Our common ancester, was a small farmer, (Achtelhoefer, one eighth of a Hectare) by the name of Barthold Beckmann, (1821-1881) who lived in Lamstedt with his wife Christina Margaretha, (born Von der Lieth), (1822-1892), she came from the village of Basbeck.
They had seven surviving children. Lamstedt and Basbeck are two towns which are about 5 kilometers (3 miles) apart, on the south side of the Elbe River, 60 kilometers (40 miles) northwest of Hamburg on Route 73, between the cities of Stade and Cuxhaven.
The following were their children:
1st child - Margaretha Beckmann (Waller) (born 11/10/1846-died 10/25/1926), remained in Germany, married Dietrich Waller, (born 11/23/1839-died 10/21/1909) a farmer of Basbeck, a village her mother originally came from (Christina Von der Lieth).
The farm still exists there, presently farmed by Manfred Waller, whose wife is a schoolteacher. Oma Margaretha's descendants include many grand and great grandchildren. Several were killed in WWI and WWII.
Willi Waller (1910-1945), was a good friend and cousin to my father Harry, when he grew up in Germany, (1903-1920). Willi drowned in the last days of WWII, as he was returning from the war. In the spring of 1945, a boat he was a passenger on swamped in the Elbe River near Doctorshausen. The Elbe River is very close to Basbeck and Lamstedt.
Willi left a wife and 5 children. Three of these young children (girls) immigrated to America after WWII. Oldest is Helga Kaiser, mother of a physician and lawyer.
Ingrid Spark and Marlene Wittschieben, were Helga's twin sisters. They settled in Queens and did the Deli business thing, like so many North German immigrants. Among their children is a Yale medical school graduate (1993) and also a son who is a lawyer. These descendants live in Bellrose, Long island.
Margaretha and her husband are buried in the Hemoor cemetery.
2nd child - Catherine Beckmann (Luhrs) (Carlson) (1847-1942). 1st husband died shortly after arriving in America, 2nd husband, a swedish immigrant, was an alcoholic, and treated her abusively.
Tante Cady was fond of her pet parrot. When husband Carlson would return home inebriated, he would knock her parrot off its perch. tante Cady, would cry out in Plattdeutsche "Och! mein Lutje PaPaGuy", in English Oh! My poor little parrot.
Tante Cady lived in rather poverty like conditions in Gerritson Beach. She had no children of her own. However, when her brother Henry decided to pioneer farm in Ohio, she raised his first born daughter Clara, in Brooklyn, under more civil conditions than in rural Ohio.
Ohio was recently opened , as land for agricultural expansion. Henry built his first home there, a log cabin. Their poisonous snakes and insects around the cabin, so the young children had to remain indoors when they played and grew up.
Clara, Henry's daughter later married Oscar Fink who owned a livery stable. They had a son Errol. I never knew what became of them.
My father said "Tante Cady", as she was called, died in a poverth ward in Kings county hospital at 95 years of age. Her younger brother William "The Great Fisherman of Long Island", provided financial aid , but predeceased her in the late thirties (1938).
Of the five from her family who immigrated to America, she was the only one who was poor, all of her brothers became very wealthy. Could it be because she was a woman, that she remained poor? Seems like social justice was lacking in that era. Tante cady is buried in Evergreen cemetery in Brooklyn. I have not been able to find her gravesite.
Note: Catherine arrived on the Bark "Jupiter", a ship of 690 tons, Captained by J.H. kauckins, June 11, 1867, out of Bremen. Younger brother Henry followed her on August 17, 1868 on the "New York", 3 masted, one funnel, iron Hull, clipper bow, 2,674 tons, also out of Bremen.
3rd child - Henry (Hinrich) (1849-1936), "The Pioneer Farmer of Paulding, Ohio", immigrated to America in 1868, at a young age of 19, I believe to avoid service in the Prussian Army, which under Chancellor Otto von Bismark was preparing for the Franco Prussian War, of 1870-1871.
When he arrived in New York City, he worked with his younger brother John (the grocer) in the grocery and restaurany business on the lower east side around 101 Rivington street. About the same time the Brooklyn Bridge was being built. Brother John must have followed him here, also immigrating from lamstedt.
About 1885 he decided to pioneer farm in Ohio, he was a farm boy and understood agriculture.
Henry's 1st wife and the mother of Clara Beckman (born 15 January 1877) was Christine Wilhelmine Juliane Rethevisch (Born 1852), in Hamburg, Hanover, Germany and died in 1878 in New York City.
His second wife Angeline Christine Heckmann (also a German) immigrant, suffered from breathing problems in NYC, because of polutted air. Before leaving NYC they had a son (Henry B. Beckman). Leaving Clara behind with Tante Cady, they moved to Ohio where they bought 50 acres of swamp land for 200 dollars from the US Government. The land was similar to his fathers farm in Germany, it was swamp land that had been drained, it was heavy in organic material, the soil was black, rich and could grow 2 to 3 crops a year, it was dry lake bottom land. Henry and his family worked hard in Ohio. The new land of America was more fertile than the land in Lamstedt.
Henry and Christine's children were Henry B. (1882) born in NYC. John (1884), Bertha (1886), Charles (1887), Fred (1889), Mary 1891 and Otto (1894), the last 6 children were born in Ohio.
Henry sent his children to a German school in Ohio. I remember as a teenages in 1951, when my father, mother and uncle Barthold visited several of Henry's children, they still spoke very good German, although they had never been to Germany and had lived in Ohio/Michigan their entire lives.
Our "Uncle Charley", the son of Henry the pioneer farmer, who lived near us in the Hudson Valley, my fathers best friend. They told us one day, his father embraces the 7th Day Adventist Religion and adhered to its principles. There would be no work done on the "Sabbath", it was a day of rest and prayer. Uncle Charley always referred to his father in a most reverent manner of "Father". Uncle Charley also told us when his father returned from the fields in the evenings, while driving his horses and wagon, he would often sing hymns, i.e. "Onward Christian Soldiers", "Bringing in the Sheaves".
Tragedy struck one day in 1910, when yound Henry died of an injury. He died at a hospital in Ft. Wayne, Indiana of a ruptured spleen. Young Henry left a pregnant wife behind.
Ralph Beckmann, young Henry's son, born several months after, never knew his father. Ralph farmed and was still living on the farm, where his father was fatally injured, when I visited him in 1992. He was 83 years old.
About 1919, Henry decided to sell off his property in Ohio and move about 50 miles north to Coldwater, Michigan. The "Dunkers", from southern Illinois, a religious group bought his Ohio land. Henry made a sunstantial profit. With the money he bought farms in Michigan and rental properties in Detroit. The farm land in Michigan was not as fertile as Ohio, but he could buy more land for less money. He prospered again, until the "Great Depression", in 1929, when he suffered substantial losses, as many others did. He died at 87, in 1936, at his youngest son's home (Otto) in Hillsdale, Michigan.
Some of his descendants live in the area where Ohio, Michigan and Indiana come together. At the time of his death, there were at least half a dozen farms in this area that had been established by Henry's children and their families. 7
Henry and his wife Angeline and oldest son are buried in the "Blue Creek cemetery", paulding, Ohio. In 1992, this cemetery appeared to be abandoned. From this vantage point in summer, you will see miles and miles of grain growing in all directions, right up to the edge of the burial ground.
Henry is resting here with his wife Angeline, his oldest son Henry, an adjacent tombstone bears the name Waller. Could it be a relative from Basbeck, Germany who farmed here also? A cousin perhaps? Henry will always be at peace here, buried in the verdant plains of Ohio, a land he helped bring forth.
4th child - John Michael Beckmann, "The Grocer of Manhattan" (born 11/2/1853-died 10/18/1920). He and his wife Anna (Vagts) Beckmann (born 10/17/1858) in Hanover, Germany (died 12/4/1922). Immigrated to NYC and owned a grocery business in Manhattan, NYC. Later lived on 4th avenue in Brooklyn and finally settled in Lynbrook, Long Island.
Oldest son Henry was born in 1888. Henry married Emma Bringmann in 1909. Henry became a businessman (Real Estate & Insurance) in Brooklyn. He built a large apartment building on 6th avenue in Brooklyn, which I remember visiting as a child. Henry and Emma had two children, Mildred Emma and Doris Augusta. Doris died young at 15, of the flu. Mildred Hilbert (now deceased), lived in Sarasota, Florida. Mildred and her husband John Hilbert, had several sons. One son a Harvard graduate died young, another Cornell graduate is an Ithica College professor, a third son works for the stock market exchange.
There were several daughters born to John And Anna an American na, and they lived in Brooklyn. Their names were Anna, Meta, Lily, Elsie and Norma. I have no knowledge of them or their descendants.
John and Anna had one other son, their youngest, and his name was John also, he was born in 1899. He would become an American Naval hero.
In WWI, young John joined the US Navy and took his training on the Battleship New Jersey. In 1918 he was assigned to a US Army supply ship, the SS Lucia. This ship had been taken from the Austrian Government, as a prize, and was loaded with transport for the war in Europe in October 1918. This ship was torpedoed by a German submarine off Norfolk. he was assigned to a group whose task was to try and save the ship, but they were unsuccessful. The ship sank and he was adrift on the ocean for a time before he was rescued. For his efforts to save the ship, he was given a commendation by the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He was discharged from the Navy as a 1st class Boatswains Mate. A senior enlisted rate.
A few years after the war, John became a policeman in Mineola, Long Island. He rose through the ranks to become the Police Commissioner of Nassau County (1940-1960). He and his wife had no children.
In early January 1960, he drove his wife to the hairdresser, kissed her good-bye. Then he drove his Buick to an inlet near Jones Beach. Left his service revolver in the car, walked from his car into the surf, to meet the fate he avoided in 1918, when the SS Lucia sank in th Atlantic. His death was a mystery.
John Beckmann (The Grocer) and John Beckmann (The Police Commissioner) and their family members are buried in the Lutheran cemetery, Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn/Queens.
5th child - Charles Beckmann, the Innkeeper of the Knickerbocker Hotel, Leonia, New Jersey. (born 1855 in Lamstedt), (died July 20, 1923 in New Jersey. His wife Margaret (born 8/24/1850) in Germany, (died 11/10/1912). They had two sons, Charles (born 9/17/1878) (died 4/29/1935) and John (born 4/28/1880) (died 10/25/1949). This family became very wealthy.
Charles senior, often returned to Lamstedt traveling 1st class on the finest ships. He was instrumental in having my fathers older brother Henry (in 1910), and also my father (in 1923), immigrating to America. He also bought my father, (a musician), a 500 dollar Cello and paid his passage to NYC from Hamburg. 500 dollars in 1923 would have bought a nice house in America.
While visiting Lamstedt he would often buy toys for the children of the village. My Uncle Willie(died at 95 in 2002) in Queens, still remembered these events of many many years ago.Uncle Charles' Hotel was located near where the western approach of the George Washington Bridge is now located (built in 1930). I believe the hotel operated from 1890 to 1920. At that time , businessmen and travelers would stop over at the hotel before crossing over the next day to NYC. There were only ferries, no bridges or tunnels, crossing the Hudson River at that time, so there is little wonder why he wouldn't be so successful. My father said that his Uncle also had a personal butler tending to his home, which was another indication of wealth.
His son Charles lived in the Bronx and was supposed to have owned an apartment house on the Grand Concouse. He died young at 56, never married and it was said that he liked to live a high style.
The younger John, amassed a fortune, he followed the stock market, owned the Fordham Skating Rink, a large apartment house at 233rd street in Riverdale and when he died in 1949, possessed several million dollars. As they used to say years ago, he knew when to get out of the stock market and when to get back in. In 1929 he made money, when many business associates lost all of theirs.
John was a very generous man and had a large family. I have not been successful in finding any of his relatives who may still be living in New Jersey. Charles senior and his family are buried in the Woodlawn cemetery, Bronx, NY. Woodlawn contains the graves of some of America's Greatest Citizens, i.e. FW Woolworth, JC Penney, Wm C Durant, founder of GM, mayor La Guardia, Irving Berlin, Admiral Farragut and several other Civil War Generals.
6th child - Barthold Beckmann, farmer and cattle dealer of Lamstedt, Germany, our grandfather, whom I never met. (born 10/10/1861) and died in Lamstedt, (4/21/1951), age 89 years. His wife Margaretha Christina (Reese) Beckmann, a carpenters daughter was (born 11/10/1867) and (died 8/18/1933). They had six surviving children all sons. They were Barthold, (1890), Georg (1892), Henry (Hinrich) (1894), Carsten (Charles) (1899) Harry (Heinrich) (1903) and Wilhelm (Willie) (1907).
Five sons immigrated to America. Georg remained in Germany, died young, about 41 (in 1933) from the effects of WWI wounds. His youngest son Ludwig (now about 79 in 2007) owns and operates the original farm with his son Kaesten. This farm has been in the Beckmann family about 170 years (2007).
After WWII this farm was in the British zone of occupation. A refugee family by the name of Potts from Lithuania shared the house after WWII. A brother George Potts of Bridgeport, Connecticut was reunited with his refugee brother by my father after WWII, in 1949.
Georg's oldest son Barthold was killed at age 21 fighting in the Wehrmacht, somewhere between Moscow and Leningrad south of the Illman Lake, in Russia, March 3, 1943.
I have visited Lamstedt three times 1959, 1972 and 1993. This farm is well run and in fine condition, as evidenced by the 100,000 DM John Deere tractor used by my cousin.
Grandfather Barthold, his wife Margaretha Christina are buried in the Lamstedt cemetery.
7th child - William (Wilhelm) Beckmann the "Great Fisherman of Long Island" (born 3/29/1866) in Lamstedt, (died 1/8/1938) on Long Island, New York. His wife Sophia (Buck) beckmann was (born 2/21/1866) in Armsdorf near Lamstedt, (died 3/11/1918). I believe they immigrated to America about 1885. They had three children, Charles (Sept 1890) Henry (April 1891) and Sophie (July 1899).
The NYC directory of 1900 places William in the milk distribution business at 15 1st avenue, manhattan. Later William went into the building contracting business in the 4th and 5th avenue area of Brooklyn and he became very successful. It was said he had the uncanny talent of being able to look at a building and tell how many bricks were used in its construction. He eventually owned one square block of Brooklyn, consisting of 29 houses. He became quite wealthy and settled on the south shore of Long Island.
My father Harry, remembers William visiting Lamstedt with his family just prior to WWI, my father was 8 years old at the time. William was arrested by German police and detained because he didn't register for the German Army when he immigrated from Germany. Most likely in 1911 he was already an American citizen. However, he was taken back to Bremerhaven and it was several days before he was allowed to continue his visit. An example of too much military influence in German civilian life. A good reason to leave Germany for America.
William visited his older brother Henry in Michigan, in a chauffer driven Locomobile in the 1920's. A Locomobile would be the equivalent of a Rolls Royce in todays terms. William would have been 2 years old when Henry immigrated to America from Lamstedt in 1868, William's sons, Charles and henry were introduced to farm life, according to their cousin Merle Kyser
who met with them, the Brooklyn born youths marveled at witnessing the birth of a calf.
William's family and descendants lived on the south shore of Long Island where they pursued a life of gentility. William enjoyed salt water fishing and his sons established a well known Salt Water Fishing Tackle business. His 2nd great grandson Charles operates Beckmann's Tackle 803 Sunrise Highway, Lynbrook, Long Island. I last spoke with him briefly in 1995.
William, his wife and sons are interred in an expensive mausoleum in the Lutheran Cemetery, on Metropolitan avenue about 75 feet away, are the graves of his brother John the Grocer and his nephew John the Police Commissioner.
My father Harry Beckmann (born 2/26/1903) - (died 5/26/1996), often spoke of these many family histories throughout the years. He had an excellent memory of details, so most of the above information is based on his recollections.
I have visited all of the ares where these families lived in the USA and germany. The North German plain is flat, with quaint towns and cities. Ohio in July is also flat with corn growing in all directions, Long Island is flat, seems to be a physical characteristic of the landscapes, where ever North Germans tend to settle.
These immigrant families had a natural affinity for hard work and to obtain wealth and property. I hope with these writings that their accomplishments become more visual to their descendants.
Stories courtesy of George Beckmann, The Villages, Florida
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