Genealogy Is An Adventure

Tag: Bochum

  • Grandma Becker’s Maternal Ancestors

    Recently I was cleaning up some old papers and found a picture of my paternal Grandmother, Maria Johanna Becker, born 12 July 1885 in Hamminkeln, near Wesel.

    Grandma is looking at old photos. The picture was probably taken in the 1960’s at one of my uncle’s or aunt’s apartment. In Germany you have something called “Gemütlichkeit” roughly translated to coziness. The couch and the table would have been the center of the apartment for all birthdays and other festivities.

    I have written about my Grandma or Oma before including her paternal Becker line. Now lets try to look at her maternal ancestors. Her Mom was Gertruda Johanna Görtzen born 1861 in Hamminkeln. Johanna married Johann Heinrich Becker 1884 in Wesel in the St. Martini Catholic Church. I circled her baptism entry.

    Her parents were Mathias Görtz and Maria Spelleken. Mathias, a catholic was born and baptized in Krefeld in 1820. He married Maria 1848 in the Evangelical Church in Götterswickerhamm. I have both their death certificates. Mathias died in 1900 in Wesel.

    and Maria died many years before him, 1876 also in Wesel.

    Mathias had to sign the death certificate. He made three crosses, this is how I found out that he couldn’t read or write.

    Mathia’s parents were Johann Wilhelm Görtz and Ann Gertraud Schippers. I have no dates for Wilhelm. Anna was born 1791 in Krefeld. I found her baptism entry.

    Her parents were Joannes Schippers and Catharina Krinen. Familsearch had a marriage for Joannes and Catharina.

    NameJoannes Schiepers
    GenderMale
    Marriage Date07 Mai 1786 (7 May 1786)
    Marriage PlaceKatholisch, Krefeld, Rheinland, Prussia
    FatherMichaelis Schiepers
    MotherAgnetis Overlaack
    SpouseCatharina Krinen
    FHL Film Number174466

    Schippers is now Schiepers, but this might be a spelling mistake. I have yet to find the original church book entry. This record gives his parents as Michael Schiepers and Agnetis Overlaak. Catharina Krinen’s parents were Christian Krinen and Helena Liskes.

    NameCatharina Krinen
    GenderFemale
    Marriage Date07 Mai 1786 (7 May 1786)
    Marriage PlaceKatholisch, Krefeld, Rheinland, Prussia
    FatherChristiani Krinen
    MotherHelenae Liskes
    SpouseJoannes Schiepers
    FHL Film Number174466

    This is the end of the line for them. I have no further information on their parents’s birth, death and marriage info.

    Maria Spelleken’s parents were Jan Derck Spelleken and Jenneken Heiken. Jan is a short form for Johannes and Derck is the same as Dirk. They are a form of low German and or Dutch. Jan Derck Spelleken was baptized 1783 in the Envangelical Church Götterswickerhamm. He married Jenneken Heiken in 1805.

    Jan Derck died in 1867. Derck is the same as Diedrich. That name was used in the death entry. I keep talking about those important side notes on German documents. There are two. One shows when he was baptized and the other one when he got married. I circled them in the lower right corner.

    Jan Derck father’s name was also Jan Derck and his mother was Maria Catharina Blennemann. The father was baptized in 1747 and died in 1795. His parents were Jan Albert Scheper also know as Spelleken and Jenneken. The last name for his mother is unknown. Catharina Blennemann’s parents were Jan Derck Blennemann and Anna Sibilla Vollmer. Jan Derck Spelleken and Catharina Blennemann married 1772.

    The Blennemann family supposedly came from Uemmingen, which is part of the city of Bochum.

    The maternal line for my Grandma has ended for now. My Oma’s Spelleken ancestors have lot of descendants as far away as Australia and Texas. I will write about them another day.

    Here is a map of where my Oma lived and where her maternal ancestors were from. She was born in Hamminkeln, lived in Wesel and Düsseldorf and she died in Willich. Her maternal ancestors were from Wesel, Götterswickerhamm, Bochum and Krefeld (the red dot on the map).

    Where are your Grandma’s maternal ancestors from?

  • Theodor Krings 1850-1909

    Theodor Krings, a beer brewer, was the son of the shoemaker, Andreas Daniel Krings and his wife Maria Agnes Götzen. He was born 19 May 1850 and married Anna Elisabeth Hoeche 10 April 1874 in Düsseldorf. Their marriage was announced in the newspaper.

    From this one line I found out that he was a “Bierbrauer” beer brewer. Theodor was also in the 1878 Düsseldorf directory. He lived on the Hohe Street 41.

    Census records in Germany are rare but they do exist. Theodor together with his parents and siblings were in the Düsseldorf census taken between 1854-1860. He is the once circled in the photo.

    Krings, Theodor, Son living in Pempelfort (part of Düsseldorf), born 19 March 1851. The census taker got the birth year wrong by one year. I do have Theodor’s birth certificate which is clearly from 1850. I circled the 50.

    Theodor was only 59 years old when he died in 1909.

    He did have an important job as beer brewer. Düsseldorf is still known as having the largest “Biertheke” beer counter in the world, meaning that die Altstadt (Old Town) to this date has over 250 restaurants, bars and hotels and they all offer different beers. I am so happy to know that my great granduncle, Theodor, was part of this.

    Theodor and Anna had five children together that I know of. I only have the birthdate for the first one, Heinrich Hubert Josef, who was born in 1876. The youngest sibling, Wilhelm, born in 1886, died in infancy.

    The second youngest, Anna Wilhelmina Maria, was born in 1882 in Düsseldorf and died 1937 in Endhoven, Netherlands. She married Peter Paul Overkamp and they had three children also all born in Düsseldorf. The first born Peter Paul born in 1906 and died in 2007 in Uden, Netherlands. He was married to Franziska Wilhelmine Hermsen from Kevelaer, Germany.

    Peter Paul’s brother, Heinrich was born in1908 and died 1984 in Durham, North Carolina. Heinrich (Henry) married Theresia Elisabeth Hermann born 1907 in Bochum, Germany, in 1931 in Eindhoven, Netherlands. She died in 2000 in North Carolina. They had four children. Two of them died in infancy in the Netherlands. Henry and Theresa eventually moved with their two surviving children to North Carolina, most likely after WW2 when so many families in Europe had been displaced.

    The third child of Theodor and Anna, was Theodor Karl Hubert Joseph Krings. He was born in 1883 in Düsseldorf. I found Theodor in the Bavaria, Germany, World War I Personnel Rosters, 1914-1918.

    From left to right it gives me the following information. His name, his birth date and town, his profession as a glazier in Vienna, Austria, his wife’s name Maria Smrz and that they had one child, and the last column had his parents names. A cross indicated that they were dead.

    In the Vienna, Austria catholic church registers I found a son, Erich Theodor Johann born in 1915, however sadly he died a year later. It’s interesting what you can find in original records.

    The baptism entry for the son gave me also both of the parents’ names and their birth towns and even the churches where they were baptized in. So I found out that Theodor’s wife was born in 1891 in and that they married in 1912 in Vienna.

    In the wedding register it was noted that Theodor died in 1943 in Vienna. I don’t know when his wife died or if they had other children.

    The fourth child of Theodor Krings and Elisabeth Hoeche was Elisabeth Hermine Maria Krings who was born circa 1885 in Düsseldorf. She was married to Johannes Theodorus Hubertus Eekhoudt from Nijmengen in the Netherlands. They had a son named Gerhard Kornelius Johann who was born in 1907 in Düsseldorf and died in 1945 in Avereest, Netherland. His Mother, Elisabeth Hoeche, had sadly died in Düsseldorf when he was only two years old in 1909. Gerhard married Reina Kampinga in 1931 in Amsterdam. Reina was born in Gronigen, Netherlands. They had one son, Johannes Gehardus Diederik who was born 1932 in Amsterdam. He immigrated to Canada in 1960. I found him on a ship’s manifest.

    I also found Johannes (John) and may be his wife Trudy and his son Gary in the Canadas Voters List in Winnipeg in 1972.

    John died in 1978 in Winnipeg. According to one family tree on ancestry, he had six children.

    My great great uncle Theodor Krings and his wife Anna Hoeche have descendants in five different countries, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, USA and Canada. I wonder if these families know of each other. Most Germany couples I have in my tree have children and grandchildren, however they stay close by. For me it’s always fascinating to see where everyone ends up.

    Do you have a similar story? Please leave a comment below!