousins. They spoke no English and I spoke no German, and we went out to dinner together. Have you ever spent a few hours with someone and been unable to communicate? It was frustrating, for me as well as them, I’m sure. Not for the first time, I regretted not taking a German for Travelers class before I embarked on this journey. We resorted to drawing pictures on napkins, creating our own form of communication.

Kubler record

But most discouraging was the fact that all the records were in German, and in an old script to boot. I got to the point where I could at least recognize the name, and we took photos of the entries in each book. But there was no time to process how the people fit into my family tree. Between my photos and those taken by the man who was assisting me in looking for my family, I have hundreds of new names. Some I have been able to plug into my genealogy program, but many are stored on CDs that were given to me. I just don’t know what to do with them, short of hiring a German genealogist to make sense of all of them.

It is, indeed, another language. But it is all Greek to me.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 13

Schwein home

This week’s writing prompt, the old homestead, took me back to my visit to Steinweiler, Germany in September of 2013. Steinweiler is a small (current population around 2,000) town in the Rhineland-Palatinate region. The area was first populated in 968, though it was not called Steinweiler until 1585.

It was there that I saw the home of my 6th great-grandparents, Johann Ulrich Schwein and Margarethe (Erbauer) Schwein. Ulrich, as he was known, was most likely born in Steinweiler though I have been unable to find information about his parents or date of birth. I do know, however, that in 1717 he married Margarethe Erbauer in Steinweiler.

The couple built their house in Steinweiler of half timber construction, which was common in both rural and town locations in Germany at that time. The frame of the building was made of timber, usually oak as it was plentiful. Triangular bracing was added to give additional support. The space between the timbers was filled with a mixture of branches, clay and straw. Plaster was then layered over that. The timber often remained visible both inside and outside the building.

As was popular, Ulrich had his name and the year his household was established etched into the facade of the house. The symbol between his name and the date let people know that Ulrich was a blacksmith. As Schwein indicated the occupational name for a swineherd, the family most likely had pigs as well. The construction of the house would indicate that animals were kept there as well, as you can see from the photo in the bottom right.

While I was photographing the outside of the house, the owner arrived home from work. My German guide explained to him why I was taking pictures, and he invited us to see the inside. It was beyond thrilling to cross the very threshold that my ancestors had crossed hundreds of years ago. I still get goosebumps when I think about it.

Schwein house kitchen and courtyard

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 11

The writing prompt for this week, Lucky, can be taken many ways. With all my Irish heritage, it would be easy to default to writing about my Ireland roots since it’s St. Patrick’s Day. Instead, I think I’ll write about how luck played a part in finding out more about my Kubler heritage.

My dad always said that our Kubler family was from Germany. He didn’t know what part of that country we came from, only that he had heard Germany was the homeland. But I wasn’t having any luck finding a link between the family and Germany.

My grandfather, Joseph Henry Kubler, was born in Connersville, Indiana, and my great-grandfather Henry Kubler was raised in the same town. My 2nd great-grandfather, Vincenz Josef Kubler, had moved to Connersville with his wife and children around 1870.

On several occasions I traveled to Connersville, and I was able to piece together the lives of the family members in this town. Vincenz, who was known as Joseph in the community, operated a grocery store in town. In an account that was written about his store, they mentioned that Joseph was a native of Switzerland. This was my first inkling that the Kubler family came not from Germany but from Switzerland.

Joseph Kubler stone

Through a search at the local cemetery, I was able to locate the Kubler headstone, and determine when Joseph Kubler died. That led me to the library to look through the local newspaper, where I found a story about Joseph’s death. The article stated that he dropped dead after mass on a Sunday morning at St. Gabriel’s Catholic Church. He was 38 years old. It went on to mention that Joseph was born in Büsserach, Canton Solothurn, Switzerland.

Finding that death notice was the missing piece I needed to determine the ancestral hometown of my 2nd great-grandfather. That knowledge led to a trip to Büsserach several years ago, culminating with a family gathering in a nearby castle. Now THAT was some luck!

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 4

Week 4 of the challenge asked the question, "Which ancestor would I most like to invite to dinner?" My answer is Barbara Karch Metz, my maternal second great-grandmother. I’ve had a great admiration for her ever since I learned that following the death of her husband in Germany, she boarded a ship with 6 of her children and headed to America. Here is her story.

Insheim, Germany

Insheim Catholic Church

Born in Insheim, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany to Johann Joseph March and Maria Barbara Pfalzer on 29 March 1820, Barbara was the oldest of four girls. At the age of 21, she married Joseph Henry Metz on 16 February 1842 at the Catholic church in Insheim.

Barbara and Joseph had nine children, all of whom were born in Insheim: Nicholas b. 1842, Anna Maria b. 1843, Barbara b. 1846, Elizabeth b. 1849, Magdalena b. 1852 and died 1852, Joseph b. 1853, Rosina b. 1856, Johannes b. 1859, and Peter b. 1862. On 27 September 1862 Joseph Henry Metz died, reportedly from a bee sting. He was only 43, and my great-grandfather Peter was just four months old.

SS Borussia

By the next year the two oldest daughters, Anna Maria and Barbara, emigrated to the United States on the SS Borussia, a sailing vessel in the Hamburg-American Line. The ship arrived in New York on 15 July 1863. The sisters then made their way to Cincinnati, Ohio, possibly because their father’s brother, Adam Metz, was living there with his family.

SS Arago, sister ship to the SS Fulton
photo from US National Archives

In 1866, Barbara and her remaining 6 children traveled from Insheim to Le Havre to board the SS Fulton, a paddle-steamer in the New York & Havre Company line. The journey would have taken around 14 days. Barbara was 47 at that time, and her children were the following ages: Nicolas-24, Elizabeth-18, Joseph-9, Rosina-7, Johannes-5, and Peter-3. From New York, Barbara and the children made their way to Cincinnati.

Family lore has it that once Barbara and her family arrived in Cincinnati, they did not know where to go. So they all gathered around a Metz meat truck, hoping to get assistance. This Metz was not related to her deceased husband, but it was a name she recognized. I’m not sure if there is any fact to the story, but it is a fun one nonetheless.

Barbara was 73 when she died in Cincinnati on 29 April 1893.

If I had an opportunity to dine with Barbara, I would ask her about her husband Joseph’s death, and how the family survived in Insheim for nearly four years without him. I would want to know what it was like to leave the only town she had ever known, and what relatives were left behind. What was the voyage by ship like? How did they get to Cincinnati from New York - train? What did she think of her new country when she arrived in Cincinnati? Did they really sit by a Metz’s meat truck hoping someone could direct them in their new city? And finally, I would want to tell her how amazing I think she was for giving up her life in Germany to hopefully provide her children with a better life in the United States.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 3

Longevity is the prompt for Week 3 of the writing challenge. This prompted me to dig into my family tree to find the ancestor who far exceeded the average life expectancy at the time of death. So while I have ancestors who were older when they died, and in fact have aunts who are still living in their 90s, I am intrigued by my paternal second great-grandfather, Johann Heinrich Berhard Boegel. He was 83 when he died in 1920, but according to a study from the University of California - Berkeley, the average life expectancy for a male in the United States in 1920 was 53.6 years. He exceeded the average by nearly 30 years!

Teutoburg Forest

Johann (sometimes going by Henry, other times as John) was born on 1 March 1837 in Lengerich, in the Kingdom of Prussia to Frederich and Christine Boegel. The area became part of Germany in 1871. Established in 1147, Lengerich is located about 30 km northeast of Münster in North Rhine-Westphalia, and is small community situated on the southern slope of the Teutoburg Forest. When he was 21, Johann traveled alone to Bremen, a distance of 139 km, where he boarded the SS Auguste for passage to America. The Auguste was built for the Bremen shipping company E.C. Shramm and Co., and was launched on 2 November 1850. The ship could carry 358 people.

typical 1850s sailing vessel

The Auguste was most likely a sailing ship as it was not until around 1865 that more emigrants traveled by steamship than sailing vessels. The average length of the voyage would have been around six weeks. The ship's master on Johann's journey was Henry Ehrichs of Bremen, who guided the ship into the port of Baltimore on 20 July 1858.

Johann indicated on the ship's passenger list that he was a farmer, and his intended destination in the United States was Cincinnati. Despite traveling over six weeks from his home in Lengerich to Baltimore, he still had to navigate his way from Baltimore to Cincinnati. That is a distance of over 500 miles, which he most likely accomplished by train.

Lienen Evangelical
Church

On 26 November 1858, Johann married Sophia Elizabeth Suhre. Sophia was born 26 March 1837 in Lienen, Westphalia, a small village located only 9.7 km away from Lengerich. Did the young couple know each other back in Prussia? It certainly seems interesting that less than four months after his arrival in Cincinnati, Johann was getting married. The wedding ceremony was performed by F.M. Raschig, pastor of St. Matthaeus, a German Evangelical church located on Elm Street between 15th and Liberty Streets. This part of Cincinnati was referred to as Over the Rhine due to the huge influx of German immigrants settling in the area.

The couple resided in the 500 block of Elm, and Johann quickly established himself as a grocer. By the 1880 census, he listed his occupation as "grocery and saloon". Johann and Sophia had the following children: Johann Heinrich (Henry), William, Emma, Louisa (my great-grandmother), Matilda, John Henry (John), and Charles.

Sophia died on 4 December 1891 of chronic bronchitis. She was 54 years old. In the 1910 census, Johann was living with his daughter Emma and her husband, and at 73 years of age he was working as a porter in a saloon. The record also indicates that he became a naturalized citizen in 1865.

By the time the 1920 census was taken in January, Johann resided at the Hamilton County Home. Two months later, on 19 March 1920, he died at the age of 83 of prostate enlargement. Today the diagnosis likely would read pancreatic cancer. He was buried 22 March 1920 in Raschig Cemetery, today also known as Baltimore Pike Cemetery.

What was it about Johann that enabled him to live such a long life? He had been widowed for 29 years at the time he died, and five of his children predeceased him. Hopefully it wasn't the fact that he was widowed that kept him going! Was it owning his business for so many years? Continuing to work into his 70s? Even more intriguing - if he hadn't developed a problem with his prostate, could he have reached the age of 90?