Fermazin Family History

In researching our family history in Posen, Prussia, Poland we found Friedrich Formazin. He was the son of Daniel Formaezyn born about 1785 and Mariana Soblinska. This has not been confirmed but from emails to a Kasia, a genealogy researcher in present day Poland we are pretty convinced this is so.

We pick Friedrich Vormazin up in Labischin, Kreis Schubin in 1840 as a 21 year old lad getting married to Louise Bonau. Friedrich Vormazin Formazin married Louise Bonau (possibly Huguenaut name) in Labischin on Dec.6,1840.Per his marriage records he was single, age 21, and resided in Ruhden*, his father was deceased at time of marriage, while Louise is also listed as single 24 years and 5 months. Of this marriage they had four children, August, Henriette, Stephan, and Caroline. Louise Bonau died from cholera in 1852 with one of their daughters, leaving behind three young children. Louise Bonau died from cholera Sept 25, 1852.
Friedrich Formazin remarried, also in Labischin:
On Jan.9,1853 Friedrich Formazin widower of Rynarzewo age 31, "Einwohner" got married to Justine Braun, daughter of mailman of Arnoldowo age 25 years, 6 months,
Entry # 7/1853: Source
Louise and Friedrich made their home in Labischin. Of this union they had four children, August, Henriette, Stephan, and Caroline. We have quite a bit of information on August Vormazin Formazin. As for the name of Vormazin and Formazin, we seem to find Vormazin in the Labischin records but after the birth of August, Henriette, Stephan, and Caroline Vormazin, the last name changes from Vormazin to Formazin. Vormazin was probably the phonetic pronunciation of Formazin. My grandfather Robert August Fermazin was named after his uncle August Formazin.
August was born almost 9 months to the day, on 07 September 1841 in Florentowo, a parish of Schubin and lived most of his adult life in Labishin but died on 29 March 1921 at the age of 79 years. in Kreis Mogilno in the village of Kwieciszewo He was baptised 12 September 1841. Witnesses to this baptism were Carl Meyer, August Reddmann, Renate Pinau (? Ristau) spelling), and Eva Meyer. Being the first born, to Friedrich Fermazin, August must have had a special place in his father’s heart. Even though Formazin moved around much of August’s childhood, August did grow up to become a master tailor and settled in the town of Kwieciszewo.
Henriette came along on 9 October 1845 when they were living in Florentowo. She was baptized on 29 October 1849 and her godparents were Michael Fenske, Justine Reddmann, Christine Wegner, Anna Schmidt, and Justine Lurke. These must have been friends and neighbors to the Vormazin’s as some were the same sponsors for August’s christening. Henriette died at an early age, age 5 of cholera. However, from the birth records and baptism it appears Henriette may have not been the healthiest of children since she was not baptized until age 4. Possibly this could be because Louise and Friedrich were moving around so much, with him being an einwhohner and not a schoenfaerber.
Stephan was born on 15 October 1847 in Bagno and baptized 17 October 1847 in Schubin. Witnesses to the christening were Heinrich Brachschein, Justine Brachschein, and Daniel Kopicke. At the time of Stephan’s birth Friedrich was not a Schoenfaerber but an Einwhohner (inhabitant) according to the occupation listed on the birth records. This means that he was probably a farm laborer without possessions. These people are often found to have moved a lot in contrast to farmers who were always bound to their land.
Little Caroline was born on the 13 August 1850 with Friedrich and Louise living in the village of Rynarzewo. She was baptized on 18 August 1850 with the witnesses being Eduard Zillmmer, Louise Wienkauf, August Bartung and Friedrich being listed as einwohner. Friedrich was working a farm (einwohner) in the village of Rynarzewo.
Friedrich and Louise were married only twelve years before she passed. At age 34 on 25 September 1852, Louise passed away from cholera and left behind four small children. The family was living in Rynarzewo at this time. Nine year old Henriette, the second child born 9 October 1843, in Florentowo also died of cholera two days later on 27 September 1852. The three children, August age 11, Stephan age 5, and Caroline 2 were left behind for Friedrich to raise without a mother. How tragic and sad. This was a common occurrence in those days due to no vaccinations and poor sanitation. Cholera was a very painful disease.
Unfortunately the Friedrich Formazin family was impacted by cholera with the two deaths of his beloved wife and oldest daughter. Friedrich was a man of the land, a farmer so he needed help raising his children after Louise died. So on January 9, 1853 Friedrich Formazin married Justine Braun, age 25 years and 6 months, the daughter of the local mailman of Arnoldowo. This custom of remarrying was very common in those years so that the men had a mother for the children, a soul mate and a housewife for the family home, and a companion to love and cherish. We suspect Justine and her family were probably friends of the Formazin family.
Children of Friedrich Formazin and Louise Bonau
We have quite a bit of information on August Vormazin Formazin. As for Vormazin and Formazin, we seem to find Vormazin in the Labischin records but after the birth of August, Henriette, Stephan, and Caroline Vormazin, the last name changes from Vormazin to Formazin. Vormazin was probably the phonetic pronunciation of Formazin. My grandfather Robert August Fermazin was named after his uncle August Formazin. Being the first born of Friedrich Fermazin he must have had a special place in his father’s heart.

August Formazin son of Friedrich Formazin
August Formazin grew up and married Ernestine Kurz in 1865 at age 25. By this time August was working as a master tailor in the village of Jadownik. Later they moved on to Kwieciszewo. At the civil registration office of Gebice Land ( German Gembitz Land) the birth records October 1874-1895 and marriages and deaths 1895-1902 show that August Formazin and his spouse, Ernestine nee Kurz, must have bought a property there as records list him as landowner and master tailor. They settled there about 1877, since their older children were born there. August and Ernestine were happily married for 35 years. After Ernestine’s death August remarried Otilie Schmidt in 1900 and lived until 29 March 1921. We have only the death records of Ernestine and the marriage records of August Formazin and Otilie Schmidt but do not know if they had any children.
Children of August Formazin
Gustav Theophil, the first born was born 19 May 1866 in the village of Jadownik and died as an infant a few days later on 26 May 1866. We haven’t found the other children of this union from 1866 to Anna Augusta Formazin’s birth in Kwieciszewo on 11 July 1867. Anna was named after her aunt Augusta (daughter of Friedrich Formazin and his second wife Justine Braun) and her father August but we will talk about them later. Anna grew up and married Wilhelm Heinrich Koerner 21 June 1905 in Gembitz. Wilhelm Koerner was born 19 July 1880 in Hamelin, Hamelin County Germany. Witnesses for Anna and Wilhelm’s marriage were August Formazin age 62, her father, who was now living in Blutenau and Franz Hartel age 40 of Gembitz.
According to the civil registration Amalia Emma Formazin, Evangelical, was born 8 July 1876 in Dombrowo Forsthaus district of Wongrowitz, and resided in Kwieciszewo. Amalia was named after her aunt Amelia Emily Formazin (daughter of Friedrich Formazin and his third wife, Caroline Hartwich) whom we will discuss later. Witnesses to the birth of Amalia Emma were Carl Busse age 45 of Kwieciszewo and master carpenter Arnold Gregor age 45 of Kwieciszewo. Amalia grew up in Kwieciszewo, and married Maxmillan Sobieszewski Strecker on 8 June 1898 in Kwieciszewo according to the records. Max was born on 9 August 1867 in the village of Strelno. Max’s birth name was Sobieszewski but later according to court records dated 30 January 1907 in the court (postanowienie) House in Mogilno, Max and Amalia changed their last name to Strecker. For what reason we do not know. Max was the son of the deceased Fritz Sobieszewski of and Minna Nee (von) Heyden of Strelno.
Helene Ernestine (named after her mother) was born 31 March 1879 and registered on 5 April 1879.
Wilhelmine Motilie was born 4 September 1880 and registered on 11 September 1880.
Friedrich Wilhelm was born 3 February 1882 named of course after grandpa Friedrich Formazin and his birth was registered on 7 February 1882.
Wilhelmine and Berte (I am pretty certain that Berte was the daughter of August Fermazin, just that we haven’t found her birth records yet) later traveled to America on the ship, Albano arriving in New York on 13 April 1896 to visit their grandfather, Friedrich and Uncle Stephan living in Chicago. According to the ship manifest and the records from the Ellis Island data base they had two suitcases and were on there way to Chicago. I imagine this was exciting for two young women ages 21 and 16: the ship life, the other passengers, the excitement, the anticipation etc arriving at Ellis Island, New York city…Wonder if anyone was there to meet them?
After the death of Louise and Henriette, Friedrich later married Justine Braun from Arnoldowo, Labischin, Posen, Prussia on 09 January 1853 in the Labischin Parish ("Einwohner" married Justine Braun, daughter of mailman of Arnoldowo age 25 years, 6 months Entry # 7/1853). After this entry we find no more Formazin’s living in Labischin so they must have moved out. Of this marriage we know of two children, Augusta and Karl (Charles). Julia Augusta was born 08 July 1857 and Karl was born November 1859
. From: Correspondence email: Thomas Vogel July 28, 2003 to Nancy Fermazin
Now, let's start with the last place you were searching for.
Today it is called KWIECISZEWO. As you can see at www.pilot.pl it lies in the middle between Mogilno and Strzelno (Strelno in German). It probably was in the Kreis Mogilno and about 30-40 km South of Schubin, Bagno and Kanalskrug.

The age you give for Friedrich (* ca. 1824) is reasonable to think that the Stephan I found (*1847) is really his son. Possibly Friedrich married several times. It was not unusual for that time.

The thing that puzzles me a little bit is that Caroline came to America earlier than her husband. Normally the men traveled first and tried to earn money to pay for the passage of their family. It is, however, quite clear that he stayed some time in the area around Bremen before leaving (Oldenburg was a town and the Grand-duchy West of Bremen http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/ger1871.html).

Don't be surprised about age differences you find in US census recordings. I also had one uncle who emigrated in about 1900 and I read in his will that he considered himself to be 4 years younger than he actually was.
I guess, no one really cared about numbers. Only in cases where a certain age was required (military, marriage?) people certainly adjusted a little bit. Probably you may also be right with your assumption that the registrer might have estimated (parents probably know the age difference of their children - so this is mostly correct).
There is one correction I have to make:
Friedrich Vormazin (in 1847) was not "Schoenfaerber" - he was a "Einwohner" (inhabitant). That means that he was probably a farm labourer without land possession. These people are often found to have moved a lot. In contrast to farmers who where always bound to their land.
Reference: Correspondence email Thomas Vogel July 28, 2003 Posen List serv
There were no more Formazins in Labischin parish up to 1862 when parish records end. Later, in the civil registry of Rynarschewo, I found no birth, marriage nor death records up to 1881.So, they moved out. We are still looking for the eight years from 1853 to 1862 for Friedrich Formazin. During this time he is married to Justine Braun and has two more children that we know of, Augusta and Karl. . We assume that Justine had died around 1861 and the widower Friedrich remarried Carolina Hartwig. Julia Augusta emigrated to the USA and sent for Karl who came later around 1872.

By the time Friedrich emigrates to the USA his name has changed from Vormazin, Formazin, and is now Fermazin and is married to Carolina Hartwig.  Friedrich immigrated from Oldenburg in 1879, arriving in New York, December 12, 1879 with his daughter Emilie (Amelia) on the ship Ohio. His manifest number was 15789. The entry read

Passenger name Friedrich Fermazin male
Age 55
Occupation: None
Last residence: Oldenburg
Port of Embarktation: Bremen
Mode of transportation: Steerage
Final destination: Ohio
Purpose for travel: Staying in USA but not a citizen of USA
Source FTM CD # 356 Passenger Immigration Lists: Germans to America, 1875-1888.
Ira Glazier and Filby, Germans to America Volume 34, page 412.

We are not sure when Fred Fermazin settled in Aurora,Kane, Illinois. He is on the 1880 census for Aurora, Kane County Illinois in 1880 and he shows up in the city directory of 1887. In 1880 census of Ilinois it lists Friedrich Fermazin as a farmer and later on a milk dealer.

Holland's Aurora City directory of 1887-1890 lists
Fermazin, Fred as a milk dealer, residing at W.s. Ohio 2s.Sixth av.
After 1890 Fred Fermazin does not show up in the city Directories.
In Holland's Aurora City Directory of 1910-1911 it lists
Fermazin, Carrie, wid Fred residing at 569 5th Ave

Copyright © 2006 by Nancy Fermazin Peralta von Reyn