Ancestry

I'm going to try to revive the blog finally, but this time for a different focus. For several years now I've been working on mine & Jef's family trees. I've had a great time on the journey so far and I can't wait to see who else I can meet on our branches. There is one part of my family that has me stuck. I've always known that most of my family have come from Germany. A lot of them have been in the United States long enough that I can find documents on birth, marriage, and several wars. 

The person who has me the most stumped is my Great Grandfather Josef (Joseph) Geis. He was born 26 Feb 1878 in Sandberg, Germany. According to an Ellis Island record he immigrated to the United States 28 June 1893 on a ship called Havel and left from Bremen, Germany. He was 15 years old and bound for Cleveland, Ohio. Eventually he ended up in Evansville, Indiana. 

The earliest record I have found of him is the 1900 Census for Johnson, Gibson County, Indiana. Josef was now spelled Joseph and he was 22 years old. He had a wife named Mary (or Maria) who was 32.  

By 1910, he was remarried to Rosa Schwartz (my Great Grandmother). They has 3 children - Josephine (9 yrs), Emil (7 yrs) and Edward (2 years). Josephine & Emil's mother was Mary (Maria) and I believe she passed away in 1906. In 1904, Josef, Mary (Maria), Josephine & Emil had made a trip to Sandberg to visit family. They left the Port of Bremen and SS Cassel on 11/5/1904. They arrived in Baltimore on 11/21/1904.  

Josef and Rosa were married until his death on 17 Mar 1933. They had a total of 5 children - Edward H, Herbert Elmer (my Grandfather), Marguerite Gladys, Joseph William and Matilda C. 


So here are my questions...
1. Why would a 15 year old boy listed as a Farmer come to the United States by himself?
2. Why didn't his family come with him?
3. Was his family still alive?
4. Did he have brothers or sisters?
5. Did he know the Holzheimer family who was listed beneath him on the same record. I've been able to find records of that family and they are also from Sandberg, Germany. 
6. What did he do from the time he arrived in 1893 until 1900 when he was in Evansville, IN?
7. How did he end up in Indiana and not Cleveland?
  

I'm throwing all of these questions out there to see if someone has answers. 

"What's In A Name?"

We have chosen to name our son Otto Cranston. Most people's reactions have been excited when we tell them. Although, I'm sure there are some who are thinking "That is so weird!". That's fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion and they have kept it to themselves. Others have asked how we ended up coming up with the name so I thought I'd elaborate on that. 

I'll start with Cranston because it actually has a family connection. As some of you know last year I started tracing Jef's family tree and ended up learning a lot. I ended up coming across family that Jef hasn't had contact with since his Dad passed in 1995. To get started on Ancestry.com I needed his parents information. His Dad's name was Theron Cranston, but he went by "Pete". I thought that was such a cool name when he told me years ago. Anytime I hear a unique name I make a mental note of future kids names. This is one that worked out. The name was also given to Jef's brother Michael as his middle name. Below is a picture of Jef as a baby and his parents and brother.


Pete, Etta, Michael & Baby Jef. So sweet!!

Otto will end up being the 4th person (that I know of) in the Cunningham line to have Cranston as a middle name. While researching the family tree I found that Pete had an Uncle named Robert Cranston. Below is a picture of Jef's Great Grandfather (John Columbus Melton Jay Van Cunningham), Grandfather (Milton Commodore) and Great Uncle (Robert Cranston). This family definitely has unique names.   

John , Commodore and Bob

Now on to Otto. Once I got to a stopping point with Jef's side of the family tree I decided to move to mine. Growing up I've always known that both sides of my family have come from Germany. My parent's wanted to give me a German name when I was born so that is why I am Erika with a "K" and not a "C". I wish I had some awesome family story or connection to Otto, but I don't. I've always thought it was really cool, but had never given it much thought. A couple years ago I was watching a documentary called Anne Frank Remembered. This is a story that I grew up learning about in school and at home. As a kid you know this is such an awful thing that happened, but to sit through the interviews and stories as an adult has a deeper impact on you (or me at least). The documentary goes through the Frank family's life and their friends and co-workers who did everything they could to help save them. Anne's father's name was Otto. Otto Frank was the only one out of the eight that went into hiding to survive the Nazi camps.