My 2nd Great Grandfather, William Grittner born abt. 1829 in Bolkenheim / Bolkow, Silesia (then Germany). Married Beate _____. Their children were Henry Edward, Caroline, Ernest, Pauline, William, & Julius - all born between 1855 & 1877. We believe William (the father) died in Germany about 1894. Henry Edward, Julius immigrated to the U.S. (Iowa & later Washington State). Beate followed after the death of her husband. The family later moved to Alberta, Canada.

Caroline married William Bean and Paulien married August Otto - all in Germany.

We have no further information about the German / Polish segment of the family.

Hi,

I would be very interested to see if there is any connection to your Henry Edward GRITTNER and mine. However, they changed the name from GRUETTNER to Grittner after living in America. He was married to Catherine KETTENBACH.

I would be glad to share family information, if we are of the same line.

Nancy (Grittner) Froh
frohnancy@yahoo.com

Hi Nancy: My Henry Edward came to the U.S. prior to 1888. He married my great grandmother (Della May Slyter) in Arbor Hill, Adair, Iowa on 12 July 1888. He died 2 Feb 1927 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

His parents were William Grittner (b abt. 1829) and Beatte Witte (b abt. 1831) both in Germany. She came to the U.S. after his death in Germany in 1894.

I'd love to see us make a connection, what do you think?

Lynne :-)

Hi Lynne,

Thank you for your quick reply. Hopefully, we will find a connection somewhere. I am trying to find the name of Henry Edward's parents and exactly where he lived in Germany.

My lineage:

Henry Edward GRUETTNER (GRITTNER) b. Dec. 1825, Bad Godesburg ?, Prussia; d. 1902, Turbotville, PA;
m. Mary Catharine KETTENBACH in NY shortly after their arrival in 1852; b. 12 June 1826, Nassau, Prussia; d. 13 Aug 1920, Turbotville, PA.

They arrived in NY 1852 from Prussia and lived there for about three years after which they moved to PA. They lived in Nordmont, PA for a few years and finally moved to Turbotville, PA.

They had the following children:

1. Pauline (died as an infant) possibly born and died in NY

2. Anna Louise, b. 1856, m. Charles VanDine

3.. George Wilhelm GRITTNER, b. 06 Mar 1858 in Franklin Twp., Lycoming Co., PA; d. 03 Apr 1942 Turbotville, PA; (my g. grandfather)

4. Julia Ann, b. 1861, m. J.W. Ervin

5. Hanna Bessie, b. 1865

George Wilhelm (known as William GRITTNER) m. Anna Catherine MENGES 4 Nov 1884 in Turbotville, PA

Children:

1.Charles Oscar GRITTNER, b. 11 Oct 1885 Turbotville, PA; d. 1959 Hughesville, PA; m. Harriet Mariah WINTERSTEEN (my grandparents)

2. Edward Lawrence GRITTNER, b. 09 Dec 1776; m. 1st wife, Nellie; 2nd wife, Mary HAFER

3. Mable Emma, b. 28 Nov 1888; m. Mr. Golder

4. Blanche Viola, b. 16 Sept 1890, m. George Treon

5. Harry MENGES GRITTNER, b. 4 Dec 1892; m. Caroline ?

6. Grace Catherine, b. 11 Nov 1895; m. Mr. Hayman

7. Paul Samuel GRITTNER, b. 25 Sept 1897

8. Ruth Alice, b. 11 July 1899

9. Helen Edna, b. 24 Nov 1902; m. Rev. John Wagner

Thanks for your reply.

Nancy (GRITTNER) Froh
frohnancy@yahoo.com

Hi Nancy: My father (now deceased) and I have worked on our Grittner line for years, and as I looked over the information you shared with me, I see a very familiar name. That would be child #6 - Grace Hayman. Dad received a couple of letters from her many years ago as we attempted to join our bits of information.

I've also seen the name Catharine Kettenbach in the past as I've searched. At the moment I don't see a connection. But if we could get your Henry Edward and my William to be related it would be great.

I guess we'll both have to keep on searching.

Good Luck.

Lynne Steffen

Hi Lynne,

Now that you mention it, I remember a letter sent to my dad, Max Grittner, in PA from a man in Canada regarding his research on the GRITTNER line. My dad gave the letter to his Aunt Grace Hayman to send him information on our family line.

Wouldn't it be nice to put some of the pieces together and find a connection? I am sorry to hear your dad passed away. I think I still have a copy of this letter at my home in AZ. We are presently in Port Angeles, WA for a year.

My great Aunt Grace provided me with lots of our family information in the past. She is not deceased. She was the granddaughter of Henry Edward GRITTNER. According to Aunt Grace, Henry Edward married their family's servant, Catharine KETTENBACH, soon after their arrival in NY in 1852. Her grandparents never spoke of their famlies in Germany, so I think they must have been estranged from the family. Also, I was told that Henry Edward came from a royal family. Some friend or family member who was in World War II saw a huge estate with the name GRUETTNER on a large wrought iron gate. I don't know where that was as of yet.

All of my great aunts and uncles are now deceased. I have some cousins who are trying to find our family line in Germany, too. This is how I came up with the name of the town, Bad Godesburg, Germany. I'll have to contact him again to see how he came up with that town or if he found out any more info.

Thanks again.

Hope we can put the pieces together.

Nancy (Grittner) Froh

Hi Nancy: I just checked on the map and apparently Bad Godesburg is in Nordhein-Westfallen (Western Germany). My Grittners came from Bolkenheim (Silesia) Germany which is now part of Poland.

Any ideas?

Lynne

Hi Lynne,

No, because I'm not too sure that Bad Godesburg is the actual home of my GRUETTNER lineage. I'll have to do some more solid research to find out. I'll call my cousin this weekend to find out how he arrived at that location.

Thanks and keep in touch.

Nancy (Grittner) Froh

Hi Lynne,

Yes, I would love to see if we can find a link. I do remember my dad receiving a letter from your father. I believe that my dad gave the letter to his Aunt Grace (Grittner) Hayman because she had some family information.

Thanks for keeping in touch.

Nancy (Grittner) Froh
frohnancy@yahoo.com