Question of the Week: Do you have German ancestors?

Question

Do you have any German roots?

Tell us about your German ancestors with an answer below! You could also answer on Facebook or use the question image to share your answer with friends and family on social media.

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Comments

My maternal grandfather, William Frederick August Leu came to the US in 1874 when he was 8 years old.  His family was from Pomeria, Germany.  He married Eizabeth Louisa Berner (also with German roots) and they had 12 children.  My mother was the oldest and was born in 1898 in Madison County, NE.  My great grandmother on my paternal side was also born in Germany.  Not sure where in Germany.  Her name was Teresa Harman, and she married my great grandfather Thomas Griffith.

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With a name like "Kerstetter", you might imagine I would have German ancestry, and you would be correct! At least 13 of 16 of my 3rd great grandparents on my father's side seem to be of German descent, however, only 2 of them, the Felsingers who came over in the 1850s, are of German birth. The rest appear to have immigrated no later than the mid- to early-1700s and a couple in the 1600s! So, my German blood is pretty darn OLD. As far as I can tell, there's not a drop of German on my mother's side... French, English, Scottish, Irish... but interestingly, I've traced all of mom's branches except, one brick wall, back into the 1700s still on this continent. NONE are immigrants except for one 4th ggf born in Quebec. So despite having many German (and other) ancestors, I have more American-born ancestors than anyone my age I've ever met, though I'm sure there are people with more.

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Thanks for asking this question Eowyn!
The answers have been interesting. Where did the ancestors leave from? Where are the descendants now?

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I've got you beat Cousin,16 of us and we all are still living.

Answer 1

I have (so far) traced my German ancestors back to the 1600s. The locations that come up frequently (and almost exclusively) are Essen (or Esens), Wittmund, Hanover, Jever, Oldenburg. The family names are Fulfs, Hoffman, Jansen, Arians, Antons, Hinrichs, Tyarks, Braams, Thomsen, Eden, Berends, and more. It's all very interesting and a little overwhelming. In their 20s, the bravery of my great-grandparents in boarding a ship for the United States to build a life together boggles my mind. They married in Jamestown, NY and eventually went west to settle in Kansas. What I wouldn't give for the ability to time-travel!

Answer 2

These are my German immigrant ancestors that I am stuck on, coincidentally all my second great grandparents (through my maternal grandfather):

Frank John Busch aka Bush

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Busch-1051

Maria Sophia Dorothea Jahnke Bush

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jahnke-125

George Reiling

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Reiling-61

Barbara "Wawa" Hanna

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hanna-2194

Answer 3

Absolutely. My maternal grandparents were Prussian peasants from Torun area in what now is Poland. Arrived in US in early 1900's. Family also lived in Grabowo in western Prussia on land ceded to Poland by the Treaty of Versailles after WWI.  All were driven out by the Russians or Poles at the end of WWII.  Some ended up in the British zone and some in the Russian zone. Had relatives who fought on both sides of that war.

With such change in the borders and displacement, family research has been a major challenge.

Answer 4

Certainly. German ancestry from what is now Germany and German speaking Switzerland. The families came over in the 1850s and settled in Ohio and Missouri later moving into Nebraska. DNA indicates I'm >54% German. German family names are: From Bern Switzerland region: Sandfort, Schuetz, Rexroth. From Prussia region:  Hersekorn, Knosp, Schultz and Haller among many.

Answer 5

Just a wee bit. Most from Prussia, and immigrated to Australia. Names of Saniewski/Sanewski which in USA was changed to Sanefsky.

Also, Fadel, Grott, Kroger, Reinhold, Heuer, Mundt, Przylenski, Kluknowa, Pelz, Hermann, Reinboldt, Wilschefski, Salomon and Lukritz all lived in Prussia or Germany and came to Australia.

Answer 6

I have several German ancestors. My 2nd great grandfather Frederick Solter (b,1821)came to US  from Offelten in Preussich Oldendorf in  1854 (passenger record)He settled first in Illinois and later moved to Wichita Kansas. He married his second wife, Louise Hugen,in St. Louis.  Circumstantial evidence suggests she was also from Offleten (Not proved). After her death he maried her sister.

George Gosch (2nd ggrandfather) from Holstein (census) and his wife Elzaba Groff from Schleswig(census). I don't have a good  arrival date for either them. They met and married in US. (illinois)

George Henry Bohrer (3rd great grandfather) b. 1806 inGersbach, Reinplatz, Germany. He came to US with his parents. Date is not known, but he married in Brown County,, Ohio in 1828. I have good detail on this family because the Genealogical Society of Pirmasens, Germany decided to track the people in their area who emigrated. Great project.

Answer 7

My 5G-grandfather Jacob Cloues ran a tobacco shop in Boston during the late 18th century.  The family pronounces the name Clauss,so I'm trying to confirm relationship to the Clauss family from Florstadt who arrived at Broad Bay on the Maine coast in 1753.  The United States Navy destroyer escort USS Cloues was named after my father's 4th cousin Eddie Cloues, who was the officer in charge of the USS Arizona gun turret destroyed by the Japanese bomb which detonated his turret's ammunition magazine at Pearl Harbor.

Answer 8

I have four German ancestors, who immigrated to America, that I know of.  John Valentine Schroeder, 2nd GGF (~1835 - 1905) was in South Carolina by about 1855 where he married.  John Leonard Harmon Sr., 4th GGF (1738 - 1794) was in Newberry District of South Carolina before 1783 when he married.  John Buzhardt, 4th GGF (1718 - 1802) was in Edgefield, South Carolina by 1770.  Andreas David Pressler Sr., 6th GGF (~1704 - 1759), married in 1723 in the Colony of New York.

Answer 9

My 3x Great-Grandfather, Louis Graben was from Thuringia. He and I look so much alike, people think his picture is me doing a reenactment or living history.

Answer 10

My gr-gr-grandfather, August Christian Adolph Kessler, was born in 1830 in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. He emigrated in 1848 to Frederickshavn, Denmark where he worked as a typesetter. In about 1855 he married Elise Amalie Volgertha Olsen. They settled in Copenhagen. They had 6 children. August and Elise both died in 1896.

Answer 11

I'm Johan Fredrik Maurer. My surname is clearly German, but it came to me via Denmark and Norway, through my father's ancestors. Johannes Maurer (born 1779 in Ulm) emigrated to Copenhagen, and his son Johan Fredrik Maurer (born 1817 in Copenhagen) emigrated to Oslo (Christiania at the time) sometime between 1835 and 1842. I think all the Maurers in Norway (and some in Argentina) are related to me.

My mother's connection with Germany was more immediate. Her maiden name was Erika Elfriede Schmitz, born in Kobe, Japan, to two German parents, Paul Schmitz and Emma Laemmle Schmitz. Paul and Emma lived in Kobe from 1905 to 1948, when they and their daughter Erika moved to Stuttgart.

Answer 12

My German grandfather Adolf Berendt was born in Belarus June 1908 in Tscholo. He died in 1944 in Kowel. He married my Polish grandmother Marcelina Dabrowska. That is all I know about my German ancestor. I wonder where Adolf's parents came from. I can't find anything about the Berendt family.

Answer 13

My 7th great grandfather Jorg Wilhelm Riegel, born in 1706,  is from Medard, in Southwest Germany and was part of the Palatine migration. He arrived in Philadelphia in 1734 with his brother Matthias. His descendant Margaret Riegel is my 3rd great grandmother.

Answer 14

My 2x great grandparents are German. Romer and Hauser from Baden Wurttemberg Germany.

Answer 15

My grandfather came to NY the US in April 1926. He was born June 5,1906 in Neidermendig, Germany to Johann Schmitz (born on 27 DEC 1877 in Mosbruch, Vulkaneifel, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany & died on 9 MAY 1943 in Neidermendig, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany) and Anna Klepperich (born on 26 JUL 1889 in Arft, Mayen-Koblenz, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany & died on 8 DEC 1944 in Germany). 

Other names are: Josef Schmitz, Susanna Mand, Maria Magdalena Mindermann, Anna Klepperich, Heinrich Klepperich, Katharina Zens, Maria Katharina Thelen, Elisabeth Muller, Martin Thelen, Anna Maria Nurrenberg) to name a few! All where around the Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany area.

Answer 16

My 6th great-grandfather was Gerrit Heinrich Meyer (Meijer), born in 1665 in Bucholtz, Germany.  Came to South Africa and died in 1735. Married to Suzanne Caucheteux. I do not know who came before him and would like to know if there are still family in Germany

Answer 17

My German ancestors migrated from Germany (Stein, etc). Prits/Britz/Brits & Trytsman

Answer 18

Johan Michael Krieger 

Born 31 Jan 1762 in Fröschen, Höhfröschen, Pirmasens, Kurfürstentum Pfalz, Heiliges Römisches Reich

Hans Krieger was a Palatine Migrant

Mary Sluss, a survivor of the Sluss Family Massacre of 1774. 

grand daughter of Johan Peter (Peter) Slusser Sr. formerly Schlosser aka Sluss

Born 20 Jan 1710 in Heidelberg, Baden, Heiliges Römisches Reich.   

Answer 19

My paternal grandfather, Heinrich Theodore Joseph Cramer (1888 in Oberhausen, Germany-1971) and my paternal grandmother, Anne Wilhemine Petzke (1888, in Flackenheide, Germany-1948) immigrated to Canada in 1913 just 4 months after they married (Magdeburg, Ger in December, 1912).  Her father is named on the wedding record as August Friederich Petzke.  Heinrich's parents were Hermann Cramer, born in Dumpten, Germany and Josephine Borgmann, born in Cleve, Germany and dying in Cleve June 16, 1913.  Josephine's parents were Wilhem Borgmann and Gertrud Pesch.

My maternal great-great grandfather was Michael Heuser (Hauser) born in Wurtemburg, Germany in Sept 1827 and his wife, Gertrude Caroline Winter was born in Oct 1841 in Bavaria.  Michael's father was Georg Michael Hauser, born Nov 1786 in Reitnau, Oppenwater, Backnang, Wurtemburg, Germany.  His wife, Christina Magdalena Kreher was born in Dec 1790 in Kleinaspach, Wurtemburg, Ger.  Georg's parents were Johan Georg Hauser (1750, Kleinaspach) and Maria Catherina Ebinger (1761, Reitenau).  Christina's parents, GM Kreher and AC Atz were married in Schmidhausen, Wurtenburg in Jan 1782).  Two other great-great grandparents were John M Maier (March 1825 in Denkendorf, Wurtemburg, Ger) and Susanne Voetschel (March 1829 in Saxon Coburg, Ger).

Answer 20

My 5th great grandfather Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Meinecke was born in 1734 in Magdeburg, Prussia, the capital city of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt situated on the Elbe River southwest of Berlin.  Johann came to Three Rivers, Quebec, Canada in 1783 as part of the Brunswick Troops military battalion and then remained in Canada permanently, settling in the Marysburgh Township in Prince Edward County on the north shore of Lake Ontario. I have information on his father and grandfather who also lived in Magdeburg.