This week I received a comment on the post I wrote about Barbara Koob, also known in America as Sister Marianne Cope. In case you haven’t read it, you can check it out here.

The message is from a gentleman in Heppenheim, Hesse, Germany named Manfred Bräuer. Herr Bräuer is a noted lecturer on local history and genealogy and is currently the treasurer of the Historical Society of Heppenheim, according to their website. He is interested in learning more about the families from Heppenheim and surrounding areas that emigrated to America. His message appears below.

Greetings from Heppenheim, Hesse, Germany. It’s true, that Barbara Koob (Marianne Cope) arrived [in] New York on the ship Ariosta on October, 1839 – but as I read, master D. C. Lottrrop signed the passengers list on 10 Oct 1839. The majority of the passengers were families from Heppenheim and the villages [of] Kirschhausen, Sonderbach, and Erbach. Most of them moved to Portage County and there to the Randolph township and to the Suffield township.

One of the passengers, George May, emigrated in 1832 to Ohio, moved back to Hesse to take his mother and two of his sisters to U.S. on the Ariosto.

The other families in the List of Passengers are: Martin Bauer (Bower), Peter Klein (Kline), Mathes Trares (Traris), und Friedrich Antes [Andes] from Kirschhausen. Peter Klein (Kline) from Sonderbach. Adam Hohenadel (Honadel) and Gerhard Breier (Briar, Prier) from Erbach. Martin Mischler (Mishler, Mesler), Georg May, Johannes May, Ignatz Kämmerer (Kimmer), Martin Grosmann and Peter Koob (Cope) from Heppenheim. Also on the ship were Wilhelm Koll from heppenheim and Peter Shäfer (Shefer) from Kirschhausen.

So far I found In the US Census of 1840 Martin Bower, Gahart Prier, Adam Honadel, Peter Cline, Martin Mesler, Mattis Traris (Suffield). From Ohio, some of the emigrants migrated further west, including to Indiana or Illinois.

If you want to learn more about your German relatives from Heppenheim and the hamlets, please write. I am interested in the data of the emigrants from Heppenheim and the surrounding villages. In addition to the names already mentioned, well-known names such as Antes (Andes), Engelhart, Guthier (Gouthier), Jordan, Knapp, Lang (Long), Luley (Luli), or Rothermel – some in Americanized from – descend from this area.

Manfred Bräuer, Historical Society of Heppenheim

It’s a wonderful opportunity to make contact with an experienced genealogist and local historian from the area where our ancestors’ came from in Germany. With Herr Bräuer’s help, perhaps we can learn more about our German ancestors while sharing information about what happened to the emigrants that came to the United States.

Here are some links you may wish to check out:

Historical Society of Heppenheim

Barbara Koob /St. Marianne Cope: A Saint from Heppenheim

Welcome to Heppenheim promotional film