New Acquisitions Fall 2009

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Published in North America

Das 12te Sängerfest des Comal-Sängerbundes. Sonntag, den 20. April 1952. Echo Halle, New Braunfels, Texas. 39 pp., ill.
On title page: Festgebender Verein. New Braunfelser Männerchor. Bundesbehörde: Bundespräsident: Oscar Haas. 1ster Vizepräsident: Frank Schumann. 2ter Vizepräsident: Frau Harold Dierks. Sekretär-Schatzmeister: Alfred Jung. Festbehörde: Präsident: Robert H. Tays. Vizepräsident: Oscar Haas. Schatzmeister: Herman C. Albrecht. Sekretär: Willie Jostes. Dirigent: Gilbert Becker.
Donated by Glenn Gilbert.

73. Sängerfest des Texanischen Gebirgs-Sängerbundes, 10. und 11. Oktober 1964, New Braunfels, Texas, Sängerhalle, Festgebender Verein, Gesangverein Echo. 72 pp., ill.
On title page: Bundesbehörde: Bundespraesident: Willy Weiss, Seguin. 1. Vizepräsident: Wm. F. Garms, San Antonio. 2. Vizepräsident: Frau Frieda Koch, San Antonio. Sekretär-Schatzmeister: Henry Riemer, San Antonio. Festbehörde: Präsident: Frank Schumann. Vizepräsident: Goswin Dedeke.  Sekretär: Otto Seidel. Schatzmeister: Herbert Waldschmidt Sr. Festdirigent: Otto Seidel.
Donated by Glenn Gilbert.

Bible. German. Die Bibel, oder, die ganze Heilige Schrift des Alten und Neuen Testaments, nach der Deutschen Uebersetzung D. Martin Luthers.
Revidirte Ausgabe. Milwaukee, Wis.: Brumder, 1890. vi, 1079; 311 pp.
Inscribed Theo. Vollmer.
Donated by Ellen Trankle Kohnhorst.

Das Erste Milwaukeer Lesebuch nebst praktischen Sprach-Uebungen.
Milwaukee, Wis.: Brumder, [1880]. iv, 69 pp., ill.
Inscribed Louis Leidiger, Milwaukee, Wis.
From the Vorwort: “Aus der Schule — für die Schule!” Das ‘Erste Milwaukeer Lesebuch,’ welches heute erscheint, ist das zweite der vom Verein der deutschen Lehrer dieser Stadt herausgegebenen und vorzugsweise für den Unterricht an unseren hiesigen öffentlichen Schulen bestimmten Reihenfolge von Lesebüchern. Der Plan, der uns bei der Herausgabe des bereits im Gebrauche befindlichen Zweiten Lesebuches geleitet hat, war auch bei der Zusammenstellung des vorliegenden Büchleins maßgebend, und gleich jenem ist auch dieses Buch die Frucht praktischer Erfahrung in der Schulstube. Das vorliegende Buch ist für den Unterricht während der zwei ersten Schuljahre bestimmt und zerfällt demgemäß in zwei Theile. Der erste umschliesst in entwickelnder Aufeinanderfolge die Anfangsgründe des Sprech-, Schreib- und Leseunterrichtes mit Berücksichtigung sowohl der Wort- als der Lautirmethode; der zweite Theil enthält eine Auswahl der Altersstufe der Schüler entsprechende Lesestücke nebst praktischen Sprachübungen. Auch hier stand man, wie bei dem Zweiten Lesebuche, von einer systematischen Eintheilung des Lesestoffes ab und suchte die Aufeinanderfolge desselben mit der fortschreitenden Lesefertigkeit des Schülers in Einklang zu bringen. Möge des vorliegende Büchlein sich einer gleich freundlichen Aufnahme, wie das bereits eingeführte, zu erfreuen haben, und uns dadurch Veranlassung geben, an dem bereits in Angriff genommenen dritten und letzten Buch der Reihenfolge mit erhöhtem Muthe weiter zu arbeiten. [Signed] Das Redaktions-Komite: Paul Binner, Josef Baldauf, Bernard A. Abrams, Milwaukee, Wis., September 1880.”
Donated by the T. B. Scott Free Library, Merrill, Wisconsin.
For more images from this book, please click here.

Evangelical Lutheran Hymn-Book. With Tunes.
St. Louis: Concordia, n.d. 538 pp.
Inscribed Mr. and Mrs Edward Hildebrand, March 28, 1974.
In English, with some titles also in German. Index of German hymn titles, pp. 534-537.
Donated by the T. B. Scott Free Library, Merrill, Wis.
Hofacker, Ludwig. Predigten für alle Sonn-, Fest- und Feiertage nebst einigen Busstags-Predigten und Grabreden. Erste amerikanische Stereotyp-Ausgabe. Philadelphia, Pa.: Kohler, 1872. xxxx, 397; 512 pp., portrait.
On t.p. verso: Caxton Press of Sherman & Co. Philadelphia
“From the family library of Friedrich and Amalie Rahn Vollmer who lived and farmed in the Town of Lake (now Milwaukee) from about 1874 to 1920.”
Donated by Ellen Trankle Kohnhorst.

McCabe, James D. Dabney. Illustrirte Geschichte der Vereinigten Staaten von der Entdeckung des Amerikanischen Kontinents bis zur Gegenwart. (An Illustrated History of the Great Republic). Philadelphia, Pa.: National Publishing Company, [18??]. 930 pp., ill.
Donated by Ellen Trankle Kohnhorst.

Vollmar, A. Agnes. Reich möcht’ ich sein! Eine Christblume für alt und jung. Reading, Pa.: Pilger, n.d. 73 pp., frontispiece.
On title page: Eine Christblume für alt und jung, gepflückt von A. Vollmar.
Donated by Ellen Trankle Kohnhorst.

Wilhelmy, A. Auf einsamer Insel / Goldene Berge. Eine Erzählung aus dem Seemannsleben. Deutsche Evangelische Jugend-Bibliothek, 30. St. Louis, Mo.: Eden, 1902. 104 pp. Inscribed “From Charles to William, Feb. 19, 1905.”
Dreissigstes Bändchen. Herausgegeben von der Deutschen Evangelischen Synode von Nord-Amerika.
A. Wilhelmy is a pseudonym for Jeanette Wilhelmine Groenewold. Goldene Berge (p. 81) is by Elisabeth Kühn.
“[This publication] was presented to William John DeFreis on his 12th birthday by his cousin Charles Westra in Buffalo, N.Y. William was born in Buffalo on February 19, 1893. His father, Henry DeFreis, emigrated from the province of Friesland in the Netherlands and soon changed his name from ‘Fokkema.’ William’s mother, Margaret Kropf DeFreis, emigrated from Kirchenlamitz in Oberfranken, Bavaria, and ended up in Buffalo which had a steady stream of immigration from Kirchenlamitz. Henry DeFreis, 1866-1900. Margaret De Freis, 1869-1957.”
Donated by Ellen Trankle Kohnhorst.

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Subject Collection

Bake, Rita. Der Garten der Frauen. Ein Ort der Erinnerung mit historischen Grabsteinen von Gräbern bedeutender Frauen und eine letzte Ruhestätte fuer Frauen. Hamburg: Verein Garten der Frauen e.V., 2009. 292 pp., ill.
“Margarethe Meyer Schurz (geb. Meyer). Wegbereiterin des Kindergartens in den USA,” by Gerd Stolz, pp. 200-202.
Donated by Gerd Stolz.

Bennett, Ensila Eiserloh. “German Internees in America: The Eiserlohs’ Story.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 31, no. 1, Spring 2009, pp. 92-95, ill.
Edited by Karen Ebel. From www.traces.org; adapted from Arthur D. Jacobs’ research http://foitimes.com/internment/.
Mathias and Johanna Eiserloh came from Idstein, Germany, to America in 1923. On December 9, 1941, Mathias was arrested by the FBI at his job and jailed in Cleveland. Johanna petitioned the government to be allowed to join Mathias at an internment camp in Crystal City, Texas, where he was being held. In 1945 they agreed to be repatriated to Germany. Back in Idstein, Mathias was arrested by the Gestapo and taken away. After the war, the family applied to be allowed to return to America, but their requests were denied until 1955.

Bode, Daniel. “The Family of Christian and Margarethe Gaskamp.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 31, no. 1, Spring 2009, pp. 80-90, ill.
Christian Gaskamp and his wife, Margarethe nee Schmedthorst, were both natives of Haldem, Westphalia, Germany. They settled in the Washington County community of Zionsville in Texas in 1871.

———. “The Family of Johann Heinrich Gaskamp.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 31, no. 2, Summer 2009, pp. 169-77, ill.
Johann Heinrich Gaskamp was born in 1830 in Haldem, Westphalia, Germany. He married Anna Marie Louise Meier in 1852 in Haldem; Anna died in 1856 and Johann Heinrich married Marei Sophie Engel Wiethorn in 1857, also in Haldem. The family arrived in Washington County, Texas, in 1871.

Cotter, Amelia. “Stories from Camp Frederick: German World War II POWs in Frederick, Maryland. Part 3 of 5.” German-American Journal, vol. 57, no. 3, June/July 2009, pp. 4, ill.
“Many of the primary sources in this work come directly from the archives at The Frederick County Historical Society in Frederick, Maryland.”
This installment discusses the low profile maintained by Camp Frederick during its operations, and the interest in German POWs that arose some twenty years after the war ended.

Danielsen, Marie. “The Diary of Marie Danielsen: A Story of One German Girl’s Journey to Clinton, IA from Hattstedt, in Schleswig Holstein.” Infoblatt (German American Heritage Center, Davenport, Iowa), vol. 14, no. 1, Winter 2009, pp. 12-15, 20, ill.
Danielsen describes her trip across the Atlantic aboard the Deutschland in 1904. She is 17 years of age during her journey. The ship arrived at Hoboken, after which the author describes travels to Ellis Island, Buffalo, Chicago, Olin (Iowa), and then Clinton.

Dirksen, Theresa. “The Importance of German Farm Names: A Case Study.” Germanic Genealogy Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, Spring 2009, pp. 12-14, ill.
Farm names in Germany were often retained unchanged; “the farm and its name were so important that if a man married the heiress to a farm, he dropped his surname in favor of his wife’s surname, that is, the farm’s name.” This article brings this custom to light by examining the search for an immigrant ancestor’s village of origin, as well as the location of settlement in the U.S. the immigrant’s name was George Eganhouse [Eggenhaus/Eggenhues]. The author discovered the town of origin to be Ennigeloh, in Westphalia. One of the ancestors there had, upon marrying an heiress to a farm, taken her name: Osthockelmann. Searching passenger indexes for this surname revealed the immigrant Gerhard Osthockelmann, who had arrived in New Orleans in 1847 and had purchased land in Bellevue, Jackson County, Iowa.

Holguin, Omar Jr., and Ginger Daily. “The Immigrant Communities of White Oak Bayou and Germantown in Harris County.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 31, no. 1, Spring 2009, pp. 26-43, ill.
“This paper concerns the 19th-century immigrants from Germany who settled both in an area north of White Oak Bayou and near its confluence with Little White Oak Bayou and in a separate area known as Germantown. Both communities were once located beyond Houston’s city limits, but today both areas are located within the City of Houston.” Family names mentioned include: Grota, Depenbrock, Stude, Klunkert, Windt/Wendt, Wickeman/Wichman/Wickman, Koenig, Weber, and Eckert.

Knigge, Carol A. “Early German Catholic Parishes in Chicago.” Der Blumenbaum (Sacramento German Genealogy Society), vol. 27, no. 1, July/Aug./Sept. 2009, pp. 17-18.
Source: “German Catholic Parishes in Chicago,” compiled by Carol A. Knigge, German Folks Quarterly Journal, April-June 1997.
Provides location, date established, and information on where records may be obtained.

Knopp, Kenn. “Part 6. World War I: No Sympathy for the Vaterland — Fredericksburg’s Lieutenant Louis J. Jordan, Hero! Travail of a German-Texan Teacher During World War I — Lutheran Pastor Imprisoned for Preaching in German.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 31, no. 2, Spring 2009, pp. 160-168.

Makowski, Ed. “William K. Ebers, Wagonmaster.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 31, no. 2, Summer 2009, pp. 154-59.
William Karl Ebers and Maria Juliana Fulz left Braunschweig and settled in Grassyville in Bastrop County, Texas. Includes a listing of their descendants.

Makowski, Edwin. “William Makowski, Methodist Circuit Rider.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 31, no. 1, Spring 2009, pp. 67-70.
Friedrich Wilhelm Makowski emigrated from Danzig, Prussia at the age of 22. In Guadalupe County, Texas, he found employment at the Blumberg farm near McQueeny and raised enough money to bring his mother and two younger sisters to America. In 1896, at the age of 28, he enrolled at Blinn College in Brenham to become a Methodist minister. This article details his life as a minister in Texas

Mettendorf, Ernst. Zwischen Triumph und Desaster. Die Geschichte des 46. New Yorker Regiments, 1861 bis 1865. (The History of the 46th New York Infantry). Eden, New York: Selbstverlag, 2008. 165 pp., ill.
The New York 46th infantry was recruited and organized in New York City. Mustered in 1861, the regiment was composed mostly of citizens of German birth.
Donated by Ernst Mettendorf?

Image of the opening of the 1932 OlympicsRudolf Ismayr wins gold medal for GermanyDie Olympischen Spiele in Los Angeles 1932.
Altona-Bahrenfeld: Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken, [1932]. 142 pp, + 10 leaves of plates, 1 folded diagram, ill. (mostly mounted, part col.).
On title page: Diese Chronik der X. Olympischen Spiele zu Los Angeles wurde unter Mitarbeit der Herren Willy Meisl, Chefredakteur, Berlin; W. A. Cordua, Chefredakteur, Hamburg; Walter Richter, Sportredakteur, Hamburg; von den Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken, Altona-Bahrenfeld herausgegeben.
Includes 200 b&w and colored mounted cigarette cards produced by the Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken. Many of the cards are hand-colored.
Donated by John Baltes.
For more images from this book, please click here.

Rosenbaum, Doris Koester. “Re-Discovery of Old Letters From Germany.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 31, no. 2, Summer 2009, pp. 151-53, ill.
Translation of a letter dated September 21, 1947 written by Manfred Jaster, manager of Estate Gilde, above Gifhorn, Hanover, to his uncle Ludtke in Brenham, Texas.

Smart, Terry L. “San Antonio’s German Heritage.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 31, no. 1, Spring 2009, pp. 52-57, ill.
Discusses German neighborhoods, businesses, artists and musicians, social clubs and societies, and religious life.

Toepperwein, Herman. Rebel in Blue: A Novel of the Southwest Frontier, 1861-1864. New York: William Morrow, 1963. 378 pp.
Herman Toepperwein, an attorney and author, was born in Menard, Texas, in 1907, the son of Emil and Sophie Nauwald Toepperwein. He is a direct descendant of the first German immigrants to the Fredericksburg area. Toepperwein died in Kerrville, Texas, in 1976.
From bookjacket: “Among the dramas of the Civil War, perhaps none is stranger or more poignant than that of the German colonists in south-central Texas, who against all pressures remained steadfastly loyal to the Union in a Confederate state. Here is their story, authentically re-created by one of their own descendants.”
Donated by Glenn Gilbert.

Troup, Alexander. “C. W. Heppner: A Visionary for the German-American People of Dallas.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 31, no. 1, Spring 2009, pp. 72-74.
C. W. Heppner came to the United States in 1883. The 1920 census lists his occupation as builder; by 1930 he was a furniture merchant living at Western Heights, now West Dallas. Heppner helped organize the Sons of Hermann located on Elm Street on 1910, and is also known for his work with the Trinity River Levee and Drainage Club.

Troup, Alexander M. “The German-Americans of Dallas, Texas.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 31, no. 1, Spring 2009, pp. 46-49.
Discusses lodges and societies established in Dallas, particularly the Sons of Hermann, and the discovery of items found at three locations in the Swiss Avenue and Elm Street (or “Deep Ellum” area) that provided a glimpse into the German-speaking community of the mid-1900s.

Turbes, Donna Hollerung. “Researching Your 19th-Century Alsatian Immigrant.” Germanic Genealogy Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, Spring 2009, pp. 5-11.
“Since Alsace [Elsaß] belonged to France and to Germany at different times, Alsatian documents can be in Latin, German, or French.” Includes a brief history of Alsace; how to identify Alsatian immigrants using U.S. records; useful emigration records; Alsatian research basics; Alsatian place names; Alsatian civil, church, census, and military records; printed resources; genealogical collections; and Web sites.

Turbes, Donna Hollerung, and Lois Edwards. “Ahnendaten: A German Ancestor Database.” Germanic Genealogy Journal, vol. 12, no. 1, Spring 2009, pp. 18-21, ill.
“Ahnendaten [ancestor data] at <www.ahnendaten.de> provides a searchable genealogy database of German (and some non-German) individuals and families.”

Wacker, Helga. Die Besonderheiten der deutschen Schriftsprache in den USA. Duden-Beiträge. Sonderreihe: Die Besonderheiten der deutschen Schriftsprache im Ausland, Heft 14. Mannheim: Bibliographisches Institut, 1964. 191 pp.
Based in part on thesis, Tübingen. Bibliography: pp. 177-183.
Donated by Glenn Gilbert.

“Waumandee’s Harmonia Hall to Receive National Historic Register Designation.” Winona Post, 22 April 2009.
“Harmonia Hall was built and likely designed by Joseph Schäfer of Arcadia in 1890 (Buffalo County Republikaner, May 20, 1890). Originally titled the Harmonie Gesellschaft, the structure served as a subchapter of the Freie Gemeinde movement. . . . Chartered in Waumandee in 1861, as one of over 30 in Wisconsin with the largest in Sauk City.” Family names associated with the Harmonie Gesellschaft include: Ochsner, Manz, Hohmann, Waelty, Farner, Knecht, Rothering, Kirchner, Moser, and others.

“What Does This Map NOT Reveal about the German Language in Switzerland?” Der Blumenbaum (Sacramento German Genealogy Society), vol. 27, no. 1, July/Aug./Sept. 2009, pp. 34-35, ill.
Information on the dialect of German spoken in Switzerland.

Wolsh, Eddie. “From the River Spree and the North Sea to the Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River: The History of the Wolsch and Kneschk Families and Their Immigration to Texas.” The Journal (German-Texan Heritage Society), vol. 31, no. 2, Summer 2009, pp. 140-148.
“To be concluded, next Journal.”
“The following is an excerpt of my dad’s family’s history which includes references to his Plaatdeutsch ancestors of his mother from the Oldenburg area as well as the history of the Texas region and northwest Texas communities which Emil [Wolsch] migrated to.” The Wolsch and Kneschk families came from the villages of Braunsdorf, Weisswasser and Gablenz in Prussia, and were Wendish, a Slavic people with a culture and language akin to Polish and Czech. Matthaeus and Anna Kneschk, along with four daughters, a son, and August Wolska, immigrated to Texas in 1877. Explores possible reasons behind the decision to leave and provides what information is known about the trip. “After arriving in Mannheim, Lee County in 1877, August Wolska married Augusta [daughter of Matthaeus] in Williamson County in 1885. . . Once in Texas they followed the pattern of earleir Wendish immigrants, periodically moving in an effort to improve their financial condition. . . . From 1877 to the early 1880s they moved from Mannheim to Paige, Bastrop County, to Dessau, Travis County, to Walburg and Beyersville, Williamson County.” Among the children of August and Augusta was Emil Wolsch, the author’s grandfather.

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Family Histories and Archives  

Ave-Lallemant Family History.
Contains: Die Familie Ave-Lallemant und ihre Töchternachkommen (Zusammengestellt von C. Nikolaus Luehrsen, Aachen. Eingereicht von Peter Ave-Lallemant, Hamburg-Hochkamp. Sonderdruck aus “Deutsches Familienarchiv,” Band 23, Verlag Degener & Co.., Neustadt a. d. Aisch, c1963), 63 pp. and 6 p. Nachtrag.
“Notes and Recollections on the Life of Our Beloved Grandfather, Pierre Lallemant and His Six Children, Gathered and Written By His 73-Year-Old Grandchild, Emilie Lange, nee Ave-Lallemant,” a 21-page translation.
“From My Grandfather’s Notations on Various Dates As He Had Gathered Them From Various Obtainable Sources,” translated by Robert E. Ave-Lallemant, 12 pages.
“Ancestors in France, Taken from the Booklet Chronik der Familie Ave-Lallemant,” by Reinhold Ave-Lallemant.
“Denkmahl der Freundschaft,” a box containing individual sheets with handwritten inscriptions and artwork dating from 1817 through 1828. Some of the names and places noted on the sheets: Krebs (Barth), Bindemann (Cüstrin), Braun (Cüstrin), Selle (Cüstrin), Kielmann (Danzig), Bohmer (Greifswald), Kallmorgen (Greifswald), Rudolph (Greifswald), Bartsch (Grünberg), Schönknecht (Grünberg), Seidel (Grünberg), Thiemer (Grünberg), Nerger (Parchim), Brandenberg (Rothenburg), Haeyn (Schmiedeberg), Nerger (Tessin), Petersen (Tessin), Wegner (Tessin), Zeuschner (Züllichau), Hanshagen (?).

Origin of the family is Chalons sur Marne, France. By the 1770s members of the family were living in Magdeburg, and by the 1800s some were in Lübeck, Warnemünde, and Wismar. Friedrich Robert Maria Ave-Lallemant was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1847 [his father was serving as a chaplain to the embassy by order of the Prussian State], moved to Luebeck in 1849, and came to New York in 1875. He then “went with a friend to Pomeroy, Ohio, and from there to Columbus, Ohio, and from there to Kellersville, Dubois County, Indiana,” where he was ordained by Pastor Loewenstein of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio. In 1890 he moved to Morrison, Brown County, Wisconsin, to serve as pastor of the Lutheran Church community there. Friedrich’s sister, Jacobine Friederike Marie Wilhelmine, married Georg Anton Nerger and left Mecklenburg to settle in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1891. In 1940, Marie Ave-Lallemant was married to Howard Moebius of Milwaukee, of the prominent Moebius Printing Company.
From a letter dated August 1965 from Herold Ave’Lallemant, Shreveport, Louisiana: “You may be interested in the thesis written in 1949 by a Mr. Frederick Speidel Youkstetter at the University of Chicago on ‘Friedrich Christian Benedict Ave’-Lallemant, His Life and His Fiction.”
Donated by Raymond Lorberter.

Bunnelle, Phyllis M., and Philip R. Bunnelle. Combined Accounts of Three Books, about the Emigration from Germany of Jacob Ludwig Lutz in 1853 and John Kiler in 1819, Changes and Additions and the 1875 Voyage of Barbora Busek and the 1885 Voyage of the Vaclov Zoubek Family from North German Ports. Santa Clara, CA: Bunnelles, 2009. [213] pp., ill. (some col.).
Well-researched descriptions of the emigration of the Lutz and Kiler families from Württemberg; includes general information of use to others interested in emigration from Europe from 1819 through 1853.
Donated by Phyllis M. Bunnelle.

Gersbach, Robert. The Reinhard and Ella (Bakken) Gersbach Story. [Madison, Wis.: the author, 2007]. [32] pp., ill.
Eusebius Gersbach was born in the area of Harpolingen, Baden-Württemberg. He arrived in the U.S. in 1882 and worked for the Fauerbach Brewing Company in Madison, Wisconsin, until 1892, after which he worked at other breweries in the city. In 1887, Eusebius married Katherine Zehnphennig in Cross Plains, Wisconsin. They had seven children, one of whom was Reinhard, the author’s grandfather.
Donated by Robert Gersbach.

Graupner Family: Letters and Interviews.
3 compact discs.
Carl Paul Graupner (1908-1996) was born in a small town near Saarbruecken, Germany, known then as Spittel and today as L’Hopital, on the French side of the French-German border. A sister of his grandmother Graupner had immigrated to the USA in the 1870s and her children were living near DePere, Wisconsin. One of them, Frank Boser, had a farm and offered to sponsor someone in the family that wanted to come to the United States after World War I. Carl and his older sister Ida left Germany from Cuxhaven in 1923. This collection includes transcriptions and translations of letters dating from 1923 through the post World War Two Care-Package years of the 1940s, as well as a life history of Carl Paul Graupner written by his son, Philip Graupner. Also includes digital versions of audio interviews conducted with family members.
Donated by Philip Graupner.

Kohnhorst, Ellen Trankle. (Vollmer Family).
Theodore Vollmer, 1878-1953, was the oldest son of 8 children of Friedrich and Amalie Rahn Vollmer. Friedrich, 1850-1939 emigrated from Brandenburg in 1866 to escape the draft. Amalie, 1858-1930 was born in Milwaukee of parents who had emigrated from Pomerania for religious reasons. Theodore was a farmer most of his life and at one time farmed the Trimborn Farm, now a Milwaukee County Park in Hales Corners. He last farmed in Racine County where he died.
Florence Vollmer Kohnhorst, 1899-1986, was the youngest child of Friedrich and Amalie Vollmer. She was born and grew up in the old Town of Lake, now part of Milwaukee. She attended a Lutheran parochial school at the old Jehovah Lutheran Church. [Florence signed her name in a copy of Kurze Auslegung des Kleinen katechismus Dr. Martin Luthers. St. Louis: Concordia, 1905.]

Nashold, Raymond D. Naschold / Nashold Family: Germany, New York, Wisconsin, 1425-2009.
Johann Friedrich Naschold arrived in New York in 1754, having left Plattenhardt, Baden-Wuerttemberg. In 1757 he married Catrina Lauffenberg in Rhinebeck, New York. A record indicates that his son, Johannes, served in the 6th Regiment, Dutchess County militia during the time of the American Revolution. Other locations where Nascholds have resided in New York State include Gallupville, Middleburgh, and Athens. By 1857
William C. Naschold, Johann’s grandson, had moved to Columbia County, Wisconsin.
Documents include maps showing places of origin in Germany; an examination of the origin of the family name; part of a family tree for the
Naschold family; “Hermann Hesse and the Naschold Family”; “Search for Naschold Ancestors in New York State, 2004”; “New York State Nascholds, Nasholds (Farming and Other Occupations)”; “A Brief Summary of the Nashold Families of the Town of Fountain Prairie, Columbia County, Wisconsin and Their Ancestors and Descendants”; “Nashold Families of Wisconsin: Military History”; information on a 2000 Naschold reunion held in Calw, Germany; a brief history of Wisconsin; and two reminiscences by R. D. Nashold: “Rural Depression Childhood” and “The Big Fight” (concerning the boxing rematch between Max Schmeling and Joe Louis in June of 1939).
Donated by Dr. Raymond D. Nashold.

Wessel, Lois. Descendants of Henry Wessels. 32 pp.
Henry Wessels was born in 1800 in Kreis Recklinghausen, Nordrhein-Westphalen, Germany, and died 1857 in Millstadt, St. Clair Co., Illinois. Other names mentioned in this history include: Auhrabka, Niggenauber, Flemming, Vogt, Buss, and Toenjes.
Donated by Fred and Lois Wessel.

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Textbooks

Droste-Hülshoff, Annette von. Die Judenbuche: Ein Sittengemälde aus dem gebirgichten Westfalen. With introduction, notes and vocabulary by Dr. Ernst O. Eckelmann. Oxford German Series. Julius Goebel, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1936. xvi, 161 pp., ill.

Ein westfälisches Bauernhaus
Ein westfälisches Bauernhaus

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