 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
Marguerite Marie POHL was born 23 May 1909, in Boston, Massachusetts, the oldest child of Robert Anton POHL and Martha Elizabeth WESSLING. Educated in Wellesley (MA) public schools, she worked in Boston prior to her marriage in 1937 to William J. REID. She died 25 January 1997 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
My mother was very proud of her German heritage and her ties to Boston's German Catholic community at Holy Trinity Church. "Family" was very important to her. She taught her two daughters to "be pretty if you can - be witty if you must - but BE NICE if it KILLS you".
This is Momma's page.
| DORR | GRATZ | WESSLING | POHL/WOLKE | RESOURCE LINKS |
In researching my Maternal Line, I learned that each family group came from a different part of Europe. The DORRs came from "somewhere" in The Rheinland; the WESSLINGs from Lingen in Hannover; the GRATZs from Burbach, a town southeast of Karlsruhe in Baden; the WOLKEs from Berlin; the POHLs from East Prussia (maybe - or maybe not). They DID have one thing in common, though - they were all Roman Catholic. In the United States, they were all members of Boston's HOLY TRINITY CHURCH.
At the bottom of this page are some links to German Family History resources; you might also want to visit my HOLY TRINITY CHURCH page or try to solve some of "Miss Marge Marple's Minute Mysteries" on my "query page".
I've seen this surname spelled DOERR, DOHR, DÖRR and even DEHR. My Great-great-grandfather, Nicholas, spelled the name DORR, however, so that's the spelling I use. Nicholas DORR was born in Magerbach, Prussia (according to his Naturalization papers) in 1824. He emigrated to the US in 1847. There is a Family Myth about his emigration which involves "Germany" to "Elsass" to "Cuba" to "Boston".
Some other surnames from this line are SCHMIDT, BURKHART, OCHS, MÜLLER, MURPHY and KELLY. (You might be wondering about the last two surnames; two of Nicholas DORR's daughters married Irishmen - at Boston's Holy Trinity Church)
My great-great grandmother, Maria Anna GRATZ, was born in Burbach, Baden in 1824. She emigrated to the US with her older brother, Andreas GRATZ, in 1846. Andreas promptly changed his name to "Andrew KRATZ" - if he did this to confuse future researchers, he was VERY successful! Maria Anna GRATZ was married in 1848 to Joseph GRAM; the marriage took place at Holy Trinity Church in Boston. There was one child born, Dorothea. After Joseph GRAM died, Maria Anna married Nicholas DORR, again at Holy Trinity Church, in 1855. The first child of that marriage was Margaret, born in 1856. Maggie was my Great-grandmother - I'm named after her.
Other names in this line are SCHAFF, LANGGUTH, WEILAND, KUNZ and AXTMANN.
In the 1860's and 1870's the children of Johann WESSLING and Maria Adelheid KUHL came to the US from Lingen, in Hannover. After the death of Johann, Adelheid joined her children in Boston.
Surnames found in this line include KAMP, FIX, BERRYMAN and MUSLER.
My Grampa, Robert Anton POHL, was born in Berlin, Germany in 1880. Rob always said that HIS mother, Anna WOLKE, was also born in Berlin; Family Lore tells that Great-Grandfather, Anton POHL was from Allenstein, East Prussia. Anton POHL, his wife Anna, and sons Robert, Otto and Richard, along with Anton's brother, August, emigrated to the US in 1884; Anton was a shoemaker in South Boston. Grampa Rob POHL and Martha Elisabeth WESSLING were married at Holy Trinity Church in Boston in 1908.
Check out the HOLY TRINITY CHURCH page - a good place to browse for any "missing Boston German Catholics" you might be searching for!
Don't miss the GERMANS IN BOSTON RESOURCE CENTER - lots of information about Boston's German communities!
POHL CONNECTION - Ken Pohl's web site is fast becoming a "clearing house" for POHL information. DO visit his page!
GERMAN GENEALOGY HOME PAGE - an excellent "starting point"
BACK to Marge Reid's PERSONAL GENEALOGY PROJECTS Index Page
BACK to INDEX to GENEALOGY PAGES
Marge Reid--[email protected]
This page was updated 5 March 1999.
copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999 - Margaret V Reid