Both sides of my family came mainly from Luxembourg. This small country in Germany could easily be mistaken for Iowa because of its hills and trees. I think doing this blog told me a lot of information about my family. I was really interested in learning about my family and who i am all related to. Also, when i learned about how people from the late 1800's lived, I never thought that my family would be the same way at all! For example, parts of my family came over to America through New York, worked on farms and mills, and went through the Depression, Civil War, and diseases.
My Fathers Dad's Side of the Family
As far back as i can trace the Pauley's are to Johann Schmitz, who was born in 1816 in Wiecherdingen, Luxembourg. Johann married Maria Juncker and had a lot of kids. One of thier sons is Nicholas Schmitz. Nicholas married Katherine Goeders and had six children. One of their children's names are Peter Schmitz. Peter would be my great great grandpa. He was born in 1881 in Brachtenbach, Luxembourg and was a pioneer. He went to school for only six years and learned French, German, and the Luxembourg dialect.
The opportunities that America had is what led him to this country in 1902 at the age of 21 with this friends. When he arrived, he lived with his cousins in Earling and there he worked to pay the cost of his boat fare to America.
After two years, he went back to Luxembourg to get his sister Marie. She wanted to come to America to earn enough money for a wedding of her own, then returned back to Luxembourg while Peter stayed in America.
Peter met Catherine in Westphalia and together they had 10 children. He knew that in order to estabolish a home and to rear a family required a lot of income. To Peter, many blessings came from the soil, so he invested in farmland. All together, he bought 265 acres of land. buying and selling of acreage to his family was necessary for caring for his family. This is how he made a living.
Their first child was Louise, who married Leo Pauley when she was sixteen. These are my great grandparents. One of their nine kids are Kenneth Pauley, my grandpa. Out of those nine children, three died very young. The kids were two and six months old, and thirteen years old, dying from pneumonia, whooping cough, and drowning in Mosquito Creek near Panama. Kenneth married Eileen and gave birth to four boys, one being my father, Darren Pauley. Daddy married Patricia Wilwerdinig and together, had me.
My Fathers Mom's Side
Franz Thraen was born in 1838 in Holungen, Germany. He arrived in New York in 1858 aboard the Dorette when he was 19. Josefa Wand arrived in New York in 1857 aboard the Vom Stein when she was 15. They both came to America with a friend. Franz and Josefa met awhile after being in America.
Josefa was a house servent in the Wand Household in Illinois. Franz was a farm hand in the same household. Andrew Wand was the head of the household and financially supported Franz and Josefa's emigration to America. Andrew loaned Franz $1,300 to buy a farm in 1866. In 1886, Franz sold 135 acres for $5,500. That same year, they moved to a farm in Westphalia, Iowa. By this time, they had eight children.
In 1889, their crops were bad and prices went down, so he borrowed $1,000 from Andrew again. This was a hard time for their family. Franz and Josefa were the first people to come to America from that side of the family.
My Moms Dad's Side
The name wilwerding came from a town in Luxembourg named Wilwerdngon, which is now called Wilwerdange.
Anton Wilwerding was born in 1784 in a farming village named Canach in Luxembourg. Anton married Anna Kauffman and worked as the village blacksmith, while Anna raised their eight kids. Their youngest sons, Henry, Nicholas, and Michel Wilwerding left Canach in 1853 and immigrated to America. Michel in particular came and worked on the railroad, in mining, and running the lumber mill.
In Minnesota, Michel met Catherine and married there. Those two had children, but not long after there first couple of children, Michel got drafted into the Civil War due to a mixup when he did not report. So he was arrested and physically taken to Fort Snolling. He was not aloud to see his wife or kids. Also, he was put into a prison where he almost got shot for sitting up. A year later he was returned to his family.
Michel and Catherine then migrated to Iowa in Westphalia. He opened up a general store, post office, and saloon. Michel was very successful, because he bought up land the railroad was selling $2.00 an acre.
Ever since the Civil War and prison incident, Michel had a strong faith and helped set up the town and began building the St. Boniface Parish. Also, the parish in Earling, St. Joseph's. I believe Michel was a rags to riches guy throughout his lifetime.
Comments