Family History Notes and Photos by Bob Mesenbrink

One of my favorite items from my Dad's childhood is a poster he made presumably for a school contest. I would guess it was made around 1925 or 1930 when he would have been ten to fifteen years old. It is an ink drawing that I have in my office. The poster is well done, I'd say, but what makes it most interesting to me is it's topic: prohibition. Prohibition was in effect between 1920 to 1933. Dad, being born in 1915, wasn't old enough to be directly affected by prohibition, but no doubt had heard a lot about it. I get a kick out of the line of liquor bottles ready to rush in as soon as the door opens and Beer is allowed in. I don't know for sure that this was a contest, and if so, how Dad did. It was definitely a keepsake, and one I'm glad was kept. Of course, Mesenbrink is a German name, and one associates Germans with beer. So this poster didn't seem to be in line with what I knew of my Dad and his family. It's safe to say it was only an assignm...

My grandfather, Fred Stephenson, died shortly before I was born, so I never knew him. He spent his entire life in the area west of Denison, Iowa. But several years ago my Aunt Edna mentioned how her dad sold everything and moved to Windom, Minnesota, only to turn around when he got there - because of the deep snow. The story intrigued me, but I didn't have much to go on until I found some articles in some archives of the Denison Review found at a wonderful website, http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov, provided by the Library of Congress. Here is the chronology: January 26, 1916: Sale date of Wednesday, Feb. 9, reserved by Fred Stephenson on his farm near Dow City. February 2, 1916: Sale bill published. Included are 9 head of horses, 36 head of cattle, and 50 hogs, and also a large amount of machinery. The sale bill states that he had decided to quit farming. October 1916: He bought a couple of lots in Arion and gives them to his mother, Lillian Stephenson. The next year, Ma...

Well, it's been quite a ride. I started this just a few days ago thinking it would be interesting to learn a little bit about Pomerania, where Augusta Nipkow and her family came from. And I started writing Part 1 of this series not knowing what I would find. But since records are added at a rapid pace these days, there was more to be found than I realized. First off, although I believe that Augusta was born in Butow as was said, I did not any direct evidence of that. Nothing I found contradicts it though. Her parents moved around a lot, and they certainly left proof of that. And although her parents moved around a lot, her grandparents and extended family probably didn't. Working back, here's what I found: 1872 - Nipkows left from Stettin and settled in Jackson County Iowa 1872 - Nipkows lived in Hohengrape 1865 - Augusta born in Butow 1862 - Otto born in Klutzow 1858 - Parents, Friederich and Wilhelmina Huebner married in Klempin 1827 - Birth of Daniel Frederich...

In Part 1, I presented the information I had on Augusta Emilie Nipkow and her parents, Fredrich Nipkow and Wilhelmina Huebner and their origins in Pomerania. Augusta said she was born in Butow, which I have concluded (at least for the time being) is the present-day village of Bytowo, Poland east of Stettin (Sczcecin). Their immigration record says they came from Hohengrape, present-day Chrapowo, Poland, which is southeast of Sczcecin. My next step in research is to determine what records are available for these villages. At the time the Nipkows left there, these were German villages, Prussian to be exact. Wikipedia has a " List of municipalities in the Province of Pomerania" which indicates that Butow was in the District Saatzig. A website full of information on German locations is  http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/. It lists Hohengrape being in the Soldin district. Other place names higher up in various bureaucratic hierarchies are Berlinchen, Brandenburg, Berlin, Landsberg,...

I thought it might be fun, and perhaps a bit risky, to go through the steps I take in researching a family. I don't know where this will lead, if anywhere, at this point. But to be honest, I did uncover a good hint the other day while researching on Ancestry, so that gives me a decent place to start. The family that I am talking about is that of my great grandmother, Augusta Emilie Nipkow, who married Henry William Mesenbrink. Henry William and Augusta Emilie Nipkow Mesenbrink Married September 20, 1882 Henry and Augusta were married in the Lutheran Church near Spragueville, Iowa, near the Mississippi River in Jackson county. Their families had moved there in the recent past, Henry's family having come from Minnesota to rejoin his brothers by 1869, and Augusta's family having come from Germany in 1872. Augusta taught Sunday School and apparently had strong Lutheran roots. This is important to me because of the part of Germany that Augusta came from. Her obituary stat...

I am always amazed at the distances our ancestors traveled at a time when it was not very easy. Immigrants would come across the ocean, spending weeks on boat, oftentimes in horrible conditions. And then they would travel by horse and wagon, stagecoach, river boat, or train to their new homes. Karen Marie Kjeldgard was my wife's great grand aunt. She is the best example I have found of an immigrant who made major moves. She was born in Skarp Salling, near Aalborg, Denmark, May 11, 1857 to Peder Kjeldgaard and Mariane Jacobsdatter. Peder was a tailor and no doubt passed his knowledge on to his daughter, Karen. They left Denmark in 1875 and settled near Elk Horn, Iowa. Karen Marie Kjeldgaard Hollenbeck Karen married Coleman Edward Hollenbeck May 10, 1879. What is remarkable about the marriage is where they married - Fort Fetterman, Wyoming. Fort Fetterman was in cold and remote northern Wyoming, near present day Douglas, and in the 1870s, was actively involved in indian s...

I have updated this since first publishing it in 2015, adding the last paragraph discussing Martha's possible Indiana origins. There are too many ancestors, even relatively recent ancestors, who it seems nearly impossible to know anything about. Martha A. Brennan is one of those. I believe she came from Ireland, died young, perhaps even in childbirth. Her daughter was Lillian Davis (Stephenson), my great grandmother. Martha was the first wife of William Davis, marrying him in Jefferson county, Iowa, 18 December 1862. The Davises had settled in that area, which explains why William married there. I'm not sure what lead Martha there. Their daughter, Lillian Evelyn Davis, was born 15 April 1864, Galesburg, Illinois. William Davis became a railroad worker, and perhaps got his start in that industry in Galesburg, which was a major railroad hub as the railroads expanded west across the Mississippi during that time. And perhaps Martha had family there as well. If Martha was from I...