Treasure Chest Thursday - Leimann Family

Leimann Family Photo: L to R Back: Mary, Pauline, Josephine, Gertrude. L to R Middle: Hannah, Marie (mother), Theo  Jr, Theo (father), Bill. L to R Front: Clara, Matilda

My maternal great grandmother's family is pictured above. Josephine Leimann was my mother's mother's mother.  My great Aunt Bea labeled the back of this photo with the first names of the family members in spring of 2015.  My great grandma Josephine is the girl in the back row centered, she reminds me of Nelly from the TV show Little House on the Prairie.

Theo Leimann (b. 1868 and d. 1922) and Marie (Van Wert) Leimann (b. 1870 d. 1942) were from Hesse, Germany.  The entire family sailed on the SS Zeeland ship to the United States and arrived on May 17, 1904 on Ellis Island.  My great grandma was born on March 10, 1893 in Frankfort, Germany.  She was only 11 years old when she came over on the boat.

SS Zeeland from the Red Star Line

Theodor Leimann listed on the Manifest of the SS Zeeland on May 17, 1904

I estimate family photo was taken in 1905 because Theo Jr. ("Ted") looks to be only one year old. I see that Theo was born August 22, 1904, meaning Mary was 7 months pregnant with Theo when they came over on the ship.  It was a 10 day trip with a ship capacity of 566 passengers and over 600 crew; she must have been one strong lady to endure the sea and the overall conditions as steerage passengers (known as the cheapest ticket rate for the ship).  This was her ninth child, so she probably had it down by now and pregnancy was just another day.  I have researched example prices of second class tickets or steerage, $25-35 is the cost of 1 ticket, two to three weeks of a worker's salary.  With Theo's family of 10, that could be $250-$350 to bring his family to the USA. 

The family photo may also be a sign of a new beginning as a family in America. I do not know if families took photos knowing they may not be done making their family.  Perhaps it was best practice to be finished with making babies and plan that Kodak moment.  I do not know of any other photos of the Leimann family prior to this date.   

I have not studied recently of what was going on in Germany in the early 1900s, but only know that World War I was around the corner.  Perhaps Germany was poverty stricken and political strife was heightening. Theo Leimann had made his dream come true with new opportunities in the United States and moved to Bay City, Michigan to raise his family.  As I continue my family history research, I would like to learn why they chose that city, what did he do for a living, and how did he die so young at age 52.  

Wordless Wednesday - Rosetta Able (Kolb) - 1917

Rosetta Able (born) Kolb.  1 year old, b. June 22, 1916, d. Sep. 3, 1990

This is my maternal grandmother.

Loraine Mary Owens 23 Years old - 1936

My paternal grandma, Loraine Mary Owens (born Bricault), b. November 8, 2013.  d. May 27, 2008.  This picture was scanned and given to my dad with the file name 1936.jpg, that would make her 23 years old, one year before she married my grandpa, Thomas Aloysious Owens (b. June 21, 1913, d. April 18, 1992) on September 25, 1937. 



I am not sure what the occasion was for the photo, I would think back then taking a studio photograph would be a special occasion.  Perhaps it was part of engagement photos, I don't know if people did that then, or when they were engaged?  I love the slight peachy color in the cheeks and lips. 

5 Generation Birthplace Chart

I was inspired by a blog I have been reading, Genea-Musings, to create a birthplace chart going back 5 generations. It's a nice reference to show all the states and countries where my family was born.  My mom's side has German roots and my dad's side has Italian, French-Canadian and Irish roots. 

If you would like to do your own - You can download Pat Richley-Erickson's spreadsheet (5 or 6 generations), available at: http://bit.ly/5n6GenBirth.

Seminar at Genealogical Society of Monroe County

My dad and I went to a one day seminar in Monroe, MI yesterday that was put on by the Genealogical Society of Monroe County.  We weren't sure what to expect, but the topics they had listed in the flyer intrigued us to register the $25 each for us and make the drive for the 9am-3:30pm day.  The day didn't disappoint.  The first half of the day was speaker, Kris Rzepczynski, from the Archives of Michigan in Lansing.  We learned so much what we could potentially find at the Archives of Michigan, that we can't wait to make our family research plan and spend a day there! We also learned a lot of what SeekingMichigan.org's website has to offer.  We have used the site before, but we don't realize how lucky we are to have this information free to us in Michigan.  Michigan is a unique state that is really getting on board in indexing and scanning records.  We also learned very soon, all naturalization records will be on the website soon, a huge score, because many times this lists the birthplaces such as cities of countries where our ancestors came from.

Next we had a male speaker named Jan (pronounced Yaan) Steven Zaleski speak about German and Polish research and emigration research tips from the Hamburg port.  We have a plethora of tools to try and trace my German roots (Kolb, Leimann surnames), although it's quite complex and requires a lot of time and digging.  The German information was overwhelming and the day ended perfectly, because I don't think I could have handled another minute of genealogy presentations.  

Why a family history blog?

So, this is my first post on my new blog, These Genes are Mine.  I have decided to start this blog to help aid my research on my family.  I hope it can be a placeholder for timelines, stories and pictures of my my family history.  I got into family research and genealogy over a year ago in January 2015 after reading the book The Orphan Train.  Now, I am not an orphan, nor do I know anyone in my family who was an orphan, but the time setting decorated in the book inspired me to learn more.  Fortunately, we do have quite a bit of family information that my father has kept up with for years and has acquired from second and third cousins.  One of my goals is to make sure the accuracy of my tree is correct by citing sources, sort of a genealogy do-over.  My second goal is to blog about my family and anything to do with my research.  I hope you enjoy reading.