I used The Minnesota Historical Society website extensively when I first began researching Sweere and Dykhoff. Their Minnesota Death Certificate Index supplied sources for many of our Minnesota ancestors. I used it again last night to look up a few specific death dates while I was working on the Find A Grave memorials I mentioned in the last post.

They have now added the Minnesota Birth Certificate Index. With that, I was able to record all the middle names of Ernest and Grace Riddering’s children except their first born daughter, Martina.

These birth certificates often show the mother’s maiden name. The birth Certificates of sons John and Theodore Riddering show a curious misspelling of “Sweere” which may indicate the Dutch pronunciation of our Sweere surname. John’s mother is shown as “SVEERE” and Theodores mother is shown as “SEVEERE”.

 

I haven’t written here since 2007 and I apologize to everyone who dropped in to find me on extended vacation.

In the meantime, I moved to California in August 2007 the day after my son left for basic training…he enlisted USArmy. I stayed there until October 2008 when I moved again to Fort Worth, Texas. I’m still here in TX.

In between, I’ve been busy with the web development and business is doing well.

Oh, and did I mention I fell in love?

I’ve been on my own since 1998 and had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I was going to be my dad’s only spinster daughter. There’s a chance that may not happen, but we’ll see.

Rollie, you were right…I had to get out of the back forty in order for Hollywood to find me :) .

I did site-wide software updates last night and am woking on a more modern layout…this one is old, old old…in Sept. of this year we will have had this site for five years! Watch for layout changes…

~J

 

Word from a proud aunt, Annemieke tells us that the Sweere family has expanded to Russia…

The Sweere Clan welcomes our newest angel, Lukas Daniel Sweere, born 4 September 2006 in Moscow, Russia to Michael Johan Gerard Sweere and Natalia Fedyushina.

Grampa Hans sent a picture:

Luke Michael Sweere
 

I received an email this month from Hans Sweere, who is the grandson of Gerardus Sweere, b. 1870 and Hendrica de Groot. This is an exciting event because Gerardus is the oldest brother of our founding American patriarchs, Theodorus and Hendrickus Sweere by their father’s first marriage to Henrika Arts.

In the information I received from Hans, he suggests that our earliest proven Sweere, Hermannus Sweere, was married twice, first to Anna Maria Nabben and second to Henrica Creemers.

I had been aware of these marriages of Hermannus Sweere recorded in Boxmeer, but had no proof that the Hermannus is question is the same man.

The marriage records of Gerardus Johannes Sweeren, b. 1797 in Boxmeer, married 1827 to Jacoba Vermaeten states that Hermannus and Anna Maria Nabben’s are his parents.

However, I have no marriage records for Hermannus and Anna Maria to tell me who Hermannus’ parents are.

Later, I have a marriage record for Hermannus Sweere and Henrica Creemers, which states that the parents of Hermannus are Cornelis Sweere and Dorothea Verhaert. If Hans is correct and the Hermannus of both marriages are one and the same, then we have moved back a generation and now the task will be to figure out who the father of this Cornelis Sweere is.

I suspect this Cornelis is the oldest son of Adrianus Corneliszn Sweere and Anna Antonisse Anemaat but I need proof.

The digging continues.

-ex animo ~J

Late afternoon update:

I received another email from Hans stating that my suspicion is correct. His records show that the grandfather of our Hermannus, is in fact, Adrianus Corneliszn Sweere, b. 1715 Made en Drimmelen, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands. This break through effectively takes our Sweere line to the mid-1600′s.

Cees..we’re related!

~J

 

Mathias Leimkuhler arrived from Prussia in New York on December of 1856 with Wilhelm Duren via the ship Constitution.

Together, the two men traveled to Cazenovia in south central Wisconsin, where they carved out their homes and raised big families in Westford Township along the banks of the Little Baraboo River in Richland County.

In 1864, Mathias mustered in with 3rd Wisconsin Calvary Volunteer Infantry, 52nd Regiment, Company E to serve with the Union in the War of the Rebellion.

His name is recorded as Mattias G. Leimkiller on page 591 of The Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865 and Mathias G. Limkihler on page 919 of the Fifty-second Regiment Infantry, Company E.

In 1878 at age 50, Matt Leimkuehler died the week before his eleventh child and baby daughter, Maggie, was born.

His his young wife, Gert, age 38, was left with all her eleven children under the age of 19 living in her house.

Two years later, Gertrude (Bauer) Leimkuehler and her eleven children are recorded on the 1880 US Federal Census.

Mathias Godfried Leimkuehler (1828-1878) was my third-great grandfather.
He is buried in Saint Anthony’s Catholic Cemetery in Germantown,
just outside the city limits of Cazenovia, Wisconsin.

Image of headstone base for Mathias Leimkeuhler

On 28 March, 1888, ten years after Mathias Leimkeuhler died, his seventh child, Mary Leimkuehler, married Nicholas Jax, the son of Civil War Veteran, Peter Jax, and his wife, Anna Margareta (Steffes) Jax.

Peter Jax served in the War of the Rebellion with the 12th Wisconsin Volunteer infantry, Company F.

Image of Peter Jax headstone.

On the 12th of May in 1891, Mathias’ oldest son, Hubert Alexander Leimkuehler married Anna Adelman, the daughter of his neighbor, Benedict J. Adelman, who also fought in The War of the Rebellion.

Image of Benedict Adelman's headstone.

~ex animo~J

© 2012 A Book of Generations Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha