Leuschen Family
Germany, Iowa, and Beyond
Family of Nicholas Leuschen and Anna Maria Simon
Nicholas was born in 1779 Kalenborn, Rhein Province, Germany, a son of Lambert and Anna Maria (Heinen) Leuschen. Anna Maria Simon was born 1781 in Schönecken, Rhein Province, Germany, a daughter of Johann Simon and Maria Willems. Nicholas and Anna Maria were married about 1805 in Rhein Province and had the following children, all born in the Schönecken-Wetteldorf area:
Christian, born about October 18, 1806, and married Susanna Scholzen on January 13, 1834 in Wetteldorf. He died about 1865.
Elizabeth, born about November 12, 1808, and married Johann Baptista Breidt. She died about 1868.
Maria Catherinam born about November 26, 1810, and married Matthias Schelts on February 04, 1841 in Wetteldorf.
Casper, born about January 17, 1813, he died about 1816.
Johann, born about February 23, 1815, status unknown.
Johann, born about March 30, 1817, and married Barbara Seffern on January 30, 1844 in Schönecken.
Anna Catherina, born about October 29, 1819, and married Nicolas Heintzen on October 28, 1845 in Wetteldorf.
Nicholas, born about July 11, 1822, and married 1st to Anna Maria Molitor on August 19, 1847 in Schönecken. He married 2nd to Anna Magdalena Nolles about February 11, 1851 in Wetteldorf.
Susanna, born about July 01, 1825, and married Peter Wagener on October 15, 1846 in Wetteldorf.
Immigration to the U.S.
A few members of the next generation of the above Leuschens are known to have emigrated from Prussia (Preussen) to the United States.
Benedict Leuschen, a son of Nicholas and Anna Maria (Molitor), landed in the U.S. perhaps aboard the ship Steinmann on May 17 1873. After a short time in LaSalle Co., Illinois, Benedict moved to Shelby County, Iowa where he married Anna Maria Nolles on May 22, 1875 at St Boniface Church in Westphalia, Shelby Co, Iowa. The Leuschen families in this area are descendants of Benedict and Anna Maria, a couple members of their family migrating to Saskatchewan, Canada, among other places.
Benedicts half-sister Katherine Leuschen, a daughter of Nicholas and Anna Magdalena (Nolles) Leuschen, emigrated from Germany to the U.S. sometime around 1882. Katherine married Nicholas Thielen on February 06, 1884 at St Boniface Church in Westphalia, Shelby Co, Iowa, and the Thielens raised their family in neighboring Audubon County, Iowa.
Benedicts half-brother Frank Leuschen, a son of Nicholas and Anna Magdalena (Nolles) Leuschen, emigrated sometime around 1882. Frank lived in Wisconsin and he married Dora E Miller on January 12, 1893 in Marathon Co., Wisconsin. They had no children of their own, but are known to have taken in a German-born niece named Emilia (Milly) Leuschen who arrived in the U.S. in November 1909. Frank returned to Germany a number of times during the 1920s to visit relatives, including two of his sisters still living there.
Jacob Wagner, a son of Susanna Leuschen and Peter Wagener (above Tree), also emigrated. Jacob married Elisabetha Dosbach on January 13, 1885 at St Boniface Church in Westphalia, Shelby Co, Iowa. They also raised their family in Aududon County, Iowa. After a stint in Carroll County, Iowa many of the Wagners relocated to Fallon Co., Montana. Both Jacob Wagner and Benedict Lesuchen returned together from a trip to Germany in 1913.
Moving back to the generation of Nicholas Leuschen, born in 1779, Nicholas had a sister named Susanna Leuschen, a daughter of Lambert and Anna Maria (Heinen) Leuschen who was born in 1791 in Kalenborn, Rhein Province, Germany. It is believed (by this author) that Susanna married Valentine Kuhl on June 21, 1822 in Duppach. Valentine Kuhl's family is known to have immigrated aboard the passenger ship Stadt Antwerp, arriving in New York harbor on July 1, 1846. After spending some time in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, the Kuhl families relocated to Mills County, Iowa, and later some of these Kuhls relocated to Shelby County, Iowa, and elsewhere.
Leuschens of Shelby County, Iowa
Benedict Leuschen (above mentioned) married Anna Maria Nolles, a daughter of Joseph Nolles and Anna Maria Fincken, in Westphalia, Shelby Co., Iowa. As implied in the name, Westphalia was an area where a number of German families emigrated from. The mother of Benedict's wife Anna Marie was among the Finken familes from Duppach, Rheinland, Preussen who located at an early date in the Mills County and Shelby County areas of Western Iowa. Benedict and Anna had a family of eight surviving children: Joseph, Magdalena (Thomas), Maria Anna (Hargareten), Nicholas, Frank, Catherine (Goeser), Mat, and Benedict Jr.
Of their children Joseph, the eldest, married Susan Schwery and they raised their family in the Panama, Iowa area. This is the lineage of the author. Eldest daughter Magdalena married Henry Thomas and they raised a small family in Missouri. Daughter Maria Anna (Mary) married Friedrich Hargarten and their family made the move to Bruno area of Saskatchewan, Canada. Son Nicholas married Elizabeth Thielen and they raised their family in the Panama, Iowa area. Son Frank married Rosa Pulvermacher and their family also made the move to Bruno area of Saskatchewan, Canada. Daughter Catherine married Anton Goeser and they started their family in Shelby County before making a move to the Neola area of neighboring Pottawattamie County. Son Mat married Mary Baumann and they raised their family in the Westphalia area of Shelby County. And youngest son Ben married Anna Rosa Langenfeld and also raised their small family in the area of Westphalia.
Leuschen connections - Finken familes of Duppach, of Fond du Lac Co., Wisconsin, and of Mills and Shelby County, Iowa
Peter Fincken and Gertrud Cremer were married February 28, 1808 in Duppach, Rheinland, Preussen. Three of their children were married in the Duppach area, prior to family members immigrating to the U.S. Two of their children were married after their arrival in the U.S. Although Peter Fincken died in Prussia in 1831, his wife Gertrud immigrated to the U.S. at the approximate time some of her children made the trip (mid-to-latter 1840s). She died February 18, 1851 in Fond du Lac Co., Wisconsin.
(1) - The eldest surviving daughter of Peter & Gertud was Anna Maria Fincken who married Joseph Nolles on April 25, 1844 in Duppach, Rheinland, Preussen. After raising family in the Duppach area, Anna Maria died there in March 1871. The next year Joseph Nolles is said to have immigrated to the U.S. with surviving children and located in Mills County for a short time before moving on to Shelby County, Iowa about 1874. It was Joseph's daughter, Anna Maria Nolles, who married Benedict Leuschen as noted above.
(2) - Peter & Gertud's daughter Margaret Finken married Joannes Casper Blum on November 30, 1844 in Ormont, Rheinland, Preussen. They arrived in New York on Jul 1, 1846. Also aboard the same immigrant ship (the Stadt Antwerp) was the family of Valentine Kuhl and Susanna Leuschen, as well as the family of John Gaspers and Anna Catharina Fincken who were married in 1831 Duppach (and had Fond du Lac, WI, and Mills Co., Iowa conections). Casper and Margaret Blum raised their family in Wisconsin, first locating in Fond du Lac County.
(3) - Peter & Gertud's eldest surviving son, Mathias Joseph Finken, married Anna Catharina Gans on January 20, 1847 in Duppach, Rheinland, Preussen. Their family arrived in New York on June 22, 1855, aboard the immigrant ship Gaston. After arrival this family soon located in Mills County, Iowa. The family relocated to Shelby County, Iowa about the mid-1880s. Their eldest daughter, Anna Maria Finken, married Joseph Henry Kuhl, a grandson of Valentine Kuhl and Susanna Leuschen. Their youngest son, Michael (Red Mike) Finken, married Susanna Koll, a grand-daughter of Valentine Kuhl and Susanna Leuschen.
(4) - Peter & Gertud's daughter Maria Katherina Finken apparently immigrated to the U.S. about the time of her mother Gertrud and a brother John. This was perhaps 1846-47. Maria Katherina 1st married Johann (John) Baptiste Koenigs in 1847/1848 Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin. After John's death, and that of her mother Gertrud, she remarried Peter N Kuhl on August 04, 1851 in Fond du Lac County. Peter Kuhl was a son of Valentine Kuhl and Susanna Leuschen, mentioned previously. The Kuhl family soon moved to Mills County, Iowa where Peter died in 1867. Later Maria Katherina moved to Shelby County where she died in 1902.
(5) - Peter & Gertud's son, John (Red) Finken, married Anna Margrata Linden on December 15, 1853 in Marytown, Fond du Lac Co., Wisconsin. Just prior to 1860, this family also moved to Mills County, Iowa, where Anna died in 1879, and John died in 1904. Their son Thomas Finken moved to Harrison County, Iowa about 1890, where many Finken families in this area descend from him.
Other Leuschens Immigrating to the U.S. in the 19th Century
The patriarch of the Leuschen family of the Erie County, Pennsylvania area arrived at an early date. They are descended from Mathias Leuschen and Catharina Ulman who were married February 23, 1846 Buffalo, New York. Members of their family may have included Nicholas, Peter, George, Katherine, Frank and Henry.
Another Leuschen family was that of Matthias Leuschen and Mary Catherine Tillman. Matthias was a son of Peter Leuschen and Anna Margaret Hahn, from a family that appears to have originated in the Kalenborn-Mullenborn area of Prussia. Matthias immigrated about 1872, his mother also known to have made the trip. They lived in Minnesota when Matthias married Mary Catherine, and they raised their family in the Sauk County, Minnesota area. Members of their family are known to have relocated to Montana and Canada, among other spots.
Another Leuschen family was that of Matthias Leuschen and his possible brother Fred, who appear to have immigrated in the early 1870s. Both Matt and Fred, recently married, were located in Ottawa, Franklin County, Kansas according to the 1880 U.S. Census. Matt and Fred were cabinet makers, and Fred is known to have run a cabinet shop in Winfield, Kansas in 1880 before his family moved to the San Bernadino area in California. Matt's family later made their move to the area of Cairo, Illinois, where Matt continued his trade of cabinet making.
Arriving in the U.S. about 1885, or shortly before, were Hubert and his brother John Leuschen. They are believed to have come from Elsaß-Lothringen region of what was then Germany; now the region of Alsace-Lorraine in France. After immigration they lived in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvaina area where Hubert married Wilhelmina Hoell on February 10, 1887 and had a family of 4 surviving children. John is not believed to have married.
Article compiled by Dennis Walsh, April 2005.