The Sobbing name in Germany has two dots above the "o".
Joseph b. Feb. 17,1848, in Germany, d. Nov. 4,1905 in Hopkins, Nodaway, MO. U.S.A.
Father: Johannes Heinrich, b. Nov. 1,1811, Germany, d. March 23,1881, Germany
Mother: Margaret Elizabeth, ( Holker ) b. May 26,1822, Germany, d. Oct. 30,1876, Germany.
I am looking for ancesters or decendents of these people.
Thank You
Terry Joe Sobbing
Red Oak, Iowa, USA

when an "o" or "u" or "a" have two dots about the name, that's called an Umlaut. You can write the letter without the dots as "oe" or "ue" or "ae" ... for example, you can write the name Soebbing and a German speaker knows how to pronounce the word as if the letter "o" had two dots above it.
Have a nice day, angela

Knowing that these people were born or died in Germany really doesn't help much. You need to find any records that may show where in Germany Joseph's parents were born.

Church, marriage and/or naturalization records are good sources as are voting registration lists and the records of any social organizations to which they belonged.

SÖBBING is still an active surname in Germany. There are 50 listings for that name in the German telephone book, many of whom live in Ahaus, in Nordrhein-Westfalen.

We have an "oral history" only of the murder of the son of this Joseph Sobbing. Joseph Henry Sobbing, bn 10/24/1881,married Bessie Mae McMillen 3/14/1900, Maryville Mo, died September 1916. Record in Ancestory.com shows place as St.Joe. It was actually in Ravenwood, behind the train stn, committed by 3 young men (I have one name only) to steal his money from livestock sale in St.Joe. They had drank together in SJ, then played poker on train, but Joe won their $. The murderer was an older brother of a famous man. This Joe was the grandfather of a couple of our classmates, Harold Cross (dec.)and Betty Cross Lee, owner,mgr of a Bedford restaurant.