Sievers of Eissen and Peckelsheim

I've done a vast amount of work on the parish registers of Eissen, Peckelsheim and Grosseneder. I've transcribed nearly all of the Eissen register, with substantial work on Peckelsheim and some on Grosseneder and Buhne. I have ancestors from all of these towns, and the reason I've spent time since 2008 doing all this work is that most of the townspeople were related. One could go on forever ...

The earliest Sievers I found was Jurgen Sievers, who was born c. 1687 in Borlinghausen, a town about 10Km west of Eissen. He must have moved to Peckelsheim, as his first marriage was in that town to Anna Maria Wolffhorst in October 1716. I did not find any children of this marriage, and she died in March 1737.

His second marriage was to Maria Elisabetha Mundus (1716-1784) in June 1737. Her parents were Jodocus Henricus Mundus and Anna Catharina Muller. Her grandfather was Bernard Mundus, who was the Deputy Consul for the area.

Four of the eight Sievers children survived to adulthood and married. Jurgen Sievers died 31 Jan 1761 in Peckelsheim.

Children of Jurgen Sievers and Maria Elisabetha Mundus (all Peckelsheim):

1. Maria Catharina Elisabetha Sievers (1740-1828) married Jacob Muller (7 children) and then Antonius Gockelen

2. Maria Elisabetha Sievers (1742-1827) married Joannes Casparus Scheiffers. They had 9 children.

3. Joannes Henricus Sievers (1744-1812) married Anna Maria Elisabetha Meyer in 1780. My family is descended from this marriage

4. Ludwig Heinrich Sievers (1747 - ?) married Maria Regina Gruttmann. All of the above were born in Peckelsheim and most died there. They seem to have only had one child: Joannes Franciscus Henricus Sievers (b. 1781 - ?), who married Anna Gertrud Meyer. They had 13 children.

Joannes Henricus and Elisabetha Meyer married on 4th October 1780 in Eissen and it seems that Henricus had moved there prior to 1780. Elisabetha Meyer is a problem. I thought I had found her parents in the Eissen register, which seemed to be borne out by the same parents and siblings being godparents to the Sievers children. However, the birth I found for her in 1758 to Joannes Georgius Meyer and Clara Wassmoht is not the correct one, as that child died the same year. It could be the older sister Catharina Elisabetha Meyer (1759-1805) who is the correct wife, but in a number of cases, Elisabetha is called Anna Maria Meyer. If someone else knows the story, please tell me. I'm fairly sure I have the right family, but the wrong person, and perhaps that was simply due to a wrong entry in the registers.

Children of Joannes Henricus and Elisabetha Meyer (all Eissen) were:

1. Angela Maria Sievers (14 Nov 1781 - 6 Mar 1818) married Joannes Bernardus Ludovicus Derenthal (1781-1847). They had 8 children. After Angela died, Ludwig married Anna Theodora Elisabetha Schlotthane (1792-1869) and they had 7 children.

2. Joannes Ludovicus Sievers (10 Sep 1783 - 2 Sep 1854). He was a farmer, and on 7 Jan 1807, he married Anna Eva Margaretha Hummernbrum (7 Sep 1778 - 24 April 1837). This was her 2nd marriage; she had previously married Joannes Conradus Schaaf in 1799 and had 3 children. Her name was badly written on the New Zealand immigration documents of two of her sons, and she was thought to be Hevergret Hummelbrum for a long time. The same document also mangled their place of origin, which was thought to be Silesia in Poland. These are my direct ancestors.

Eva Margaretha Hummernbrum's parents were Joannes Jodocus Hummernbrum (6 Jan 1735 - 9 Nov 1798) and his 2nd wife Anna Maria Catharina Antenbrink (16 Mar 1745 - 13 June 1818) by whom he had five children. His first wife was Anna Gertrud Geissen, and they had one child. They were all from Grosseneder. Some Hummernbrums in the registers have "Judex" next to their names, indicating they were of the Jewish faith.

3. Angela Maria Theresia Sievers (19 Jan 1786 - 29 May 1851) married Rabanus Wilhelmus Wieners (1786-1851) and had 6 children.

4. Anna Maria Theresia Sievers (12 June 1788 - 26 June 1866) married Joannes Henricus Fecken and had 10 children.

5. Joannes Henricus Sievers (23 Oct 1790 - ?). No trace in the registers after this date.

6. Joannes Bernardus Sievers (25 Mar 1793 - 8 July 1817) seems not to have married.

7. Franciscus Josephus Sievers (4 Sep 1797 - 7 Mar 1824) also seems not to have married.

8. Joannes Conradus Antonius Sievers (30 Dec 1800 - 31 Dec 1800.

Children of Joannes Ludovicus Sievers and Eva Margaretha Hummernbrum:(all Eissen)

1. Anton Joseph Sievers (3 Nov 1807 - ?) No further trace of him.

2. Anna Maria Magdalena Sievers (5 April 1810 - 15 Feb 1871) married Johann Franz Anton Geissen on 28 Jan 1850. They had 2 children: August Geissen b. 1846 who married Theresia Francisca Hager in 1868, and Bernard Geissen, b. 1850 who married Carolina Weskamp in 1872.

3. Friedrich Wilhelm Sievers (26 Jan 1813 - 4 Mar 1883) married Anna Maria Justina Rose (19 Feb 1818 - 12 June 1892) on 25 June 1843. This branch of the family stayed in Germany. Justina Rose or Rosen's parents were Joannes Bernardus Rosen (1792 - 1858) and Anna Maria Christina Gertrudis Fehring ((1796 - 1865). The Fehrings were originally from Ossendorf. I am also more distantly related to this ancestral line on the maternal side.

4. Carl August Sievers (24 May 1815 - 28 July 1892) left Germany for London c. 1848 and worked in a sugar factory in the London docklands. He married Charlotte Walker on 29 Jan 1849 in Moorfield, London and a few days later they set sail for New Zealand where they had 5 children. These are my direct ancestors. Charlotte Walker was born in Oxfordshire, and was Anglican but converted to Catholicism at her marriage. Her parents were William Walker and Martha Cadd (who had died before Charlotte married). William Walker also emigrated to NZ.

5. Christina Antonetta Sievers (13 Aug 1818 - 26 June 1867) married Johann Joseph Brand (b. 1821, Hohenwepel). He was a farmer in Peckelsheim. They had one child, Anton in 1846. What happened to him?

6. Wilhelm Anton Friedrich Sievers (3 Sep 1821 - 24 Nov 1909. He accompanied older brother Carl to London, worked in the same factory, and married Clara or Clarissa Davis in London 1849, and set sail on the Mariner along with Carl and Charlotte to New Zealand. They had 11 children (I have further details).

Children of Carl August Sievers and Charlotte Walker (all New Zealand):

1. William Louis Sievers (1851-1904) born and died in Wellington, NZ. In 1872 he married Mary Ellen Kelly (1853-1926), who emigrated from Ireland to NZ aboard the Wild Duck. They had 14 children.

2. Rosetta Sievers (1853-1929), born and died in Wellington, NZ. She married William John Raymond in 1874, and they had 6 children.

3. Mary Anne Sievers (1855-1938) is my ancestor. She married Englishman George Lambert (1854-1933) on 9 Oct 1878 in Wellington. They had 8 children.

4. Charlotte Clara Sievers (1858-1927), born and died in Wellington. In 1880 she married Claude Ahearn and they had 2 children.

5. Emily Sarah Sievers (1861-1911), born and died in Wellington. Her first marriage was in 1884 to George Francis Hopkins, with 2 children. Her 2nd marriage was in 1894 to Charles Loomes.

6. Elizabeth Helena Sievers (1867-1966), born and died in Wellington. She married Thomas Shields in 1887, and they had 13 children, all of whom married.

The German lines:

Children of Friedrich Wilhelm Sievers and Justina Rose (all Eissen):

1. Johann Bernard Sievers (1842-1895) married Elisabeth Welling c. 1876. They had 4 children.

2. Anna Helena Sievers (1844 / ?) no further information.

3. Karl Sievers (1846-1905) married Gertrud Hohne in 1879 and had 4 children. He later had one child, Joseph (b. 1890), by Josephine Peters whom he married in 1889.

4. Veronica Sievers (1851-1880) appears not to have married.

5. Joseph Sievers (1854 - ?) no further information.

Children of Bernard Sievers and Elisabeth Welling (all Eissen):

1. Heinrich Sievers (1877 - ?). Married Anna Agnes Hartmann in 1897 and had 7 children.

2. Johann Sievers (1880 - ?) no further information

3. Veronica Sievers (1883 - 1884)

4. Franz Xaver Sievers (1885 / ?)

Children of Karl Sievers and Gertrud Hohne (all Eissen):

1. August Sievers (1880 - 1959) married Karolina Redeker (1884-1948) from Borgholz, daughter of Maria Amalia Redeker (1863-1927). They had 14 children. One of these, Heinrich Liborius Sievers emigrated to the US.

2. Carl Sievers (1881 - ?)

3. Albert Sievers (1884 - 1888)

4. Heinrich Sievers (1886 - 1887)

I am interested in making contact with relatives. I've already met quite a few via the web and some in person, and there are quite a few of us researching these ancestral lines. I do have an immense amount of information to share with relatives, and I am very interested in collecting photos or portraits of the Sievers, both current and old. I am also interested in receiving information about members of families where I have put "no further information" above.

I can also give some information to people with other families from Eissen. You need to make sure that this is indeed the correct town and not Eisen, Essen or another place and you're guessing. I have had queries from people with names matching those from Eissen, but in fact coming from other towns.