Post a query (or information from any one of the above categories) on any QUIRAM name or related family. Please give dates, and locations they lived. Try to give as much information as possible.
The Quiram surname is German and appears to mean "dweller near the River Quir." My immediate ancestors came to the U.S. from Schonlanke, Prussia (now Trzcianka, Poland). There is a nearby town in Poland today which is called Quiram/Chwiram and may be the ancestral home of all the Quirams in the world.
I started research on this family in 1973 and visited Waterville, and Elysian, Minnesota in 1977 and 1978 to meet distant relatives there and to learn more about the Quiram family history. After 17 years of being away from there, it was a big thrill to visit to Minnesota again in August 1995 attend a BIG Quiram Reunion at Waterville, Minnesota.
The highlight of that visit was getting to meet Noel and Margaret Quiram of Elysian, Minnesota, who have been doing a lot of research on the Quirams and who organized that reunion. Also, it was a thrill to meet Alvin and Verla Kwiram, Harold and June Kwirant Bodinet, and Esther Barber who also are very interested in Quiram/Kwiram/Kwirant/Kwierant research.
Another big reunion was held in Minnesota in 1997, but I was unable to attend. At that reunion, in addition to everyone gathering in a big meeting hall, Cousins Noel and Margaret Quiram hosted tours to some of the old Quiram homes still standing and farm sites, as well as cemeteries where many of the Quiram relatives are buried in the Waterville-Elysian area of Le Sueur County, Minnesota.
It is a lot of work planning a reunion for 300 or more people. No more big reunions have been planned. But I was fortunate to be able to spend a few days with Noel and Margaret Quiram the end of April in 2001 and again at the end of April in 2002 to do more family research. I�ve been able to copy down tombstone inscriptions from many of the cemeteries around Elysian and Waterville, Minnesota where Quiram relatives are buried. I�ve also found information in the St. Peter�s (Bell) Lutheran Church records and in local newspaper obituaries there.
One thing of interest that I learned from talking with Alvin and Verla Quiram was that their branch of Quirams migrated into Russia where there is no letter �Q� in that language. Hence, the spelling of Kwiram/Kwirandt/Kwiram was adopted by that branch of the family. Alvin and Verla�s branch of the family includes family members in Russia, West Germany, Brazil, Canada, and the U.S.
There are several branches of Quirams in the U.S. which I am trying to connect either through a link in the U.S. or through ancestral records in modern-day Poland (formerly Germany or Prussia).
I have made contact with a number of Quiram families still living in Germany today. They kept records of their family because of being dispersed during the two World Wars. A friend, Alvin Sprecher, interpreted their letters for me. It is all quite interesting. I have also found some good sources through ordering microfilm copies of records from Germany, etc. from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, which is managed by the LDS Church.
One of my cousins also printed a book in 1990 called Quiram Families. Copies of this book are still available for anyone that is still interested. You may contact me at: [email protected]. I am currently trying to update the Quiram Families book--a massive project I might add.
I have been placing my updated information on the various Quiram families on the WorldConnect site with Rootsweb. It includes the basic information on every family member traced (except I have omitted information on living family members, for privacy reasons.). I do not have my sources or notes/narrative information on the web site. But if you wish to have additional information, I can e-mail the information or send a disk with all the information on it, but remember this is an ongoing project that is continuously being updated. The Worldwide Quiram Family Tree database on WorldConnect can be accessed at: http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=g-quiram
I also have another database of information which concerns the Kwiram/Kwirandt/Kwirant branch of the family. That database was created by Verla Kwiram of Seattle, Washington. This database is not online, but I am willing to look up information for anyone who contacts me. It is hoped that eventually both databases will find their way into a more complete history book or books of the various Quiram/Kwiram/Kwirant, etc. families from all around the world.
Here is my QUIRAM lineage as far as it has been proven:
If you have queries concerning the Quiram surname or any of its variant spellings, you may post these at the Quiram Family Genealogy List that I manage.
Quiram Family Genealogy List is a part of the Rootsweb e-mail discussion lists. It offers free queries and discussion on the Quiram surname and variant spellings: Quirandt, Quirant, Quirin, Quiring, Queram, Kwiram, Kweram, Kwirandt, Kwirant, Chwiram, etc.
Archived postings to the Quiram e-mail list can be found on the WEB at:
Post a query (or information from any one of the above categories) on any QUIRAM name or related family. Please give dates, and locations they lived. Try to give as much information as possible.
An online genealogy forum for posting queries has also been set up specifically for the QUIRAM family on GenForum. It can be found at the following address:
***Note***During the Fall of 1998, GenForum combined with Family Tree Maker, which means that all queries and information posted to that site becomes the property of Family Tree Maker. This is still a good site to look up information and get contact names for the QUIRAM lines you are searching, but be advised that if you now post a new query or a response to something on that site, chances are that sometime in the future Family Tree Maker will include that information on a CD-ROM which they will sell for profit to anyone who is interested. I do not like the idea of someone else using my hard researched information and ideas and selling them for a profit without my knowledge. This same practice is evident on all of the Family Tree Maker pages which are found on the internet, if you will read the disclaimer notices on those pages. I recommend the Family Tree Maker pages as good look up pages, but I don't recommend posting information there. Similar things can be said for Ancestry.com and MyFamily.com which are connected to each other and seek to make a profit from genealogical materials on the internet.
Some other QUIRAM researchers and web sites include:
The same information is found on George H. Kelm's Tripod Page.
He also has a database of over 5,000+ Kelm & related names, including several Kelm-Quiram marriages and descendants.
You may E-mail George at: [email protected]
Last updated February 15, 2005.
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