Surname Saturday - 53: Bruns

1. Kevin Joseph HUIGENS

2. Joseph Anthony HUIGENS
3. Shirley Ann OGDEN

6. Emery Julius OGDEN (b. 9 Sept 1896 in Elk Point, Union Co., SD, USA, m. 19 Mar 1929 in Gordon, Sheridan Co., NE, USA, d. 8 Apr 1984 in Martin, Bennett Co., SD, USA)
7. Esther Louise JOHNSON (b. 23 Feb 1902 in Milan, Rock Island Co., IL, USA, d. 24 Mar 1984 in Rapid City, Pennington Co., SD, USA)

12. William Fredrick OGDEN (b. 10 Oct 1871 in Simcoe, Norfolk Co., Ontario, Canada, m. 25 Jan. 1895 in Elk Point, Union Co., SD, USA, d. 19 May 1951 in Platteville, Grant Co., WI, USA)
13. Mary Elizabeth HERREN (b. 22 Dec 1873 in Batavia, Scott Twp., Sheboygan Co., WI, USA, d. 14 Nov 1938 in Mission, Todd Co., SD, USA)

26. John Fredrick HERREN (b. Nov 1847 in WI, m. 1868 in WI, d. 8 May 1920 in Charles Mix Co., SD)
27. Julia Ann ADELBUSH (b. Jun 1850 in WI, d. 24 Aug 1912 in Charles Mix Co., SD)

52. Johann HERREN (b. 1804 in Hannover, m. before 1830 in ?, d. 14 MAR 1880 in Sheboygan, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, USA)
53. Anna BRUNS (b. 23 Feb 1808 in Hannover, d. 2 Sep 1881 in Scott, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, USA)

John and Anna's place of birth is Hannover in the 1860 and 1870 US censuses. In 1850 it is Germany. In 1880, Anna's is Prussia. In 1803, Napoleon's soldiers occupied Hannover, so John and Ana may have been born during a time of French occupation. During the time of the Napoleonic Wars, this area changed hands over and over. I'm not sure how to list the place to reflect accurately the administrative area in which they were born. Plus I'm not sure if they were born in the city or the electorate. Let's just call them Germans and be done with it.

I don't have anything farther back on this line. A quick google did turn up an older post on the Bruns message board in Ancestry.com from someone who has done extensive research on the Bruns of Hannover. I posted a reply in hopes that Anna fits into that research somewhere. Fingers crossed.

Abraham Strayer's 1889 Civil War Pension Deposition pt. 3

Here is my transcription of page 3 of my g-g-grandfather Abraham Strayer's 1889 deposition regarding his Civil War disability claim. I've started with the first complete sentence on the page.

I think I had the measles when I was about two years old. I had no sickness before the war.

Dr. Thos Maybury, Pleasant Plain Ia was called once or twice to see different members of the family, but I had no occasion for his services.

Our Co. was organized at Keokuk Iowa, from there we went to St Louis, was there perhaps two months when we went up the Tenn River to Hamburg Tenn and marched from there, to where Gen. Halleck's army was invading Corinth.

The first sickness I had was along the last of June, felt badly + had some fever for three days. One of the surgeons (forget his name) gave me medicine. I then returned to duty again and was with the Co. until a day or two before the Iuka fight. We were camped near Jacinto. We were at Jacinto for a month. I was troubled with the diarrhoea, more or less all the time. I was at Jacinto, bt was generally on duty until a few days before the Army started for Iuka. Three Co's of our Co was at Jacinto for a week guarding prisoners and the out posts about the town.

Abraham's account of the movements of his regiment corresponds with the account from the Civil War Archive.

SERVICE.--Duty at Benton Barracks, Mo., until May 5, 1862. Moved to Hamburg Landing, Tenn., May 5-7. Advance on and siege of Corinth, Miss., May 8-30. Action on Corinth Road May 29. Pursuit to Booneville May 31-June 12. Camp at Clear Creek, near Corinth, until August 15. Expedition to Ripley, Miss., June 27-July 1. Moved to Jacinto August 15, and duty there until October 2. Expedition to Iuka, Miss., September 18-20. Battle of Iuka September 19.

So it was about Sept. 16, 1862 when he left he company because of another bout of illness.

SNGF: Ahnentafel Roulette

This week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun is to use a great-grandfather's age as a seed to calculate a semi-random number and write about the person with that ahnentafel number in your tree.

I decided to start with John Huigens, my father's paternal grandfather. I choose him because I know his birth year without having to look it up. He was born in 1862; next year is the 150th anniversary of his birth. Dividing by 4 gave me an ahnentafel of 37.

Number 37 in my tree is Anna Margaretha Felder. I previously wrote about the Felder line in this Surname Saturday post. Here are three facts I know about her.

1. She was born 9 Apr 1798 in Wiensheid, the Palatinate, Holy Roman Empire to Heinrich Felder and Anna Christine Jacobs.
2. She married Wimer Fitzler on 25 Aug 1820 in Neunkirchen, Juelich-Cleves-Berg Province, Prussia.
3. She had at least 6 children: Heinrich, Anna Christine, Anna Margaretha, a second Heinrich (I assume the first one died at a young age), Johann Wimer (my g-g-gf), and Wilhelm.

I've tried to be as historically accurate about the administration of the places as I can. It's all very confusing and hard to figure out who ruled where when in the Rhein.

Abraham Strayer's 1889 Civil War Pension Deposition pt. 2

Here is my transcription of the second page of my g-g-grandfather's 1889 deposition in regards to his Civil War disability pension. The first few words of the first sentence are carried over from page 1. I marked the break with a "//". The same for the last two words of the last sentence, which come from the start of page 3.

This page has lots of information about his movements and residences in Iowa between 1858 and 1862. It also mentions several other farmers from the areas where he lived. That information may be useful to someone else.

In the fall of 58 I moved//from Clark Co. Ohio to Pleasant Plain Jefferson Co. Iowa. I was there one month then went to Brighton Washington Co. Iowa remained there two months then went on a farm two miles W of Pleasant Plain was there three years then went back to Brighton and enlisted at that place

The farm I lived on was only 5 miles from Brighton.

Michael Shafer knew me from the time I came to Iowa up to the time of my enlistment. He was a member of same co 

The old neighbors who knew me then are all gone or dead. I went over there three years ago but could find no one.

Seb Johnson 2 m west of Brighton Ia knew me as well as any I can think of. he knew me while I resided in Ohio. Benjamin Andrews now of Oskaloosa, Ia was a near neighbor while on the farm at Pleasant Plain. William Harrison lived on a farm 2 1/2 miles west of Pleasant Plan. I think he is there yet. I did not go over to Pleasant Plain when I was in Iowa.

 These men can tell the examiner who were* there now that knew me before the war.

I was sound and in good physical health at and prior to my enlistment. I was never a fleshy man, but I was that healthy and active, always ready to work, and never had a doctor, before//the war.

The asterisk appears at the end of a line of text and points to a note written vertically in the left-hand margin of this page.

*I was at Pleasant Plain but did not go out to the farm. I could find no one in the town that knew me before the war.

It looks like he remembered afterwards that he had gone to Pleasant Plain when he was in Iowa looking for people who could attest to his health before the war.