NOTE: The following information on the Franzen and Ubben lines was found in "Historisches Familienbuch - der Kirchenengmeinden Firrel, Hollen, Ockenhausen und Uplengen (Remels)", by Christian Meyer. More detailed information can be found on WorldConnect
THE FRANZENS
The FRANZEN line can be traced to about 1642 with the birth of David Arens. David and Hilke Arens were the parents of Frantz Davids, David Davids, Mette Davids, and Anna Davids. David Arens was buried in Remels, Ostfriesland, Germany on April 21, 1718.
Frantz Davids, who was born about 1672, married Anne Jansen (born 1678). They were the parents of Hillcke Frantzen (born 1701), Jann Frantzen (born 1701), a daughter born about 1707, Frantz Frantzen (born 1710/11), Wübke Frantzen (born 1710/11), Wübke Frantzen (born 1713), Hinderich Frantzen (born 1716), and another daughter born about 1718.
Frantz Frantzen married Frauke Teissen, daughter of Teis Lammers. She was born about 1718 in Ostfriesland. Children of Frantz and Frauke Frantzen are: Frantz Frantzen (born 1738), Teis Frantzen (born 1740), Anna Frantzen (born 1742/43), Gesche Frantzen (born 1745/46), Frantz Frantzen (born 1747), Jan Frantzen (born 1750), Lammert Frantzen (born 1753), Gesche Frantzen (born 1756) and Folckert Frantzen (born 1759).
Teis Frantzen married Amke He˙en, daughter of He˙e Enessen, in 1768. Their children are: Frantz Teißen Franzen (born 1769), He˙e Teißen Franzen (born 1773), Jan Teißen Franzen (born 1778), Herre Teißen Franzen (born 1817), Fraucke Teißen (born 1781), Folkert Te˙ssen (born 1784), Te˙s Te˙ssen Franzen (born 1787), Tate Te˙ssen (born 1789), and Adde Te˙ssen (born 1794).
Frantz Teißen Franzen married Hiscke Focken in 1794 in Jübberde. They were the parents of Te˙s Franzen (born 1795), Amcke Franzen (born 1798), Focke Franzen (born 1799), Fulcke Franzen (born 1801), He˙e Franzen (born 1803), Wolter Franzen (born 1805), Jann Franzen (born 1807), Wolter Franzen (born 1808), Frauke Franzen (born 1812), and Frauke Franzen (born 1814).
He˙e Franzen, born October 7, 1803, first married Frauke Franzen in 1834 in Remels, and their children are Folkert Heyen Franzen (born 1835), Hiske Tina Heyen Franzen (born 1837), Gertje Anna Franzen (born 1840), and Antje Foelké Franzen (born 1843). After the death of Frauke in 1844, He˙e married Anna Focken in 1845.
Children of He˙e Franzen and Anna Focken are Franz Heyen Franzen (born June 6, 1846) and Lümke Heyen Franzen (born May 28, 1848), both born in Jübberde, Ostfriesland, Germany. Franz married Harmina Woutedina DeVries and remained in Germany.
Lümke married Seidemina Ubben (Brunken), the daughter of Ubbe Brunken and Zeide (Müller) Ubben from Klein-Sander, on May 8, 1874 in Remels.
Lümke and Zeide were of the Lutheran faith. Three children were born to them in Jübberde:
Heye Lümken, born February 19, 1876In 1881 the Franzen family left their home from Bremen on the ship Hohenstaufen and arrived in New York on June 22, 1881.
Zeidemina (Minnie), born December 19, 1877
Ubbo (Otto) Lümken, born November 1, 1879They settled in Nokomis, Montgomery County, Illinois, and there, on December 9, 1881, their son, Franz Lümken Franzen, was born.
Tragedy struck two years later on December 19, 1883, when Lümke died. According to the Montgomery County, Illinois death register, his death was caused by dropsy which he had had for one and a half years, complicated by convulsions. Although we believe he is buried at St. Paul's Cemetery, northwest of Nokomis, neither a headstone nor church records confirm that belief. The death register simply states that he was buried at the "German Lutheran Cem."
According to the Free Press-Gazette of Friday, December 28, 1883: "Died, on Wednesday of last week, Luemke Franzen, a German farmer residing west of Nokomis."
On October 2, 1885, Zeide married Henry VanHeuflen, and approximately two to four years later, the family moved to Platte County, Nebraska.
Heye (Heie) Franzen married Bertha Schlueter on April 14, 1901, at Zion Lutheran Church in Leigh, Nebraska. Their children were: Irene Wilhelmina (m. Carl Hoveling); Minnie Katrina; Edward Henry (m. Leona Mae Linn); Herbert Ludwig (m. Ella Louise Harms); Albert John (m. Hildegard Anna Wurdeman); Esther Adele (m. Ernest Marty); and Elsie Lorinda (m. Norman Meyer). Heie died at a nursing home in Columbus, Platte County, Nebraska on April 14, 1958.
Leona Mae Linn, born January 22, 1911, was the daughter of Francis Oliver Linn and Inez Zoe Albert. Known siblings are: John, Edward, Millie and Clarence (Pat). It is believed that Inez remarried some time after the death of Francis in 1917, as her headstone reads: Inez Z Powers (1881-1955).Mina (Minnie) Franzen married George Frederich Hellbusch on February 22, 1898 in Platte County, Nebraska. She died July 19, 1899 following the birth of an infant on March 8, 1899. The infant was either stillborn or died later that day.
Ubbo (Otto) Franzen married Lena Daniels on April 25, 1905. To this union five children were born: two sons, Arthur Louis (m. Elsie Ann Becher) and Melvin Norris (m. Eunice Irene Hunteman); and three daughters, Elaine Helen (m. Clarence Hellbusch); Leona Ruth (m. Edgar Becher); and Lydia Loraine (m. R. W. Korte).
Franz (Frank) Franzen married Adelaid Marie Korfhage on February 24, 1920. They were the parents of two sons: Harold L., who married Evelyn Baker, and Lavern, who married Mary Ann Langevin.
THE UBBENS
I have traced the UBBEN line back to Ubbe Ubben, who was born October 19, 1734 in Groß-Sander, Ostfriesland. He first married Jantje We˙ers, daughter of We˙ert We˙ers. Jantje was born November 9, 1750 and died August 3, 1775 in Groß-Sander. Born to Ubbe Ubben and Jantje We˙ers was Harm Ubben on January 29, 1775.
After Jantje's death, Ubbe then married Taalcke Bruncken, who was born April 5, 1753 and died July 13, 1827. Ubbe Ubben and Taalcke Bruncken had one known child, Bruncke Ubben born April 10, 1782.
Bruncke Ubben married Anna He˙en, daughter of He˙e Jansen and Süster Tjabben. Their children are: Wübke Bruncken (born 1805), He˙e Bruncken (born 1807), and Ubbe Brunken Ubben (born 1816).
Ubbe Brunken Ubben married Se˙de Gebke Mina Eilerts Müller, daughter of Eilert Müller and Se˙de (Anneeseen). Children born to Ubbe and Se˙de are: Brunke Ubben Brunken/Ubben (born 1844), Anna Brunken Ubben (born 1846), Seide Mina Brunken Ubben (born 1849), Eilert Ubben (born 1853) and Wübke Meta Ubben (born 1856). Se˙de died in Klein-Sander on November 11, 1865.
Seide Mina's brother, Eilert Ubben, came to America in 1874, locating in Illinois. Eilert filed his Declaration of Intention to become a citizen on December 23, 1874 and received his citizenship on November 1, 1876. Witnesses to the oath were John B. Schoen and Brunke Wattjes (son of Gerd H. Wattjes and Wübke Brunken). Eilert migrated to Nebraska in 1887 and was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Grotehoff. She died shortly thereafter. Eilert died October 20, 1909 at the Bloomfield hospital. According to his obituary, he was survived by three sisters, Mrs. Henry VanHeufeln, and two sisters in Germany.As noted in the Franzen History above, Seide (usually spelled Zeide after she immigrated) was married first to Lümke Franzen and they had three children born in Germany before immigrating to the United States.According to a ship passenger list found in Germans to America, Brunke Ubben (brother to Seide), age 36, his wife, Lena, age 34, and their son, Ubbo (Otto), age 5, arrived in the United States aboard the ship Oder on March 13, 1882. Traveling with them was Ubbe Brunken, age 66, the father of Brunke, Eilert and Seide. They eventually settled in Platte County, Nebraska.
A daughter, Hempe Diene Zeitja Miene (Emma), was born June 29, 1886 to Brunke and Lena Ubben, baptized at St. John's Lutheran Church in Grand Prairie township, and confirmed March 23, 1902 at Zion Lutheran Church in Leigh, Colfax County, Nebraska.
Brunke Ubben died March 21, 1896 at the age of 52 years, 11 months and 11 days and is buried at St. John's Cemetery in Grand Prairie township, Platte County, Nebraska next to his father, "Brook" Ubben, who died May 26, 1894 at the age of 77 years and 7 months. At the time of the 1900 census, Lena and her daughter, Emma, were living in Colfax County, Nebraska.
Lena Ubben subsequently moved to the home of her son, Otto, in Peabody, Kansas and died there on January 12, 1926 at the age of 79 years. She, too, is buried at St. John's Cemetery.
After the death of Lümke Franzen, Zeide married Henry VanHeuflen, son of Heinrich and Anna (Brakenhoff) VanHeuflen, on October 2, 1885. Henry, who was born in Germany on January 9, 1852, had immigrated to the United States at the age of 18 years, locating in Illinois.
Approximately two to four years after their marriage, the family moved to Platte County, Nebraska. Henry and Zeide were the parents of four children, one of whom died in infancy:
Emma Van Heufeln, date of birth unknownAnna Sophia died February 3, 1892 and is buried in St. John's Lutheran Cemetery, Grand Prairie township, Platte County, Nebraska.
Herman Van Heufeln, born September 26, 1887
Anna Sophia Van Heufeln, born January 30, 1891
Edward Van Heufeln, born June 6, 1892Henry was an industrious farmer, a kind and loving husband and father and a good friend and neighbor. He was a faithful member of the Zion Lutheran church in Leigh, and for many years was a trustee in that organization until failing health forced him to resign.
Henry passed away on March 10, 1920 after a brief illness. He had influenza, which developed into pneumonia, bringing about his demise. Zeide also had a severe attack of influenza. In fact, she was so seriously ill at the time of Henry's death that she was not expected to live and was not notified of his death until immediately prior to his funeral.
Zeide passed away at her farm home northwest of Leigh on April 10, 1929. She had been in failing health for nine years as a result of complications following the severe attack of influenza she suffered in 1920, and her condition had been rendered more serious by injuries she received in a fall the winter prior to her death. It was mentioned in the sermon delivered at her funeral that she "has for many years been so deaf as not to be able to distinguish even the loudest sound." She is buried at Zion Lutheran cemetery, in Leigh, Nebraska. Surviving her were five sons and one daughter, Heie, Ubbo, and Frank Franzen; Herman, Edward and Miss Emma Van Heufeln (all residing near Leigh); 18 grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Herman H. Van Heufeln married Marie Louise Beckedorf, and had three children: Henry, Myrtle and Maxine. Edward married Olga Pauline Beckedorf, and also had three children: Elmer, Aletta and Lorinda. I have no information on Emma Gesina Van Heufeln other than that she was living at Leigh at the time of her mother's death in 1929.
Sherri Brakenhoff © 2006