In honor of Father's Day I thought I'd share some of a little project I've been working on
Steffan family
In 1846-America is some forty years removed from the Louisiana purchase it is a country wide open with opportunity . Land is available for the taking and opportunity plentiful if you could manage to just get to America . Many European immigrants with the means or sometimes even without opted to make the difficult journey, a journey that would take some forty days by sailing ship and in conditions that were rank to say the least.
A young French-German man, his pregnant wife and 4 boys in tow make this journey. Leaving behind their country, friends and family for a new life in America and a chance at the American dream. Jump forward to the 1950s and a young George Stephen decides to risk it all for his American dream, his dream not only comes true but becomes an American icon , the Weber Kettle.
This is the story of the Steffan Family , how that name becomes Stephen , the family tree and my take on some of the areas that history and records aren't quite clear on. I sourced Ancestry.com and ran into a few road blocks, but feel I have managed to complete as accurate a family history for George A and his family tree as possible.
The Patriarch
Jean Steffan(39) his wife Ottillia(39) and their four children Micheal (
Joseph ( 7) Jean (6) and Antoine (3) were from a region known as Alsace-Lorraine on the France and Germany border, the Grassendorf area looks likely.The exact reason for their departure is unknown , but history notes several possible reasons with many families leaving the region during these times. It's likely Jean was a farmer and history talks about a blight and years of poor crop harvests as well post Napoleonic upheaval in the region. This area is unique having been both part of France and part of Germany at different times, Census records show Jean as claiming both French and German as his language and claims those countries as his place of birth.
1846
The Steffan family has arrived in America they steam their way up the Mississippi River with a 6 month stop in Ohio , nothing is know about their time in Ohio but the family shows up on census records in the Joliet area of Illinois in the same year of 1846. It's about this time that we start to see subtle changes to the family members names in the records , Jean goes to John and Steffan is sometimes seen as Stephen . It's not known if this was intentional or if the census takers simply wrote names out as they believed them to be spelled or heard them.Many immigrants did change their names or the spellings to better fit in to America and so it's not uncommon to see this type of thing take place.
Census records for 1850 show Jean ( John ) Steffan Stephan as a farmer and it appears he's successful with acreage in the section 15 area of Joliet, Illinois.In later years in the hands of his son Jean ( john ) Jr it's a very highly regarded farm at 250 acres with a value of $12,500 . It's also at this time around 1850 that you see in the census records a change to family members names, Jean is now gone for both father and son.Ottilla the mother is now Odeila and Antoine Francois has become Anthony by age 7.
John Stephen lives out his life in the Joliet, Illinois area
His eldest son Michael at the age 15 gets an apprenticeship in metal working and becomes very successful he comes and goes from the area with some time spent in Texas.
John Jr takes over the family farm and as mentioned above does very well with it. * See the obituary below .
Joseph marries and moves to nearby ( Richton ) he becomes a success in his own right and is also highly respected .
Anthony ( Antoine Francois ) becomes Frank Anthony by the 1860 census ( see obit below )
John Jr . Obituary
* 1890 JOHN STEPHEN. The habits of thrift and industry, to which the subject of this notice was trained from boyhood, have followed him through his latter years, as is indicated by his surroundings. We find him supplied with all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life, and the owner of one of the finest farms in Joliet Township, comprising two hundred and fifty acres of land on section 18, upon which have been effected good improvements.
The early home of Mr. Stephen was on the other side of the Atlantic, in the Province of Alsace, then of France, but now belonging to Germany .His father, John Stephen, and his mother, whose maiden name was Adelia Haude, were likewise natives of that province, where they were reared and married. They lived there until 1846, then deciding upon emigrating to America, and repairing to Havre, boarded a sailing vessel which in due time landed them safely on American shores at the Port of New Orleans. They proceeded directly to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, but lived in that State only six months, coming thence to Illinois and settling in Joliet Township. The father engaged in farming, and they sojourned there a number of years, then removed to the city of Joliet, where the last seven years of their life were spent. The five children born to them consisted of four sons and one daughter. Of these Antoine Franz was the forth child. Mr. Stephen was a boy of 3 years when his parents emigrated to America.
Part 2 - ( coming soon )
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Topic: The Steffan Family ( Stephen ) (Read 2750 times)
