My Trails into the Past

Vincent Sievert and Susanna Raduntz are my paternal 2nd great-grandparents and two of my German immigrant ancestors. They had eleven known children and lived in Joliet, Will County, Illinois, once they arrived in the United States. Pre-immigration Vincent was born on 24 January 1823 in Schneidemühl, Posen to Christoph Siewert and Anna Marianna Ewald. He was the third son and fifth child of seven. One brother and two sisters also immigrated and lived in Joliet: Johannes Daniel Sievert, Eva Sievert, and Henrietta Charlotte Sievert. Vincent married Susanna Raduntz on 10 February 1850 in Schneidemühl. He was twenty-seven and she was eighteen. The origins of Susanna are not known from this marriage record. This information was acquired by a third cousin who had hired a researcher in Poland. We do not have any documentation nor does my cousin have the paperwork anymore. This is something I wish to recreate – hoping the church records will someday be online. I do not even know the name of...

Maria Sievert was the fifth child and second daughter of Vincent Sievert and Susanna Raduntz. She was born on 1 April 1861 in Joliet, Will County, Illinois.[1]  In 1860 Vincent said he was a farmer, so she was likely born on the farm.[2]  By 1870, she was known as Mary and attended school in Joliet. Her father worked as a stone mason and owned property in the second ward in the city of Joliet.[3]  On 12 September 1878, she married Carl Schultz at St. John’s German Catholic Church in Joliet. She was eighteen years old. He was twenty-seven and stated he was born in Tarkenbrugge, Prussia.[4]  This town couldn’t be located in an online search. Perhaps he misremembered the town's name, or the clerk misheard the name when recording the license information. Carl was Lutheran and they needed a dispensation to be married in the Catholic Church.[5]  Two years later, they were living at North Broadway in Joliet. He worked as a laborer and she kept house.[6]  In March ...

Four children born to Christoph Siewert and Anna Marianna Ewald immigrated to the United States in early 1850s and settled in Joliet, Will County, Illinois. They were born in Schneidemühl in Prüssia before heading to the U.S. My ancestor, Vincent, left Hamburg aboard the Johanna Elise on 15 May 1852. [1] He, his wife, and a young son, arrived in New York on 23 June 1852. [2] Two years later on 22 May 1854, his sister, Eva, and her husband Christoph Wienke, and their three children, arrived in New York on the bark Alida from Hamburg. [3] Another brother, Johan Sievert, his wife and two children, and a sister, Henrietta, her husband, Joseph Freitag, and their daughter, were also on the ship. Further down on the passenger list page was Wilhelmine Radenz, the sister of Vincent’s wife, Susanna. [4] By 1860, all four families, as well as Wilhelmine Raduntz Hartung, were living in Joliet. What I want to know: what are their origins? A distant cousin hired someone to do research in the...

I had worked on my Hork research first, finding great German Catholic church records in Westphalia that took me back several generations. I thought, cool, Catholic church records really are great. I learned full names, birth and baptism dates, and parents' and sponsors' names. Then it was time to move to my Irish families in County Cork and County Tipperary, and German families who lived in Posen, an area of Poland. They were Catholics, too, so I was looking forward to seeing the same kind of records with lots of information. Not! Irish Research Jeremiah Sullivan and Mary Sheehan brought their family to the United States sometime in the mid-sixties depending on who reported their arrival. [1] A ship list has not been found for them. It is possible that the family did not come together. They had nine known children, born between 1843 and 1869, the last child, Michael, was born in Michigan. Jeremiah was a miner and perhaps the family managed to live through the potato famine w...

Many years ago, when I first started genealogy research, I wrote a letter to St. John the Baptist Church in Joliet asking if they had a marriage record for my great-grandfather, John (Johan) Hork to Julia Sievert in 1872. I knew that my grandfather, William Cyril Hork, was Catholic and hoped they were married in the church. What I had for the marriage date and place was from an Illinois marriage index. Images of records weren’t online yet. I also asked about any baptisms held there for any of their children. What I got back was a taped-together page of a two-page spread from the church book. They married in 1872 and were listed on line number 9. [1] Because this was a German Catholic Church, I got more than the groom and bride’s names and the date of the marriage. I also got their parent's names and the places they came from. But I did not get the column headings and had to guess what they were. Fortunately, the priest did not write in the Fractur script, so I was able to read i...

Susanna Sievert emigrated with her husband Vincent, and son, August, aboard the ship Johanna Elise on 15 May 1852. [1] They arrived in New York City on 23 June 1852. [2] They settled in Joliet, Will County, Illinois, first appearing on the 1860 census as a farmer, next door to his brother, John. [3] They attended St. John the Baptist German Catholic Church and their son, Peter, was baptized on 5 July 1857. [4] The records begin in 1855, so the baptism of their daughter, Julia Ann in 1854 is not at this church. Not only Vincent and John emigrated, but their sisters did also: Eva, who married Christoph Wienke, and Henrietta, who married Joseph Freitag. Susanna’s sister, Wilhelmine Hartung, also emigrated to the area. These families attended the German Catholic church. So, it is likely when they first came to America that they continued speaking German. Census Records Give Clues The 1860 census doesn’t give any indication of the language spoken. There is a column about reading ...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - time for some more Genealogy Fun!!     Here is our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings : Check out Lisa Alzo's "Fearless Females 2023" blog post prompts and write about one of them. Here's mine: I have done many Fearless Females posts in the past but have not done day 20, so here is my post. March 20—Is there a female ancestor who is your brick wall? Why? List possible sources for finding more information. I have many women whom either I don’t know their surname or I know the surname but don’t know her parents. Let's look at Susanna Radunz. Susanna Radunz was married to Vincent Sievert on 10 February 1850 in Schneidemühl, Posen. I do not know the name of the church or any other details except the date. [1]    They came to the U.S. on 23 June 1852 aboard the Johanna Elise. [2] Later, I found W. Sievert with his wife and child on the Hamburg passenger list. This document confi...