This year marks the 125th anniversary of the Neisz family immigrating to America. My great-grandfather Jacob Neisz, above, landed in New York on October 31, 1885, coming from the German colonies in Russia. Along with Jacob was his second wife, Margathe and son Anton, his parents George and Francisca Neisz and 3 sisters and a brother. In this photo, he is with his 3rd wife Helena, who he married about 1893. They gave birth to my Grandma Theresa in 1900.
After landing in New York City, they wasted no time in getting to the Dakotas. GGGrandfather George Neisz signed his first papers of Naturalization in Edmunds County on December 2nd, 1885 and Jacob filed his on December 5th, 1885. They would file the second papers after five years to make them official naturalized citizens.
They acquired land first near Loyalton, South Dakota and then moved north of Bowdle in the early 1890's. The Neisz family would divide and move after 1900. Jacob and Helena moved to Oregon. A couple of his sisters moved to Saskatchewan and some would move to Letcher, South Dakota. The whereabouts of George and Francisca are unknown, but I'm trying to find clues for that and find where they are buried.
2 comments:
Hello, Scott. My name is Doug Kerslake, my mother is Barbara Laura Kozar (nee Neisz). We just happened to run across your website of the Howard family when searching the internet for "Jacob Neisz." It ends up that this is most likely the SAME Jacob Neisz in my part of the family - it looks like we're the group that you mention splitting off to Oregon in the early 1900's! Go figure. Just thought you might be interested in some of the family history from that branch of the Neisz's. If you are, feel free to drop me a line @ dkerslake@aol.com and I'll give you a link to my GENI account that you can view.
Hi, Scott. My name is David Wand. I have been researching the various branches of my family. I had hit dead ends until recently on my father's mother's family. Turns out her father is Jacob Neisz and I am all but positive this is the same man. However, my great-grandmother is his second wife so we are basically "half third cousins".
Anyway, jumping from web link to web link I have ended up here. I am thrilled to find this picture and information. My grandmother was Mary Neisz and she died long before I was born. My father's family apparently never asked family stories so I started with only her name.
Even though my family only has Jacob as a common ancestor to yours, if you are interested in what I know about our branch you can send me an email and I'll share what I have... dwand@bellsouth.net.
Have a great day and thanks for this information. It adds a big missing piece to my family puzzle!
Regards,
David
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