Hello James,
I am also a direct descendant of Gerd Gerdes (I have him as Gerd Gerdes) and Helene Eilers. They are both a bit of a treetop or dead end for me, but I do have a family history from a distant cousin that lists the parents of Gerd Gerdes as:
Helene Boltjes
Gerd Gerdes
I do not have any vital records or further information on these parents. I’d be happy to share more detail on this family line, and perhaps we can work together on this. In fact I’m planning a trip to the Westerstede area in the fall and would welcome suggestions from anyone on the list regarding how to research this further. I think I might reach out to the Baptist church in Westerstede.
For a long while I’ve been trying to find more info on Helene Eilers. As you said, she died in Germany, somewhere near Westerstede in 1855, but I can’t find her parents. Thanks for the tip on their names. One of her sons, Gerd (yes, another Gerd!) is my g-grandfather, who emigrated to Iowa in the US in 1873. I grew up near where he settled, near Sheffield, Iowa. His brother, Friedrich, settled on the neighboring farm in Sheffield. In general, a lot of the Westerstede Baptist families moved to this small town. I’ve got a fair amount of information on this line if you are interested.
Best regards,
Ron Gerdes