INTRODUCTION:
It would be difficult to understand or even imagine our ancestors way of life in a country many of us have not visited, in a period of time two hundred years before our birth. Even if we were excellent students of European history and could recite the dates of all conflicts or wars affecting the peoples of the area we now know as Germany, we still could not know what drove our Catron ancestors to leave their homes and travel to Rotterdam to board a ship which would transport them to America. Did they journey from Germany to Rotterdam on the Rhine River? Or did they travel overland, by wagon and/or on horseback? What became of the people they left behind? What possessions did they carry with them to Rotterdam, only to learn there were so very few things they could take aboard ship? Just what were they able to bring to America; surely they brought their family Bible.
Can you even imagine how powerful their hopes and dreams must have been, for them to leave the only life they had known and embark on a sea-voyage fraught with unimaginable dangers, to come to the land called America? Was it because they felt their life in Germany was so hopeless......or because the dream of land and freedom in America was so powerful?
Hermersberg, currently a small village of fewer than 2000 inhabitants, is located between Saarbrucken and Mannheim, near the first r in Saarbrucken. It is located in a beautiful, fertile area, near mountains similar to those seen in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.
# 1: Was this picture made in Germany............
# 2: Or was this one made in Germany..........
It would be difficult to understand or even imagine our ancestors way of life in a country many of us have not visited, in a period of time two hundred years before our birth. Even if we were excellent students of European history and could recite the dates of all conflicts or wars affecting the peoples of the area we now know as Germany, we still could not know what drove our Catron ancestors to leave their homes and travel to Rotterdam to board a ship which would transport them to America. Did they journey from Germany to Rotterdam on the Rhine River? Or did they travel overland, by wagon and/or on horseback? What became of the people they left behind? What possessions did they carry with them to Rotterdam, only to learn there were so very few things they could take aboard ship? Just what were they able to bring to America; surely they brought their family Bible.
Can you even imagine how powerful their hopes and dreams must have been, for them to leave the only life they had known and embark on a sea-voyage fraught with unimaginable dangers, to come to the land called America? Was it because they felt their life in Germany was so hopeless......or because the dream of land and freedom in America was so powerful?
Hermersberg, currently a small village of fewer than 2000 inhabitants, is located between Saarbrucken and Mannheim, near the first r in Saarbrucken. It is located in a beautiful, fertile area, near mountains similar to those seen in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.
# 2: Or was this one made in Germany..........
THE IMPORTANCE OF HENRY CATRON'S RESEARCH:
Henry Hardy Catron’s research on the Kettenring Family, including the various spellings of the surname, served as the framework for information posted here. We owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude, for he traveled to Germany more than twenty times to record information on the descendants of a man named Hans Jacob Kettenring, Sr., the man from whom we all descend. ‘Cousin Henry’ as he liked to be called, published three books on the Kettenring Family; the first in about 1958; the second and larger one in about 1968; and in 1978, his last book, which contained 1537 pages and thousands upon thousands of names. In a letter to Guy M. Catron, written not long after the last book was published, Henry acknowledged that he had at least five thousand more names to add to the records, which would necessitate his fourth book being a two-volume set, simply because of the number of pages it would contain. Sadly, that last book was never published.
I have depended upon Henry Catron’s book for most of the information regarding family who lived in Germany, and for information regarding ‘distant cousins.’ I have found his work to be remarkably accurate, considering that he worked, not with a computer, but with thousands of 3" x 5" index cards. Henry was a carpenter, and he constructed wooden trays to hold his index cards, which he carried in the trunk of his car as he traveled around the United States. We do know that Henry’s initial research led him to contact descendants of the early immigrants to America, and that he asked them to provide information about their families. There were errors in spelling, errors with regard to dates of birth and death, and on occasion, the omission of a family member. They, and he, were only human.
The original spelling of the surname many of us now call ‘Catron’, has changed a number of times over the years. In Germany it appears to have begun as ‘Kettenring’, but the spelling ‘Kettering’ was also used. Once our ancestors arrived in America, the name was undoubtedly not pronounced, (by those already here), as it was in Germany, so the spelling evolved as the pronunciation changed. There are ten or more variations of the spelling of our surname, with a corresponding number of pronunciations. We must remember that a person’s name was spelled like someone understood them to say it, which is merely phonetic spelling. And it’s doubtful anyone asked, “How do you spell your name?” when a deed was recorded or when the census was taken. We cannot say a person is not ‘of our family’ simply because the surname is spelled differently!
I have a collection of phonetic spellings, taken primarily from census records. Some may seem to be a bit difficult to imagine, but try pronouncing them by their phonetic spelling and it will all begin to make sense!
Eun for Ian Losson for Lawson Lewce for Lucy
Inis for Inez Julian for Julie Ann Swinnie for Swaney
Alles for Alice Wallise for Wallace Kalub for Caleb
Warn for Warren Bulla for Beulah Louritter for Loretta
Tailer for Taylor Kirklin for Kirkland Linzey for Lindsay
Coty for Cody Otes for Otis Mirdeath for Meredith
Sayre for Sarah Saitye for Sadie Sars for Cyrus
Of all the variations of our surname, I did not find it preceded by ‘Von’ (Von Kettenring or Von Kettering) as was rumored in the early 1960's. I have no idea where that rumor originated; 'Von' does not appear in Henry Catron’s book, and I find no reference to it in my (admittedly limited) German research.
To the many members of the greater Kettenring/Kettering/Ketron/Cattron and Catron families who have viewed this site and think it is "not for them" because it's focus is on only one branch of the family.......please consider the information contained within the first section of the site. This one blog could not possibly include all of the many branches of our great family tree, but there is basic, background information for anyone of our surname whose ancestor immigrated to America in 1764 and 1765.
With that said, I simply ask that when you begin reading through this blog, you consider the "big picture." Yes, the focus is obvious and was intentional, because so many people descend from our immigrating ancestor, Christopher Kettering and his wife, Anna Maria Susannah Gose, who came to American in 1765. An older son, Johann Franz "Frank", who was perhaps their eldest son according to now-known birth year information, did immigrate to America in 1764 aboard the ship "SARAH." And while it is true they embarked on their journey from the port at Rotterdam, (Holland, now the Netherlands) they did travel there from their homeland, Germany. And their desire to emigrate to America was life-changing.
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And So Begins The Telling of The Early History of Our Family
________________________________________________________HANS JACOB KETTENRING
From Henry Hardy Catron's records, it would appear that Hans Jacob Kettenring is our oldest recorded ancestor. He first married Margaretha Metzel, daughter of Mayor Metzel. Henry does not specifically state Mr. Metzel was the mayor of a town; his given name may simply have been Mayor; that point is not clear. Hans Jacob and Margaretha married before 1590; she was born and died in Landstuhl, Germany, her year of death listed as 1600, and no children are named. On February 12, 1601 he married Anna Eve whose surname is not listed. No children are named. His year of death is listed as "before 1680."
The next entry is for Hans Jacob Kettenring, given the designation "Jr." to differentiate between him and "old" Hans Jacob. Whether he was the son or the grandson of old Hans Jacob Kettenring is unclear; perhaps Henry was also unclear regarding this, and left it as a mystery for someone else to attempt to solve. Logic (see dates) seems to dictate that Hans Jacob, Jr. was the grandson rather than the son of Hans Jacob, Sr.
Hans Jacob Kettenring (Jr., or, the younger) married Anna Maria whose surname is not listed. The birth years for their 7 known children range from 1658 to 1675. This Hans Jacob is listed as mayor of Landstuhl, Germany in 1682. No date of birth or death is listed for him or his wife. Their children are listed as follows:
1 - Johann Adam Kettenring, 1658 - Aug 5 1702
2 - Anna Eva Kettenring
3 - Anna Catharina Kettenring
4 - Johann Valentin Kettenring, Sept 29, 1661 - Dec 4, 1730
5* - Christian Kettenring, 1660 - April 17, 1750
6 - Johannes Kettenring, July 15, 1672 - Jan 17, 1743
7 - Juliana Margaretha Kettenring, May 2, 1675
From any one of these 7 children, many thousands of people can trace their Kettenring ancestry! Our focus begins to narrow as we look at Christian Kettenring, born 1660/1668. Click on his name in the column on the right to learn something about him.
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#3 - Is this farm land in SW Virginia? What
makes you think so?
Key: Germany on the left; SW Virginia on the right.
