Grandma Cook's letter and other sources of hers:
My father paid the mortgage on his parents home so it was clear and passed to John Peters after Thomas Peters died. Then when John died it passed on to present Martin Peters who was named for my dad Martin Christian Peters.
This present owner has six children. The home place will go to youngest son - Gerd. when present Martin dies.
He came to America when he was 17 years old. Borrowed passage money from his dad to come. Come to Schleswig, IA., to friends there. He worked as a hired hand for 3 to 4 years. First, he worked on a farm as a hired hand for 2 years, was not paid and food was poor. Last man he worked for was Jurgen (Bill) Jensen (Anna La Franze's parents) who was very good to him, got paid, good food, and taught him farming. Mrs. was a good cook who fed him well.
He played the accordian well. Played for house dances. He played for a dance in Iowa at Andrew Kahler who was a half brother of Jim Bruhn. There he met Lena Leuenhagen. She was visiting her sister, Mrs. Andrew Kahler. They met at the dance and then corresponded by mail. Her family moved from Iowa to Morriville, Knox County, NE by covered wagon. Lena lived with her parents on a farm near Morriville, Knox County, NE. Then Martin Peters came to Morriville the next spring. They were married at Pierce, NE. Attendents were Fred Soost and Emma Claussen (his wife). A traveling minister married them, no church then, pioneers. First farm rented was near Randolph where Anna Lena Peters was born.
In 1906 or 1907 he had an offer to sell the farm to a prize fighter, a Mr. Joe Stacker. He was paid spot cash for all as the man wanted to invest his money. He got $100.00 per acre and moved to Bloomfield, NE.
He played the accordian until World War I started. This made him so sad that he gave away his accordian to his brother-in-law Willie Levenhagen.
Eventually, he bought a ranch on the White River at Murdo, South Dakota and moved there.
During World War 2 they moved to Alhambra, CA.
Last years there were happy.
The Peters family in Germany says he went to the USA on 16 Apr 1889 and returned for a visit to Germany in 1900.
So I decided to look at the Ellis Island site for him. It shows Martin Peters in 1900 returning from Germany and destination of Omaha, Nebraska. It says he is a citizen of the United States. The web address for Ellis Island is:
http://www.ellisislandrecords.org/
Martin Peters at age 16 with residence of Pellworm, Schleswig (Schleswig-Holstein) was on Passenger List departing Hamburg, Germany on 4-3-1889 to New York on a German ship named Hammonia shipping line Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (Accommodation Zwischendeck)
Martin Peters (an American Citizen) returned from Hamburg, Germany to New York arriving on 22 Sep 1900 on the ship Deutschland.
My Notes on Lena Leuenhagen, Maternal grandmother of Dianne's mother:
Some say she was born in Schleswig, IA. Her last name when spoken, sounds like Linehagen but is spelled Leuenhagen.
My Notes on Johann August Leuenhagen, the father of Lena Leuenhagen:
A Family Tree Maker CD-ROM at the West Point library at West Point, Nebraska has a list of Germans on passenger lists who came to America between 1850-1874. It lists the following including there age when they came to America:
Aug. Leuenhagen age 29 occupation: farmer
Heinr. Leuenhagen age 6 months.
Trina Leuenhagen age 3 years
Port of embarkation: Marseilles
August Leuenhagen and family as residence was from Barbeck, Holstein (Schleswig-Holstein) departed Hamburg on 5-5-1866 on the ship Bavaria of shipping line Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (accomadation Zwischendeck) to New York.
Note Rose Leuenhagen is not listed so she was not born when they came to the United States. Trina would be a nick name for Catherina.
Above information also at Castle Garden:
It shows that they arrived on the ship Bavaria.
The arrival date is 1866-05-22.
http://www.castlegarden.org/
The 1880 census shows him as August Linhogan, everyone matches by name and age except Katie is shown for his wife and daughter whose real names are Catherina. It shows him living at Inland, Cedar, IA and from PRUSSIA.
Leuenhagen, August, Jr. found in:
US 1900 census Lived in: Columbia Township, Knox County, Nebraska,
Series: T623 Microfilm: 932 Book: 1 Page: 53
August Leuenhagen on the 1910 census at DIXON TWP, GREGORY, South Dakota. This is the same person because Augusta his new wife is shown as coming from Germany in 1895 on both census.
My Notes on Catherina (Trina) Stuhr ( Stuehr), the Mother of Lena Leuenhagen:
Anna Cook says her first name is Catherine other sources say Trina. Stuhr had umlants over the u.
"Stien" is short for "Christina" or "Christine".
"Lenck" is not only a short form, it is also a neat form. The "ck" stands for it in the dialect form. In the high german version the names neat ending would be "chen". So "Len" or neat "Lenck" stands for "Magdalena" or neat "Magdalenachen".
Trin or Trina = Catharina
Friedrich is male. Men were called Fred or Fritz.
Friedericke is female. Women were called Fritz or Fritze.
August is male; Auguste is female.
The following information is from Virginia Stuhr:
Biographical info on Leo Stuhr can be found in Who's Who in Nebraska, 1940. p. 531.
Peter Stuhr can be found in History of the State of Nebraska, Vol. 2. 1882
Hall County Historical Society at 300 W. 2nd St. has much in information.
History of Hall County, 1907
History of Hall Co, 1920, p.23 and possibly 18
Biographical & Historical Memoirs R 978.2 B615
I have a wonderful little booklet which describes the founding of Grand Island. I bought it at the gift store in the Stuhr Museum several years ago. Today I can't locate it. I know you and your wife would like it. The museum has a website. Perhaps you can learn more there.
Just before Dianne died, she corresponded with a Peters relative in Germany but I do not know where I have placed those letters (many moves).
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