Hockemeier -- quite a name!

We all are given two sets of biological grandparents and four sets of great-grandparents.  For Lizzie Reiter Metzner (1874 - 1958) we have already looked at one set, the Schoppmans, who immigrated in the mid-1840s and settled in the Fort Wayne area.  Another set of Lizzie’s great-grandparents are circled in yellow on the right. They are Fridrich Wilhelm (William) Hockemeier (1782-1854) and his wife, Sophie Wilhelmine (Mena) Busching (1792-?).

The Hockemeiers settled in the Fort Wayne area about the same time as the Schoppman, and they came from the same area in northwest Germany. But the Hockemeiers have been one of the hardest families to research.  That’s mostly because there are dozens of variations on their last name – Hockemeyer, Hachmyer, Hookemeyer, Hokemyer, etc. etc. etc.  And to top it off, many of the boys born in the family were called William, Fred, Henry, or Herman.  They are all over the place in Allen County which makes for a giant puzzle that’s been hard to piece together.  There are 15 individual family trees on Ancestry.com for the Hockemeiers.  Each is slightly different, and not always for the better. I chalk it up to the fact that all these researchers have been having an equally difficult time with this family.

The Hockemeiers’ German records have been easier to find than their American counterparts -- that’s because the Lutheran Church in Germany has kept phenomenal records since the 1700s. An untold number have been microfilmed by the Mormans.

Our William was born in the small village of Buchholz in Minden-Westfalen, Prussia on 29 October 1782.  Mena was born in Ovenstadt on 6 Mar 1792.  Their marriage is recorded in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Buchholz (left) on 27 Aug 1819, as are the baptisms of their six children.  One of those children, Caroline Sophie Louise Hockemeier, would eventually marry Johann Dietrich Friedrich Schoppman, bringing together the two family names. 

LEFT: Evangelical Lutheran Church at Buchholz, built in the 13th century.

It is unknown when William and Mena came to the U.S. but they were here by 1850 living in Marion Township, Allen County, Indiana, as recorded in the 1850 U.S. Census.  By then, William is along in years.  At 70 he is listed with no occupation. His son Frederick, age 24, is working as a laborer and is likely the breadwinner in the family.

ABOVE: 1850 Census of Indiana, Allen County, Marion Township lists the Hacamyer [sic] family:

William, age 70, male, no occupation, real estate value $300, born Germany, cannot read or write (probably English)
Mena, age 60, female, born Germany
Frederick, age 24, male, laborer, born Germany
Rosetta, age 19, female, born Germany
Henry, age 13, male, born Germany, attended school in previous year

The facts outlined here seem to be universally agreed upon by Hockemeier researchers, including that William died on 23 October 1854. No one has found a record of death or burial for Mena, though one researcher claims she died in 1897, which would have made her 105 -- it’s possible but probably not likely.  We may never know what happened to Mena following the death of William.

William’s and Mena’s time in the U.S. may not have been long but four of their children thrived here, had big families, and many of their descendants continue to live in Allen County.  In the next blog we’ll look at more of the Hockemeiers, especially their connection with the Schoppmans.  




RIGHT: Cemetery Marker, St. John Lutheran Cemetery Bingen, in Decatur, Indiana.  Text is written in German and translates as follows:

Here rests with God, Wilhelm Hockemeier, born in Buchholz, county of Minden, [state] of Prussia, died on 23 Oct. 1854, age 71 years [the remainder is illegible] 

Clues from John Metzner

Our Metzner ancestry can be traced in America to brothers John Metzner of Jay County, Indiana; William Metzner of Licking County, Ohio; and presumed brother George Metzner of Putnam County, Ohio.  John is the only one that has a published biography (Biographical and Historical Record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana, 1887).  It identifies his parents as Jasper Metzner and Hannah Risanburg and eight children in the following order: Rachel, John, William, George, Hannah, Andrew, Nicholas, and Mary.

The children found in the Heldburg, Germany records (that I shared in the blog of 1/18/2014) for Johann Caspar Metzner and Johanne Susanna Weissenborn, are surprisingly close in name to those in John’s biography.

Rachel – not listed in the German records

John – listed as Johann Veit, b. 3 Oct 1807

William – listed as Ernst Friedrich Wilhelm, b. 18 Mar 1811

George – listed as Georg, b. 30 Mar 1813

Hannah – listed as Johanna Henrietta Maria, b. 8 Aug 1809

Andrew – listed as Georg Andreas, b. 7 Mar 1815

Nicholas – listed as Johann Nicol, b. 25 Feb 1818

Mary – listed as Anna Maria, b. 15 Dec 1824

There is one other boy listed in the German records who is not accounted for in John’s biography:

Johann Bernhard, b. 7 Jan 1821

William Metzner's marker

Unfortunately, there are some discrepancies between the biographical information and the German records.  Rachel is not found in the German records while Bernhard is, though he's not identified in John’s biography.  John’s birth date in U.S. records is 2 Oct 1805 – a difference of two years and a day from the German record.  William's birth date is also problematic.  His cemetery marker notes that he was 75y 2m 28d when he died, giving him a birth date of 11 Mar 1807 – four years and a week earlier than the German record. Still, that's not enough for me to discard this potential German family.

There is also a statement in John’s biography that I challenge.  It reads,

 “His father [i.e., Jasper] died in 1838 on the ocean while crossing to America.”  

If we are to believe that this German family is ours, then the above statement may be a misinterpretation of the facts by whomever recorded the biography.       I believe John meant that his father Jasper died while John was crossing to America.  I feel even more certain of it now that I’ve read John Metzner’s obituary from the Portland Commercial, 22 Dec 1887, thanks to cousin and fellow researcher Travis LeMaster who found the entry. The obituary states . . .

“John Metzner was born in Germany, October 21, 1805, came to America in 1837 …” 

So now we have an additional discrepancy in the year of John's arrival.  Is it 1838 or 1837? Finding John in U.S. Immigration & Passenger Records has been tricky.  He does not show up in 1838 (as purported in his biography) under the name John or Johann Metzner. In fact, there is no one that fits the bill arriving in 1838.  There is, however, someone in 1837.   V. Metzner arrived in Baltimore on 24 May 1837.  Could the V be for Veit (in Johann Veit Metzner)? Take a look at the record below.

 

What is exciting about this record is that V. Metzner is listed from “Hellburg” and is a “wheeler.”  I suspect a wheeler is someone who makes wheels for carriages and wagons.  We’ve seen the carriage and wagon-making trade in the Metzner family before, and we’ve certainly seen references to a town called Hellburg, Heldburg, or Hillburgh.

There are two small problems with this particular passenger -- V. Metzner’s age is 29, making his birth year about 1808. That doesn’t jive with our other dates (either 1805 or 1807).  Also, he is traveling with Margaretha Metzner.  While this is likely his wife, there is no family history of John being married before Catherine Young, and the German records do not confirm an earlier marriage.  Puzzle! 
 
But the whole story of Jasper dying at sea in 1838 is what I challenge and this particular passenger record helps me argue that point.  The German records show that Johann Caspar Metzner (John’s presumed father) died in Germany on 11 Mar 1837, exactly at the time that V. Metzner was traveling to America. If Caspar (Jasper) is our ancestor, he didn’t die at sea as noted in the biography – he died while John was “at sea.”  Caspar’s German death record further indicates that at the time of his death he had one son in America – I propose that that was V. Metzner a.k.a. our John Metzner of Jay County.

Death & Burial, 1837                                                                              

No 32.  Johann Caspar Metzner. Husband, citizen and cartwright here, died the11^th March in the 4^th hour of the morning, and buried the 14^th March after midday, age: 59 years 7 months 23 days; died of emaciation [sometimes defined as tuberculosis].  Survived by 8 children [von k___]  [including] 1 son in America [born here] and 2 married daughters.

 

Are the discrepancies outlined here enough to throw this family out of contention as our ancestors?  I don't think so, but I’ll continue to look at others as they reveal themselves. Anyone doing Metzner research who would like to chime in on the validity of my theory, I welcome the discourse. 

Hillburg or Helbourg

Getting the Metzners back to Germany has been quite a chore.  No family stories have been passed down telling us where the Metzners may have lived Germany.  There are only a few clues from public records -- those are outlined in “Clues from George Metzner” on 1/11/2014.  Based on those clues, I found a family that might work for our German ancestors.  Of course, it is just a theory and certainly up for debate. I welcome others’ thoughts on my findings.

The most significant clue is revealed through George Metzner (1813-1875) and William Metzner (1811-1882), presumed brothers.   It is a place name – Hillburg or Helbourg – mentioned in U.S. census records for these men.  Another clue is found in George Metzner’s passenger record of 1841. It lists Coburg as his German residence.  With that I looked for a Hillburg or Helbourg near Coburg – Coburg being a sizable town in southern Germany. Slogging through old maps of Germany I found a couple places that could be our Metzner homeland.

1890 map of the State of Thϋringen. It neighbors Saxony which is where American records say our German ancestors came from. Saxony's borders changed many times so it's perfectly likely that Thϋringen, at one time, may have been part of Saxony, or visa versa. This map shows Coburg (Koburg) where George Metzner lived prior to coming to America in 1841.   Hildburgh or Heldburg (circled in red) may be a family hometown as noted in U.S. census records for brothers George and William Metzner.     

Next I looked for possible records microfilmed by the Latter Day Saints in the Coburg area.  There were church records from Heldburg but they were too early to do me much good.  There were also records from Hellborn.  I rented those but had no luck.  So what could I do? How would I figure out if our family might have come from either of these places?  

That’s when I decided to write a letter – it was September 2002 and I wrote to the Staatsarchiv Coburg.  They were nice enough to reply – in German – but I got the drift of the letter. They directed me to another repository – the Ev.-Luth. Pfarramt Heldburg-Ummerstadt.  That repository informed me that I would have to wait until January 2004 (nearly a year later!) because the church records for Heldburg were out-of-house being microfilmed and then they would be transferred to the Lutheran Church Archives in Thϋringen.   It was a long year!  In February 2004 I wrote to the Thϋringen archive and it took another full year for them to get back to me. 

Based on the little bit of information I gave them, they responded with a family that is an uncanny match to ours.  I gave them the following data: 

-         Jasper Metzner married Hannah Risanburg, date unknown

-         They had at least 8 children including John (b. 1805), William (b. 1807), and George (b. 1813)

-         The family may have come from Hellburg or Coburg 

Envelope containing records sent by the Thuringen archives.

The day the envelope arrived from Germany was like Christmas, ten times over!  It was so thick I knew there had to be something promising in there.  Also promising was the bill they included – 150€ -- basically $300 including the cost of an international bank transfer. Worth every penny!!!

The archivist sent me all the church records from Heldburg (between 1773-1834) that contained the name Metzner, but she transcribed nothing. It took me weeks to work through the records and understand what I had.  And what I had was a family that seemed to fit.  There were eight children with names similar to those listed in John Metzner’s biography (Biographical & Historical Record of Jay & Blackford Counties, Indiana, 1887) – Rachel, John, William, George, Hannah, Andrew, Nicholas, Mary. The father's and mother’s names were similar to Jasper and Hannah Risanburg Metzner, and Jasper was a “cartwright” – a similar occupation to the brothers John, William, and George who have been variously listed as coach maker, wagon maker, and harness maker. 

There are three records for Jasper and Hannah which follow. It includes my translation, the original handwritten record, and my best guess to the German text.  Note: text in brackets [ ] contain words and phrases that I could not translate adequately and have given my best guess as to their meanings or German spelling:

  

·         Marriage, 1804-1805                                                     

6. Johann Caspar Metzner.  Citizen and cartwright here, the youngest legitimate son of Johann  Andreas Metzner, cartwright at [Wolamind], and a bachelor, [married to] Johanna Susanna Weissenborn, the oldest legitimate daughter of Johann Conrad Weissenborn, citizen and tanner here; it is her first marriage; banns were posted three times; marriage [on the] 21^st August [with something done in Stille i.e., silence]

6. Johann Caspar Metzner. Burger und Wagner allhier, das Meister Johann Andreas Metzner Wagner zu Wolamind, ehelich jungster Sohn ein Junggeselle war das mit Johanna Susanna Weissenbornin, Meister  Johann Conrad Weissenborn Burger und Roth gerber allhier, ehelich altester Tochter er ster Ehe jungfruelichen Standes, auf vorher  [gegengener?] 3 [maliger] Aufgebot das 21 August von der [Betstunde] in des Stille [au pulirl]

·         Death & Burial, 1837                                                                              

No 32.  Johann Caspar Metzner. Husband, citizen and cartwright here, died the11^th March in the 4^th hour of the morning, and buried the 14^th March after midday, [illegitimate church?*], age: 59 years 7 months 23 days; died of emaciation [sometimes defined as tuberculosis].  Survived by 8 children [von k___]  [including] 1 son in America [born here] and 2 married daughters 

                

*perhaps means he was not a member of the church 

                                                                  

[nrott:] 32. Johann Caspar Metzner, Ehemann, Burger und Wagnermeister dahier, sterb den 11 Marz fruh 4 Uhr, und ____ beerdigot das 14 Marz, Nachmittag, [unehel_ kirche]  Er war alt: 59 Jahr 7 Monate 23 Tags; und Sterb au Auszehrung.  [Erhietralost] 8 Kinder, [von k___] 1 Sohn nach  Amerika aus [geburtsort] und 2 Tochter verheiratet

·         Death & Burial, 1846                                                                            

23/Johanne Susanna Metzner

born Weissenbornin 8/3 1783 63 years 2 months 22 days

Died 30 May 4^th hour of the morning

Widow of  ___ Gr____ citizen and master cartwright Joh. Caspar Metzner; died following [Kuiszawantz__ung], buried [with ceremony?] 

on 2 June before midday. Bell ringing at 10 o’clock. 

23/Johanne Susanna Metzner gbr Weissenbornin 8/3/783  63 J. 2 M.  22 E.)  
das 30 Mai Morgan 4 Uhr.

eine Wittwe das ___ Gr___ Burg. & Wagner meister Joh. Caspar Metzner, ist gestorben in folz [von] [Kuiszawantz_ung] be  gradult [von] De [Ceremon] 
2 Jun Vormitt.  10 Uhr und Glochen gelaute.

My theory is that Jasper Metzner, identified in John Metzner’s Jay County, Indiana biography, is Johann Caspar Metzner.  Hannah Risanburg, mentioned in the same biography, is Johanne Susanna Weissenborn. They were married on August 21, 1804.

I don’t think it is a stretch to accept Caspar for Jasper.  And Hannah would be an abbreviated name for Johanne. It is her surname that is the most problematic.  How do we accept Weissenborn for Risanburg?  My theory is that John (or perhaps one of his children) provided the information for John’s biography which was published in 1887, one year before his death.  It is almost certain that he spoke with a heavy German accent.  If he was the one conveying the history, with his heavy accent, the person taking the information may have heard Risanburg for Weissenborn.  And perhaps John, in his old age, had other infirmities that caused his speech to be less clear.  Even if his children were conveying the biography, they, all reared in the United States, would have completely different accents than their father and may also have heard Weissenborn as Risanburg.  Someday I’d like to find someone with a good strong German accent to pronounce Weissenborn for me and see if I hear Risanburg. 

I'll let you absorb the above before I outline more clues. There are a few more. The theory continues… 

Auf Wiedersehen!