O.K. family - we've been into this Ziegelbein ancestor research for what, a week, two weeks at most? And already, out of the blue, comes an email with information on a previously unknown Ziegelbein!
Dear Paul,
Last night I found your Ziegelbein web site. Needless to say, we were quite excited to find someone else involved in Ziegelbein genealogy.
My great-grandmother was Federike J. Ziegelbein, b. 21 May 1825 in Germany and d. 6 Oct. 1891 in Polk, NE. She was married to Fred Kerker. They had two children Anna, b. 16 Aug 1859 in NY, NY and died in 1895 in Polk County, NE and Ernest Kerker, b. 04 Nov. 1863 in IL, d. 13 Mar 1942 in Lincoln, NE.
Anna married Henry Wilshusen in 1879 in the Concordia, MO area. The marriage was in Johnson County, MO, according to a document I discovered on the internet, but we have not been able to find a copy of the marriage information. We have written several organizations, etc., but no help to date.
Henry and two brothers came from Mintenburg, Germany (state of Hannover, in northern Germany) and went into Missouri. One brother remained in Cole Camp, Benton County, MO. Henry and his brother, John, went to Polk County, NE and remained there until their deaths.
Anna was sickly. She had epilepsy. She would pass out at various places, like falling on the cook stove and severely burning herself. She had a number of babies, but only two survived - Ernest August and Fred. Anna, Henry and the babies are buried in Immanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery, Polk, NE. We have pictures of the tombstones.
Federike J. Ziegelbein Kerker is buried in Immanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery, Polk, NE. One reference listed her as Minnie Federike (sometimes written as Federicke and other times as Federike) Kerker.
I have a certified copy of the death certificate for Henry John Ziegelbein, who died 17 Oct. 1949 in York, NE. His mother is listed as Sophia Nierman and his wife as Helena Krone Ziegelbein. Father's name was left blank. Place of birth for Henry John was New York, NY. Occupation, farmer. He died at the Dr. B.F. Bailey Sanatorium in Lincoln, NE. We wrote to the Historical Society of Lincoln Lancaster County, NE in 1996 and asked about the sanatorium. We wondered where their records might be now located, etc. They answered our letter promptly and said the sanatorium is no longer in existence. The obituary for Henry lists his birthplace as New York on 8 July 1860. They suggested checking the index for the 1860 federal census for New York City for Ziegelbeins. We went that route, but came up with nothing.
We corresponded with Kenneth Ziegelbein of Polk, NE in 1991. He remembered his father, William and his grandfather, Henry, talking about early life in Missouri. Kenneth's great-grandfather, William, was a tailor. He died young and is buried in Missouri. He thought it possible that Federike Ziegelbein Kerker could be his great-grandfather's sister, but did not know for sure.
Maria S. Ziegelbein, Nurse Army Nurse Corps of World War I. Born 31 Dec 1888 and died 21 June 1949 is buried in Immanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery, Polk, NE. We wrote to the federal office in St. Louis to try to get a copy of Maria's military records. I do not remember the answer they gave, but we did not get the records. Our letter was written back in the 1980's. In 1996, we wrote to the Women's Army Corps Veterans Assoc., but our letter was returned to us.
The 1880 census records for NE show Federike's place of birth as Seppe, Germany. We tried to locate the town, but did not have any success. Your information indicates the town/village to be Lippe, Germany. Have you located this town on the German map? I went into Mapquest and suppose it is the town located near Bremen. There were two Lippes to select from. It would have to be a northern village as they were Lutheran.
We moved one year ago and have not completely unpacked our genealogy records. I will try to locate more information. If I am successful, I will let you know. In the meantime, I would appreciate working with you to try to piece this together. I have e-mailed a couple of Ziegelbeins and talked with a couple. None I contacted thought they were related to me. I have been trying for years to locate where these people came from and where they lived in the USA before ending up in NE.
Would appreciate hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Harvey and Margaret Wilshusen