FELLA FAMILY HISTORY

INCL. THE FAMILIES HENKE,ROTERT,STEFFEN & WEITTHOFF

None of these families were in America before 1825.Of the four,I have the most information on the Steffen family.Matthias Steffen came to America from Saarland in arund 1840 with his parents.I have limited info on his pedigree,as well as information on his brothers family,who also settled in the Dayton,Ohio area.After his marriage to Mary JEIRGENS(sp?),he moved his family to Dayton,Ohio.He owned the land that the old State asylum was located on.I have some information on the descendents of his children,but it's far from being complete.

My 2great-grandfather,John WEITTHOFF,was born in Cummingsville,Ohio,now a part of Cincinnati.He was orphaned as a child.I am not sure of his parents,his father may have been a Fred WEITTHOFF that was on the 1850 census,and whose widow was on the 1860 census.But I have as yet proven this.There were some daughters listed on the 1860 census,and one has descendents in the Cincinnati,Ohio area.

After John left the orphanage,he moved to Dayton,then to Xenia,Ohio.He married Elizabeth STEFFEN,the daughter of the above mentioned Mattias STEFFEN,and the widow of Geroge BURKE.She had 2 children from the previous marriage,but there are no living descendents from either.John became a widower,the children were taken away and put in an Catholic orphanage in Cincinnati.This was done by the sister of Elizabeth,Barbara STEFFEN MUNGER SPECK.I've been told that she did this because John was not Catholic.The orphanage is where Edna Frances WEITTHOFF met her future husband, Leo Francis Fella.After the death of Elizabeth,John,a baker,remarried Lizzette STEINER,who came from Switzerland. They moved to Loudenville,Ohio.The last of his children from the second marriage passed away in 1997.

The Henke family came from the village of Worderfeld,near the village of Falkenhagen,in the Lippe-Detmold area of Germany.Fredrick Justice HENKE migrated to Ft Loramie,Ohio about 1823.He was a farmer.He is buried in the catholic church graveyard behind St Michaels' Catholic Church.The librarian of Ft Loramie,a HENKE descendent, has a lot of HENKE information.

John ROTERT came to Ft Loramie and married Dorothea HENKE.They lived in Ft Loramie until his death,when she moved to Dayton to live with a son.I have most of the information on descendents of their many children.It is possible that John Rotert is related to the Rotert's that also came over at about the same time,settling in Cincinnati and in the stet of Nebraska.

John G FELLA,what can I say about this guy?As from what I've heard,he was a "character".Supposedly, he was kicked out of Germany,possibly due to a little pre-marital problem.After his marriage to Anne ROTERT,she kicked him out of the house for unknown reasons.His children were put into a orphanage,including the above mentioned Leo Francis FELLA.Anne worked as a cleaning lady,could not support the children,so they were placed in the orphanage.John later turned up in Mississippi,where he worked as a gardener.He did come back for a breif visit when my grandmother was very young,until her father TOLD him to leave.He died in Natchez,Mississippi and was buried in the Potters' section of the local Catholic cemetary.I found his death certificate on a visit to Jackson,Mississippi a few years ago.It also listed his parents,but I have yet to find records of them in Germany.

FELLA DATA-8 generations, 145 individuals, 208 including spouses

ROTERT/HENKE DATA-10 generations, 404 individuals, 624 including spouses

WEITTHOFF DATA-7 generations, 156 individuals, 219 including spouses

STEFFEN DATA--12 generations, 552 individuals, 735 including spouses

MAPS

This page shows the towns in SW Ohio where the above mentioned families lived before 1895

SOURCES

CHARLES ROTERT-has been working on the ROTERT family for awhile.His e-mail address is rotert@infinet.com

KAREN HOLTHAUS ANTHONY--The librarian at the public library in Ft Loramie,Ohio,has a wealth of information on local genealogies.

JO-ANNE SHAFER-My aunt,lives in Santa Anna,California

LIZ WEITTHOFF-Of Loudenville,Ohio.Has been helpful in finding out about the Weitthoff family.

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