Genealogy Is An Adventure

Blog

  • 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.

  • In The Beginning

    I am participating in Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. This week’s title is “In The Beginning”. I will be writing on how I got started in genealogy. Today is also my first blog anniversary! I can’t believe that I have been writing these posts for a year now. Time flies when you are having fun.

    When I grew up in Germany no one ever really talked about the past and a family tree was never mentioned. My Dad would talk a little bit about WW2, he had lived through it after all. He was also a soldier for a little while, however he kept getting sick and so he was released from his duties early on. His two older brothers Hans and Josef weren’t so lucky. They both perished in that horrible war.

    My maternal Grandfather or Opa would talk a little bit about WW1. He talked about how he learnt a little English and French during the war. The first English and French words I actually learnt from him. Opa would make extra money in the war by entertaining the other soldiers. He would then send the money home to his Mother. He never talked about his Father. I know Opa served in France but when and where I don’t know. The records were destroyed during air raids on Wuppertal in WW2. Below a picture of Opa in his WW1 uniform.

    At one point in the 1990’s I wanted to start a family tree. I had bought some genealogy software to install on our first computer. I entered some information about my parents and had made a mistake and wasn’t able to correct it. I pretty much just gave up. I was working full time and then my children were both born in the mid 1990’s and my life got very busy.

    In the back of my mind I always wanted to create a family tree, however I didn’t have the time or the knowledge on how to do it until the year 2003. We were visiting my husband’s paternal Grandfather in the state of Washington. Grandpa was 96 at the time and was still farming. A picture below of him getting ready to plant some onions.

    Grandpa would always tell lots of stories. He himself was a child of immigrant parents. They came from Austria. Over the years I had listened to these stories and they always had fascinated me. This time it was different. Grandpa had asked us we had the Scholz book. We had never heard of it. So he gave us a copy to keep.

    I was mesmerized and hooked at the same time. It was the beginning of my genealogical journey. One hundred years of dates, pictures and stories. As I looked through the pages I couldn’t believe my eyes. To my surprise I was in the book. Life is funny sometimes. How can you be in a book you didn’t even know existed. The picture on the front cover was taken in 1938 for the 50th anniversary of Grandpa’s parents, Adolf Scholz and Rosina Muecke, together with all their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Adolf and Rosina were both born in Austria and married in Tennessee in 1888. They had nine children in that state and moved west in 1905. Grandpa was the youngest and only one born in Washington in 1906.

    Adolf Scholz died in 1939, less than a year after their 50th anniversary. Rosina lived until 1960. She was asked to write down her life story. It was included in the back of the book in her original hand writing and also a typed transcript. I have read this story a million times and all of it starting making sense over time. I have been able to verify most names and locations.

    When we first received the Scholz book, I had really no idea about my own family history. I didn’t even know the names of my own Great Grandparent until few years later when my research started.

    The author of the Scholz Book was my husband’s first cousin once removed, Virginia Scholz Burger. Unfortunately we never met her. Sie died in 2004. I do have a couple of photos and articles I found about her during my research. First of all on her wedding day

    She served in WW2 as a WAVE officer.

    An her book was mentioned in the newspaper

    I think she would be happy to know that her work is being continued in a slightly different form via my research. May be one day, I will publish a second book on the Scholz Family and continue the saga from 1988 on.

    Starting my genealogy in 2006 I didn’t know much about our ancestors, except for the book we were given by my husband’s Grandpa. During almost 20 years of my research, I have accumulated massive amounts of documents, pictures, articles, books and so much more. I currently have 22,280 people in my tree. I work on extended lines as well. I have found second and third cousins via DNA testing and through research. My husband is the lucky one, he has all the famous cousins. Stuntman Yakima Canutt, President Herbert Hoover and actor James Dean. By the way, all three and my husband have the same ancestor. My husband is also an eighth cousin of the former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. We both have ancestors going back all the way to the 15th century.

    My journey continues, let’s see where it will take me in the next 12 months. May be finding another second or third cousin. May be a trip to an ancestral place. May be a surprise of some sort.

  • Heinrich Wippel 1846-?

    Heinrich Wippel was my husband’s maternal second Great Grandfather. He was born 21 December 1846 in Maudach, Bavaria and he was baptized two days later in the St. Michael Catholic Church in the same town.

    Heinrich’s parents were Markus Wippel and Maria Josepha Firmery. Heinrich had several siblings. Barbara 1837-1893, Elisabetha 1840-1868, Jakob 1844-1868, Anna Maria 1849-1849, Adam 1851-1851 and Johann Adam 1853-1875. None of the siblings were very old when they died. I have yet to find Heinrich’s death date.

    Heinrich got married 31 August 1871 in Nußdorf to Elisabetha Hochdörfer.

    In the old days it was customary to get married where the bride was from. The couple had several children. One of them was my husband’s Great Grandmother, Barbara Wippel.

    Heinrich’s wife died 16 September 1905 in Ludwigshafen, Germany. On her death certificate is a death year of 1917 penciled in next to his name. My guess is that he died that year, however the death certificates for Ludwigshafen are online until the 1950’s on ancestry, but I can’t find Heinrich’s. He must have died somewhere other than Ludwigshafen. It was during WW1, may be Heinrich was visiting relatives. We might never know. Below is his wife’s death certificate. I circled the year 1917. I might manually look at the 1917 death certificates. May be I can find him in Ludwigshafen after all.

    Heinrich was born in Maudach, got married in Nußdorf and probably died somewhere near Ludwigshafen.

    Sources:

    Ancestry , Archion, Google Maps

  • Rachel Lucinda Williams 1851 -1931

    Rachel Lucinda William was my husband’s paternal second Great Grandmother. She was born 25 December 1853 in Bethany, Harrison County, Missouri. Her Father was the farmer, A.J. Williams and his wife, Nancy Lucinda Pruitt or Prewitt. The first time we can find Rachel, is in the 1860 census in Missouri together with her parents and her siblings. She and her siblings were attending school, except for the youngest.

    We find Rachel and her family also in the 1870 census. At that time they were living in Sycamore, Montgomery County, Kansas. Rachel is now the oldest of her siblings.

    A year later, Rachel married my husband’s second Great Grandfather, Charles Burgess, 30 July 1871 in Montgomery County, Kansas.

    Nine years later the couple lived with their children in Waveland, Pottawattamie County, Iowa. He was a farmer, she a housekeeper and their older children attended school.

    The Burgess family went west and they settled in Lake Creek, Stevens County, Washington. In the 1900 census we find them living with their children, Edith, Myrtle, Lee and Pearl. Edith was my husband’s Great Grandmother.

    In the 1910 census we learn that the couple had been married for 40 years and they lived together with their youngest three children. We also learn that they had ten children together and that eight of them were alive at the time.

    In 1920 Lucinda, her husband and their youngest son lived in Lincoln, Lincoln County, Washington.

    In the 1930 census, Rachel is a widow and lives together with her son in law, R W Heber, and her daughter, Anna Heber, in Hunters, Stevens County, Washington. Rachels’ parents birth places are given as Indiana and Illinois, which is incorrect. They were both born in Kentucky.

    Rachel Lucinda Williams died 7 September 1931 in Hunters, Stevens County, Washington. From the obituary below we learn that her husband was a Civil War Veteran. It also states that they first settled in Roseburg, Oregon before coming to Stevens County, Washington. It makes a lot of sense, as one of their daughters and my husband’s Great Grandmother, Editha Martha Burgess was born in Oregon in 1885.

    On her death certificate we learn that her Father’s calling name was Jack instead of Andrew Jackson. Her daughter whom she had lived with, was the informant on the certificate.

    I use Family Tree Maker to create family group sheets.

    Rachel Lucinda William had a long, but probably a hard life. She had 13 children and moved around a lot with her husband and her children to make a better life for themselves. Her birth date was in 1853, however I switched to 1851 because it was on the death certificate. Her first child was born in 1866. She would have been only 15 years old. Girls back in the middle of the 19th century had to grow up fast. Despite having 13 children and moving several times, she made it almost to 80. Rachel must have been a strong and healthy woman to do all the things she did her in her life.

    A map below shows where Rachel came from and where she died. She covered a lot of territory in her life. Almost 3000 miles!

  • 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.

    Martinikirche

    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.

  • 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.

  • Johann Müller 1813-1893

    Johann Müller, my paternal second Great Grandfather, was born exactly 211 years ago, on 25 November 1813 in Ohl near Engelskirchen.

    His parents were Martin Müller and Elisabeth Fluch. Johann was married to my second Great Grandmother, Franziska Gertrud Müller. Yes, her last maiden names was Müller as well. Müller is one of the most common last names in Germany. We don’t know when and where they got married. It’s a still a mystery. The first two children were born in Hückeswagen.

    The next three children, including my Great Grandmother, Bertha Müller, were born in Elberfeld. Elberfeld is world famous for its suspension railway.

    The last two children were born in my home town in Düsseldorf.

    Johann died 26 March 1893 in Düsseldorf. The dates and locations about Johann and his family have been obtained through my research and collaboration with second and third cousins I found through DNA testing. Below is a map of where Johann and his family had lived. Ohl, Hückeswagen, Elberfeld and Düsseldorf.

  • Anna Catharina Steinhaus 1870-1958

    Anna Catharina Steinhaus

    Anna Catharina Steinhaus was my maternal Great Grandmother. She was born 18 November 1870 in Heerdt. Her parents were Balthasar Hubert Steinhaus and Anna Christina Gather. Below is her birth certificate.

    On the bottom of the certificate you can see the signature of her Father, Balthasar Steinhaus. Anna was baptized 21 November 1870 in the catholic church in Heerdt.

    Her godparents were Wilhelm Steinhaus and Catharina Gather nee Wanders.

    Anna was married 9 June 1893 in the same church to my handsome Great Grandfather, Franz Sevenich.

    Witnesses were Gerhard Sevenich and Michael Bolten. Below is a picture of my Great Grandparent on their 25th anniversary.

    Followed by a picture of their 50th wedding anniversary in 1943.

    Both my Great Grandmother and my Great Grandfather survived WW1 and WW2. They had nine children together. One of them was my Grandmother, Adelheid Sevenich.

    Anna died 10 March 1958 in Heerdt at the local hospital. Below is a postcard of the hospital from 1920.

    The hospital still exists.

    Anna is the youngest of my Steinhaus ancestors. My oldest Steinhaus came originally come from Eckkamp and Ratingen across the river Rhein.

  • Henriette Sophie Friedericke Hagemann 1822-1899

    Sophie Hagemann was my maternal second Great Grandmother. The only document I have, is her death certificate.

    The information on the certificate was given by her son in law Wilhelm Althoff. It states that Sophie, a widow, was living in his house in Hamm and that she died at the age of 76. She was married to my second Great Grandfather, the linen weaver, Christian Ontrup, in Gadderbaum near Bielefeld. She was the daughter of the shoemaker couple Hagemann who died in Werther also near Bielefeld, Germany. I already had found her parents. Their names were Friedrich Wilhelm Hagemann and Anna Maria Elisabeth Feldhorst. The son in law did not have that information.

    Sophia Hagemann and Christian Ontrup had 11 children together. One of them was my Great Grandmother, Sophia Hermina Louisa Ontrup. I blogged about her in June of this year.

    The map below shows where Sophie was born (Werther), where she got married (Gadderbaum) and where she died (Hamm).

  • Karl Beiersdörfer 1881-1951

    Karl Beiersdörfer was my husband’s maternal Great Grandfather. Karl was born 16 November 1881 in Friesenheim and died 15 March 1951 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Germany. His parents were the butcher, Franz Beiersdörfer and his wife Elisabeth Höcker.

    Karl married Margarete Senck 20 June 1908 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein.

    The marriage certificate states the names of the bride and groom and their parents. It states that the location of Karl’s Father Franz is unknown and that his Mother had married a second time and her last name is now Steiner. We also learn that Karl is a mason. It also says that the bride, Margarete Senck is a magazine worker and that she was born in Oggersheim. Her parents are Christoph Senck and Margarete Weinacht. The marriage certificate has several side notes (Randvermerke in German) These side notes can be of utmost importance for further research. On the right side of the first page it is written that Karl died 18 Mar 1951 in Ludwigshafen and the number of the death certificate is number 370/1951. There is a second side note that states that his wife Margarete died 5 May 1953 and that the number of the death certificate is 6061/1953. On the second page is another side note which mentions the birth of one of the children, Oscar Beiersdörfer, born 24 Sep 1924 and his marriage on 30 September 1950. Per German privacy laws I would not be able to order the Oscar’s birth or marriage certificate yet. You can order birth certificates after 110 years, marriage after 80 years and death after 30 years.

    Karl fought in WW1 in the Alsace Lorrain region an area the Germans and French have fought over for hundreds of years.

    In the Bavarian personal roster we we learn that Karl is catholic, when and where he was born, that he was a mason, that he was married and had three children at the time. We also learn that his Father, Franz, apparently lived in America, however the location is unknown and his Mother lived in Friesenheim.

    Last month I travelled for the very first time to the Alsace Lorraine region on our way to Switzerland. We spent a few hours in the beautiful town of Colmar. The German spelling would have been Kolmar. Here are few of my pictures I took.

    If you have the chance, go and visit the Alsace Lorraine region. It’s very beautiful. I hope to go there again on my next trip to Europe.

    My Mother In Law said that Karl her Grandfather was a very kind person. He had a garden where he grew rhubarb, chamomile and peppermint. He also had a cherry tree and would get upset when the grandchildren came and picked the cherries too early. Karl also had rabbits, chicken and a goat.

    Oggersheim and Friesenheim are all part of Ludwigshafen am Rhein.

GeneaBloggers Premium member