Genealogy Is An Adventure

Tag: Ellis Island

  • What Happened To Franz Beiersdörfer (1859-?)

    Franz Beiersdörfer was my husband’s maternal 2nd Great Grandfather. He was the son of the soldier, Johann Heinrich Beiersdörfer (1829-1891) and his wife Margaretha Johann (1830-1876). Franz was baptized 21 July 1859 in the catholic church in Albersweiler, a famous wine region in Germany.

    Baptism of Franz Beiersdörfer in Alberweiler.

    Town of Albersweiler Circa 1910

    In 1884 Franz lived in Friesenheim, which is now part of Ludwigshafen am Rhein. That year he married my husband’s 2nd Great Grandmother, Elisabeth Höcker (1864-1928). Elisabeth was the daughter of Johannes Höcker (1836-1874) and his wife Wilhelmine Katharina Bauswein (1839-1907).

    This marriage certificate has a lot more information that just the groom and bride and their parents. On the second page it stated that Franz and Elisabeth had a son, named Karl, together in 1881. It has been my experience with quite a few of my husband’s Bavarian ancestors that the women had children before they even got married. Children that were born before the wedding, will always be mentioned in the marriage certificate.

    On the top page there is a side note in the upper left corner which states that Franz and Elisabeth got a divorce in 1900. We know that Elisabeth died 1928 in Ludwigshafen. What happened to Franz? Franz and Elisabeth only had one son. Two other children died in infancy.

    Their son, Karl, married in 1908 in Ludwigshafen. In his marriage certificate it said the location of his Father, Franz, is unknown. Karl fought in WW1 (1914-1918). In the WW1 Peronnel Roster it stated that Karl’s Father lived in America, location unknown.

    A long time ago my husband’s maternal Grandmother talked about her Grandfather, Franz. She had heard that he had left for America and that the ship sank.

    Searching for Franz is becoming like finding a needle in a haystack. America could have been the USA or Canada or even Central America. How about South America? Many Germans immigrated to Brazil for example.

    I searched the following websites for Franz hoping to find emigration or immigration records.

    I even contacted the city archives in Ludwigshafen to see if they had any emigration information about Franz. It’s possible that Franz used a different name when he left the country. He was a butcher by trade, so it would have been easy for him to find work. I found the 1896 directory for Friesenheim in google books.

    His wife Elisabeth was in it, but he was not. My guess is that Franz was already gone by then and it took a couple more years for her to get a divorce in 1900.

    Here is Franz’s timeline:

    • 21 July 1859 Birth in Albersweiler
    • 24 July 1859 Baptism at the catholic church in Albersweiler
    • 16 November 1881 Son Karl is born in Friesenheim
    • 11 October 1884 Marriage to Elisabeth Hoecker in Friesenheim
    • 28 December 1884 Birth of daughter Susanna
    • 10 February 1885 Death of daughter Susanna
    • 18 April 1887 Birth of son Adam
    • 29 March 1900 Divorce
    • Death date and location unknown

    I will contact the city archives in Ludwigshafen again to see if I can obtain a copy of the divorce record. I do not know if they even kept it. May be I can find a clue in that record.

    As always I like to include a map. Friesenheim is north of Albersweiler, about 60 km or 37 miles.

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  • 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.

    NameMary Ohren
    Age75
    Birth DateAbt 1805
    BirthplacePrussia
    Home in 1880Ripley, Bond, Illinois, USA
    Dwelling Number158
    RaceWhite
    GenderFemale
    Marital StatusWidowed
    Father’s BirthplacePrussia
    Mother’s BirthplacePrussia
    OccupationHousekeeper
    NeighborsView 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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