Relatives of Leo and Mary Ternes Diederich (2016)
Mary Diederich Ott
Contents
Introduction
This site uses privacy filtering to exclude information except name, gender and photos for any living person born after 1925.
Photos and documents are available on pages with a camera icon. Click on the icon to see the images.
If you use information from this website in your research, please acknowledge the source of the information.
What’s New?
The 2016 version of the website includes 20,172 persons. Of that number 13,506 are relatives of Leo Diederich and Mary Louise Ternes, or spouses of such relatives. Many of the others are parents of the spouses or other persons connected to the families.
My research in the last year continued to focus on finding additional branches to the family tree rather than finding more roots. I’ve worked to provide detailed source information.
The “Sources” field on the Person Sheets references the years of the U.S. federal censuses that were reviewed through those from 1940, the most recent year available. (The 1940 census also reported the residence of individuals in 1935.) Note that nearly all of the census records from 1890 were destroyed in a fire so that these are not included in the sources.
The “Notes” field on the Person Sheets provides the other sources of information for an individual, such as state records, newspaper archives and church records. The Notes field also reports information on immigration, residence, and many other topics.
I have added the district information, e.g. Cochem-Zell, for most of the German towns and cities referred to on the site.
The site also includes information provided by my relatives and other contacts. Thanks to all of you!
In addition this site includes an indication of whether or not a marriage was an interfamily marriage, based on the data available. For each such interfamily marriage, the last line of the individual’s person card will read “Flags. Interfamily Marriage.” The “Notes” for the husband in that marriage include the nature of the relationship, such as “second cousins—having the same great grandparents.”
Maps
Go to the web page of Catharine Maria Elisabeth Koehn (Kane) to find a map of the part of Mecklenburg where she was born, with some of the towns identified by number.
Two maps of the northern Eifel (the area north of the Mosel River and West of the Rhine) are included on this site, with some of the towns identified in lists. These maps can be accessed from the family web pages of Paul Pauly and Anna Margaretha Schmitt, and of Johann Diederich and Susanna Haerig.
My Research
This project started as an effort to trace the roots of the Diederich family whose members immigrated to Lorain County, Ohio starting in 1843. Other families have been added, in particular those of my paternal grandmother, Mary Louise Ternes, wife of Leo Diederich. This family history now extends over at least 12 generations, in some cases going back to the 1500’s, as is the case with the Ackermann ancestors of Mary Louise Ternes.
Sources
Among those who helped me significantly in my research are German family historians Peter Bauer, Ursula Buchholz, Albert Emmerich, Manfred Ruettgers, and Karl-Josef Tonner. Tonner’s on-line data file for Kelberg, a region that includes Retterath, enabled me to include many additional family members who immigrated to the United States as well as their relatives who stayed in Germany. Ruettgers has generously provided assistance and historical information for the region in and around Muenstermaifeld—as well as a guided tour of the area!
This work was based on a history of the Diederich family written by Mary Catherine Diederich for the period 1843 through 1898. Dan Weber and Edward A. Diederich did additional work on this “family tree.” The most recent version of this history, emphasizing the descendants of Johann Diederich and Gertrud Saurens, was completed by Coletta M. Diederich Storey who included new material up to about 1970.
Information on the Diederichs who were born in America was obtained from these family histories, public and church records, and from my relatives and others who kindly sent me the results of their own research. Among the latter are Allen Huelskamp, Jean Diederick, Robert Weber, Dawn Linden, Earl Mahl, Jeri O’Connor Diederich, John Diederich, Rita Lavorgna, Barbara Nan Schichtel, Rose Smith, Barbara Riegelsberger, Thomas Diederich and Mary Anne Ledford Drobnak. I am very grateful for the materials that they supplied and to all the others who have helped me obtain information.
Where DId They Come From?
Knowing that my father’s ancestors had come from a town with a name similar to Retrat, I was able to locate on a detailed map the town of Retterath in the northern part of the Eifel region of the Rheinland-Pfalz area of Germany (formerly Prussia), west of the Rhine River and north of the Mosel River. Catholic Church records for St. Remigius Church in Retterath that I researched at the Family History Library of the Church of Latter Day Saints in Kensington, Maryland allowed me to trace Leo Diederich’s ancestors back to the early 1700’s.
My search continued to expand as I found information about Johann Diederich, Leo’s grandfather who immigrated to Ohio. His wife Gertrud Saurens was from Illerich. He and Gertrud were married at St. Servatius Church in the nearby town of Landkern. St. Servatius’ church records provided information on Gertrud’s ancestors.
Mary Louise Ternes’ family was also from Germany but the locations of the Ternes family’s origins were not known. Fortunately, records from St. Servatius Church included those for the Peter Ternes family who immigrated to Ohio in 1856.
Mary Louise Ternes’ mother, Catharine Kane, had emiigrated from Germany with her siblings. With help from Faith Ott and Orville Manes of the Amherst (Ohio) Historical Society, I learned that Catharine’s brother Joseph (Joachim) was from the area near Gadebusch in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, east of Hamburg. I found the baptismal and confirmation records of Catharine and her siblings as well as her parents’ marriage record among the records of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Pokrent, a town near Gadebusch. Further research provided the information now on this website. A brief history of that area can be found in the multimedia area for Catharine Maria Elisabeth Koehn (Kane).
Who is Included?
The persons included on his site are primarily direct relatives of Leo Diederich and Mary Ternes or the spouses or in-laws of these relatives. Because of space considerations, lack of time, and lack of information others have been omitted. I hope that other family members will create their own web sites and allow me to list their sites on mine.
One such site is www.Diederich.com, created by the late John William (Bill) Diederich. His Diederich family originated in the same very small settlement of Durbach (now part of Lirstal) as did my Diederich ancestors. A DNA match confirmed a very close relationship between Bill’s family and mine. Another relative’s website is www.tomdiederich.com.
What is a villicus or hofman(n)?
The unfamiliar occupation of villicus or hofman/hofmann is referred to on this site. A villicus or hofman(n) was a steward and overseer (referred to on this site as a manager) of a large farm (hof) or farmlands, or a member of a privileged class of feudal landless tillers holding a farm of a landlord for a part of the harvest or for a fixed fee. Examples include many of the Ackermanns, Sevenichs and Weckbeckers on this site. These positions tended to be passed from one member of a family to either his descendant or his female descendant’s husband.
My Other Web Sites
The website for my maternal ancestors is www.marydott.com/WilhelmGaertnerAnnaSiepenRelatives/index.html
I am a painter and printmaker. My art website is www.marydott.com/art/home.html
Photos and documents are available on pages with a camera icon. Click on the icon to see the images.
If you use information from this website in your research, please acknowledge the source of the information.
What’s New?
The 2016 version of the website includes 20,172 persons. Of that number 13,506 are relatives of Leo Diederich and Mary Louise Ternes, or spouses of such relatives. Many of the others are parents of the spouses or other persons connected to the families.
My research in the last year continued to focus on finding additional branches to the family tree rather than finding more roots. I’ve worked to provide detailed source information.
The “Sources” field on the Person Sheets references the years of the U.S. federal censuses that were reviewed through those from 1940, the most recent year available. (The 1940 census also reported the residence of individuals in 1935.) Note that nearly all of the census records from 1890 were destroyed in a fire so that these are not included in the sources.
The “Notes” field on the Person Sheets provides the other sources of information for an individual, such as state records, newspaper archives and church records. The Notes field also reports information on immigration, residence, and many other topics.
I have added the district information, e.g. Cochem-Zell, for most of the German towns and cities referred to on the site.
The site also includes information provided by my relatives and other contacts. Thanks to all of you!
In addition this site includes an indication of whether or not a marriage was an interfamily marriage, based on the data available. For each such interfamily marriage, the last line of the individual’s person card will read “Flags. Interfamily Marriage.” The “Notes” for the husband in that marriage include the nature of the relationship, such as “second cousins—having the same great grandparents.”
Maps
Go to the web page of Catharine Maria Elisabeth Koehn (Kane) to find a map of the part of Mecklenburg where she was born, with some of the towns identified by number.
Two maps of the northern Eifel (the area north of the Mosel River and West of the Rhine) are included on this site, with some of the towns identified in lists. These maps can be accessed from the family web pages of Paul Pauly and Anna Margaretha Schmitt, and of Johann Diederich and Susanna Haerig.
My Research
This project started as an effort to trace the roots of the Diederich family whose members immigrated to Lorain County, Ohio starting in 1843. Other families have been added, in particular those of my paternal grandmother, Mary Louise Ternes, wife of Leo Diederich. This family history now extends over at least 12 generations, in some cases going back to the 1500’s, as is the case with the Ackermann ancestors of Mary Louise Ternes.
Sources
Among those who helped me significantly in my research are German family historians Peter Bauer, Ursula Buchholz, Albert Emmerich, Manfred Ruettgers, and Karl-Josef Tonner. Tonner’s on-line data file for Kelberg, a region that includes Retterath, enabled me to include many additional family members who immigrated to the United States as well as their relatives who stayed in Germany. Ruettgers has generously provided assistance and historical information for the region in and around Muenstermaifeld—as well as a guided tour of the area!
This work was based on a history of the Diederich family written by Mary Catherine Diederich for the period 1843 through 1898. Dan Weber and Edward A. Diederich did additional work on this “family tree.” The most recent version of this history, emphasizing the descendants of Johann Diederich and Gertrud Saurens, was completed by Coletta M. Diederich Storey who included new material up to about 1970.
Information on the Diederichs who were born in America was obtained from these family histories, public and church records, and from my relatives and others who kindly sent me the results of their own research. Among the latter are Allen Huelskamp, Jean Diederick, Robert Weber, Dawn Linden, Earl Mahl, Jeri O’Connor Diederich, John Diederich, Rita Lavorgna, Barbara Nan Schichtel, Rose Smith, Barbara Riegelsberger, Thomas Diederich and Mary Anne Ledford Drobnak. I am very grateful for the materials that they supplied and to all the others who have helped me obtain information.
Where DId They Come From?
Knowing that my father’s ancestors had come from a town with a name similar to Retrat, I was able to locate on a detailed map the town of Retterath in the northern part of the Eifel region of the Rheinland-Pfalz area of Germany (formerly Prussia), west of the Rhine River and north of the Mosel River. Catholic Church records for St. Remigius Church in Retterath that I researched at the Family History Library of the Church of Latter Day Saints in Kensington, Maryland allowed me to trace Leo Diederich’s ancestors back to the early 1700’s.
My search continued to expand as I found information about Johann Diederich, Leo’s grandfather who immigrated to Ohio. His wife Gertrud Saurens was from Illerich. He and Gertrud were married at St. Servatius Church in the nearby town of Landkern. St. Servatius’ church records provided information on Gertrud’s ancestors.
Mary Louise Ternes’ family was also from Germany but the locations of the Ternes family’s origins were not known. Fortunately, records from St. Servatius Church included those for the Peter Ternes family who immigrated to Ohio in 1856.
Mary Louise Ternes’ mother, Catharine Kane, had emiigrated from Germany with her siblings. With help from Faith Ott and Orville Manes of the Amherst (Ohio) Historical Society, I learned that Catharine’s brother Joseph (Joachim) was from the area near Gadebusch in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, east of Hamburg. I found the baptismal and confirmation records of Catharine and her siblings as well as her parents’ marriage record among the records of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Pokrent, a town near Gadebusch. Further research provided the information now on this website. A brief history of that area can be found in the multimedia area for Catharine Maria Elisabeth Koehn (Kane).
Who is Included?
The persons included on his site are primarily direct relatives of Leo Diederich and Mary Ternes or the spouses or in-laws of these relatives. Because of space considerations, lack of time, and lack of information others have been omitted. I hope that other family members will create their own web sites and allow me to list their sites on mine.
One such site is www.Diederich.com, created by the late John William (Bill) Diederich. His Diederich family originated in the same very small settlement of Durbach (now part of Lirstal) as did my Diederich ancestors. A DNA match confirmed a very close relationship between Bill’s family and mine. Another relative’s website is www.tomdiederich.com.
What is a villicus or hofman(n)?
The unfamiliar occupation of villicus or hofman/hofmann is referred to on this site. A villicus or hofman(n) was a steward and overseer (referred to on this site as a manager) of a large farm (hof) or farmlands, or a member of a privileged class of feudal landless tillers holding a farm of a landlord for a part of the harvest or for a fixed fee. Examples include many of the Ackermanns, Sevenichs and Weckbeckers on this site. These positions tended to be passed from one member of a family to either his descendant or his female descendant’s husband.
My Other Web Sites
The website for my maternal ancestors is www.marydott.com/WilhelmGaertnerAnnaSiepenRelatives/index.html
I am a painter and printmaker. My art website is www.marydott.com/art/home.html
Contact
