During the 1840s and 50s, some of the families that lived in Retterath and other nearby villages in the Eifel district of West Germany emigrated to the United States and settled in Ohio and Wisconsin. This is a history of those families, some of whom were named Diederich and others who were named Gundert and Karst and perhaps others.
Most of the information in this family history is about John Diederich and his wife Anna Clasen, who emigrated to Wisconsin in 1846. They bought a small farm in Town of Lawrence, Brown County, Wisconsin, in February 1847 and lived there the rest of their lives.
Eventually, we hope to publish information
about other families who emigrated to the United States from the same region
of the Eifel.
It was no easy task to determine where in all of Germany John and Anna
(Clasen) Diederich came from. One family legend is that the family
was from Alsace Lorraine, and one ancestor there lived to be 105 years
of age.
Customs reports, naturalization records, census reports, vital records,
church records, newspapers, county histories, military pension files, deeds,
and probate
records were searched to no avail for some clue as to the place of origin of
John Diederich, his wife, Anna Clasen, and his three German-born children,
Gertrude, Peter, and Michael. Since "Diederich" is a fairly common
German name, it would have been unrealistic to commence a search of German
records, hoping to find a needle in the haystack.
Another family tradition was that Peter Diederich, who also owned a farm
in the Town of Lawrence, was John’s brother. This seemed unlikely because
of the 19-year difference in ages, but perhaps they were close cousins. So
a similar search of all available source records was begun to determine the
German origins of Peter's branch of the family. Fortunately, this bore
fruit.
In Brown County Courthouse, the birth certificate of Arnold Peter Diedrich,
a grandson of Peter Diederich, was found, stating that the birthplace of his
father, Mathias, was "Lierstal in Germanie."
In Mount Olivet Cemetery at DePere, we found a gravestone which reads:
Mother
Katherine
Diederich
December 10, 1833
August 23, 1891
Rest in Peace
A search of the Brown County death records revealed no death certificate for Katherine Diederich. But a search of the bound volumes of the DePere News in the basement of the Wisconsin State Historical Society at Madison revealed this obituary on page four of the issue of Saturday, August 29, 1891:
LAWRENCE
Mrs. Peter Diederich died Monday morning after an illness of 11 weeks' duration, aged 57 years, 8 months, and 14 days. Deceased was born in Ober Elz, near Adenau, Province of the Rhine, Germany, where she was married in 1851 to Mr. Diedrich, who survives her. When they came to this county with three children, they settled on the farm where the subject of this sketch spent the last years of a useful life and reared a family of eight children: John, Mathias, Peter, Joseph, Henry, Albert, Emma, and Minnie. All are married except the two last named boys. Kindness and mildness of disposition were characteristics of the deceased, and a cross or impatient word scarcely ever escaped her lips. The funeral, which was held Tuesday from St. Joseph's Church, was largely attended. Rev. Father Smits officiated.
But neither "Lierstal" nor "Oberelz" could
be found in the English language gazetteers available locally. Finally, at
the New York Public Library, we found a German gazetteer published in 1905
which contained a brief citation for Lierstal and Oberelz and described their
location in relation to larger cities.
During a visit to the National Archives in Washington, we found a set of detailed
topographic maps of Germany, prepared by the U.S. Army Map Service to the scale
of 1:25,000. These maps showed the tiny communities of Lierstal and Oberelz.
We then asked the noted German genealogical authority, Baron Karl Friedrich
von Frank of Schloss Senftenegg, Ferschnitz, Austria, to determine if records
of the Catholic Church serving Lierstal and Oberelz had survived the Franco-Prussian
and two World Wars. They have, and he found them safely preserved in
the archives of the Archdiocese of Trier.
Since then we have obtained photocopies of the entries relating to John
and Peter Diederich and their ancestors from the registers of St. Remigius*
Roman
Catholic Church at Retterath. Retterath is located about a mile and a
half north of Lierstal.
John and Peter Diederich were indeed brothers. Their parents were Johann Nicolaus
Diederich and Anna Maria Catharina Esper. The baptismal registers show the
following eight children of this couple, all born at Lierstal:
- Susanna, born 31 October 1809. Sponsors: Nikolaus Arenz of Kalenborn
and Susanna Schaeffer of Retterath
- Johannes, born 4 May 1812. Sponsors: Joannes Schueller and Catharina Schaeffers
of Lirstal.
- Anna Maria, born 2 February 1816. Sponsors: Anna Maria Schmitz and Paul Esper
of Lirstal.
- Maximin Nicolaus Ferdinand, born 4 April 1819. Sponsors: Nicolaus Ferdinand
Hartman and Agnes Schaeffer.
- Anna, born 14 August 1821. Sponsors: Not named.
- Peter, born 7 November 1824. Sponsors: Peter Esper and Anna Maria Schaeffer
of Limburg. (This child died 29 December 1827 and the next child was also named "Peter".)
- Peter, born 8 April 1831. Sponsors: Peter Arens of Kaleber and
Anna Maria Berg.
To date, we have traced the Diederich family back two additional generations. Johannes
Nicholaus' parents were Cornelius and Anna (Laux) Diederichs who were married
7 February 1775 at Retterath. Anna Laux's parents were Johannes and Catharina
(--?--) Laux, who resided at Mannebach.
Cornelius Diederichs' parents were Peter and Anna Gertrud (Adorff) Diederichs
who where married 10 February 1751 at Retterath. The marriage record states
that Peter Diederichs was from Durrbach and Anna Gertrud Adorff was from Kuerrenberg.
As we continue the search of available German records, we will publish
a revised report. In the meantime, we plan to publish the results of our research
in the United States covering the descendants of these immigrants. This research
has been no less difficult than the search for the German origins of our particular
family. But that in large measure is what makes this hobby so enjoyable. Genealogy
is a vast and complicated jigsaw puzzle, and the fun of it is that it takes
years to find and fit all the pieces together. At times it is frustrating because
many cousins do not share our enthusiasm and ignore requests for information
they could easily supply.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
*St. Remigius is not a well-known saint. According to The Saints, edited by
John Coulson and published by Hawthorn Books, Inc., New York, in 1960, St.
Remigius was Bishop of Rheims, France, and owes his fame to the fact that he
baptized the Frankish king, Clovis, about 497 A.D. After an episcopate of at
least 70 years, St. Remigius died about 530.
Acknowledgement:
In addition to all those who took the time to fill out my questionnaires and
answer my letters, these are to be especially commended because of their assistance:
Herr Peter Bauer
of Mannebach, West Germany
Mr. and Mrs. J. Charles Diederich
of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
Mr. Lloyd Diederich
of Ladysmith, Wisconsin
Mrs. Therese Diederich Van Horne McNeil
of Ladysmith, Wisconsin
Rev. A. F. Diederich, O. Praem,
of West DePere, Wisconsin
Mrs. Clara Augusta Diederich Heiderstadt
of Denver, Colorado
Herr Nikolaus Hermann
of Mannebach, West Germany
Rev. Thomas F. Hill
Mrs Mary D. Ott
Mrs. Viola Cecelia Diederich Pringle
of Mount Morris, Michigan
Herr Erich Mertes
of Mannebach, West Germany
Mr. Ralph G. Schmitz
of Monticello, Iowa
Herr Karl Josef-Tonner
of Daun, West Germany
Mr. Robert Weber
Mrs. Margaret Zach
of Wausau, Wisconsin
Mrs. Rosemary Zuck
of Ladysmith, Wisconsin
Historical Background:
History of the Ostrogoths, Theodoric the Great and the Arian Heresy (please be patient, slow to download)
Maps:
Retterath church records: (These are large files and will take several minutes to download)
A reproduction of the first page of records which begin in 1734.
Births and baptisms (1734 - 1770)
Marriages (1734 -1770)
Burials (1734 -1770)
St. Mary's Catholic Church in America:
St. Mary's Catholic Church, De Pere, Wisconsin Parish History
Emigration Records:
Our German Ancestors:
Nicolaus Diederich and Ana Ursula _____?______
Our American Immigrant Ancestors:
More Diederich Information:
Diederich family Index - quick search for ancestors
