Family Members in U. S. History (5): German Ancestors

For most of those in the family whose ancestors came from non-English-speaking countries,  the first two arrive in the United States were from Germany or German-speaking countries.  As an earlier post “The Zells and Germany Ancestry” explained, the German immigrants have come in waves throughout American history.  The first group came in the 1700’s and came to the Philadelphia area settling in Germantown, now a section of the city. Our ancestors were not among this group.  They began coming with the second wave of German immigrants beginning around 1850.

Several things make a search for German ancestors difficult:  (1) There was no country of Germany as there is today. There were only German states like Bavaria or Prussia, much like the colonies in the U.S. before it was a country. (2) Records about ancestors in their home county are in German  and even after coming to the United States they continued to write in German language newspapers. (3) The system of German writing was an older one, no longer used today. (4) Most men were given the honorary first name Johannes and women, Anna, but that was not the name they were known by in their family.

As already related, Joseph Adam Sitzmann   came to the United States in 1848 from Bavaria.  Melchior Reimann (Michael Ryman) was born in a German speaking part of Switzerland in 1865.  Both men came from rural areas and ended up as farmers in rural areas of America.  This was not true of all German immigrants, as is demonstrated in Pat, Maura and Melissa’s maternal family history through the Schroeder family.  The Schroeder family history provides an engaging portrait of the lives of German immigrants who chose to live in the city.

Louis H. Schroeder arrived in Buffalo, New York in 1855 from Mecklemburg, Germany.  He was approximately 5 years old, though, records vary.  The name of his parents does not appear on any U.S. documents; however, many of those who came from larger German cities were trades people and this could have been the case with Louis father and the reason that he was drawn to the city rather than a rural area.  It is possible that Louise may have even learned his trade from his father because by 1875 he is listed in the New York census as a shoemaker working in a she factory.  He is also married to Katherine Kirchmeyer and they have two children, Katie (2) and Louis (1) named after their parents in the German tradition.  An interesting feature of the 1875 New York census is that virtually all of the Schroeder’s neighbors had heads of household that were also born in Germany.  In fact, Katherine’s parents Michael and Barbara Kirchmeyer lived next door.  This reflects the tendency of German families in cities such as Buffalo to all live in the same section of the city, and thus the development of ethnic neighborhoods.

Louis Schroeder in firefighting gear

The tendency  of  German families to develop in particular neighborhoods is well illustrated especially well in the 1880 census.  Louis Schroeder lived at 192 Walnut St. Listed at the same address but as a different  family were Michael Kirchmeyer and his family.  Next door at 190 Walnut St. was the family of Matthew Keller and his wife Anna Maria Steinbach (known as Mary).   Also living at 190 Walnut St. were Mary’s mother Anna Steinbach with two grown children.   Louis Schroeder and Matthew Keller were both approximately the same age.  In time, Louis’ son Charles and Matthew’s daughter Carlotta (called Lotta) would grow up to marry and become Pat, Maura and Melissa’s paternal great-grandparents.

Louis did not remain in the shoe factory forever. By 1892 (at the latest) he was a fireman working at Engine Company 25 on Seneca St. in Buffalo and by 1905 he held the position of Lieutenant Fireman.   [insert photo].   It is interesting in this city context  to reflect the wide variety of  jobs that the head of households (mostly men) had and the way they changed with  the second generation reflecting the way German families integrated into American society.  Michael Kirchmeyer came to the United States in 1846 when he was already a 38 year old adult. He came from Bavaria, a more rural section an originally listed himself as a farmer, but later as a laborer.  In the 1875 census, however, his 24 year old son, Joseph (Barbara’s bother) is employed as a machinist.   Matthew Keller was a carriage painter. Mary’s father Peter had been a blacksmith and her brother Peter followed in the same profession.  In many ways, in Buffalo at least, they became the backbone of a growing urban society.   In is worth noting that Peter, who came from Prussia with his father Jakob in 1853 originally spelled his last name Steinebach, but within the next decade his name is recorded without the second e. 

Schroeder’s were not Pat, Maura and Melissa’s  only German ancestors on their maternal side.  Their maternal grandmother Frances Hughes also had German ancestors, notably Matthias Schmidt.  Matthias was born in Prussia around 1830 but is recorded as living in Buffalo as early as 1850.  At first listing his occupation as tailor, it later evolved into merchant tailor. As with other German immigrants his name was often Americanized and frequently turns up as Matthew Smith. The 1880 census is the first one in which Matthias’ daughter Amelia Schmidt, Frances Hughes mother, is listed.   In that census she is two months old.  Also listed in that census along with Matthias and Amelia are Matthias wife, Frances, five other children and a step-daughter Josie Loesch.  A twist to the story comes in when one checks the 1875 New York census, five years before Amelia’s birth, when the census lists his wife’s name as Catherine.  The question arises, who is Amelia’s biological mother Frances or Catherine (whose birth name was Anna Maria Catherine Werle).  Further research reveals Catherine died in 1877 and in 1878 Matthias married Franziska Hermann, who was born in Baden, Germany.  She had been previously married to a man named Loesch, thus accounting for Josie Loesch in the family.  Clearly Frances is Amelia’s mother.  Amelia has half-sibblings on both her father’s and mother’s side.  She also has a great, great-granddaughter named after her, Amelia Cotter.

Family Members in U. S. History (4): War of 1812

One metaphor for the history of the United States might be is that it is like a thick rope made up of strands that are the collective strands of all the individuals who lives made up that history. In that image, the rope is one that is continually changing in texture and appearance.  The family genealogies reflected in American history from colonial times up until the writing of the Constitution have focused principally on those families whose roots go back to the English speakers of the British Isles.  Specifically, Mary Beth’s family roots (the Burdettes and Lords) and the Northen family roots (Northen and Lewis), with occasionally reference to the Rita’s Roy family roots that stretch back into the French part of North America that became Canada.

With the 1800’s the flood gates opened and almost everyone can find some family members who first made their way to the country. In fact, so much is going on at that point that organizing with an eye to history becomes a bit problematic.  I’m suggesting two possible ways to look at the 1800’s:  military events and immigration patterns.  By military events, I mean the war of 1812 and the Civil War. A great many  of the records from the 1800’s are connected with events that led up to or were connected with the wars.  Immigrations patterns are based upon the fact that groups of non-British people voluntarily  coming into this country tended to be concentrated during certain time periods. In the 1800’s these were principally people from German-speaking countries and Ireland.  Most Americans of German and Irish descent trace their first American ancestors to this time.  In the last decade of the 1800’s, though the door began opening even wider to include people of other European countries.  (None of this, of course, addresses issues of those whose ancestors came involuntarily as slaves.) Both ways of looking at history (militarily and immigration) cover the same time periods, so I will be toggling between the two.

Probably the only thing that most people remember about the War of 1812 is that it is when Francis Scot Key wrote the national anthem.  Really, it was part of a much larger war in Europe, primarily between England and France.  The United States got involved for two reasons. The first is that the British (and French) ships raided American ships to get supplies and commandeer men to fight in its army. The other reason is that most Americans (including our ancestors who were here)  still lived east of the Appalachian Mountains in the original thirteen colonies.  Americans wanted to moved past the mountains and occupy territory, but there was a problem – Native Americans were already there. Britain backed the rights of many of the Native American tribes and this did not sit too well with most of the colonial Americans.  So President Madison declared war.

The American army that fought in the War of 1812 was much closer to the armies that fought in the Revolutionary War than today’s army.  Each state raised its own army and the men who joined had to supply their own weapons and provisions.  Because of where the war took place many of our ancestors in Virginia probably took part.  In Virginia, Edward Jones Northen was a captain in the 41^st Virginia militia regiment, but most Northen ancestors who fought, such as Charles Henry Lewis (in the 37^th Virginia miltia regiment) and Thomas W. Rice were privates.  According to a document called “Records of Men in the U.S. Army Prior to the Peace of the Peace Establishment May 17, 1815,” Rice seems to have been  involved in a number of battles but also put on trial for desertion and sentenced to hard labor for the duration of the war in 1814. 

It is likely that some of Mary Beth’s ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War also fought in the War of 1812, however, Maryland did not appear to keep many records of them. Ironically, the only one of her ancestors we have a direct record of fighting is William Lord of  Enfield, Connecticut, whose father, Jeremiah Lord had fought with the Continental Army in the American Revoluion.

Even though some American troops tried to invade Canada, the part that they invaded was called Lower Canada, which had been settled by the British.  Those who lived in the area of Upper Canada (including Quebec), like Rita’s ancestors  Jean-Raphael Roy dit Voisine and his wife Marie Louise Caron, did not participate in the fighting.  They called themselves Canadiens and still  identified more with the France and French culture than the British that Americans were fighting. Also living at  the same time,  in Karamouska, the village where  Jean-Raphael and Marie resided, was another of Rita’s ancestors  Jean Baptiste Oulette.   Both men seem to have been farmers and not involved in the fighting. In fact, Jean Baptsite married Marienne Berube on November21, 1814, just was the War of 1812 was coming to an end in the United States.  It is interesting to note that Jean Baptiste Oulette’s mother was Marguerite Roi, so the relationships between the Roy and Oulette families go back a long way – at least  when they were living in Karamouska over 200 years ago.

Many Americans at the time thought that after the War of 1812 those living in Canada would be eager to become part of the United States. This did not happen and the borders between the two countries stayed pretty much what they were. However, shortly after the war, in 1820, Maine became a state and just a few decades later, some of the Canadiens, such as Rita ancestors began moving down into that area.