For the next generation of researchers

German roots

Three of Donald's four grandparents had German ancestors. Here's what the family tree says so far, what doesn't add up yet, and where to dig next.

The Hartmans

Joyce Oleana Hartman 1927–1986 ("Grandma Norman") was the daughter of Charles Edward Hartman 1899–1975, born in Nyack, Rockland County, New York in 1899. His father George Johan Hartman 1867–1942 was born at Rockland Lake, New York in 1867.

DNA George's wife, Bridget Catherine Franey 1872–1955 (1872–1955), came from an Irish family, the Franeys. Nine AncestryDNA matches share her Franey ancestors: two through George and Bridget themselves, and seven through her parents Patrick Franey (1845–1909) and Mary C. Powers. That makes this one of the best DNA-supported branches of the tree. (Matches are living people and aren't named here.)

George's parents were both German-born:

• Peter Hartman 1824–1906: born 18 November 1824 in Germany, died 18 April 1906 in Nyack
• Elizabeth Banghardt 1827–1913: born 1 June 1827 in Germany, died 20 January 1913 in Nyack

Peter Hartman, the ice man

census Peter came to America in 1853 (1900 census) and probably married Elizabeth Banghardt about the same time (the marriage record hasn't been found). In the 1880 census he's listed as an "Ice Man" at Rockland Lake, in Clarkstown, Rockland County. Rockland Lake was the home of the Knickerbocker Ice Company, which cut ice from the lake every winter and shipped it down the Hudson to New York City, in the days before refrigerators. Peter is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery, Nyack.

From there the family moved on. Peter's son George was born at Rockland Lake in 1867. George's son Charles "Pop" Hartman was born in Nyack in 1899 and went on to run Hartman's Steak House in Durham, North Carolina. Pop's daughter Joyce married Robert Charles Norman.

Sources: 1880 and 1900 U.S. censuses (via the family's research notes); Wikipedia, "Knickerbocker Ice Company".

The tree names Peter's father as Peter Hartmann 1805–? (born about 1805 in Germany, died in Pennsylvania). It names Peter Hartmann's father as Johann Caspar Hartmann 1775–1825 (1775–1825), born and died at a place recorded only as "Fahrendorf", with no region or state.

The Schraders

Frederica Marie Schrader 1887–1976, "Great-grandma Norman", was born on 29 September 1887 at Port Sanilac, Michigan, on the Lake Huron shore of the Thumb. She married James Norman in Detroit on 27 August 1914, lived in Detroit in 1920 and Plymouth in 1930, and died at Farmington Hills on 26 December 1976.

Her father, Louis Schrader

record Louis C Schrader 1846–1929 (22 October 1846 – 12 April 1929) applied for a U.S. passport in 1907. The application tells his story in his own words:

• He was born in "Barton, Germany", as written on the form. That town still hasn't been identified.
• He left Hamburg on the ship Europa around 2 April 1872.
• He farmed at Port Sanilac and was naturalised in the Sanilac County Circuit Court.
• At 60 he planned a trip back to Europe on the Hamburg-America liner Graf Waldersee, sailing from Hoboken.

He died in Plymouth in 1929, aged 82. A small-world detail: the witness on his passport application was a Mrs. W. Lahser, and an F. W. Lahser witnessed James Norman's naturalisation papers in 1918.

Source: Louis Schrader's 1907 U.S. passport application (FamilySearch).

Her mother, Fredericka

Louis's wife, Fredericka (born 15 September 1846 in Mecklenburg, died 18 February 1928 at Port Sanilac), appears twice in the tree, as Fredericka Schroeder and Fredericka Schroder. Her parents are unknown. Her death certificate names Carl Schrader and Sopha Richter, but they appear to be her in-laws, Louis's parents. Death certificate informants often made that kind of mistake.

Louis's parents

Carl (Charles) Schrader 1824–1909 (1824–1909) and Sophia (Richter) Schrader 1822–1896 (about 1822–1896) are both buried in Sanilac Cemetery, Port Sanilac. Find a Grave calls her "Sophia Richter Schrader". Her 1896 Michigan death register gives her parents as "John and Louisa Brighton".

record Carl's own death certificate takes the line back one more generation. He died at Port Sanilac on 24 December 1909, aged 85, a widowed farmer, and the certificate, still spelling the name Schroeder, gives his birth as 5 December 1824 in Germany and names his parents: Charles (Carl) Schroeder 1800–? and Mary Stoeck 1800–?, both born in Germany.

Source: Michigan death records, Sanilac County, 1909, file 240 (via Ancestry). Louis's own 1929 death certificate names only "Chas Schrader" as his father. The 1884 Portrait and Biographical Album of Sanilac County doesn't mention the family.

From Pomerania to Michigan, 1872

census The 1900 census for Sanilac Township confirms Louis came to America in 1872. It also says he was born in October 1846, married in 1867, farmed his own (mortgaged) land and was naturalised.

very strong match Three records tell the same story:

1. Leaving Hamburg. A Schröder family left Hamburg on 5 April 1872 on the steamer North Star, bound for America by way of Leith and Glasgow: Carl, a labourer; his wife Sophie; a son Ludwig (German for Louis); Friederike; and four younger girls, the youngest a baby named Mina. Their last home is written "Pritznow, Pommern".
2. Arriving in New York. The same family, indexed as "Schruder", landed at New York on 29 April 1872 aboard the Anchor Line's Europa from Glasgow.
3. Louis's own words. His 1907 passport application says he emigrated on the Europa from Hamburg "via Glasgow" in early April 1872, and that he was born in "Barton, Germany".

Where they came from: Bartow and Pritzenow

Pritzenow (the "Pritznow" of the Hamburg list) is a village and old manor estate in the former Kreis Demmin, in Pomerania. Today it's part of the municipality of Bartow, in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. That makes the "Barton" on Louis's passport almost certainly Bartow. Two independent records, written 35 years apart, point to the same corner of Pomerania.

So the Schraders were Pomeranians from the Bartow–Pritzenow area. They weren't from Steinheim, and probably not from Mecklenburg either. The name was spelled Schröder in Germany and became Schrader in Michigan, which likely explains the Schrader/Schroeder muddle in the family tree.

A likely bonus: Friederike, listed as a "daughter", is probably Louis's wife Fredericka, written down wrongly (the census says they married in 1867), and baby Mina was probably their child. That would also explain why Fredericka's 1928 death certificate names Carl Schrader and Sophia Richter as her parents: they were really her in-laws.

Still to settle: the ages don't quite agree. Ludwig is 28 on the Hamburg list but about 23 in the New York index, and Louis's recorded birth is October 1846. Sources: 1900 U.S. census, Sanilac Township, Michigan; Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1872, indirect lists (Ancestry); New York passenger lists, 1872 (National Archives, via Ancestry); Louis Schrader's 1907 passport application; Meyers Gazetteer; German Wikipedia, "Bartow (Vorpommern)"; GOV (genealogy.net), "Pritzenow"; Norway Heritage, "S/S Europa, Anchor Line".

Where to dig next

1. Louis's baptism, 1846. It should be in the Lutheran parish register of Daberkow (1835–1876), which covers Pritzenow, or in Bartow's own registers, which the Daberkow parish also holds. These church books are online at Archion.de, a paid German church-records site that sells short-term passes. They could also name Carl's and Sophia's parents and push the line back another generation.
2. Sophia Richter's family: her marriage record, and a German home town for "John and Louisa".

The Weisners and Greters (Craters)

Gertrude Gaither's mother, Sophia Isabelle "Belle" Crater 1869–1953, had two German-speaking lines behind her.

• Weisner: Johann Michael Weisner 1733–1772 was born in Stuttgart in 1733 and died at Deep River, Guilford County, North Carolina in 1772. His descendants include Belle Crater's mother, Anne Elizabeth Weisner 1845–1909.
• Greter / Crater: Jacob Michael Greter 1674–1710 was born at Dühren (recorded as Ansbach, Bavaria) in 1674. His son Hans Jacob Martin Greter 1712–1788 was born in 1712 at Gumbrechtshoffen, Alsace, and died in 1788 at Friedberg, North Carolina. Over the next generations Greter became Crater.

German ancestors at a glance

Donald's direct ancestors with a German, Alsatian or German-region place in their records, oldest first. Generated from the family tree file.