Our first Haenke immigrant ancestor, Wilhelm Haehnke, came from Ascherbude, Posen, Prussia prior to 1869. There is an interesting, but unsubstantiated story regarding the reason for his father wanting to leave his homeland behind. The story tells that Wilhelm's father, Johann Christoph Haehnke, was an officer in the Prussian army, and rather than face a dual with a superior officer over the supposedly substandard performance of his unit, he chose to flee. Whether or not Johann arrived in the United States is not known, but we do know that his son, Wilhelm did. Wilhelm married Albertina Schroeder and began raising his family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And the rest is history.
The Wenzel side of the our family first immigrated from
Saxony and arrived in New York on the Salier in April of
1882. Ernst and Emilie Wenzel had sent their oldest son,
Bruno to Wisconsin the year beore, in May of 1881. Ernst
immediately purchased 80 acres of farm land in Fredonia,
Wisconsin and began raising his family.
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