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Bill and Jane Now Hire Professional Genealogist ~ Travel to Germany to
Meet the Now Relatives
For years, the Nows have worked diligently on their family genealogies. Jane had many resources at her fingertips, as her mother's side, the Kellermeyers, settled in New Bremen and the church records guided them. The evening she spoke, she was wearing a traditional Octoberfest dress given to her by a cousin of her mother's when the couple visited Germany to meet the Kellermeyer family several years ago. She explained that dresses for local festivities are unique to each area of Germany.
Bill's family proved harder to track. Johan Heinrich and Maria Klapp Nau settled in Mercer County in the early 1800's. They had 7 children but only 4 lived. Bill's family was descended from them. The prevalent spelling of the name in the United States has always been Nau. Bill and Jane soon learned about this detail as they began researching many years ago. The spelling Now (Mercer County descendents) apparently came about when Johan and Maria landed in 1832 (by ship) in Baltimore. Whoever wrote down their name did not get the spelling correct, and so they started their life in America as the Now family. Martin, a brother of Johan, took his family to Kansas and the spelling Nau is prevalent there today. The scribe also listed Darmstadt (city) and Hesse (state) as their origin, but that was simply where the "group" of immigrants amassed to begin their journey to the ship to go to America. That was not detailed information.
The decision to hire a professional genealogist came about after two years of letters, emails, and searching on the Internet. Bill and Jane kept finding Nau family members in Germany, or descendents of Nau's, but none of them turned out to be Bill's lineage. Jane explained that so many people tried to help them. And, many of the Nau's they met wished and hoped they were their long, lost relatives. One such boy, Daniel Nau, in dental college, helped by looking in the records over in Germany. Another Nau family from Marburg, Germany followed leads, as well. Bill and Jane eventually met them in Marburg one summer and the couple visited them once as well. Jane explained that bit by bit they gained more information, and corresponded with many wonderful people, but it all rested on the lack of details of the port of entry record.
Frustrated, they turned the copy of the ship's passenger list over to the genealogist who responded to Bill and Jane within two weeks. He had found the family and the name of the village ~ Homberg in North Central Germany. Bill and Jane were soon to begin correspondence with Heinrich and Erica Nau and their daughter Nicolle, who were from the same family line as Johan and Martin Nau (brother) were. A trip was soon planned
Bill and Jane, along with Mercer County cousins Sam and Marge Rhodes, bought tickets and flew into Frankfort, Germany in May 2008. Since the Now's have hosted many foreign exchange students in their home over the years, they had actually planned several trips to Germany as visitors in years past. The Nows secured train passes for the four of them ($300 each for 10 days - travel as often as you like), and they were soon on their way to Homberg. There was a family owned hotel in Kerchain, near Homberg, where they stayed ($85 per day) during the visit as Heinrich and Erica Nau (in their 60's) live in a village that is little more than a bakery and restaurant. Jane felt the village was about the size of Rockford. At the hotel, Bill explained that they had breakfast included which consisted of meat, cheese, fresh-baked bread, hard-boiled eggs and strong coffee.
Their American-German family reunion was a happy one and reported in the local newspaper. The first meeting was in their lovely 3 story Tudor-style house, the oldest house in Homberg, and which, most assuredly, at one time housed cattle on the first floor. It featured window boxes full of flowers, just like they do in Switzerland. The travelers took a tour of the home and met both Heinrich and Erica and their 28 year old daughter, Nicolle, who lives with her parents of the 3rd floor of the home. They were served a meal of goulash, vegetable soup , fresh-baked bread and lunch meat.
Later they met with a mixed group of friends and guests in the Nau home including a local genealogist. One side trip was to the local Lutheran Church and cemetery. Bill and Jane were pleased to see the baptism record of Bill's great grandfather, as well as the burial sites and monuments of so many Nau descendents. They also got to see the local water well which was very OLD.
Mother's Day was special, and they were all treated to a restaurant meal at the local place owned by Heinrich's cousin whose last name was Krick.
Heinrich turned out to be a master-joiner (carpenter), Erica is a home-maker, and Nicolle teaches kindergarten (which is the equivalent of pre-school in the USA).
The travelers also took the train to visit her cousins Karl and Sophie Kellermeyer and they enjoyed Sophie's specialty ~ desserts! Other side trips (by train) included two previous exchange students, Uli Weigand from Hannover, Monika Redl from Konstanz and Martin Ludwiczak from Wolfsburg. Uli lived with Bill and Jane two months while Monika and Martin stayed a year. All are college-educated and work as professionals in Germany. They are married with families now.
Jane showed pictures of the trip (see below) on a power-point presentation prepared for her by Bob Maurer of the Rockford Carnegie Library. They also had maps, books and memorabilia from their trip.
The Shanes Crossing Historical Society members enjoyed snacks and cider after the presentation.
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