Hello Werner,
It turns out that Ann also has information about Ferdinand, Ind.
Here are 3 more letters from her. You may find something helpful. Is
"Henry" Niehaus not listed in Oldenburg records? Surely this is all proof
that he comes from there. Here are the letters from Ann:
Barbara
This is quite a co-incidence. Generally, my area of geographic "expertise"
consists only of the greater Cincinnati area, due to my collection of
indexes.
However, you mentioned St. Meinrad and Ferdinand, Indiana. Just happens I
also have a little info on that area, as my husband's WILMES family
(Covington and Cincinnati) led us there on one trip to see if all the Wilmes
in Ferdinand cemetery might be connected.
Never proved a connection (but it is still strongly suspected). While
there, I did purchase a list of members of St. Ferdinand church and will dig
that out later and see if the Niehaus/Grevenkamps might also show up.
It's a really unique little town, by the way, totally established by the
church for some immigrants who wanted to come downriver and live in a much
more rural setting than Cincinnati. St. Meinrad Abbey sits on a hill
overlooking the area and is very impressive.
OK -- back to you later!
Ann
Barbara;
I think this information definitely ties in with what Werner is seeking.
The book I have here is called, "Ferdinand, Indiana, A Sesquicentennial
History" and was published by the Ferdinand Historical Society in 1990.
One index is of the local cemetery (very big - I've been there) behind the
church, St. Ferdinand, in the center of town. There are 19 NIEHAUS
burials. The index gives birth, death and grave location for most of them.
The two oldest are:
Agnes Niehaus born 8 Oct 1813, died 13 Aug 1895 B2-10
Henry Niehaus born 17 Apr 1814, died 24 Dec 1901 B1-3
All the others appear to have been much younger -- probably young enough to
be the next generation.
Now, another index in the same book lists residents by the areas they
originated, and some give the town names as well.
Under "Oldenburg" --
NIEHAUS, Heinrich born 17 Apr 1814 reference #U8F, 47b
and right under him
Rebenkamp, Agnes 8 Oct 1813 reference #U7F, 69B
It appears from the rest of the entries that the wife's name is listed under
the husband's, using her maiden name. So, they apparently have quite an
error in spelling, probably due to old German Script. However, am going
to go back into the Hamilton Co. OH indexes and check for "Rebenkamp" where
I looked for "Grevenkamp" before.
The second index does not give a town name for those two and the "reference"
is not clearly explained in the instructions, but I think it pertains in
these two entries to the 1870 (U7F) census in Ferdinand and the 1880 (U8F)
census in Ferdinand. I'm hoping the second set of numbers might be the
page number on the census and will check it out later on Ancestry.
Will let you know of any further discoveries. I wouldn't be surprised if
there are still some descendants of the Niehaus couple still living in the
Ferdinand IN area. Perhaps the Rootsweb mailing list or Message Board for
that area would be helpful - I believe that's Dubois County IN.
Later,
Ann
Yep. There they are. According to the Ancestry.com census info, Dubois
County (Ferdinand) IN:
1870 page 69B and 70A
Niehause, (looks like) Hara age 50, male, farmer born Oldenburg
" Agnes age 50 born Oldenburg
" George age 22 farm laborer b. OH
" Mary age 20 born IN
" Bernhard age 18 b. IN
" Frank age 17 b. IN
" Elizabeth age 14 b. IN
" Josephine age 10 b. IN
(relationships not given, but most likely they are all children of Agnes and
Henry)
1880 page 47C and D
Neihaus, Henry age 76 farmer born Oldenburgh
" Agnes age 76 born Oldenburgh
" Mary age 26, daughter, single born IN
" Bernard age 27, son, married b. IN
" Anna, wife, born OH (par. b. Oldenburgh)
" Henry, son b. IN
Looks like Henry and Agnes gained some age between those two censuses, but
errors like that are common. Also, Anna and Henry would appear to belong
to the son Bernard, but that's not made clear.
Let me know if I can help further with any of these references.
Ann