Adamus Joseph Dittmar was my brother in law’s third Grandfather. Adamus is the Latin form of Adam. Adam was born 25 October 1833 in Buttlar, Germany and died 25 November 1912 in Jersey City, New Jersey. His parents were the farmer, Johanni Adamus Dittmar and Sophia Ezel.
Adam was the youngest of ten children. Coming from a very tiny village, he probably had no chance of getting a good job besides being a farmer. The oldest son would have inherited the farm. Adam travelled to Bremen, where he boarded the Ammerland to sail to New York. The ship arrived 9 November 1850.
Adam is on the Ammerland’s manifest as seen above and the arrival is also mentioned in his passport application from 1893.
Adam stayed in New York City for a little while. He married his wife, Elisabeth Kircher, 5 July 1855. As seen below, Elisabeth was born 9 April 1932 in Buttlar, Germany. Most likely Adam and Elisabeth had met already in their home village.
OkIn this country Adam was known as A J Dittmar. I found him on a New Jersey tax list in 1864. Is occupation is builder.
Adam and Elisabeth had together 14 children born from 1856-1877. All of them were born in New Jersey. One of them, Adam J Dittmar Junior was my brother in law’s second Grandfather. 80th
A J Dittmar was a prominent citizen in Jersey City, New Jersey as you can see from his obituary.
The Jersey Journal
Jersey City, New Jersey • Mon, Nov 25, 1912,Page 1
A J Dittmar had a very busy and successful life.
My brother in law recently flew to Germany and visited a brewery with the Dittmar name.
The brewery is only 27, 6 km or 17.14 miles away from Buttlar. It’s very possible that the original owner were somehow related to A J Dittmar.
Owning a brewery must be in the Dittmar genes. If you are ever in the Seattle area, you can visit Airways Brewing owned by my brother and sister in law Alex and Dione Dittmar.
Genealogy Is An Adventure 
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