Oland, Sweden
The roots of my family tree have spread from the lost German lands of East Prussia and Pomerania, from the green fields of Sweden, from the valleys of Slovenia.
Branches have spread across the ocean and spanned the North American continent.
My mission is to dig ever deeper in search of our ancestors -- but also to seek out and contact living relatives wherever they may be -- so that these names from the past are not lost to the future. In that spirit, these pages are dedicated to the memory of my grandmother,
whose devotion to the family and its history got me started!
Evelyne Stoeckig, Pearl Soldan, Adeline Hennig, Shirlee Taylor, Jeffrey Ipema, Ruth Paula Gergolla, Bojan Mozina, Donald Martin Ziemer, Pearl Lydia Hoffman, Thomas J. Burke, Marilyn J. Warnke, Janice A. Vervlied, Ronald Lee Ziemer
See Obituaries
Press CONTENTS to see roots and branches of Ziemer's Tree
THE FAMILIES:
- ZIEMER , BONOW , and KRUCKOW from Pomerania.
- Explore our POMERANIAN ROOTS
- Rediscover the ZIEMERS
in Chicago
- Browse through a Ziemer Family Photo Album
- HEINRICH, HARDT, ROLOFF, BAER, GERGOLLA: East Prussia.
- Search for our PRUSSIAN ROOTS
- HEINRICHS and ROLOFFS in AMERICA -- Gergollas and Zulewskys
- HARDT Family Relatives of the Chicago Heinrichs
- OLSON and BREDBERG from Sweden.
Swedish Ancestry of John OLSON and Mathilda BREDBERG- Photos and More: Öland Album and
Västergötland Album
- OLSONS From Michigan to Colorado - Descendants of Nels Alfred OLSON
- ECKLUNDS from Michigan and the Chicago Area - Descendants of Emma Christine OLSON and Adolph ECKLUND
- The Memoirs of Effie Lerner, "A Saga of Swedish Immigrants" Edited and Published Complete in 8 Chapters
- JUST POSTED! OLSON FAMILY OF CHICAGO: Descendants of John Olson and Mathilda Bredberg.
ALSO NOW ON LINE! OLSON FAMILY PHOTO GALLERY
- RADOVAN, REDEK, and MOZINA from Slovenia.
- Discover our Slovenian Roots
- Maria Redek Radovan Zupan
- Browse through a Ziemer Family Photo Album
See our
family's Celtic BRENNAN Connection in The
Irish Eyes of Auntie Dot!
View a Gallery of Photos from Alice Ziemer's 80th Birthday!
RESEARCH
Our German ancestors have left us with several mysteries -- perhaps someone out there can help?
- Carl Ziemer - could this be the father of Martin, our immigrant ancestor?
- "Sweet Home Pomerania" DISCOVERED AT LAST! Find the villages of Martin Ziemer and the Bonows in the Old Country. Marriage records have identified their homes in the decades before immigration to the U.S.
- The "Lost Tribe" of Ziemers Contacted!
In 2003 contact was made with members of the North Side Ziemer clan, descendants of William Ziemer and Margaret Kaiser. William Ziemer's great-granddaughter, Tom Burke's daughter Jennifer McInnis has graciously furnished us with an excellent genealogy of Willie Ziemer's descendants, and photos, too. (It was a great pleasure to finally meet Jennifer and her terrific family in April 2008. Glad to report that her family is growing!) Nancy Ziemer, the granddaughter of Willie Ziemer, also provided significant information and a great old photo of Martin and Caroline Ziemer. We still look forward to a Ziemer family reunion!(See ZIEMERS in Chicago)- Tracking down "Buck" Bonow and the Rest of the Clan - Molls and Roepkes, too. I'm hoping to trace these diverging families through time to the present with the aid of Chicago City Directories and the 1930 Census. I was also recently contacted by a descendant of the Bonow Family that moved to Wisconsin Rapids, WI. Looking forward to continuing research in that direction.
- M.I.A. -- Whatever Happened to Friedrich the Prussian? Friedrich Robert HEINRICH, the immigrant Fritz's father, was said to have died when Fritz was a year old. What happened to him?
- Fritz Heinrich's Excellent Adventure and the Romance of Fritz and Theresa. The tale of Fritz's immigration adventures is also a story of young love; this tradition has always been a cornerstone of our family history. Some of the truth is revealed in HEINRICHS & ROLOFFS in America
- "Prussian Roots" pages explore the background of Fritz Heinrich and his parents, as well as the Roloff and Gergolla Families. But we still have not identified Carl Roloff's brickyard in Elbing or Augusta's home in Marienwerder.
- The Lost Grave of Carl Albert Roloff. Lost in a Dakota Territory blizzard? Eaten by wolves? Or just buried out on the prairie and forgotten? We may never know, but many details have come to light about the pioneering Roloffs and Gergollas. Read about them in HEINRICHS and ROLOFFS in America!
- I was particularly excited finally to visit the South Dakota township where the ROLOFFS and GERGOLLAS settled in 1883. Check out the South Dakota Album.
- The HARDT Family -- Relatives of Louisa HEINRICH who immigrated in the 1920's. They maintained connections to relatives back in Germany. Some of the cards and letters received from them could provide clues to our Prussian roots. We enjoyed our visit with Herbert HARDT of Fish Creek, WI during the summer of 2006. Herb is not only a great guy and fun to know, he's a wonderful storyteller, and has shed a lot of light on relations within our family and city life back in the 1920's and 30's.
Our visit to Sweden led to the exciting rediscovery of the family in Öland -- but there is much more to research. Cousins Kjell Oscarson and Mildred Gröndin continue to come up with more items of interest, such as the old photos of the Olson family and Emma Christine. I've also been in touch with other Swedish-side relatives on the Olson line.
- Karl Bredburg's parents are still unknown
- More on the history of the Family Home at Askelunda in Öland
- The History and Genealogy of the ECKLUND Family from Charlevoix, Michigan. Assembled with photos from the family albums; the genealogy is in need of updating. Click HERE to read about the ECKLUNDS from Michigan, the Chicago Area and points West
Now that the Ecklund Page is up on the net, I have managed to contact some members of the family for their input. Alice Shapton, Fabean Ecklund's daughter, put me in touch with her brother Donald and her son Art Beattie, who have already made tremendous contributions toward updating the family tree, correcting errors, and filling in blank spaces. .
- NOW ON LINE! History of the Nels Alfred Olson family from his arrival in the U.S., his years in Michigan, and his homestead in Colorado. In the summer of 2006, I finally veered off the beaten track to visit the land once farmed by Nels Alfred along with his daughter and his son-in-law Clyde MOREY. Click HERE for genealogy, history, maps, and photos.
- FINALLY! ON LINE NOW! At long last, the history of John OLSON and Mathilda BREDBERG is up and ready for viewing. Click HERE to read about the OLSON FAMILY OF CHICAGO: Descendants of John Olson and Mathilda Bredberg. Learn the history of our Swedish immigrant forebears on the East Side of Chicago, their children and their families.
- ALSO AVAILABLE: AN OLSON FAMILY PHOTO GALLERY. Click HERE to view a complete collection of Photo Albums depicting John OLSON and Mathilda BREDBERG; their children and the families of Rudolph, Edith, Mabel, Alice, and Luther - plus historic photos of Chicago and the East Side.
Grandpa Louis Radovan was born in Austria, but in our time his birthplace, Slovenia, has emerged as the first and foremost independent nation of the former Yugoslavia. Now I am working to discover the truth behind the family legends:
- Maria Radek: The Burgomeister's Daughter
- Radovan, The Runaway Overseer -- Louis's father found at last!
- The Mozina Family - Definitely a Vintage Year!
THE LATEST FROM SLOVENIA -- It's been several years now since we first had the joy of meeting our cousin Bojan Mozina of Ljubljana, and his brothers Tomaz and Joze who welcomed us into their homes. It was the first person-to-person contact between our families in 98 years! Sadly, Bojan passed away this past winter. We will remember him always as the kind gentleman who brought us back to our Slovenian heritage.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 08-Jul-2009 23:15:01 MDT
Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter