Preface
Most of us wonder, at some point in our lives, about our ancestors. When did they come to America? Where did they come from? What circumstances drove them to forsake their native land? What kind of people were they? Did they accomplish outstanding deeds in their lives?
It is this natural sense of curiosity about our ancestors which seductively pulls one into a search for information about the history of a family. But, for the truly curious, each answer generates more questions, and the list of questions to be answered grows, instead of shrinking. The search for knowledge about one's grandparents and great-grandparents expands into a search for knowledge about nations and cultures, about churches and states, about wars and emigrations, about countries and customs. And the task that began with the question "Where did my family come from?" can turn into a life-long project.
It is a search that cannot be conducted alone. While Federal archives, county courthouses, libraries, church archives, and cemeteries are all important sources of information, many family members also help--parents, cousins, uncles and aunts, and second and third cousins who you didn't even know you had. And many of them share your curiosity about the history of their family. Compilation of a book about the history of the family is a very natural result. It is a means of sharing the information collected with those who encouraged, and contributed to, the effort.
But the author of any family history faces a major hurdle. The author is attempting to communicate to the reader a multitude of family relationships, stretching over many generations, and spanning many inter-related families. An understanding of these family relationships is further complicated by the fact that these relationships are identified and described in terms of hundreds, and even thousands, of names the reader may not have heard before. It's not unlike the challenge of reading a Russian novel! As a result, all family histories require some effort on the part of the reader to understand the organization of the material. With that in mind, a few words about the organization of this book should be of some assistance to the reader.
The first twenty-two chapters contain the history of our Landwehr family. The last twelve chapters provide the history of six allied families: the Broemmelsieck, Lefmann, Thiekoetter, Bonsen, Guese, and Lichte families. The chart provided as Figure 1 illustrates the family relationships of the author to the Bonsen, Lefmann, Broemmelsieck, and Thiekoetter families. The Guese and Lichte families are not directly related to the author, but are allied to the immigrant Landwehr family through marriage to two of the immigrant Landwehr children. We attempted to trace each of these allied families back to their ancestral homes in Europe.
It is this natural sense of curiosity about our ancestors which seductively pulls one into a search for information about the history of a family. But, for the truly curious, each answer generates more questions, and the list of questions to be answered grows, instead of shrinking. The search for knowledge about one's grandparents and great-grandparents expands into a search for knowledge about nations and cultures, about churches and states, about wars and emigrations, about countries and customs. And the task that began with the question "Where did my family come from?" can turn into a life-long project.
It is a search that cannot be conducted alone. While Federal archives, county courthouses, libraries, church archives, and cemeteries are all important sources of information, many family members also help--parents, cousins, uncles and aunts, and second and third cousins who you didn't even know you had. And many of them share your curiosity about the history of their family. Compilation of a book about the history of the family is a very natural result. It is a means of sharing the information collected with those who encouraged, and contributed to, the effort.
But the author of any family history faces a major hurdle. The author is attempting to communicate to the reader a multitude of family relationships, stretching over many generations, and spanning many inter-related families. An understanding of these family relationships is further complicated by the fact that these relationships are identified and described in terms of hundreds, and even thousands, of names the reader may not have heard before. It's not unlike the challenge of reading a Russian novel! As a result, all family histories require some effort on the part of the reader to understand the organization of the material. With that in mind, a few words about the organization of this book should be of some assistance to the reader.
The first twenty-two chapters contain the history of our Landwehr family. The last twelve chapters provide the history of six allied families: the Broemmelsieck, Lefmann, Thiekoetter, Bonsen, Guese, and Lichte families. The chart provided as Figure 1 illustrates the family relationships of the author to the Bonsen, Lefmann, Broemmelsieck, and Thiekoetter families. The Guese and Lichte families are not directly related to the author, but are allied to the immigrant Landwehr family through marriage to two of the immigrant Landwehr children. We attempted to trace each of these allied families back to their ancestral homes in Europe.
In most of the chapters of this book, the author has attempted to combine biographical material about our ancestors with historical material describing the time and place where our ancestors lived. In addition, there are eleven chapters which provide organized lists of descendants of the five immigrant Landwehr children and the six allied families. While the lists of descendants of the immigrant Landwehr family are not complete, a large percentage of the descendants are included. The lists of descendants of the six allied families are far from complete. The partial lists are provided as a starting point for any other family historians who may decide, at some future date, to concentrate on the histories of any of these families.
There are several formats that can be used to organize lists of descendants. Each has its advantages and its disadvantages. The format used in this book arranges descendants by generation. The first generation of a family (the oldest generation) is listed as Generation One. The children of the first generation are listed under Generation Two, the grandchildren of the first generation are listed under Generation Three, etc. Within each generation, individuals are grouped by family--in other words, brothers and sisters are grouped together.
Every person listed in the eleven chapters of descendants is included in an index in the back of the book. Women are listed in the index under their maiden name, when known; otherwise, they are listed under their married name. The biographical information about each descendant includes a list of that descendant's children. If additional information about a child is provided with the next generation of the family, the page number on which that information appears is provided, permitting the reader to quickly follow the path from parent to child. In addition, each family group (group of brothers and sisters) is immediately preceded by the identification of that group's parent (and grandparent, great-grandparent, etc.), and the page number on which information about the parent appears is provided, permitting the reader to quickly follow the path from child to parent.
In spite of our best efforts, these lists undoubtedly contain some errors. The volume of information is too great, and the sources of information too varied, to prevent all errors. To anyone who finds that we have misspelled their name, changed their date of birth, or married them to the wrong spouse, we extend our sincere apologies, and ask for your understanding.
Because the search for information about the history of a family can never be completed, it is difficult for the researcher to cease searching for answers, and to document the "incomplete" history with the permanence of a book. But the pages of the calendar continue to turn, and some compromises must be made if the history is to be shared with all those who contributed so generously to the project. We hope that most readers will agree that a "nearly complete" book now is of greater value than a "complete" book many years from now. And the search for more information about our family will not stop here. Readers with additional family information to contribute are encouraged to contact the author. If enough new material can be gathered, a supplement to this book may be published at a future date.
The text of this book includes many German names. The German alphabet includes three special letters that are not contained in the English alphabet. These special letters are formed by placing a special accent mark, called an umlaut, over the vowels "a", "o", or "u". The umlaut, frequently used in spelling the names of German towns, and in German surnames, looks like two dots placed over the vowel.
Early Germans immigrants who used an umlaut in the spelling of their name generally continued to use the umlaut for a period of time after their arrival in America. But, in time, these German names were "Americanized" by dropping the accent mark, and adding the letter "e" immediately following the former position of the umlaut. Thus, Güse became Guese, and Dörmann became Doermann. In some cases, the German family permanently retained the additional "e" that had been added to their name, while in other cases, this additional letter was later dropped.
Because of the limitations in the equipment used to print this book, it was not practical to print the umlaut. Therefore, whenever umlauts were encountered, the standard practice of adding the "e" immediately following the umlaut character was used throughout this book. The following is a partial list of the resulting substitutions:
Bottemüller appears as Bottemueller
Brömmelsieck appears as Broemmelsieck
Dörmann appears as Doermann
Güse appears as Guese
Hörste appears as Hoerste
Jöllenbeck appears as Joellenbeck
Müller appears as Mueller
Thiekötter appears as Thiekoetter
Wellhöner appears as Wellhoener
Two conventions used throughout this book are worthy of mention, to avoid confusion on the part of the reader. First, when the names of a married couple are used, the married woman is generally referred to by her maiden name (e.g., "Michael Landwehr, son of Burton Fred Landwehr and Clara May Hall"). When a married woman is referred to by her married name, her maiden name is generally provided in parentheses (e.g., "Michael Landwehr, son of Burton Fred and Clara May (Hall) Landwehr").
The second convention also deals with names. While we all have given names, our family and friends identify many of us by a name other than our first given name. We may be known to our family and friends by a nickname, or by our middle name. And many of the German immigrants were identified in their new homeland by an "Americanized" version of their German name. Therefore, throughout this book, the author will frequently identify an individual by both their full given name, and by the name more commonly used by family and friends to identify the person. The more-commonly used name will appear in single quotes. For example, Johann Heinrich 'Henry' Landwehr indicates that Johann Heinrich Landwehr was commonly known as Henry Landwehr.
The author of any family history owes a great debt to many individuals who contribute to the success of such an effort, and this author is no exception. Our heartfelt appreciation goes out to all contributors who gave of their time and energy to help with this project. Special recognition is due the following contributors for their extra effort:
Burton and Clara Landwehr Ankeny, Iowa
Alice Gardner Gerald, Missouri
Rev. Theodore Wolff Gerald, Missouri
Loretta Bingham Odessa, Missouri
Everett Bromelsick Champion City, Missouri
Orville Braun Champion City, Missouri
Irene Cowan Sullivan, Missouri
Jane Denny Edwardsville, Illinois
Nadine Dusenberg Fayette, Missouri
Frances Edwards Warrenton, Missouri
Lorene Ellerbrake Syracuse, Nebraska
Agnes Farrell Sullivan, Missouri
Mary Fengel Abilene, Kansas
Olivia and Ida Forderhase Etlah, Missouri
Gene Ganz Valley Park, Missouri
Roy Grob St. Louis, Missouri
Edith Howard Topeka, Kansas
Regina Koelling Champion City, Missouri
Ron Kreienkamp Grand Forks, North Dakota
August Landwehr Joellenbeck, West Germany
De and Gail Landwehr Noblesville, Indiana
Elmer Landwehr Union, Missouri
Hermann and Zilpha Lichte Ashland, Missouri
W. H. Lichte Shawnee Mission, Kansas
Betty Oberle Warrenton, Missouri
Florence Saak Hermann, Missouri
Lucile Schulze Warrenton, Missouri
Ruth Slusher Higginsville, Missouri
Opal Smith Columbia, Missouri
Elda Stumpe Strain, Missouri
Ella Trietsch Denton, Texas
Ellen Will Littlefield, Texas
And, finally, my thanks to my family for their considerable patience during the years devoted to preparation of this family history. It could not have been completed without their support.
Michael A. Landwehr
725 39th Street
West Des Moines, Iowa
November 15, 1986