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The Groh Family

JN. The GROH Famly. Two typewritten pages (incomplete) document found in the possessions of my mother Ruby (Anderson) Klamm. Origin unknown. It contains a number of interesting stories about the family. I have made comments in italic font preceded with my initials JN. The genealogy is confusing with so many people named Christoph and Peter, but I think my analysis of their error in ancestry is correct. All of these people are descended from Peter Groh (1753-) and Eva Katharina Fry (1777-) but I believe sometimes by different paths than described here. This is a common kind of error, especially when the same names duplicated in every family. If you are not interested in the details of the ancestry, just enjoy the history and stories.

During the 1840s. Christoph Groh (b. 1796 14 Nov 1795-d. January 5, 1853), his brother Peter Groh III (b. 1786 7 May 1788-d 18 Dec 1846), and their families over the course of several years immigrated to America from their place of birth Rheingoenheim, Bavaria then under the rule of King Maximilian.

JN. Both immigrated 27 Jun 1843 on the Baltimore to New York. Christoph came with some of his children. Peter Groh came with wife Maria, Heinrich, Christoph, Michel. Some other of Peter’s children were adults and also came to America. This is the same ship as the Brenners arrived on.

Christoph and Peter III were the sons and grandsons of Peter Groh II (b, 1753) and Peter Groh I (b. 1723) farmers from Rheingoenheim. They first settled near Parkville, Missouri along the Clay and Platte County line.

Neuhofen map from 1790

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The Groh Family Comes to America

I recently found an incomplete undated document of unknown origin in my mother’s papers entitled The Groh Family which interested me enough to take a closer look at the Groh family.

The sailing ship Baltimore arrived in New York on 27 June 1843 with a number of people who were on their way to Platte County, Missouri or nearby. Among the passengers was the Heinrich Brenner and his wife Susannah Hoffmann and family, which is described in a previous post. Also on that ship were Christof Groh (1795-1853) and daughter Eva Groh (our ancestor) who married John Klamm in 1844. Her mother had apparently died before the trip. The other children arriving on that ship were Philipp 26, Peter 23, Daniel 15, Anna 18.

Port of New Orleans in 1855
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John Philip and Elizabeth (Brenner) Klamm

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John Philip Klamm was born 17 December, 1880 at his parents’ farm in Clay County, Missouri. In 1900 he was living with his parents and the census reported he was a “farm laborer”. On August 13, 1902, he married Elizabeth Susanna Brenner.

Philiip (or “J.P.”) and “Lizzie” lived various places throughout their lives and it was a bit difficult to figure out, so here’s our best guess. They were still in Clay County in May 1903 when their first child, Herman, was born. Their sons Oliver and Ralph were born in 1906 and 1908 in Bonner Springs, Kansas. According to a postcard of the Bonner Springs fire in November 1908, Philip and a brother had a harness shop in Bonner Springs. Since most of the downtown was destroyed, they probably moved back to Clay County after the fire.

In the 1910 census Philip is farming in Clay County on rented property next to the property of his father. The family is still in Clay County in 1912 and 1915 when Frances and Della are born. But in 1918 Winston is born in Ottawa, Kansas. Family history is that they lost their farm in Clay County.

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The Klamm Families

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I was planning a post about the lives of my paternal grandparents John Phillip Klamm and Elizabeth Suzanna Brenner, but decided I should first explain the Klamm families since both of them are descended from Klamms.

After investigating the Klamm families in the Kansas City area that I knew about, I concluded there are probably three unrelated Klamm ancestors in the area.
1) John Klamm and Simon Klamm (immigrants), sons of Johann Michael Klamm.
2) Susanna (Groh) Klamm (immigrant) and George Martin Klamm, son of Karl Friederich Klamm.
3) Peter Elisha Klamm (immigrant), son of Johann Christoph Klamm.

Immigrant brothers John and Simon Klamm, sons of Johann Michael Klamm
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Native Americans in the Riverside area

In this blog post I want to cover some history of the area that I and my grandparents and great grandparents lived in. First, what was there for thousands of years before the Europeans arrived, who was there just before they arrived, and then a bit about the arrival of Europeans.

Not all of this would be considered genealogy, but it is my history because I wandered around in the Indian mounds, often walked the plowed fields after a rain in search of arrowheads and potshards, and participated in a Shippee dig on the Renner property in 1954 at the age of 13. The photo below is of some of the items I found walking the plowed fields after a rain, mostly arrowheads and potshards. Lower left is the grinding stone used for grinding grain.

Judy’s treasures

My great aunt Carolina (Brenner) Renner encouraged the exploration of the prehistoric site on her property and several excavations were made during her lifetime. Gary Brenner was the driving force behind the creation of The Renner-Brenner Site Park, as is explained on his website here: https://www.rennerbrennersitepark.com/

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Ridge Recipes

Ridge Recipes, published by the Evening Circle of St. Matthew’s Evangelical and Reformed Church, Riverside, Missouri, in 1954, is now available in PDF format.

I received my copy from my Aunt Carolina Brenner Renner on the occasion of my (first) marriage in 1961. My favorite recipes are the German ones, dishes that Grandma and Aunt Carolina made. I long ago copied out my favorite recipes, and meanwhile, the book has been aging fast in the Texas heat, so it was now or never… The result is still a bit messy but I think all of the recipes are readable.

This copy also has Aunt Carolina’s notes plus her recipe for Mexican Wedding Cakes. Some of my other favorites are German Style Summer Pickles, Hot Potato Salad (with or without greens), Grandma’s coffee cake, cream puffs.

An aside about the coffee cake. We lived in Hamburg, Germany, for a couple of years and their butterkuchen was just like Grandma’s coffeecake except they put slivered almonds on top.

You can download it here (and it is also listed on my Resources page). The first version is complete as published, in the second version I have deleted the advertising pages.
http://nichollsfamily.us/resources/ridgerecipes.pdf
http://nichollsfamily.us/resources/ridgerecipes-noads.pdf…