Anna Roos b. 1854

Anna Roos, 3rd great aunt on RootsMagic tree

Anna Christina was the 2nd child of Garbrand and Catharina Renistra Roos, born in 1854 probably in the Netherlands, near north western Germany where her parents were married. In 1862 the Roos family sailed to New York on the Adler, Anna was 9 years old. Her family lived in Ogle County, Illinois until she was about 18. roos, anna and devries marraigeThen by 1872 the family lived in Grundy County, Iowa. In Grundy County on May 2, 1880 Anna married Ippe Devries whose family came to America from Germany in 1866 when Ippe was 15. Anna and Ippe started a family (at least 7 kids) and farmed. They’re on the census in Butler County in 1880 and 1900. On the 1910 census, the family was in Seneca, Illinois and owned a dairy farm. The older sons were farm hands, the oldest daughter a trained nurse.

roos, j devries, i landBy August 1912 they were back in Iowa and featured in the Butler County Tribune and Aplington newspapers along with Anna’s brother John. “Allison: John Roos one of the wealthiest land owners of Jefferson township has sold out his land holding in Nobles County, Minnesota and has bought the Ippe De Vries quarter in section 26 of Bennezette township. John says Iowa land is good enough for him”. Anna lived to age 88, Ippe to age 86, both are buried in Pleasant View Cemetery in Aplington, Iowa.

Sources:

The Aplington News, 1912 Aug 29 page 1 column 6 top John Roos selling his Nobles, Minnesota land

Iowa, County Marriages 1838-1934 database, Roos, Anna and Ippe Devries 1880 marriage with license, return and marriage date of May 2, right side 3rd from bottom

1880, 1900, 1910 US census at FamilySearch.org

Find a Grave memorial 

Annie Antje Henrichs b. 1869

Annie Antje Henrichs, 2nd great grandmother in RootsMagic tree

Annie Henrichs is mentioned in the Greene Recorder February 5, 2003 in an article on
Mission in a Mile, Church Stories from Butler Center, Iowa by Herbert Freese published in 2002. (I read this book through an inter-library loan, contacted who I thought was the author, turned out to be the author’s daughter, who sent back a very nice note and a copy of the Mission in a Mile book which has added so much to my Family Tree).

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Photo: 2003 Feb 5 Greene (Iowa) Recorder Greene Public Library

Pastor Siegfried Siefkes came from Germany to Butler Center, Iowa a historical town no longer around. He worked to organize a new congregation, The Kirchenbuch der Evangelisch Lutherisch Eben-Ezer Gemeinde or Ebenezer Church. The pastor wrote a letter to the actual German Kaiser asking for help, that wasn’t successful so he started asking the local German community to contribute and successfully all but $100 which was borrowed from the bank. The pastor and congregation understood they had a year to pay back this loan but within a month the bank and contractor came for payment. The pastor begged for a week to raise the $100 and it was granted. At the Sunday service the pastor and congregation met and talked about ways to raise $100 in a week. A farmer offered to sell seed oats, but that wasn’t enough.

screenshot copyA young lady, daughter of one of the members, spoke up. She was 22, working as a hired girl and had saved most of her pay, $80 she kept with her, in her bag. She offered to loan this to congregation, the additional $20 was then easily raised. On Monday morning the church Deacons went into town and paid off their debt with Annie’s loan. The church building was saved, the congregation thrilled.

Annie Antje Henrichs saved the church and she and Enno Frerichs ‘a fine young farmer’ were married in that same church.

The photos shown and the whole story in the Greene (Iowa) Recorder via the Greene Public Library Digital Archives: 2003 Feb 5 Greene  Recorder page 5, column 6 top.

Henrich Henrichs b. 1836

Henrich Henrichs 3rd great grandfather on RootsMagic tree

Map German homesHenrich Gerds Henrichs was born May 1, 1836 in Germany, probably in Aurich a town of Lower Saxony, Germany which is actually the northern eastern edge of Germany. The Google map photo shows the original homes of the Roos, Henrichs and Frerichs families within 100 miles of each other.

Henrich married Maria Rodenbeck in 1860, they lived on a farm and had 9 children, 4 boys and 5 girls. The whole family of 11 sailed to America, with 2 suitcases and landed in Baltimore on March 18, 1885 the children ranged from 3 to 23 years old. From Baltimore the family probably moved straight to Iowa and in 1900 they were in Butler County and played a big part in founding the Ebenezer Lutheran Church of Butler Center, long gone but vital in the lives of German emigrants in the area.

Hinrich Hinrichs Greene Recorder

1918 Aug 28, page 8 of 8 column 1 top Iowa recorder, Digital Archives at Greene (Iowa) Public Library

Henrich was known as Henry and from his obituary ‘was one of the old residents in this part of Butler county’. Henry came to America at age 48 and when died on August 21, 1918 he was 83 years old. His widow Maria donated a big church bell to Ebenezer Church in her husband’s memory. When Ebenezer Church dismantled in 1955 the bell was sent to Salem Church in Parkersburg, Iowa, then Salem Church ended in 1985 and the bell was moved to Bethel Lutheran Church in Parkersburg- and it’s still there! Mission in a mile page 69.

 

Heinrich Henrichs 1836 – 1918
Annie Antje Henrichs 1869 – 1956
Mary Frerichs 1892 – 1992
Stanley Roose 1915 – 2004

Annie Henrichs b. 1869

Annie Antje Henrichs, my 2nd great grandmother, on RootsMagic tree

Henrichs, Annie, Ebenezer ChurchAnnie saved her church. Pastor Siegfried Siefkes came from Germany to Butler Center, Iowa a historical town no longer around. He worked to organize a new congregation, The Kirchenbuch der Evangelisch Lutherisch Eben-Ezer Gemeinde or Ebenezer Church. The pastor wrote a letter to the actual German Kaiser asking for help, that wasn’t successful so he started asking the local German community to contribute and successfully all but $100 which was borrowed from the bank. The pastor and congregation understood they had a year to pay back this loan but within a month the bank and contractor came for payment. The pastor begged for a week to raise the $100 and it was granted. At Sunday’s service the pastor and congregation met and talked about ways to raise $100 in a week. A farmer offered to sell seed oats, but that wasn’t enough.

Frerichs, Enno with Mary and Annie

Enno Frerichs, Mary Frerichs Roose and Annie Henrichs Frerichs on their porch.  

“Another young lady who was the daughter of one of the members came forward. She had been working for some time as a hired girl and had managed to save nearly all of her wages. She even had the amount with her in her hand bag. The amount was $80 which she offered to loan to the congregation. Seeing this as a voice from heaven, the remaining $20 was raised in short order.”

The whole story in the Greene (Iowa) Recorder via the Greene Public Library.
2003 Feb 5 Greene Recorder page 5, column 5 top


Annie, birth name Antje, Henrichs was born on January 14, 1869 in Osteel, Aurich, Lower Saxony, Germany. When she was 14 years old she and her mom & dad and 8 siblings sailed from Bremen, Germany to Baltimore, Maryland in March 1885. Annie and her family lived in Iowa where they farmed.

Annie married Enno Frerichs on May 26, 1890. They stayed in Butler County Iowa and had 10 kids. On May 30, 1940 Annie age 71 and Enno age 75 celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with family and friends “During the day seventy eight relatives and friends called to offer congratulations.”

Annie was a widow in 1944 and she died in 1956. Both she and John died at heir farm, both are buried in Butler Center Cemetery, near the where the Ebenezer Church once was.

Sources

Christian Roos b. 1859

Christian Roos 3rd great uncle on RootsMagic tree
Christian (named for his grandfather Christian Renistra) Roos was born in Harlingen, Netherlands or maybe Germany. In early August 1862 he was 3 years old and sailed, on the Adler, with parents and 3 older siblings to New York, arriving on August 18, 1862. From New York the family went to Ogle County, Illinois and then in 1880 they were living in Butler County, Iowa.

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Roos, Chris potetntial politicsIn 1885 Christian ‘Chris’ married Geske ‘Grace’ Lubberts and they both owned farm land including the Riverside Stock Farm run by their sons, Bertus (named for his Lubberts grandfather) and George. Chris and Grace also had 3 daughters who married and then farmed in the area. Chris lived to age 92 in the Aplington, Iowa area. He and his wife are buried in Pleasant View Cemetery.

There may be more to Chris’s story. August of 1912, a Chris Roos is elected Supervisor of 2nd district, Albion Township, maybe at the Democratic (state or county) Convention. In the Iowa Recorder of August 21st is the National Ticket with presidential candidate Woodrow Wilson at the top of list, then vice president, governor, etc. and Chris Roos Supervisor at the bottom. Probably this Christian Roos.

1917 Atlas of Butler County, Iowa (Mason City, IA: Anderson Publishing Co., 1917); image 17 of 48 shows land owned, image 33 of 48 lists businesses in Monroe township.

Garbrand Roos b. 1820

Garbrand Roos 3rd great grandfather.

Garbrand Roos b. 1820 in Germany, the Aurich district, also East Frisia, Osteel, names changed several times but always right on the Wadden Sea– a one of a kind habitat that changes twice a day when the tides go in and out and involves mudflats and hiking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudflat_hiking.

Garbrand was 26 when he married Catharina Renistra in Harlingen, Netherlands in 1846. The family sailed to America in 1862. From NY they went to Freeport, Illinois where Garbrand registers for the Civil War in the summer of 1863. In 1880 the Roos family was in Pleasant Valley Township, Grundy County, Iowa they owned and farmed at least 80 acres of land. On the 1885 Iowa census the family along with a housekeeper live on their farm and on this single census page the majority of residents are from Germany, a few from Denmark, and a few from America’s eastern states. Garbrand was one founder of the German Baptist Church in Aplington, Iowa, along with the Dreyer and Lubberts families whose daughters married into the Roos family. Garbrand also went by George and lived to see his children married with families and starting farms of their own. Garbrand died in September of 1888 at the age of 68 and is buried in Pleasant View Cemetery in Aplington Iowa.
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Garbrand Roos and New German Baptist Church. Volume 1 page 353, Chapter 26 Monroe Township and Town of Aplington.
https://is.gd/q3Mb9P

At Ancestry . com Illinois 3rd Vol 5 of 7 image 285 of 632. Freeport Garbrand is 46, a farmer assigned. U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865

Catharina Renistra b. 1820

Catharina Renistra 3rd great grandmother on RootsMagic tree
Catharina was born the 20th of September 1820 in Harlingen, Friesland, Netherlands.

In 1846 Garbrand Roos crossed the Wadden Sea and married Catharina in Harlingen where their oldest son Jan was born in 1847. The family sailed to New York arriving on August 18, 1862 then went on to Freeport, Illinois where youngest son Johann was born: Johann, father of George Roose, father of Stanley Roose. By 1870 the family was in Iowa, first Grundy then Butler County. They owned land and farmed. Catharina was a widow in 1888 and on the 1900 census she is 78, head of household, living in Butler County. Her occupation was a capitalist: Persons living on income from land, stocks, etc., were to be reported as “Capitalist.” Her income was from farm land.  Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS).

Renistra, Catherina headstone snapshot

This summer, I searched for Catharina’s headstone at the Pleasant View Cemetery in Aplington, Iowa. Catharina’s husband, sons, a daughter, grandchildren all were buried in the cemetery but there was no record or photo of Catharina’s headstone. It turned out Catharina shared a headstone with her husband, her hame, birth and death dates on the alternate side, just not photographed or documented.

Sources

  • Netherlands marriages 1565-1892 database at Family Search
  • New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 at Ancestry

  • Iowa deaths and burials 1850-1990 database at Family Search

  • 1900 United States Federal Census at Ancestry

Johan Roose b. 1865

Johann Roose b. 1865 my 2nd great grandfather on RootsMagic tree

Johann was born April 19, 1865 in Freeport, Illinois, USA the 5th child of Garbrand and Catharina Renistra Roose. Garbrand and Catharina with their 4 kids left East Friesland, Germany and sailed to America, and arrived in New York on August 12, 1862. 

Johann and family are on the 1870 census, they lived in Ogle, Illinois. On the census page at least half of their neighbors are from Germany. Johann and family moved west to Grundy Center, Iowa where they’re on the 1880 census and lived on a farm. Johann owned 80 acres of farmland in 1884 in Pleasant Valley, a township of Grundy County, Iowa.

On March 14, 1888 Johann, now John, married Lena Wisbar in Parkersburg, Iowa then he and Lena moved to Jefferson Township a few miles north. John kept farming, and buying land in Iowa and Nobles, Minnesota. In 1912 John sold his Minnesota land, saying “Iowa land is good enough”.  In 1917 John farmed near Bristow. By 1925 at age 60 he lived in Allison with Lena and their youngest daughter Lela. John died at age 61 on October 18, 1926. A newspaper story tells he visited with friends in Clarksville that morning, returned home and died, suddenly, of a heart attack. He is buried at Allison Cemetery in Allison, Iowa.

Roose, Johan and Lena marry snapshot

Sources

Emma Wisbar b. 1886

Emma Wisbar great aunt on RootsMagic tree.

An update for Emma Wisbar and Lee Cheney: Both Emma and Lee had a child prior to their 1920 marriage. Emma had a son, Vernon, on September 18, 1908, she was 20 years old, there is no record of a father. An Iowa delayed birth record for Vernon shows his birth date and place, mom and no father’s name. sister Lena Wisbar was a witness on this record. In the same year 1908, Lee Cheney married Winifred Thompson and in 1909 they had a daughter Irma Cheney and must have divorced soon after. Lee’s ex-wife and daughter were also in California, living in San Diego in 1930.


Emma Wisbar was was the youngest child of Martin and Mary Walters Wisbar. She was born in Butler County, Iowa April 7, 1886. The 1900 US Census shows Emma attending school, she could read and write. In her home both German and English spoken. In 1910 Emma was 22, living with her parents and 2 of her 7 siblings. She was a server in a restaurant.

The 1920 US census has Emma living in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Louis at 312 East 1st Street in Waterloo, Iowa with 3 other boarders. Emma was 33 years old and a waitress in a hotel. Lee Cheney was another boarder. He was 36 and a barber. The 1920 census was taken on January 7 and Emma and Lee Cheney were married on September 9, 1920.

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On the 1930 US census Emma and Lee have moved to Oakland, California, both still working, Lee a barber, Emma a waitress at the YMCA Their rent was $22 each month. They lived about 20 miles west of San Francisco and probably traveled to see the Golden Gate Bridge being built from 1933-1937. Both Emma and Lee lived into their 70s. Lee died on January 27, 1962 and Emma exactly 2 weeks later on February 10th. Both are buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, Oroville, California, Find a Grave Memorial 

Ancestry. Iowa, Marriage Records, 1880-1937
L H Cheney, barber age 38 m. Emma Wisbar 33 years, Fort Dodge, Iowa September 9, 1920.

Kate Frerichs Fleshner b. 1895

Kate Frerichs was the aunt of Stanley Roose who married Elizabeth Speedy.


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Kate Frerichs was born the first day January 1 of 1895. Her given name was Kunna Engelina Frerichs, like her grandmother Kunna Jansen Frerichs she went by Kate. Kate was baptized February 3 1895 at Bethel Church in Parkersburg, Iowa.  Parents Enno and Annie were probably married in this same church around 1890.
Kate was the older sister of Mary Frerichs Roose. By 1900 the Frerichs family was living in Jefferson, Butler County Iowa, farming. Kate married Chris Fleshner in 1914. The Fleshner family stayed in Butler County and also farmed. Kate was widow in 1958 and she died on the very last day December 31 of 1974.

Obituary from the Greene recorder
Rites held for Kate Fleshner. Rites Held for Kate Fleshner. Services for Kate L. Fleshner, 79 who died at Allison Manor, December 31, were held Friday Jan 3 at St James Lutheran Church, Allison with burial at the allusion Cemetery. she is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Clair Dailey of Waverly, Mrs. Kenneth Smith of Allison and Mrs. Richard Schaeffer of Marshalltown; three sisters, Mrs. George Roose (Mary Frerichs) of Clarksville, Mrs. Sena Ressler of Waverly and Mrs. Hilko Janssen of Allison; a brother John Frerichs of Dumont.

1975 Jan 15 page 5 of 8, column 7 top. Greene recorder Greene, Iowa, Digital Archives at Greene Public Library.

Sources
Ancestry . com U.S., Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Records, 1875-1940

Greene recorder Greene, Iowa, Digital Archives at Greene Public Library