THE BOßECKER REUNION

The All-Boßecker-Descendants Reunion, which took place on May 26th at St. Paul's United Church of Christ, was a great success with over 150 family members attending.

After the morning worship service family members gathered in the congregation's Fellowship Hall. St. Paul's Pastor Dennis led the family in a prayer which preceded the noon meal.

Immediately after the meal, the family assembled outside the church and this picture (above) was taken. Not everyone made it into the picture (I count 148 individuals in the photograph) but most did.

The group then moved back inside and the youngest, oldest and farthest-traveled attendees were recognized.

The youngest attendee was Brittany Marie Kokomoor [Born: 7 May 1995]. Brittany is the gggg-granddaughter of the immigrant Karl Christian Franz Fredrich Boßecker [1813-1870].

The oldest attendee was Louise Friederike Alma (Kleinschmidt) Bosecker [Born:2 Apr 1904]. Alma's husband was the late Ludwig Christoph Bosecker [1898-1995] so Alma is the g-granddaughter-in-law of the immigrant Johannes Boßecker [1816-1896].

The award for the farthest-traveled was awarded to Carolyn (Raber) Bosecker [Born: 23 Nov 1917] of Redding, CA. Redding, CA is 1847 miles from Evansville, IN. Carolyn's husband, the late Gerald Bosecker [1913-1984], was a g-grandson of Karl Boßecker.

After these folks were recognized, I gave a short talk detailing some of the family history and then fielded a few questions.

The attendees spent the remainder of the afternoon sharing old family memorabilia and getting to know some of their more distant cousins.

I was hoping to have descendants from each of the 3 Boßecker immigrants (Peter, Karl & Johannes) at the reunion but it didn't work out.

Jim Boseker [Born: 1929], ggg-grandson of Peter, had planned to attend but called me the week before the reunion and informed me that unexpected heart surgery 3 weeks earlier was going to prevent he and his family from attending.

A show of hands seemed to indicate that the group was split roughly 60% descendants of Karl and 40% descendants of Johannes.

While everyone pitched in and helped as necessary, I must single out a few for their extra efforts:

A big "Thank You!" to Pastor Dennis and the congregation of St. Paul's United Church of Christ for so warmly receiving the family and allowing us the use of their facilities for this event.

Thank you to Wilbur Bosecker of St. Louis for his efforts in producing T-shirts to commemorate the reunion. The T-shirts were a big hit!

Special thanks go to Edwin & Rosemary (Vogel) Bosecker for their help in planning the reunion and for their first-hand knowledge of St. Paul's facilities.

SPELLING & PRONUNCIATION VARIATIONS

I am sure my readers have noticed the various spellings of the family name I have used in the 10 previous issues of The Boßecker Newsletter.

Descendants of the three Boßecker families that arrived in 1846 carry either the name BOSECKER or BOSEKER. Family members that have the "Bosecker" spelling pronounce the name with a long O while family members that use the "Boseker" spelling pronounce the name with a short O.

Generally speaking, family members that were living in the Fort Wayne, IN area at the turn of the century became BOSEKER while everyone else is BOSECKER.

Descendants of Peter Boßecker use the Boseker spelling as well as descendants of William G. Boseker
[1847-1914]. William G. Boseker, a son of the immigrant Johannes Boßecker, moved from Cowling, IL to Fort Wayne in the 1890's.

It should be noted that another Boßecker family from Veilsdorf immigrated to the United States about 15 years after our ancestors arrived. They settled in Wisconsin and their surname became BOSACKER.

The exact relationship between our families and this latter Boßecker family has not, in my opinion, been established but it seems reasonable to assume that we are related as the Bosacker immigrants are listed in the Veilsdorf, Germany Parish Records along with our Johannes and Karl Boßecker.

ARE WE RELATED?

If your surname is BOSECKER and you meet another BOSECKER; you are related. To the best of my knowledge all who have the Bosecker name in the United States are descendants of either Karl Boßecker
[1813-1870] or Johannes Boßecker [1816-1896].

To date I have only found one person in the United States that carried the BOSECKER name in modern times that was NOT related to us. She was the mother of a war bride that came to the United States after WW II and died in California a couple of years after her arrival.

If your name is BOSEKER (or if your name is BOSECKER) and you meet a BOSEKER you are probably related... but you may not be.

First; the relationship between the immigrant Peter and the immigrants Karl & Johannes has not been positively established. However, I don't think there is any doubt that these fellows were related.

Second; there is another group of BOSEKERs in the United States. These folks immigrated from Coburg, Germany (not far from Veilsdorf) in the 1890's and settled in Grand Haven, MI. It is not clear what the original German spelling of their name was but it probably was not Boßecker and they are probably not related to us. However, Coberg, Germany is only about 15 miles from Veilsdorf... so a relationship is not impossible.

REUNION PHOTOGRAPH AVAILABLE

The photograph on the front page of this issue of The Boßecker Newsletter is available for anyone who would be interested in obtaining a copy.

The photograph is in color and is available for $8.00 for an 8½ by 10 copy and is $6.00 for a 5 by 7 copy. This fee includes postage and packaging costs.

Folks interested in obtaining a copy may contact me with a note containing their name and address and a check to pay for the order.

AN APOLOGY

Sorry this issue is late. I hope to get the next issue out by late September. I am slowly catching up from a very busy summer. Thank you for your patience