Monday, October 16, 2017

Zahn Family Identifications

We have names for some of the photos.

Below:  Samuel Nathaniel Zahn.  1881-1971.
This identification was confimed by Mary Cummins , his granddaughter-in-law, on the Roberts Illinois History Facebook Group (RIHFG).  Samuel is a younger brother to John Zahn.
 
 
 

Below:  Rosa Anna Zahn Steinberg.  1879-1918.  
From Rose Martin (granddaughter of Rosa) posted on the RIHFG:  
About age 22 in the photo.  She had designed and made the dress herself. She died in 1918 after an operation for gall bladder leaving a grieving husband and five children ages 15, 14, 10, 8, and 3. 
This woman was also identified by Daniel Flora on the RIHFG.
 
 

Below:  Dorothy "Dora' Philipina (sic) Zahn Roeder.  1865-1962.
From Rose Martin: posted on the RIHFG: 
The photo was taken shortly before she was married in 1901 to Fred A. Roeder (1876-1951). Dora was a schoolteacher in the rural school just across the road from their farm. Dora is 21 in this photo according to a note on the back of her Mother's copy of this photo. 
Identity also confirmed by Daniel Flora on RIHFG.
 
 
Below:  Justin Condit Tarvin. 1871-1949.
Married Mary Roeder, per Daniel Flora on the RIHFG.
 
 
 
Below:  Catherine Dorothee Henriette Sophia (Brandt) Zahn.  1849-1933.
--Find-A-Grave:
Birth: Aug. 28, 1849
Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany 

Death: Jul. 14, 1933
Ford County, Illinois
Born and christened in Idensen, Amt Bokeloh, Hannover, the 3rd of 4 children of Ernst Heinrich (Henry) Conrad Christoph Brandt & Katharine Marie Dorothea (Dora) Freise, Sophia immigrated with her family on the S. S. Rastede, arriving in New York on 8 Jun 1852.
Her christened name is Catharine Dorothee Henriette Sophia Brandt but she was always known as 'Sophia C.' The family spelled the last name BRAND in the USA.
Her father died about a month later in the cholera epidemic which swept through the immigrant population, and her mother married E. Christoph Kukuck in 1853. He was a beloved step-father and Sophia helped raise her step-siblings.
The family used German at home so Sophia never learned English well. After marriage she learned to read her German Bible, but not much else. However, she was in great demand as a healer and midwife. She was also remarkably strong for a person under 5 feet tall.
She married Johann Dietrich Zahn in Limestone Township of Kankakee Co. IL on March 27, 1869. They farmed in Kankakee Co. until about 1880/1 when they bought land near Dietrich's brother Jacob in Ford County.
They had 6 children of their own:
Amanda Sophia 1870 -1905 m Ebert
John Christopher 1871 - 1953
Mary Ellen 1874 - 1956 m Himmel
Dorothea Philipena 1875-1962 m Roeder
Rosa Anna 1879 - 1918 m Steinberg
Samuel Nathaniel 1881 - 1971
Sophia also raised her step-nephew, Edwin Edgar Voigt, after his mother died weeks after his birth in 1892. Later, a widowed Sophia fostered her granddaughter, Ruth Steinberg after Ruth's mother, Rosa Anna, died in 1918.
Sophia died in her own home, being cared for by her daughter Dora(thea) Roeder.

 

Below:  Johann Dietrich Zahn.  1839-1916.
--Find-A-Grave.

Birth: Jul. 6, 1839
Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany

Death: Oct. 7, 1916
Roberts, Ford County, Illinois

Born in Morschheim, Kirchheimbolanden, Rhineland Pfalz, Dietrich was 2nd of 6 of Karl Dietrich Zahn (1805-1869) & Anne Margrethe ANGST (1807-1859).
He served Rhineland Bavaria in the war against Prussia which Prussia won. To avoid service in the cruel Prussian army and because the economic outlook was so very grim, Dietrich emigrated, joining other family members in America. He arrived in New York on the S.S. Atlanta on 25 Mar 1867 with youngest brother Philip.
J. Dietrich married Katharine Dorothee Henriette SOPHIA BRAND on 27 Mar 1869 in Kankakee Co. They had six children.
He became a successful farmer in Kankakee Co. About 1880 the family moved to land Dietrich purchased in Lyman Township of Ford Co, near the land of his brother, Jacob.
Dietrich strongly supported the rural (German) Zion Evangelical Church, donating the quarter section for the small church from his farm in Section 25 of Lyman Township, Ford Co. IL. He and Sophia regularly hosted the itinerate preacher and the officials at Quarterly Meetings. Sophia continued to do so even after his death when she had moved to Roberts.
NOTE: His baptismal record in Rhineland Bavaria says Johann Dietrich. His immigration record and all American records list him as Dietrich John or just Dietrich.
 
 
Below:  Sophia Zahn.  Written on the back of the photo.
 
Below:  John Daniel Roeder.
Identified by Daniel Flora: "My Great Grandfather."

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