Hello:
I am new to this list and am writing in the hopes that someone is researching
the Backhaus family in the Luneberger Heide. My grandfather who went by the
name Henry Bockhaus in America was listed on his death record as Johann Juergen
Heinrich Bockhaus, and J Henry F Backhaus on his marriage return. I believe the
former is the correct name. He was born he was born on 13 April, 1864 in
Heitbrack, Hannover. His mother was born Dorothea Catherine Marie Winkelmann
(1831-1899). The only name I have for his father is John or Johann
Backhaus/Bockhaus. Family tradition states that Henry changed the spelling. I
am trying to verify Henry's full name and birth information and find out more
about his father. Henry's family was Lutheran and I don't know if there even
was a Lutheran Church in Heitbrack at that time or what parish they would have
belonged to.
I don't know when Henry originally emigrated to America, but I know he did
travel to the US arriving in New York in August 1888. He traveled as an
American and appears to have been naturalized by this time. He went to
Davenport, Iowa married my grandmother Louise Stahmer in August 1889 and had 2
children there. He was a Lutheran schoolteacher who taught several years there,
then moved to Peoria in 1892 where another child was born. In 1895-96 the
family moved to Omaha, Nebraska. Henry died on October 19, 1899 while on a
visit to Louise's family in Addison, IL. He died of typhoid after a prolonged
(and what sounds like a painful) illness. His mother, whom he had traveled to
Germany to bring back to America in 1893, died in November of 1899 and was
buried near her son.
My biggest problem is that this timeline falls between that last two federal
censuses of the 19th century. In 1888 Henry was too late for the US 1880 census
and died before the 1900 census. If he is listed in any earlier US Censuses, I
cannot distinguish him as there are a surprising number of Henry
Bockhaus/Backhaus's listed. Many of them with parents named John and Dorothy.
I do not know if he had any siblings.
Again I am trying to verify Henry's name and birth information and perhaps find
out a little more about his parents. I also suspect that Henry might have
returned to Germany in the 1880s to study and wonder where Lutheran teachers
would have been trained eg Universities or Normal Schools (teachers colleges).
My father was six years old when his father died and was then raised largely by
various members of his mother's family. He didnt have a chance to ask these
questions, or at least I didnt have the forsight to ask him about his father. I
would be grateful for any information or direction anyone might give.
Sincerely,
Mary Bockhaus