| The descendants of two Rottmann brothers who brought their families and their mother to the USA and to Otoe County [Oto Counti], Nebraska to the town of Berlin [Otoe], Nebraska are highlighted in this site. The brothers were Albert Hinrich Rottmann and Heinrich Friedrich Rottmann of Kampsheide, Germany. A third older brother [the first son], Heinrich Christian Rottmann, died in infancy. |
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The parents of the brothers were Friedrich Christian Rottmann and Maria Margarethe Dorothee Antholz who were married on May 1, 1845 at St. Marcellus Church, Asendorf, Germany [Kreiss {county} Hanover]. Friedrich was from the farm village just outside Asendorf known as Kampsheide. Maria was from the nearby village of Graue. |
| The Rottmann brothers were Brinksitzers [caretakers of farm land, orchards and animals for a landowner]. Both brothers had second jobs with cabinetmakers, Kunsttischlers. The younger son, Heinrich known by his second name of Friedrich or Fritz, was the first to immigrate to the U.S. with his wife and two children. The older brother Albert known by his second name of Hinrich [Heinrich or Henry], came nine months later with his second wife, three children and the mother of the two brothers. |
| Friedrich age 32 and his wife, Sophie Muhlenfeld, age 37 came with their two children, Maria, age 6 and Wilhelm, age 4 on the ship, Spree. They left Germany through the port at Bremen, sailed to Southampton, England and then on to the port of New York where they arrived on July 7, 1892. They traveled by train to Troy and Albany in New York and then on to Omaha, Nebraska and to Berlin, Nebraska where they arrived on July 12, 1892. |
| Albert Hinrich, age 44 and his wife, Sophie Brümmer, age 33 came with three children, Friedrich, age 9, Maria, age 4 and Meta, 11 months and with his mother, Maria, age 72 on the ship, Trave. They also left by way of Bremen, sailed to Southampton, England and then on to the port of New York where they arrived on March 24, 1893. They traveled by train to Troy and Albany, New York and then on to Omaha, Nebraska and to Berlin, Nebraska where they arrived on March 28, 1893. |
| Since both brothers had farm backgrounds, they chose to settle on farms in Otoe County. Both families had relatives and friends from Germany who had already settled in the Otoe, Syracuse and North Branch communities. For the grandmother, there were also relatives in the Johnson/Brock area. The Rottmann families were active members of the established Evangelical Lutheran churches in the community and had close associations with the pastors in these parishes. |
| There are records both from St. Lucas northeast of Otoe and at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of North Branch of a Karl and/or Diedrich Rottmann family who came 15 to 20 years previous to the Rottmann brothers. One daughter, Anna, married Fritz Albers on March 15, 1895 by a judge; later a service of blessing was conducted by Pastor G. Gundel. There is a record for Karl Diedrich Rottmann born on December 26, 1894 who died at the age of one year and two months. The family lived on a farm near Berlin near the Boese farm. The listing shows the child died of croup. There is a listing of a Rottmann/Gerstenkorn marriage. There is a listing for Maria Dorothee Adelheid Rottmann who was confirmed on August 5, 1880. Her family is listed as being from Staffhorst, Germany. [perhaps 5 to 6 miles from Asendorf]. There is also a record for a Wilhelm Rottmann for the area who likely was born in 1873 at Staffhorst who came with his parents to a farm near Berlin. [It this Wilhelm Rottmann who came with Albert Hinrich Rottmann and family on the boat Trave; it is likely that he was in Germany for a visit to grandparents or that he made the trip to accompany his cousin and family]. |
| It appears that Diedrich Rottmann was a brother of Friedrich Christian Rottmann and that it is his son [Karl Diedrich or Diedrich Karl] who came to Nebraska in the mid-1870s. So, it is likely that the two Rottmann brothers came to Berlin, Nebraska to settle on farms near their cousin and an aunt. |
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