| Some Representatives of A “New” Branch of Boßecker Cousins Left to Right: Greg Fee, Jennifer (Fee) Keller, Kenneth Keller, Judy (Altermatt) Fee and Darrell Fee. Photo taken on 8 Mar 1997 at the wedding of Kenneth & Jennifer (Fee) Keller. |
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In the third issue of The Boßecker Newsletter (December 1995) there was a discussion of the Boßecker family’s arrival in
the United States in the mid 1840’s. The immigrants Johannes & Peter, their families and other family members had arrived in New York City in June of 1846 on the Danish Ship Skjold. Among the family members on the Skjold was a sister of the immigrants Karl & Johannes Boßecker. Her name was Christine Hedwig Eva Barbara Friederike Boßecker. Christine was born on 28 Apr 1806. She married Johann Georg Rückert on 11 Jul 1830. On 5 Feb 1831 Christine gave birth to a daughter, Dorothea Renate Rückert. Sometime after this birth, Christine & Johann divorced. After the divorce, Christine gave birth to two more children, Johann Martin Boßecker [Born: 11 Dec 1835] and Elisabeth Christiane Boßecker [Born: 5 Mar 1842]. All 3 of Christine’s children are on the passenger manifest of the Skjold. In the December 1995 issue of The Boßecker Newsletter I asked the question, “What became of Karl & Johannes's... ...sister?... ...I have been unable to find any record of them after they leave the ship.” The question of what happened to Christine and her children was recently answered. The answer has come in stages but the beginning of the answer came in the form of an email I received in late April of this year. I think most of the readers of The Boßecker Newsletter are aware of that I maintain a web site with all of the Bosecker/Boseker/Bosacker family history that I have accumulated. For those of you who may not have noticed, I put the “address” of the web site in the footer of the newsletter under my address and phone number. Judy (Altermatt) Fee (Born: 1947) had done some research on her family in the early 1970’s but had put it aside as the demands of raising a family eliminated most “free time”. Recently, her children now more independent, Judy had found that a little free time was available and she once again picked up her family history research. She elected to do some work on her maiden name, Altermatt. Judy decided to contact a cousin-in-law, Bob Welsh [Born: 1933] to compare notes on the Altermatt family. Bob, a retired OB-GYN, is married to Barbara (Schwandt) Welsh [Born: 1934]. Barbara’s mother was an Altermatt and Bob had done a great deal of research on the Altermatt family and had over 1800 people with Altermatt connections in his computer database. Judy and Bob compared notes and found that the Altermatt family information ended with John Baptist Altermatt [1812-1890] and his wife Dorothea [1831-1880]. Judy did some research and found John Baptist Altermatt and Dorothea Rickart’s marriage in Allen County, IN on 5 Mar 1848. While this information seemed to lead to a maiden name for John Baptist Altermatt’s wife, Judy and Bob had also learned that Dorothea’s children, on various documents, had listed Dorothea’s maiden name as Reycourt, Rickerd, Bosecher and Bosacker. A puzzle to be sure. On April 29th of this year, I received an email from Judy Fee who lives in Chesterfield, MO. Judy had searched the internet and found The Boßecker Family History Web Site which I maintain. In her email, Judy explained that she was trying to locate information on her GG-Grandmother Dorothea (?) Altermatt and gave me her birth date. Judy explained that Dorothea’s maiden name might have been Bosacker and asked if I had any information on Dorothea. I read the email and sighed. I get a few queries like this each month and they usually have nothing to do with our family. I remembered Johannes’s sister being on the Skjold but I thought her children were older than Judy’s GG-Grandmother. I switched from my email program to my genealogy software and worked my way through the generations to Johannes & Karl’s sister, Christine Hedwig Eva Barbara Friederike Boßecker. I casually looked at the information on Christine’s children... and then I blinked hard and set up a bit straighter in my chair. I switched between Judy’s email and my genealogy program a couple of times to make sure I wasn’t making a mistake. Sure enough; the birthdates matched! For the next few months, a flurry of email activity ensued between Judy Fee, Bob Welsh, Bob Kuehn and myself. All of these folks are descendants of Christine’s oldest daughter Dorothea. Bob Kuehn lives in Wisconsin and had access to many records that helped solve the various puzzles as they presented themselves. We discovered that Christine Hedwig Eva Barbara Friederike Boßecker had married a widower, Gottfied Kessler, in Sauk County, WI and she had died there on 10 Nov 1872. We found Christine’s son John M. Bosacker in Johnson County, MO. He had married and had one daughter that survived to adulthood. This line appears to have died out. If we are correct on this fact, the last member of this branch of the family died in 1965. We are on the trail of Christine’s last child, Elisabeth Christiane and, as this issue is published, we think she married a fellow by the name of Jacob Keil and lived in Polk County, IA in the late 1800’s. We shall see if there are many more cousins to be discovered in the near future. So there you have it, at least 1800 more descendants have been added to our family with, perhaps, more to come. On the next page is a digitally altered copy of the ship’s manifest of the Skjold. I took the first page of the manifest and, using some fairly sophisticated computer graphics software, moved the list of Boßecker immigrants so that they appear to be on the first page of the manifest. The first 5 people are Johannes Boßecker and his family. The 6th is Johannes’s mother-in-law, Louisa (Hegewald) Thoman. The 7th person appears to be Johannes & Karl Boßecker’s mother. The 8th , 9th & 10th appear to be unrelated to the Boßeckers but I have seen these same surnames in the church records of the Veilsdorf, Germany church the Boßecker family attended. The next 8 people (line 11 through 18) are Peter Boßecker and his family. The last 4 people (line 19 through 22) are Johannes & Karl’s sister, Christine, and her three children. |
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MORE VETERANS
Here are more Boßecker descendant veterans that have been documented since the last issue. Robert Lenhart Welsh [Born: 1933] LCdr, United States Naval Reserve, 1963-1965, GG-Grandson-in-law of Christine (Boßecker)(Rückert) Kessler. Carl David Bosecker [1942-1999] United States Army Reserve, GG-Grandson of Johannes Boßecker and GGG-Grandson of Karl Boßecker. Raymond Lee Tucker [Born: 1943] Cpl, United States Marine Corps, Viet Nam, GG-Grandson-in-law of Karl Boßecker. NEW ARRIVALS! Caroline Ruth Hein, GGGG-Granddaughter of Karl Boßecker was born on 17 Mar 2000. Joshua Everett Mayfield, GGGG-Grandson of Karl Boßecker, was born on 25 Mar 2000. Joshua Clayton Altermatt, GGGG-Grandson of Christine (Boßecker)(Rückert) Kessler was born on 15 Apr 2000. Kyle Ellis Tucker, GGGG-Grandson of Karl Boßecker, was born on 23 May 2000. William Reece Goebel, GGGG-Grandson of Karl Boßecker, was born on 12 Jun 2000. Maxwell Cullen Bryant, GGGG-Grandson of Karl Boßecker, was born on 27 Jun 2000. Arielle Josephine Anderson, GGGG-Granddaughter of Karl Boßecker, was born on 30 Jun 2000. MARRIAGES! Timothy C. Bosecker, GGG-Grandson of Johannes Boßecker, and Kellie M. Douglas were married on 4 Feb 1999. Amanda Rae Ericsson, GGGG-Granddaughter of Johannes Boßecker, and Raymond Wade Haden were married on 6 Feb 1999. Cheryl Lynn Bosecker, GGG-Granddaughter of Karl Boßecker, and David Andrew Mosberger were married on 21 Aug 1999. Amy Francis Bosecker, GGG-Granddaughter of Karl Boßecker, and Raymond Albert Hein were married on 11 Dec 1999.
IN MEMORY OF...
Edwin Peter Heinrich Stedtfeld
Louise Friederike Alma (Kleinschmidt) Bosecker
Herbert William Kuehn
Florence Maria Anna (Waterman) Kuehn
Luella Katherine Mathilda (Stedtfeld) Higgins
Walter Johannes Friedrich Kleinschmidt
Edna Friedericka Louise (Kleinschmidt) Kirsch
Frederick Harold Evenson
Carl David Bosecker
Michael Allen Boseker Erratum In the last issue I listed Cassidy Anne Voges as the GGGGG-Granddaughter of Johannes Boßecker. Cassidy is actually the GGGG-Granddaughter of Johannes Boßecker. |