Hi, I am wondering if anyone can help me or give advice in locating someone. I have been searching for 35 years for my great grand parents original location. I have searched all the sources in America but don't know how to search records from over seas. Here's what info I have. William Freiderich Holtz (Holz) born abt. 1811 in Prussia, Germany, and died July 11, 1882 in Wells, (Faribault County) Minnesota. He married Hannah Koster (Koester) in Prussia, Germany. She was born abt. 1815 in Prussia, Germany, and died May 03, 1893 in Wells, (Faribault County) Minnesota. They had a son August Gottfried Holtz (Holz). he was born about 1846 in Prussia. I don't know of any other children but suspect they had more. Supposedly they came to America about 1855-1857. That's all I know of them. Have a Great Day Mike

----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Nelson" <[email protected]> > I am wondering if anyone can help me or give advice in locating someone. > I have been searching for 35 years for my great grand parents original > location. I have searched all the sources in America but don't know how to > search records from over seas. Mike, I've done it both ways and, trust me, if you can possibly in any way scrounge up something from here, you'll be better off. Have you absolutely positively without any doubt in your mind ruled out the existence of church records in Minnesota? For the German immigrants, those *so* often have the origination clue that you need -- especially the confirmation records, in my experience. If you need help tracking down what parishes got consolidated into which and who the magic individual is that keeps the really old records at home, we can probably find someone to point you at the answers. Otherwise, do you have an immigration date? Ships records, at sending and receiving end, are your next best bet, I think. --Kristi, in Iowa

Hi Mike, Did they have any relatives in the US? Or friends from the same town? You have one strike against you, the popular surname. Most often, a single family did not come to the US alone, or if they did, they soon joined friends or family who had come earlier. So it could be helpful to expand you search outside the immediate family. Did they have any more children after coming to the US? Who were the godparents? Most likely they were relatives, or friends from the same town in Prussia. See what you can find about those godparents. Conversely, were the Holtzes godparents for any children? Seek to discover the connection between those 2 families. Sometimes out search back has to go sideways for a while. And then, sometimes, we just have to accept that this is as far as we can go. :< Mona Michael Nelson wrote: > Here's what info I have. > William Freiderich Holtz (Holz) born abt. 1811 in Prussia, Germany, and died July 11, 1882 in Wells, (Faribault County) Minnesota. He married Hannah Koster (Koester) in Prussia, Germany. She was born abt. 1815 in Prussia, Germany, and died May 03, 1893 in Wells, (Faribault County) Minnesota. > They had a son August Gottfried Holtz (Holz). he was born about 1846 in Prussia. I don't know of any other children but suspect they had more. Supposedly they came to America about 1855-1857. Mona Houser [email protected] http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~monajo/ My data base: http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=monahouser

Mike, For me the breakthrough was in the Church books in the 'new' country - if you have not looked at them for the places your family lived to try and now do so. Prussia is far to big to search just by surnames, even uncommon ones. The clues will be near at hand, if not easily found. I'm sure Maureen's link will give you places you can spend many more years looking! Good luck, Bronwyn. On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 2:26 PM, Michael Nelson <[email protected]>wrote: > Hi, > > I am wondering if anyone can help me or give advice in locating someone. I > have been searching for 35 years for my great grand parents original > location. I have searched all the sources in America but don't know how to > search records from over seas. > > Here's what info I have. > > William Freiderich Holtz (Holz) born abt. 1811 in Prussia, Germany, and > died July 11, 1882 in Wells, (Faribault County) Minnesota. He married > Hannah Koster (Koester) in Prussia, Germany. She was born abt. 1815 in > Prussia, Germany, and died May 03, 1893 in Wells, (Faribault County) > Minnesota. > > > > They had a son August Gottfried Holtz (Holz). he was born about 1846 in > Prussia. I don't know of any other children but suspect they had more. > Supposedly they came to America about 1855-1857. > > > > That's all I know of them. > > > > Have a Great Day > > Mike > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Michael Nelson wrote: > William Freiderich Holtz (Holz) born abt. 1811 in Prussia, Germany, and died July 11, 1882 in Wells, (Faribault County) Minnesota. He married Hannah Koster (Koester) in Prussia, Germany. She was born abt. 1815 in Prussia, Germany, and died May 03, 1893 in Wells, (Faribault County) Minnesota. > They had a son August Gottfried Holtz (Holz). he was born about 1846 in Prussia. I don't know of any other children but suspect they had more. Supposedly they came to America about 1855-1857. Mike, Could this be the right family? I found them listed in the Rice Lake Cemetery in Faribault Co., MN. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mnfariba/cemeteries/ricelakecem.txt HOLTZ Anna 1815-1892 William F 1811-1882 Amelia 1852-1935 August C 10/17/46-10/24/1922 (buried with Schroeder) Robert C 10/16/72-3/4/1917 Martha 7/10/72-3/14/1957 Looking at the dates, one could assume that William F and Anna are the parents, August the son, Amelia his wife, and that Robert if is the son of August and Amelia. I used that as a premise for further searching. In the 1895 Minnesota Census, I found Holtz, August, 50, b Germany Amelia, 44, b Germany Robert, age 22, b Wisc. ??, age 16, b Wisc. (looks like Louisa, but listed as male) Eddie, age 15, b Iowa Mabel, age 12, b Minn. (From this, I decided to search in Wisconsin and Iowa for the family) Assuming the above is the correct family, then here they are in 1880: Name: Fred W. Holts Home in 1880: Junction, Greene, Iowa Age: 70 Estimated Birth Year: abt 1810 Birthplace: Prussia Relation to Head of Household: Father Spouse's Name: Anna Father's birthplace: Prussia Mother's birthplace: Prussia Occupation: With Son Marital Status: Married Race: White Gender: Male Household Members: Name Age August Holts 34 Amelia Holts 28 Martha Holts 11 Emma Holts 9 Robert Holts 8 Clara Holts 6 Harmon Holts 5 Julia Holts 3 Annie Holts 6M Anna Holts 63 Fred W. Holts 70 I found this entry in the 1870 census in Wisconsin, that could be the same family: Name: William Holtz Estimated Birth Year: abt 1811 Age in 1870: 59 Birthplace: Prussia Home in 1870: Brillion, Calumet, Wisconsin Race: White Gender: Male Post Office: Brillion Household Members: Name Age William Holtz 59 Hannah Holtz 54 August Holtz 20 Amelia Holtz 18 Ida Holtz 3 Matter Holtz 1 Searching further in Calumet Co., Wisconsin, on the USGenWeb site, I found the birth record for: Holtz, Robert Carl Heinrich, Male, White, Oct. 16, 1872, Brillion parents, August Holtz & Emilie Beyer, Cert. No. 1515 In the declaration of intents posted on the GenWeb site, I found Holz, Wm. date of declar.-12 Apr 1873, country of origin-Germany There are no guarantees that the birth record or the declaration of intent will yield the village in Germany that you are seeking, (if indeed this is the correct family) but I certainly take my search from Faribault Co., Minn., to Calument Co., Wisc. to see what's there. I hope that is of some help to you. Mona -- Mona Houser [email protected] http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~monajo/ My data base: http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=monahouser

The Rice/Steele/Waseca bunch of Koesters and Holtzes are relatives of my mom's. They intermarried with our Sommers and Rudolph lines, so I have several of them listed in my db. As far as I know they aren't related to the ones in Faribault Co. There are so many families with those surnames in MN that it gets to be hard to sort them all out. Faribault Co. was my dad's old stomping grounds. I would recommend that Mike contact Nicholas Weerts at the Winnebago Area Historical Society. Nicholas might be willing to go track down which ever MN church records Mike has an interest in. The last address I had for Nicholas was [email protected] Kathy http://www.rootsweb.com/~mnfariba/ www.Kiva.org - loans that change lives. Change the world one loan at a time. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mona" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 3:29 PM Subject: Re: [PRUSSIA-ROOTS] Help finding ggrandparents > Michael Nelson wrote: > >> William Freiderich Holtz (Holz) born abt. 1811 in Prussia, Germany, and >> died July 11, 1882 in Wells, (Faribault County) Minnesota. He married >> Hannah Koster (Koester) in Prussia, Germany. She was born abt. 1815 in >> Prussia, Germany, and died May 03, 1893 in Wells, (Faribault County) >> Minnesota. >> They had a son August Gottfried Holtz (Holz). he was born about 1846 in >> Prussia. I don't know of any other children but suspect they had more. >> Supposedly they came to America about 1855-1857. > > Mike, > > Could this be the right family? I found them listed in the Rice Lake > Cemetery in Faribault Co., MN. > http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mnfariba/cemeteries/ricelakecem.txt > > HOLTZ > Anna 1815-1892 > William F 1811-1882 > Amelia 1852-1935 > August C 10/17/46-10/24/1922 > (buried with Schroeder) > Robert C 10/16/72-3/4/1917 > Martha 7/10/72-3/14/1957 > > Looking at the dates, one could assume that William F and Anna are the > parents, August the son, Amelia his wife, and that Robert if is the son > of August and Amelia. I used that as a premise for further searching. > > > In the 1895 Minnesota Census, I found > Holtz, August, 50, b Germany > Amelia, 44, b Germany > Robert, age 22, b Wisc. > ??, age 16, b Wisc. (looks like Louisa, but listed as male) > Eddie, age 15, b Iowa > Mabel, age 12, b Minn. > (From this, I decided to search in Wisconsin and Iowa for the family) > > Assuming the above is the correct family, then here they are in 1880: > Name: Fred W. Holts > Home in 1880: Junction, Greene, Iowa > Age: 70 > Estimated Birth Year: abt 1810 > Birthplace: Prussia > Relation to Head of Household: Father > Spouse's Name: Anna > Father's birthplace: Prussia > Mother's birthplace: Prussia > Occupation: With Son > Marital Status: Married > Race: White > Gender: Male > Household Members: > Name Age > August Holts 34 > Amelia Holts 28 > Martha Holts 11 > Emma Holts 9 > Robert Holts 8 > Clara Holts 6 > Harmon Holts 5 > Julia Holts 3 > Annie Holts 6M > Anna Holts 63 > Fred W. Holts 70 > > I found this entry in the 1870 census in Wisconsin, that could be the > same family: > Name: William Holtz > Estimated Birth Year: abt 1811 > Age in 1870: 59 > Birthplace: Prussia > Home in 1870: Brillion, Calumet, Wisconsin > Race: White > Gender: Male > Post Office: Brillion > Household Members: > Name Age > William Holtz 59 > Hannah Holtz 54 > August Holtz 20 > Amelia Holtz 18 > Ida Holtz 3 > Matter Holtz 1 > > Searching further in Calumet Co., Wisconsin, on the USGenWeb site, I > found the birth record for: > Holtz, Robert Carl Heinrich, Male, White, Oct. 16, 1872, Brillion > parents, August Holtz & Emilie Beyer, Cert. No. 1515 > > In the declaration of intents posted on the GenWeb site, I found > Holz, Wm. date of declar.-12 Apr 1873, country of origin-Germany > > There are no guarantees that the birth record or the declaration of > intent will yield the village in Germany that you are seeking, (if > indeed this is the correct family) but I certainly take my search from > Faribault Co., Minn., to Calument Co., Wisc. to see what's there. > > I hope that is of some help to you. > > Mona > > -- > Mona Houser > [email protected] > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~monajo/ > My data base: http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=monahouser > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >