Bals, Balz & Baltz
The History of the Family of Henry & Elizabeth Bals of Nebraska
From information compiled and edited by Gene Bals ©2004
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The History of the Family of Henry & Elizabeth Bals of Nebraska From information compiled and edited by Gene Bals ©2004
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OVERVIEW SITE MAP BALS NAME ANCESTORS FAMILY RICKERT HENRY & ELIZABETH IN
NEBRASKA Ferdinand SCHMERLECKE LUSEBRINK LOWER-SAXON
BAUERNHAUSES SOURCES
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Family of Elizabeth (Rickert-Berkemeier) Bals The Family of Elizabeth Rickert of Herringhausen, Westphalia, Germany Caspar Theodor Hacke, gt. Rickert and Elizabeth Kuplerschmidt - Erwitte Kinder 1. Francisca 2. Theresa 3. Franz
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Fritz Children: Theodore 5. Elizabeth Born: November 25, 1871 in Herringhausen, Westphalia, Germany Henry went back to Germany to marry Elizabeth, they then returned to Crete, Nebraska. I met Elizabeth & Fritz, children of Fritz, brother of my grandmother Elizabeth and her sister Lena, in 1975. A description of that meeting follows: In 1975, I walked into the life of Lusebrink farm very unexpectedly. I had two days of time available in Amsterdam and made the decision to try and find my ancestors in Germany from the very limited information that my mother gave me from letters written by Aunt Lena to Augusta Bals in Germany in the 1950's. That information was basically only the names of the city of Lippstadt and the village of Hörn. Outside the birth of my daughters, they were the most significant days of my life. After the initial sorting out of family information, I was very graciously received by the family of Franz Josef Bals of Lusebrink and the Siedhoff family in Schmerlecke, even though it was in the midst of the worst hailstorm they had experienced in the region in memory. Perhaps the weather was somehow prophetic. The morning after my arrival at Lusebrink, Franz Josef Bals insisted that "I must find Grandmother". There was wheat to harvest, even more critical after the hailstorm, but Franz Josef insisted "we can harvest wheat many times, today we must find Grandmother". We went to Herrringhausen and through visiting with people that Franz Josef knew, we found the home of Elizabeth Rickert-Berkemeier. When Elizabeth grandmother's niece, met us at the door of her house, Franz Josef introduced us in German in this way: "I am the Balz of Lusebrink and this is the Balx of America, we are looking for Elizabeth". With that, Elizabeth grabbed me, hugged me, and just kept repeating "Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Elizabeth" and crying. After that, we sat at a table in her back yard, she served us more schnapps then either Franz Josef or I needed, and we talked of everything family in their limited English and my very limited German. We then drove to Finken Farm to find Fritz. We found Fritz putting up hay by hand in the ancient way of stacking around a center post. Fritz was obviously in his 80's. They told me the family went by the name Berkemeier in Herringhausen, that it was actually Rickert-Berkemeier. They said they remembered both Elizabeth and Lena and remembered Lena leaving for America in 1894. This was in 1975. Pictures of Elizabeth, Gene Bals, and Fritz at Finken Farm:
6. Caroline Maria Antonette “Lena” Born: 24 September, 1874 in Herringhausen, Westphalia, Germany Died: 1964 in Crete, Nebraska. Burial at Sacred Heart Cemetary, Crete, Nebraska. Lena lost a leg falling into a thresher built into the loft of an old style Barn-House in Herringhausen. The Barn-House no longer exists but I was shown the location during the visit to Herringhausen in 1975. Delmer Patz provided the information that Henry & Elizabeth brought Lena to the United States in 1895, after returning to Lusebrink for a visit. She was a seamstress and lived with Henry & Elizabeth until their death and then with different members of the family. 7. Anton Caspar
Born: 05 September, 1877
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This website was created by Gene Bals on September 13, 2004. |