ROSINA'S BROTHER

Despite researching for about thirty years, I was never able to track my paternal great-great-grandmother, Rosina Kramer Ritterhouse VanDorn back to her native country of Germany, until my parents and I completed AncestryDNA kits. When our results were available, I eagerly began to search through our cousin matches. It was thrilling to come across a Kramer in Tazewell County, Illinois to whom my dad and I were cousins.  He turned out to be Rosina's brother.  And, through his great-grandson, Jim Stewart, became our gateway through the brick wall that was Rosina's origins and heritage.



Haueda, Germany

Johannes Cramme was born in Haueda, Germany, on July 30 1837, to Friedrich and Katherina
(Ackermann) Cramme.  His 2 1/2 year old sister, "Rosine Sophie" was waiting for him to arrive. About three years later, Johannes' world was altered when a baby brother, Philipp August, was born in March 1840. The Cramme family lived together in the small village in south central Germany. Then, around 1852, Rosina immigrated to the United States. (She was definitely in America by 1857.)  According to Rosina's grand-daughter, my Great Aunt Edna Ritterhouse, Rosina was 20 when she journeyed to New York City where she worked as a maid before continuing her journey west to Tazewell County, Illinois where she resided in 1857. Brother Johannes followed his sister to America ten to fifteen years later, apparently in 1865 or 1866. He, too, settled in Tazewell County, Illinois.

508 Charlotte St., Pekin, Illinois

Reportedly, Johannes, who became known as John Kramer, married Anna Kleen in 1865 or 1866 (as stated in his obituaries which disagree on the year).  With Anna, John raised two children, a son John, Jr. and a daughter, Emma. The Kramers were members of the local Lutheran Church.  He was employed as a cement worker by trade. At least from 1887 through 1903, he worked for Jansen & Zoeller, local mason contractors. For the last few years of

John Kramer gravestone

his life, he was employed by Jost & Schmidgall, who were also local mason contractors.  Anna and John lived in a 1024 sq. ft. home built in 1877, located at 508 Charlotte Street, Pekin, Illinois.  In fact, John, described as "an old resident of the city," died in this house on September 30, 1915, at the age of 78. "His death was sudden, following an illness of only a day."  He had lived in Pekin for 49 years. Not surprisingly, he was buried there, in Lakeside Cemetery.

It is interesting to speculate how close brother and sister were. For several years, they both lived in the same county in Illinois, thousands of miles from their homeland. John lived in the town of Pekin while Rosina lived on farms outside of town, but probably only five or ten miles away. Rosina's husband, John William Ritterhouse, died in June of 1876, about 10 years after her brother John moved to Tazewell County. She then remarried the next year and lost that husband a few years later. Around 1890, Rosina moved west to Kansas, apparently following some of her children, and leaving her brother behind. While Rosina continued to move westward during the remainder of her life, her brother remained in Pekin, Illinois until he died in 1915. My guess is they never saw each other again once she left Tazewell County.

CRAMME NOT CRAMER

About ten years ago, I convinced my parents to swab their cheeks for the Family Tree DNA test.  I also persuaded my maternal uncle to provide his DNA.  Although I know there is a lot of helpful information available with the Family Tree DNA program, I could never seem to make use of it.  Frequently, I am notified that someone has matched one of the three profiles, but I have never been able to determine what the relationship is to my family.

So, when AncestryDNA became available, I again asked my mom and dad to provide a sample and I also participated.  When I first received my results, I feared I had discovered that I was not my parents' child because I had always thought I was primarily German.  My results, though, were:

•           55%   Great Britain
•           22%   Ireland
•           11%   Scandinavia
•           3%     Europe West (German, French, etc.)
•           2%     European Jew
•           2%     Iberian Peninsula
•           1%     Italy/Greece
•           1%     Europe East
•           3%     Caucasus

Only 3% Europe West which included Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein!  But, lo and behold, my father -- my Ritterhouse father -- whose grandfather was full-blooded German, was 49% IRISH and only 11% Europe West!

I was starting to doubt my grandmother's fidelity, but fortunately, there is another useful component to the AncestryDNA.  Matches are made to cousins who have also tested their DNA with AncestryDNA.  I have been able to find connections to many of my 200+ cousin matches. 


Rosena Kramer Ritterhouse Vandorn

So far, though, only one cousin has helped me break through a brick wall.  On the family tree of one of my cousin matches, I noticed a "Kramer" from Tazewell County, Illinois which was where Rosina had settled. Since the 1990s I have been trying to find the parents and the birth location in Germany of my great-great-grandmother Rosena Kramer Ritterhouse. This looked like my chance to find my answers!  AncestryDNA makes it easy to contact the owners of trees you are connected to.  Emailing my Kramer "cousin" was the first swing of the wrecking ball on my Rosina brick wall.  Cousin Jim responded with the following clue:  the name was originally "Cramme/Kramme" not "Cramer/Kramer"!
Cousin Jim explained that back in the late 1970s, in his quest to learn more about his paternal grandmother, Emma Kramer (who was born in Pekin, Tazewell County, Illinois) he located the obituary of her father, John (Johannes) Kramer who died in Pekin on September 30, 1915.  From the obituary he discovered that John was born in Haueda, Germany.

Hooked on genealogy and wanting to learn more, he was able to eventually visit Haueda several years ago.  They stayed in a Bed and Breakfast in Haueda for a couple of days.  It was actually the lady who owned the B & B who told him John's birth name was probably Johannes Cramme.  She then contacted a man in Wuppertal, Germany.  This man, whose name was Hans Heinrich Cramme, drove the 100 plus miles to Haueda that evening to visit his "long-lost cousin".  Hans spoke no English and they spoke very little German, but with the generous help of a local lady, they were able to communicate some.  Hans presented them with a book that contained all his research in the Cramme family.  The book, of course, is written in German, a language in which our cousin has a severely limited vocabulary.  Cousin Jim kept in contact with our German Cramme cousin Hans for some years, but believes he may no longer be alive since he has not responded for awhile.

Next post I will write more about the Cramme family and the German village of Haueda.