Family Tree

I did my Family Tree assignment on my dad's mother's side, Charlene (Mueller) Weismann .  I interviewed her on her family from her parent's to some of their parents.
My grandma's parent's on her father's side were both from Hungary. Their names were Franz Mueller and Threasa Mosung. They came to the United States because they were promised a quarter of land. The loophole was though they had to farm the land for three years before it was considered theirs. If the wife wanted her own land she would have to build a house on her land and live in her own house while her husband lives in the house on his land.

My grandma's father was 13 years old when he moved here with his parents. He only got to go ot school until the 3rd grade. Most kids quit school after the 3rd grade to go to work. They came over on the S.S. Willehad, 1894 North German Lloyd on May 20, 1897. They settled on a farm North of Glen Ulin, North Dakota.

My grandma's mother's side were both from Speier, Russia. They came to the U.S. for the same reason. Their names were Nik Kuhn and Anna Hoerner. For some odd reason I do not know if it is true but they were on the same boat as the Muellers.

My grandma didn't know too much about her grandparents except for Nik's parents. Nik's father died in Russia and his mother was getting older so she just stayed. Nik went over there three times to visit his mother. They wrote each other a lot. Nik sent money with his letters, but his mother never got any of the money. The Russian embassy went through the letters and took the money and only gave Nik's mom the letters. Nik's mother died of starvation.

To become a citizen they had to sign a lot of papers. They had to sign a declaration of the intentions to become a citizen. Had to sign a Homestead Application to apply for their land. Homestead proof where they had witnesses that witnessed the signing of the contracts. Their applications had to be signed by the President of the United States. All of their Applications were signed by Theodore Roosevelt.

They all lived in a village, but in the morning went out to the farms.

This was my interview with my grandmother. Not a lot of information but I thought it was interesting learning about her parents' origin. They all spoke German and had to learn how to speak English. Something that isn't seen as much today. That is all my grandmother told me.