Sunday, July 30, 2000

Wettig Family Reunion

Greyhound Restaurant & Tavern

Covington, Kentucky

This report of the Family Reunion of July 30 is being written on October 8 in Leisure World. Much has happened during that two months. I will try to remember all of the things that we talked about and all of the people who were there, but if you read this and you can add anything to the report, please send me an eMail . Please forgive the poor quality of the photographs. The Sony Mavica camera is good, but it was working in almost total darkness for these photos.

More than 18 members of the Clan Wettig gathered on late Sunday afternoon, July 30, at the Greyhound Restaurant and Tavern in, I believe, Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. This is just on the south edge of Covington and across the river from Cincinnati. There were six representatives of the Georg Heinrich Christian Family and the rest were descendants of the Karl Heinrich Friedrich Family. There were no representatives from the Johann Heinrich Ludwig Family.

Ludwig (416) was the oldest son of the Family headed by Johann Heinrich Christian (308) and Sophie Elisabeth Charlotte (Glade) Wettig (309). The father and mother of this family emigrated from Neustadt am Rübenberge, near Hannover, in 1847. They took part of the family with them to Cincinnati. Their youngest son, Georg was only 12 years old and their youngest daughter, Wilhelmina Dorothy Marie was just 10 years old. An older daughter, Wilhelmina Louise Eleanore, the wife of Lorenz Decker, had already moved to Cincinnati a few years before. There is a story, unconfirmed, that their son, Karl Heinrich Friedrich, had come to the USA in 1840, at the age of 17. He returned, it is thought, to Neustadt am Rübenberge in 1847 to send the family to Cincinnati and to get a wife. He did both. In 1848 he married Maria Louisa Wobbeking of nearby Münchhagen , in Locum Parrish.

Karl Heinrich Friedrich and his new wife Maria Louisa, and his older brother, Johann Heinrich Ludwig and wife Marie Lucie Sophie (Kaiser) and their one year old son, Georg August Heinrich, came to the USA and Cincinnati, in 1849. Ludwig, who was known as Louis Wettig in Cincinnati, moved to Richmond, Indiana. Karl Heinrich Friedrich stayed in Cincinnati for several years, where he was known as Henry Wettig, before moving to Covington, Kentucky. The younger brother, Georg, now known as George Wettig, stayed in Cincinnati, where he married Mary Tiemier The younger daughter, Minnie, moved to Richmond, Indiana with her mother and father, the date is not known, and married Henry Grieve, also a German emigrant. The entire Wettig Family of Neustadt am Rübenberge, was now in the United States.

 Jack & Vicki Wettig of Covington, and therefore of the Henry Wettig Family, took the lead in getting this Reunion organized. They also did this back in 1997 when we had a round robin of five Reunions through this part of the country. They had called all of the Wettigs on our mailing list of the Cincinnati area. Others had been notified of the coming event by EMail. Jack's father, John Snyder Wettig (285), is in a large part responsible for my interest in this Wettig genealogy. In 1963, he wrote a letter to my mother which described the Karl Heinrich Friedrich (63) family as he remembered it. It was a fascinating story.

The Greyhound Tavern was the only place found that could give us even part of a room for a meeting of that size on such short notice. The next time that we do this we will have to plan more in advance and assure that we have a private room. The service was great at the Greyhound and the food was good! We were seated at two adjacent tables, but we were off in the corner, near the Fireplace (in July!) and others in the room were not a problem. We were somewhat restricted in our ability to talk to the entire group about Family History. But, there was a lot of migration between tables and Jesse and Stacy managed to get around and talk to everyone.

 

Our Granddaughter, Evie, and Husband, Michael Scheible, in front with Helen Wettig and Nancy Wettig Watkins.

Herman Watkins and Jack Wettig talk behind Vicki and Erin

The Eleanore Wettig Table - Marty, Stacy, Lisa, Caleb, Don, Jesse and Eleanore in front. Waiter in the background was very good.

 

Left: The Eleanore and Paul Wettig Family

 

Above: Caleb, Jesse and Stacy

 

Stacy, Jesse and Bryan in 1997 Bryan was ill and did not come to the Reunion this year

Paul Wettig was Jacks brother. He married Eleanore Note from Wilmington, North Carolina, my hometown. The story of how Paul met the Wettigs of Wilmington is worth retelling. As John S Wettig wrote in the famous letter of 1963: We would like to add this bit of humor to show that the world is small. Several years ago, two men were playing golf on the Wilmington, N. C. Golf Course. The native resident inquired of the stranger where he was from and the stranger replied, Cincinnati. What's your name, stranger? The stranger replied, Paul Wettig. The native resident's eyes widened and he said inquiringly, "Wettig? Stranger you must come over to my Mother-in-law's house tonight. She is Mrs. Harry Wettig." The native was Mr. Johnson, who married Harry's daughter, Frances. Paul Wettig and his family have visited with the Johnsons at their Florida Home. If you look in the genealogy you will find that my records of this family need a lot of filling in. I hope that someone will do that for me in the near future.

It was great to see so many of this family again. It was hard to believe that Stacy had matured so quickly to such a beautiful young lady and Jesse was, well, he was a boy! They are personable kids and Jesse took great care of Caleb through the entire afternoon. We know that Marty and Eleanore are proud of them. Byron was sick and did not get to come to the Reunion. Jan was not there either.

Lisa, Don and Caleb were there. Don talked of moving from the Cincinnati area to the Northeast. They have been interested in the State of Vermont for some time, and I heard just recently that their plans are continuing for that emigration. Lisa has recently received her Masters degree in Counseling.

Representatives of the Georg Family were also in attendance. Barbara (Wettig) and John Fischer from Okeana, Ohio, were there. Barbara and John have two sons, Curtis and Craig. Neither of them came to the Reunion. This was the first time that I had met Barb and John and we didn't have enough time to talk.

Helen (Pritchard) Wettig, who has recently celebrated her 92nd Birthday came with her daughter, Nancy (Wettig), and husband, Herman Watkins. from Springboro, Ohio. Nancy has stayed in contact with me by eMail for the past several years and keeps me informed of the happenings in that part of the family. Helen had two children, Nancy and Clifford. Three of her Granddaughters live in California. One of these is Patricia Wettig Olin, the actress. Another is the equally famous in Women's basketball circles, Pam Wettig, who was recently inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame at Miami, Ohio. Helen seems equally proud of all of the granddaughters which include Phyllis Yester, of Pennsylvania and Peggy Neel, of California. Florence, mother of the "four Ps", also lives in California. It would be great to have all of this family join in a reunion at sometime in the future.

While in Cincinnati I took a little time off from visiting with our Granddaughter, Evie and Mike and Mike's family, to go to the Vine Street Cemetery where many of the Georg Wettig Family were buried. It is a very well kept cemetery that could probably use some help in its endowment. They do a very good job of keeping the old sections of the cemetery in good repair with very little continuing support from the old families. They have a large area still undeveloped and, I assume they are using the newcomers fees to provide upkeep to the entire area. It was a little embarrassing to read on one of the cards, "Do not Bill! They won't pay!" But that was back in the 30s and was billing to another family at that time.

There is a very nice little Chapel in the center of the cemetery, at the top of the hill. One of the Wettig Lots is at the crest of the hill, just south of the Chapel.. On the Day that I went out I called ahead and they told me they would cut the grass on the lot so that I could get pictures of the stones. Very accommodating! This lot # 113 was originally the plot for J. H. Tiemeier and later was transferred to Edward Huenefeld who lived at 4238 Florida. But, at last report the owner of the lot was listed as William Dange. There are eleven graves charted on the plot. Five of these are the Huenefeld Family and two are J H and Katherine Tiemeyer, parents of Georg's wife, Mary (Tiemeier) Wettig. Five have grave markers of the Wettig family including George and Mary, and their sons, William (grave marker is just to the left of the tall Tiemeier markers) and August, and daughter Lena. There is an additional burial on the lot, Elizabeth Wettig, a daughter who died at birth in on January 1, 1867. Elizabeth has no marker.

 Another son of George and Mary, John Harry Wettig, is buried on the family plot, #87, of his wife Ida (Beckel). Ida died in 1951 and John followed in 1953. They were buried side by side and an Oak Tree was planted at the head of their graves. The Oak has now grown and is in danger of upsetting the gravestones

This visit to the Wettigs burial place in Cincinnati was a fitting climax to a most enjoyable Reunion. I hope that we can join all of you again, but if we can't, I hope that the younger Wettigs will continue and make this a tradition to remember the three Germans who came to the United States of America and settled in the Cincinnati Area - Ludwig, Karl Heinrich and Georg Heinrich Christian.

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