German Ancestors from A – Z
Growing up, I was intrigued by the German side of my family. The names seemed very exotic to me, a young girl from Beaumont, California. My favorite name was Gertrude Stockschlaeter who was my mom’s cousin. Her name was quintessential German.
Gertrude was born on April 15, 1918 in San Bernardino, California to Phillip and Barbara Anthony Stockschlaeter. Barbara was my grandmother’s older sister. Gertrude was 20 years older than my mother, so even though my mother and Gertrude were cousins, they had a more aunt/niece relationship.
Their great-grandfather was Heinrich Schmidt which is another very German sounding name. Unbeknownst to me, when Heinrich emigrated from Germany and settled in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Heinrich Americanized his name and became known as Henry. This was very common among German immigrants.
Heinrich Schmidt is the bridge between Germany and America. He provides the A and the Z for my ancestors. Heinrich was my 2nd great grandfather. He was born in Birresdorf, Rhine Province, Germany. He married Maria Christina Schaefer. Their first child, my great grandmother, Gertrude, was born in 1867. The family of three emigrated to American in 1870 and settled in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Heinrich and Maria went on to have 16 more children. Heinrich supported their family as the proprietor of a grocery store.
Heinrich is right in the middle between the A and the Z of names. Going alphabetically backwards, Heinrich’s great grandfather was Friderici Zilckens and his grandmother (Friderici’s daughter) was Maria Agnes Zilckens. Heinrich’s granddaughter (and my grandmother) was the epitome of the A’s – Anna Agnes Anthony. I wrote a blog post about my grandmother dated July 21, 2021 https://journeyingwithjacque.com/fashion-week-29-of-52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/.
According to Ancestry.com, there are 11 DNA matches that descend from Friderici Zilckens to me. That of course, requires that people have tested with Ancestry.com and have built trees that trace back to Friderici and his wife, Gertrudis Calenberg. Enjoy finding all the interesting names in your family tree.