Uncategorized – Page 4 – Genealogy Is An Adventure

Anna Maria (Mary) Steinhaus Ohren 1806-1883

Anna Maria Steinhaus was my maternal third Great Aunt and the older sister of my third Great Grandfather, Peter Wilhelm. Maria or later known as Mary, was born 30 January 1806 in Ratingen, which now belongs to Düsseldorf, Germany. Her parents were Wilhelm Herman Steinhaus and Gertrud Strotman.

Mary got married to Peter Ohren 5 August 1833 in Eckamp, near Ratingen. The couple had eight children together. In the year 1852 the family travelled to Bremen and then sailed to North America on the Canopus. On the map below it shows the first part of their journey, which was about 177 miles.

I found the Ohren family on an emigration list published by the North Rhine-Westphalia archives.

It was transcribed in the following order: last name, maiden name, first name, birth year, birth location, last residence, profession, destination town and country.

The family arrived in Castle Gardens, later known as Ellis Island, 28 September 1852. Below are pictures I took in 2019. I would highly recommend a visit.

Below is the ship’s manifest for the Ohren family.

It was recorded in the following order: first name, last name, age, male or female and from which country they were.

The family then started the last leg of their trip to Old Ripley, Bond County, Illinois.

I found Mary Ohren only in the 1880 Federal Census. At that time she was a widow and lived in a boarding house probably with two of her granddaughters.

Name	Mary Ohren
Age	75
Birth Date	Abt 1805
Birthplace	Prussia
Home in 1880	Ripley, Bond, Illinois, USA
Dwelling Number	158
Race	White
Gender	Female
Marital Status	Widowed
Father’s Birthplace	Prussia
Mother’s Birthplace	Prussia
Occupation	Housekeeper
Neighbors	View others on page

Mary’s husband, Peter Ohren, had died already in 1870. Mary died 13 November 1883 in Old Ripley. She is buried in the Brown Cemetery in Old Ripley. I found an obituary in a local German newspaper.

Transcription: Ms. Ohren died on Tuesday last week in the home of her daughter, Ms. Ganza. Ms. Ohren was about 70 years old and is the Mother of Mathias, John and Peter Ohren.

Mary had a large family with lots of Grandchildren. Here is a list of her children and where they settled. All of her children were born in Prussia.

1. William P Ohren born 1832, died 1880 in Old Ripley, was married to Gertrud Maibom. The couple had 4 children.
2. Elisabeth (Lizzie) Ohren born 1836, died 1883 in Madison County, Illinois, was married to Henry Daudermann. The couple had 5 children.
3. Franziska Ohren born 1838, died 25 June 1920 in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, was married to Henry Berg. The couple had 14 children.
4. Peter Ohren born 1841, died 1924 in Leef Township, Madison County, Illinois, was married to Catharine Vonburg. The couple had 4 children.
5. Catharina Ohren born 1843, died 1 December 1897 in Old Ripley, was married to Gottlieb Ferdinand Ganzer. The couple had 3 children.
6. Mathias Hubert Ohren born 1846, died 9 October 1880 in Old Ripley, was married to Elisabeth Helena Frances Hessen. The couple had 5 children
7. Johann Ohren born 1850, died 1877, was married to Catherine Rochin. The couple had 3 children.
8. Wilhelm Ohren born 1851, death unknown.

Mary had a grand total of 38 grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband Peter and four or may be even five of her children. That must have been very hard on her. She didn’t have an ordinary life. Mary travelled thousands of miles to a foreign world. She has hundreds of descendants here in the USA. I have quite a few DNA matches with them.

In order to write this article I used many different sources:

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February 15, 2025

Joseph R Brejcha 1882-1960

Joseph R Brejcha was my Mother In Law’s maternal Grandfather. He was born 23 January 1882 in Pisek, Bohemia, Austria. I found his birth location on his WW2 draft card.

His draft card also stated his birth date, that he lived in Flushing and that he was working for the New York Linen And Laundry Supply Company in New York City. On the lower right side was his signature. On the back side of the draft card it stated that Joseph was white, that he had blue eyes and brown hair and a ruddy complexion. It also stated his height, weight and that he had a mole on his left cheek.

Josef was married 15 May 1902 to my Mother In Law’s Grandmother, Rose Bumbicka.

The couple had their first child, a son, named Joseph Anthony, born 19 February 1904. A second child and my mother in law’s Mother, Anna, was born 7 April 1908 in Defurovy Lažany, Bohemia, Austria.

Joseph left for America and arrived on the steam ship Kaiser Wilhelm II in New York on 24 April 1912.

We also have the ship’s manifest.

Transcript of the manifest:

Name	Jozef Brejcha
Gender	Male
Ethnicity/ Nationality	Bohemian
Marital Status	Married
Age	30
Birth Date	abt 1882
Birth Place	Bohemia, Czechoslovakia
Other Birth Place	Onjerol
Last Known Residence	Laziang, Bohenia
Departure Port	Bremen
Arrival Date	24 Apr 1912
Arrival Port	New York, New York, USA
Residence Place	Bohemia, Czechoslovakia
Final Destination	New York City, New York
Height	5 Feet, 8 Inches
Hair Color	Blonde
Eye Color	Blue
Complexion	Fair
Money in Possession	25
Person in Old Country	Rusena Brejcha
Person in Old Country Relationship	Wife
Person in Old Country Residence	Larany Des Frurs 29 Bohenia
Person in US	William Formann
Person in US Relationship	Uncle
Spouse	Rusena Brejcha
Ship Name	Kaiser Wilhelm II

Joseph had an uncle named William Formann. I don’t have Joseph’s parents names, so this could be a potential brother of his mother. Joseph sailed from Bremen, Germany.

The trip from Defurovy Lazany to Bremen was over 700 kilometers or 434 miles long.

Joseph’s wife Rose and his children followed him to New York only six months later in September of 1912. Their third and last child, Rose Marie, was born 4 March 1917 in Manhattan, New York. In 1918 Joseph filled out a WW1 registration draft card.

Transcription of his draft card:

Name	Joseph Brejcha
Race	White
Birth Date	23 Jan 1882
Residence Date	1917-1918
Street Address	516 E. 82
Residence Place	Manhattan, New York, New York, USA
Draft Board	138
Physical Build	Medium
Height	Medium
Hair Color	Blonde
Eye Color	Grey
Spouse	Rose Brejcha

It states that Joseph was a resident alien and not yet naturalized. Joseph and his family appeared for the first time in the US Federal Census in 1920. It stated that he submitted his first papers meaning that he had applied for US citizenship. A new family member appeared on the census, Joseph’s Mother in law, Anna Urnbick. She had immigrated in 1914.

Name	Joseph Brejcha
Age	37
Birth Year	abt 1883
Birthplace	Bohemia
Home in 1920	Manhattan Assembly District 14, New York, New York
Street	East 82 Street
Residence Date	1920
Race	White
Gender	Male
Immigration Year	1913
Relation to Head of House	Head
Marital Status	Married
Spouse’s Name	Rose Brejcha
Father’s Birthplace	Bohemia
Mother’s Birthplace	Bohemia
Native Tongue	Bohemian
Able to Speak English	Yes
Occupation	Mechanic
Industry	Laundry
Employment Field	Wage or Salary
Home Owned or Rented	Rented
Naturalization Status	Papers Submitted
Able to read	Yes
Able to Write	Yes
Neighbors	View others on page

Name	Age
Joseph Brejcha	37
Rose Brejcha	35
Joseph Brejcha	16
Anna Brejcha	11
Rose Brejcha	7
Anna Urnbick	67

By 1924 Joseph is a citizen. He is on the 1924’s voters list on 112 Norwood Avenue in Queens, New York.

Him and his family appeared on the 1925 New York State Census. His son Joseph probably had moved out already and his mother in law might have died. Also his birth place had changed to Czechoslovakia instead of Austria. After WW1 the borders had changed.

Name	Joseph Brejcha
Gender	Male
Color or Race	White
Age	43
Birth Date	abt 1882
Birth Place	Czechoslovakia
Residence Date	1925
House Number	112
Residence Place	New York, Queens
Relationship	Head
Number of years in US	18
Assembly District	04
Line Number	21
Page number	58

Name	Age
Joseph Brejcha	43
Rose Brejcha	41
Anna Brejcha	17
Rose Brejcha	8

In the 1940 Census Joseph and Anna live by themselves. Joseph had a good job, was a citizen and owned his own house. We also find out that Joseph hat not gone to school or attended college. Despite his disadvantage, he became a successful hard working immigrant with a good job. The census taker completely misspelled his last name. Joseph probably had a heavy accent and the census taker just wrote down what they heard.

Name	Joseph Brezeka
Age	59
Estimated Birth Year	abt 1881
Gender	Male
Race	White
Birthplace	Austria
Marital Status	Married
Relation to Head of House	Head
Home in 1940	New York, Queens, New York
Map of Home in 1940	New York,Queens,New York
Street	168 Street
House Number	61-35
Farm	No
Inferred Residence in 1935	New York, Queens, New York
Residence in 1935	New York
Citizenship	Naturalized
Sheet Number	5A
Number of Household in Order of Visitation	8
Occupation	Machinist
House Owned or Rented	Owned
Value of Home	5000
Attended School or College	No
Hours Worked Week Prior to Census	50
Class of Worker	Wage or salary worker in private work
Weeks Worked in 1939	52
Income	2000
Income Other Sources	No
Neighbors	View others on page

Name	Age
Joseph Brezeka	59
Rose Brezeka	56

In the 1950 Census, Joseph and Anna lived with their son in law and daughter, Joseph and Anna Pilc, and their family in Nassau, New York. Joseph still worked 47 hours a week despite being older.

Name	Joseph Brejcha
Age	68
Birth Date	abt 1882
Gender	Male
Race	White
Birth Place	Czechoslovakia
Marital Status	Married
Relation to Head of House	Father-in-law
Residence Date	1950
Home in 1950	North Hempstead, Nassau, New York, USA
Street Name	S. Overlook Road
House Number	42
Dwelling Number	225
Farm	No
Acres	No
Questionnaire Number	O
Inferred Previous Residence Place	Queens, New York
Occupation	Millwright
Industry	Laundry
Father Birth Place	Czechoslnvkia
Mother Birth Place	Czechoslovakia
Citizenship	Yes
Occupation Category	Working
Hours Worked	47
Worker Class	Private
Same House	No
Previously on Farm	No
Same County	No
School Completed	S8
Grade Completed	Yes
School Attendance	30 or over
Weeks Worked	52
Income	3000
Other Income	None
Supplemental Income	24
World War II Veteran	No
World War I Veteran	No
Veteran	No

Name	Age
Joseph Pilc	47
Anna Pilc	42
Robert J Pilc	21
Rosemary Pilc	6
Joseph Brejcha	68
Rose Brejcha	65

Joseph’s wife Rose died 4 February 1958 and Joseph died 28 August 1960 in New York City.

Name	Joseph W Brejcha
Gender	Male
Age	78
Birth Date	abt 1882
Residence Place	Albertson, Nassau, New York, USA
Death Date	29 Aug 1960
Death Place	New York, USA
Certificate Number	57197

Joseph left behind one son, two daughters and at least six grandchildren.

February 1, 2025

Caroline Francisca Amelie Büttner 1816-?

Caroline Francisca Amelie was my maternal second Great Grandmother. She was born 5 January 1816 in Berlin, Germany and a few days later was baptized in the Lutheran church. Her parents were the the sugar boiler, Franz Xavier Büttner and his wife Charlotte Friedericke Deutsch. Below are her birth certificate and baptismal entry.

I don’t know if Amelia had any siblings. She got married 4 July 1841 in the Sankt Georgen church inBerlin, to the master armorer, Martin August Eduard Schneider, my two times Great Grandfather. The marriage record from the church book is below.

Amelia and Martin had ten children all born in Berlin. 1. Emilie Ernestine Amalie born 18 April 1841 2. Auguste Wilhelmine Emilie born 13 March 1843 and died 18 July 1844 in Berlin 3. Wilhelmine Luise Friedericke Amalie born 5 May 1845 and died 7 March 1893 in Berlin. She was a seamstress. 4. Louise Emilie Marie born 24 January 1847 and died 26 September 1893 in Berlin. She was married to Emil Albert Gustav Hermann. They had two children. Gertrud Elisabeth Minna Emilie born 1870 and died 1871 in Berlin. Walter Erich Conrad Hermann born 9 Dec 1873 in Berlin and died 1 May 1952 in District Federal, Mexico. 5. Friedrich August Alexander born 11 December 1848 6. Carl Gottfried August Alexander born 17 March 1850 and died 25 September 1850 in Berlin 7. Emilie Francisca Auguste Amalie born 13 June 1851 and died 27 December 1852 in Berlin. 8. Auguste Francisca Amalie born 20 Jan 1854 and died 10 March 1856 in Berlin. 9. My Great Grandfather, Emil August Ferdinand born 13 September 1855 and died 12 July 1935 in Wuppertal Germany. He was married to my Great Grandmother, Sophia Hermina Ontrup. They had nine children. 10. Emil August Eduard born 17 November 1857 and died 27 June 1914 in Berlin. He was married to Elise Auguste Wilhelmine Zaspel. They had two children.

Less than two years after Caroline’s last child was born, her husband Martin died 10 February 1859 of pneumonia.

From this record we learn that my two times Great Grandfather’s calling name was August and not Martin. I just wanted to have more proof that he had died. One great thing about Berlin genealogy research is that the address books are online from about 1799-1970. It is a free website which is always a plus in my book. You can research them here .

First I started looking for August, however he has been hard to find. I found the last name Schneider in the Berlin address book, but after the last name only comes the first letter of the first name and then the profession. What I did find helpful was that the women were mentioned including their maiden names. August had died in 1859 so I looked in the 1861 directory and found a Schneider widow with the maiden name Büttner.

– nee Büttner, widow of a blacksmith, Alte Schönhauserstr. 35 (street)

Front Page of the 1861 Berlin directory

Now I have proof that Ausust did die in 1859. I hope that eventually I will find her death date as well.

January 27, 2025

Maria Anna Bastian Bortscheller Päbst 1845-1913

Maria was a maternal second Great Grandmother of my husband and she was the illegitimate daughter of Maria Eva Bastian. Maria was baptized 31 January 1845 in the Sankt Jakobus catholic church in Germersheim and died 21 October 1913 in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Just today I found her baptism in the church book.

I always thought that Maria’s maiden name was Bortscheller, that’s what was stated on the marriage certificate. I do not have her parents marriage date. At least now I know to look after her birth date. Once again, looking at original records is so important for accuracy. Maria had several siblings whose parents are also Maria Eva Bastian and Michael Bortscheller. The other children born were, Catharina in 1841 and 1846, Regina in 1850, Eva in 1851, Elisabeth in 1854, Maria Eva in 1856, Susanna in 1857 and Petrus in 1860. Eventually I will look for all them in the baptismal book and find out when their parents got married.

Maria Anna got married to my husband’s second Great Grandfather, Christoph Päbst, 29 June 1878 in Ludwigshafen. Christoph was also born in Germersheim and an illegitimate child. I wrote about Christoph in a previous blog. Below is the marriage certificate.

On the top page of the certificate I circled two side notes or Randvermerke in German. They were the death years of each spouse. Always try to figure what these notes mean. On the back page I circled the name Maria Anna Päbst nee Bortscheller. She should have signed it Bastian, however she might have not ever known her original maiden name. Each document tells a story! In genealogy the more copies of original records you can obtain, the better off you are.

Maria Anna and Christoph had four children together, all born in Ludwigshafen. Anton in 1872, Hans, my husband’s Great Grandfather, in 1874, Maria Eva in 1881 and Magdalena in 1888.

Maria Anna died 21 Oct 1913 in Ludwigshafen. Her death certificate is below.

A few unusual facts about this blog, both Anna Maria and her husband were illegitimate children. Also they didn’t marry in their hometown of Germersheim. As always below you will find a map of where Anna Maria lived. The map shows Manheim which is across the river Rhein from Ludwigshafen. On the left side you see the famous towns of Bad Dürkheim, Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Landau in der Pfalz and on the right side you can see Heidelberg, all well known cities in this famous wine region.

I visited Heidelberg in October. Here are few pictures I took.

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January 24, 2025

Overlooked

Once again I am participating in Amy Johnson’s Crow 52 ancestors in 52 weeks. This weeks title is ” Overlooked”.

Have you ever overlooked something in your family tree? It’s easily done by not checking facts or looking at original records. Let’s get right to it. My two times paternal Great Grandparent Johann and Franziska Müller had at least seven children together. For all them I had their birth and or baptism dates and for some I had the marriage and death dates. In 2018 I had a second and third cousin match on “My Heritage” for that line and I was able to fill in a lot of dates and received copies of marriage and death certificates. One of the children was Helena Müller born and died November 1852 in Düsseldorf. Helena would have been my Great Grandaunt. From what it looked like the infant was still born and or died right after birth. I didn’t have a source for the death. My third cousin gave me this information and I thought may be she had already checked the church books. I didn’t pay anymore attention to this person.

Fast forward to the spring of 2024. I had a new third cousin match at “Ancesty.com”. Most people in the USA have lots of first and second cousin matches. I have neither. I grew up in Germany and lots of people don’t get tested in European countries. So a third cousin match is a big deal for me, in fact this is the best one I have on ancestry. There was no tree associated with the match, so I contacted the owner hoping for an answer. She was living in South Carolina and her first name was Bettina. That first name is quite common in Germany. So I thought may be that there was a chance that she might be from my home country.

Bingo! Bettina answered a couple of weeks later and yes, she was not just from Germany, but also from my hometown in Düsseldorf. Emails went back and forth. I told her that I probably would be able to figure out our common ancestors. She gave me as much information as she had and I got to work. It took me less than two days to figure it out. As soon as I saw the name “Müller” as one of her ancestor, I knew I had the answer. Her direct ancestor was as you guessed it “Helena Müller” who came back from the dead.

Helena Müller was born 9 November 1852, got married 1 January 1877 to Reinhold Gossen and died 20 August 1909 in Düsseldorf. I have her marriage and death certificate as well. Her marriage certificate has her birth date, so I know now had proof that I had the correct name.

Marriage Certificate

Death Certificate

The moral of the story is, only enter a death date if you have proof. I was pretty lucky to have the DNA match with my new found cousin and she was willing to give me the information she had. I have been able to add a new branch to my family tree and that’s always very exciting. Below all the children of Bettina and my common ancestral couple Johann and Franziska Müller.

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January 21, 2025

Edith Martha Burgess Hickman 1885-1928

Edith Martha Burgess Hickman was my husband’s paternal Great Grandmother. She was born 28 January 1885 in Springfield, Oregon. Her parents were the farmer, Charles Burgess and his wife Rachel Lucinda Williams. In 1892 we find Edith in the Washington State and Territorial Census together with her parents and her siblings. They lived in Stevens County, Washington.

Her father, Charles, is 47 years old, he is a farmer and he was born in Kentucky. Her mother, Rachel, is 39 years old, a housekeeper and she was born in Missouri. Her brother S. H. was 20 years old, a farmer and he was born in Kansas. Her sister Rettie was 16 years old and she was born in Iowa. Her sister Annie was 14 years old and she was also born in Iowa. Her sister F. was 12 years old and she was also born in Iowa. Her brother Charles was 10 years old and he was the last child born in Iowa. Next came Edith at 7 years old and she was born in Oregon. The last child, a sister, M., was only 1 year old and she was born in Washington.

Eight years later in the 1900 Federal Census, Edith was the oldest of her sibling living at home and going to school.

Her father Charles was now 56, her mother Rachel was 46, Edith was 15, her sister Myrtle was 9, her brother Lee was 8, and her youngest sister, Pearl, was now 6 years old. The family lived in Lake Creek, Stevens County, Washington. Six years later, on 11 July 1906, Edith got married to my husband’s Great Grandfather Ed Hickman near Colfax, Whitman County, Washington.

Edith and her husband Ed received a generous gift from her father in law, Henry Hickman. Henry was a very successful farmer and business man in Whitman County. I will write about him in another post.

Ed and Edith are in the 1910 Federal Census. They lived in the city of Almota, which is nowadays a ghost town. Back in the day Almota was an important wheat shipping point during the days of river navigation.

Census records can be a great genealogical source, however one always has to be careful to double check facts and dates. According to this census, Edith’s parents were born in Oregon which we know is incorrect. Her father was born in Kentucky and her mother in Missouri. You never know who gave the information to the census taker.

Ed and Edith had two children together, a son, Lloyd born in 1912 and my husband’s Grandmother, Lucille born in 1916. A picture of the children below.

Edith Burgess Hickman died 7 May 1928 in the St. Ignatius Hospital in Colfax, Washington. She was only 43 years old. She is buried in the Onecho Cemetery.

January 18, 2025

Peter Jacob Gather 1809-1883

Peter Jacob Gather, my maternal third Great Grandfather, a farmer, was born exactly 216 years ago in Büderich near Neuß, Germany and died 27 May 1883 nearby in Niederdonk. Peter’s parents were Johann Mathias Gather and Sybilla Catharina Nesges. Peter married my third Great Grandmother, Anna Catharina Unterdenbäumen, 7 October 1832 in Büderich. Below is the marriage entry from the church book.

I also have a copy of the marriage certificate.

Peter and Anna Catharina had nine children together, all born in Büderich. 1. Anna Catharina was born 8 August 1833, married Franz Jacob Tups 8 November1861 in Büderich and died 17 February 1901 in Fischeln near Krefeld. They had at least 5 children. 2. Johann Mathias Gather was born 4 May 1835, married Maria Catharina Schaefer 5 June 1868 in Büderich and died nearby in Lank 24 January 1907. They had at least three children together. 3. Hubert Paul Gather was born 4 February 1837. 4. Anna Gertrud Gather was born 23 September 1838, married Johann Peter Junkers 29 October 1864 in Kaarst. They had at least 2 children together. 5. Johann Heinrich Gather was born 14 November 1870, married Anna Barbara Leven 6 February 1873 in Büderich and died 30 November 1904 in Heerdt. They had at least 4 children together. 6. Anna Christina Gather, my 2nd Great-Grandmother, was born 16 October 1842, married my second Great-Grandfather, Balthasar Hubert Steinhaus, 18 November 1869 in Büderich and died13 May 1906 in Heerdt. They had 2 children together. 7. Peter Wilhelm Gather was born 9 February 1846. 8. Peter Wilhelm Hubert Gather was born 25 May 1847. He was first married to Sibilla Gertrud Robertz and then to Judith Sartorius. He died 3 October 1917 in Büderich. 9. Maria Catharina Gather was the last child. She was born 13 June 1849.

Only a few month after the last child was born, my third Great Grandmother, Anna Catharina Unterdenbäumen died 3 February 1850 in Büderich. My third Great Grandfather, Peter Jacob Gather got married to his second wife, Catharina Wanders, 3 November 1851 and they had four children, also all born in Büderich. 1. Johann Peter Josef Gather was born 11 September 1852. He married Christina Anna Speck and died 14 September 1934 in Büderich. They had at least three children together. 2. Johann Hubert Gather was born 17 November 1854 and he was married to Gertrud Koppen. He died 18 May 1900 in Mönchengladbach. They had at least one child together. 3. Peter Jacob Hubert Gather was born 24 July 1856. 4. Peter Anton Gather was born 6 April 1858 and he was married to Helena Hochhausen 4 February 1887 in Heerdt.

Peter Jacob Gather died 27 May 1883 in Niederdonk. His death certificate is below. It mentions his parents and that he was widowed twice.

Peter didn’t die far from where he was born, only about three kilometers.

January 15, 2025

Favorite Photo

I am participating once again in Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 ancestors in 52 week challenge. This week’s theme is about a favorite photo.

The photo shows my two times Great Grandparents Peter Johann Sevenich and Josephine Odilia Gröbbels with their young family. The family lived in Heerdt, Germany nowadays is a part of Düsseldorf.

Peter Johann and Josephine were both born and married in Brachelen. A picture below shows the church.

His birth date was 13 September 1838 and hers 24 March 1842. They were married 8 November 1867. He died 10 July 1910 in Heerdt and she passed away 27 April 1920 in Neuss.

The oldest daughter, I believe is on the right side of the picture. Her name was Josefine. She was born in Brachelen 29 June 1868 and died 8 October 1945 in Neuss. Josefine was married to Michael Bolton. They had 7 children.

The oldest son, my Great Grandfather, Franz, is the handsome young man standing behind his Father. Franz was born 4 Jan 1870 in Brachelen, died 26 August 1950 in Heerdt and he was married 9 June 1893 to my Great Grandmother, Anna Catharina Steinhaus. They had nine children together, including my Grandmother, Adelheid. A picture below of my Great Grandparent on their 50th anniversary in 1943.

Johann, Josefine and their young family moved around 1870 to Heerdt. There Johann worked for the rail road. The first child born in Heerdt was Adelheid, on the left side of the picture. Her birth date was 16 September 1871 and she died 17 May 1943. Adelheid was married to Stefan Lenzen. They had a bakery in Heerdt. According to her obituary below, they had four sons and five daughters.

Adelheid Lenzen was also the Godmother to my Grandmother Adelheid Sevenich, born 1899 in Heerdt. Below is the baptismal entry.

The next child is Gerhard Sevenich. He was born 9 March 1873 and died 16 December 1948 in Heerdt. Gerhard was married to Gertrud von Mertz. They had eight children together.

Next comes Wilhelm Sevenich. He was born 1 October 1874 in Heerdt and died 8 February 1964 in Battersea, London. The death location and date was a total surprise find on Ancestry’s England and Wales Death Index.

I found this information in 2014 and was easily able to order the actual death certificate from London.

The question now presented itself why he was in London to begin with. I found out that he had a daughter Katharina Sevenich who was married to Thomas Baldwin whom I also found in a marriage index. I will write about all these finding in a later post. Back To Wilhelm and his sibling.

We know where Wilhelm was born and where he died. Wilhelm was married 4 February 1902 to Clara Franzisca Derendorf. They had seven children, one of them was Katharina mentioned above.

Next up was Andreas Josef Sevenich born 4 July 1877 in Heerdt. He was missing in action in France in 1915 during WW1. Below is the notification that he was missing. I do not have a death certificate.

He was a corporal when he went missing. Josef was married to Anna Welbers. They had four children, lived in Büderich and had a milk delivery service. I do have a picture of Josef delivering the milk.

After Josef came Sibilla Sevenich. Sibilla was born 22 May 1879 in Heerdt and died 17 September 1954 in Neuss. She was married to Lorenz Moor. They had no children

Then came Heinrich Sevenich born 28 February 1881 in Heerdt and died 1 February 1940 in Meerbusch. He was married to Luise Vogel. They had one child.

After Heinrich came Fredericus Adamus also known as Fritz Sevenich, born 7 February 1883 and died 1 February 1969 in Heerdt. He was married to Elisabeth Struth. They had four children.

The youngest child was Mathilde Sevenich born 6 December 1885 in Heerdt and died 28 Februray 1863 in Neuss. She was married to Michael Klasen. They had four children.

So why is this a favorite picture of mine. When I first starting doing genealogy, I didn’t even have the names of my Great Grandparents or my two times Great Great Grandparents. To have this picture and being able to tell a few stories about their lives is so awesome. The icing on the cake is that I have the same picture taken about 25 years later.

My two times Great Grandfather, Johann Peter Sevenich, died in 1910, so this picture must have been taken before that date.

I want to thank and give credit to my second and third cousins, Gabi, Annemarie, Hermi and Ursula for their continued support, as this post would have not been possible without their help.

January 8, 2025

Johann Heinrich Becker 1861-1945

Johann Heinrich Becker, my paternal Great Grandfather, was born 6 December 1861 in Hamminkeln and baptized in the Sankt Martini Church in Wesel, Germany. The church was destroyed during WW2. Pictures below were shared with me by the city archive in Wesel.

Johann’s parents were the railroad worker, Franz Joseph Egidius Becker (1827-1907) and his wife Maria Sickel (1823-1908). Johann was also a rail road worker and later became a police officer.

He married my Great Grandmother, Gertruda Johanna Görtzen (1861-?), 6 May 1884 in the same church. A picture of their marriage certificate is below.

If you have followed my blog for a while, you know that I always talk about the side notes on birth, marriage and death certificates. They are called Randvermerke in German. They can be of utmost importance for further research. This particular side note explained that my Great Grandfather died 17 February 1945, however he was not declared dead until 1953. Wesel was attacked by the British Royal Airforce with impact and air burst weapons February 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th, 1945. The city was pretty much destroyed after these attacks. I can’t even imagine what that was like. My Great Grandfather was killed during one of these attacks and his body probably was never identified.

December 6th is a special day in our family. It’s my brother’s and my wedding anniversary, and no it was not intended that way. My husband and I had planned on getting married the end of November. A winter storm got in the way and we couldn’t get over the mountains, so we ended up getting married December 6th. That’s the only day my husband had off from work. On the drive back, I realized that it was also my brother’s wedding anniversary. My brother’s Granddaughter was also born on December 6th.

In Germany Sankt Nicolaus is also celebrated that day. Children will put their shoes outside their room the night before. In the morning of the 6th, they will find them filled with chocolates, nuts and other goodies.

Sankt Nicolaus very often will also visit preschools and elementary schools. The children will sing, recite poems and receive small gifts. You can read about Nicolaus here.

I always include a map. Johann was born in Hamminkeln and he died in Wesel, Germany. Please see below.

December 5, 2024

Balthasar Hubert Steinhaus 1838-1893

Balthasar Hubert Steinhaus my maternal second Great Grandfather, was born 1 December 1838 and baptized the following day in Heerdt, Germany.

An old image of the catholic church is below.

Balthasar’s parents were Peter Wilhelm Steinhaus (1811-1881) and Christina Bolten (1808-1881). He married my second Great Grandmother, Anna Christina Gather, 18 November 1869 in Büderich.

Balthasar and Anna had two daughters, my Great Grandmother Anna Katharina (1870-1958) and her sister Christina (1874-1960). Balthasar lived in Heerdt, however he died suddenly in Büderich 25 July 1893. He was only 54 years old. The police station in Büderich had reported his death to the registry office. The death certificate noted the time of death and what street he died on. Below is a picture of the certificate.

The certificate looks a little different. This time the entry is in a form of a side note, because Balthasar didn’t die at home or in a hospital. Below you can see on the map that Heerdt and Büderich are right next to each other.

December 2, 2024

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