Descendants of Friedrich "Fred" Gassman
Generation No. 1
1. FRED GASSMAN was born on the 17th of March 1814 and was christened Johann Friedrich Ludwig Wilhelm Gassmann in the Evangelical Church of Grossfurra, Thuringen, Germany on the 13th of May 1815.
Biographical sketches of his sons Charles and Edward Gassman appear in two histories of Stephenson county Illinois. They are helpful in giving some specifics of Fred Gassman's ancestry and immigration to America.
The details are not in complete agreement, but they paint this picture. Fred Gassman was born about 1815 and lived with his family in the area around Grossfurra, Thuringen, Germany.
His father, Jacob Gassman, died when Fred was about ten years of age. Fred Gassman was married in 1839 to MARY ROSENSTIEL who was also a native of Grossfurra, Thuringen, Germany.
Fred Gassman and Mary Rosenstiel had two children born in Germany, Charles Gassman in 1840 and Louise Gassman in 1841.
During the year 1842 they immigrated to America along with Mary's Rosenstiel family -- father, mother and five brothers. One account claims that they sailed from Bremen to New York, traveled by canal to Wheeling Virginia,
by boat to St Louis Missouri and then overland to Freeport Illinois. The other account states that they landed in Baltimore Maryland. The Rosenstiel records of Rhonda Hansch state, "The port of entry tickets from Baltimore, Maryland,
for Johanna and Friedrich show that they were 23 and 27 years of age respectively. Both were listed as 'peasants.' They arrived on June 20, 1842, aboard the ship Albert from Grossfurra after an eighteen week passage."
Fred Gassman and Mary Rosenstiel settled with her family in Stephenson county Illinios and their third child, Hermine Gassman, was born there on the 15th of September 1845. Eleven months later, on the 15th of August 1846, Mary Rosenstiel Gassman died,
leaving three young children. Fred Gassman married his neighbor, WILHELMINA HENKE, a year later. She cared for his three children and, together, they had seven more children:
John Henry Gassman, William Gassman, Matilda Gassman, Paulina Gassman, Edward Gassman, Anne Gassman, and Emilie Gassman.
Edna Hoffman Bowman preserved a Family Record of Descendants of Fred Gassman and Wilhelmina Henke. Many of the birth dates and a few death dates in this report have been taken from that record.
Fred Gassman purchased a farm in Erin township of Stephenson county Illinois and he appears there in all the censuses from 1850 to 1880. Census records give the following details of his family:
1850 Census of Stephenson county Illinois - page 327
| Frederick Gossman | 36 - Germany - farmer - re $1000 | |
| Mina | 32 - Germany | |
| Charles | 10 - Germany | |
| Louisa | 8 - Ill | |
| Armena | 5 | |
| Henry | 2 | |
| William | 1 | |
| Henry Hinger | 64 - Germany - farmer - re $300 | |
| Frederick Hinger | 20 - Germany |
1870 Census of Stephenson county Illinois - Erin ts Lena page 37
| Frederick Gassman | 53 - Wertenburg Germany – farmer - 9000/3000 - cannot read or write | |
| Wilimen | 45 - Lippe Detmoldt | |
| Henry | 22 - Ill | |
| William | 20 | |
| Paulina | 15 | |
| Edward | 13 | |
| Anna | 11 | |
| Amelia | 8 | |
| Charles | 29 – Prussia – farmer - 2000/1000 - can read and write | |
| Mary | 20 - Ill | |
| Alfred | 2 | |
| Henry Miller | 14 – Germany - farm labor |
1880 Census of Stephenson county Illinois - Erin FHL film#1254252 pg 34A
| Frederick GOSSMAN | 66 - SWAT BERGER – Farmer - parents born Swat Berger | |
| Wilhelmine GOSSMAN | 63 - LEPPE DE MOLD - parents born Leppe | |
| Edward GOSSMAN | 23 - IL | |
| Anna GOSSMAN | 21 | |
| Amelia GOSSMAN | 15 |
Fred Gassman died on the 10th of July 1886 and Wilhelmina Henke Gassman on the 4th of March 1893(?). They are both buried in the Salem Evangelical cemetery in Erin township of Stephenson County Illinois.
To learn more about Rosenstiel family see the Descendants of Jacob Rosenstiel.
Read more on the Homeland of our German Ancestors.
Read more on Coming to America.
| 2. | i. | CHARLES GASSMAN, b. August 17, 1840, Grossfurra, Thuringen, Germany; d. May 09, 1916, Harlem ts, Stephenson co, Illinois. | |
| 3. | ii. | LOUISA GASSMAN, b. September 11, 1841, Grossfurra, Thuringen, Germany; d. May 22, 1886, Waddams ts, Stephenson co, Illinois. | |
| 4. | iii. | HERMINE "NINA" GASSMAN, b. September 15, 1845, Eleroy, Stephenson co, Illinois; d. March 25, 1888, North Grove, Ogle county, Illinois. |
| 5. | iv. | JOHN HENRY GASSMAN, b. April 03, 1848, Stephenson co, Illinois; d. Bef. 1923. | |
| 6. | v. | WILLIAM GASSMAN, b. August 22, 1849, Stephenson co, Illinois; d. Aft. 1923, Of Dawson City, Klondike. | |
| 7. | vi. | MATILDA "TILLIE" GASSMAN, b. July 10, 1851, Erin ts, Stephenson co, Illinois; d. July 17, 1904. | |
| vii. | PAULINA GASSMAN, b. December 19, 1853, Stephenson co, Illinois;
d. August 03, 1878; m. FREDRICH RECH, November 22, 1877, Stephenson co, Illinois.
See the Emmert Gassman Photo Album for a picture of the Gassman-Rech Store in Lena, Stephenson county Illinois. |
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| 8. | viii. | EDWARD GASSMAN, b. February 01, 1857, Erin TS, Stephenson co, Illinois; d. December 18, 1942, Lena, Stephenson co, Illinois. | |
| 9. | ix. | ANNE LOUISE GASSMAN, b. April 02, 1859, Erin TS, Stephenson co, Illinois; d. April 29, 1917, Stephenson co, Illinois. | |
| 10. | x. | EMILIE GASSMAN, b. June 18, 1864, Eleroy, Stephenson co, Illinois; d. October 26, 1923, Postville, Allamakee co, Iowa. |
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Pamela Hutchison Garrett
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Citation: Garrett, Pamela Hutchison 2005 Looking Back: Family Stories and Genealogy http://pamgarrett.com/ [date accessed].
