Germann Family Record, January 1939, Vol. 1, No. 1

While looking for some Germann family information for this past week’s Tombstone Tuesday I came across copies of two booklets, Germann Family Record, one dated January 1939 (Vol. 1, No. 1) and the other dated August 1939 (Vol. 1, No. 2), published 80 years ago this year. Velma Schumm had the originals and I made these copies from them. I do not know how long the Germann family continued publishing these records or if these were the only two. Velma may have had more that I did not copy. If so, I wish that I would have copied more.

The booklets are six regular-size papers folded in half, making 24 pages. Written on the last page: Published occasionally at South Whitley, Indiana, as the official organ of the Germann family. Price 50 cents per copy, postpaid.

Germann Family Record, January 1939, Vol. 1, No. 1

The Germann Family Record staff:
Editor: Dr. Albert F.O. Germann, South Whitley, Indiana
Managing Editor: L. Barbara Germann, South Whitley
Art Editor: Edith H. Germann, South Whitley

The editor writes about the publication:

This is the first issue of a publication we have dreamed about for many years. We hope you will like it well enough to treasure it and to subscribe for the succeeding issues as they are announced. The next issue, by the way, is expected to appear before the 1939 reunion (about July 1, we hope), and advance subscriptions at twenty-five cents each (which is half price) will be very welcome.

The Germann family reunion officers are listed as:
President: Prof. Edwin J. Germann, 2148 Fairfield Ave, Fort Wayne
Vice-President: F. Rudy Germann, 517 North Market, Van Wert
Secretary: Mrs. Fred (Della) Brase, 1433 Stophlet St, Ft Wayne
Treasurer: Mrs. Adolph (Clara) Muntzinger, 319 Seminole Circle, Ft. Wayne

The editor continues:

…We aim to print…all the news about the Germanns that we can get our hands on…. We want you to tell us all the details about all important events in your life and about your entire family…We want to print pictures of everybody along with life histories or biographies…

As most of us know, we are descendants of four brothers; from now on we will call them by this name—the four brothers. These four brothers had twenty-two children who married and raised families; we will call them the twenty-two cousins. The family tree to be published in the next issue will bring the record down to these twenty-two cousins.

After that, we will have to follow each of the twenty-two lines. Each line will be more or less complicated and may require a separate issue of the Record. If it is at all possible, we wish to include in the next issue a continuation of the family tree through one of the twenty-two cousins, namely Georg Peter Germann, the third son of Philip the eldest of the four brothers. Georg Peter Germann was born on 16 August 1815, just two months after the battle of Waterloo…

What an ambitious task they set out to do! Today this would be a great idea for a blog. I wonder how long they continued this. Maybe someone knows.

What I found the most interesting was the section “Of Sunshine and Sorrow,” where they listed recent births, marriages, and deaths. They asked that Germann family members send family information to the South Whitley address. I will not give all the birth details since some of those individuals may still be living, but I will list their names.

Births:

Paul Walter Germann
Henry Carl Germann
Velma Marie Germann
Randall F. Brase
James Edward Bayfield
Paul Gerhard Germann Jr
Rose Marie Hofmann
Michael Wendt
Suzanne Heintz Lahrman
Marilyn Sue Smith

Marriages:

Frederick Schumm to Lois Anselman, 23 April 1938; Frederick, son of Charles and Jennie (deceased) Schumm, Rockford, Ohio; Lois, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Anselman, Rockford.

August Horman to Mrs. Ida Scaer Roehm, 9 Jul 1938; living in Fort Wayne.

Dorrence Elwood Lincoln to Lucile Marie Stamm, 7 December 1938; Dorrence of Churubusco, Indiana; Lucile, daughter of Richard and Catharine (Schuster) Stamm, Ft. Wayne.

Deaths:

Fred Heintz, 70, of King City, Missouri, half-brother of Clara Heintz Andree, died 2 January 1938.

Clara Heintz Andree, 65, wife of Rev. Theodore Andree of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, died 23 January 1938.

Eva Holmes Busch, 42, wife of Ferdinand Busch of Springfield, Ohio died 25 January 1938.

Robert Jacob Germann, 13, son of Oscar E. and Laura Merkle Germann of Ohio City, Ohio, died 27 January 1938.

Alvin Richard Merkle, 3, son of Richard and Leah Dietrich Merkle of Glenmore, Ohio died 29 January 1938.

Charles Eckenstein, 76, of Van Wert, Ohio, died February 1938.

J.J. Germann, 79, of Sebetha, Kansas, died 25 February 1938.

Bertha Dauler Muntzinger, 51, wife of Henry Muntzinger of Convoy, Ohio, died 18 April 1938.

Richard Schaadt, 56, of near Convoy died 31 May 1938.

Clara Hostetler Germann, wife of Walter Germann of Fairview, Kansas, and daughter-in-law of J.J. Germann, died 14 July 1938

Martha Germann Livingood, 44, wife of Roy Livingood of Sebetha, Kansas, and daughter of J.J. Germann, died 26 July 1938.

Emma Germann Scaer, 78, widow of George Scaer of Convoy, died 1 July 1938.

William Stamm, 80, of Lincoln, Nebraska, died 19 July 1938.

Germann coat of arms, Germann Family Record, January 1939, Vol. 1, No. 1

The editor concludes:

The next issue, which is expected to come from the press about the first of July, will contain more about the family tree; in fact, from after the close of the Thirty Years War in 1648, until after the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815. There will be more about the Germann coats of arms and a picture of the ancestral family home in Baerweiler, Germany.

More to come from this booklet in future blog posts—minutes from the 1938 Germann reunion and some of their Germann history and genealogy.

7 comments

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    • Frank McCollister on January 11, 2019 at 4:56 am
    • Reply

    Hi Karen,

    Fascinating reading even though these folks are not related to me. However, I did recognize some of the surnames. One of my wife’s lines is Stomm, not Stamm. I have run into the Stamm surname before and suspect that these two lines may eventually connect at some point. I have suspected that these are variants of the same name.

    Thanks for sharing,
    Frank

    1. It is interesting, isn’t it. I really enjoy these old family newsletters and reports. Thank you for writing!

    • Lucy Germann McElhaney on January 29, 2019 at 5:17 pm
    • Reply

    To Karen Miller Bennett:

    My name is Lucy Germann McElhaney and I was born and raised in Chattanooga, TN. My aunt (deceased) previously gave me a copy of the Germann line (printed in a ‘Germann Family Record’) beginning with Jacob Mathes Germann and Anna Catharina Hermann (married November 23, 1673), down to Germanns born in the early 1820’s. I’ll look and see what else I have in storage.

    Best Wishes, Lucy

    1. How interesting and so nice that your aunt saved the information. I would be interested in hearing if you find any more copies of the Germann Family Record. Thanks for writing!

    • Debra Germann Moravejaleali on March 24, 2019 at 12:42 pm
    • Reply

    Karen, I happened onto this info and saw my grandfather’s name, Henry Carl Germann listed. I can provide information of his family if you would like to the Germann Family Record.

    • Robert A. Germann on October 10, 2023 at 1:05 pm
    • Reply

    Hmmmmmmmmm
    Where does your” family originate from?

    1. The Schumm side of my family comes from Ruppertshofen, Wuerttemberg. The Germanns married into the family, but I write about many locals who attended Zion Lutheran Schumm and who are buried in their cemetery. The following may be a clue as to where at least some of the Schumm-area Germanns originated. This from Zion Schumm’s death records: Maria E. (Germann) Dietrich (1833-1888) (wife of Adam Dietrich) was from Becherbach, Landgrafschaft Hessen Homburg, Oberamt Meisenheim. That is the best I could do with the translation. Some of the Germann family immigrants attended Zion Schumm, others attended St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Harrison Twp, Van Wert County. Do you think you are related to the Schumm-area Germanns? Thanks for writing!

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