WEGNER/WEGENER GENEALOGY
Compiled by Glenn Gohr


Wegner is the German word for a wheeler or wheelwright (one who specializes in making or repairing wheels for wagons and wheeled vehicles), or it can mean a dweller near a path (where wheeled wagons would travel).

Thanks to my cousin, Don Sweaney, who moved to Springfield, Missouri (where I live) in 1998, I have recently (1999) found some new leads on my Wegner and Miller families. He ordered some microfilms of church and civil records for Karnitz and Hoff in Pomerania which contain valuable information on my Wegner family.

Another researcher on this line is Terry James. He is a descendant of William Maron, who was a brother of Rika (Maron) Wegner, wife of my gt-gt-uncle Albert Wegner. He published a book on the Maron family in 2002.

Another researcher, Brian Wegner formerly of Mechanicsville, Virginia and now living in south Texas, is researching Wegners from Karnitz, Pomerania from the late 1800s. And Anthony Jeske has two Wegner lines from Karnitz. He descends from a Frederick Wegner who married Wilhelmine Wegner (1815-1881). Undoubtedly they are cousins, but the exact relationship is unknown.

Still other researchers of Wegners from Karnitz are Steven R. Woita of Sycamore, Illinois; Connie Stripling Kiger who descends from Paul Wegner of Kossuth County, Iowa, who married Carolina Musolf; Harold Riley who descends from Michael Wegner, a son of Paul Wegner and Carolina Musolf; Michael David Wegner who is a great-grandson of Michael Wegner, son of Paul Wegner and Carolina Musolf; David Oxley, a great-grandson of Laura Wegner Lenz, daughter of Michael Wegner and granddaughter of Paul Wegner of Kossuth County, Iowa.; Sandra Wright who descends from Frank Wegner (b. April 1881, d. 1918), son of August Friedrich Wilhelm Wegner (b. 6 January 1837 Karnitz, Kreis Greifenberg, Pommern) who married Rosalia Wilhelmina Brandt; and Kristin McCrea who descends from Gotthilf Wegner (1854-1914) with wife Wilhelmine Gustmann. Karnitz was not that big of a town. Surely there is a connection!!

My earliest known Wegner ancestor is Peter Wegner, Sr. who lived in Kreis Greifenberg of the Szczecin Province of Pomerania in what today is Poland. In searching the Karnitz church records, I find 3 different Peter Wegners all born around 1740. I am still trying to determine which of these is my ancestor. Many of his descendants, including son Peter Wegner, Jr., and his great-grandson, Ferdinand Wegner, lived in the town of Karnitz, before immigrating to the United States and settling in Kossuth County, Iowa. This is in the area of Poland considered Farther Pomerania. Looking on a map, Karnitz is northwest of the town of Greifenberg and close to the Baltic Sea. One of Ferdinand's children, Albert Wegner, was born at Drizo (Dresow), Germany (Pomerania), a neighboring town of Karnitz. Also nearby is the town of Voigtshagen. Ferdinand Wegner's stepdaughter, Albertina Miller/Mueller, married Friedrich "Fritz" Voigt in Pomerania before the Wegner family immigrated to the United States.

I have compiled one genealogy book which deals with the Wegners, Voigts, and Gohrs. It is called The Voigt, Gohr, and Wegner Connection (1986). It is interesting to note that Arlene Wegner, a granddaughter of Albert Wegner above, was married to a John WEGENER in Iowa. Possibly WEGNER and WEGENER are related back in Germany.

One other item of interest is that in the extended family of Wegners (descendants of gt-gt-uncle Albert Wegner), is a current relative who is a professional baseball player. That cousin of mine is JEFFERY LEE SHAW! of Washington Court House, Ohio. I corresponded much with his grandfather, Harry Shaw, when I was writing my book on the Voigts, Gohrs, and Wegners.

I have been placing updated information on the Wegner family from my book (along with other Wegner families from Pomerania) on the WorldConnect site with Rootsweb. It includes the basic information on every family member traced (except I have omitted birth and marriage dates on living family members, for privacy reasons.) My WEGNER database can be accessed at: http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=g-wegner

Here is my WEGNER lineage as far as it has been proven:

  1. Peter WEGNER, Sr., b. ca. 1740, lived Kreis Greifenberg, Pomerania
  2. Peter WEGNER, b. 1 December 1768 Karnitz, Kreis Greifenberg, Pomerania, d. Nitznow, Kreis Cammin, Pomerania; md. Maria CONRADT, b. 7 June 1772 Neides, Kreis Greifenberg, Pomerania, d. Nitznow, Kreis Cammin, Pomerania
  3. Christlieb "Christian" WEGNER, b. 30 August 1807 Neides, Kreis Greifenberg, Pomerania, d. Hoff, Kreis Greifenberg, Pomerania; md. 4 Oct. 1834 Hoff, Kreis Greifenberg, Pomerania to Dorothea Sophia FREDRICH, b. 15 Dec. 1809 Hoff, Kreis Greifenberg, Pomerania
  4. Ferdinand Gottlieb Carl WEGNER, b. 12 Dec. 1836 Hoff, Kreis Greifenberg, Pomerania, d. 16 Jan. 1893 Whittemore, Kossuth Co., IA; md. ca. 1862 Karnitz, Kreis Greifenberg, Pomerania to Wilhelmine Friedrieke Charlotta "Minnie" MILLER, b. 20 January 1827 Hoff, Kreis Greifenberg, Pomerania, d. ca. 1900 Armstrong, Emmet Co., IA (* Note: Ferdinand and Minnie WEGNER were first cousins on the FREDRICH side)
  5. Auguste EMILIE Ernstine WEGNER, b. 7 Nov. 1863 Helle, Kreis Greifenberg, Pommern, d. 9 Sept. 1942 Idaho Falls, Jefferson Co., ID (buried at Annis, Idaho); md. 10 Oct. 1884 Lotts Creek, Kossuth Co., IA to Alexander Emil "Alex" GOHR, b. 20 May 1850 Bremin, Germany (now Brzemiona, Bydgoszcz Province, Poland), d. 28 Feb. 1918 Menan, Jefferson Co., ID (buried at Annis, Idaho)
  6. Alexander Fredrick Emil GOHR, b. 31 Jan. 1887 Kossuth Co., IA, d. 18 June 1968 Monte Vista, CO; md. 25 Nov. 1917 at Monte Vista, Rio Grande Co., CO to Frieda Helma QUIRAM, b. 24 May 1890 Elysian, Le Sueur CO., MN, d. 18 July 1987 Monte Vista, Rio Grande Co., CO (both buried in the Monte Vista Cemetery) *These are my grandparents.



WEGNER E-MAIL LIST


If you have queries concerning the WEGNER surname, you may post these at the Wegner Family Genealogy List which I started in September 1999.

Wegner Genealogy List is a part of the Rootsweb e-mail discussion lists. It offers free queries and discussion on the Wegner surname and variant spellings.

To subscribe, send an e-mail to: [email protected]
Leave subject line blank (This will be ignored).
In the body of the message type: subscribe

Then a welcome message will be sent telling how to post messages. Once you are subscribed, you may send a query to everyone on the list by sending e-mail to: [email protected]

Archived postings to the Wegner e-mail list can be found on the WEB at:

    https://mailinglists.rootsweb.com/listindexes/

When prompted, type in WEGNER for the name of the list. A second screen will appear where you can choose a year and type in a search word(s). If you type in WEGNER you would probably get all the previous postings to the list. You can also type in a person's name instead or a locality to narrow your search. If you wish to do a search by date, try entering it in quotation marks with the day and then the month as "01 Mar" using single digit dates preceded by a zero and only the first three letter of the month.




ROOTSWEB WEGNER MESSAGE BOARDS

There are several Message Boards on Rootsweb which are set up for the WEGNER surname. These boards are for posting information in the following categories: BIBLE, BIOGRAPHY, BIRTH, CEMETERY, CENSUS, DEATH, DEED, IMMIGRATION, LOOKUP, MARRIAGE, MILITARY, OBITUARY, PENSION, QUERIES, and WILLS. The search perameters and drop down screen on the main page allow you to do a key word search or to view all postings according to one of the above categories. Click on the icon below to access the Wegner Message Boards.

Query Post a query (or information from any one of the above categories) on any WEGNER 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 WEGNER family. It can be found at the following address:

    http://genforum.familytreemaker.com/wegner


An online genealogy forum for posting queries has also been set up specifically for the WEGENER family. It can be found at the following address:

    http://genforum.familytreemaker.com/wegener

***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 WEGNER/WEGENER 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.




Copyright (c) 1998-2003.

Last updated June 1, 2003.


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