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SONDERGELD  FAMILIES in the US

   Introduction Page 2

Sources of Data  Page 3

Personal Page 5

Sondergeld Families in the United States Page 6

INTRODUCTION

My name is Donald Sondergeld. My father was Walter Sondergeld. My grandfather was Jacob Sondergeld. Martin Sondergeld was my great-grandfather and the father of the first Sondergeld family to come to the United States from Germany in 1855. His third wife was Barbara Hagemann, my great-grandmother. They settled in northern Ohio, first in Black River Township in Lorain County, and then in Benton Township in Ottawa County.

I was able to trace Martin Sondergeld's and Barbara Hagemann's roots to Unterhaun, outside of Bad Hersfeld, West Germany, where Sondergelds still live in the house in which Martin was born, and Hagemann's live in the house in which Barbara was born. I have also included a partial genealogy of Martin Sondergeld's and Barbara Hagemann's roots in Germany.

In my research, I discovered other Sondergeld families in the United States, and have included a partial genealogy of each of these families. The translation of the German word for Sondergeld is "special money".

My mother was Marie Kinsel. Her mother was Amelia Sutter. My mother's mother's parents also lived in Ottawa County in Oak Harbor, Ohio. My great-grandfather was the Reverend Godfrey Sutter (9/9/1829 - 8/12/1912). He and his family came to New Basel, near Lancaster, Ohio from Basel, Switzerland on the sailing vessel, Attica, which arrived in New York in 1839. His wife was Mary Reiff (6/29/1846 - 1/14/1943). She came to Lancaster, Ohio from Wurtemberg, Germany in 1849.

After their marriage on August 11, 1863, they moved from congregation to congregation, retiring in Oak Harbor, Ohio in 1911. They had ten children. The eighth was Emma Sutter, who married a Sankey Danklefsen. Their daughter, Mildred Danklefsen Walmsley of Shaker Heights, Ohio, compiled a genealogy in the late 1970's of Godfrey Sutter and Mary Reiff, which contained over 400 descendants.

As my Sutter great-grandparents' lives covered the period 1829 - 1943, and my Sondergeld great-grandparents' lives spanned the years 1823 - 1924, I thought it would be interesting to compile this Sondergeld genealogy so I could see how it compares in size with the Sutter genealogy. By 1988 I had traced 539 descendants of Martin Sondergeld, who was the father of the Northern Ohio Sondergelds.

This genealogy is dedicated to my father, Walter Sondergeld, who helped me with the initial work of getting the main framework for the genealogy of Martin Sondergeld. I started work on this genealogy on 1/3/1978. Grace Luebke, Director of the Harris-Elmore Public Library in Elmore, Ohio, was a tremendous resource. Dale Kellogg, a genealogist in Elyria, Ohio, was also very helpful.

This genealogy was first published in July 1988. The addresses listed in the genealogy for other than my immediate family members are as of 1987-1988. In July 1994 it was scanned by a computer and reformatted from a "Wang" record to "IBM". I had to do a lot of editing in 1994 so some errors may have crept in. A small amount of additional information was added. I no longer live at 20 Farm Hill Road, West Hartford, CT 06107...but at the addresses below.

1518 B Oyster Catcher Point

Naples, Florida 33942

469 Birch Road

Beebe Pond in Hubbardton

Brandon, VT 05733

239-434-5840 802-273-2251

SOURCES OF DATA

Some of you might be interested in knowing how I developed the data contained in the following pages.

1. Family Members: When I first started compiling data in 1978, it was by communicating with close relatives via mail or telephone. Data received from them suggested additional people or sources to contact.

The profile of the best person to contact is a female family member over age 65. Women on average are more interested in family statistics. The older person can also remember farther back in time to produce items of interest or suggest additional sources of data. They save copies of articles, obituaries, births, deaths, marriage certificates and pictures that they can make available.

2. Libraries: Grace Luebke, the librarian of the Harris-Elmore Pubic Library at 300 Toledo Street., Elmore, Ohio, 43416 was a tremendous help primarily 1981-1983. Elmore along with Graytown and Elliston, is located in Ottawa County near where Martin Sondergeld and Barbara Hagemann lived. Grace transcribed baptismal records from German to English of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Elliston, Ohio. (Martin Sondergeld may have been a charter member).

She sent me information in which a Sondergeld or a Hagemann was baptized, or sponsored a baptism. She also furnished similar information on marriages (including marriage certificates) and deaths from the church records. In addition, she sent me copies of many newspaper articles, primarily obituaries, together with the book she wrote, Elliston's Yesterdays.

The Ida Rupp Public Library at 310 Madison Street, Port Clinton, Ohio 43452 provided census information and photos of maps of Benton Township in Ottawa County, Ohio from The Hardesty Atlas of 1874 and the Atlas of Ottawa County, Ohio in 1900 by J. Goodman.

In 1987 the librarian in Lorain, Ohio provided census information and a copy of the book: Studies in the History of St Peter's Church, Lorain- Ohio written by Katherine E. Hageman in 1966.

The librarian in San Antonio, Texas was not able to locate anything on the Texas Sondergelds. Similarly the genealogical department of the library in Fort Wayne, Indiana was of no help.

3. Cemeteries: Through Grace Luebke, I purchased the 223 page book Cemetery Inscriptions of Ottawa County Ohio recorded by the Ottawa County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society.

4. Genealogists: The main professional I used in the U.S. was Dale Kellogg of 221 Lexington Avenue, Elyria, Ohio 44035 in 1984 and 1985.

Dale found data on land owned by Martin Sondergeld in the 1874 Atlas of Lorain County, Ohio, information on Martin's two marriages in Lorain, Ohio, land purchases in Lorain County and information on Martin's divorce from Katie Reid. He also got information from the Probate Court and Recorder in Port Clinton, Ohio (the County Seat of Ottawa County) on land purchases.

Dale put me in contact with Edward Prins of 64 East 26th Street in Holland, Michigan 49423, whose book entitled Dutch and German Passenger Lists 1846-1856 provided information on Martin Sondergeld's arrival in the U.S. in 1855 with his first wife.

Ernst Thode (Thode Translations) of RR 7, Box 306, Kern Road, Marietta, Ohio 45750 found a number of Sondergelds in Germany, and from information I sent him he suggested I look at Unterhaun (instead of Unterhaussen, which was incorrectly stated in Barbara Hagemann Sondergeld's obituary as her birth place) as there were both Sondergelds and Hagemanns there. Unterhaun turned out to be the right place.

Rita Lischewski, who lived at Marieutal 65, 440 Monster, in West Germany, found material in

1985 for me. I believe she was a student at the University of Marburg and worked part time at

the Staatsarchiv Marburg on documents of emigration from Hesse to America. Documents

belonging to Hersfeld and its environs are also kept there.

Rita substantiated that Barbara Hagemann was born in Unterhaun, got something like a passport to work in Kalcobes (a nearby town) as a maid in 1852, and received $90 from her parents plus permission from the mayor of Unterhaun to emigrate to America in 1862.

The Buchanan Genealogical Society (P.O. Box 4, Independence, Iowa) put me in touch with Karen Finley of RR #1, Brandon, Iowa 52210, who provided a lot of material on the Hageman's in Independence, Iowa.

5. Ottawa County Court House: This is located in Port Clinton, Ohio, the County Seat of Ottawa County. In addition to the Dale Kellogg info developed from land and other records, I received copies of old maps of Benton Township in Ottawa County, Ohio from the county engineer.

6. Churches: I substantiated some data and received new information from the Trinity United Church of Christ in Elliston, Ohio on the Sondergelds and Hagemanns from Elliston, Ohio.

In 1987 the Reverend Robert A. Happel of 1034 Lakeview Drive, Lorain, Ohio 44052 (Pastor Emeritus of St. Peter's United Church of Christ in Amherst, Ohio) sent me a lot of information on the Hagemanns, who helped found that church, and suggested Hageman's to contact.

7. U.S. Archives: Dale Kellogg suggested I look at Filby and Meyer's Passenger and Immigration Lists Index. There I found references to Sondergelds: immigrants to Texas in 1845, an immigrant in 1851, and a mercenary in 1781. Although there were many references to Hagemanns in that source, I could not match up plausible dates with my relatives.

I also used the U.S. Archives for U.S. Census data.

8. German Archives: I received a lot of information from Sondergelds in Germany from "Kirchles Rentamt Des Kirchenkreiser Hersfeld" at Kirchplatz 6, 6430 Bad Hersfeld, but after finding the Sondergeld family in Unterhaun, they have dealt directly with the Rentamt there.

9. Historical and Genealogical Societies: I received census information from the Ohio Historical Society, 1985 Velma Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43211.

I did not receive anything from the Ottawa County Historical Society, 201 West 17th Street, Genoa, Ohio 43430. The Ottawa County Genealogical Society, Box 193, Port Clinton, OH 43452, published The History of Ottawa County Ohio and Its Families, which I contributed articles to in 1986.

10. Mormons: I wrote to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Genealogical Department, 50 East North Temple Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150. They could not provide information but welcomed the data I sent.

11. Departments of Public Health: I received a death record of John, Martin's first born from Michigan. Department of Health in Ohio could not find a death record on Barbara Sondergeld.

12. Search Firms: There are companies which have access to data banks. They will list all

Sondergelds or Hagemanns in a country with addresses and telephone numbers in the center of

a preprinted book they sell you on genealogy. The fee is usually around $30 for the book. I

bought my first book in 1984 from Beatrice Bayley, of Box 55, Spring Hill, PA 18463.

Although it did not contain the names of all living Sondergelds in the U.S. that I was aware of, it

did include many I was not aware of. The new names turned out to be from four other

Sondergeld families in the U.S. that I subsequently developed additional information on. These

families may be related, but if so, it is from roots back in Germany.

PERSONAL

Don Sondergeld was born in Toledo, Ohio in Flower Hospital November 13, 1930. He lived in Toledo, Elmore, and Oak Harbor (where his brother Ralph was born at our grand mother Amelia Kinsel’s house. He attended Jones Junior High School in Toledo in Kindergarten and the first and second grades. Westfield Elementary was then built and Jones became a JHS. He attended Westfield in the fourth grade. He then moved to what is now Northwood, Ohio. He lived one half mile from Olney where he was graduated as Valedictorian in 1948. He then went to BGSU, and graduated with honors in mathematics in 1952...receiving a BS in Education and a BA degree.

In June of 1952 Don volunteered for the draft and spent 7 months at Indiantown Gap Military Reservation outside Harrisburg, PA, 8 moths at Ft Riley, Kansas, and 9 months at Ft Leonardwood , Missouri. H then went to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor for a year and received an MS in theoretical mathematics in 1955.

In 1955 Don took a job as an actuarial student at Connecticut General (now CIGNA) in Hartford, CT. He met his wife Mary in 1956 and was married in her home town of Waterville, Maine in August 1957. He became a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries in 1962. He bought his first house on Woods Road in Bloomfield, CT when his first child, Karen, was born in September 1959. David was born in November 1960, and Eric in April 1962. In mid 1963, Don took a new actuarial position with Hartford Life in Boston. He moved to 8 Elm Drive in Canton, MA. Amelia was born in the hospital in Norwood, MA in April 1965. In 1967 Hartford Life was moved from Boston to Hartford, CT. He then moved to 20 Farm Hill Road in West Hartford. Don was Senior VP and Chief Actuary and Director of The Hartford’s worldwide Life Operations. Karla was born in December 1968.

In February 1989 Don took a job as Executive VP and Corporate Actuary at Mutual Benefit Life Assurance Company in Newark, NJ. this meant a move to a house at 14 Heller Drive in Upper Montclair, NJ. The position only lasted until mid 1991 as Mutual Benefit had a “run on the bank” caused my a downgrade by Moodys and S&P. The Company sought protection from the state insurance department and the rehabilitator and his team released all senior executives. The good news was that Don’s employment contract was honored.

In early 1987, I responded to a postcard from Elizabeth Sondergeld Ross of P. 0. Box 5300

. Scranton, PA 18505. I asked her if the service she provided was the same one Beatrice Bayley

used to provide, and if she changed her middle name to agree with the last name of every

solicitation she made. I never heard from her again

However, in 1987 I responded to Halbert's Inc. of 3699 Ira Road, Bath, Ohio 44210. I asked if they would give me the computer listing of names and addresses (without the book) for a reduced fee. I then got Sondergelds, Hagemanns, Hagemans in the U.S., Sondergelds in Australia, and Sondergelds and Hagemanns in West Germany.

I received some information from Roots Research Bureau Ltd. of 39 West 32nd Street,

Suite 704, New York 10001, that had limited vaue.

I became president of the Society of Actuaries in October 1991 for one year..a non paying

prestigious position with worldwide travel. Don retired and he sold his NJ home in 1992 and

moved to the large home he has had on Lake Beebe in Eagle Rock Estates in Hubbardton, VT

built in 1966.. Also, Don bought a condo at 1518 B Oyster Catcher Point at Naples Bath and

Tennis Club in Naples, Florida in January 1993.

Starting in 1993 Don and Mary have spent about 4 months/year in Florida (Don plays tennis and bridge), 6 months in Vermont at the lake (swimming, boating, skiing, and tennis), and 2 months traveling. Don went to his first ACBL National tournament in San Francisco in November 1986 and he became a Life Master at the Nationals in Reno playing with Mary on 3/22/98.

SONDERGELD FAMILIES IN THE UNITED STATES

The following six Sondergeld families came to the U.S. between 1855 and 1925. I have a lot of information on them, which is contained in other chapters. The Northern Ohio and Texas Sondergelds are related.

1. NORTHERN OHIO - A Martin Sondergeld, who was bom in Unterhaun, Hersfeld (north of Fulda), Hesse, Germany, in 1823, came to America, arriving in New York on May 7, 1855. He lived in Black River Township, Lorain County, Ohio until 1865, and then moved to Graytown in Benton Township in Ottawa County in Ohio. Details are contained in this genealogy. This family is Lutheran.

Martin Sondergeld's third wife was Barbara Elisabeth Hagemann, also from Unterhaun. Martin's mother was a Catharina Elizabeth Weiss, a younger sister to another Catharina Elisabeth Weiss -- who was Barbara's grandmother. This means Martin married a daughter of his first cousin. Therefore, Martin and Barbara were related before they were married, along with Barbara's younger brother, Jacob Hagemann.

2. TEXAS - Anna Catharina Elizabeth Sondergeld, a daughter of Martin Sondergeld's oldest

brother. Johann Georg, immigrated to New Braunfels, Texas in 1869.

Captain A. Harker's ship, "Eberhardt", left Bremen, Germany on September 27, 1845 and arrived in Galveston, Texas 73 days later on December 9, 1845 with 287 immigrants.

One passenger was Michael Sondergold from Oberschonau, Kurhessen.

Another passenger was George Menz and wife, Anna, (nee "Sondergold") and children, Benjamin, Thielmann, and Louise. They were also from Oberschonau, Kurhessen.

Another passenger was Christian Menz from Oberschonau, Kurhessen. George and Christian might have been brothers. Also, Anna and Michael may have been sister and brother.

It's possible they settled in New Braunfels, a German community 20 miles NE of San Antonio. San Antonio is 225 miles west of Galveston.

3. CENTRAL OHIO - A Cornelius Sondergeld (10/18/1853-7/26/16) came to Springfield, Ohio in 1888 from a town near Steinbach-Hallenberg (east of Fulda), Germany, which is located in what is now the German state of Thuringen in S.W. East Germany. Cornelius had five children: Oscar (8/10/87-10/2/50), Carrie (5/4/90-6/9/21), Willie (6/25/92-3/27/46), Clara (3/30/95-2/28/96), and Anna (10/29/97-9/18/67).

Oscar married a Louise Yaeger, and they lived at 1581 Highland Avenue, Springfield, Ohio 45503. They had two sons: Herman (5/12/30-5/26/30) and Ralph (10/16/33- ), who lives with his wife, Mariel, at 928 Cherry Street in Wenatchee, WA 98801. They have one son, James (10/31/64- ). This family is Lutheran.

Carrie had two children. Willie, Clara, and Anna had none.

4.. LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - Albert Sondergeld was born in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany in 1838. He probably arrived in America in New Orleans on April 27, 1856. His wife, Magdalena was born in Indiana. They had 11 children, and 7 lived: Katie, Magdalena, Theresa, Edward, Mary, John, and Margaret. Although John had no children, Edward had 5 boys and 9 girls: Madeline, Georgetta, Dorothy, Robert, Bernard (Ben), Edward, Jr., Albert, Florence, Josephine, William, Mildred, Laverne, and Alberta. This family is Catholic.

5. NICHOLAS, CALIFORNIA - A Sondergeld family from Oberufhausen (,north of Fulda), Germany had eleven children, five of which came to Nicholas, California. Joseph, a priest, came around 1910, Anna in 1912, Maria, who became a nun, in 1913, Berta in 1923, and Theodore F. in 1923. Theodore's widow, Martha, lives at 821 N.E. 95th Street, Seattle, WA 98115. Their son, Theodore, is a priest, and their daughter, Anna Sondergeld Rash (at 13314-20 N.E., Seattle, WA 98125) has six children. This family is Catholic.

6. NEW YORK, NEW YORK - A Sondergeld family from Vegesack (near Bremen), Germany, had nine children. Seven came to the U.S. (Carl, Adolf, Amelia, Gus, Henry, Herman, and one other). Two stayed in Germany (Alfred, whose 21 year old son was killed in the war, and Dorette). Of the seven, only Carl and Adolf had children.

Carl, Sr. (2/13/1878-4/29/1952) came to the U.S. in 1894 and had two sons: Herman (born 7/22/1910) and Carl, Jr. (born 2/9/1913). Herman's widow, Hertha Rusch, lives at 84-14 257th Street, Floral Park, NY 11001. They had two girls: Louise (born 5/16/1948) and Jean (born 4/6/1952). Carl, Jr. had three sons: Carl III, Mark, and Paul.

Adolf had two girls, Meta and Della, and one son, Henry (called Harry), who lives in Bronx, NY). This family is Lutheran.

7. ANOTHER IMMIGRANT - A Heinrich Sondergeld, age 16, arrived in New York harbor on the ship, "India", on October 16, 1851 from Bremen. He was from Fulda, Hesse. I don't know where he settled.

8. A MERCENARY - A Hessian Grenadier, Philipp Sondergeld was listed as person number 53, on muster roll 65. He served with British troops during the American Revolution. He served in a Grenadier Battalion in the Company of Captain Sandrock for 182 days from 12/25/1781-6/24/1782.

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