As much as I love researching my family history and writing about the things I find – the lving have a greater call on my time right now.  Maybe this summer or later this spring things might quiet down a bit and I can get back to research and writing.  In the meantime, thanks for your patience.

According to his Declaration of Intention John Herm [sic] Anstoeter, age 23 emigrated from Hannover and arrived in the United States on 2 August 1869.  He made his declaration of intent on 24 October 1872 in Dubuque County, Iowa. ¹ Family legend states that John Herman arrived in the US in 1868 and went to Kenosha, WI before settling in the vicinity of Farley, Dubuque Co, Iowa.  According to another tradition he accompanied his younger brother Gerhard Heinrich Anstoteter and possibly two other young men named Dalsing. ² I have been unable to locate definative passenger records for any of these individuals.  There are couple of  potential records  – a Hein/Herm Andstotter was recorded on 3 August 1869 age 22 which is too old for the birth year John Herman gave on his marriage record, but otherwise a pretty good match with other records and a Gerhardt Austotter age 16 entered New York 15 November 1869 who is too young for Gerhard who should be 18 but otherwise quite possible.

John Herman Anstoetter was the son of Johannes Theodorus Anstoeter (born 5 Ocotober 1809 to Bernhard Anstoeter and Adelheid Berning, died 25 November 1871) a farmer of Hummeldorf near Salzbergen, Hannover, Germany and his second wife  Anna Dusing [Hulsing/Dulsing?] (born 10 March 1809 in Hesselte to Heinrich Dusing and Margaretha Evers.)  John Herman was born 15 September 1850 and died, of cancer, at his home near Dyersville on 8 February 1915. ³ He married 1^st Elizabeth Erdmann, daughter of Joseph Erdmann and Catherine Bruening, in New Vienna, Dubuque County, on 22 February 1876. Elizabeth Erdmann Anstoetter died 15 April 1888 and John married her younger sister Gertrude Erdmann, in Dubuque, Dubuque County, on 23 June 1891.

John and Elizabeth had 6 children:

1. Joseph born 1877, Iowa, died unmarried c. 1900 (per his father’s obituary – undated photocopy)
2. John G. born 11 November 1878, Iowa, died unmarried 19 December 1919, perhaps of influenza (cemetery records)
3. +Katherine born 18 November 1880, Iowa
4. +Frank Joseph born 7 April 1882, Iowa
5. +Josephine K. born 10 October 1885, Iowa
6. +Henry B born 6 April 1888, Iowa

 John and his second wife Gertrude had 3 children:

1. +Bernard Joseph (aka Bernard Herman and Ben) born 27 September 1893, Iowa
2. +Clara born 25 December 1897, Iowa
3. + Bertha born 18 July 1902, Iowa

+Katherine Anstoetter married Joseph Jasper c. 1899 (birth of first child) Kate died 21 July 1964.  Kate and Joseph had 3 children:

1. Lucile born c. 1899, Iowa
2. Raymond born c. 1902, Iowa
3. Delores born c. 1909, Iowa

+Frank Joseph Anstoetter became estranged from his family at a fairly early age and moved first to Salt Lake City, Utah where he joined the LDS Church and then to California.  He married 1^st Mary Amelia Duchene in Iowa.  He married 2^nd Edna last name unknown, in Salt Lake City before 1918.  Frank died in Alameda County, California in 1948. With his first wife Frank had at least 2 children (where abouts of children unknown in 1920 and 1930):

1. Gerald born c. 1907, Utah
2. Lucy M. born c. 1909, Utah

+Josephine K. Anstoetter married Bernard (Ben) Kluesner c. 1907 (birth of first child.)  They moved to Minnesota shortly after their marriage and their first 3 children were born in Nobles County, Minnesota before they moved back to Dubuque County, Iowa.  Josephine and Ben had 10 children:

1. Henrietta born c. 1907, Minnesota
2. Amelia born c. 1909, Minnesota
3. Hermann N. born c. 1911, Minnesota
4. Adeline J. born c. 1914, Iowa
5. Meta K. born c. 1916, Iowa
6. Rosella M. born c.1918, Iowa
7. Arthur J. born c. 1920, Iowa
8. Bernadette L. born c. 1923, Iowa
9. Grace M. born c. 1925, Iowa
10. Ralph J. born c. 1927, Iowa

+Henry B. Anstoetter married between 1910 and 1915 1^st an unknown wife who died before 1915 when he was listed as widowed in the 1915 Iowa State Census.  He married 2^nd on 23 November 1915 Catherine Henry.  Henry B. died in 1952. Henry and his second wife had 1 child:

1.   William Ennis born after 1930, Iowa

Henry B and Catherine Henry Anstoetter also raised 5 children who were apparently the orphaned children of one of Catherine’s siblings (The History of Farley, Iowa, Farley Historical Society, 1996, page 32.)  These 5 children were – birth surname unknown at this time:

1. Rosemary or Rosella
2. Earl
3. Helen
4. William

+Bernard Joseph (or Bernard Herman) Anstoetter was born 27 September 1893 and died 21 February 1988.  He married Lidwinia (aka Lydia) Kramer (born 30 January 1896, died 9 June 1995) on 18 November 1919 and they lived their entire lives in the area of Farley, Dubuque County, Iowa.  Ben and Lydia had 10 children:

1. +Marian born 1921, Iowa
2. +Charles born 1923, Iowa
3. Ethel (twin) born 1925, Iowa
4. +Esther (twin) born 1925, Iowa
5. +Alice born 1926, Iowa
6. +Gerald born 1928, Iowa
7. +John born 1931, Iowa
8. +Mildred born 1933, Iowa
9. +Bernard born 1935, Iowa
10. +Donald born 1937

+Clara Anstoetter married Anton (called Tony) Jasper circa 1921 (birth of first child.)  Clara died 7 days before her older brother Ben on 14 February 1988.  Clara and Anton had at least 4 children:

1. Leroy born c. 1921, Iowa
2. Emma born c.1923, Iowa
3. Rita born c. 1925, Iowa
4. James born c. 1929, Iowa

 +Bertha Anstoetter married Alphonse Thillen around 1930 (birth of first child.)  Bertha’s mother Gertrude Anstoetter made her home with them during the last years of her life.  Bertha died 14 August 1991.  Bertha and Alphonse had at least 1 child:

                Lila J. born c. 1929, Iowa

Gerhard Heinrich Anstoetter was the son of Johannes Theodorus Anstoeter (born 5 Ocotober 1809 to Bernhard Anstoeter and Adelheid Berning, died 25 November 1871) a farmer of Hummeldorf near Salzbergen, Hannover, Germany and his second wife  Anna Dusing [Hulsing/Dulsing?] (born 10 March 1809 in Hesselte to Heinrich Dusing and Margaretha Evers.)  He was born 15 December 1851 in Hummeldorf.  He immigrated to the US about 1869.  He first appears in US records in the household of Henry and Anne Anstoetter Ovel in Delaware County, Iowa on the 1870 census.  Gerhard married Cahterine Schute in New Vienna Iowa on 8 February 1881.  They lived most of their life in Carroll County, Iowa.  Gerhard died 24 April 1896 in Templeton, Carrol County, Iowa. Catherine married Heinrich Hermann/Hermsen before 1900. Gerhard and Catherine had 4 children:

1. Mary born c. 1884, Iowa
2. Catherine born c. 1890, Iowa
3. +Henry born 2 December 1891, Iowa
4. Joseph born 12 May  1896, Iowa, married Mary last name unknown between 1920-1930, apparently died childless 15 January 1968

+Henry Anstoeter married c. 1923 (birth of first child) Anna last name unknown.  They were resident in Carroll County, Iowa in 1930.  Henry died in December 1975. They had at least 2 children:

1. Lewis born c. 1923, Iowa
2. Katherine born c. 1927, Iowa

Sourcenotes from text

J.R. was John McLeland’s second son.  But John was far from running out of sons with James R.’s death.  At the time of J.R.’s death there were 3 other sons in the household and another on the way. However, at the time John McLeland applied for his son’s pension, the family had lost 2 sons and 3 daughters and John McLeland had outlived 3 wives.

I wasn’t sure, when I wrote away for this pension file, exactly what I’d receive.  I’d never seen a pension application of this type before.  When the thick packet arrived I put it aside for a few days.  I was busy with other things.  Then, in the quiet of a Sunday evening I opened the envelope and almost immediately started cheering.  I hit the biggest jackpot of my 20 years in Genealogy.

Not only does this affidavit give me the names of all of John McLeland’s wives and the dates of their marriages, it also gives me the dates and places of their deaths.  And if that wasn’t enough, the affidavit names each of John’s surviving children and gives their complete birth dates!  What more could I possibly ask?

Well, in the packet there are affidavits signed by John’s oldest daughter Caroline McLeland Gallaher Livesey and documents signed by his oldest daughter by his second marriage Mathilda McLeland Hill and by her husband John Hill.

In addition there is a date and place of death for John McLeland and a record of the guardianship procceding undertaken by John and Matilda Hill shortly before her father’s death that detail his extremely poor physical and mental health. And there is an affidavit from James Frazier who witnessed the wedding of John and his first wife Mathilda Asher and who is perhaps the oldest son of Polly McLeland Frazier and therefor John’s oldest nephew (I can’t be sure of that since he doesn’t give his relationship to John in his affidavit but his age aligns perfectly!)

I guess you could say, not only did James R McLeland give his name to my father, but he gave his family to me!

Some ancestors are there but they are speculative.  Often this is the case when someone else has identified a potential ancestor, occasionally with a level of documentation that satsifies the orginal research but not me. In many cases this tentative ancestor will link me to a well documented lineage that goes back anywhere from 2 to 6 additional generations.  Examples of this abound in early Maine.  Sometimes the problematic ancestor doesn’t even have a tentative name.  And sometimes they have a name and nothing else. So rather than do an exhaustive post on each one of the many, I thought I’d start out with a simple list of,

Ancestors who refuse to be documented

Thomas Adams, potential father of Anne Adams Gould, possibly Harpswell, York & other counties, Maine, died before 1800. – According to Charles N. Sinnett  Thomas is a descendant of Phillip Adams of York, Maine, 1650 signer of the submission to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.   Sinnett says he married Sarah Tarr and lived in Harpswell, Maine.  According to one descendant’s brag book bio – Thomas and possibly 1 or more of his sons were killed “by pirates” at Damariscotta.  The brag book said this was near the Barbary Coast – the pirate connection I guess.  But Damariscotta is in Maine not too far from Harpswell.  No evidence for Thomas or for Sarah have I ever found.  However, Anne Adams Gould named her first son Thomas Adams Gould.   If I accept Thomas as an ancestor I then have a couple more very well documented generations in Maine. So who knows.

Joseph Gould, probable father of Moses Gould (and Jacob Gould) of Georgetown/Bath and Lisbon, Maine, born c. 1740′s deceased by 1800.  There are far too many Joseph Goulds in Maine during this period.  Depending on which site/book you believe the various Gould families of Maine are either completely unrelated or completely inter-related.  I have found nothing that connects Moses to a specific Joseph except a possible will – one generation removed, several naming patterns and a poorly documented group of websites/book.  Depending on which Joseph I accept as my ancestor I could have a fairly well documented English ancestry back to the 1400s.  Would be nice.

James and Christian Savage, supposed progenitors of Isaac Savage of Georgetown, Woolwich and Hallowell/Augusta, Maine, born before 1700 in Northern Ireland  and died c. 1745 Georgetown Maine. Isaac is one of the best documented early Maine ancestors I have.  But his parents seem to have sprung out of the mind of someone(s) before the turn of the 20th century.  I’ve found precious little documentation for the existance of either James or Christian (sometimes called Christine Hunter)  Supposedly there are land records but I’ve found nothing in the early Maine records.  They may the subject of a Boston warning out around 1720 but that is also nebulous.  They are driving me crazy.

George Whitman – may have married Phoebe Holly (?) in Orange County, NY around 1750.  He shows up on the 1790 census and is dead by the time his family settled in Greenbrier County, West Virginia in 1793.

Adam (and Alice his wife) Carson – Hallowell, Maine in the 1770s, father of Alice Carson Savage who married Joseph son of Isaac Savage – see above.  Adam and Alice’s names come from the 1775 marriage record of their daughter and the record of their son William who married Hannah Savage sister of Joseph.  There are a few references to Adam in the early records of Hallowell and that is it.  A complete and total blank beyond that.

Joseph Rulon – possible father for Jane Rulon McLeland, although some folks say his name should be David.  There is an inventory for his estate from the 1790s in Clark County, Kentucky.  And that is it.

?? Overman – possibly father of Penina Jane Overman Swartz.  A real mystery man.  Possibly named Charles. May have died in Clark County, Indiana around 1820.  Possibly has a brother Samuel.  Maybe born in North Carolina.

Once T.A. returned  to Deer Creek, from the Civil War, his married life truly began.  He and Caroline Decker McLeland began married life as farmers on the rolling prairies of SW Kansas. Over the next 20 years, they had 8 children and buried 3 as infants. Life was not easy for them but they got by.  Surviving letters from Caroline are full of ill health, family moving away and weather trouble.

As the surviving  McLeland children grew up one by one, they moved away from Allen County, mirroring the migratory ways of the country around them.

Joanna, the oldest married Henry Clay Taylor and began a rootless life as the wife of a salesman.  The Taylors lived in Chicago during the 1893 World’s Fair and some of the McLeland’s visited them and went to the Great White City. Sarah Jane McLeland spend considerable time with her older sister, helping her through illnesses and other family trials

James Riland McLeland, their oldest son was born on a family trip back to Frankfort Indiana.  He is most likely named after his paternal great grand parents – John McLeland and Jane Rulon/Rulond/Riland.  James was the first of the family to attend school past the local upper school.  A graduate of the Kansas City Dental College he moved to Pleasanton, Linn County, KS where he put down roots.  He married Nellie Valentine Whitman, daughter of a respected Pleasanton pioneer and merchant.  After the birth of his first son, George, J.R. became mayor of Pleasanton.  He was mayor when his mother Caroline died in 1912.  The Pleasanton newspaper printed her obituary with the headline, Mayor’s Mother Passes.

Sarah Jane McLeland, T.A.’s second daughter never married.  For a number of years she filled the traditional role of spinster sisters and unmarried daughters.  Moving around the family residences she took care of sick family members and kept house for unmarried brothers.  But at some point , Sarah went to Secretarial College and became a career woman.  She worked as an Executive Secretary for Berlesser and Isaacs in Kansas City until her retirement in the 1950s.

Thomas Albert McLeland – T.A. jr. married a local girl and settled into Iola Kansas, not far from his parents but not on the family farm.  T.A. jr andGeneviere, his wife had two daughters Lucille and Winifred spent their entire lives in the Iola area.

The youngest surviving son, Benjamin Clifford McLeland, B.C. moved from Allen County to other Kansas counties and then spent some time in Oklahoma.  He apparently spent the last several years of his life in New Mexico.  His life is hard to trace.  Bsed on the meager evidence of family photos and census entries he worked in the early oil business and then for a railroad.  B.C. and his wife, Bertha had two children, Rollo and /Augusta and adopted a second daughter Jesse Young.  I have been completely unable to trace Rollo after his induction into the Navy in 1920.  Austa apparently died quite young.  Jesse married late in life and died in Texas where her husband worked in the oil industry.

Once their children had moved away T.A. and Caroline  moved into the “city” of Kansas City, KS and Thomas went to work for the Federal Government. He was 59 when he began his second career as a government employee. In 1894, he was a tagger for the Department of Agriculture. By 1907 at age 70 he was a stock inspector making $1200 per year. I know his salary because it was published in the Annual reports of the Department of Agriculture for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1906. Report of the Secretary of Agriculture. Departmental reports.

Caroline Decker McLeland died in 1912 with her oldest son and youngest daughter by her side.  T.A. worked for the Department of Agriculure until shortly before his death in 1917 at the age of 82.  During their lifetimes, the telegraph, railroad, automobile, telephone, residential gas and electrical service and early telephone service were all introduced to the world.  I know that they traveled by train, electrified their home in Kansas City and sent at least 1 telegraph.  T.A. and Caroline were ordinary people who were also swimmers in the fast rushing tide of history.  I am proud to be their descendent.

Paul Lattner
Extracted from Portrait and Biographical Record of Dubuque, Jones and Clayton Counties, Iowa, 1894. Reprinted by Higginson Book Co., Salem, Massachusetts, p. 212

PAUL LATTNER, now deceased, was for many years one of the most prosperous and influential businessmen of Worthington. He was a native of Germany, having been born in Volketshousen, June 29,1832, and was the eldest of three sons born to Joseph and Veronica Lattner. The father of our subject was likewise a native of the Fatherland and was born February 4, 1803, while his good wife was born the same day and month but in the year 1810.

Joseph Lattner was a mechanic and upon emigrating to the New World with his family in 1847 located at Port Jarvis, N.Y., where he was employed with the railroad force in the construction of the New York & Erie Road. Three years later he moved to Zanesville, Ohio, and while there was contractor for the Lake Shore Road. He departed this life in 1852, and after his decease his widow and children spent a year in Hamilton, Ontario, after which they moved to Niagara Falls, N.Y.

The subject of this sketch, in company with his brothers Jacob and Wendelin, also followed contracting, building many roads in the west, among the last work of the kind being a three-mile track for the Dubuque & Pacific, now the Illinois Central Road, in this county. R. B. Moran, who let the contract, failed in business and the brothers were obliged to accept a large amount of land in payment for their services. In 1860 they laid out the now thriving town of Lattner’s and opened up in the mercantile business. The following year the Lattner brothers erected a steam sawmill in the place and in 1864 completed the construction of the woolen mill. The firm was a most prosperous one; the brothers amassed a considerable fortune and continued together until 1872, when the connection was dissolved.

Paul Lattner conducted the mercantile trade in the above place until 1886, when he disposed of his interest, and a year later we find him located in Worthington, where his younger brother, the Hon. Wendelin Lattner, was engaged in the mercantile business. Our subject followed farming near the city for three years after coming here, and in 1880 opened up a hotel, which he carried on in the most profitable manner until his decease, which occurred January 14, 1891.

Our subject served for many years as Justice of the Peace at Lattner’s, and was consequently known as Squire Lattner. He also held the position of Postmaster of the above place, and in 1884 was appointed to the same position at Worthington by President Cleveland. He was Notary Public for some time, and in 1875 was brought prominently before the public as a candidate for the Legislature and was defeated by a very small majority. He had filled the position of Township, Clerk eight years. He was a citizen always on the side of every social and moral reform and none knew him but to respect and love him. As a friend he was stanch and true, and the poor and distressed found in him a cheerful helper, to whom no appeal was made in vain.

Paul Lattner was married in Independence, Iowa, November 15, 1857, to Miss Amanda Lesher, a native of Ohio, and of Dutch ancestry. At his death our subject left a family of fifteen children, nine sons and six daughters. The eldest, Jacob F. is editor of the Cedar Rapids Journal. Wendline H. is one of the proprietors of the Kansas City Star. Samuel B. is engaged in the hardware business in Worthington. Joseph is a tinsmith in the employ of his brother Samuel. Paul is an engineer at Kansas City; John, George, Peter and Raymond are at home with their widowed mother. The eldest daughter, Mary Amanda, is now Sister Mary Boniface, of the Franciscan Order of Dubuque. Susan is the wife of P. Vandever, of Dyersville; Clara is Mrs. John Klassen, residing in Granville, this state, where her husband is engaged in the hardware business; Ella, Rosa and Anna are at home. The family occupies a pleasant home in Worthington, which was built by Mrs. Lattner after the decease of our subject.

Samuel B. Lattner, the third son of our subject, was born at Lattner’s, February 5, 1862, where he was given a good education. When only twenty years of age he engaged in the livery business in Worthington, and continued thus to operate for three years when he disposed of his stables and opened up a hardware establishment and has built up a large and profitable trade. He also handles agricultural implements and owns a large warehouse stocked with all kinds of carriages and buggies, to which branch of business he gives his personal attention. On the death of his honored father he was appointed Notary Public in his place, and is still the incumbent of the position he has been Village Clerk since the incorporation of the place, and also has been Treasurer of the School Board for the past five years. Like all of his ancestors he is a Democrat in politics and a devout member of the Catholic Church.

Samuel Lattner was married in 1885 to Miss Mary, daughter of Daniel Gerhart, a retired farmer of Hopkinton, and this state. To them have been born three daughters, Emma, Laura and Rebecca. This gentleman occupies one of the finest residences in the place. It is pleasantly located on an elevation just south of the business portion of Worthington and commands a good view of the surrounding country. Samuel Lattner has ever borne his part in the development and upbuilding of his community and is a prominent and influential citizen, highly respected throughout this section, where he has a large circle of friends and acquaintances.

Next up the story of Veronica Wieser Lattner’s brother Anton Wieser and his family’s life in Iowa.

The information comes from the parish records of St. Cyriakus, Salzbergen, Hannover, Germany. These records are not on microfilm at the LDS Family History Library. Anstoeter in German is usually spelled Anstoter with an umlate over the o.

Johannes Theodorus Anstoeter was a farmer in Hummeldorf, born 10 May 1809, died 26 November 1871 in Hummeldorf Jungehusling.
father – Bernhard Anstoeter
mother Adelheid Berning

Johannes married, 24 September 1844, as his first wife Maria Aleid Husling of Holsten, born 25 September 1820 and died 28 July 1849 in Hummeldorf.
Maria Aleid Husling’s parents were:
father – Jan Berend Jundge Husling
mother – Susanna Niemery

Johannes married second, on 21 November 1849, Anna Catherine Dusing of Hesselte who died 7 August 1868 in Hummeldorf
Anna Catherine Dusing’s parents were:
father – Heinrich Dusing
mother – Margaretha Evers.

Johannes and Maria Aleid had the following children baptised at St. Cyriakus Salzbergen

1. Johan Bernard  born 26 July 1845 Hummeldorf  died 7 March, 1903 in Hummeldorf
2. Herman Bernard Dirck born 4 September, 1847 Hummeldorf (whom we knew as John Herman, but who named one of his sons Bernard!)

Johannes and Anna Catherine had the following children baptised at St. Cyriakus, Salzbergen:

3. Gerhard Heinrich born 15 December, 1851 Hummeldorf

Herman andd Gerhard emigrated to Iowa in about 1869.  According to Karin they were probably draft dodgers. Gerhardt and Herman emigrated with two of their Dusling cousins from Salzbergen. They took ship from Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

“John” Herman Berhard Ansoteter, married first Elizabeth Erdman and after her death he married her youngest sister Gertrude. John Herman died 8 FEB 1915 in Dubuque County, Iowa.

Gerhard Heinrich Anstoeter died 24 April 1896 in Templeton, Carrol County, Iowa.  He married Catherine Schlichte.

According to Karin the surname Anstoeter means a person or family which lives at the borderline of two countries (from the german word anstossen “to border at”).   The Anstoeter family lived, in the middle of the 19th century, at the borderline between the Kingdom of Hanover and the Kingdom of Prussia. The farm still exists at the same place,  now is is on the borderline between two German states Lower-Saxony and Northrhine-Westphalia.  This is a rare surname.  All of the Anstoet[t]ers in the United States descend from Herman or Gerhardt.

The only other Anstoetter I know to have emigrated to the U.S. was Anna Adelheid Anstoetter, who was of a previous generation.  She was born in 1800 and married Gerhardt Ovel in 1829 in Salzebergen.  She and Gerhardt emigrated in the 1850s and she died in Delaware County, Iowa in 1878.  She was the younger sister of Johannes Theodorus and therefore the aunt of Herman and Gerhard.  It is quite probably that the Antoetter young men lived with she and Gerhardt Ovel when they emigrated.