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My Ancestors, Extra Information

How my ancestors lived in Germany prior to 1835

and

My ancestors traced back to 1727 in Germany

Germany, early 1800's

 My ancestors were originally from Germany, but it was Prussia then. In 1835 it was made up of separate little kingdoms, each with its own king. It was united into one Germany in the 1870's, at the time of Bismark. William I was crowned as its first Kaiser (emperor).

Ostenfeld, (now named Mersch) was where my ancestors came from and was in the kingdom of Hanover. It was one of five little villages that surrounded Glandorf, Germany, in the shape of a horseshoe. They all belonged to St. John's church in Glandorf.

There was a book written by Dr. Bernhard Riese, called "Glandorf" appropriately. He gives a description of what life was like in Germany in early times and through the years to when my ancestors came here.

In early times the people of Glandorf were poor farmers. They did not own their farms but worked on the farms of the wealthy landowners. They were not slaves but neither were they totally free. They had to remain on the owners farm and could not marry without his permission. When a husband or wife died, half of their possessions went to the owner and when the surviving spouse eventually died, the owner received that remaining half.

Their holdings included a crude, one room house with a floor of dirt, the adjoining plot of ground, a share in the surrounding fields and a few animals. Part of their crop went to the owner as well as sundry taxes, consequently they were very poor.

They shared the one long room of their house with their farm animals, the people living at one end and their cows in stalls at the other end. Hay and straw was kept in the open ceiling and chickens roosted above the stalls. Cooking was done in an iron pot which swung on a crane in the fireplace and their sausages and hams hung from the ceiling in front of it. Their only furniture was a hutch like a cupboard, a table and some chairs. They slept in alcoves with doors that could be closed during the day. A spinning wheel by the fireplace for the wife and a work area with tools hanging on the wall for her husband completed the furnishings.

The homes of the wealthier farmers were not nearly so rustic. They had stone floors and more than one room so that the animals and the people were separated. They had more furniture and it was more delicate. There were stenciled walls, curtains, beautiful plates on shelves and other decorative objects. There homes had a more charming look to them.

Serfdom lasted much longer in Germany than in other European countries. This was especially true in the rural, less populated areas. When it was finally abolished by law in the early 1800's it started a tidal wave of emigration which reached its peak between 1840 and 1850.

My ancestors arrived in Glandorf, Ohio, in 1835, just one year after it was founded. One of the founding fathers bought 560 acres in one area and 110 acres in another area in the township. (I would like to know who paid the Indians for this land, but then we all know what happened really!) Fr. William Horstmann sold the land cheaply to settlers. So the people in Germany were tempted by the price for land, combined with the negative aspects of their homeland, that being forced military service and crop failures.

Life was hard though after they moved to the New Land. They got by with wild game and "pappe" (corn meal mush) until they could clear and ditch the land. Since they lived at the edge of the Great Black Swamp, it was necessary to do a lot of work that wouldn't have been a problem on dry land. The nearest mill for grinding was 30 miles away which seemed like a vast distance to someone living in the swamps. There were no roads and travel by foot was almost impossible. The roads that were built with logs across the way were quickly swallowed by the swamp. The only way to get supplies was by row boat or pirogue either from a trading post at Perrysburg (near Toledo) or from Findlay and sometimes as far away as Piqua or Dayton to get what was needed.

The German immigrants were known to be industrious, hard working people who prospered wherever they settled and my Kuhlman ancestors were no exception.

Okay, that is some of what is written about my ancestors when they first moved to Ohio.

Now, my female ancestors traced back to 1727 

 (From the book "The Kuhlman Family", with permission of the surviving author, my distant cousin, Robert Peckinpaugh -- Thanks Bob!) Bob and the co author Ethel Morman worked long and hard to track down all the records so that all of the relatives would know their roots.  Its amazing!

The first male ancestor that came here in 1935 with his younger brother and parents was Johann T. Kuhlman. That was mentioned in the web page you probably came from.  His wife has her own history, of course.  

The family of Anna Catharina Schwartzengraber was traced to 1727 from the records of St. Katharina Church in Fuchtorf, Germany.   Her great grandparents Henricus Schwartengraber and Gertrudes Krimphoff were married in that church on September 22, 1727. They had 4 children.

Johann Henrich Schwartengraber
Johann Henrich Schwartengraber
Georgius Henricus Schwartengraber       born December 1, 1736,   died March 2, 1797
Maria Elisabeth Scwartengraber

One of the two sons named Johann married into the Hagen family and changed his name to Hagen. It is probably the second Johann because there is no record of his death under the name Schwartzengraber. It was customary in Germany in those days for the husband to take the wife's last name if they were to live on land she owned. Each farm had a family name which was passed down from generation to generation and all who lived there went by that name.

The Kuhlman descendants were from their third son, Georgius Henricus Schwartengraber. He married Anna Catharina Elisabeth Kauper on August 14, 1766 and they had four children.

Maria Gertrudes Scwartengraber
Joes Wilhelmus Scwartengraber              born January 1, 1778,     died July 1, 1833
Maria Elisabeth Scwartengraber
Bernard Hernrich Scwartengraber

His wife, their mother, Anna Catharina Elisabeth (Kauper)Scwartengraber became a widow and after she remarried her new husband took her married name of Scwartengraber. She died May 25, 1826 at the age of 92 and was survived by a son from her first marriage Joes, actually called Johann Wilhelmus Scwartengraber. He is the ancestor of many Kuhlmans. He was a farmer in Bauershaft, Twillingen and on November 12, 1805 at the age of 26 married Anna Catharina Schnupke. She was 21 and they were married in St. Katharina Church in Fuchtorf, Germany. Her father, Johan Wilhelm Schnupke, was a kotter at Glandorf.

Johan Wilhelmus Scwartengraber had 11 children. You gotta see their names!

Georg Henrich Scwartengraber
Clara Elisabeth Scwartengraber
Anna Catharina Scwartengraber
Maria Anna Scwartengraber
Joan Wilhelm Scwartengraber
Anna Gertrud Scwartengraber
Anna Catharina Scwartengraber         born August 15, 1819,        died August 18, 1877
Maria Catharina Scwartengraber
Henrich Joseph Scwartengraber
Anton Scwartengraber
Anna Gertrud Scwartengraber

The reasoning behind naming so many children with the same or nearly the same names, were because the custom was to name the kids after their sponsor.

The maternal forbear of the Kuhlmans was their seventh child, the second Anna Catharine. In 1836 at the age of 17 she came to America along with the rest of her family. She married John Theodore Kuhlman and from this marriage the Kuhlmans descended.

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