Pearce, Steffen & Sparks Families: 1 Reunion, 4 Cemeteries, 2 States

What is the best kind of vacation for a genealogist? 

A vacation that combines a visit with a good friend, meeting a newly-found cousin, a quite-altered family reunion and genealogically-related traipsing through four cemeteries in Iowa and Illinois...Priceless!!!

The Clam Man in
Muscatine, Iowa 

Reunion was next door to this
 house that had belonged to our
 great-great-great grandfather. 

 

 

Crossing Mississippi River
after meeting
newly- found cousin

                                              

It all started over a year ago, when I visited my cousins in northern Illinois for visits and to gather family history information. As I was talking to these cousins about some of our half-cousins, I realized they seemed very unsure of whom I was referring.

So, I started planning a Pearce family reunion for July 2020. Never had organized a family reunion from scratch before, but I felt confident in my abilities. I had this, I could do this!! I mean...what could go wrong?! 😀😉

We were all in for quite the surprise when COVID-19 altered life throughout the world. It stopped all of us in our tracks for several months, before we started to venture out again.

Although our crowd of 100+ had dwindled down to 9, we choose to go forward with the reunion, only with some changes. Masks, social distancing and hand sanitizer were now as much a part of the plan as the visiting and talk of family history.

After the reunion, we all paid
 respects to our Pearce ancestors
at the Pearce Cemetery,
Oswego, Illinois

The hubby and I spent the week before the reunion in Muscatine, Iowa, visiting a good friend of ours. Much time was spent along the Mississippi River, visiting local sites and cemeteries.

First cemetery was in Muscatine itself. I had no ancestors that had ever lived in Muscatine. However, I had recently discovered that my 4x-great grandfather's brother, Green Sparks, had moved to Muscatine at some point, and was buried there in the Greenwood Cemetery, along with his wife and two daughters.

Alas, this is one of those fruitless searches that turns up no stones or grave markers of any kind. The cemetery office has records that show they are buried here in this section, but we found nothing there. 

Greenwood Cemetery:  burial place of Green Sparks, Susan (Hunt) Sparks and two daughters.

A day trip up to Dubuque County to the small towns of New Vienna and Luxemburg where my maternal grandmother was born and raised. Some of her ancestors had arrived here in the 1830's, and her great-grandfather is actually mentioned in a Wikipedia article regarding St. Boniface Church in New Vienna, Iowa.

St. Boniface Catholic Church.
(Photo Credit: Eileen Moore)

If you would like to learn more about this church, I have provided the link here. However, below, you will find the section that mentions my 3rd great-grandfather, (Wilhelm) William Steffen, Sr.

"The church was 64 by 100 feet (30 m) with 22-foot (6.7 m)-high walls. A local resident, William Steffen Sr., was sent with two teams of horses to get three bells for the church. He arrived back in New Vienna just before Easter; the bells were raised in time to chime for the first time on Easter Sunday. This second structure was used until 1887."

The following three photos are three generations of my maternal grandmother, Mathilda (Steffen) Pearce, from her great-grandfather to her grandparents.

William Steffen, Sr., my
maternal grandmother's
 great-grandfather

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Her grandparents, Theodore &
Maria K. (Bonenkamp) Steffen

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And her parents, Frank W. and
Josephine (Schulte) Steffen

Within a five-mile radius, I was able to visit two cemeteries (St. Boniface Catholic Church and Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church) in two very small towns that was the final resting place of most of my grandmother's siblings, ancestors, cousins and extended family back to the first immigrants from Germany.

Without time to consult my family history papers for specific ancestors, I took photos of all headstones bearing the following surnames:  Steffen, Schulte, Trenkamp, Bohnenkamp and Sudmeier. As I sort through my photos and paperwork in the near future, I will certainly be including more posts about the Steffen line, I am sure.

As I thought about all of those ancestors I had just visited, it made me realize how much I missed two that were not to be found in either cemetery. My Grandma (Tilly) Pearce and her baby sister, Alice Morganegg. 

In her 20's, my grandma had left her home in Luxemburg, Iowa and traveled to Kendall County, Illinois...with Aunt Alice eventually finding her way there, also.

Why, and When? What made these two young ladies set out for northeastern Illinois in the 1930's or so? I have not discovered the answer to this question yet, but I have not given up just yet! Lol

The Steffen sisters: Catherine,
 Alice, Mathilda, Florence

Newly-found cousin and ancestors, Illinois and Iowa, a reunion and 4 cemeteries...and a relaxing visit with a good friend! All in all, I couldn't have asked for a better vacation!

Great Website for Finding Your German Ancestral Village

With family surnames of Schrader (Schroeder), Schmidt, Haessig, Steffen, Schulte, Trenkamp and Bohnenkamp, I knew that eventually I would need to focus on learning more about German geography and jurisdictions.

Other than place names on census and church records, I had no clue where to begin! I was not sure if I was reading the name of a village, duchy, province or state.

This weekend, I discovered a fantastic resource for getting past this stumbling block. It is a website called Meyers Gazetteer, and can be found by clicking the highlighted link.

I played around with the site using various place names I have for my German ancestors.  However, to give you a brief tutorial, I will focus on one area in particular.

In census records, I discovered that my paternal 2x great-grandfather came from Wachendorf. I also know that the majority of the original congregation of Adams Lutheran Church of Ripley County, Indiana came from a Lutheran Church in Heiligenfelde, Germany.

So, I will start from there...

I start with typing Wachendorf in the search box on the home page.

Type in place name in the search box

My results show several places named Wachendorf in Germany. You can tell by my pushpin icon, I have chosen the first result as my most promising lead. Past research shows census records also listing Hannover and Prussia as his birthplace. Also, a past Google Maps search has shown me a Wachendorf near Syke and Heiligenfelde.

Use your past research to help narrow
down best result, if possible.

When I click on the top result, I am given quite a bit of information that should help me in my research. You will first note several key words in old-style writing that should have key words you might recognize.

Next, will be a current map showing the location of your village, etc. I will go into detail about the map in just a minute, but first I would like to point out the cornucopia of helpful information underneath the map.

Details on the village you have entered
should help you in your research.

After reading the volume, page number, and other abbreviations right below the map, I was able to look at the details following it for an explanation of what the abbreviations meant. For example, "Type D. u. LGem" means that Wachendorf is a Dorf und Landgemeinde (village and rural community).

The details also tell you where the civil registration office is, in addition to which government district, province, etc., in which the village belongs.

Add in extra "markers" to aid your research.

Now, back to the maps...I love the feature that allows you to toggle back and forth between a present-day Google map and a historical map.

 You can also add features that you would like to locate within your map. My ancestors went to a Lutheran church in Heiligenfelde, so I added Protestant churches.

It was wonderful seeing how close these were on the historical map! It really put it into perspective!

The same Google map in its historical context

If you are not sure of the exact church your ancestors attended, or even the denomination, click on the "Ecclesiastical" tab. The website will bring up a list of the churches or synagogues nearby, listed with the closest first.

Click on Ecclesiastical tab to discover
nearby places of worship

As you can see for my family, the church in Heiligenfelde was only 2 miles away. This goes along with the information I already have regarding the church.

With so many German ancestors in my family tree, I am sure to be using this website often. It is getting bookmarked in my favorites right now!!

What do you think? For those of you with a German background, try it and tell me what you think!

Family Tree, Boxes and Blogs

The Family Tree 

What would possess someone into starting a family research blog when much of her research is still in boxes?  But possessed I must have been! 

Our neighbor, a military man, had just been assigned ‘somewhere else’ for the next 1-½ years.  Since his family was planning to join him, we were asked to farmsit/housesit for them. This was a win-win situation for us.  We had a comfortable house to live in, as we were getting prepared for our own house on our property.

The only negative was that most everything stayed in the boxes.  I was able to do a little downsizing; but overall, the boxes stayed packed. 

However, even with everything in boxes, I felt the need to start this blog. And, I am so glad that I did!

I have met a new cousin online, and learned new information from her about my great-grandfather.  Cousins that I have known my whole life, are asking questions and leaving comments about our shared ancestors.

And, all of this with most of my info still in boxes!! Lol  

Just wait until everything is unpacked soon, then we will be off and running!

Where to Find the Family Tree

One important thing that I wanted to pass on to all of my relatives today, is to let you know about my family tree being online.  I have started the tree on Familysearch.org, and have also added photos to my tree.  I am also slowly, but surely, making sure that I have added my sources, too.  By doing this, you will be able to find these records for our shared ancestors yourself, if you would ever need them.

If you are related (whether you want to admit it or not! ~ Lol), you are more than welcome to take a look. The tree starts with my mom and dad, so you can start your research there to see what else that I have.

Familysearch.org allows you to add relevant information to another person’s tree.  I have no problem with that, but I do ask for a favor.  When you add information to my family tree, please be sure to add the corresponding proof to it.  I would like for the tree to be as accurate as possible; and without primary sources, or even secondary ones, it can’t be used by others as well.  

So, if you can show the sources, please feel free to add.  But, as our math teachers always taught us, you need to show your work!

And I will be grading with my red pen, too!! If it is not obvious how someone belongs on our family tree, has no sources, or I have no way of contacting the person who added it...I will probably cut that branch of the tree.

If you have any questions about this, please don’t hesitate to comment below or email me at mypassionroad@gmail.com.