HARMS, NEGenWeb Project Pioneer Registry

Modified Register for Gerhard Harms

First Generation 1.

Gerhard Harms¹ was born on 1 Apr 1817 in Hatten, Oldenberg, Germany. He died on 13 Apr 1895 in Hooper, NE. He was buried on 17 Apr 1895 in Hooper Cemetary.

Gerhard Harms left Germany with his family after the war with Prussia and Austria which was the beginning of the Prussian push to become more powerful. They left Prussia (Germany) because they did not agree with the new conscription laws and to escape the military service. For your immigrant ancestors, having their name on a ship's manifest was the culmination of a dream - and often the beginning of a nightmare. A steerage ticket to America bought a crowded, 3,000-mile voyage of two weeks to a month as human cargo, suffering sea sickness and unsanitary conditions on a diet of thin soup and bread. Harder still than the voyage was leaving behind everything and everyone you knew. Gerhard and his family came to America in 1870 on the SS Rhein from Port Bremen and arrived in New York. The Rhein was a 332 ft long & 40 ft wide, two masts, iron construction, single screw and had a speed of 13 knots. The accommodations were 70 - 1st, 100 - 2nd, and 600 - 3rd class passengers. He settled on a farm in Dodge Co. He later purchased a farm near Hooper on the Fremont - Hooper road. The Harms family were among the pioneers founding the Oldenburg settlement. Gerhard's portrait is in the 1902 PROGRESSIVE MEN OF NEBRASKA - A BOOK OF PORTRAITS - DODGE COUNTY EDITION. He is on page 123.

Gerhard married Anna Sophia Schroeder² daughter of Johann Hinrich Schroeder and Anne Catharine Hilgen on 4 Apr 1852 in Kirchatten Germany. Anna was born on 31 Dec 1821 in Germany. She died on 9 Oct 1905 in Logan, NE. She was buried on 12 Oct 1905 in Hooper Cemetary.

They had the following children:

+ 2 M i. Heinrich Gerhard Harms was born on 22 Jul 1853. He died on 5 Dec 1918.
+ 3 M ii. Frederick Christoph Harms was born on 9 Oct 1854. He died in May 1929.
+ 4 M iii. August Heinrich Harms was born on 5 Apr 1856. He died on 8 Dec 1936.
+ 5 F iv. Catharina Margarete Harms was born on 17 Feb 1858. She died on 12 Jan 1892.
6 M v. William Harms was born estimated 1860 in Germany

Sources
1. Census 1870, .
Source Media Type: Book.
2. Census 1870, 332.

Second Generation

2. Heinrich Gerhard Harms (Gerhard) was born on 22 Jul 1853 in Sandkrug, Oldenburg, Germany. He died on 5 Dec 1918 in Fremont, NE. He was buried on 8 Dec 1918 in Hooper Cemetery.

Heinrich married (1) Emma M Hendrick. Emma was born in 1856. She died in 1890. She was buried in 1890 in Hooper Cemetary.

They had the following children:

7 M i. George Harms was born in Nov 1889 in Nebraska. George married Anna Hahlbach.

Heinrich married (2) Adeline C Siems. Adeline was born in 1864. She died on 12 Oct 1946. She was buried on 15 Oct 1946 in Hooper Cemetary.

They had the following children:

8 M ii. John Harms was born in 1893 in Nebraska. He died in 1917 in Fremont, NE.
9 M iii. Willliam Harms was born in 1897 in Nebraska.

3. Frederick Christoph Harms (Gerhard) was born on 9 Oct 1854 in Sandkrug, Oldenburg, Germany. He died in May 1929 in Wichita, KA.

Frederick married Mathilde Sophie Siems daughter of John Friedrich Siems and Elizabeth Anna Maria Rebecca Backenkoeler on 8 Mar 1888. Mathilde was born in 1867 in Delmenhorst, Oldenberg, Germany. She died on 17 Mar 1957 in Wichita, KA.

They had the following children:

10 F i. Sophia Gerhardine Harms was born on 4 Jan 1889 in Hooper, NE. She died on 23 Jul 1965 in Overland Park, KS. Sophia married John Jefferson Wheeler son of Benjamin Francis Wheeler and Nancy Olive Bell on 28 Aug 1912 in Wichita, KA. John was born on 22 Feb 1877 in Boone County, IN. He died on 4 Oct 1964 in Lawrence, KS.
11 M ii. Gerhard F Harms was born on 22 Jul 1890 in Hooper, NE. He later purchased several farms. He died on 11 Nov 1976 in Wichita, KS. Gerhard married Ella Davis in Wichita, KS. Ella was born in 1896 in Indiana.
12 F iii. Mary Harms was born on 14 Feb 1892 in Hooper, NE. She died in Wichita, KA. Mary married William Dorson in 1926 in Gowanda, NY. William died on 20 Jan 1941 in Gowanda, NY.
13 M iv. Herbert Harms was born on 1 Sep 1895 in Hooper, NE. He later purchased several farms. He died on 20 Sep 1970 in Great Bend, KS. Herbert married Nell Gunn in Great Bend, KS.
14 M v. Marvin W Harms was born on 29 May 1897 in Hooper, NE. He died in Dec 1979 in Wilmette, IL. Marvin married Mary Samson.
15 M vi. Wilmer B Harms was born on 29 Oct 1899 in Hooper, NE. He died on 18 Jul 1958 in Wichita, KS. Wilmer married Minnie I Gensmen on 19 Jul 1927 in Wichita, KS. Minnie was born on 8 Jun 1904 in Kansas . She died on 6 Jun 1993 in Kansas .

4. August Heinrich Harms (Gerhard) was born on 5 Apr 1856 in Sandkrug Oldenburg, Germany. He died on 8 Dec 1936 in Hooper, NE. He was buried on 11 Dec 1936 in Hooper Cemetary. August H Harms was educated in the rural schools of Germany, and came to America with his parents at the age of fourteen. A shoemaker and watchmaker, he was a merchant since 1878. He was a Lutheran, a member of the Maccabees, and of the Nebraskana Societh. For more than fifty years August Harms was engaged in the mercantile business in Hooper, NE. He knew something about making and repairing of shoes and opened a modest little shop on February 16, 1878. In 1898 he purchased the two story brick building and moved his dry-goods and clothing into it. He added jewelry, watches, clocks and sewing machines. In 1918 he sold the hardware store and he combined the other departments in a brick building. He also had a self serve grocery store

that he later sold to his son Jerome in 1928.

August married Anna Barbara Bodewig daughter of John Bodewig and Anna Marie Schurf on 26 Mar 1883 in Fremont, NE.
Anna was born on 27 Oct 1863 in Cologne, Germany. She died on 20 Apr 1955 in Fremont, NE.

5. Catharina Margarete Harms (Gerhard) was born on 17 Feb 1858 in Duchy of Oldenburg, Germany. She died on 12 Jan 1892 in Logan, IA. Catharina married Diedrich Bernard Dege in 1879. Diedrich was born in 1856 in Duchy of Oldenburg, Germany. He died in 1938.