Click on Descendants for more specific information on 3 generations. Surnames include: Brotzge, Hagedorn, Kamphaus, Reh, Specker, Steffen, Ullrich and Zeller. Other family lines included in the report: Brinkhaus (and Barfield, McCandless), Feldhaus (and Fossing), Jansing, Kline and Stoesser will be covered in more detail each in their own section.
Martin and Anna Maria Reh emigrated from Germany to Louisville, KY (map) probably in the 1840's. Their first child was born in KY in1848. I have not been able to determine if they immigrated before or after they married. Anna Maria is from the Franconia region of Bavaria. According to my grandmother, her grandmother who was Anna Maria refused to take her husband's name when she married and Martin took hers instead. There can be other explanations for Anna Maria not changing her name and I have not been able to verify the story. In St. Michael Cemetery in Louisville, KY there is a matched coping in front of two lots with the names Becht and Reh chiseled one into each side. This must be significant so I always look for Martin and Anna Maria under both the Reh and Becht surnames. My roadblock on the Reh line is that I do not have any parents or siblings for either Martin or Anna Maria and I am not sure of what there surnames are for sure.
I am specifically looking for the following information:
- Birthplace and date of immigration of Martin and Anna Maria Reh. Could they have immigrated from Lippelsdorf, Bavaria?.
- Parents and siblings of Martin and Anna Maria Reh.
- There is another Martin Reh in St. Martin Church in Louisville, KY who dies in 1881. Is he related?
- How does the Becht surname fits into the Reh family? In St. Michael Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky there is a lot with the Becht family buried on the left side and the Reh family buried on the right side that has their names on matching borders at the front of the lot.
- Did Anna Maria actually convince her husband to take her name, instead of her taking his name like my Grandmother told me? Or was her surname already Reh?