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The Weis Family - Part 1 and Table of Contents

CAPESIUS, DONDLINGER, ETRINGER, GOSCHE, JACOBS, MATHIEU, REISTROFFER, RITTER, SCHILTZ, SCHIRMER, SCHWAGER, THOMA, WAGNER, WALTER, WEIMERSKIRCH, WEINSCHENK, WEIS

Posted By: Lorraine Weis Houghton (email)
Date: 4/14/2010 at 18:27:11

The Weis Family of Jackson County, Iowa

Table of Contents

Part 1
Acknowledgements *
Ancestry of Weis Family *
Immigration to Jackson County *
The Weis Name *

Part 2
Reasons for Immigration from Berbourg, Luxembourg *
Francois Weis Family Books – Jane M. Miller *
Names of Children *
Gonner Papers *
Theodorus Weis Family Book – Jane M. Miller *
Occupations *

Part 3
Weis, Thillman – Hostert, Anna Marie children born in Berbourg, Luxembourg *
Weis, Johann – Weber, Anna Marie *
Weis, Theodorus – Rivers, Margaretha *
Weis, Francois – Oberweis, Gertrude *
Weis, Nicholas – Ney, Elisabeth *
Weis, Thillman *
Weis, Peter – Oberweis, Madelaine *

Part 4
Weis, Theodorus – Rivers Margaretha children born in Berbourg, Luxembourg *
Weis, Mathias – Schiltz, Maria *
Weis, Barbara – Walter, Mathias *
Weis, Michael – Schiltz, Catherine *
Weis, Peter *
Weis, Gertrude – Capesius, John *
Weis, Bernard – Thoma, Magdalena *
Weis, John – Schirmer, Aephorosinia *

Part 5
Weis, Francois – Oberweis, Gertrude children, born in Berbourg, Luxembourg *
Weis, Magdalena – Mehn, Mathias *
Weis, John – Margaretha Gosche * - The Mathieu Family Moves to South Dakota *
Weis, Peter *
Weis, John – Zimmer, Marie *
Weis, Barbara *
Weis, Gertrude *
Weis, Peter – Gosche, Mary * - The John L Weis Family Moves to Armstrong,Iowa * - Michael Peter and Frank Weis Move to Kansas *

Gosche and Weis Connection *

Part 6
Farm Life in the Early and Mid 1900’s *
Electricity, Bathroom, and Milking Machine Come to the Farm *
Tombstones of Weis Ancestors *
Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Springbrook *

The Weis Family of Jackson County, Iowa

Part 1

Compiled by Lorraine Weis Houghton

Acknowledgements *
Ancestry of Weis Family *
Immigration to Jackson County *
The Weis Name *

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge Ray Banowetz, Sheryl Hays, Francis (Red) Mathieu, Kenneth Mathieu, Jane M. Miller, Nancy Norgaard, Marilu Thurman, Michael Weis, Nico Weis and many other family members and friends for their help in researching the Weis family history. Without their help, the Weis family history would have been left untold. They contributed research information, including many old obituaries, cemetery searches, interviews with older family members, internet searches, census information from Berbourg and the United States and translated articles from the Gonner Papers, plus the information found in church and civil records from Luxembourg.

I would also like to thank my husband, Rex, for encouraging me to learn about my ancestors. Also, for driving all over Jackson County to visit relatives who had information with regard to this history, as well as tolerating the endless hours I have spent on the phone and computer to get all of this information together. I would also like to say that to the best of my knowledge, this history is correct, and if it is not, I apologize for any errors that I have made. You may contact me at lahoughton@aol.com.

Ancestry of Weis Family

In researching the Weis family, we were able to trace the ancestry back to George Weis, who was born about 1690, in Berbourg, Manternach, Luxembourg. George married Elizabeth Keifers. We found records on three children, all born in Berbourg. They were Stephan, Wilhelm, and Helena Weis.

Stephan Weis, who was born about 1720, married Maria Josephine Federspeil in Berbourg. Their children were Thillman, Appolonia, Johannes, Anna Marie and Francois Weis.

Thillman Weis was born January 12, 1757 in Berbourg and married Anna Marie Hostert on May 27, 1793 in Bishop’s Chapel, Trier, Germany. Their children were Johann, Theodorus , Francois, Nicholas, Thillman and Peter Weis.

Immigration to Jackson County

Several descendants of Thillman Weis emigrated from Berbourg, Manternach, Luxembourg. One of his sons, Theodore Weis and his family made their way direct to Galena, Illinois, in 1853, but after about a year spent in that city they came to Bellevue, Iowa, which is where Theodore died. Another son, Francois (Francis), did not come to the United States, but several of his descendants did. They were brothers, John and Peter Weis, who we believe first settled in Bellevue, and then later settled around the Springbrook area.

John Weis arrived in America in 1856 and his brother, Peter, followed in 1860. John Weis descendants remember a story handed down that he was on a sailboat for 66 days on his way to America.

At one time, many of us thought that John and Peter were the only members of the Weis family to immigrate to Jackson County. Later, while researching with Jane Miller for The Weis Family, we discovered that John E. W. Weis and his sister, Magdalena Weis Wagner were grandchildren of Francis and Gertrude. They came to America in 1884.

Wilma Weis Poll, who is from this family line, told us she thought we were related, but really didn’t know how. We discovered in the marriage register for Jackson County that they were the children of Marie Zimmer and John Weis, who is another son of Francois Weis.

The Weis Name

Many of the Weis family members remained in the Jackson County area, but some of them moved to other areas for homesteading new farm land and other opportunity in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. In checking the census for Iowa in 1920 there were 279 people with the last name of Weis. By 1930, there were 260 with the Weis name. Sometimes misspellings of the name can change this information, as we have seen many records including the name Weise, Wise or Weiss, but we now know they belong to our family. Census takers wrote what they heard and spelled the best way they knew. Also, some of the church records have the name listed as Weiss. In contrast, in 1920 there were 123 people in Kansas with the name Weis and by 1930 that number had increased to 184.

As a child, I always heard about the families who had moved from Jackson County, and even met some of them, but I never knew the exact relationship. I am sure it was explained to me, but you know how well children listen about those things. As we get older, it seems we want to know more about our ancestors and wish we might have listened more closely when we were young. I have tried to document those early moves, so that families from those areas might know how their history goes back to Jackson County, Iowa and then back to Berbourg, Luxembourg.

When checking records for Luxembourg, in the really early church records the name Weis appears to be written as Weif, in cursive. The letter S was written like an f, especially if it was at the end of a word, sometimes denoting a double S, in the old German records. The civil records have the names in French and the church records have the names in the Luxembourg language, which is quite similar to German. Therefore the American name of John is shown as Jean in the civil records and Johann in church records. The American name of Peter is shown as Pierre in the civil records and is Peter the church records.


 

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