Research
ROOTS RESEARCH
Where did we come from?
When did our relatives come to America?
What type of life did they leave in Europe?
Where did they settle?
These are questions that many human beings will ask during their life. From an early age I was interested in family history. Sometime in the middle of the 1950’s I asked my great grandfather – Louis Rudolph Aschermann—about the family. All I knew was that the Aschermann’s had emigrated from Germany, they settled in Rising Sun, Indiana, the family at sometime moved to Illinois and then in the early 1900’s my great grandfather moved his family to Southern Colorado.
Though he had a keen memory, Lou really did not know much about his family other than he had brothers and sisters in Central Illinois and that his father died when he was about five. He thought that his mother and father were German. I was disappointed.
Still I did not know from where the family emigrated from or the name of the parents of my great grandfather and great grandmother.
I knew that my grandfather – John Louis – was born in Central Illinois in 1895: Lovington/Lake City.
In 1970, almost by accident, I accepted a position at Eastern Illinois University, Charleston…. East of Decatur. One day I drove through Arthur, Illinois. I noticed a sign that said “Aschermann Motor Company.” I stopped. The owner suggested that I talk to his father, Ernest, and uncle Loyd. Soon I learned that these were cousins of my grandfather, John Lewis Aschermann.
None of the Illinois people, however, knew anything about the Indiana other than there had been a migration from there about 1880. I did learn that my great, great grandmother was buried in the Arthur cemetery: Anna Maria Sudbrock Aschermann Vollmer Miller. Yet, no one knew anything about Rising Sun, Indiana, the location in Germany, nor the name of the Aschermann who migrated.
In 1971 Loyd Aschermann, cousin of my grandfather, had always wanted to travel to Rising Sun to find out more about our people. Though it was a mere four hours in an automobile, no one of the Illinois family had ever been to Indiana. Loyd, our wives and I drove to the Ohio River. We met a number of people who “thought” that there was an older brother who migrated from Germany but, no one knew what his name was nor where he had come from. The Indiana people were the descendents of Frederick and Charles Aschermann. Circumstantial evidence allowed us to claim each other as family.
The next big movement forward was made by Virginia Aschermann, a retired history teacher from Decatur, Illinois. She is the daughter of Ernest the Ford dealer. By chance she talked to a cousin who had the marriage certificate of her grandparents. The certificate said “Ernest Henry Aschermann” and in German “Ernst Heinrich, b. 1820.”
We still, however, did not know “where” in Germany the migration began or when the migration occurred, or where immigrants from Germany settled. So, Virginia went to the Ohio County Indiana court house in Rising Sun, IN. She found the names of two brothers of Henry that remained in Indiana, Frederick and Charles, location of farms, location of Baptisms and other legal issues. One question answered: Henry Ernest Aschermann migrated from Germany.
During the winter of 2002 I was determined to find more about the Aschermann family in Germany. This was the early days of Google. I looked at 2400 webpages with the name “Aschermann.” Late at night I found a page that was done by Wolfgang Dreuse who lives in Osnabruck, Lower Saxony Germany. Incredible! Wolfgang had a listing of 3600 emigrants from the Buer, Melle district of Germany. This was the Kingdom of Hanover in the mid 1800’s. I saw the name “Aschermann”. I clicked on it. Listed were the names of Ernest Heinrich, Fredrich Wilhelm and Carl Friedrich Aschermann! Our ancestor and his two brothers. Another question was answered: The Aschermann’s came from Northwest Germany.
I wrote an email to Wolfgang asking if he know anything about the Aschermann people that were listed on his website. Wolfgang reported that he knew of an Aschermann farm in Wehringdorf. The next day he drove about 30 minutes to Wehringdorf and took a photo to send me. An older man came out of the house/barn and asked, “What are you taking a picture of my house for?” Wolfgang explained why, i.e. he received an email from a descendant of Ernst Heinrich. This American Aschermann is interested in the German Aschermann farm.
On my way home from Russia in 2004, I made a detour from Amsterdam to the village of Wehringdorf. Wolfgang met me and took me to the Aschermann farm. I met Carl-Heinz Aschermann. Carl-Heinz, b. 1933, is a direct descendent of Johann Herman Aschermann who died in 1748. He was married to Margarete Elise Uflammersbrin. Johann Herman is the founder of the Aschermann farm in Wehringdorf. It is believed that this was the first time that an American descendent of Ernst Heinrich had been on the property.
Who was the mother of the Aschermann children? Even though her obituary said that “she was the last of her line”, Virginia was able to find information about Anna Marie Sudbrock, the mother of the Illinois Aschermann family. In 2016 a relative worked in the Latter Day Saints genealogical library in Salt Lake City. She was able to find documents pertaining to Mary Sudbrock and her German family. Mary was the wife of Henry Aschermann.
Two questions were answered:
Who were our German relatives?
Where did they come from in Germany?
These questions sparked more interest for the decedents of Henry and Mary Sudbrock and for those who are unable to make the journey to Wehringdorf. This set of webpages answer the questions about the Search for our Roots.
What is it like in Northwest Germany?
What is the history of the region?
What was life like in Germany in the 1840’s?
When did the Aschermann-Sudbrock migrate to Indiana?
Why did the family migrate to Illinois?
Why did one clan of the family migrate to Colorado?
Since 2004, Debra Aschermann Pickett and Mark Aschermann have also made the pilgrimage to Wehringdorf. Debra and Mark are the grandchildren of Loyd Aschermann. I returned in 2015 to the village and house of our ancestors.ph