THE GOOD NEWS LADY PRESENTS: GENEALOGY INFORMATION

ON THE FOLLOWING FAMILIES

Neumann, Niemann, Newman, Draehn, Drahn, (Drähn), Kelly, Gibson, Theopistos

As this page is still under construction, for information on my immediate family you can go to my other web page at //Heartland/Garden/2772/theopistos-family.html/ or please contact me at Jtheopisto@aol.com for the missing information. It will take a while for me to put everything on to this page I desire.

My Neumann research:

I started research on my Neumann ancestors and as a result found myself also researching information on other families too-both in my line directly as well as tangent family lines. I first became interested in my Grandmother's family history-the Neumann family, and that connected me to researching also the Draehn family of Brenham Texas, which is where the Neumanns first settled on coming to America. Thanks to my discovery of the Draehns, I learned also about the Drahns of the Waco, Texas area who were related to the Drahns of Stone County, Missouri. Next thing I knew-I learned of more Drahns who settled in Iowa and have found there is a connection between the Iowa and the Draehns-way back before the 1800s. The Drahns of both the Waco, Texas, Missouri, and Iowa all originally spelled their name as you see in parentheses above at the top of the page. Except for the settlers in Texas, all the rest left off the dots over the letter "a" and so spelled it Drahn. The ones in Texas knew to replace those dots -called an umlaut-with the letter "e" after the unlauted vowel. This is a current practice yet in the German language. Before giving you my data on the Neumanns, I want to digress and mention the Kelly and Theopistos and Gibson lines.

I have attempted to find information on my Kelly line-have really had no luck so far. Further information can be found on another website of mine,http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/t/h/e/Patricia-M-Theopistos/

On the Theopistos line there has been no real luck-other than the fact that my husband's grandfather changed his last name to Theopistos on marrying my husband's grandmother, whom it seems was a widow by the name of Theopistos. The grandfather's real last name was Bakalis.

The Gibson line was investigated by my grandfather, Allen T. Gibson, and I have now found that line of my family on another web site thanks to the efforts of a Mrs. Jones who has a Gibson ancestor from my same clan. It turns out that my grandfather descended from a Thomas Gibson who came over here from England (Wales per Grampa Gibson) sometime in the early 1600s. And according to my family members, this Gibson was originally Scotch Irish but his family line had settled in Wales for a period of time. To learn who descended from whom, take a look at the following site. http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/j/o/n/Jerry-W-Jones/ You will find my parents listed on page 3 of Thomas Gibson's family tree info--Thurman Vestal Gibson and Dorothy Kelly are my parents.

Now to start with the Neumann line-strangely enough, it starts out with the name Niemann, rather than Neumann.

  1. Joachim Peter Niemann from Göhren, Mecklenburg, Germany (no doubt part of Prussia then)had a son named Johann Heinrich Joachim Ernst Niemann-this son was born around 1797 either in Göhren, Mecklenburg, Germany or in Burghagen by Perleberg, Brandenburg, Germany.
  2. Johann Heinrich Joachim Ernst Niemann changed his last name to Neumann in 1824. Also in 1824 he married Ilsabe Marie Schmalfeld of Schilde by Perleberg, Brandenburg, Germany. Ilsabe was born in 1801, the daughter of Nicklaus Schmalfeld of Schilde by Perleberg.
  3. JHJE Neumann and wife Ilsabe Marie nee Schmalfeld Neumann had a son by the name of Joachim. Joachim was born March 1, 1838 in Burghagen by Perleberg, Brandenburg, Germany. He married Anna Dorothea Hastedt of Kleinow by Perleberg, Brandenburg, Germany on October 15, 1865 in Kleinow. I have more information on these Hastedts, and you can request that from me by e-mail or letter. Anna Dorothea and Joachim settled in Perleberg after the wedding and their first child was born the next year. 
             Anna Dorothea Neumann        Joachim Neumann

Children of Anna Dorothea & Joachim Neumann

  1. Marie Friederike Dorothea Neumann, b. Aug 23, 1866 in Perleberg. Baptized Sept 9, 1866 in Perleberg. Confirmation date unk.
  2. unnamed daughter, born dead October 25, 1870
  3. unnamed son, born dead April 29, 1873
  4. Anna Luise Minna Neumann -my grandmother-b. May 23, 1874 in Perleberg, bapt. June 21, 1874 in Perleberg. She married (we think) a Harry Newman in 1904, then married Frank Kelly in 1910. At this point we only know that Harry was born in Wisconsin and died in the Yellow Fever epidemic of New Orleans in 1905. See my other web site for more info.
  5. Carl Hermann Neumann b. June 9, 1876 in Perleberg, baptized July 2, 1876 in Perleberg
  6. Richard Reinhold Erhold, born Jan. 11, 1882 in Perleberg, baptized in Perleberg April 9, 1882. Not among the ones who immigrated to US, so must have died by or before summer of 1884.
  7. Hermann Friedrich, born Feb. 8, 1883 in Perleberg, baptized in Perleberg Mar. 25, 1883. Also did not immigrate so must have died by or before summer of 1884. (Note: granddaughter Lena remembered that her grandmother seemed to have mourned a Frieda--or Friederich -I am thinking this son is the one Lena remembered hearing her grandmother refer to.)
  8. Pauline Sophia Neumann b. March 31,1880 in Perleberg, baptized May 16,1880 in Perleberg. Confirmed in Shelby Lutheran Church, Shelby, Texas
  9. Minna Dorothea Neumann b. September 13, 1884 in Austin County, in Texas (about 2 months after family arrived in US). Was baptized Feb. 11, 1886 at Salem Lutheran Church in Brenham, Washington County, Texas. d. May 27, 1886 of diphtheria, at 1 year, 8 mo., 14 days. Buried in Salem Lutheran Church Cemetery.

According to my grandmother, Anna Louise, and a census record I saw, there were a total of 12 children-and as you can see I only have information on 9 of them. The Perleberg Lutheran Churchbook did not have records on the others. I understand that the church records book had been damaged in WWII.

The Connection to the Draehns:

Anna Dorothea Hastedt had a sister name Johanna Caroline Hastedt who married a Johann Joachim Draehn. Johann Joachim Draehn was born in August 1840 in Reetz by Bresch-which is not far from Perleberg, Brandenburg, Germany. Joahnn Joachim's mother was Catharine Marie Dorothea nee Barthels Draehn,daughter of Hans Joachim Heinrich Barthels and Catherine Marie nee Lendt Barthels. She was also born in Reetz. Johann Joachim's father was Johann Heinrich Draehn-born in Göhren by Eldena in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany in 1808. Johann Heinrich's Father was Johann Christoph Draehn who had settled in Goehren, Mecklenburg-Schwerin-born in Bankzow, Mecklenburg-Schwerein in 1756, but died at 80 years of age on Oct. 5, 1836 in Goehren, Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Johann Heinrich's mother was Catharine Sophie Pamprien, born in 1778. She died in Goehren in 1837, a year after her husband Christoph. For information on the brothers and sisters of Johann Heinrich, see DeeAnna Granston's Home Page on Family Tree Maker for the Drahns who settled in Iowa http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/g/r/a/Deeanna-A-Granston/. I believe some time before 1866 Johann Heinrich and Catherine Marie Dorothea nee Barthels Draehn moved to the United States-when and to where I have yet to find out. Still trying to find where they settled and find any other descendants of theirs. There was a Hermann Draehn in Brenham who may also have been one of their son's. What is interesting is it seems he arrived with a Marie Drahn (both listed as Droehn) in 1869 at Galveston. The lady was the right age to be Catherine Marie Dorothea nee Barthels Draehn. So Hermann seems to have arrived in the fall of 1869, but the older brother, Johann Joachim and wife did not arrive till the fall of 1883. I am thinking at this time they moved to Texas and possibly settled within 50 miles of Brenham, Texas.

As a result of Johanna Caroline Hastedt marrying Johann Joachim Draehn, the Neumanns and Draehns were in-laws. And in 1883, the Draehns -Johann Joachim and Johanna Caroline took their two children, William Friederich and Wilhelminna along with their niece, Marie Dorothea Neumann, and left Perleberg where they had settled and moved to the US, settling in Brenham, Texas. On their arrival they were reunited with the other Draehn relative-Hermann. I do not know if he was a cousin, brother or what. Eventually Hermann's family changed the spelling of the last name to Dreahn.

The next year in July of 1884, Joachim Neumann and wife and the other 3 childen did the same thing, leaving Perleberg, to settle in Brenham, Texas, USA. Both families became active members of Salem Lutheran Church of Brenham.

As you can see, the two families were closely connected and so I am interested in finding out more about the Draehns almost as much as I am about the Neumanns. If anyone can tell me more regarding the Neumanns from Perleberg or the Draehns, I would appreciate you contacting me.    

   

If you do not have e-mail and do see this information or learn of it somewhere, you can always write me

 

Mrs. Pat Theopistos, 1626 Dawnridge, San Antonio, Texas 78213.

You can also contact me by phone at 210-344-1837.

At this point I wish to thank YAHOOGEOCITIESfor allowing me this site.