About The Neller Family

Ruth Collings finds more ancestors!


On May 29, 2007, at 9:37 AM, Ruth Collings wrote:

I've been doing some Neller family research using Ancestry and Family search. I thought you might be interested in what I found. Of course, I haven't had a chance to write for actual documents, so there may be -- and probably are -- errors.

Starting with Emma: her father's name was Joseph Neller (b. 1830) and her mother was Joanna Werner. Joseph's father was named Johannes Stephanus Neller (b. 1805) and his mother was Catharina Mueller. They also had a son, Bernard (b. 1833) who died when he was two years old. Catharina apparently died soon after and Johannes apparently remarried -- Elizabetha Oster.

Johannes had at least three brothers: Johannes Martinus, (b. 1799), Franciscus Antonius (b. 1801) and another Franciscus Antonius (b. 1808). The first Franciscus must have died; giving two children the same name was not uncommon. Bernardo Neller and Magdalenae Naas were the parents of these boys. All of these family members lived in Joehlingen, Karlsruhe, Baden, Germany

It seems that the two brothers, Johannes Stephanus and Franciscus Antonius (1808) may have married sisters because Franciscus' wife was named Madeline Mueller.

The 1860 Fed. Census for Minn. shows that there were three Neller families living next door (or on the same property?) to each other in Udolpho Township in Mower Co.

They were: 1) Francis Neller (1808), Madeline & children: Sebastian, John, Martin, Sophia, & August. 2) Francis, (1827), wife Margaret, & son Albert. They later had another son, Frank. 3) Joseph, Joanna and sons William & Edward.

My guess (and it's just a guess) is that Francis (1827) was Francis' (1808) oldest son. It seems logical that Joseph came to America with his uncle, Francis (1808) and his cousins. The immigration date that I found was 1858.

There are also later census records (1870) and 1900 showing how the families began to prosper, increase in numbers of children and spread apart. John and Francis (1827) both served in the Union army in the Civil War.

The next step would be to send for naturalization papers, military records and property records which I will try to do when I have time.

I hope this isn't too confusing. Please let me know if I'm on the wrong track entirely.

Ruth

Interesting links related to early settlement of Neller ancestors in Mower County, Minnesota:

Mower County Genealogy info on rootsweb.com

Minnesota state map from 1974

Mower County map; also, Mower County cemeteries map

Udolpho Township Map, showing land holdings of Francis and Joseph Neller.

Udolpho TWP index of landowners showing holdings of Francis and Joseph Neller.
The index says that Francis and Joseph Neller came to Udolpho TWP in 1856.

Link to Mower County Register Newspaper Articles(1869-1871), Mower Co., MN

Shows several land transfers involving Francis and Martin Neller and outcome of a lawsuit between John Neller and Joseph Neller. (Great, Great Grandpa Joseph Neller lost that one.)

HomeBack to Plate 01