Thank you for taking the time to check out the Kuhlmann and Holtzen family 
trees! The Kuhlmann's are from my dad's side and the Holtzen's are my mom's 
side. My mom, Lori and my two aunts, Deb and Missy were the ones that got me 
interested in genealogy. They always wanted to know why my Great Great 
Grandmother's maiden name (Grundmann) was erased on her daughter's wedding 
license and another name, Wortman, was written in. That's the mystery that got 
us all interested and we are still trying to find the answers. We have so many 
theories, it's ridiculous. Maybe someone was adopted - of course, we can't see 
adoption records as they are closed - so that makes it hard. Okay, a little 
about me. My name is Jennifer Renee (Kuhlmann) Craig. I was named after my 
mom's sister, who was still born, Lisa Renee. I love my name and the fact that 
I was named after her sister. I live in Munden, Kansas with my husband, Nathan. 
We were married in June of 2004 and have been hoping to start a family. We have 
had trouble, going through two miscarraiges, and then no luck at all - and I am 
blaming this on my Great Great Grandmother, Anna, who did not have children 
until they were married for 12 years - that's a long time! I really hope I 
don't have to wait that long! :) Most of the information I have has come from 
my mom and aunt's research on the Holtzen side, and my grandpa (Karis)'s 
research on the Kuhlmann side. We haven't run across anyone famous in our 
family lines yet, but have come close. Henry E. Kuhlmann Jr. purchased the 
Buffalo Bill Ranch in North Platte, Nebraska from William "Bill" Cody on 
October 6, 1927 and he and his family moved from Chester and took possesion on 
March 7, 1928. Around 1965, the homeplace was sold to the state of Nebraska and 
is now a very beautiful tourist stop. We were also told that Anna Ziegler's 
father may have been a general in the Civil War for the North but have found no 
proof of this. In fact, we don't even know who her parents were. We have found 
one war hero in the family. Freeland Dunker (of the Grundmann line) who would have 
been my I don't know how many greats uncle. He was a member of what they called the 
Swoose Group. He was a bomber pilot in WWII. He died in 1944 when the plane he was in 
had trouble. He stayed behind to fly the plane while the rest of his crew 
jumped to safety. He didn't make it. He jumped from the plane and they think he 
hit his head while jumping. The ironic part of it is that the plane glided into 
a safe landing. 
The main family we are researching is Heinrich and Anna (Ziegler) Grundmann. Heinrich 
was born August 25, 1842 in Oldenburg, Germany. We know nothing of his family. Anna 
Marie Grundmann (nee Ziegler) was born July 19, 1847 in Wurtenburg. We were 
told that her parents (and possibly sister) died maybe of smallpox when she was 
very young. She had the choice of going into prostitution or coming to America -
 she came here. Not sure how much of that is true. Anyway, she came here, 
according to the 1900 census, by way of Bremen/Bremerhaven December 17, 1867 on 
the Ship Clara. She was 20 years old. Heinrich came from Oldenburg by way of 
Hamburg at age 24. The ship arrived in May of 1867. One source says Johann 
(dropped in America) Heinrich was upset with his family (why?) and left Germany 
as a stowaway on a ship - probably before his 1867 voyage. He was caught on the 
ship and had to work on the docks in New York for two years to pay for his 
passage - and possibly met Anna on the docks. She may have been a motel maid. 
It is also said that his family found him and brought him back to Germany, but 
he later returned to America - and that was probably in 1867 when he would have 
met Anna. We don't know how much of this story is accurate. 
When and where were they married? We have heard three possibilites: New York, 
Illinois, or Brownville Nebraska. We guess that they were married between June 
1869 and June 1870 and we know that they lived in Hamel or Worden, Illinois in 1870 
as that is where their first child, Anna, my great great grandmother was born. (SEE 
UPDATE BELOW)Although we can't find any records of her being born there, other than a 
later census.
They had at least 10 children: Anna, Heinrich, Frederick (died an infant), 
Marguritte (died an infant), Meta, Elise, Wilhelm, Sophie, Clara, and Johannes. 
The 1900 census stated they had 11 children. Who was the 11th? One thought was 
that they buried a child on the way back from Colorado. (SEE UPDATE BELOW) Heinrich 
died April 29, 1919 in Friedensau and Anna died August 19, 1903. I really wish we 
could find their parents names and/or where exactly they were from in Germany. This 
would give us more to search through. Their eldest daughter, our ancestor Anna, 
married Carl Degner April 20, 1893 in Friedensau. They did not have their first 
child, Elsa, until 12 years later in 1905. Marie was born 5 years later in 1910. Why 
wait so long and why only two children? One rumor is that they were adopted, but of 
course we can't search adoption records. Elsa Degner married Ernst Holtzen on 
September 19, 1924 at St Peters Lutheran Church in Deshler. I believe on their 
marriage application, marriage license, and take home certificate, Elsa's mother's 
maiden name (Grundmann) was erased and changed to Wortman. No one knows where this 
name came from. According to my grandpa, Larry Holtzen, Anna Degner was a recluse in 
her later years and never left her bedroom.
UPDATE: In May 2008, my aunts, mom and I travelled to Illinois and found that our 
family actually lived in the Worden area... we were able to walk on the land that 
they used to own and found another child that was born and died in the area... it was 
fascinating. That was the missing child - their firstborn, Conrad Carl Heinrich. We 
never did find any proof of Anna being born there, although we did find that they 
were neighbors to some Wortmans... coincidence??
One exciting thing that I just came across is some letters/documents that I 
copied from my Grandpa Karis' collection. It was all in German and so I never 
paid much attention to it. Bored one day, I put some of it into an online 
translator and came up with these words: out of the entry of the Rellingen 
death index, one can observe that the father of the deceased/descendants 
Wilhelm Ferdinand Kuhlmann (my 4greats grandfather), is, because of suspicion 
of a murder, in the penitentiary. The mother of the deceased/descendants is 
after never village/Niendorf moves away. As you can see, it doesn't 
make much sense with my translations, but it sounds like a very interesting 
story to follow up on and maybe find someone who can translate it for me. 
I know that my mom and aunt have talked with a lot of people they have found 
over the internet, and maybe you are one of them. Either way, I would love to 
hear any stories, etc. that you might have concerning someone in my family 
tree. You can email me at jennifer.renee@ymail.com - I look forward to 
hearing from you! Oh - and don't forget to sign my guestbook!! :)

UPDATE: So a piece of paper we've had for years, with the name Gaudman on it... we 
decided to check into it. Turns out that they had the spelling wrong and I was able 
to contact the library in Cincinnati... we have found Heinrich and Anna's marriage 
license!! The reason it was so hard to find was that there was a riot and the 
courthouse and records were burned. This record we found was in the Cincinnati 
Volksblatt newspaper. All it says is their names and the date they were married: July 
13, 1869 in Hamilton County, Ohio. Now I'll need to start studying the history of the 
area, get a list of churches (Lutheran) in the area at that time, finding out if they 
still exist today and what they are called - and call each of them to search their 
records - I'm hoping if we can find the church marriage record for them, we may learn 
about their parents, and so on.