The Weindorf Family

By Pete Kauffman -

 Martin Weindorf marries Elizabeth Lehn in Germany, immigrate to Erie PA, have nine children, including Christina Weindorf, who later marries Eduard Keller, gives birth to Clara Katherine Keller, who marries John Wright and gives birth to Elizabeth Keller Wright who in turn marries Walter Lee Kauffman 2nd.   But there is more to this story.

===========================================================================

Martinus Weindorf was born on July 5, 1818, in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany. His father, Johann, was 31 and his mother, Anna, was 28. As the story goes, Martin was working as a gardener at the estate of Petri Lehn, a well to do Jewish family in town.


Elisabeth gave birth to a son, Johannes on February 19, 1843. Martin marries Elizabeth Lehn on April 10, 1843, in Rhina, Hesse, Germany.

Elizabeth and Martin arrived at New York by boat in June of 1843.

They came with their cousin, Johnnes Weindorf. (This factoid comes from Kelley where she cites a Glover Roots ancestry book given to her grandfather by Rhea Weindorf).

They move on to Black Rock, NY where they have two additional children, Martin and Christina. In 1848, they move to Erie, PA. They have six additional children.

Elisabeth dies in 1875 at age 53.


Martin is a successful builder in Erie, including one of the early Catholic churches. He goes on to live to the age of 96. He is buried in Erie Trinity Cemetery in Lot 100 Section C


You will note in the obit that Martin's date of marriage is 1841.  Actually, it was 1843.   While I heard that they were run out of town by the father, the records show that their first son was born some months prior to their marriage and that they shortly thereafter got on a boat to USA.


==========================================================================
Christina Weindorf

Christina was born in Black Rock, NY on October 23, 1846. She is the second oldest of nine children. Her family moves to Erie when she is two years old.




She marries Eduard Keller in 1868 when she is 22 years old. Eduard fought in the Civil War as a gunner on the USS Burnside.

They have 3 children, Clara, Frank and Edward. Clara marries John Wright.

Christina dies on March 9, 1896 and is buried in Lakeside Cemetery.







.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Edith Belle Kauffman

By Pete Kauffman -
Image
  Edith Belle Kauffman I started this blog about Edith Belle with no knowledge about her.  She died in 1933, long before I was born and before Dad and Mom even met.   I knew Edith's brother, Uncle Walt, my brother's namesake.  But I was young, barely 9, when he passed.  But he was a legend and I should have expected nothing less of his sister.  When I finished my first cut on this blog, I realized how little I knew about Edith.   I went back downstairs and looked in Uncle Walt's boxes for his old letters, Valentine's and birthday cards and I found an album with this label.   It contained a gold mine of letters, newspaper clippings, pictures, site plans, theatre brochures, sketches and more all about Edith Belle.  In the front of that album was a single page, a letter from an unknown person from  the Women of Youngstown Garden Club.   Uncle Walt put it on the first page of his album.   Read it and you wi...
Read more

Home of Isaac Kauffman

By Pete Kauffman -
Image
    In my earlier blog I spoke of the land of Isaac Kauffman, granted under a warrant shown on the map. This farm exists today and is owned by Jere Dickerson. I met Jerry as part of my quest as I visited Lancaster in 2012. The story was quite fascinating. I had gone to Ephrata, some 30 miles north of Lancaster to visit the historical society and subsequently the home of Ludwig Mohler. If you recall the story of Elizabeth Mohlerin eloping with John Coover back in early 1800s, something unheard of for Mennonites, this is her home. Having successfully located this farm, I set off shortly after noon for a brief trip down to a park which is described in that story. Well, I saw the remnants of an old barn and beyond I saw an old farm house. Being bold, I went to the door and knocked. This old gentleman came to the door and opened it, looking skeptically at me. I said my name and that i was traveling thru the area and was looking for the Kauffman Farm. He said, "well, you found it,...
Read more

The Keller Family

By Pete Kauffman -
Image
The earliest member of the Keller family is Franz Peter Keller. He marries Catharinam Antoni. They have four children, Eduard, Heinrich (Harry), and one daughter, Regina.   Their son, Eduard Keller marries Christina Weindorf.  They have four children, Anna Maria, Clara Katherine, Frank Henry and Eduard Adorphus.  Clara Keller marries John William Wright.  Their daughter, Elizabeth Keller Wright marries Walter Lee Kauffman 2nd.   Franz Peter Keller   was the patriarch of the Keller Family.   He was born in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany on Jan 8, 1816.  One source has him fighting under Napoleon however, he was not born early enough to have been involved in the Napoleonic Wars which ended in 1815.  He married Catharinam Elisabetham Antoni or Catherina Anthony (1816-1856).  They had two sons, Eduard Keller who was born in Bayern, Germany in 1845 and died in Erie in 1919 and Heinrich Kellar who was born in Erie in 1849 and died in...
Read more