LINDEN, FERMAZIN, POTT, WORTHING, MINNESOTA SCHOOL ROOM.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Gertrude FERMAZIN Becker Finney
Yeh! After 10 years of research and the help of a cousin I finally figured out who Loretta Lillian Becker Rutherford was. I have her social security information and she listed her mother as Fermazin and father as Herman J Becker.
In 1920 Census Herman and Gertrude are living in St. Louis Missouri with three children:
Loretta, Juliette, and Gertrude. I found Gertrude and Herman coming from Russia/Posen.
I found Herman Schoen's son Herman Jr her nephew living in Butte, Californa.
My cousin whom I met on the internet sent me her Family Tree listing:
Walter, Gertrude, and Hedwig Fermazin as her relatives. Hedwig Fermazin married Herman Schoen.
She said Gertrude was married to an Arthur Finney. She never mentioned Becker so will have to check that one out.
Hedwig's sister Gertrude (Trudy Anne) married Herman Becker and lived in St Louis Missouri. Don't know if Herman Becker died or they were divorced but in the 1930 Census Gertrude Finney is listed with a spouse as Finney and two daughters, Juliette and Gertrude living with them.
My deduction is Gertrude Fermazin Finney is the same as Gertrude Fermazin Becker.
1940 Gertrude FERMAZIN Finney
1930 Gertrude FERMAZIN Finney
1920 Gertrude FERMAZIN Becker
Source: Ancestry.com Census Records.
In 1920 Census Herman and Gertrude are living in St. Louis Missouri with three children:
Loretta, Juliette, and Gertrude. I found Gertrude and Herman coming from Russia/Posen.
I found Herman Schoen's son Herman Jr her nephew living in Butte, Californa.
My cousin whom I met on the internet sent me her Family Tree listing:
Walter, Gertrude, and Hedwig Fermazin as her relatives. Hedwig Fermazin married Herman Schoen.
She said Gertrude was married to an Arthur Finney. She never mentioned Becker so will have to check that one out.
Hedwig's sister Gertrude (Trudy Anne) married Herman Becker and lived in St Louis Missouri. Don't know if Herman Becker died or they were divorced but in the 1930 Census Gertrude Finney is listed with a spouse as Finney and two daughters, Juliette and Gertrude living with them.
My deduction is Gertrude Fermazin Finney is the same as Gertrude Fermazin Becker.
1940 Gertrude FERMAZIN Finney
1930 Gertrude FERMAZIN Finney
1920 Gertrude FERMAZIN Becker
Source: Ancestry.com Census Records.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Brick Walls: Research at the Aurora, Illinois Historical Society
After all of this still have to keep looking and looking and looking. Research is an on going life long pursuit.
June 24, 2014
Hello Nancy:
Here is the information you asked for. The total cost will be $13.71. I
have also commented on each of the points you made in your original
request so you know exactly what we do/do not have. As I said before we
do not have files or films of the Aurora newspapers - just scattered
clippings and a few (very few) whole papers. You need to contact the
Aurora Public library for this or, if you live in Illinois, your local
reference librarian can order the films from the Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library (Illinois State Historical Society) to be used at
your library. It may be possible to get these if you live out of state,
but check with your librarian to be sure.
1) We do not have marriage notices for Wilhelmina Plucker/Charles
Fermazin or for Augusta Fermazin/August Giese. The Illinois State
Archives (hereafter ISA) marriage database gives the marriage date for
Wilhelmina and Charles as July 16, 1885, not August 16 as you stated.
2) Charles Fermazin does not appear in ant pre-1885 city directory. The
only Fermazin entry in that time period is: "Mrs. Caroline Fermazin, res.
34 Second Ave."
3) We have no notice for the wedding shower of Nancy Fermazin/Terry Kruse.
4) We do not have an obituary for Friederich Fermazin. I could also not
find a burial in the cemetery records we have nor could I find his death
date in the ISA death index. I also could not locate a probate record for
him.
5) No information found on Caroline fermazin regarding date or place of
death or burial.
6) I did locate an obituary for August Plucker. It is undated but the
ISA death index shows August Ludwig Plucker died 3 August 1912 in Aurora.
We do not have an obit for Augusta. She died June 16, 1910 per the ISA
death index. I did make a copy of the Riverside cemetery book pages
showing the Pluckers.
7) We have no articles on Mary Fermazin's garden.
8) We do not have an obituary on Ludwig Hansen. The book we have of
Lincoln Highway cemetery shown a Ludwig Hansen died 7 March 1957. He was
born 21 August 1878 and buried on 9 March 1957 Sect. MAB, lot 46, grave 4.
We also have a probate file on this person.
I will mail your copies, including a copy of this letter today. If there
is anything further I can do, just ask.
Sincerely,
_________
researcher, AHS
From: researcher@aurorahistory.netSubject: Re: research
June 24, 2014
Hello Nancy:
Here is the information you asked for. The total cost will be $13.71. I
have also commented on each of the points you made in your original
request so you know exactly what we do/do not have. As I said before we
do not have files or films of the Aurora newspapers - just scattered
clippings and a few (very few) whole papers. You need to contact the
Aurora Public library for this or, if you live in Illinois, your local
reference librarian can order the films from the Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library (Illinois State Historical Society) to be used at
your library. It may be possible to get these if you live out of state,
but check with your librarian to be sure.
1) We do not have marriage notices for Wilhelmina Plucker/Charles
Fermazin or for Augusta Fermazin/August Giese. The Illinois State
Archives (hereafter ISA) marriage database gives the marriage date for
Wilhelmina and Charles as July 16, 1885, not August 16 as you stated.
2) Charles Fermazin does not appear in ant pre-1885 city directory. The
only Fermazin entry in that time period is: "Mrs. Caroline Fermazin, res.
34 Second Ave."
3) We have no notice for the wedding shower of Nancy Fermazin/Terry Kruse.
4) We do not have an obituary for Friederich Fermazin. I could also not
find a burial in the cemetery records we have nor could I find his death
date in the ISA death index. I also could not locate a probate record for
him.
5) No information found on Caroline fermazin regarding date or place of
death or burial.
6) I did locate an obituary for August Plucker. It is undated but the
ISA death index shows August Ludwig Plucker died 3 August 1912 in Aurora.
We do not have an obit for Augusta. She died June 16, 1910 per the ISA
death index. I did make a copy of the Riverside cemetery book pages
showing the Pluckers.
7) We have no articles on Mary Fermazin's garden.
8) We do not have an obituary on Ludwig Hansen. The book we have of
Lincoln Highway cemetery shown a Ludwig Hansen died 7 March 1957. He was
born 21 August 1878 and buried on 9 March 1957 Sect. MAB, lot 46, grave 4.
We also have a probate file on this person.
I will mail your copies, including a copy of this letter today. If there
is anything further I can do, just ask.
Sincerely,
_________
researcher, AHS
Reinhart Fermazin
Reinhart Fermazin
AWOL! Adventurer. Good Character. Handsome. Forger. Naturalized Citizen. Homesteader. Industrious. Motorman. These attributes describe my great-great-uncle Reinhart Fermazin.
My dad fondly remembered his uncle Reinhart who came to visit dad, Lola, Grandma and Grandpa when he was in town. Reinhart used to bring his wives, Lillian who died in 1930 and later Anna. Lillian was the quiet one. Very pretty, dressed in her Sunday best with a hat and gloves, she would sit in the corner of the living room not saying anything except that she was glad to be back home. Aunt Lillian would don an apron at meal-time and help Grandma set the table. Anna, came to the house a few times with Reinhart but dad said he did not care for her. She was short, about 5 feet tall, pretty with long blonde hair but “she didn’t help do anything, just sat there interrupting the stories Grandpa and Uncle were telling." Maybe this was because she never lived on the homestead or farmed. Anna was a Chicago girl of Slavic ancestry and had a thick non-German accent. According to dad, no one could understand her anyway. Dad said he wished Anna would stay home.
What dad recalled most was sitting on the floor next to Reinhart listening to the yarns he told about his sharpshooter days in the Philippines and farming in Minnesota and South Dakota. From 1906 to 1913 before he was married, Grandpa went to South Dakota every fall to help harvest the crops. The first year, the homestead brought in a big crop but the following year there was nothing much harvested as the grasshoppers and potato bugs ate it all.
Dad possessed one old picture of Reinhart dressed in his baggy pants with suspenders working in the cornfields with a pony next to him. Reinhart was more like a brother than an uncle to Grandpa because they were so close in age. Grandpa was eleven years younger than Reinhart. Grandma said that Reinhart and Grandpa looked alike when they were younger. Both had blonde hair so white that they nicknamed Grandpa, Whitey. Both were 5’8” tall and had blue eyes and fair skin.
Reinhart, who was born on January 28, 1875 in Godziwy, Schubin, Posen, Prussia immigrated to America as an infant with his mother Carolina Hartwig and his sister Bertha. They joined his father, Friedrich and sister Amelia in Aurora, Illinois, a small German community along the Fox River.
It seems Reinhart’s life was uneventful as a child but more adventuresome as an adult. In 1898, Reinhart enlisted in the Spanish American War in Evanston, Wyoming, which was not too far from where he was living in Minnesota. Uncle Reinhart’s military service occurred in Fort San Felipe, Manila, Philippine Islands, for about one year as part of the First Wyoming Volunteer Infantry Battalion, Company H. He was a rifleman sharpshooter during his tour of duty. During his time in Manila, he was absent from his post without permission of his commanding officer and served three times in the brig with ten days of hard labor and court martialed. In his final month of duty Uncle Reinhart was reported “in confinement” or in other words, in the brig. On July 28, 1899 he was discharged at Manila. Inexplicidly, given his court martials and infractions, he mustered out at the Presidio in San Francisco with “service honorable and faithful, character good.
Prior to serving in the Spanish American War, Minnesota, was his home where he farmed with his brother Karl. At age 18 when living in Minnesota, Reinhart was arrested for forging a payroll check but jumped bail and was never prosecuted. His brother, Karl paid the fines. He returned to Aurora, Illinois, still single where he lived in a boarding house and worked as a farm laborer. There he obtained his citizenship.
In 1903, he moved to Chicago, Illinois where he married his first wife, Sharlot Wittelsbach. Married only a short time, Sharlot died of consumption a year later. Two years after Sharlot’s death Reinhart married Lillian of Chicago. This marriage lasted until 1930, when Lillian died from complications of multiple sclerosis.
In the fall of 1908, Reinhart obtained a 160-acre homestead in Lemmon, Perkin County, South Dakota. The Homestead Act allowed "any person who is the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who shall have filed his declaration of intention to become such" the right to claim 160 acres of land, a quarter-section, for free. The claimant need only pay a small filing fee and live on and improve the land for five years. If he so chose, the homesteader could buy the land for $1.25 an acre after six months. Lemmon, South Dakota was a growing and prosperous town in Perkin, County. This was due to the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad being surveyed which would make the area desirable to export crops. The population in 1908, was1,350 people.
He and Lillian moved onto the land March 30, 1909. By April, with the help of their neighbors, the Fermazin’s built a 12 x 16 foot sod house with a lumber floor and roof, three windows, one door and a cellar 5 ft by 6 ft under the house within the first month of living there. He drilled a "well 27 feet deep on the property and built a chicken coop and a sod barn with a pole roof covered with hay. He planted about 70 trees, Ash and Box elders on six acres, fenced it off with two wires and posts two rods apart. The value of the improvements was $ 300.00. During the first year, he broke soil and planted corn and potatoes, harvesting 15 bushels of corn and 25 bushels of potatoes.
It seems while a homesteader and tending the land the Federal Government, disputed Reinhaet's intentions. They accused him of illegally removing minerals from the land. On March 30, 1909, Reinhart testified in his affidavit that “I have not heretofore perfected or abandoned an entry under the homestead of the United States.” Witnesses verified that Reinhart was present on the land continuously farming and not removing gold or coal. In his sworn statement on June 10, 1910, William Wells affirmed he knew Reinhart since 1903. He swore: “From my personal knowledge I have seen the Claimant and the land every day that he has been home. I should say on the average of once a week. I join Claimant on the east and our homes are only ten rods apart.”[ Another homesteader, Charles W. Carver testified on June 29, 1910, that, “I have seen the Claimant and the land on the average of twice a week, I live two miles from the Claimant and the land.” According to further testimony by the witnesses, Reinhart “went away in July 1909 to earn money to support his family and returned in September. During this time his wife remained on the claim. In January 1910 Reinhart left to purchase household goods and farm machinery, and returned in April 1910 with his wife being on the claim all the time.” The sworn statements were accepted and Reinhart was proved innocent of all charges.
It seems while a homesteader and tending the land the Federal Government, disputed Reinhaet's intentions. They accused him of illegally removing minerals from the land. On March 30, 1909, Reinhart testified in his affidavit that “I have not heretofore perfected or abandoned an entry under the homestead of the United States.” Witnesses verified that Reinhart was present on the land continuously farming and not removing gold or coal. In his sworn statement on June 10, 1910, William Wells affirmed he knew Reinhart since 1903. He swore: “From my personal knowledge I have seen the Claimant and the land every day that he has been home. I should say on the average of once a week. I join Claimant on the east and our homes are only ten rods apart.”[ Another homesteader, Charles W. Carver testified on June 29, 1910, that, “I have seen the Claimant and the land on the average of twice a week, I live two miles from the Claimant and the land.” According to further testimony by the witnesses, Reinhart “went away in July 1909 to earn money to support his family and returned in September. During this time his wife remained on the claim. In January 1910 Reinhart left to purchase household goods and farm machinery, and returned in April 1910 with his wife being on the claim all the time.” The sworn statements were accepted and Reinhart was proved innocent of all charges.
Life was rough on the homestead. Homes were made of sod, decorations sparse. Sod farmers improvised using: muslin and canvas to cover ceilings to catch bugs that fell onto the kitchen table and beds, oiled paper for windows to allow light in and keep the bugs out, and cheesecloth for screens. Catalogs, newspapers and occasional personal letters were used as wallpaper. In the spring wild flowers, decorated the environment growing out of the thick sod roof and windows. Women worked hard and long hours, moving the beds outside in the daytime so that they could cook and set the table for meals. They canned and made candles. Hot coals had to be carried to the cellars to keep the foods from freezing in the winter. The women made many trips back and forth from the cellars to bring items in for meals. Settlers did not have time or materials to fence the garden so many gardens were destroyed by wild animals. Grasshoppers and potato bugs were very common and ruined many crops. Life was harsh, maybe too harsh for Lillian and Reinhart, as he sold or abandoned the homestead in 1919.
By 1920, Reinhart and Lillian moved back to Chicago where he obtained work as a motorman for the Chicago Surface Railway Company (streetcars). Whitman’s Big Little Book: Believe It for Not (Chicago 1933) featured Reinhart as the only person to name all of the streets in Chicago from memory.
I suspect that Lillian never adjusted to frontier life since she was used to living in the city with many urban amenities including lighting and plumbing. This may have precipitated the return to Chicago.
In 1931at the age of 56, after Lillian’s death and 24 years of marriage, the handsome Reinhart married a young single woman, 21 years old, named Anna. They lived in Chicago for the remainder of his life. Reinhart never had any children. He did indeed live an adventuresome life, AWOL in the armed services, suspected AWOL on his homestead and skirting the law on a few occasions. He was a fascinating guy! You can only help but love him. He is one person, among many ancestors, I would have liked to know.
Reinhart Fermazin passed away on November 13,1939 at the age of 64 years old with his wife Anna at
his side.
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Carolina HARTWICH/HARTWIG
Well more brick walls
In examining Ancestry DNA I found I matched with Hartwigs. Possibly my Charles FERMAZIN's mother was Caroline Hartwig and not Justine Braun.
What mysteries we find. Waiting for more films from Family Search. to review marriages for Friedrich FERMAZIN.
Help Help Help
In examining Ancestry DNA I found I matched with Hartwigs. Possibly my Charles FERMAZIN's mother was Caroline Hartwig and not Justine Braun.
What mysteries we find. Waiting for more films from Family Search. to review marriages for Friedrich FERMAZIN.
Help Help Help
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Friedrich Fermazin and Justyn Braun
Boy when you think you know a lot about your ancestors a monkey wrench gets thrown in.
I was lurking around the Poznan Marriage Project and found a divorce record for my 2nd Great Grandfather or rather I found his second wife as divorced and marrying an Emmanuel Woltermann in 1874 in Schubin. See attachment
Now I am totally confused. I need a Polish researcher who specializes in ethnic Germans in Posen
to find the divorce papers for Justyn Braun/Brauer and Fred Fermazin and also to find any children born to this marriage.
This means I have to find a marriage record for Karolina Hartwich and Fred Fermazin since
she is the wife listed in the USA with him as emigrating from Posen in 1878 with three children
I know all the children from the Louise Bonau marriage but have to confirm the mother of
the other Fermazin Children via the Christening records rather than the Illinois marriage records. The marriage records list the mothers with their maiden names but this may not be correct. Just need the Christenings. I have looked and found Amelia from the third liaison but have not found the others, only the ones from the first marriage to Louise Bonau.
Augusta
Karl
Otto
Friedrich
Amalie
Bertha
Reinhart
Marriage certificates list the parents on some of them but I would like the Christening records.
Oh More research. I need a Polish researcher again to find more records.
I was lurking around the Poznan Marriage Project and found a divorce record for my 2nd Great Grandfather or rather I found his second wife as divorced and marrying an Emmanuel Woltermann in 1874 in Schubin. See attachment
Now I am totally confused. I need a Polish researcher who specializes in ethnic Germans in Posen
to find the divorce papers for Justyn Braun/Brauer and Fred Fermazin and also to find any children born to this marriage.
This means I have to find a marriage record for Karolina Hartwich and Fred Fermazin since
she is the wife listed in the USA with him as emigrating from Posen in 1878 with three children
I know all the children from the Louise Bonau marriage but have to confirm the mother of
the other Fermazin Children via the Christening records rather than the Illinois marriage records. The marriage records list the mothers with their maiden names but this may not be correct. Just need the Christenings. I have looked and found Amelia from the third liaison but have not found the others, only the ones from the first marriage to Louise Bonau.
Augusta
Karl
Otto
Friedrich
Amalie
Bertha
Reinhart
Marriage certificates list the parents on some of them but I would like the Christening records.
Oh More research. I need a Polish researcher again to find more records.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Friedrich Fermazin and Justyn Braun and Friedrich Fermazin and Louise Bonau
Marriage
Regards from Germany
Gerd F. Frers
Marriage
Friedrich Fermazin and Justine Braun married on January 9, 1853 in the Lutheran Church of Labischin / Łabiszyn [Poland]. The scan of the churchbook - page 164 – is hardly legible. You’ll find their marriage record on
It is noted that Friedrich Fermazin was widow already. Following my best guess Friedrich Fermazin was married before on December 6, 1840 to Louise Bonau in the Lutheran Church of Labischin / Łabiszyn [Poland]. Friedrich's father passed away before that marriage date. Please have a look on the second enclosed scan.
Justine Braun's father could be Jacob Braun (*1795; father: Christian Braun; mother: Euphrosine Schattschneider), who was married 1820 in the Lutheran Church of Labischin / Łabiszyn [Poland] to Dorothea Mews (*1792; father: Jacob Mews; mother: Eva Rosine Otto).
In the meantime the old German churchbooks are online in the Polish archives to everybody. Here you may search for their daughter Amalia too, but it is not so easy for missing direct access to names. So you have to search unfortetuately for year by year and page by page. Please note for searching
Justine Braun's father could be Jacob Braun (*1795; father: Christian Braun; mother: Euphrosine Schattschneider), who was married 1820 in the Lutheran Church of Labischin / Łabiszyn [Poland] to Dorothea Mews (*1792; father: Jacob Mews; mother: Eva Rosine Otto).
In the meantime the old German churchbooks are online in the Polish archives to everybody. Here you may search for their daughter Amalia too, but it is not so easy for missing direct access to names. So you have to search unfortetuately for year by year and page by page. Please note for searching
Birth / Baptism = acta urodzen
Marriages = acta malzenstw
Death = acta zgonow
You may ask me for further assistance of course.
Regards from Germany
Gerd F. Frers
Justine's father was Jacob Braun, who was married to Dorothea Mews. Jacob Mews and Eva Rosine Mews née Otto are the parents of Dorothea Mews.
Justyn Braun father = Jacob Braun
┌ father = Christian Braun
┌Jacob Braun ┤
│ └ mother of Jacob Braun = Euphrosine Schattschneider
│
Justine Braun ┤
│ ┌ father = Jacob Mews
└ Dorothea Mews ┤
└ mother of Dorothea Mews = Eva Rosine Otto
Source:
Posen List Serv
Where my Fermazin ancestors came from in Posen: What the following names represent. ?Villages ?Towns ? Province?
Bagno, Rynarzewo, Labischin and Kreis Schubin are related?
Arnoldowo, Labischin, Posen, Prussia ~ Is this part of Kreis Schubin?
Piardowo, Schubin,
__________________________________________________
Rynarzewo is a village in today Nakło County (Kreis),
http://en.wikipedia.org/.../Rynarzewo,_Kuyavian...
Arnoldowo, Piardowo, Bagno (litteraly Marsh) were probably a small
hamlets in Schubin Kreis.
They dont exist anymore.
Labischin ia a small city a 14 km south east to Schubin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%81abiszyn
Yes, Łabiszyn was a part of Kreis Schubin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreis_Schubin
Bagno, Rynarzewo, Labischin and Kreis Schubin are related?
Arnoldowo, Labischin, Posen, Prussia ~ Is this part of Kreis Schubin?
Piardowo, Schubin,
__________________________________________________
Rynarzewo is a village in today Nakło County (Kreis),
http://en.wikipedia.org/.../Rynarzewo,_Kuyavian...
Arnoldowo, Piardowo, Bagno (litteraly Marsh) were probably a small
hamlets in Schubin Kreis.
They dont exist anymore.
Labischin ia a small city a 14 km south east to Schubin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%81abiszyn
Yes, Łabiszyn was a part of Kreis Schubin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreis_Schubin
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