My Family History

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My Family History

• By Katy Cerwinske

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Why dont I have much info on my fathers side?

• Answer
• Directly from an e-mail from my father to me

My mom was born in Stamford CT, my Dad in
Rockford Iowa. Cheryl was born 8/17...1955 I
think. Walter in November...1947?, Susan in May,
1950? She was only a year ahead of me in school
I don't have any old pics...or even current
pics...sorry In looking at the stuff on the
Geneology site from Germany where the name was
spelled the same, maybe it didn't change...I
really have no evidence of what it might have
been changed from, if at all.
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Prussia

• Pommern is a region of Prussia and its capitol
  is Stettin, where my great-great grandparents
  came from
• After the 30-Years-War (1648) Pommern consisted
  of two areas Schwedish-Pommern in the West under
  Swedish rule and the Eastern area under the rule
  of the Brandenburg Electors. After the defeat of
  Napoleon, Sweden in 1815 renounced all her claims
  to areas in Germany incl. Pommern. Pommern West
  of the Oder River was also called Vorpommern
  (Cis-Pomerania), East of the Oder River
  Hinterpommern (Trans-Pomerania). In 1938 areas
  from the former provinces of Westpreussen and
  Posen which were lost after WWI were added in an
  administrative reform. Hinter-Pommern was
  cleansed of its ethnic German population and
  given to Poland in 1945. The Western powers were
  silent on the ethnic cleansing. Stettin was
  renamed Szczecin.
• http//users.foxvalley.net/goertz/faq.pom.html

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Joseph Cerwinske (Great-Great Grandfather)

• Born 1854  Voelschendorf-Stettin, Pommern,
  Pruessen
• AWOL from Prussian Army and came over to America
  with his brother Martin
• Moved to Rockford, Iowa in 1870
• Married Carolena (Lena) Belitz in 1877
• Died 1902

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Carolena (Belitz) Cerwinske (Great-Great
Grandmother)

• Born Oct. 8, 1857 in Veolschendorf-Stettin
• Remarried Rev. Harvey Hostettler after Josephs
  death
• Hostettler Massacre in PA where Native Americans
  slaughtered the whole family in late 1700s
• Death March 30, 1938 in Rockford, Iowa

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Their Children

• Frederick Feb. 12, 1878
• Emma March 4, 1880
• Otto Feb. 8, 1882
• Elise Sept. 30, 1885
• All born in Rockford, Iowa

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Rockford, Iowa

• http//us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/travel/dg/maps
  /f5/750x750_iowa_m.gif

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Frederick M. F. Cerwinske (Great Grandfather aka
my dads Grandpa)

• Born Feb 12, 1878 in Rockford, Iowa
• Married Nellie Krause on August 17, 1910
• Served as Justice as the Peace for many years
• Farmer
• Died November 1972

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Frederick M. F. Cerwinske (Great Grandfather)
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Nellie (Krause) Cerwinske
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Their Children

• Robert
• Gilbert Emerson (my grandpa)
• Herbert
• Still living in Houston, Texas
• Wife Alceste just died in the recent years
• Only has 4 fingers on one hand, likes to trick
  small children when they count how many fingers
  he has
• Richard

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Gilbert Cerwinske (Grandfather aka Dads dad))

• Born April 11, 1913 in Rockford, Iowa
• Married Marion Smith (Stamford, CT)
• Moved East to NJ during the Great Depression to
  get a job with his brother
• Had a college degree from Buena Vista College
• Worked as sports reporter for the newspaper and
  teacher/principal in Iowa
• Worked as grocery store manager in Union, New
  Jersey
• Applied at Prudential with his brother, but only
  one job available so they flipped a coin
• Has another son with another woman, but dont
  know anything about it
• Death November 21, 1991 in Union New, Jersey

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Marion (Smith) Cerwinske (grandmother aka Dads
mom)

• Born Nov. 6, 1918 in Stamford, CT
• Met Gilbert while he worked at an ACME grocery
  store in Newark, NJ
• She shopped there with her mom
• Her mother Susie lived in Union, NJ with her
  until her death
• Died Jan. 12, 2002 in Barnegat, NJ where she
  lived with my Aunt Cheryl

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Susie Smith (My Grandmas mom)

• Was part of the DAR and very racist
• That caused my Aunt Susan to marry without
  telling her parents and grandmother about it
  because Donald is black
• My mother recalled the awkward moments of moving
  Susan out of the house and not having to say why

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Gilbert and Marion (And Me)
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Their Children

• Barbara (Van Grofsky)
• Married Frank
• Son Tommy
• Walter
• Married lots of ladies from the Pacific
• Sons Tommy, Michael, Scott, Craig
• Now a Brothers Keeper
• Interracial marriage
• Susan (Gray)
• Married Donald
• Daughter Samantha
• Interracial marriage
• Alfred Daniel (my dad)
• Cheryl (Symes
• Married Erich
• Sons Erich Jr, Greg, Drew

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Cerwinske Cousins
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Alfred Daniel Cerwinske (Dad)

• Born August 12, 1952 in Irvington, New Jersey
• Currently Lives Browns Mills, New Jersey
• Married
• Nancy Thompson (my mom) on June 1, 1974
• Divorced in 1998
• Lisa in May of 2005

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Dads House
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Their Children

• Daniel James
• Born Sept. 18, 1979
• Graduate of University of Dayton, where he played
  soccer
• Lives in Hermosa Beach, California
• Works as a Account Representative for LA Galaxy
  soccer team
• Thats where David Beckham is going
• Jeffrey Alan
• Born Jan. 23, 1982
• Currently working on Masters at University of
  Louisville Speed School
• Lives in Louisville on 4th Street
• Kathryn Ann
• Born June 23, 1984

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Katy Cerwinske

• Born June 23, 1984 in Lansdale, PA
• Moved to Oldham County, KY on February 14, 1990
  (17 years ago today)

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Nancy Alice (Thompson) Cerwinske (My Mom)

• Born May 21, 1954 in Abington, PA
• Currently works at Camden Station Elementary as a
  paraprofessional aka teachers aid in an EBD
  classroom
• Still lives in Oldham County

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Thompson Family (My Moms side)
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The Children

• Gail Ann June 15, 1951
• Son
• Michael Dec. 8, 1983
• John Bradley July 18, 1952
• Married Linda
• Sons
• Andrew John May 15, 1975
• Scott Gregory Nov. 6, 1981
• Nancy Alice (my mom)
• Margaret Ann Aug. 10, 1955
• Married Joe Tomarelli
• Stepson Chris
• Karen Ruth Jan. 24, 1958
• Not Married Chuck
• Children Allison, Kevin and David (twins)
• No one completed college

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Our Roots in PA
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Gregory Laverne Thompson (Grandpa aka my moms
Dad)

• Born Oct. 21, 1926 in Buffalo, NY
• Served in the military where he gained his
  fascination for model airplanes
• Went to Drexler University in 1946 and had his
  Practicum at Lansdale Tube Company in PA
• Married Margaret Morris on Sept. 16, 1950
• Could not get married in the church because
  Margaret was not Catholic

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Margaret Emily (Morris) Thompson (Grandma aka my
Moms mom)

• Born July 10, 1920 in Skippack, PA
• Ran away from home when she was 16 because she
  had differences in opinion with her stepmother
• Siblings
• Mabel (farm in Punxatawney)
• Elwood
• Stanley (Pete)
• Lou

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The Story

• How did Margaret and Gregory meet?
• The Real Story
• Both worked at Lansdale Tube Company
• What Ive been told since childhood by my
  grandparents
• Grandma was a trapeze artist and the circus came
  to town one day. She fell off the trapeze and
  grandpa caught her and they fell in love.

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A quick trip down Grandmas history

• Father Harry Corbin Morris
• Born 1886 in Wayne, PA
• Died 1950s
• His father Elwood Morris married Margaret Archer
  Grant (relation to Ulysses S. Grant somehow)
• Mother Lillian Barrett
• Born Philadelphia PA
• Died 1920s

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Owen F. Thompson (Great Grandpa aka my moms
grandpa)

• Born June 24, 1898 in Silver Creek NY
• Married Alice Gamel on Feb. 10, 1923
• Died Feb 26, 1986 in Lansdale, PA
• Found out their old house is now worth well over
  .5 million

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Ties to Prussia with the Thompsons

• The further you go back in time, the Thompsons
  origins were in Prussia as well.
• Currently Prussia is Poland and Germany, so they
  are both part of my heritage

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Sources

• Iowa Map
• http//us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/travel/dg/maps
  /f5/750x750_iowa_m.gif
• Prussia Information
• http//users.foxvalley.net/goertz/faq.pom.html
• http//www.familysearch.org
• Text Messages with my Dad
• Interviews with my Mom