Barenkamp

hannover-l
1

Hello Barbara,

Thank you so much for your help.

I'm working on the Barenkamps for a family friend of mine.

Her mother's birth name was Marie Catherine Kathman (born 1902). Little
Marie and her older brother Louis William Kathman were orphaned when their
mother (only known as Mary E.) died about 1908 in Memphis, Tennessee. Their
father had been killed a few years earlier.

Marie was adopted by a family there in Memphis, and Louis was adopted by
somebody else. Marie's grown daughter (my friend, who is now 71 years old) has
wanted to know about her mom Marie's biological background for many years.
Back when Marie was coming up, people did not talk about the biological
background of adopted children. So unfortunately Marie always felt like there was
something "bad" about her background.

Through much hard work and digging, we have discovered that Marie's (and
brother Louis) parents were Louis William Kathman and Mary E. ? from the 1900
Lowndes Co. Mississippi census.

This Louis William Kathman was the last child born to James Clement Kathman
and Catherine Barenkamp of New Orleans. He was born in Sept. of 1860 in New
Orleans.

So that's the Barenkamp connection here.

Through working on this case for my friend, I have come to learn so much
about early 20th century adoptions. I am just an amateur who wanted to help out
a friend.

Yes, I think both the Barenkamps and Kathmanns were Catholic. James Clement
Kathman is buried in St. Louis Cemetery No. 2 there in New Orleans. His
wife Catherine Barenkamp was not. We don't know where she is buried yet.

James Clement Kathman and wife Catherine Barenkamp ran a boarding and coffee
house with some 72 guests in New Orleans according to the 1860 census.

Again, I appreciate your help!!

Suzanne

2

Hi,
    That is indeed an interesting story. It is kind of you to try to find
information on that family.

    The problem with learning a lot about the family from Germany is that
the particular area where they likely came from has not allowed the LDS to
copy their church records. There is an office in Meppen in the Osnabrück
Catholic diocese where they have church records. If your friend merely
wants to know the birthplace, it likely would not cost so much. To do a
whole family tree search would add to the cost. Here it is:

http://www.KGVerband-Meppen.de/familienforschung.html

    The page is in German - you can get a rough translation by using
Google's translation page:

   http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en

    Basically it says you can come to that office to do research or you can
have them do it at the rate of 16 euros per hour. I would guess that the
people there would have a pretty good idea of where to find those names and
could do it rather quickly. If what your friend merely wants to know the
birthplaces of her family, this might be a good source.

   Have you used this genealogy source?
  http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/newsearch.htm

   I searched there and chose Louisiana. There were 10 records for
Barenkamp and 73 for Kathmann. A search in Tenn. and Mississippi did not
produce very much. I would guess that some Kathmanns dropped the second
"n".

  I'll be thinking of other places to look as well.

Barbara