Johannes Norman

Personal and Family Information

Johannes was born on 15 DEC 1861 in Spiesen, Saarland, Germany, the son of Bernardus Normann and Margaretha Greber.

He died on 8 FEB 1944 in Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois.

His wife was Katherine Kemmerling, who he married in BEF 1885 in Wisconsin. Their eight known children were William H. (1885-1973), Caroline (1887-1920), Janet (1891-<1981), Eva Theresa (1894-1975), Bernard Conrad (1896-1983), Amie Loretta (1900-1934), Leo George (1902-1972) and Marie (1904-?).

Pedigree Chart (3 generations)

Events

Notes

Note 1

!Source: Phyllis Grissom's sources: 16. A HISTORY OF THE GREBER/GRAEBER/ GRABER FAMILY 1680 - 1980, Kathleen Neumann Graber, A HISTORY OF THE GREBER/GRAEBER/ GRABER FAMILY 1680 - 1980 [privately published], page 48. Cit. Date: 15 Dec 2001 37. llinois Statewide Marriage Index 1763 - 1900.

!Note: US Census of 1900 gives birthdate incorrectly as June 1861.

!Note: Infant of Prague with Madona given to him by mother before leaving for America. Handed down to Jane Hotchkiss by Phyllis Grissom Nee Norman.

!Note: Johannes said his "uncle" was the Exchequer of the Bank of England, according to Phillis Grissom Nee Norman. If so he may have been related to Montague Norman. However, The pedigree of Montagu[e] Norman, and the history of the Norman family in Spiesen, Germany makes this seem unlikely, unless purhaps the Christianus F. Norman [abt 1763 to 1825] line was desended somehow from this illustrious English family. This was not impossible, as the Montague Norman family did have connections in and near Germany, as seen below. We have, so far, not been able to trace the ancestry of Christianus F. Norman. Therefore, a brief family history of Baron Montagu Collet Norman, governor of the Bank of England, is included here:

!Insert: [Source: "Dictionary of National Bibliography 1941-50", ed. L.G. Wickham Legg & E. T. Williams, 1959] -- Born in London, 6 Sep 1871, the elder son of Frederick Henry Norman, a partner in Martins Bank and son of George Warde Norman, a director of the Bank of England. His mother was Lina Susan Penelope, daughter of [Sir] Mark Wilks Collet, sometime governor of the Bank of England, who was created a baronet for services in connection with the conversion of the National Debt in 1888. Montagu left King's College, Cambridge, after a year, to learn German in Leipzig. He returned to England in 1892. In 1933 Montagu married Priscilla Cecilia Maria Worsthorne, daughter of Major Robert Reyntiens of the Belgian Artillery and Lady Alice Reyntiens, daughter of the seventh Earl of Abington. Montagu's wife survived his death in London on 4 Feb 1950, although there were no children, and his peerage became extinct.

!Note: When arriving at his point of entry in the U.S., Johannes was met on shipboard, by a gentleman unknown to him, who greeted him, and introduced himself as his sister Margareta's husband. This stranger told the young man that in order to enter the country, he needed to sign the legal document the stranger was carrying. John did this. Later, when John went to draw upon the funds he had brought with him from Germany, he found they had been withdrawn and he was pennyless. John tried until 1924 to locate his sister, but failed in his search. John's portion was something in the neighborhood of 10,000 Deutsch Marks or dollars, we don't know which.

!P: John settled in Mineral Point, Wisconsin.

!Notes: From Vivienne Trace provided by Phyllis Grissom. - Katherine [Kemmerling] married Johannes NORMANN - [1023] [MRIN:192], son of Bernardus NORMANN-[994] and Margaretha GREBER-[523], in 1885 in Wisc.[12] Johannes was born on 15 Dec 1861 in Spiesen , Saarland Germany,13 died about 1940 in Rockford Winnebago County, Ill about age 79, and was buried in Mineral Point, Iowa County, Wisconsin. - General Notes: "Johannes came to America when he was about 17 years old with his brother Bernard, 2 years older. They were the two youngest in a family of eight and were the only members of Margarethat Greber Norman's family who came to America. - The boys stopped off first in Pennsylvania, which was the pattern of all the Greber immigrants. They visited with their Uncle Nicholas and Uncle Conrad. Bernard decided to stay and work in the mnes, but John opted for moving on west to Wisconsin. John settled in Mineral Point where he became a carpenter. His Uncle Hannickle, Uncle John and Aunt Sophia Lawinger were living there. - One of his grandsons, Donald Kuelper, remembers that John alloted himself 25 cents a week for a trip to town on Saturday, where he treated himself to a shave, a glass of beer and a game of cards with the 'boys'" [page 49 "A History of the Greber Families] - Phyllis Norman Grissom tells us that "My grandfather John Normann changed the spelling of his last name. This was done during the first World War. Feelings ran high at the time. Normann was German and Norman could have been English. How anyone would have mistaken Grandfather for English is beyond me. He had a very distinct German accent. Perhaps the name change helped his children. Among the many things that he told me, I remember him telling how boys were sent off at a young age to be apprenticed into a trade. He must have been very young to have learned the trade of carpentry well enough to practice that trade in this country. He arrived here as a lad of 16. Even at that young age he could have had at least 10 years of training in this field. - Noted events in his life were: * He died on 8 Feb 1944 in Rockford Winnebago County, Ill.[14] NORMAN JOHN M/W UNK 0009215 1944-02-08 WINNEBAGO ROCKFORD - - No place of burial is given. Grandpa Norman was buried out of state. He was buried in Mineral point Wisc.