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.
John Phillip Klamm (1880-1958) is descended from two immigrant brothers: John Klamm (1821-1902) and Simon Klamm (1817-1896). The brothers parents were Johann Michael Klamm (1780-1844) and Katharina Barbara Baumann (1782-1866). Note, as shown in the tree above, that John Phillip’s parents were first cousins.
Elizabeth Susanna Brenner is descended from a second Klamm family. Lizzie’s paternal grandmother was Maria Magdalena Klamm (1824-1863). Maria Magdalena Klamm and Peter Brenner were married in 1845 in Platte County, Missouri. She had immigrated in October 1843 to New Orleans with her mother, Susanna (Groh) Klamm, and siblings Peter, Anna (see below), and Margaritha. Susanna Groh’s husband, George Martin Klamm (1790-1838), had died in Germany. This family does not seem to be related to John and Simon (above), at least not as far back as my tree goes.
On the same ship as the Susanna (Groh) Klamm family was Peter Elisha Klamm (1816-1883) who had married Anna Elizabetha Klamm (1816-1878), daughter of Susanna (Groh) Klamm and sister of Peter Brenner’s wife Maria Magdalena Klamm. I believe Peter Elisha is not related to the two other immigrant Klamm families, meaning he was not related to his wife.
Note there are duplicate names in the trees, but during this period most boys’ first names were Johann and there seemed to be only a small number of popular second names… They were generally called by their second names in Germany, but this changed when they moved to America. Figuring out which is which usually requires using birth or death dates, which are often not available.
I should also note that almost all of these people came from a fairly small area near Ludwigshafen, Germany, close to the Rhine River. An exception you can see in the second tree is the Truskey family. They came from an area that is now in Poland and immigrated first to Illinois, then to Kansas close to Kansas City. I know a lot less about them because few records seem to be online so far from Poland.
There are other family names I see over and over in my paternal tree. The names include Groh, Frey/Fry/Frei, Renner, Baumann, Hofmann. In those days you probably married people who lived close to you and attended the same church. An advantage of that is you knew each other well and were both well known by both families before you married.
Don’t forget that the book The Brenner Family 1843-1990 by Carol Chamberlin Brenner is now available for download in the Resources Section of this website, as a searchable PDF file. That book is an inspiration for me to try to pull together the history of the Klamm families.
Sometimes I wonder what our ancestors would have thought if they had known that over 300 years later and thousands of miles away from where they lived people could be learning about their births, marriages, deaths, and even more… I see it as a way of remembering and appreciating our ancestors… And learning some history along the way!