Doing a bit of genealogy lately. I haven't been able to find my great-grandfather's service records -- most likely they perished in an archival fire in St. Louis a few decades ago -- but coincidentally enough, he was at Camp Lee, Virginia, for the 1920 census. I'm guessing he was being demobilized. From the stories he used to tell, I think he was part of the American Expeditionary Force in north Russia after his time on the Western Front, probably part of the Transportation Corps. He was always good with cold weather vehicles.
Yeah, he lived to be 95. Hitting 90 is not uncommon on that side of the family. The two great-grandfathers of his I've been able to track down reached 90 and 89.
Digging around, his ancestors all appear to be "Old Lutherans", emigrants from the 1830s too stubborn for the King of Prussia's unified state church. This astonished contemporaries. Prussia, harshing Protestants? But Fred Bill 3 was not the sharpest knife in the drawer; and Fred Bill's son pulled the same crap on the Catholics and the Poles. (There's a poem.)
How we became Methodists I don't know, but the word "stubborn" probably appears in the explanation. It also explains why a conservative German-speaking Protestant household would still loathe the Kaiser, um, into my generation. World War One? not a surprise.
Before Claudia asks: from Brandenburg and Pomerania, and one actually from Berlin. Natzke, Nohr, Otto, Ranthum, and Wendt; which might as well be a row of mailboxes in rural Wisconsin. (Incidentally, there are some very creepy online stores which sell Pomerania regalia. Cousins? get over it.)
The Berliners are Ranthum, right?
Posted by: The New York City Math Teacher | March 24, 2008 at 05:26 AM
Michael Nohr and Christina Ranthum, yup. How did you know?
Posted by: Carlos | March 24, 2008 at 05:55 AM
How does one go about finding US Service records? My grandfather was a doctor in the US Army prior to, during and after WWII. Died in the 60s and I'm sure my mother doesn't have a copy of his record.
Posted by: Christine | March 24, 2008 at 06:19 AM
A few hundred meters behind Claudia's parents house, there's a memorial to the Lost Lands.
It has a big cross on top, and is very much a "one day we shall return" sort of thing.
On one hand, it's old -- 1950s. Other hand, it's kept up.
Doug M.
Posted by: Doug M. | March 24, 2008 at 03:08 PM
Christine: a fire in St. Louis destroyed most of them, including my father's.
Carlos: I've told you about the family story regarding my last name? /Everyone/ tells it, although there's no evidence, and my father doesn't believe it.
Regarding German names: considering as I have no emotional connection to the old country, I really do wish that I'd gone ahead and changed the spelling to "Mauer" before I started publishing. Instead I'm stuck with a last name that I pronounce three different ways on the same day, depending on my mood.
The family members who picked "Conner" at Ellis Island, well, I think they had the right idea. Nohr? Natzke? Argh.
At least "Maurer" is easy to pronounce in Spanish. Although for some unknown reason people in Mexico seem to always hear it as "Maurel" when I say it.
That was your Unnecessary Personal Ramble of the day. We new return to regularly scheduled commenting.
Posted by: Noel Maurer | March 24, 2008 at 03:26 PM
Christina, there's a web page here:
http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/standard-form-180.html
Noel, come on. Those are great names! Good solid rye bread and liverwurst names. Conner? generic now, very very Irish in the 1830s.
... you know, I think all my family missed Ellis Island. Castle Garden, the Danes, probably. (Try tracking down a Jens Larsen sometime. I am not kidding when I say there were whole towns of Larsens in Wisconsin. Including, well, Larsen.)
Posted by: Carlos | March 24, 2008 at 04:28 PM
How do you pronounce Natzke? And why does rye bread and liverwurst have a positive connotation?
Okay, okay, I'm being obstreperous. But my last name just got written down here in Santo Domingo as "Maura." Another spelling that I wish I'd thought of and moved on before I got committed to "Maurer."
Posted by: Noel Maurer | March 24, 2008 at 04:48 PM
Nat as in Nat Turner, and -zke like Jet-Ski. I'd bet that most people today probably think it's Polish. (And it might be, in the mists of time; it's possibly a diminutive of Ignatz/Ignacy, from the borderlands. On the other hand, Ignatz wasn't a popular name until the Counter-Reformation.)
Even a Notzke, though, would still wear their name proudly. Because they had it first. Let those goose-steppers whistle for it.
Posted by: Carlos | March 24, 2008 at 05:22 PM
Amma has decided to commit to "Maurer," as well.
On the one hand, it's totally f----n' amazing to see mail coming in for Amma Nzinga Maurer. I honestly can't describe it. It's just great.
On the other, now she's also saddled with this unpronounceable German monicker.
"Mason." That's the literal translation of "Maurer." A bit generic, but it woulda worked fine, if only it had occured to me before I started publishing.
Ni modo.
Posted by: Noel Maurer | May 22, 2008 at 11:21 AM