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This page is devoted toFamily Histories of individual
Weisenburger family lines. If you have information on your line that you would like
to contribute, please contact Karen
(Weisenburger) Abel.
[NOTE: clicking on the individual's name will take you to
their Family Tree information on the RootsWeb web site.]
 | Philipp
Weisenburger (1881-1940)--Philipp Weisenburger came to the United States aboard
the Chemnitz, sailing from Bremen, Germany, on 19 November 1904 and arriving at Ellis
Island, New York, on 2 December 1904. It is said that he had been drafted into the
Russian Army, went AWOL and was 'smuggled' out of Russia. While this is quite
possible, we have no means of verifying this at this time. According to the
passenger list for the Chemnitz, Philipp was traveling with Philipp Koch of Alexanderfeld,
So. Russia. Their final destination was Eureka, SD, where Koch's brother lived.
On his arrival in New York, Philipp Weisenburger stated that he was in possession
of $2. The two undoubtedly worked along their way to Eureka. A portrait
photograph of Philipp Weisenburger was taken in Springfield, OH, probably about 1905.
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Philipp's future wife, Friedericka Schweigert, sailed with her family
from Bremen on 17 November 1906. Oddly enough, they also sailed on the Chemnitz,
arriving at Ellis Island on 1 December 1906. Their final destination was also
Eureka, SD, where Friedericka's uncle, Johann Jacob Harr resided.
Philipp and Frieda were married in Eureka on 26 February 1907 and
their first child was born there in November of that year. Soon afterwards they and
the Schweigert family moved a short distance north to the town of Hellwig, ND. The
town of Hellwig no longer exists, but it was located about 15 miles northeast of Ashley,
ND, and got its name from the rural post office that was established in 1900 in the home
of one Ludwig Hellwig. The next three Weisenburger children were born there between
1909-1912. The family then moved to Bismarck where the rest of their children were
born.
Philipp and Frieda (Schweigert) Weisenburger - 26 February 1907
While Frieda gave birth to twelve children, only seven of them lived
to adulthood. Two of those children eventually settled in California, one in
Connecticut, one in Oregon, two in Washington, and one in Montana.
Philipp was a carpenter and, among other things, he is known to have
built the family home in Bismarck, another rental home next door to that one, and a local
church. The family were strict German Baptists, following in the tradition of the
Schweigert family.
--submitted by Karen (Weisenburger) Abel, Philipp's granddaughter
| Franz
(1864-1951) and Theresia (1862-1948) Weisenburger
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Brother and sister, Franz and Theresia Weisenburger, emigrated to the
US on 8 September 1883, settling in Williamsport, PA. Their older brother had just
died the previous June. For five years prior to this, times had been difficult and
the harvests poor in Neuburg. Then on New Year's Day of 1883, the dikes of the Rhein
River broke and flooded all the land from Strassbourg to Mainz, including Neuburg.
In many places the water was over two meters high. Many inhabitants of the area left
and traveled to Williamsport. From 1876 until 1890 almost 400 persons did this and
Theresia and Franz were among them.
Theresia married Louis Lamade. They lived in South Williamsport
and had no children.
Franz married Wilhelmina Volkmann (her surname was Anglicized to
Fullmer by immigration officials when her family came to the US in 1872). They had
eleven children but eventually separated from one another. Franz went to live in
South Williamsport with his sister and brother-in-law, while Wilhelmina raised the
children in Williamsport. Franz was employed for more than forty years as a lumber
inspector for Central Pennsylvania Lumber Company.
--composed from information submitted by Cindy (Meyer) Matthews, Franz's
great-granddaughter
| Friedrich
(Fedor) Weissenburger (1887-1937)--Friedrich (also known as Fedor) was born in
Grossliebental. "When he was a teenager and many people were leaving to go to
America, his family and others from the community bought land in Kazakhstan and started
another German colony there. They worked very hard, broke up the steppes, and built
a prosperous farming community. The farms were collectivized, but the farmers
continued to work the farms and tried to feed their families and to avoid political
involvement, but trouble came..."
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On the night of 20 November 1937 the secret police came to Fedor's
home and took him away, along with four other men from the village. Fedor had seven
children and his wife was pregnant with another son at the time. "She raised
her family and died in 1985 without ever hearing what happened to her husband and father
of her children."
In 1990 Fedor's youngest son, Albert, was able to obtain court
documents which explained what had happened to his father. Documents showed that his
father was a "poor peasant, never before prosecuted, semi-literate, prior to arrest
worked as a carpenter at the 'Rotes Feld' collective farm in Taranovsk district of
Kustanay region." Fedor and the others were tried on the same day as their
arrest and convicted of having been members of an anti-Soviet kulak-fascist group and of
conducting anti-Soviet activities at their collective farm. "The defendants did
not have an opportunity to face their accusers nor even to know who they were."
Fedor and two others were sentenced to execution by shooting and confiscation of
all personal belongings. They were executed by firing squad on 23 November 1937. On
23 June 1960 "the court again opened the case and found the men not guilty. For
thirty more years, the family knew nothing of this until perestroika in 1990."
"After the Soviet Union disintegrated, [Albert Weisenburger and
his family] were asked to leave Kazakhstan because the new leadership wants Kazakhstan to
be for Kazaks only." The family has been living in Germany since 1992.
--Taken from "The Story of Fedor Wilgelmovich Weisenburger" by
Ted Weisenburger, printed in the HERITAGE REVIEW, Volume 32, No. 3, September 2002, p.
7-8.
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