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German Immigrant Ancestors
in Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York


Surnames - B




Sender: Dan Newton
Email: dtnewton3@aol.com
Date: 17 January 2024
Surname: BEHM

Hello,

I am a descendant of the Behm family. I just wanted to inquire about updating your list for St. Joseph's cemetery. On the list it shows Peter Behm. His son, Charles L. Behm (1854-1911) and Charles' daughter Caroline A. Behm (1889-1889) were also buried in St. Joseph's Cemetery but do not appear on that list. (They can both be found at Findagrave.com as being listed in St. Joseph's Cemetery.) Thank you for the help.

[Reply: The St. Joseph Cemetery - List of German Lot Owners is a transcript of the list from the Catholic Archives, so I hesitate to amend that. Peter Behm's name also appears at various other places on this website (use the Search This Site function found at the top of the Home page). --MS]



Sender: Dave Tucker
Email: arcituck@aol.com
Date: 4 December 2009
Surname: BODANI

I have been researching my German roots for years and when I found your comprehensive website I was delighted.

My G grandfather's name was Bodani. I have done research and found church records from Mundenheim where my gggg grandfather rode in to town around 1800 as a Kaisert Hussar from Komorn Hungary. He met his wife in Mannheim and they stayed there. That's where my g grandfather emigrated from. I tend to believe they were Donauswaben because I found a Bodani who was conscripted into the SS from Antunovac in Swabia.

Help. Such an odd name, Bodani. I do not believe they were at all Italian. Thank you for any help.



Sender: Eric Carlson
Email: eric.carlson@alaska.com
Date: 7 July 2005
Surnames: BAUMGARDNER, BLEEM, Egle/Eagle, Greisinger, Koppenhafer

Would like to hear from anyone with connections or information on these families in the Syracuse area going back to the 1850’s and 1860’s....Thank you for your website.



Sender: Holger Baumgrass
Email: Holger.Baumgrass@t-online.de
Date: 26 October 2004
Surname: BAUMGRASS

bei der Suche nach den Wurzeln meiner Familie bin ich auf Ihre Web Seite gestoßen. Ich denke, Peter Baumgraß hat seine Wurzeln in unserer Familie. Leider konnte ich noch nicht viel über ihn finden. An Informationen bin ich deshalb sehr interessiert! Danke für Ihre Bemühungen!

(In searching for my family's roots I have found your website. I believe Peter Baumgrass descended from our family. Unfortunately I have not yet been able to find out much about him. I would be interested in receiving more information. Thank-you for your efforts!)



Sender: John D Windhausen
Email: jwindhau@comcast.net
Date: 23 September 2004
Surname: BAUER, WINDHAUSEN

Please include in your database my German ancestors who came and settled in Syracuse in January, 1883. This family arrived from Antwerp to New York and included eight children, one of whom (Peter) died within the year of arrival. All the others stayed to have clans of their own. Here is the family as recorded from a paid researcher in the village of Reil on the Mosel, in the district of Trier, Germany. Actually, the two oldest children came to NY in the Spring of 1882 and the rest of the family, including the parents, left Antwerp in the following December. Many of their descendants still live in the Syracuse area.

Children of Peter Windhausen (b. 12.10.1836) and Katharina Marghareta Bauer (b. 15.8.1834):

1. Kunigunde *18.12.1860 in Reil (source: Book 5, p.75, nr.10) Godparents: Matthias Barzen and Kunigunde Windhausen.

2. Jakob *6.1.1863 in Reil (source: Book 5, p.81,nr.3). Godparents: Matthias Jakob Bauer and Marghareta Bauer from Reil.

3. Matthias *8.8.1866 in Reil (source: Book 5,p.89,nr.5). Godparents: Matthias Johannes Windhausen and Elisabeth Arens.

4. Michael *17.2.1868 in Reil (source: Book 5, p.94,nr.5). Godparents: Michael Mueller and Klara Friedrich.

5. Nikolaus *29.8.1869 in Reil (source: Book 5, p.98,nr.1). Godparents: Nikolaus Bauer and Marghareta Barzen from Reil.

6. Marghareta *13.12.1871 in Reil (source: Book 5,p.105,nr.7). Godparents: Johannes Matthias Barzen and Marghareta Koenen from Reil.

7. Marghareta Sofia *10.2.1874 in Reil (source: Book 5,p.113,nr.3). Godparents: Marghareta Sofia Mueller and Michaele Arns from Reil.

8. Peter *3.2.1877 in Reil (source: Book 5,p.123,nr.4). Godparents: Peter Barzen and Katharina Barzen from Reil.



Sender: Greta Braungard
Email: gbraunga@twcny.rr.com
Date: 10 February 2004
Surnames: BRAUNGARD, POHL, SCHNURR, WURTHMANN

My website is http://home.twcny.rr.com/braungardhopkins/



Sender: Cleo Hogan
Email: cdmhogan@usit.net
Date: 29 September 2003
Surnames: BEHNKE, STUDIER, CARTHEUSER

Charles BANKEY/BEHNKE (1819 Mecklenburg, Prussia--1896 NY City), but lived in Syracuse earlier. [Some BANKEYS bur at White Chapel Mem Gardens.] Charles Bankey's wife was:

Caroline G. M. STUDIER (1827 Mecklenburg, Prussia--1892 Cicero, NY), had brother William STUDIER (b. ca 1830); her parents were: Karl Frederick STUDIER & Caroline ___________.

Oscar Eugene CARTHEUSER, hatter, wife Amelia _____, lived 1873 Richmond, VA, later moved to NY City; children Clara Belle (1873VA-1946 Dewitt, NY); Amelia; George, Oscar; Eugene, all may have been single except Clara.



Sender: Susie Martin-Rott
Email: rootboun@tampabay.rr.com
Date: 26 January 2003
Surnames: BREED

See the Bureau County ILGenWeb Project site for more biographies (lots of Germans settled in Bureau and quite a few appear to be from NY):
http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilbureau/index.html

I am not related to the gentleman in the below bio--I happened upon it while transcribing bios for the Bureau Co ILGenWeb Project site (of which I am the coordinator). I do not have any additional info, but am passing this along in case someone may need it.... Bureau County, Illinois is the home of the "other" Manlius...named after the one in Onondaga Co NY.

Source: History of Bureau County Illinois, H. C. Bradsby, Chicago World Publishing 1885:

BREED, Dr. Simon Peter

Dr. Simon Peter Breed, Wyanet. In the possession of William J. Breed, of Raynham, Mass., are records stating that A. D. 1100 a colony of Breeds emigrated from Germany to Sussex County, England, and there founded a town called Breed, which bears that name to the present day. From this colony of Breeds sprang Allyn Breed, of 1601, who came to America and settled in Lynn, Mass., in 1630, and became the sole progenitor of the Breed family in America. One of his great-grandsons, Ebenezer Breed, is noted for being the owner of Breed's Hill, where was fought the battle of Bunker Hill.

Dr. S. P. Breed, the subject of this sketch, was born in Manlius, Onondaga Co., N. Y., February 1, 1819, and is the son of the late James Breed. In his possession are records by which he can trace his lineage back through his grandfather, Gershom Breed, of 1755; Allen Beard, of 1714, who settled in Stonington, Conn., and therefore called the Stonington branch of the family; thence through, John Breed, of 1663, Allen Breed, of 1626, and Allyn Breed, of 1601, who settled in Lynn in 1630.

Simon Peter Breed was taken by his parents to Cicero, Onondaga County, in 1820, and there on the farm he was reared till he was seventeen years of age, except one year when the family had returned to Manlius. When seventeen he removed with his parents to Hannibal, Oswego County, and there four years more of his life were spent upon the farm, in a sawmill, at the carpenter's bench and in the school room. When nineteen years of age he began life's work for himself, having made an arrangement with his father for his time. In 1839 he went to Manlius, where he attended the old Manlius Academy for some time, and also taught three terms of school.

May 11, 1843, he started from Oswego, N. Y. for the West, and landed June 11, at his uncle's house near Vermont, Fulton Co., Ill., where his first business was teaching at $13 per month. He continued teaching for three terms, and in 1844 began the study of medicine in Vermont. In the winter of 1846-47 he attended his first course of lectures at St. Louis, Mo., in the Medical Department of the Missouri State University. In the spring of 1847 he began the practice of medicine in Schuyler County, Ill., and there continued for eighteen years. However, in the winter of 1856-57 he went to Philadelphia, and attended the Medical Department and graduated from the Pennsylvania University. He then continued in his practice in Schuyler County, where he was widely known and eminently successful.

In 1865 Dr. Breed removed to Princeton, and in the fall of the same year took part in organizing a district medical society, and was its first delegate to the State Medical Society, and through a report read there was first introduced to the literary medical world, and since that time has contributed many articles to medical journals, full of interest and value to the profession, but of which our limited space will allow no further mention, only to say that they were characterized by many of the leading physicians in this and other States as able and exhaustive. In a centennial address before the International medical Congress at Philadelphia, in 1876, H. I. Bowditch, M. D., President, of the Massachusetts State Board of Health, speaks of Dr. Breed as one of his valuable correspondents. In the publish transactions of the nineteenth annual meeting of the Illinois State Medical Society are given a number of pages taken from his report on Practical Medicine.

Not only had Dr. Breed been an able contributor upon medicine, but his ready pen has not been slow to record his thoughts upon other topics, including those on temperance, a tour through Kansas in 1869, woman's crusade, etc., the mere mention of which will call them to the minds of many of the leading citizens of the county. In early life the Doctor was an abolitionist, and cast one of the two first votes in Vermont, Fulton County, for James G. Birney, the candidate of the Liberty party in 1844. He is now a stanch Republican, and in 1870 he wrote articles against many of the Republicans, who bolted the regular nominee for Congress, after submitting their claims at the primary election.

December 25, 1848, Dr. Breed was united in marriage to Miss Alzina S. Powers, of McDonough County, Ill. She was born in Essex, Vt., in 1827, but came to McDonough County in 1833. Her father, Isaac Powers, was a farmer; she was educated in the district schools and at the female seminary of Jacksonville, Ill. She is the mother of seven children, three of whom died before they were seven years of age. The living are: Lena May, a school teacher; Lizzie Rachel, wife of Charles E. Sisler, who resides near Lincoln, Neb.; Luella and Ralph at home. They were educated in the Princeton High School.

In later years Dr. Breed has lived in quiet retirement on Center Grove farm. This farm of 200 acres lies in Wyanet Township, and was settled in 1836 and when Dr. Breed purchased it in 1870 was very much run down, but he has added many valuable improvements to it, and has made it a model farm.

Although not a member of any church, order or fraternity, he is opposed to none provided they bear the test of being a benefit to mankind. He has always been a friend to the poor and especially during the war, he not only assisted the families of the soldiers by his services as a physician, but his purse was ever open to them, and many kindly words of sympathy did he write to those in the field.



Sender: Dorothy Knittle MacPherson
Email: Muttmore@aol.com
Date: 22 January 2003
Surnames: BENZ, KNITTLE

Hi, I am trying to find out some information on my great grandparents, Boniface Knittle and Katherine Benz. They were both born in Germany but I don't know where. Boniface was born May 1849 and died January 1912. Katherine was born May 6, 1950, and died January 11, 1936. They were probably married in New York about 1875 Boniface arrived in the U.S. in 1866 and he was naturalized. Boniface was a brewery laborer. They had 4 children, Edward, Joseph (my grandfather), Frank and Anna. In 1900 they lived at 306 Herbert Street in Syracuse New York. Thank you for your time and any other information you can help me with.



Sender: Dieter Birk
Email: dbirk@sympatico.ca
Date: 6 October 2002
Surnames: BÜRK (BUERK or BIRK)

I'm quite interested in your Web site because I have a long lost relative who disappeared as follows:

Georg Bürk (Buerk or Birk) came from Michelfeld, Württemberg in November 1852 via New York and reportedly went to Hawkinsville, New York. I've been looking for any traces of his presence. His nephew Philipp Birk went to Wamego, Kansas in 1880. I found his offspring and now have many new American cousins.



Sender: Daniel Smothergill
Email: dsmothe1@twcny.rr.com
Date: 24 August 2002
Surnames: BORMANN, HUMBERT, LUX, OSSWALD, SCHILLY, SCHWILK, GEMMER

The family of Friedrich HUMBERT and Eva Maria LUX came to Syracuse around 1850. Both were from Hatten, Bas Rhin, Alsace. Friedrich himself does not appear to have come to America. He died in Alsace in 1841. But his wife Eva did come. A family Bible says she died in Syracuse in 1851, shortly after arriving.

We know that five of the Humberts' children lived in Syracuse. Friedrich Humbert, the eldest, was born in 1824 in Hatten and died on 9 Jul 1895 at 707 University Avenue, Syracuse. Syracuse City Directories from 1862 - 1868 list him as a cabinet maker with a shop at 64 N. Salina St. His home was at 108 Butternut. According to a newspaper clipping at the Onondaga Historical Association, Frederick Humbert and his wife Mary bought the house in 1853. Buying the house was connected in some way to the German Community of Emmigrants Friends Society. Friedrich first belonged to St. John's Lutheran Church and later joined Park Central downtown. His wife, Maria Elizabeth Bormann, was born in 1832 in Hanover (Prussia) and died 13 Jul 1909 in Syracuse. They were married 22 January 1852 at St. John's Lutheran Church in Syracuse. Between 1852 and 1873 they had 9 children, some of whom resided in Syracuse all their lives.

A second child of Friedrich and Eva Maria Humbert in Syracuse was Salome Humbert. She married Phillip OSSWALD at St. John's Lutheran on 25 Jan 1852. He was from Hessen, Darmstadt. Salome died in Syracuse on 27 Feb 1868.

A third child, Dorothea Humbert, married Phillip SCHILLY at St. John's Lutheran on 8 Jan 1854. She died 3 Oct 1899.

A fourth child, Magdalena Humbert, married Wilhelm Friedrich SCHWILK on 29 Apr 1856 in Syracuse. She was born in Hatten in 1835 and died in Schenctady, NY on 23 Feb 1907. Schwilk was Pastor of the 3rd Evangelical Protestant Dutch Church in Schenectady at the time they married and later formed his own church known as the Temple Gemeinde. He died in Schenectady on 30 Dec 1906.

A fifth child, Maria Eva Humbert, also in Syracuse married a man named GEMMER.

A footnote to this story has to do with my wife Nancy Laubengayer Smothergill. Nancy is the great granddaughter of Magdelena Humbert and Reverend Wilhelm Schwilk. Although Nancy was born and raised in Ithaca, NY, not far from Syracuse, and we actually have lived in Syracuse since 1967, she knew nothing about the Humberts of Syracuse until just a few years ago.



Sender: Jodell Zahn McVey
Email: jodellz@sprynet.com
Date: 3 May 2002
Surnames: BENDER, ZAHN, HORNUNG

Frederick Zahn b. 1819 in Prussia, traveled to the United States about 1848-49, and married Margaretha(?) possibly Hornung b. October 31, 1835. They were married abt. 1852 in Syracuse. Margaretha came from Bavaria about 1842. Frederick and Margaretha Zahn had at least 10 children, Mary b. 1853, George M. b. February 1855, Sarah b. March 1859, Catherine b. March 1861, Unknown child b. 1862, Frederick C. b. February 1867, Emma b. May 1869, William b. April 1870, John b. September 1873, Matilda C. b. 1876. Frederick died in Syracuse in 1893 and Margaretha died January 17, 1899. Both are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, though Frederick was originally buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in North Syracuse.

George M. Zahn born February 3, 1855 married Elizabeth Bender, daughter of William and Mary Bender of Syracuse though they emigrated from Bavaria, Germany. Elizabeth b. August 1857 in Syracuse had at least 3 children with George. William born 1876, George b. June 1878, and Flora M. b. April 1886. George and Elizabeth died in 1913 and 1921 respectively. Both are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery. Any information on this family would be greatly appreciated.



Sender: LKapphahn@aol.com
Email: LKapphahn@aol.com
Date: 11 December 2001
Surname: BERGER, etc.

Abelein, Martin date of immigration 6/15/1883. Crailsheim, Germany- St. Paul's Evangelical German Lutheran 108 Grace St.

Berger, Peter 1879
Einsiedel, Catherina 1883
Sauer, Samuel(Alfonso) 1875
Hausmann, Margareta 1883



Sender: Charlene Weed
Email: CharleneWeed@aol.com
Date: 15 October 2001
Surname: BRILBECK

Have you ever heard of the St. Fidelius Society of Syracuse, NY? In my gggrandfathers obit (John Brilbeck) is mentioned he belonged to the St. Fidelius Society, also the German Pioneers and the Holy Name Society, England branch of the church of the assumption. Mr. Brilbeck was a colonel in the Commandery 37 , Knights of St. John and a member of the pioneer rank of that commandery. He emigrated in 1852 from Bavaria, Germany. He was a jeweler on the North Side of Syracuse for many years.

He was born in 1848 Bavaria, Gr. and died 26 Jan 1934 in Syracuse, Onondaga Co., NY and is buried in Assumption Cemetery, Syr. NY. He married Mary Halbritter

John swore allegiance (Naturalization) to the US 7 Oct. 7, 1857 with a character witness by name of Ignatus Fauth & Peter Conrad.

I don't know specifically where in Bavaria John Brilbeck lived - on his Naturalization papers, he states just "Bavaria, Gr." I have checked the German Immigration lists at the Onondaga Co. Library, Syracuse, NY and his name is not on the 1851 or 52 immigration lists there. Are there other immi. lists available that I might check?

Thank you for any info. you can provide.



Sender: Suzanne M. Kubacki
Email: rjstudio@dreamscape.com
Date: 7 September 2001
Surname: BRIMM, etc.

Many of my family lived/lives in Onondaga County, Oswego County. Lots of them "bounced" between the two.

My side: Hoefler, Moon, Pennock, Pringle, Torbit, Brimm, Eucher, Steinbach/Steinbacher, Minikheim/Menikheim, Allen

Husband's side: Kubacki and Austin



Sender: "Barth"
Email: gbarth@wnylc.com
Date: 4 Sept. 2001
Surnames: BARTH, ALLETZHAUSER, SCHMITZ

My gtgrandfather, Ludwig Barth, came here in 1852 at age 12 on the Hansa. He settled on the North Side. Ludwig was a taylor. His son, Raymond W. Barth was my grandfather. Raymond W.'s son, Hon. Raymond J. Barth is my father.

Ludwig married a Mary Alletzhauser. There was another son, Ernest and a daughter, Hilda Schmitz.

Further information would be appreciated.



Sender: Inez Garrett
Email: nezg@zianet.com
Date: 31 August 2001
Surnames: BAUM, VIRGIL, GARRETT

Enjoyed your website, especially the history of the area. I drove to work down Erie Blvd. in the late 1960s to Bristol Labs, and am researching my husband's people (Virgil, Garrett, et al.) in that area. Your early history was especially welcome as the Virgil folk probably came into the area in the late 1700s.

Our family now lives in southern New Mexico. I've only gotten to the Onondaga Co. Library to research a couple of times over the years, but do make extensive use of the Onondaga and Madison Co. web sources!

Checked your site for the BAUM surname as I've a Theron Garrett of the Cicero area who mar. 1871 Martha A. BAUM b. 24 Dec 1846. BAUM may be German, but I do not know for certain. The first of the Garrett family in the area, Ephraim, was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, but suspect that may be of Dutch origins, rather than German. Believe the church later became Methodist.

Again, thanks for an interesting site.

Nez Garrett



Sender: Eric Schultz
Email: eric.schultz@iname.com
Date: 19 August 2001
Surnames: BENKE, HELLER, KLETTKE, KNOPF, KUEHN, SCHREINER, HORNUNG, MILLER, KELLER, DANIER, ZIMMER, SCHLOSSER, RUMPF, etc.
See Descendants of F. Christian Heller




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