Family History:
My dad's side of the family orginated in Germany. My Great Great Great Grandpa Conrad Scheffler was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany in 1844. His future wife, Caroline Grobe, was born in Prussia in 1853. They came to the United States in 1872 and went to Illinois where they got married in 1874 and had all of their children. In the process of immigrating to the United States, the last name changed from Scheffler to Schaffler. The name was changed back when they moved to Iowa. They lived outside of Minden and farmed for many years. Eventually, Omar Scheffler was born in 1913, my Great Grandpa, and moved to Harlan, Iowa, where he still lives today.
Above is a map of the Germany area with Hesse-Darmstadt circled.
On my mom's mom's side, my Great Great Great Grandpa was born in Voldtofte, Fyn, Denmark. He came to the United States sometime between when he was born in 1860, and when he got married to Jesse Burnham in Hancock, Iowa in 1888. There wasn't much other information I could find on this side of my family.
The most information I was able to get was on my Grandma's dad on my mom's side, the Kentzelmans. Bartholomai Kunzelemann (the spelling of the last name has been changed many times) was born in Wendelsheim, Pzalz, Rheinland, Germany in about 1696. He married Maria Barbara Comens in 1737 and had a son, Phillip Jacob Kunzelemann, later on that year. In 1741 they came to American on the ship "Molly". They landed in Philladelphia, Pennsylvania where they stayed for many years. Eventually, the children and grandchildren of Bartholomai and Maria moved to Iowa where eventually Richard Dean Kentzelman was born. He then married Leona Larson, my Great Grandmother.
Above is a picture of the passenger list of men 16 and up on board the "Molley". Notice: his name was spelled differently in this document.
From all of the reasearch I have done, it looks like I am mostly German with a little bit of Danish. Before I did all of this research, I knew only that the Schefflers came from Germany, I had no idea that the other side of my family came to the United States before it had even become an independent country. It's strange to think that my ancestors could have fought for this country's freedom in the Revolutionary War.
Comments
Interesting indeed! Well done Courtney!