Alma knew George’s Sr.'s family for years before she married John Gebert. Her mother-in-law, George’s wife, was alive and within visiting distance when Alma drew up the chart in the early 1970’s. Thus, not drawing in George’s children was not because she didn’t know, but rather she knew them so well she didn’t bother putting them in.

Again, looking at the knowns, Beverly Owens reported that her greatgrandfather, Charles, had five children: a boy, three girls, and a boy and the 1920 US census supports that, too.^a.1,f.7 Henry had nine children according to his obituary.^f.1 As of the 1920 census, there were eight^j.8. Henry Sr.'s obit states he was survived by six daughters and two sons. Another son was identified as having died two years earlier. Alma got the order of the first three wrong and missed the two women born after 1920; an error of incomplete information.

Alma’s sketch does match up with the records located to date with the exception of minor errors in the listing of Henry's children.

The Social Security Death Index^c.2 [NOTE: this index only lists deaths after @1950], The New York 1900 and 1920 Soundex indexes,^j.4,j.4 and the NY, NJ and CT NARA Immigration and Naturalization soundex^h.1-3 do not list a Wilhelm/William or a Peter Gebert in the appropriate age range. The CT Death index [NOTE: this index only starts in 1949] which would have found Kat by her maiden name did not list any of the three either.^c.2

Peter Gebert
A Peter Gebert, however, was found in the 1900 NY census Soundex^j.4 listed at 804 Seventh Ave. in New York City:

1915 Gebert, Erma, nurse, rms 111 Hicks
 --- Peter, 111 Hicks
1918 Gebert, Ernest, in USN res, 111 Hicks
 --- Peter, 111 Hicks, shoe store 1620 Main
1920 Gebert, Ernest, elec, res 111 Hicks
 --- Peter, 111 Hicks
1921 Gebert, Ernest, elec, res 111 Hicks
 --- Peter 111 Hicks
1922 Gebert, Peter, 111 Hicks
1924 Gebert, Peter and Apolonia, 45 Frank
1925 ibid
1927 ibid
1929 Gebert, Peter and Apolonia, "shoe repr" at 1620 Main Street
1930 ibid
1931 Gebert, Apolonia wid Peter h 45 Frank Street
 --- Peter died March 9, 1931 @age 70
1934 Gebert, Apolonia wid Peter h 45 Frank Street
1941 ibid
1942 ibid
1943 The Gebert page is one of the pages missing from the book
1944 Gebert does not appear at all.

What brought Henry to Danbury? Maybe Peter in Bridgeport [He was living in Brooklyn in the 1890's.] had something to do with it! Or, was it the availability of jobs in his trade far away from the pits of Brooklyn.

The Georg Family
A Lucoo Georg was listed next to Ulrich on the Obdam passenger manifest^i.1 and indicated his last residence was Offenbach, was a farmer, and was travelling to Brooklyn. On the Werkendam, a Margaritha George and her children [Ciscilie, Johanna, Philip, Constanze, Franz, and Helene] were listed immediately after Magda and her children.^i.2 They, too, listed Offenbach and Brooklyn. They were found in the 1900 Brooklyn census on the same page as Charles Gebert. Surprisingly enough, it appears that none of the Georges intermarried with the Geberts.

Charles Gebert

The New York State marriage index shows that Charles Gebert was married in 1898 yet a search of the numerical order marriage certificates on microfilm is missing a series of numbers in which their certificate would fall. Would the NYC Health Dept. staff be willing to search the originals for the document? Not likely.^d.2

Beverly's family lore says that Charles and Catherine came from Germany together.^a.1 All the evidence points to their first child's birth happening in New York in 1898. There were no Gruners on either of the Gebert's ships so it's very doubtful that they came over together in 1892. Beverly^a.1 wants to know when did Catherine get here? Was she already in the US? Could she have been born in the US?

More Geberts in Germany?
In Germany in the 1870's both Latin and German were used in the church registers. That presents one obstacle. The second is that they have at least different types of handwriting. For instance, the register index entry below is for Katherina Gebert, daughter of Ulrich.

Where are Joseph George, Clara, Marg, and the two other births whose names are unreadable? Marg and one of the two unreadables were under 10 years of age when the family emigrated. Did they die? Apparently all but one did before the Geberts left Germany as the 1900 census states that only six of her eleven children survived. Excluding the nun, that makes four children missing. But which one was the nun?

The Carl born in 1876 probably did die as there was a date notation in the margin next to the name. Other date notations ranged from a few weeks to fifty or more years into the future so it couldn't have been a marriage notation.

Future Research
Obviously, locating Magda's death certificate is important to go back further into her line and hopefully obtain her parent's names. As far as Ulrich's ancestors, a search of the local Roman Catholic Church's records in Offenburg, the closest major town to Rammersweier, turned up nothing for Geberts or Erhardts. It's hoped that contact with the Erhardts in Germany will identify exactly where the records are. Most of the German church records have been microfilmed by the Mormans but which microfilm is the question.

Contact with the remaining child of Katcha in Florida should enable filling out her family's history.