Heinrich Kempen & Annie Dertinger: The great-great grandparents (Fanning side)

My great-great grandfather Heinrich "Henry" Kempen was born in Germany on July 25, 1869. He was the third child of Gerdes & Vendalina and immigrated with the family to the US on December 5, 1882 at the age of 13 years old on the ship Neckar, which set sail from Bremen.

He first appears in written records on the naturalization card I located online that states he became a citizen of the US on October 20, 1892 as granted by the Common Please Court of NY County.  I have also found another mention on a passenger manifest for a Heinrich Kempen in 1895 arriving in NY which lists him as a laborer. Possible that Heinrich returned to Germany for a bit.

On April 19, 1896 Henry married my great great grandmother Anne Dertinger (1876-?) in Manhattan. They both appear in the 1900 census with the rest of the Kempen family at 1669 Third Ave, NYC. Like I mentioned in a previous blog post, the 1890 census was lost to fire in Washington DC. Henry is listed as a conductor for the NYC surface railway and Henry & Annie already had their first of four children, Henry, on May 6, 1897. The next year they had a daughter Helen (1898-?), then in 1898 Catherine (1899-?) and finally Edna (1906-1993).

Annie Dertinger was born in 1876 to Leo Dertinger (1844-1880) and Catherine "Kate" Lyons (1843-?). Kate, and her sisters Gussie (1871-?) and Mary Catherine (1881-?), were born in Ireland to Patrick & Catherine Lyons. I have been unable to locate any reliable info on them. Actually, the census info is conflicting on Kate's birthday, as well. One says 1841 & another says 1843. Immigration dates conflict also, with 1855 & 1862. By 1880, Kate was a widow. According to the 1880 mortality schedule, Leo, whose occupation was noted as a "driver", drowned at the "foot of Jay St".

 

Mortality Schedule listing Leo Dertinger

If my research is correct... and I have been in contact with a few German genealogists who believe I am, Leo Dertinger was born in Reicholzheim, Germany, to Antan Georg Dertinger (1812-1877) & Elisabeth Maria Muhlig (1803-1848). Antan's family has been tracked back by other genealogists all the way to 1613 (Worlfgang Amend) and Elisabeth's to the late 1600's (Hans Adam Muhlig). Our lineage includes family names such as Kern, Brandenstein, Schind, Spaier, Hafner, Kuhn, Matzer, Winker, Wurz, and Neidermaier. The families are just about all from Reicholzheim and one researcher mentioned that Tobias Amend (1642-1719), my 10X-great grandfather, was a mayor and/or bishop.

 

Reicholzheim, Wertheim, Germany

Getting back to Henry & Annie Kempen, the 1910 census has them still at 1669 Third Ave. Also, at this building were Henry's brother Folkert & his family and Annie's mother, Catherine Lyons Dertinger, who lived with Annie's sister Mary Catherine (1881-?) and her husband, Charles Gaukel (1875-1942). Henry's occupation is listed as an "oiler" at a brewery.

The January 1920 census shows the family moved next door to 1667 Third Ave and lists Henry's occupation still at the brewery. Anne was working as a "janitoress". And we discover that by the 1930 census most of the family had moved to 28-17 23 Street in Astoria, Queens. Henry's occupation had changed, as well, to hotel engineer. We will have to wait for the 1940 census to be released to see who survived into the next decade. I would imagine that there is a family cemetery plot or at least, most of the Kempens were buried at the same cemetery. If anyone knows where please let me know. I would love to visit & document the dates & locations.

Annie's sister, Mary Catherine, who seems to have gone by Catherine, was married to Charles Gaukel and they had  2 children. Charles & Catherine were married on December 4, 1898 in Manhattan. According to the 1905-1920 censuses, they resided at various building on the 1300 block of Fifth Ave (near 112 St) which is now the Taft Public Housing Complex. Charles was a butcher by trade. By 1930 they had moved to 1669 Grand Ave, Bronx and Charles died September 20, 1942. His funeral was at St Nicholas Tolentine church.

The only thing I found about their daughter, Helen b. 1903 (my first cousin three times removed), was that in 1930 she was a secretary at a hosiery shop in the Bronx. She most likely married & without her new name I hit a dead end. Their son, Charles L. (1905-1985) was a mechanic at a radio shop in 1930 and later married Cecelia M. Redmond (1905-1986). At some point they moved to Florence, Kentucky, where they both died within a year of each other.

As I noted above, Henry and Annie had four children and I will discuss their lives in the next Kempen post.