This and That

Published:  Tuesday, November 17, 2009 (3 months, 4 weeks ago)
Print

Almost a month has passed since our German friends came to Delphos to renew our Friendship Link, which was established 10 years ago.
How did this all come about? Many Delphos and area residents can trace their ancestry to Germany or to the German speaking countries such as Austria, Luxemburg, Alsace-Lorraine and Switzerland.  Some people kept contact with relatives back in the old country and some have just gone searching. A “cousin” of my father-in-law, Therese Schneider, was one who maintained contact with the Stolle family of Wellingholtzhausen. Mrs. Stolle, mother and grandmother was a Kaverman. I was able to visit them in their home in 1992.
Much credit for this Friendship Link connection goes to Hermann Wrasmann, age 78, from Belm, Germany. Wrasmann has been to Delphos several times, including the most recent visit in October.
He has many relatives on this side of the Atlantic.  Naturally there are all those with the name of Wrasmann, who’s ancestors came to Delphos by train in 1882. Then three Wrasmans married three Laudicks, all brothers and sisters. Their children married and spread around the area with names like Kaverman, Elwer, Luersman and Hoelderle. When the Wrasmans came to town they first stayed with the Moenter family, east of town. Mrs. Wrasmann was a Moenter.   It goes on and on.
During the 1970s, some of the American relatives visited Belm.  Hermann’s uncle mentioned this to him, creating much excitement. Hermann obtained their addresses and began correspondence that resulted in Herman and his wife, Elizabeth, along with their 10-year-old daughter coming to Delphos and neighboring towns in 1978. A large Wrasman Reunion was held at the K of C hall in Delphos in honor of the visitors. Steve Laudick, of Van Wert, even brought his hot air balloon.
A couple years later Ed and Helen Luersman took a trip to Germany. They visited with the Wrasmann family in Belm.
My first German adventure was in 1991 on a Mike Leach Tour. It was his 24th trip to Germany. There were eight of us on this tour and we traveled in a van. There was Jane Odenweller, Ann Lang, Ginny Grubenhoff, Imogene Elwer, Mr.  and Mrs. Dick Cherry of Pandora and myself. It was loads of fun all the way.
We traveled some in the north, where most of our ancestors came from but we spent a lot of time in the beautiful Bavarian area and Switzerland. The mountains were awesome.
While in the north we had dinner at the Wrasmann home in Belm. Hermann then took us to Hunteburg and Bohmte where the Wrasmanns and Moenters came from. We went to their homes and farms. I brought home a little glass jar of Wrasmann soil. One very old brick building was still standing, with their names carved in the wood. Also went to Ostercappeln, where the Schroeders came from. All those Schroeders in Putnam County can trace their family back to Ostercappeln.
Mike Leach was a friend of Father Unterbrink of Glandorf, so we had a nice social hour with him and his sister. My Halkers came from Glandorf so we met with them. They own a rope factory so I brought home a piece of rope for a souvenir. Glandorf also has its original windmill standing in the middle of town. That was neat. I have a special fondness of windmills. Naturally we visited all the parish churches. In Bavaria they are especially beautiful and ornate.
At that time I didn’t know that I had relatives (the Ardners) who came from Bavaria or I might have hunted for the town. When I read their funeral cards I didn’t realize Bayern was Bavaria, as we call it.  In Bavaria we just enjoyed the sights and the mountains, especially at Bertchesgarten.  In Luzern, Switzerland I did buy a nice purple dress to wear for my son, Tony and Polly’s wedding.
My dad had once mentioned that some of his ancestors were Swiss, but that’s as far as it went. Since then I’ve discovered that Philip Rahrig came from Alsace-Loraine and settled in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country. I did find some Rahrigs in the family files in the Lancaster library. Philip Rahrig married a Mary Anne Myers, daughter of Michael Meyers in Franklin County, which indicates an Amish connection. Some of the Amish went to Alsace-Lorainne after leaving Switzerland to escape religious persecution. On another trip to Germany and France I did find many Rahrigs in the Strasburg phone book.
Most of our families lost contact with German relatives during World War I and World War II. In fact, my mother said during World War I they even had a public German book burning in Delphos. People were not to show any German sympathy or connections. I’ve heard of one man who was made to kiss the US flag to show his allegiance, since he had spoken somewhat favorably of a German person. Some people quit speaking German buy my Grandma, Anna Krieft, often spoke German on the phone to her sister. We had party lines and not everyone understood German. Many people around the Glandorf, Ohio continued to speak German or Plattdeutsch.
We were told our ancestors came from Osnabruck, Hannover, Westphalia or Prussia. That was true but it is like saying we came from Ohio. According to Parish history books, we knew Father Bredeick and his brother came from Verl, thus the special connection. Verl is in Westphalia. We didn’t know of all the towns our  people  came  from  until Rev. Jim Peiffer found an  1865  parish  census in the rectory vault. It gave all kinds of good information on each family, including the towns and country they came from.  Not everyone in the parish was from Germany,…..some were Irish.  Most of our ancestors came from the Melle area, which covers Wellingholtzhausen, Gesmold, Bohmte, Belm, Hunteburg and others.
Then one day a gentleman by the name of Hubert Heitz came knocking on the door of the Don and Barb Heitz home in Delphos. He was from Melle and had been on business in Indianapolis and just thought he’d look them up. This brought about a real friendship with several visits back and forth. He was really pleased to discover that his relatives, Francis Heitz and John Mathias Heitz had “built” the churches of Delphos St. John’s. Heitz owns a veneer factory in Melle and has some business partnerships in the USA.
Following our return from the 1991 trip to Germany, Rev. James Peiffer, our pastor at St. John’s got the idea we should have a parish trip to our ancestral homeland. The “Trace Delphos Roots” tour was organized for the summer of 1992. This trip would mark the 150th anniversary of when the first pioneers set sail from Germany to America in August of 1842. According to available church records the following were among the first 42 pioneers: Bernard Esch, Conrad Laudick, Casper Mesker and wife, Henry Schroeder and family, Henry Lause, M. Hemker, F. Reinemeyer, John Grothaus (there were two, one came later) and family. Casper Geise and family, D. Kaverman, H. Lindeman, Mrs. Osenback and family and John Bredeick.  They were accompanied by Theodore Wrocklage. He and Ferdinand Brideick had arrived in the United States in 1834. Plans were made with Father Peiffer enlisting the aid of Mike Leach of Glandorf, Ohio to be our tour guide. We planned the itinerary. Twenty people signed up for the trip, most were Delphos natives. We embarked from the Detroit airport on June 19.  We made a refueling stop in Iceland which was quite and adventure of itself. After landing in Frankfurt at 10 a.m. on June 20 (it was 4 AM back home) we boarded a bus and took the scenic route along the Rhine River. We made the trip overseas in approximately eight hours. It took our first group of pioneers a month to cross the same ocean, which was not smooth sailing.
It’s a 47 mile trip along the Rhine from Rudesheim to Koblenz with castles and vineyards on the hillsides. We stopped in Koln (Cologne) to visit the famous cathedral, which is so huge; you could put the Glandorf, Ohio church inside and still have room to spare.

0 Reader Responses to “This and That”

Complete the form below to leave a response of your own.