Henry "Heinrich" Blissmer
Random events of the search for Henry.

Our Heinrich, my Grandfather, was from Germany. There were no clues to assist in the hunt for German information. And the American trail proved to be just as elusive. Slowly but surely, small pieces to the puzzle were uncovered, but always lacking in the critical information necessary to pinpoint specific details.

Henry married a Catharina Dorothea (Dora) Langbehn on 29 Dec 1882 in Lansing, Cook County, Illinois (Cert), then lived in West Hammond (Calumet City), Cook County, Illinois.
Dora emmigrated from Hamburg aboard the ship Rhenania, and arrived in New York on 7 Nov 1881, single, age 18, and traveling alone. As of now, there is no passenger record found for Henry to give a port of departure or arrival, or date.

Henry was naturalized April 1886 (Cert), which should put his arrival about 6 years prior, perhaps 1880. His death cert states he was born 15 July 1861, and died 20 May 1917 in Calumet City, Cook County, Illinois.
Dora died 7 Feb 1910 in Cedar Lake, Lake County, Indiana (Cert). Both are buried in the Hessville Cemetery, Lake County, Indiana. Only Dora has a stone at the cemetery (pix).

From the time of their marriage in 1882, the first known child was born in 1887, the last born in 1906. But the 1900 Census indicates that they had 3 children who died prior to 1900. 1882-1886 seems like a perfect time frame for 3 additional children. No data has been found regarding these 3 missing children. There were twins in 1902, but one died an infant. This gives Henry and Dora a total of 13 children, of which 9 survived. These 9 give us the American Blissmer Family Tree.
A strange coincidence was the discovery of a tornado which hit near their home in Calumet City in 1892. There is no record of any fatalities from this disaster, which destroyed a church.

Henry operated the "Blissmer Saloon" at 16 State St. in Calumet City, IL, and sponsored the "Blissmer Colts" baseball team (pix).

After Dora's death, Henry is alleged to have been remarried, and there seem to be 2 names floating about as to her identity. But there is no record of a marriage in Indiana or Illinois for the period in question. A 1912 Hammond, IN, City Directory lists a "Nettie Blissmer" Saloon, and a 1920 Census gives a "Jeanette Blissmer" (IL). If they lived in Indiana, there is no record of any possible children from a second marriage. The 1923-24 Calumet City, IL, Directory lists a "Blissmer Hall" at 448 State St, which is after Henry's death.

HEINRICH DISCOVERED:
Finally, late 2004, a lucky break helped put some of the strange pieces together, which led to identifying the specific families of Heinrich Blissmer and Dora Langbehn in Germany. Not an abundance of facts, but enough to prove that our ancestors were from the Fehmarn Island in S/H, Germany. And that the American Blissmer had the German name spelling of Bliesemer.
A separate area was set up to present the information regarding the 3 families of Bliesemer, Langbehn, and Wulf. Individual family trees also give known surnames. BLISSMER ANCESTORS (Bliesemer).

UPDATE 2006: GERMAN ANCESTORS DISCOVERED.
Now new family descendant reports and surname lists, for Bliesemer and Blissmer, back to 1750.

UPDATE 2008: CHICAGO DATA
Heinrich's father and mother came to USA in 1883 and settled in Chicago. With them were 2 additional children, a boy and a girl, not shown in the German database, giving them 11 children and not just 9. His mother (Friedericka, 56) and sister (Kate, 20) both died in 1885. His father (Marcus, 70) died in 1896. All three are buried at Concordia Cemetery, Chicago, IL. The other youngest girl did not die until 1933 (Margaretha, 61), but the young boy (Johann, age 9 in 1883) is still unaccounted for. An old Chicago map (1886) located their home on Samuel Street, and current research indicates that the house is still there.

Another Bliesmer branch leads from Fehmarn to Iowa (1907), and eventually to Texas, Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Washington. And the child of yet another Fehmarn Bliesmer branch (Marcus Heinrich Friedrich Bliesmer, s/o Paul Heinrich Friedrich) is known to have been married in Wandsbeck (Hamburg) in 1874. The clues come slowly, but are starting to move around beyond our normal realm of family.