OSTFRIESEN-L Archives
Archiver > OSTFRIESEN > 1998-07 > 0900885389
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Subject: [OSTFRIESEN-L] (no subject)
Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 17:56:29 EDT
First - Lin, Please add me to your list for Strackholt OSB.
Second - For those who have time and OSBs (these are not in the Reepsholt
OSB), please look up for my extended family:
1)- Gerd Willms, b. July 21, 1807 in Kirbspiel ?, d. Oct. 6. 1893. Married
Moderina H. Steinmann, b. jan 23, 1810 in Kirkspeil ?, d. March 31, 1874.
2)- Johann Heinrich Gerdes, b. Oct 12, 1833 in ???, d. Sept 5, 1910. Married
Etta Harmons, b. Sept 6, 1827, d. March 25, 1895. Son: Henry John Gerdes b.
Oct 16, 1856 D. May 30, 1939. Married Caroline Kritner, b. Jan 21, 1863, d.
August 3, 1929. Son: Orville W. Gerdes.
I don't know exactly where Kirbspiel is - perhaps Strackholt. There appears to
be two movements of Germans from Ost Friesland into Nemaha and surrounding
counties of Johnson and Otoe, in Nebraska. One, a transplant group from IL or
IA or both before the war. Many may have come to be teamsters along the Trail
from Nebraska City. Both Weers and Fass served as teamsters on occasions in
addition to farming large tracts. Gerd Weers returned to MO area to join a
Union unit where his brother, Gerhard, joined in Menard County, IL. A second
group of Germans were those sent for - to join the others in the permanent NE
homestead after the war. Many marriages occur between these groups. Claas Fass
was nearly 36 years when he married the 17 year old Trentje Eilers, an
arrangement which seems common with nearly 500,000 dead during the Civil War.
Fortunately for me, the main lines of Weers, Fass and Eilers were listed in
the Reepsholt OSB even though they were from different villages of the area.
I keep watching the transactions for your connections.
Sharon Weers Morales
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