A German-American Immigrant Family: the Geerdts -- Starke -- Weidt family of Milwaukee and Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Four generations of German-American immigrants gathered in Milwaukee to surround the matriarch, Maria Weidt (Vogt? Wiendt?) Geerdts, on December 13, 1927 for this German-American family photo.
Maria Weidt (Vogt?) Geerdts and her family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, December 13, 1927
From top left, George Kuhns, his wife Bertha Geerdts Kuhns (the youngest child of Bertha and Gustav Geerdts), two Dehmel sisters, Olive & ??? from Cedarburg, Gladys Geerdts Bengs, Bertha Starke Geerdts (Gustav Geerdts' wife), and Alice Geerdts Ehlers. From bottom left, Gustav and Bertha's son, Bertram Geerdts, and his oldest child Shirley, then Maria C. Weidt (Vogt? Wiendt?) Geerdts, celebrating her 85th birthday.
(0riginally settled with her husband Heinrich N. Geerdts near Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Photos of Heinrich and Maria in Sheboygan are here. A Geerdts family farm in Two Creeks (owned by Heinrich's younger brother Detlef II) was located where the Two Rivers Nuclear Power Plant is today), and Gustav Martin Karl Geerdts, who was originally from Wandsbeck near Hamburg, Germany. The photo was probably taken at the family home on 1419 Fratney Street in northeast Milwaukee.Gustav Geerdts was a member of the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, Supervisor of the 21st Ward, according to a "Certificate of Election" dated April, 1904. He served for at least two years.A pedigree of the Geerdts/Starke/Weidt family, starting with Bertha Geerdts Kuhns, can be found at
www.geocities.com/davidgkuhns/bgeerdtsped.htmlLetters between Gustav and his wife Bertha Starke can be found at
www.geocities.com/davidgkuhns/liebesweibchen.htmlIf you have information on any of this family, please e-mail Maria's great-great grandson David Kuhns at
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