Henry County, Illinois One Place Study

Profile manager: K Frazier [send private message]

The goal of this project is to explore the interconnected families of Henry County, especially the Alsatian and Rhineland-Palatinate families that settled in the 1800s. These families intermarried in their home countries, and then continued to intermarry in the U.S. In addition to these communities, there was also a large Belgian community that settled in the area.

Some of the families identified in this community are: Jaegli/ Yackley, Egert, Clementz, Sittler, Engel, Schmitt, Haffele, Fritsch, Schehl, Schreiner, Gross/Grose, Oberle, Rink, Wirth, Thürwanger.

Right now this project just has one member, me. I am K Frazier.

Here are some of the tasks that I think need to be done. I'll be working on them, and could use your help.

• Documenting all the German and Alsatian immigrant families
• Connecting families together (e.g. Seyllers to Egerts to Clementzes, etc.)
• Linking families back to their homeland in the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany and the department of Bas-Rhin, France.

Profiles of people who belong to this project should be categorized by township, village or city, then by Henry County, Illinois so that everyone becomes grouped together.

Many of the families in Henry County, Illinois arrived as a result of chain-migration, and, as a result, many of the settlers came from the same villages in Europe.

Belgium

France

• Artolsheim, Bas-Rhin (Fritsch, Haffele)
• Bremmelbach, Bas-Rhin (Filser)
• Friesenheim, Bas-Rhin (Oberle)
• Mussig, Bas-Rhin (Fritsch, Gross/Grose, Sittler)
• Wittisheim, Bas-Rhin (Clementz, Egert, Jaegli/Yackley)

Germany

• Bruchweiller-Baerenbach, Pfalz, Pirmaesens (Thürwanger)
• Bundenthal, Pfalz, Pirmaesens (Leininger, Schreiner, Wirth)
• Ludwigswinkel, Pfalz, Pirmaesens (Schehl)
• Schindhard, Pfalz, Pirmaesens (Thürwanger)

Netherlands

• Arnemuiden, Zeeland (Hoogerwerf)

For many of the families, Henry County, Illinois became one stop on a longer migration, with common destinations being Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska.

Will you join me? Please post a comment here on this page, in G2G using the project tag, or send me a private message. Thanks!