by Leila Friedrichs
To trace the "roots" of the Onnens, we go back to Germany where the names of these places denote our ancestors' homes for a while: Neufensergal, Lanniese, Guedstade, and Aurich, Ostfriesland. Beyond that, who knows, as the name "Onnen" is often seen in Finland and Netherlands.
The oldest ancestor we know of is Hinrich I. (Henry) Onnen (1826-1899) who was a Duty Inspector in Germany. He was married to Anke Margertha Gerdes, a dressmaker. After her death he came to America (ca 1897) to make his home with his son, George (Gerd) I., who at that time was living on a farm two miles east of Manson, Iowa. Hinrich died of pneumonia and is buried at the Lutheran Cemetery north of Manson. Hinrich had four children. Two came to America: George (Gerd) I. and Carson who lived in Illinois and is buried in St. Joseph, Illinois. He was 64.5 years old at the time of his death.
George (Gerd) I. migrated to America when he was a young man in 1875. We have a record of his Naturalization papers which are dated October 1, 1884. He was married on March 1st, 1882 at Minonk, Illinois to Johanna Margarethra Sieberns, who came to America in 1881 with her two brothers. Johanna's parents were Fergo Gardes Sieberns, a tailor, and his wife, Gaeske Maria Herren of Neufensergal, Germany. George and his wife lived on a farm six miles east of Minonk, Illinois, where seven of their children were born. The oldest children attended a rural school in Illinois where English was spoken. As they spoke German at home, they thought English a queer language. George had a new house built on the farm east of Manson before they moved, which was by train. George and his older sons went by freight train and rode in the caboose so they could take care of the animals. His wife and younger children came later by passenger train. The move was in 1894. The boys slept in the attic but there was no stairway so George built a ladder nailed on the outside of the house. (How would you like to go to bed in the winter by going outside first? And imagine Johanna climbing up there to make the beds!)
As the boys grew older, George needed more land so he built a half-section of land east of Richards, Iowa in 1900 and lived there until he was ready to retire (in his fifties-about 1908). He had a new house built here, too. His son, Henry, moved into the old homestead about 1910 or 1911. While the George Onnen family lived there the children attended a rural school close to their home and later attended Confirmation School at Immanuel Luther Church east of Rockwell City. They often walked the four miles and the roads were dirt. Sometimes they cut across the fields. Martin and Sena were confirmed the same year. In bad winter weather Kathryn stayed with Frank Berner's which was much closer. The paster was the teacher and kept order with "Black Peter," a stick!
When the George I. Onnen's retired, they first moved to the south edge of Manson where they had a barn, orchard, and grape arbor. John and Kathryn attended Manson High School. Robert Onnen (Martin's son) lives in this house now (of course, he has remodeled it).
Later, George didn't want so much work so they moved again to another house he had built (by the way, none of these new houses were seen by his wife before she moved in--no womens' lib then!). This house is still standing right west of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Manson, where George was janitor for some time (all volunteer work at that time). Johanna died in February, 1920. Ann become a registered nurse, Kathryn a school-teach, John a businessman in a bank and later at Flynn Dairy in Des Moines, Sena a homemaker and dressmaker, and all the rest farmers after some of them, namely Henry and Hie (Hiram), tried store-keeping.
George had a housekeeper for several years, Mrs. Gesine Reiners from Germany. Her husband was killed in World War I. She brought her daughter, Kathe, with her. In 1924 George married Mrs. Ida Gerdes of Sterling, Illinois, and they moved there. George died in 1931. The homestead was sold a few years later and some of the children bought their own farms.
From these roots are farmers, doctors, lawyers, ministers, school teachers, business people, housewives, social workers, nurses, secretaries, travelers, artists, librarians, carpenters, lab technicians, mechanics, store keepers and clerks, pilots and crop dusters, army and navy servicemen, truckers, plumbers, construction worksers, dressmakers, custodians, brick masons, accountants, electricians, elevator managers, etc. We have descendants in many states of the US and some in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
May different churches are represented, although the "roots" were Lutherans.
Many have atteneded schools from little one-room rural schools to the trade schools, colleges, and universities of today.
Let's keep alive the Onnen Genealogy!