- Nov 16, 2006
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Since this is really my first time here, I thought I would share my story:
On my great grandmother (Elsa Holtzen nee Degner)'s marriage license, her mother's name Anna Grundmann, as everyone knew her by - was erased - and someone wrote in Anna Wortmann. As far as we know, we have no one by that surname in our family and cannot figure out why it was changed. Her parents, Heinrich and Anna Grundmann (nee Ziegler) are also a pretty big mystery to us. We have been looking for years and cannot find any ancestors past them. We heard Heinrich got in an argument with his family in Germany and snuck aboard a ship to America. He was caught and had to work on the docks 2 years to pay for his passage. We think he may have gone back to Germany and come back here in 1867. He supposedly met his wife Anna, who we think left Germany because her family died of small pox and they didn't want her to get it too. We haven't been able to find out who there family was, we can't find birth records, marriage records, or anything for them. We know they had 10 (maybe 11) children. On one census it says 11, but we can't find any record of that 11th child. Someone once said they thought a child died on their way from Leadville, CO to Nebraska. They supposedly came to NYC, he may have been naturalized in PA, they lived in Hamel, Illinois, moved to or went through Crete, NE, went to Leadville, Co and finally settled in Friedensau, Nebraska. Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? I know it's a long shot, but thought I would check... Heinrich was supposedly born in Oldenburg Germany and Anna in Wurtenburg.
On my great grandmother (Elsa Holtzen nee Degner)'s marriage license, her mother's name Anna Grundmann, as everyone knew her by - was erased - and someone wrote in Anna Wortmann. As far as we know, we have no one by that surname in our family and cannot figure out why it was changed. Her parents, Heinrich and Anna Grundmann (nee Ziegler) are also a pretty big mystery to us. We have been looking for years and cannot find any ancestors past them. We heard Heinrich got in an argument with his family in Germany and snuck aboard a ship to America. He was caught and had to work on the docks 2 years to pay for his passage. We think he may have gone back to Germany and come back here in 1867. He supposedly met his wife Anna, who we think left Germany because her family died of small pox and they didn't want her to get it too. We haven't been able to find out who there family was, we can't find birth records, marriage records, or anything for them. We know they had 10 (maybe 11) children. On one census it says 11, but we can't find any record of that 11th child. Someone once said they thought a child died on their way from Leadville, CO to Nebraska. They supposedly came to NYC, he may have been naturalized in PA, they lived in Hamel, Illinois, moved to or went through Crete, NE, went to Leadville, Co and finally settled in Friedensau, Nebraska. Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? I know it's a long shot, but thought I would check... Heinrich was supposedly born in Oldenburg Germany and Anna in Wurtenburg.
