Hello Everyone,
My name is Tracey Huff, and am looking for information on my second great grandfather. His name here in the United States was John C. Henrics, but an early marriage record showed Johann Christoph Henrics. I have also seen Johann Christoph Friederick Henrics. We know the last name must have been changed, and it was either Hinrichs or Heinrichs or something of that sort. People have been kind enough to try to help me, but so far, I have not been able to locate him in Germany. I have been told that I may have been looking in the wrong location. I am concentrating now on the area of Blumenthal in the Kingdom of Hannover (Kirchenkreis Stade, Horst/Burweg.) I am hoping that someone may be able to do a look up for me in the Hannover Archives.
This is the info. on him that I know: His birthday is listed as January 5, 1845, but I have seen varying years based on different documents, beginning with 1844 and then as late as 1847. He owned a saloon/restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina in the United States, and an older family member told me he did the same thing over in Germany. I don't know about that, but I did find a newspaper article from the Charleston newspaper that he served in the Franco Prussian War and was awarded the Iron Cross for bravery. His citizenship papers indicate that he arrived in this country via Baltimore, MD on November 8, 1876. I have found some ship lists into Baltimore from Bremerhaven for that year, but not that day. He was married at least twice here in the United States: First to Anna Louisa Wedemeyer and then to my second great grandmother, Bertha Mathilde Sievern. I have been told that he was married in Germany, but I am not sure about that as the person who told me that thought he married the Wedemeyer lady in Germany. That is not so as I have found there marriage license here. She thought his first wife's name was Caroline, so it is possible that he was married to another woman in Germany. I just don't know. His death certificate listed his mother's name as Louise or Louisa. There was only the initial "C" for his father. I assume he was Lutheran as the family attended a Lutheran Church in Charleston.
If anyone can give me any help with this, I would sure appreciate it! Thank you all for your time.
Sincerely,
Tracey Huff
