NOT AS IT SEEMS

I have had this photo for about 12 years and always thought that it was the photo of my great grandfather (Peter Joseph Nebgen) with his siblings and his parents.  Since I knew his brother Nicholas was older than him, I assumed that he was the tall fair haired young man in the back row (the taller one).

I have another photo of 4 siblings with some names written on the back.  It read, "Uncle Clemenz, Uncle Emil, Uncle Pete and Aunt Maria.

Since my great grandfather was Peter Joseph, again, I assumed that he was "Uncle Pete" with his siblings. Only two of the siblings, Nicholas and Peter, immigrated to the US so they are the ones that I have the most information about.  The obituary for Peter's mother Anna Wittayer does mention that she had 7 children, but 2 of them died before she did in 1919.  I assumed that the 2 children died as babies.

I have a cousin Bernd, who lives in Germany, and his wife Susanne not only does family research but she graciously shares the information with me (otherwise I would be totally lost on the Nebgen family history).  So, with the information from the 1890 census of Duisburg that she sent me, I realized that I had been mistaken about my photos and my assumptions!

According to the 1890 census, there were 5 children living with Anna and Balthazar --
1. Peter (born in 1863) -- making him the oldest
2. Peter (Clemenz) -- born in 1867
3. Emil - born in 1876
4. Maria - born in 1880
5. Joseph Laurentius - born in 1884.

They have 2 other sons -- Nicholas who immigrated to the US in 1885 and my great grandfather Peter Joseph, who immigrated to the US in 1887.

So, let's re-visit that 1st photo -- Nicholas and Peter Joseph are not in that photo.  It was probably taken some time between 1886-1887.  Nicholas was in the US and Peter Joseph was either serving on a naval ship or also in the US.    Now, photo #2, that Uncle Pete in this photo is the eldest brother Pete, not my great grandfather Peter Joseph.  They could have made it easier by not naming all the boys Peter!   My last assumption about two of the boys dying as babies.  Incorrect, too!  You are probably not surprised by now!Nicholas died in 1915 (at age 50) so he was one of the children who died before his mother.  The other one was Joseph, who probably died in 1917 during World War I (found some records on this).

Lesson learned is "don't make assumptions without all the facts!"

AMAZING DISCOVERY

       I love finding people who will talk about genealogy with me!  I am not talking about my family members who listen carefully for the first few minutes and then wonder when the conversation will be over but those who love family history research as much as I do.  I also love finding "long lost relatives" while I am doing my research.  Okay, most of them are not "long lost" because I never knew they existed in the 1st place but it does give me great joy to find "new" members of my family.  So, you can imagine my joy when I discover "new" members of my family who want to talk genealogy with me.  Yes, I put that in my "almost too good to be true" category!

      A few weeks ago, I received a comment and then an email from Bernd and Suzanne. So, yes, they really discovered me rather than me discovering them  It turns out that Bernd's great grandmother is this lovely lady in the above photo (Maria Rosina Nebgen) and my great grandfather is the handsome gentleman standing in the back (Peter Joseph Nebgen).  Okay, how great is this?  Not only are we related, but we have shared photos and information back and forth. They had the matching photo of one that I already had.  I thought this was amazing since this has never happened to me before, except perhaps with my siblings!  Oh, and one more thing -- they live in Germany, which makes it even more exciting to me!  They translated our 2nd great grandmother's "dying card" for me.

    I love sharing my stories and photos of my ancestors on this blog. I hope, in the process, I am preserving their stories for generations to come. Yes, I will be creating a family history book with these stories, photos, and memories.  Most of all, however, I will be cherishing the "new" relatives and genealogy aficionados I meet along the way!

PETER JOSEPH, MARIA AND EMIL NEBGEN

    

       Who are these people and why are they on my blog?  I thought I would switch gears a bit and discuss some of my German ancestors.  This photo was passed down to me from my Grandma Theresa.  On the back, it is written “Aunt Mary, Dad and Uncle Emil”.   Dad refers to her father Peter Joseph Nebgen, who was born in Dernbach, Germany in 1869.  Sitting in front of him are two of his siblings – Mary (or Maria) and Emil.

          My great grandfather Peter Nebgen served as a midshipman and arrived in the US in either 1887 or 1888 at the age of 18 or 19 years old.  I will discuss him in more detail in a future post.   Since both Mary and Emil did not immigrate to the US but rather stayed in Germany, it is harder to find information on them.  I did find some information that Maria Rosina Nebgen was born in 1880.  She married Anton Peter Haus on 10 Oct 1904 in Duisburg, Germany.  They had 3 children – Anna, Willy and?

          Of course, even though I have several photos of “Uncle Emil”, I cannot find any information on him – no birth date, death date or anything in between.  I think he lived his entire life in Germany but I can’t say for sure.  I do know that Peter Nebgen named his only son after his brother Emil. 

          There are also two more siblings – Nicholas Nebgen and Clemenz Nebgen.  Again I have some photos of Clemenz but no information.  I have fared much better with Nicholas Nebgen since Nicholas was the oldest brother and immigrated to the US first.  He also married the sister of Peter Nebgen wife.   Actually I think it was the reverse, in that Nicholas married Helen Homrich in 1888 – 3 years before Peter married Theresa. 

          Well, I guess I need to do some research on how to research German records and then I can find out more of the story!